Pop Culture

By Al Horn

Last week The Rolling Stone Magazine released a list of top 500 songs. Over one hundred and seventy people in the music industry were polled. This elite group consisted of critics and artists that were basically confined to rock music. Still, I would have to take them to task for its accuracy.

One columnist stated that the sixties must have been the age of music because 200 of the songs from the list came out of that era. The seventies produced 144 songs while the eighties only produced 55. Songs from the fifties not only made the list but were prominently in the top twenty. This tells me more about the people being polled than the list itself.

A good portion of the people polled represented a who's who from the sixties and seventies. Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell, Art Garfunkel, and Elvis Costello to name a few. Included were producers that made their names during the same time period. This group represents two cultures within a culture.

Most of the artists from the sixties were influenced by music from the fifties and their own decade. For the most part, they held a good respect for their predecessors and for their contemporaries. If they had been asked to pick their twenty top favorites, I'm certain that fifteen out of the twenty would have come from the fifties and sixties. In some respects, a mutual admiration society.

Artist from the seventies were also influenced by their forerunners but less so by the people around them. From my viewpoint, there was a lot of 'me first' attitudes. My guess is that half of their favorites came from the sixties or earlier and they spread the rest of the list around. Many of the artist from the seventies are or have been producing songs from the eighties or later. Thus, their selections would have been skewed towards the sixties.

Many of the artists from the eighties and nineties grew up having mom or dad hum or sing songs heavily favored from the sixties. Subliminal messages run long and deep.

I don't consider this a conspiracy; merely a poorly constructed poll. Had each person been asked for five of his or her favorite songs from each decade I believe the outcome would have been different. Another thing to consider is that people who have continued to be productive from the sixties will influence the process. I consider Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones to be great artists. They had songs placing first and second in the poll. One can't help but wonder if their careers had been cut short due to some tragedy, would they have placed so well.

I agreed that all of the songs in the top twenty belonged on the list. I noticed Aretha Franklin was the only woman to get any Respect. Considering Carole King's Tapestry album was one of the longest running number one albums for years, it was a wonder her song, It's Too Late, did make the top twenty. My surprise came when songs I figured to be in the top five were not on the short list.

I personally thought Stairway to Heaven should have been on top but that is just my opinion. Two other songs that did not make the top twenty, All Right Now and Locomotion should have been there considering how many times other artists have covered them. Of course, there is the classic, Freebird, number two in my book. Had the original band survived to produce into the modern era surely their work would have received more attention.

There were many bands that produce some really great songs over the years. I was also surprised to see which one came in last on the list. I felt it would have placed much higher if things would have been factored correctly. I am certain in my beliefs. I don't think it's just More Than a Feeling.