The Greatest Post of All Time!
Oct. 10th, 2004 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatFor all you readers in the Philadelphia area and certain parts of Maryland, WXPN put out their list of the top 885 songs of all time. I remember when they were talking about this, but I didn't actually listen to the broadcast. For what it's worth, I'm not sure why every list has to be "the greatest [whatever]s of all time," especially when it's obviously biased in favor of recent songs. I mean, how many songs on the list are from before the latter half of the twentieth century? Not that I listen to much music from prior to that time either, and, indeed, if I were listing my personal favorite songs, they'd probably be primarily from an even narrower period of time. But the song form was certainly around before then, and I don't say my personal favorites are representative of "the greatest songs of all time," either. Oh, well. I guess exaggeration sells, or something.
Anyway, I'm glad to see three songs by the Pixies (songs 806, 709, and 361), three by Tori Amos (752, 490, and 220), and one by XTC (670). Granted, the XTC song they chose was "Dear God," and I would probably have to say that, if that's your favorite XTC song, you haven't listened to enough by the band. Still, I'm glad they showed up.
I can assume that the prevalence of folky singer-songwriter stuff on WXPN explains why, for instance, there are five Dar Williams songs on the list (859, 858, 812, 789, and 375). Not that I have anything against Dar, mind you (and I know a few people on my friends list are fans of hers), but I'm not sure she's all that well-known to the general public. That Los Lonely Boys song that they play the crap out of on that station is also on there (722). Maybe I'm biased because I don't think that song is that great, but didn't that song come out less than a year ago? Isn't it a bit early to be declaring it one of the greatest of all time?
I'm not sure how even ONE Dave Matthews song made the list, let alone five (392, 380, 324, 266, 205), as well as one by his even more boring clone John Mayer (580). There are a lot of artists that I don't like but I can see why other people do. The popularity of Matthews and Mayer, on the other hand, seems inexplicable to me.
A few other songs on which I thought I should comment:
817 IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS [BY] BARENAKED LADIES
I was never a big fan of BNL. I have Gordon, but that's it. Pretty much everyone I know who IS a BNL fan talks about how much they've gone downhill recently, though, so I guess it's cool that their one showing on this list is a song from when they were actually good (and that has members of Moxy Früvous doing backing vocals).
519 NOTHING BUT FLOWERS [BY] TALKING HEADS
Several Talking Heads songs made the list, but this is a personal favorite of mine, so it's cool to see it there.
390 ANOTHER TRAIN - THE POSIES
Like the Ken Stringfellow/Jon Auer Posies? I like that band, but I've never heard this song, nor can I find any information on it. Is it misattributed, or what?
269 SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW [BY] JUDY GARLAND
Okay, so there's at least one song from the thirties in the list. There are probably more that I just didn't recognize as being from that time period. Didn't this take third place in somebody's list of the top songs of the twentieth century? It didn't fare anywhere near as well here.
90 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY [BY] QUEEN
This was the only Queen song on the list, for some reason. I really would have expected more.
30 SOUNDS OF SILENCE [BY] SIMON GARFUNKEL
Heh, "Simon Garfunkel." Wasn't this on a recent list of the WORST songs ever? Not that I agreed with its presence there. It's one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs.
Anyway, I'm glad to see three songs by the Pixies (songs 806, 709, and 361), three by Tori Amos (752, 490, and 220), and one by XTC (670). Granted, the XTC song they chose was "Dear God," and I would probably have to say that, if that's your favorite XTC song, you haven't listened to enough by the band. Still, I'm glad they showed up.
I can assume that the prevalence of folky singer-songwriter stuff on WXPN explains why, for instance, there are five Dar Williams songs on the list (859, 858, 812, 789, and 375). Not that I have anything against Dar, mind you (and I know a few people on my friends list are fans of hers), but I'm not sure she's all that well-known to the general public. That Los Lonely Boys song that they play the crap out of on that station is also on there (722). Maybe I'm biased because I don't think that song is that great, but didn't that song come out less than a year ago? Isn't it a bit early to be declaring it one of the greatest of all time?
I'm not sure how even ONE Dave Matthews song made the list, let alone five (392, 380, 324, 266, 205), as well as one by his even more boring clone John Mayer (580). There are a lot of artists that I don't like but I can see why other people do. The popularity of Matthews and Mayer, on the other hand, seems inexplicable to me.
A few other songs on which I thought I should comment:
817 IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS [BY] BARENAKED LADIES
I was never a big fan of BNL. I have Gordon, but that's it. Pretty much everyone I know who IS a BNL fan talks about how much they've gone downhill recently, though, so I guess it's cool that their one showing on this list is a song from when they were actually good (and that has members of Moxy Früvous doing backing vocals).
519 NOTHING BUT FLOWERS [BY] TALKING HEADS
Several Talking Heads songs made the list, but this is a personal favorite of mine, so it's cool to see it there.
390 ANOTHER TRAIN - THE POSIES
Like the Ken Stringfellow/Jon Auer Posies? I like that band, but I've never heard this song, nor can I find any information on it. Is it misattributed, or what?
269 SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW [BY] JUDY GARLAND
Okay, so there's at least one song from the thirties in the list. There are probably more that I just didn't recognize as being from that time period. Didn't this take third place in somebody's list of the top songs of the twentieth century? It didn't fare anywhere near as well here.
90 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY [BY] QUEEN
This was the only Queen song on the list, for some reason. I really would have expected more.
30 SOUNDS OF SILENCE [BY] SIMON GARFUNKEL
Heh, "Simon Garfunkel." Wasn't this on a recent list of the WORST songs ever? Not that I agreed with its presence there. It's one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs.
