Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Notes

Promising Young Woman is not only a great movie, it also has a pretty awesome soundtrack. On it is an orchestral version Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” which is my favourite song of hers. This got me thinking about the top 500 songs of all time according to Rolling Stone Magazine, mainly because this is the song that Spears hits highest with from her repertoire, sitting at #114.

Before getting into this list, it should be said that it was originally released in 2004 and got an update last year, 2021. There are a lot of complaints about the changes, and I think all of us would have at least a few of our own. But in short, the new list takes into account almost all popular genres and target audiences, except for country, jazz, and techno. Blues is represented, though minimally. The old list is mostly from the perspective of white boomers and Xers, mainly male, and picks a whopping 69% of the songs from the 60’s and 70’s. For this blog post I’m going to stick with the 2021 version.

That being said, the following may be of interest to you…

• There are only 3 original movie songs that made the list: “Lose Yourself” by Eminem (#167), “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston (94), and “Purple Rain” by Prince (#18). Even though Houston’s is a cover, the version that made the list is from a movie soundtrack.

• One song appears twice on the list. “Mr. Tambourine Man” by Bob Dylan comes in at #164, but the Byrds cover of the song was good enough to also appear at #230. Makes you wonder if the list should be called “greatest song recordings of all time.”

• The highest ranking song that is not American or British is #20’s “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn, who is Swedish. Joni Mitchell, from Canada, is next at #26 with “A Case of You.”

• It’s a little comical that the list title includes the phrase“of all time,” considering that the earliest song to appear on the list is 1937’s “Cross Road Blues” by Robert Johnson. I mean, it’s only 85 years old.

• Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” was originally #19, but in the 2021 version it’s not on the list at all! HOWEVER, as many found out from the latest Elvis movie, it was a rip-off song. The original was recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1953, and that version is on the 2021 list, at #318. The King does make 3 appearances on the list, however.

• The Beatles appear on the list more than any other artist, 12 times. The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan are tied for second at 7 songs each, David Bowie and Prince are tied for third at 6 songs each, and Bruce Springsteen is fourth with 5 songs making the list.

• The most successful year according to this list is 1971 with 22 entries.

• My main complaints (pretending they matter) are 1) “American Pie” by Don McLean and “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield were dropped from the 2004 list, songs that surely are of higher quality and influence than at least a couple of songs that did make the list. And 2) Eminem, Queen, and Nirvana deserve more spots. They each only have 2 but their contributions are big enough to earn more spots.

• The #1 song of each decade are:
  

  • 10’s: “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn (#20)

  • 00’s: “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliot (#8)

  • 90’s: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana (#5)

  • 80’s: “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy (#2)

  • 70’s: “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye (#6)

  • 60’s: “Respect” by Aretha Franklin (#1)

  • 50’s: “Johnny B. Goode” (#33)

  • 40’s: “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams (#165, the sole song from this decade) 

  • 30’s: “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday (#21, one of only 2 songs from this decade)

• There 8 Canadian artists on the list (representing 16 songs: 

1. The Weeknd (“House of Balloons”)
   

2. Rush (“Limelight”)
   

3. Alanis Morisette (“You Oughta Know”)
   

4. The Band (“The Weight”)
   

5. Leonard Cohen, 2 songs (“Hallelujah”, “Suzanne”)
   

6. Neil Young, 3 songs (“Heart of Gold”, “After the Gold Rush”, “Powderfinger”)
   

7. Drake, 3 songs (“Hold On, We’re Going Home”, “Take Care”, “Hotline Bling”)
   

8. Joni Mitchell, 4 songs (“A Case of You”, “Both Sides Now”, “River”, “Help Me”)

Congratulations Promising Young Woman. This is your week.

And the Oscar goes to…

Best Actress:

Carrie Mulligan as Cassie Thomas in Promising Young Woman. Though in a very close second is Elsie Fisher as Kayla Day in Eighth Grade.

Best Actor: Usually I try to pick someone different than the actor whose namesake is the week’s theme, but I think Bo Burnham has to be the best actor for both his performances in Inside and Promising Young Woman.

Best Quote: “If you could just see yourself the way I see you, the way you really are, then, I swear to god, you wouldn’t be scared either.” – Josh Hamilton as Mark Day in Eighth Grade

There was also an edit done in 2010, but there were only minor changes, which is why I didn’t really refer to it. You can view the full list, 2021 updated version, here.