My thoughts on the top 20 songs from Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. These thoughts clearly say more about me and my taste in music than they do about the songs themselves…but I thought it was fun

20th. Robyn: “Dancing on My Own” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’m a sucker for a sad banger

19th. John Lennon: “Imagine” ⭐⭐⭐ I like the simplicity, but, contrariwise, I’m a bit bored with it

18th. Prince and the Revolution: “Purple Rain” ⭐⭐⭐ The only act in Rolling Stone’s top 20 that I’ve seen live, but there are a dozen Prince songs I like better

17th. Queen: “Bohemian Rhapsody” Dreadful drivel.

16th. Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z: “Crazy in Love” ⭐⭐ Resistance is futile

15th. The Beatles: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The best at their best

14th. The Kinks: “Waterloo Sunset” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The other best at their best…although to be honest his voice often doesn’t work for me, for some reason

13th. The Rolling Stones: “Gimme Shelter” ⭐ Every 10 years they came up with a song that I’ve loved. Gimme Shelter isn’t one of them.

12th. Stevie Wonder: “Superstition” ⭐⭐⭐ I’d like to like Stevie Wonder more than I do, but as with Ray Davies, I don’t quite get on with his singing voice

11th. The Beach Boys: “God Only Knows” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A work of genius, but it came on the radio when someone close to me was seriously ill. I’ve not been able to listen to it since

10th. Outkast: “Hey Ya!" ⭐ I can sort of see why people like this…but I don’t. Maybe it’s too tricky for my simple taste.

9th. Fleetwood Mac: “Dreams” ⭐ Pleasant enough

8th. Missy Elliott: “Get Ur Freak On” ⭐⭐ I prefer Work It

7th. The Beatles: “Strawberry Fields Forever” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cleverer than I Want To Hold Your Hand, but not quite as good

6th. Marvin Gaye: “What’s Going On” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All the stars aligned, magically

5th. Nirvana: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” ⭐ A bit heavy for me….and a pale imitation of punk rock

4th. Bob Dylan: “Like a Rolling Stone” ⭐⭐ I am not a big Dylan fan, but I like the Greatest Hits

3rd. Sam Cooke: “A Change Is Gonna Come” ⭐⭐ I am a big Sam Cooke fan…but this isn’t my favourite. I think this polls well with critics because they are endorsing the message as much as the song

2nd. Public Enemy: “Fight the Power” ⭐⭐⭐ Loses one star for slagging off Elvis,

1st. Aretha Franklin: “Respect” ⭐⭐ It goes without saying, this is a great song, but it’s not as good as I Say a Little Prayer.

Further to the above….if I’d done a list of 500 All Time Best Songs there would be folk, and reggae, and Elvis, Eddie, Buddy, Chuck, and Smokey in the top 20. I think.

I think the psephology of it is, in at least some cases, that some of my favourite artists had a lot of songs to choose from, whereas, say, Queen has one obvious choice, Aretha has two, Nirvana has one, and the Kinks have one.