Just like 'Rolling Stone': That 'Best 500 Songs' List

The usual fun and absurdity, plus: New festival screenings for my film.

Everyone always has an opinion on those Rolling Stone lists—surely we would have done it better at Crawdaddy (oh, sure)—so here’s mine briefly, plus a few of the missing tunes. Plus, my Atomic Cover-up film arriving via seven new festivals, here is link to screenings you can access online in the next week or so. As usual: please share and/or subscribe, it’s still free. First, the usual political cartoon.

Mock the Hoopla

Rolling Stone on Wednesday announced it had updated its critics poll of the “Best 500” songs for the first time in 17 years. Reactions ranged from, Who Cares?, to, ah, let’s have some fun with this. The new list was obviously designed to shake things up with more younger acts from this very century, with many rightly or mysteriously elevated.

Among the many apparent failures is choosing songs based mainly on popularity, not quality or enduring strength—some were released just in the past year or so—or influence. In most cases the selections are not even an artist’s very best song (everyone from Bob Marley to Lucinda Williams). Some picks seemed to be made so that a well-known artist or group would at least get one pick, even if the song deserves nowhere near classic status. And then there’s the fact that Britney Spears appears more than, say, The Who. Anyway, I don’t choose to spend more time on this so here’s the top 10 or so in order with just a few comments from yours truly (a top Crawdaddy writer and editor, 1971-1979). Please file your own comments and complaints here. One crank already put it clearly at Rolling Stone site: “Not enough boomer rock or too much?”

“Respect”--Aretha Franklin (she is riding a wave this decade)

“Fight the Power”--Public Enemy (thank you, Spike)

“Change Is Gonna Come” — Sam Cooke (my #1, as I have long noted)

“Like a Rolling Stone”—was #1 on this list in 2004

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

“What’s Going On” (true, but “Heard it Through the trapevine” is another 100 slots down

“Strawberry Fields”—is this really the Fab Four’s greatest?

“Get Ur Freak On”--Missy Elliot

“Dreams”--Fleetwood Mac —far from their best (“Go Your Own Way” made the list but much further down)

“Hey Ya”--Outkast

#11 “God Only Knows”—changing of the guard here, as “Good Vibrations” has long been considered the Beach Boys’ “best” and now hits only #53.

#13: “Gimme Shelter”--in the last poll, “Satisfaction” took the #2 slot overall but now is not even considered the band’s best (and comes in #31 this year)

#14 “Waterloo Sunset”--The Kinks—surprised but happy to see this here

#15 “I Want to Hold Your Hand”—incredibly important but hardly close to a “best” song

#17 “Bohemian Rhapsody”--predictably, but still a joke

#19 “Imagine”--John Lennon—another example of picking a song mainly based on popularity

#23 “Heroes”--my Bowie pick would have been ”Modern Love,” and not this high

#26 “A Case of You”--fine pick for Joni

#27 “Born to Run”—doesn’t even make my Bruce top twenty

Among the many songs on the 2004 now, amazingly, missing: “Rockin’ in the Free World,” “Brown Sugar,” “Dance to the Music,” “Wild Thing,” “Street Fighting Man,” “Piece of My Heart,” “White Room” and “Ohio.” At least “Piano Man” also was dropped.

Random: For those wondering about “Stairway to Heaven”—it’s only #61, one slot ahead of U2’s “One.” Again, not Leonard’s best, but “Hallelujah” at #74 just three spots ahead of Jonathan’s “Roadrunner.” “Gloria” only #97—and the Patti Smith version, no less. “Layla” at #224. Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” at #315. “The Harder They Come” at #361. Way down at #498: “Pancho and Lefty,” but still ahead of Kanye’s “Stronger” at #500 (bringing up the rear, so to speak).

A Spotify list with all 500 in order.

Below, just four missing in action, from the Byrds, the Velvets, Joan Jett, and Neil Young but apt for any “rock n roll” list.

They also missed the clear eternal #1….

Reminder: My Atomic Cover-up film arriving via seven new festivals, from Boston to Hawaii, here is link to screenings you can access online and watch virtually in the next week or so, plus the trailer and a couple of dozen responses from notables.

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books, including the bestseller The Tunnels (on escapes under the Berlin Wall), the current The Beginning or the End (on MGM’s wild atomic bomb movie), and The Campaign of the Century (on Upton Sinclair’s left-wing race for governor of California), which was recently picked by the Wall St. Journal as one of five greatest books ever about an election. For nearly all of the 1970s he was the #2 editor at the legendary Crawdaddy. Later he served as longtime editor of Editor & Publisher magazine. He recently co-produced a film about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and now has written and directed his first feature, Atomic Cover-up, which will have its American premiere at a festival this spring.