Rolling Stone’s new top 500 songs
Written by admin on May 31, 2010 – 9:03 pm -| Rolling Stone magazine has published a special edition to update its list of 500 greatest songs of all time, originally published in 2004.
At the top of the Rolling Stone “500 Greatest Songs Of All Time,” as in 2004, is Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” which is one of 13 Dylan songs in the top 500. This places him behind The Beatles (23) and Rolling Stones (14) and just ahead of Elvis Presley (11). |
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The list has a real 1960s bias, with 195 from that decade, compared to 27 from the 2000s, 21 from the 1990s, 131 from the 1970s and 69 from the 1950s. The earliest song is Muddy Water’s “Rolling Stone” from 1948.
The top five songs remained the same as in the 2004 list:
“Like A Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan
“I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” – Rolling Stones
“Imagine” – John Lennon
“What’s Going On” – Marvin Gaye
“Respect” – Aretha Franklin
Such lists are good for prompting discussion, but I’m not sure it’s really possible to say categorically which songs are the best of all time. I’d certainly struggle to pick a top five that I’d be satisfied with, let alone a top 500. Could you?
Nevertheless, the special edition provides a welcome overview of how 500 classic songs were written and recorded, and is well worth picking up.
You can buy the “Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time” from:
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Posted in 60s pop, American Rock, British Invasion, Elvis, Folk, Motown, The Beatles |
