“Big Star’s ‘Give Me Another Chance’ and Dolby’s Pop 250 Index”

One time this dude posted this thing on Facebook, which I think was a reaction to my sharing a Sufjan Stevens song, that the music people listen to is indicative of the kind of person that they are. I think it was supposed to be some meat-headed denigration of the gentle, melody-laden selection I’d offered. Well, this dude liked Greta Van Fleet, so I think we all know where we can file his opinions.

Insofar as music theory exists, has any teeth and any scientific efficacy, all of these songs should be viewed as universally good. That is the goal of this post, anyway. And sure, you could say all music taste is subjective. I agree and I disagree. The Beatles came along in the 1960s and made girls pi** their pants, scream and pull their hair out. There’s a slight chance they were onto something. 

But loneliness is at the core of this stuff, I think almost always, if that makes you feel any better. It’s like the Bukowskian tenet that pretty much all creation of meaningful art entails some element of emotional suffering. That vision these musicians are rendering is their own conception of what they were before the heartbreak or disappointment, grafted with an extra sense of urgency and clarity for the strong, innate desire to recreate it. The #1 selection on this list will corroborate this idea. I’ve never gotten into Big Star’s album Third/Sister Lovers, though I’ve tried. The general rubric for this list is catchiness. 

..

1 Big Star – “Give Me Another Chance” [100]

2 The Beach Boys – “Sloop John B” [99]

3 Beatles – “Penny Lane” [99]

4 Tommy James and the Shondells – “Crimson and Clover” [99]

5 Pink Floyd – “Learning to Fly” [99]

6 Procol Harum – “A Whiter Shade of Pale” [99]

7 The Stone Roses – “Waterfall” [99]

8 The Stone Roses – “She Bangs the Drums” [99]

9 Beatles – “We Can Work it out” [98]

10 Herman’s Hermits – “I’m into Something Good” [98]

11 Elton John – “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues” [98]

12 My Morning Jacket – “Into the Woods” [98]

13 Pink Floyd – “Poles apart” [98]

14 The Stone Roses – “Elephant Stone” [98]

15 The Stone Roses – “Going down” [98]

16 The Supremes – “You Can’t Hurry Love” [98]

17 Stevie Wonder – “Sir Duke” [98]

18 Beatles – “Yellow Submarine” [97]

19 The Breeders – “Do You Love Me Now?” [97]

20 Bob Dylan – “Just Like a Woman” [97]

21 Bobby Fuller Four – “I Fought the Law” [97]

22 Michael Jackson – “Man in the Mirror” [97]

23 Billy Joel – “Piano Man” [97]

24 Ben E. King – “Stand by Me” [97]

25 The Mamas & the Papas – “Monday, Monday” [97]

26 Pink Floyd – “Take it back” [97]

27 Supergrass – “G-Song” [97]

28 The Temptations – “The Way You Do the Things You Do” [97]

29 The Velvet Underground – “What Goes on” [97]

30 Stevie Wonder – “Overjoyed” [97]

31 The Beach Boys – “Good Vibrations” [96]

32 Beatles – “Here Comes the Sun” [96]

33 Beatles – “Mother Nature’s Son” [96]

34 Beatles – “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love away” [96]

35 Chuck Berry – “Roll over Beethoven” [96]

36 Big Star – “Back of a Car” [96]

37 Bob Dylan – “I Want You” [96]

38 Don Henley – “The End of the Innocence” [96]

39 Mazzy Star – “Fade into You” [96]

40 Meat Puppets – “Sapphire” [96]

41 Wilson Pickett – “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” [96]

42 Pink Floyd – “Comfortably Numb” [96]

43 Steely Dan – “Dirty Work” [96]

44 Stevie Wonder – “Higher Ground” [96]

45 Stevie Wonder – “I Wish” [96]

46 Beatles – “Across the Universe” [95]

47 Beatles – “Dear Prudence” [95]

48 Beach House – “Gila” [95]

49 Chuck Berry – “Johnny B. Goode” [95]

50 Peter Cetera – “Glory of Love” [95]

51 Mike Doughty – “American Car” [95]

52 Head Automatica – “King Caesar” [95]

53 The Jesus and Mary Chain – “Cut Dead” [95]

54 The Mamas & the Papas – “California Dreamin’” [95]

55 The Mamas & the Papas – “Straight Shooter” [95]

56 Modest Mouse – “The Good Times are Killing Me” [95]

57 Nirvana – “Polly” [95]

58 The Rolling Stones – “Beast of Burden” [95]

59 Soundgarden – “Burden in My Hand” [95]

60 The Stone Roses – “Made of Stone” [95]

61 Supergrass – “Hollow Little Reign” [95]

62 Supergrass – “Sun Hits the Sky” [95]

63 Third Eye Blind – “Never Let You Go” [95]

64 Suzanne Vega – “Luka” [95]

65 The Velvet Underground – “Sunday Morning” [95]

66 The Verve – “Bittersweet Symphony” [95]

67 White Rabbits – “Hold it to the Fire” [95]

68 Beatles – “Back in the U.S.S.R.” [94]

69 Beatles – “Good Day Sunshine” [94]

70 Beatles – “Hello Goodbye” [94]

71 Beatles – “Let it Be” [94]

72 Beatles – “Rocky Raccoon” [94] 

73 Beatles – “Something” [94]

74 Beatles – “Your Mother Should Know” [94]

75 Beatles – “The Word” [94]

76 Beck – “Girl” [94]

77 Big Star – “The Ballad of El Goodo” [94]

78 The Black Crowes – “She Talks to Angels” [94]

79 Blur – “End of a Century” [94]

80 Breakfast Club – “Right on Track” [94]

81 CAKE – “Mexico” [94]

82 Califone – “Spider’s House” [94]

83 Califone – “Sunday Noises” [94]

84 Chumbawamba – “Tubthumping” [94]

85 Counting Crows – “Mr. Jones” [94]

86 Counting Crows – “Perfect Blue Buildings” [94]

87 Counting Crows – “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby” [94]

88 The Cranberries – “Free to Decide” [94]

89 Cream – “Anyone for Tennis” [94]

90 Jim Croce – “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” [94]

91 The Dodos – “Fables” [94]

92 Enon – “Spanish Boots” [94]

93 Everclear – “One Hit Wonder” [94]

94 Grateful Dead – “Fire on the Mountain” 

95 Grateful Dead – “He’s Gone” (live/Europe ’72) [94]

96 Green Day – “Pulling Teeth” [94]

97 Guns ’n Roses – “November Rain” [94]

98 Head Automatica – “God” [94]

99 The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Burning the Midnight Lamp” [94]

100 The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Hey Joe” [94]

101 The Innocence Mission – “Bright as Yellow” [94]

102 Elton John – “Don’t Let the Sun Go down on Me” [94]

103 Lower Dens – “Lion in Winter, Pt. 2” [94]

104 The Mamas & the Papas – “Spanish Harlem” [94]

105 Marcy Playground – “Opium” [94] 

106 Meat Puppets – “Backwater” [94]

107 My Morning Jacket – “Gideon” [94]

108 The New Pornographers – “Falling through Your Clothes” [94]

109 The New Pornographers – “July Jones” [94]

110 Nirvana – “Aneurysm” [94]

111 Nirvana – “Clean up Before She Comes” [94] 

112 Pavement – “Type Slowly” [94] 

113 Prince and the New Power Generation – “Diamonds and Pearls” [94]

114 The Rolling Stones – “Angie” [94]

115 The Smashing Pumpkins – “Thirty-Three” [94]

116 Spacehog – “In the Meantime” [94] 

117 Steely Dan – “Reelin’ in the Years” [94]

118 Stone Temple Pilots – “Lady Picture Show” [94]

119 Supergrass – “Alright” [94]

120 Teenage Fanclub – “Slow Fade” [94]

121 Third Eye Blind – “Semi-Charmed Life” [94]

122 Toad the Wet Sprocket – “All I Want” [94]

123 Toad the Wet Sprocket – “Good Intentions” [94]

124 Toad the Wet Sprocket – “P.S.” [94]

125 Toad the Wet Sprocket – “Walk on the Ocean” [94]

126 Ugly Kid Joe – “Everything about You” [94]

127 Ween – “Happy Colored Marbles” [94]

128 White Rabbits – “Everyone Can’t Be Confused” [94]

129 The Who – “Pinball Wizard” [94]

130 Wilco – “Heavy Metal Drummer” [94] 

131 Jackie Wilson – “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”

132 The Ziggens – “Strange Way to Live” [94]

133 Animal Collective – “Bluish” [93]

134 Badfinger – “We’re for the Dark” [93]

135 Beatles – “A Day in the Life” [93]

136 Beatles – “Michelle” [93]

137 Beatles – “Two of Us” [93]

138 Beck – “Movie Theme” [93]

139 Chuck Berry – “Sweet Little Sixteen” [93]

140 Better than Ezra – “Good” [93]

141 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “In Like the Rose” [93]

142 Blur – “Coffee & TV” [93]

143 The Breeders – “Cannonball” [93]

144 The Breeders – “Saints” [93]

145 Califone – “Vampiring Again” [93]

146 Cat Power – “The Moon” [93]

147 The Clash – “Rock the Casbah” [93]

148 The Clash – “Spanish Bombs” [93]

149 Coldplay – “Paradise” [93]

150 Counting Crows – “A Long December” [93]

151 The Cranberries – “Linger” [93]

152 Crash Test Dummies – “God Shuffled His Feet” [93]

153 Credence Clearwater Revival – “Bad Moon Rising” [93]

154 Deerhunter – “Saved by Old Times” [93]

155 Dinosaur Jr. – “This is All I Came to Do” [93]

156 Dire Straits – “Walk of Life” [93] 

157 The Dodos – “Bastard” [93]

158 The Doors – “The Crystal Ship” [93]

159 The Doors – “I Can’t See Your Face in My Mind” [93]

160 The Doors – “Land Ho!” [93]

161 The Doors – “Light My Fire” [93]

162 Bob Dylan – “Watching the River Flow” [93]

163 Eve 6 – “Inside-out” [93]

164 Everclear – “Santa Monica” [93]

165 Fastball – “The Way” [93]

166 Fatboy Slim – “Praise You” [93]

167 Fishbone – “A Movement in the Light” [93]

168 Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams” [93]

169 Fountains of Wayne – “Radiation Vibe” [93]

170 Franz Ferdinand – “Eleanor Put Your Boots on” [93]

171 Amy Grant – “Good for Me” [93]

172 Grateful Dead – “Touch of Grey” [93]

173 Green Day – “Hitchin’ a Ride” [93]

174 Green Day – “Uptight” [93]

175 PJ Harvey – “The Colour of the Earth” [93]

176 Hootie & the Blowfish – “Hold My Hand” [93]

177 INXS – “Not Enough Time” [93]

178 Michael Jackson – “The Way You Make Me Feel” [93]

179 The Jesus and Mary Chain – “Taste of Cindy” [93]

180 Jane’s Addiction – “Jane Says” [93]

181 Jane’s Addiction – “Classic Girl” [93]

182 Led Zeppelin – “All My Love” [93]

183 Led Zeppelin – “Fool in the Rain” [93]

184 Led Zeppelin – “Going to California” [93]

185 Annie Lennox – “Walking on Broken Glass” [93]

186 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – “Biomusicology” [93]

187 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – “Even Heroes Have to Die” [93]

188 LIVE – “Lightning Crashes” [93]

189 Dave Matthews Band – “Ants Marching” [93]

190 Dave Matthews Band – “Crash into Me” [93]

191 Meat Puppets – “Flaming Heart” [93] 

192 Meat Puppets – “Light” [93]

193 Meat Puppets – “Sewn Together” [93]

194 Moby – “Porcelain” [93]

195 Modest Mouse – “Gravity Rides Everything” [93]

196 Modest Mouse – “Ocean Breathes Salty” [93]

197 Modest Mouse – “Wild Packs of Family Dogs” [93]

198 Morrissey – “Every Day is Like Sunday” [93]

199 Morrissey – “I’m Not Sorry” [93]

200 Morrissey – “The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get” [93]

201 Nelly – “Country Grammar (Hot Sh**)” [93]

202 Neutral Milk Hotel – “The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. One” [93]

203 The New Pornographers – “The Bleeding Heart Show” [93]

204 The New Pornographers – “Failsafe” [93]

205 The New Pornographers – “From Blown Speakers” [93]

206 The New Pornographers – “The Laws Have Changed” [93]

207 The New Pornographers – “Sing Me Spanish Techno” [93]

208 Nirvana – “The Man Who Sold the World” (live/MTV Unplugged in New York) [93]

209 Nirvana – “Something in the Way” [93]

210 No Age – “Things I Did When I Was Dead” [93]

211 Pavement – “Fin” [93]

212 Pavement – “Heaven is a Truck” [93]

213 Pavement – “Range Life” [93]

214 Pearl Jam – “Better Man” [93]

215 Tom Petty – “Free Fallin’” [93]

216 Pink Floyd – “Fearless” [93]

217 Pixies – “Here Comes Your Man” [93]

218 John Popper – “Home” [93]

219 Porno for Pyros – “Kimberly Austin” [93]

220 Pretenders – “Back on the Chain Gang” [93]

221 Primitive Radio Gods – “Standing outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand” [93] 

222 Prince – “When Doves Cry” [93]

223 The Proclaimers – “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” [93]

224 R.E.M. – “Tongue” [93]

225 Radiohead – “Creep” [93]

226 Red Hot Chili Peppers – “My Friends” [93]

227 Soul Asylum – “Runaway Train” [93]

228 Soundgarden – “Fell on a Black Days” [93] 

229 Steely Dan – “Do it again” [93]

230 Stone Temple Pilots – “Big Empty” [93]

231 Sublime – “What I Got” [93]

232 The Suicide Machines – “Sometimes I Don’t Mind” [93]

233 T. Rex – “Bang a Gong (Get it on)” [93]

234 T. Rex – “Planet Queen” [93]

235 Talking Heads – “Once in a Lifetime” [93]

236 Third Eye Blind – “Jumper” [93]

237 Throwing Muses – “Crabtown” [93]

238 U2 – “Bad” [93]

239 U2 – “Numb” [93]

240 U2 – “Trip through Your Wires” [93]

241 Sharon Van Etten – “I Told You Everything” [93]

242 The Verve – “Lucky Man” [93]

243 The Who – “Won’t Get Fooled again” [93]

244 XTC – “Ball and Chain” [93]

245 Stevie Wonder – “Happier than the Morning Sun” [93]

246 Stevie Wonder – “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” [93]

247 Stevie Wonder – “My Cherie Amour” [93]

248 Stevie Wonder – “You are the Sunshine of My Life” [93]

249 Kurt Vile – “Jesus Fever” [93]

250 Neil Young – “Heart of Gold” [93] 

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