# Rolling Stone top 500 songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 15, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715 "2021-09-15T19:48:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/1 "2021-09-15T19:48:36Z")
They did this last in 2004 Most of the top 50 I am OK with except not a rap fan. Have at it > **[The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/the-supremes-baby-love-3-1224838/)** > > For the first time in 17 years, we’ve completely remade our list of the best songs ever. More than 250 artists, writers, and industry figures helped us choose a brand-new list full of histori… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/2 "2021-09-15T20:27:12Z")
Well it’s a silly list, but then it’s intended to be. Fascinating that ‘Let it Be’ is at 121, behind Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ (!!) and ‘Hey Jude’ is in the 90’s, but the only Beatles song in the top 10 is ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ at #7, which I wouldn’t even put in the top 10 of Beatles’ songs. And Public enemy has the 2nd song on the list with ‘Fight the Power’? Classic Rock is taking a beating in this new way of doing things. The first Who song I found was ‘Baba O’Reilly’ at 159. The first Pink Floyd song is ‘Comfortably Numb’ at 179. ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, which used to reliably crack the top 10 on such lists has dropped to 295. And wow, the first (and only) Eagles song is ‘Hotel California’ at 311. That also used to be a top 10 ‘greatest song’ or close to it. Recency bias has put a whole lot of very mediocre but newer songs on the list. No Warren Zevon, but I expected that. Actually, I expected the list to suck hard. I think that’s intentional. It’s all about the clicks, and the best way to get clicks is to get people arguing and linking to it. ---
**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/3 "2021-09-15T20:33:02Z")
Stupid. Just pain stupid and pointless. I can’t imagine anyone who’s marginally serious about music giving any consideration to it. I suppose the magazine has their reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/4 "2021-09-15T21:11:59Z")
They obviously polled a very diverse group of people to get these results, which is the best way to do it. It’s an interesting list, but I can’t imagine there’s any actual individual person in the world whose list would much resemble this one. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/5 "2021-09-15T21:47:33Z")
And coming in at number 471 (two spaces _behind_ the Dixie Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl”), we have the Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun”. Wait, wut?? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/6 "2021-09-15T21:54:24Z")
> [@Keith1](#): > > Stupid. Just pain stupid and pointless. I can’t imagine anyone who’s marginally serious about music giving any consideration to it. I suppose the magazine has their reasons. That about sums it up. And their reason is eyeballs and clicks, plus a general attempt to remain relevant. I would say RS has lost their credibility, but I never thought they ever had any. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/7 "2021-09-15T22:00:01Z")
The list is joke. Can’t take it seriously when the best song in human history isn’t Number one or even in the Top 50. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/8 "2021-09-15T23:52:55Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > the best song in human history John Jacob Jingleheimersmith? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/9 "2021-09-16T00:39:05Z")
“Cherry Pie” by Warrant, of course. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/10 "2021-09-16T00:43:20Z")
Obviously my tastes must be significantly different from those who voted. Of the top 50, there are very few songs I even like. Some of the artists had songs that were better than those in the top 50, so in some cases I am comparing apples to apples. Here’s the few from the top 50 I like. 5 - Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit 17 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody 22 - The Ronettes - Be My Baby 33 - Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode 35 - Little Richard - Tutti-Frutti 43 - The Temptations - My Girl 44 - Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (although this isn’t even in his personal top 10 IMHO) 50 - Daddy Yankee - Gasolina That’s less than 20% for me in terms of the songs even being good songs, much less the best of all time. Prince, The Kinks, Springsteen, Notorious BIG, Michael Jackson, and many others in the Top 50 had better songs that didn’t make the top 50. > [@dorvann](#): > > The list is joke. Can’t take it seriously when the best song in human history isn’t Number one or even in the Top 50. Mozart’s 17th piano concerto / K 453? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/11 "2021-09-16T01:09:54Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > The list is joke. Can’t take it seriously when the best song in human history isn’t Number one or even in the Top 50. 99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/12 "2021-09-16T01:10:53Z")
“Cherry Pie” by Warrant, ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/13 "2021-09-16T01:15:51Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > That about sums it up. And their reason is eyeballs and clicks, plus a general attempt to remain relevant. I believe you are correct. My computer’s fan wanted to join in the competition to become #501 on the list. It was working overtime to cool down my hard drive which was heating up due to all the ads that were embedded in that list that kept popping up. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/14 "2021-09-16T01:20:09Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > My computer’s fan wanted to join in the competition to become #501 And I’ll bet it would sound better than about 50 songs on that list. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/15 "2021-09-16T02:11:31Z")
Rio by Duran Duran. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/16 "2021-09-16T02:27:32Z")
I also like only some of the songs in the top 50. However, my list is different from yours. I guess that’s the point. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/17 "2021-09-16T02:56:36Z")
Lists like this are always dumb, but this list is almost aggressively dumb. “Dancing on my Own” by Robyn? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/18 "2021-09-16T03:05:02Z")
Maybe I just have very generic tastes, but I like most of the songs in the top 50. (which is the only part of the list I looked at). And the ones I don’t, I at least think “yeah, that’s a good song.” (or at least “yes, that’s an influential song”) even if subjectively, it’s not my taste. I’m also not seeing much recency bias in the top 50 - it seems fairly well distributed and centered about 40 years ago, though I’m sure you would end up with a very different list if they had surveyed white middle-aged men. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/19 "2021-09-16T03:38:10Z")
_Rolling Stone_ is just trolling everybody with this list. They ceased having musical relevance back in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2021, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715/20 "2021-09-16T05:35:28Z")
It’s a great song. I wouldn’t expect it to be on a list of the 50 best of all time, but I like it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stone-top-500-songs/950715.md?page=2)