DAILY DOSE: "I Want to Run, I Want to Hide"
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back~
Today’s Link has me in a pissy mood. In honesty, I’m more annoyed by it than anything. It’s Rolling Stone’s list of the “Top 500 songs of all time.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6596661/500songs
At the top of the list, please be sure to click on the “more” link so you can read how they came up with this cockamamie collection. It’s actually the ‘Top 500 songs of the rock n’ roll era.’ Now, we all know about my taste in music, and we all know that when it comes to music, I’m far from an expert, but even I can tell that this list is bullshit. I hope that someone out there, an actual music snob, can chime in and back me up on this, because it’s ridiculous.
First off, what makes a “great song?” Is it lyrical beauty? Is it the technical aspects of the song? Dancability? Replayability? And who the hell is RollingStone to judge? I’m not angry—I’m just asking, because it’s pretty annoying. I mean, obviously I checked to see if any of my favourite shitty bands squeaked in there. “Hip to be Square,” maybe? “Let her cry?” Somebody throw me a bone. I never actually believed that any of those songs would make the list, but then I actually felt bad at my taste in music when I realized that I don’t even like 9 of the top 15 songs! Then I realized, “Who are YOU to tell me what a “great song,” RollingStone!?! I know what I like, and I don’t need you to tell me what’s great, and what isn’t! But that’s not all that’s wrong with the list. Though the “more” explanation claims that their illustrious “five star” panel looked across genres for great songs, I find the list to be terribly short-sighted.
Not only do the Beatles clock in with 23 songs, Bob Dylan has 12, and the Stones have another 14. Okay, I love the Beatles, and most of their songs, and though I don’t even remotely care for the Stones or Dylan, I can appreciate their place in music (they’re just not my bag, baby), but does anyone out there HONESTLY believe that those three artists are actually responsible for nearly 10% of ALL the best songs of the last 50+ years? Anyone? In RollingStone’s infinite wisdom and perpetual annoyingness, they’ve taken a mainstream-highbrow approach to this stupid list, and totally neglected both lesser-known artists and, you know, shitty bands that made a good song. One-hit-wonders are pretty much absent from the list, though many of their songs deserve a spot. Dexty’s Midnight Runners, I’m talking to YOU.
The list almost entirely neglects country and rap/hip hop. Patsy Kline: check. Hank Williams: check. Johnny Cash: check. Apparently, country stopped making music about 35 years ago, because not even Garth Brooks was able to get a song onto the list! For a voting process that prides itself on canvassing all genres, you would have thought it could have found the time to pick a song by a guy who (I think) has sold more records than the Beatles. Maybe “The Dance” or “The Thunder Rolls” among others? I mean, I don’t LOVE Garth Brooks at all, not by a long shot, but a good song is a good song. That being said, only two hip hop songs from the last fifteen years not by Eminem (Dre’s ‘Ain’t Nothin’ but a G-Thang’ and Tupac’s ‘California Love’) made the list? What about Snoop, B.I.G., or Wu-Tang? I’m by NO means a big rap fan, but the genre has dominated the musical consciousness of our culture for over a decade, and there have been some very good, very influential songs that deserve mentioning. And Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” while good and fun, isn’t one of them.
This statement deserves its own paragraph: AMERICAN PIE ISN’T ON THE LIST. You heard me. Don McLean’s AMERICAN PIE is NOT on the list of the “500 Greatest Songs of the Rock n’ Roll Era.” Shouldn’t the fact that every high school kid learns every word of a 10 minute song count for SOMETHING?
I guess these lists are made to cause controversy, and I’m sure this one will. Why do we need lists anyhow? Who can honestly think they can go out and rank music? How absurd of a concept IS that? Basically, RollingStone put together a list of 500 songs it thinks everyone should like, because they’re that amazing. Well, I’m sorry. Nothing’s ever going to make me like the song “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and nothing ever will. All I can say is, it’s pretty bad when you put together a list of music that pisses ME off, AND I can find legitimate fault with. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to write them a letter lambasting their oversight of Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl.”
Oh- the Song of the Day is one that DIDN’T MAKE THE LIST. U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” How half-a-dozen U2 songs DID make the list, and this didn’t, is beyond me. Doesn’t ANYONE remember the performance of this song at SuperBowl XXXVI?
Back to work. Check out the list and tell me what pissed YOU off.
-apk
Today’s Link has me in a pissy mood. In honesty, I’m more annoyed by it than anything. It’s Rolling Stone’s list of the “Top 500 songs of all time.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6596661/500songs
At the top of the list, please be sure to click on the “more” link so you can read how they came up with this cockamamie collection. It’s actually the ‘Top 500 songs of the rock n’ roll era.’ Now, we all know about my taste in music, and we all know that when it comes to music, I’m far from an expert, but even I can tell that this list is bullshit. I hope that someone out there, an actual music snob, can chime in and back me up on this, because it’s ridiculous.
First off, what makes a “great song?” Is it lyrical beauty? Is it the technical aspects of the song? Dancability? Replayability? And who the hell is RollingStone to judge? I’m not angry—I’m just asking, because it’s pretty annoying. I mean, obviously I checked to see if any of my favourite shitty bands squeaked in there. “Hip to be Square,” maybe? “Let her cry?” Somebody throw me a bone. I never actually believed that any of those songs would make the list, but then I actually felt bad at my taste in music when I realized that I don’t even like 9 of the top 15 songs! Then I realized, “Who are YOU to tell me what a “great song,” RollingStone!?! I know what I like, and I don’t need you to tell me what’s great, and what isn’t! But that’s not all that’s wrong with the list. Though the “more” explanation claims that their illustrious “five star” panel looked across genres for great songs, I find the list to be terribly short-sighted.
Not only do the Beatles clock in with 23 songs, Bob Dylan has 12, and the Stones have another 14. Okay, I love the Beatles, and most of their songs, and though I don’t even remotely care for the Stones or Dylan, I can appreciate their place in music (they’re just not my bag, baby), but does anyone out there HONESTLY believe that those three artists are actually responsible for nearly 10% of ALL the best songs of the last 50+ years? Anyone? In RollingStone’s infinite wisdom and perpetual annoyingness, they’ve taken a mainstream-highbrow approach to this stupid list, and totally neglected both lesser-known artists and, you know, shitty bands that made a good song. One-hit-wonders are pretty much absent from the list, though many of their songs deserve a spot. Dexty’s Midnight Runners, I’m talking to YOU.
The list almost entirely neglects country and rap/hip hop. Patsy Kline: check. Hank Williams: check. Johnny Cash: check. Apparently, country stopped making music about 35 years ago, because not even Garth Brooks was able to get a song onto the list! For a voting process that prides itself on canvassing all genres, you would have thought it could have found the time to pick a song by a guy who (I think) has sold more records than the Beatles. Maybe “The Dance” or “The Thunder Rolls” among others? I mean, I don’t LOVE Garth Brooks at all, not by a long shot, but a good song is a good song. That being said, only two hip hop songs from the last fifteen years not by Eminem (Dre’s ‘Ain’t Nothin’ but a G-Thang’ and Tupac’s ‘California Love’) made the list? What about Snoop, B.I.G., or Wu-Tang? I’m by NO means a big rap fan, but the genre has dominated the musical consciousness of our culture for over a decade, and there have been some very good, very influential songs that deserve mentioning. And Outkast’s “Hey Ya,” while good and fun, isn’t one of them.
This statement deserves its own paragraph: AMERICAN PIE ISN’T ON THE LIST. You heard me. Don McLean’s AMERICAN PIE is NOT on the list of the “500 Greatest Songs of the Rock n’ Roll Era.” Shouldn’t the fact that every high school kid learns every word of a 10 minute song count for SOMETHING?
I guess these lists are made to cause controversy, and I’m sure this one will. Why do we need lists anyhow? Who can honestly think they can go out and rank music? How absurd of a concept IS that? Basically, RollingStone put together a list of 500 songs it thinks everyone should like, because they’re that amazing. Well, I’m sorry. Nothing’s ever going to make me like the song “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and nothing ever will. All I can say is, it’s pretty bad when you put together a list of music that pisses ME off, AND I can find legitimate fault with. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to write them a letter lambasting their oversight of Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl.”
Oh- the Song of the Day is one that DIDN’T MAKE THE LIST. U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” How half-a-dozen U2 songs DID make the list, and this didn’t, is beyond me. Doesn’t ANYONE remember the performance of this song at SuperBowl XXXVI?
Back to work. Check out the list and tell me what pissed YOU off.
-apk
1 Comments:
Ok so i want to comment: i get Rolling Stone and i hate every miserable minute of its existence. something keeps me coming back and i'm not sure what it is. i, too was totally disgusted by the top 500 list, but then again, any time they do those lists, they kiss the same people's asses - nirvana (although i'm amazed they didn't qualify this time), everyone you mentioned and their moms. my bone of contention lies with the fact that the Doors only made it twice. the doors - the band who basically created the definition of moody rock and melancholy in a minor key. rolling stone has an agenda that i'm not quite aware of and i don't know who they think they're catering to, but my suspicion is that it's those people who have no true music loves and so just borrow what they think they should. so yeah. oh, and it's justine, but i posted anonymous cause it took less time. thank you.
By
Anonymous, at 10:45 PM, November 29, 2004
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