The Jackson 5 - ABC
Marvin Gaye - Let’s Get It On
The Temptations - My Girl
The Miracles - I Second That Emotion
The Four Tops - I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
Van Valen - Running with the Devil
Hall and Oates - You Make My Dreams
Herbie Hancock - Rock It
A-Ha - Take on Me
Average White Band - Pick Up The Pieces
Bill Withers - Lean On Me
Billy Joel - Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
Bon Jovi - Livin’ On A Prayer
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Eminem - Stan
Journey - Don’t Stop Believing
Kool and the Gang - Ladies Night
Mason Williams - Classical Gas
This list is kinda illustrative of the problems I had making mine. There’s one set of artists who are (in my mind) one hit wonders, and it seems unfair to call their one hit their “signature”, so I just leave them off the list. IMO Mason Williams is a good example of this, as Classical Gas is the only song of his that I know. Surely, though, a personal fan of his would know more.
OTOH, I find it very difficult to pick a “signature” for an artist when I know a bunch of their work. So I don’t pick one because I tend to conflate “signature” with “my favorite”, and you have to know a WHOLE lot about the artist to distinguish the two. Most of the other artists in this list fall into the second category for me.
Marvin Gaye – why not I Heard It Through the Grapevine or What’s Going On?
The Temptations – why not Get Ready or The Way You Do the Things You Do?
The Miracles – why not Tears of a Clown?
I dunno why not, so I don’t put them on my list either.
Good point. I didn’t know if including one hit wonders was a cheat or not. For the other artists, however, I just put the songs of theirs that had likely been most universally known and distinctive.
Technically you could put “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” or “What’s Going On?” for Marvin, but I think “Let’s get It On” is more widely recognizable to fans and non-fans alike. At least, that’s how I saw fit to arrange my list.
Dunnow, the Knights might’a looked mighty pretty 
(I’m picturing the Pythons relaxing in their satin and lace at some point during their search for the Holy Grail and one asking another “do these garter stockings make mine butt look fat?”).
ABBA - Chiquitita
Joan Manuel Serrat - the Vingt anys series (now that I’m 20 years old, I’ve been 20 years old for 20 years, I’ve been 20 years old for 20 years for 20 years); Mediterráneo (his first song in Spanish); Hoy puede ser un gran día (today can be a great day)
Lluis Llach - L’estaca (a song that was such an evident call to fight Franco’s regime that Llach says he still can’t believe it passed censorship)
Estopa - Pastillas de freno
Manolo Escobar - in Spain, Mi carro; abroad, Porrompompero
Juan Luis Guerra y 440 - La bilirrubina
Peret - Borriquito como tú
Miguel Ríos - Himno a la alegría (Ode to Joy); Santa Lucía (a song which made no sense when it was written but which sounds a lot less weird in the Skype age)
*Sometimes you remind me of someone(…)
I know everything about your life, nevertheless
I know nothing about you.
The telephone is so cold,
your calls so short,
I want to meet
but you refuse(…)
Sometimes you remind me of me.
The first time I thought “she misdialed”,
the second time I didn’t know what to say
then I was afraid, so many crazies out there,
and now I know
I couldn’t live without you.*
Obus - Casi me mato
Barón Rojo - Los rockeros van al infierno (Rockers go to Hell); Siempre estás allí (You’re always there; You = fans)
Siniestro Total - Miña Terra Gallega (cover of Sweet Home Alabama)
Metallica - Nothing else matters (I swear I’ve actually asked Metallica fans “do they have any other songs? Sheesh!” Yes, they do, a few of them and most don’t drip treacle)
Rammstein - Reise, reise
Yeah, I’ve known his stuff since the 60s, and Cocaine would have to be way down on the list for a possible signature song. Of course, when the song is mentioned, since he’s the only one who probably ever did it, his name would come up; otherwise…
The Four Freshmen–Blue World
With signature songs, I figure they’re the ones that most people will know, even those that don’t really know the artist and most likely aren’t interested in hearing “but they’ve done better than that”
Pearl Jam - Alive (runner up would be Jeremy and that concludes their ‘everyone knows this’ songs I think)
Guns N’ Roses - November Rain (runner up, Sweet Child O Mine)
The Who - I’d say My generation
Madonna - Like a virgin
Michael Jackson - Thriller / Beat It
Lionel Richie - Dancin’ on the ceiling
Van Halen - Jump
Kiss - I was made for lovin’ you
Soundgarden - black hole sun
Europe - Final countdown
the Doors - Light my fire
Sex Pistols - God save the queen
the Ramones - I want tobe sedated
One-hit wonders should be admitted, only if you name the song first, and the artist’s name comes immediately to mind. Actually, this should be the rule for everyone. Like if you say “Fever,” Peggy Lee is the obvious artist.
Listings like this should have to work both ways. If “Over the Rainbow” or “What a Wonderful World” is mentioned, you wouldn’t automatically think of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (unless you were seriously deranged).
A “signature song” isn’t necessarily an artist’s best song or his/her biggest hit- in some cases, the “signature song” was never really a hit at all. It’s more of a theme song. Sometimes it’s a self-selected theme song, and other times it’s a song that fans think sums up what the artist was all about.
Andy Williams’ signature song was definitely “Moon River,” even though his recording of that song never reached the Billboard charts. He picked that as his personal theme song, just as Bob Hope picked “Thanks for the Memories.”
Glen Campbel had a lot of hit singles. “Gentle on My Mind” was not one of them. But it’s the song he chose as his theme. That makes it his signature song, even if it wasn’t his best or most popular.
In the case of Frank Sinatra, he had dozens of hits, numerous iconic songs, and MANY of those songs were a lot better than “My Way”… but somehow, “My Way” seemed to sum up his life, his career and his attitude better than any of his other hits.
Similarly, John Lennon wrote and recorded dozens of hits, many of which were much better than “Imagine”… but somehow, “Imagine” embodied the ideals and attitudes that a lot of people admired most in John Lennon. That’s what made it his signature song.
SOMETIMES, a band or artist’s first smash hit becomes its signature song by default, even if the band/artist has gotten tired of it. SOMETIMES a band or artist comes to think of that song as an albatross around the neck! In those cases, an artist may groan, “I’ve made LOADS of great records, but the audience will have a cow if I don’t play THIS one!”
Sting will NEVER escape from “Roxanne.” He may rework it and play it in different styles in concert, but he knows he HAS to play it.
The Stones will NEVER escape from “Satisfaction.”
The Moody Blues CAN’T do a show and not play “Nights in White Satin.”
Kiss HAS to do “Rock and Roll All Night.”
A few artists have been productve, successul and prolific enough to have MULTIPLE signature songs.
Paul McCartney HAS to play “Yesterday,” “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be” at every show. He has a huge body of work to choose from, but those songs are so iconic that he CAN’T not play them.
A few other suggestions…
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Benny Goodman: “Sing SIng Sing”
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Alice Cooper: “School’s Out”
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Led Zeppelin: “Stairway to Heaven” (they’d rather it was something else, no doubt)
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Elvis Presley: “Hound Dog”
A few others:
Deep Purple: “Smoke on the Water”
Shirley Temple: “On the Good Ship Lollipop”
Rosemary Clooney: “Come Onna My House”