creepy sample. It's supposed to be the undead talking or something like that.

Also, "Thorn" is a fucking great song.

Du solvas, willst nicht glaube

And there's something quite peculiar
Something shimmering and white


#85.



The Church - "Under the Milky Way"
(479 Points, Eight Votes)

Year: 1988

US Chart Position: #26 / #2 Mainstream Rock

UK Chart Position: #90

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #34 (year), #282 (decade), #1532 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #145

AMG Says: "Scoring a left-field pop hit in America might not have been the goal when Starfish was being recorded, but that's what "Under the Milky Way" did - even more impressively, with a strange, downright gloomy song musically and lyrically, rather different from what R.E.M.'s at-least tunefully upbeat "The One I Love" did for them. With a quiet acoustic guitar start - a bit of production effects making it sound almost lost and forlorn, much like Steve Kilbey's singing with it - the song then picks up a calm, steady energy to add a bit of subtle contrast. If the Marty Willson-Piper/ Peter Koppes guitar team is less prominent throughout much of the song than the strange, haunting keyboards, it's all made up for with the amazing mock-bagpipe solo that adds an immediate, unexpected surge to the whole song. Calling, mournful and truly artistic, it fully transforms the song into the piece of melancholic majesty it is, Kilbey's sly, questioning lyric and expectedly direct but careful singing just what was needed, his concluding repetition of the title as moaning guitar solos softly unreel in the background a last winning touch."

Ranked Highest By: Voodoodaddy (#11)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Starfish

ah..national pride from Voodoodaddy

Now that I got me some Seagram's gin
Everybody's got their cup but the ain't chipped in


#84.



Snoop Doogy Dogg - "Gin & Juice"
(484 Points, Nine Votes)

Year: 1993

US Chart Position: #8 / #5 Top 40 / #1 Rap / #1 Dance

UK Chart Position: #39

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #10 (year), #99 (year), #747 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #497

Ranked Highest By: The Luscious Phil (#12)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Doggystyle

Ha, ha. Awesome.

Sad how "Birdhouse In Your Soul" is going to be higher than both of those.

And Slackmo, "Trigger Cut" wasn't on my "best of Pavement" mix because it wasn't a "best of Pavement" mix. It was designed as an introduction to the band...a sampler, I guess. Not a definitive "best of."

"The Last Dance"...I don't really have much to say about this song, honestly. It's omgwtfamazing. Download it if you've never heard it. Also, "DI Go Pop." Also an amazing song. Motherfucker tears shit up, mang.

I kick the habit
Shed my skin
This is the new stuff
I come dancing in


#083.



Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer"
(484 Points, 7 Votes)

Year: 1986

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: #4

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #13 (year), #154 (decade), #909 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: WOuld've been #551

Ranked Highest By: Agrimorfee (#7)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: So

Win yourself a cheap tray
Share some greased tea with me


#82.



Morrissey - "Everyday is Like Sunday"

Year: 1988

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #9

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #28 (year), #221 (decade), #1237 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #352

AMG Says: "It is, Morrissey has mused, one of life's great mysteries why so many people have covered "Everyday Is Like Sunday", without ever quite understanding what the song is really about. Not that he has ever been at all forthcoming on the subject, but among the many guesses hazarded in that direction, the comparison between a British seaside town in the winter, closed apart from a few hardy beachwalkers, and the absence of life following a nuclear disaster, is at least borne out by a superficial reading of the lyric. As for the song's grip upon everybody who hears it, of course, there really is no mystery there. Quite simply, it is one of the loveliest songs Morrissey (with producer Stephen Street ever wrote, a lushly orchestrated, deeply melodic and stirringly arranged piece, its very chord sequence drenched in nostalgia for a lost world - for British viewers of a certain age, the accompanying video is riddled with reference points to the late-season holidays of their own youths. The mood that the song conjures, however, is clearly universal - Americans Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant are numbered among the song's admirers, with the latter's interpretation less-than-kindly immortalized in the Morrissey b-side "Have A Go Merchant"."

Ranked Highest By: Tracy Jacks (#5)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Viva Hate

VINI REILLY SCROOGED AGAIN

yeah "DI Go Pop" is fucking awesome. Guitar just comes in totally out of nowhere and crushes you. Best thing you've ever uploaded.

this song is on my myspace.

i'm moving to turkey soon and i'm going to start heaps of disco inferno cover bands

lemme know if you figure out a physically possible way to cover "DI Go Pop'

let's get this party started!

And whoever would've thought
The books that you brought
Were all I loved you for


#81.



The Sundays - "Here's Where the Story Ends"

Year: 1990

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "England's the Sundays enjoyed several albums and some chart hits with their pleasant brand of coffeehouse rock. Most will probably remember the band for Harriet Wheeler's singing style, which combines wide-eyed wonder with free-spiritedness and sometimes incomprehensibility due to her thick English accent and high-pitched voice. Perhaps their most popular radio hit was 1989's "Here's Where the Story Ends," a contemplative song camouflaged in a mid-tempo, alternative pop package. The lyrics, which are somewhat indecipherable, effectively document an idealist's view of the world, which, in this song, reveals an apathetic and cynical society. The verse "People I know places I go/make me feel tongue tied/I can see how people look down/They're on the inside" illustrates the Sundays' viewpoint. Also, another theme, the stages of processing a life event, is smartly chronicled in the lyrics. For instance, a "terrible year" is later described as "colorful." Elsewhere, the line "Oh I never should have said the books that you read/were all I loved you for" transforms into "And who ever would've thought the books that you brought/were all I loved you for?" "Here's Where the Story Ends" continues to be heard on modern rock, college, and alternative radio stations. The song, ironically, was mostly appreciated for its music and Wheeler's pleasing voice. Listeners did not, however, catch onto the clever wordplay by Wheeler and David Gavurin (guitars), which was often the case with the Sundays because of the singer's "challenging" vocal delivery. Likeable attribute or frustrating characteristic? It all depends on who you ask."

Ranked Highest By: Slackmo (#7)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Reading, Writing & Arithmetic

"Hi, umm... Do you happen to know who Preston Myers is?"
"Du'uh. He only sat like, right next to you in freshman english. But I guess you wouldn't remember that. I mean, why would Amanda Beckett pay any attention to a unique spirit like Preston, or even a unique spirit like me? Maybe it's because she's a little busy ordering around her little conformist flock of sheep. SHEEP! You are all sheep. Baah!"


#80.



The Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait"
(496 Points, Six Votes)

Year: 1987

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "This is the one of the songs that link the raw garage days of the Replacements to Paul Westerberg's more ambitiously crafted and finely produced, post- Replacements solo career. Featuring a quiet and simple circular guitar riff, the instrumentation is made up mostly of horns and strings, and Memphis legend Jim Dickinson's reigned-in production is crisp and clean. Clearly the group was aiming for the sort of bright, early-'70s AM-radio sounds of songs like B.J. Thomas' "Hooked on a Feeling." It was as if Westerberg realized that his gifts as a songwriter were enough to let his melodies and lyrics shine through without the din of distortion and edgy performances for which his band had been known. During his tenure with the band, Westerberg guided them from pure garage rock raucousness to nuanced, soulful songwriting and a more focused production standard. And he probably looked at his record collection, as many artists do, and realized that he did not listen exclusively to punk rock and heavy-guitar music; that, in fact, his tastes probably ran toward the well-crafted and high-production-values side of Big Star, the Beatles, and the Stones. In the process, however, many such artists forget the fact that many of the same elements of their own music, which they may feel they are outgrowing, are often times precisely the aspects that make them unique as artists. One can not blame Westerberg for feeling like he had achieved all he could with the Replacements' formula; he obviously wanted to move on and challenge his fans to grow along (in the same direction) as him -- to accept his art on new terms. The question is, however: Did the songwriter leave behind that which made him great as a performer? Undoubtedly, "Can't Hardly Wait" sports some of the bearings of a great Replacements song: a catchy guitar line, a memorable melody, and a unique turn of phrase or two. But one can't help but think the song as performed in its incarnation 1987's Pleased to Meet Me sounds simply too controlled. If the band had played the same song on or before Let it Be (1984), it might have teetered on the verge of collapse -- as the bandmembers themselves often did. But it was precisely this style of pop music, played with a dangerous edge and reckless joy, that was one of the main attractions of the band, and by extension, Westerberg as a songwriter. In fact, the song was originally recorded prior to Bob Stinson's departure, during the sessions for Tim (1985) -- which was tellingly included in lieu of the Pleased to Meet Me version on the collection All for Nothing/Nothing for All (1997) -- and it rocks like the band used to, with '70s punk rock-influenced guitars like the Ramones, the Clash, Blondie, and the dual attack on the Rolling Stones' 1978 Some Girls. Westerberg's vocal delivery of a rough draft of the lyrics is appropriately passionate: sneering, raspy, and breathless, as if he was propelled by the band. During the Tim-era, the Replacements walked a perilously fine line between their rowdy days of old and the crafted, polished direction of the future; it was a perfect balance. The production, by ex- Ramone Tommy Erdelyi, is timeless-sounding, unlike Dickinson's (ironically) decidedly '80s sounds. Without blaming the band for having to move on -- lacking the raw soul of the dysfunctional, kicked-out Bob Stinson and also as a result of the band's choosing to clean up their act a little -- "Can't Hardly Wait" is merely a good, not great song, executed soundly, albeit lifelessly. As such, it does not have much to distinguish itself from a whole pack of other post- Big Star, pop revival songs -- being the sort of cute pop song that earned it a spot on the soundtrack for the teenie movie that took its name from the song, Can't Hardly Wait (1998). And this merely good version of the Replacements is what disappointed their fans; they were spoiled by all the absolutely great pop/rock songs the band had tossed off over the years. They may have always been lovable losers, but they were never "cute.""

Ranked Highest By: Paul (#2)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Pleased to Meet Me

That song deserved better than that movie.

yeah srsly

Through every forest
Above the trees
Within my stomach
Scraped off my knees


#79.



Nine Inch Nails - "Closer"
(499 Points, 11 Votes)

Year: 1994

US Chart Position: #41 / #35 Mainstream Rock / #29 Dance / #11 Modern Rock

UK Chart Position: #25

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #17 (year), #80 (decade), #631 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #111

Ranked Highest By: Stphone (#11)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: The Downward Spiral



thought the movie did a pretty good job, actually. Could just be a sentimental thing though.

I'm not proud of the fact that I never learned much
Just feel I should say
What you get is all real I can't put on an act
It takes brains to do that anyway


#78.



XTC - "The Mayor of Simpleton" / "One of the Millions"
(500 Points, Ten Votes)

Year: 1989

US Chart Position: #72 / #15 Mainstream Rock / #1 Modern Rock (band's only Hot 100)

UK Chart Position: #46

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: Would've been #693

AMG Says: "XTC's biggest American success, coming after the fluke controversy of "Dear God," "The Mayor of Simpleton" from Apples and Oranges showed that even when creating something that a Stateside mainstream audience could enjoy, the band's core qualities hadn't changed at all. While in many ways it was one of the most conservative songs by the band yet -- the rhythm was pretty straightforward, the sonic feeling one of familiar Byrds-tinged folk-rock -- it was still a joyful, entertaining song that fit just as readily on radio and MTV as did Elvis Costello's "Veronica" from around the same time. Andy Partridge's winning lyric about a fellow who isn't too smart but still has a lot of love to offer is a fun little conceit, while his singing is some of his warmest yet. As was so often the case, he got in a new melody halfway through the song, as clear a band signature as anything. Funniest line in context -- the part about the narrator not being able to 'write a big hit song.'"

Ranked Highest By: Elemeno P.T. (#3)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Oranges & Lemons




I'm gonna get deep down


#77.



Primal Scream - "Loaded"
(500 Points, Nine Votes)

Year: 1990

US Chart Position: #19 Modern Rock

UK Chart Position: #16

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #5 (year), #41 (decade), #356 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #197

AMG Says: "Fun time waster: put on Primal Scream's epochal, scene-defining 1990 hit single "Loaded" and then track down the original Primal Scream song that it's ostensibly a remix of, 1989's "I'm Losing More Than I'll Ever Have." The similarities are close to nil: remixer Andrew Weatherall saves the bassline and some of Martin Duffy's piano, but adds an entirely new rhythm track and other instrumentation and -- best of all -- boots Bobby Gillespie's goofball lyrics and all but a couple of random phrases of his lead vocals, replacing them with samples of movie dialogue and a synthesized horn section. The results are simply spectacular, seven minutes of a trippy and soulful dance groove that's better than the source material by some distance. When they start making nostalgic movies about 1990 Great Britain, "Loaded" will be on every one of the soundtracks."

Ranked Highest By: The Good Dr. Bill (#4)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Screamadelica

PUNCHLINE




#76.

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g1LE9s8RxYg"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g1LE9s8RxYg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Pulp - Sisters EP / "Babies"

Year: 1992

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #19

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "Essentially, the Sisters EP is a re-released single for "Babies," featuring three new songs. The first, "Your Sister's Clothes, " revisits the pair of sisters from "Babies" and, as the sleeve says, "the younger sibling finally gets her revenge for earlier years." "Seconds" and "His 'N' Hers" both explore the fears and pitfalls of domestic life and the latter in pariticular is very effective, with its vaguely Latin beat. The EP charted at number 19, the band's highest placing to date, and set the stage for the breakthrough success of "Common People." None of the B-sides appeared on an album."

Ranked Highest By: No Magnets (#8)

Amazon Link

wow, never seen that video before. they could've done so much more with it. that's one of the best storylines in a pulp song.

I doubt they or their label had a lot of money at the time

they were on island at this point. i think they could've afforded more than a white screen background.

The video was conceived and first shot in 92 when they were on Gift. But they certainly could have scrapped it and redid one on Island's budget-- you're totally right about that. (I'm glad they didn't: Hell, I like the simplicity of it. I do think it makes it much more interesting than some literal narrative re-telling of the song.)

it seems there is another video. i had a feeling there was.<br>

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8sJHEjq0XoI"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8sJHEjq0XoI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

oh, damn, that was the video I meant to post (hence the teaser)

And in this town of misguided tourists
She never thought she'd fall in love


#75.



Saint Etienne - "Like a Motorway"
(509 Points, Six Votes, One #1 Vote)

Year: 1994

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #47

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #153

Ranked Highest By: Rajexico (#1) (also ranked #3 by Falling and Laughing)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Tiger Bay

come over here


#74.

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_1ijjIGaZAE"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_1ijjIGaZAE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

INXS - "Need You Tonight"
(510 Points, Eight Votes)

Year: 1987

US Chart Position: #1

UK Chart Position: #2

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #46 (year), #367 (decade), #1914 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #250

AMG Says: ""Need You Tonight" became the only American number one hit for the stylish Australian dance rock sextet INXS in early 1988, and proved to be their biggest British hit as well. It was a sleek, sexy bit of pop-funk featuring a breathy vocal from Michael Hutchence, and its striking video snagged heavy MTV play. The song begins with a catchy electronic percussion figure, adds a staccato and a strummed guitar riff, then brings in the bass and another guitar figure based on single plucked notes. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the song is that each of those individual elements is catchy and memorable in and of itself (and the listener can follow a different one every time), but the perfectly interlocking arrangement also provides enough space for each to be heard, without allowing any one part to dominate. The song's glossy production didn't exactly give it the same level of grit, but the way its simple parts all blended into a percolating groove recalled the best ensemble work in classic funk and Southern soul. Hutchence came on as a slinky, bare-chested sex symbol in the video, and he sings like it on the recording, adopting a smoldering murmur that flat-out oozes seduction. With all the pieces thus falling into place, "Need You Tonight" turns out to be an all-around top-notch single, one of the best in a catalog filled with excellent singles."

Ranked Highest By: Stphone (#6)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Kick

that Pulp song is excellent. Never heard it before this.

I'm glad "Like a Motorway" placed well, that was probably the best song I heard for the first time thanks to the voting thread.

Holding on for dear life


#73.



Blur - "For Tomorrow"
(511 Points, Nine Votes)

Year: 1993

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #28

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #6 (year), #63 (decade), #530 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #455

Ranked Highest By: Derry Dukes (#6)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Modern Life is Rubbish

I wear black on the outside
'Coz black is how I FEEL on the INSIDE


#72.



The Smiths - "Bigmouth Strikes Again" / "Money Changes Everything" / "Unloveable"
(513 Points, Eight Votes)

Year: 1986

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #26

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #23 (year), #249 (decade), #1377 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #598

AMG Says: "The second single from The Queen Is Dead, "Bigmouth Strikes Again" follows in the fractured guitar tradition of "How Soon Is Now?" But in place of the distant melancholy of the famed earlier single is a huge dose of somewhat pompous, feigning guilt. One would guess that Morrissey has positioned himself as the protagonist. His comparisons to Joan of Arc fit perfectly with the sexually ambiguous image he had molded for himself at the time. The anachronisms of the song make for a sneering attack on the perceived ignorant critics of the band and singer. Imagery dealing with Joan of Arc's melting hearing aid seems purely self-referential. Morrissey had taken to wearing a hearing aid at some concert performances and during televised appearances. Supposedly this gesture was to make hearing-impaired fans feel more comfortable with themselves. Whether it was empathy or affectation, Morrissey seems utterly detached and angry with his fellow humans, or it seems he's refusing to apologize, at least in a serious way, for his bold, spiteful treatment of the world and his musical peers in the press. He's basically saying, "Take me as I am, tortured artist's warts and all." The weird, processed voice in the background that punctuates some vocals is courtesy of Morrissey. The liner notes credit it to Ann Coates, but the credit is just a playful reference to the Ancoats area of Manchester. Johnny Marr's acoustic guitar sticks to the same couple of jangly chords, but he adds a quick bit of picking mid-song to liven up the pace. The single was released in May 1986, with the rare B-side "Money Changes Everything.""

Ranked Highest By: Rob Gordon (#7)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: The Queen is Dead

And I'm never gonna set you free


#71.



Matthew Sweet - "Girlfriend"
(515 Points, Nine Votes, One #1 Vote)

Year: 1991

US Chart Position: #10 Mainstream Rock / #4 Modern Rock

UK Chart Position: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #24 (year), #219 (decade), #1411 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #71

AMG Says: "In a classic story from the "hooray for life's little ironies" department, Matthew Sweet recorded his third album, Girlfriend, for A&M Records -- who opted to drop Sweet from his contract rather than release it. Zoo Entertainment eventually put it out in 1991, and it quickly became Sweet's critical and commercial breakthrough. The title tune, "Girlfriend," is as good an example as any of what made the album so memorable -- and why A&M was wary of its commercial prospects. On the surface, "Girlfriend" is a model up-tempo pop tune, with delicious multi-tracked harmonies on the chorus that beg the listener to sing along and a propulsive energy that would make any pop aficionado get up and dance. But laid over the top is a wildly fragmented guitar lead from Robert Quine, whose bitterness is a bracing counterpoint to the sweetness (no pun intended) of Sweet's vocals, while drummer Fred Maher is bound and determined to make this song rock, and his manic energy drives this performance the way Keith Moon would send the Who's early singles into overdrive. "Girlfriend" has a pure pop heart and a noise rock soul, and it's hard to imagine a time when the mass audience would have embraced it as eagerly as in late 1991 and early 1992, when the sudden and explosive success of Nirvana and the alternative rock revolution briefly changed the rules on what constituted a radio-ready pop tune."

Ranked Highest By: Slackmo (#1) (also ranked #3 by Tracy Jacks)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Girlfriend

And there's a chance that things'll get weird
Yeah that's a possibility


#70.



Archers of Loaf - "Web in Front"
(515 Points, 7 Votes)

Year: 1993

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a (utterly disgusting)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #262

Ranked Highest By: Animals and Men (#2) (also ranked #4 by Pavement Ist Rad and #5 by The Good Dr. Bill)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Icky Mettle

song absolutely rules

It's not like years ago
The fear of getting caught


#69.



R.E.M. - "Nightswimming"
(521 Points, Eight Votes, One #1 Vote)

Year: 1992

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: #27

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "Ostensibly about teenage skinny-dipping, the penultimate song from R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People, "Nightswimming," is actually a bittersweet ode to nostalgia and the freedom and innocence of youth. This theme and musical mood had already been explored on "Hairshirt" and "You Are the Everything" from 1988's Green, and once again the band evokes melancholy without being maudlin. Besides piano, Michael Stipe's voice and some strings are the only things heard, a sound not typically embraced by so-called alternative artists. This makes sense, for R.E.M.'s interest has always lied in transcending the confines of that meaningless label. As such, the song's almost chamber pop atmosphere has more to do with the Beatles than the guitar-heavy groups that originally influenced the band. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin fame arranged the strings, and it shows another link between two seemingly disparate groups who actually shared not only pushing the boundaries of their craft but also the ability to make not less than a good record as common pursuits. Along with album-closer "Find the River," "Nightswimming" somehow makes sadness feel hopeful, as did most of 1992's Automatic for the People, perhaps R.E.M.'s last undisputed masterpiece."

Ranked Highest By: Thresholdofrevelation (#1)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Automatic for the People

song absolutely rules

Infamous butcher


#68.



Slayer - "Angel of Death"
(522 Points, Seven Votes)

Year: 1986

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #20 (year), #224 (decade), #1248 (all-time)

Ranked Highest By: Saskadelphia (#6)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Reign in Blood

For me Nightswimming really revokes the feelings of doing just that...naked in the water at night at the lake or quarry or wherever I happened to be...that feeling..it's there.

"'What... what's going on...? How come they don't just, like, play that cool part through the whole song?'"
"Well, Beavis, if they didn't have, like, a part of the song that sucked, then, it's like, the other part wouldn't be as cool.'"


#67.



Radiohead - "Creep"
(524 Point, 11 Votes)

Year: 1993

US Chart Position: #34 / #20 Mainstream Rock / #2 Modern Rock

UK Chart Position: #7

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #1 (year), #14 (decade), #142 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #120

Ranked Highest By: Elcorazon (#3)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Pablo Honey

ASTRONOMICAL


#66.



Deee-Lite - "Groove is in the Heart" / "What is Love?"
(527 Points, 13 Votes)

Year: 1990

US Chart Position: #4 / #1 Dance

UK Chart Position: #2

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #2 (year), #19 (decade), #185 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #75

Ranked Highest By: Bobzilla (#7)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: World Clique

"Pretty much a song about oppression"


#85.



R.E.M. - Fall on Me"
(532 Points, Nine Votes)

Year: 1986

US Chart Position: #94 / #5 Mainstream Rock

UK Chart Position: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #22 (year), #248 (decade), #1372 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #113

AMG Says: "For the album Life's Rich Pageant, R.E.M. vocalist and lyricist Michael Stipe made a concerted effort to enunciate his trademark mumble and sing out on issues of the day. "Fall on Me," the lead track on the 1986 album, was an eco song and the perfect example of the band's slight new direction. Bill Berry told Spin that year the song was specifically about "acid rain." The video for "Fall on Me" was filmed upside down in a rock quarry, and snippets of the environmentally concerned words flash on-screen throughout: "Buy" the sky, "Sell" the sky, etc. The R.E.M. jangle rock sound was still intact and a very '80s drum attack supplied the beat, but Stipe's vocal is the lead instrument on the track, followed closely by Mike Mills' background vocals and bridge: "What is it up in the air for?/Don't fall on me." Of course, the story of Chicken Little and his belief that the sky was about to fall also comes to mind."

Ranked Highest By: Paul (#4)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Life's Rich Pageant

I made the change from a common thief
To up close and personal with Robin Leach


#64.



The Notorious B.I.G. - "Juicy" / "Unbelievable"

Year: 1994

US Chart Position: #27 / #14 R&B / #3 Dance / #1 Rap

UK Chart Position: #72

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #32 (year), #266 (decade), #1628 (all-time) (Juicy), #22 (year), #175 (decade), #1232 (all-time) (Unbelievable)

Rank on Our All-Time Singles List: #180

Ranked Highest By: The Luscious Phil (#9)

Can Be Most Easily Found On: Ready to Die (not available on Amazon.com)

Man, all the R.E.M. singles on the list were pretty bearable until one beat "Web in Front" and another beat "Groove is in the Heart."

Your point would be a little more valid if we weren't talking about "Fall On Me," which is closer to perfection either of those songs.

what?

The cream is rising to the top...
and Groove Is In The Heart...one of the quirkiest dance floor grooves that gets the masses to the floor...

It's not hard to be flawless when you're not aiming for anything that great.

I'm surprised "Creep" isn't higher, actually.

As always, excellent job GDB!
Noticed one bad link - this links to Amazon.

It looks like "Bigmouth Strikes Again" links to the mp3 of Blur's "For Tomorrow" instead.

If I were to point to any song as "perfect," it would probably be "Web in Front," so you probably won't convince me on that level.