Best POP song ever.

[Mullardman]

I agree with Brian Wilson that it's this:

I would struggle to find anything comprehensibly better. It has it all. Catchy, accessible, ridden with teen angst.. full of 'hooks'.. etc.

In certain moods.. I'd substitute:

 

[Mullardman]

Donna Summer - I Feel Love. It changed the world.

Africa Bambaattaa & Soul Sonic Force - Planet Rock. Ok relies on Kraftwerk but taken to another level.

Recent times; Rhianna - Work. Not a popular choice here I suspect, but great pop tune that qualifies partly because of the generational vitriol it inspires.

Agree with Pretty Vacant. Above all other Pistols tunes.

Reggae has a weak pop chart presence but Junior Murvin - Police & Thieves got there.

I will not go into detail but you are mostly wrong..

Reggae. ? Chack out the late 60s charts..

 

[darrell_giant]

I will not go into detail but you are mostly wrong.

I have no need to be 'right' but thanks anyway.

 

[Joe Hutch]

No on several levels Tony.

The word is 'Pop' which is a reduction of 'popular'.

Ah, we have a new meme to go with 'not really punk', 'not really metal' and 'not really prog'.

In this context, I'd be inclined to view 'pop' as simply being 'not classical', with (maybe) the proviso that it shouldn't be too obscure. Otherwise we'll have people arguing that a chart-topping record isn't pop because the Mums and Dads of the time didn't like it, which would rule out early Eivis for a kick-off. So I'd say that great pop could be, but need not be, alienating to the older generation.

 

[Tony L]

No on several levels Tony.

The word is 'Pop' which is a reduction of 'popular'. In that sense it should not be completely alienating of the older generation. My Mum and even my Dad grudgingly liked the Beatles, Stones and many others at the ime. Those you mention were not in the running in 'pop' terms.

I disagree. Just look at the reaction/outcry to Elvis when he first appeared in 1954 and effectively started a distinct teen pop music culture. Parents went mad at the "racket", "raw sexuality" of his moves etc. That's good pop music. He was the Sex Pistols or NWA of his generation.

Some parents do like pop music and to some degree stay current, e.g. I'm somewhere between parent and grandparent age now and whilst no expert in the genre do have a couple of this year's rap albums etc (Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak) and really like them. My parents always detested my musical taste be it T. Rex, Bowie, Yes, Hawkwind etc and then punk and new-wave. It was absolutely alien to them and I even had to lie to them about not having the Sex Pistols album and some singles (I hid them under the carpet), but most things later than JS Bach were alienating to them to be honest. They were/are (my dad is still alive) Tories too. Always good for a kid to have something to rebel against!

 

[lsinclair]

I haven't changed my mind in the last four years

Limiting the choice to modernish popular songs I'd say Waterloo Sunset.

 

[stonehenge]

Cool for Cats - Squeeze

 

[Del monaco]

Echo Beach?

 

[Dougunn]

Surely its 'Dancing Queen' - Abba

 

[Yveski]

Let the music play by Shannon

 

[jml3p]

Some great suggestions

 

[stonehenge]

Toast by Streetband
Milk and Alcohol by Dr Feelgood
Hit me with your rhythm stick - Ian Dury

 

[mr.datsun]

Do You Know The Way to San José? Dionne Warwick arr. Burt Bacharach/Hal David

 

[Euan]

"Is this the Way to Amarillo"

Catchy tune, simple lyrics and easy to sing and dance along to.

Alternatively, just about anything by Thegiornalisti on "Sold Out"

 

[gassor]

Published lists are far from definitive or even showing a great deal of agreement. This one makes some sense to me, but some howlers in it as well.

Anyways another suggestion is Marvin Gaye's Grapevine or this with the snazzy outfits, cool moves and the fantastic bass line that gets everyone up on the dancefloor.

 

[Alex N]

Alors voilà
Clyde a une petite amie
Elle est belle et son prénom
C'est Bonnie...

 

[Still]

Anarchy is great, maybe not in the top 3 but Still it is excellent. Btw the intro riff to Anarchy is an Abba rip-off from SOS if you listen carefully. Abba didn't develop in a vacuum and 'so it goes'*.

Bloody Hell! I'd not noticed that, but having given it a quick listen hear what you mean.

The problem with this topic is the more thought that's applied, the more possibilities emerge.
I'm now seriously pondering weather Liz Fraser & Massive Attack's Teardrop is in fact my no.1.

Ah, we have a new meme to go with 'not really punk', 'not really metal' and 'not really prog'.

In this context, I'd be inclined to view 'pop' as simply being 'not classical', with (maybe) the proviso that it shouldn't be too obscure. Otherwise we'll have people arguing that a chart-topping record isn't pop because the Mums and Dads of the time didn't like it, which would rule out early Eivis for a kick-off. So I'd say that great pop could be, but need not be, alienating to the older generation.

Genres in general, and specifically where one ends & the next begins, have baffled me since day one.

Alors voilà
Clyde a une petite amie
Elle est belle et son prénom
C'est Bonnie...

This has recently been trumped as most sensual song by The XX - Lips imo.

 

[JamesJamerson]

Published lists are far from definitive or even showing a great deal of agreement. This one makes some sense to me, but some howlers in it as well.

Anyways another suggestion is Marvin Gaye's Grapevine or this with the snazzy outfits, cool moves and the fantastic bass line that gets everyone up on the dancefloor.

Naw, that performance makes them sound like they were opening for Abba at a Swedish caravan convention. Levi at his best should sound like he's in emotional meltdown, capable of anything:

I need a great song to sound like it absolutely had to be cut at that precise moment or trouble would ensue, and I don't get that in most songs suggested here. Ever felt emotionally shredded after "Waterloo" ?

[youtube]PwXai-sgM-s[/youtube]

 

[Mullardman]

I have no need to be 'right' but thanks anyway.

You're welcome

 

[Mullardman]

Ah, we have a new meme to go with 'not really punk', 'not really metal' and 'not really prog'.

In this context, I'd be inclined to view 'pop' as simply being 'not classical', with (maybe) the proviso that it shouldn't be too obscure. Otherwise we'll have people arguing that a chart-topping record isn't pop because the Mums and Dads of the time didn't like it, which would rule out early Eivis for a kick-off. So I'd say that great pop could be, but need not be, alienating to the older generation.

Interesting. Even 'classical' stuff has entered the charts on occasion.. which pushed me towards considering 'chart' music as a possibly more useful definition than 'pop'. But it is, as ever .the definition/delineation of what we are discussing which is causing the difficulty.

'Best Ever' in pop would have to cover at the very least everything released since the beginning of the UK charts in 1951. We all have our own chronocentrism around pop. With me it's the sixties, though my opinions are now shaped almost as much by earlier stuff I've only recently discovered.

There have been several distinct and identifiable 'phases' in 'pop' in the last 60 or so years. Early rock and roll, mixed with 'safer' pop, the more stagnant corporate stuff that followed until the UK based 'Beat' revolution, the massive explosion of pop, folk, blues, rock, ska, (etc) soul, R&B, Psychedelia, the rise of label based styles. (Stax-Atlantic/Motown etc) through the 1960s, Glam Rock etc in the early 70's alongside 'supergroups'/stadium bands and more stagnation until 'Punk' and so on etc... blah blah. And there has of course also been both overlap and 'paralleling' of styles/movements/trends.

To propose a 'best ever'. the first requirement is that you have actually heard it....

To then be able to position it in a context wider than your own taste/experience is a bit awkward..