The Greatest of All Time Pop Songs: 1-10
So I was looking through the Billboard charts the other day while doing one of my reviews and I stumbled upon a list called "Greatest of All Time Pop Songs" and I thought, "Well this should be good". So what I found was a list of 100 best performing songs from the year 1992 till late 2017 and what a weird list it was indeed. So I'm just going to take a nostalgic trip through the last 25 years of music and see how well these songs hold up and what I remember of them when they first came out. Just starting with the first ten then maybe if this isn't so painful going down until the 100th later on. I'll put a playlist of the first ten songs and slowly add to the same playlist as I go down the list of 100 songs.
So it begins... and a very strange beginning it is.
1. Real McCoy - Another Night
I honestly had no idea what this song was when I saw the name, but as soon as the first note played I was instantly taken back to the 90's. This has that sound that could only have existed in the 90's dance club scene and OH is it glorious. The low and almost talk-singing creepy male vocals paired with the over passionate female vocalists in the chorus with catchy chorus to bring up the mood. The loud bass sounds blasting throughout the song with the higher synth sounds filling in the rest of the song. It all comes together to make something so strange but unique that you could only find in the 90's. Of course the 90's club scene was never my thing (because I was a child) and this kind of music is only fun for it's nostalgia. Honestly though compared to the club music of today, this is much better and full of energy and I can see why people would have enjoyed this at a club or party setting back then.
The reason I remember this song so well and I have nostalgia for it is because it was featured in the movie "Night at the Roxbury" in the late 90's. That was one of my favorite movies growing up and I think that's why this song is still fun to listen to now. Does this song hold up today? No, not really. It's not something I would listen to myself and I can't see it being played at any club or dance party without it being a 90's themed party/club night. I find this song to be more funny than I think it's supposed to be, with the cheesy lyrics and music it's hard not to find this funny. I do think that dance and club music needs to be this fun though, and not so serious and depressing like a lot of dance/club music seems to be today. Overall a cheesy fun song that thankfully didn't make it past the 90's
2. Santana/Rob Thomas - Smooth
Anyone that was old enough to remember the year 1999 or 2000 probably remembers hearing this song at least one thousand times or more. This song was number one for 12 whole weeks and it stuck around for what felt like an eternity in the radio and anywhere else you could possibly hear music. Every single part of this song is memorable from the drum introduction, the Santana riffs, the strange lyrics like "7 inches from the midday sun" and "my Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa". There's so much going on in this song musically and it's fun to listen to each instrument separately. Of course there's the obvious guitar that cuts in and out with different riffs that fit in perfectly and don't feel out of place. The bass is busy throughout the song doing with lots of different lines to keep it fresh. The drums really get busy at the end when Santana goes into his fade out solo. Theres other percussion and keys and horns in the mix too, giving it that latin feeling. Listening to this today, it's still a great song that holds up very well. I have to imagine myself being back when this song was at it's peak and wonder if I would feel the same. Knowing how popular this song was and the massive play it was getting, would I just be sick of it or would it really stand strong? I remember liking this song even before I really got into music, but that's not really saying much when I also liked Papa Roach back then. Forget you read that.
3. Lifehouse - Hanging By a Moment
Speaking of songs that were overplayed to death on the radio in the early 2000s, here's that one Lifehouse you remember for some reason. Much like "Smooth", right from the first slide of the bass at the beginning I knew instantly what this song was. Lifehouse is just one of those bands that I think a lot of people remember from the 2000s, but don't really listen to anymore. They are still around to this day making music, though they never saw the same success as they did with this song. They did get a few hits here and there with smaller radio hits like "Between the Raindrops", "You and Me" and "Halfway Gone". "Hanging by a Moment" was actually the number one song for the year 2001, dominating at a time where alt-rock was still able to get some big hits with bands like Matchbox Twenty, Train and 3 Doors Down where massively popular in the pop charts.
"Hanging By a Moment" still holds up in my opinion. The memorable bass sliding bass effect and bass lines, the guitars following right along and adding more to the layers and the extremely catchy melodies that will get stuck in your head for at least a week or two. It reminds of a time where we were still getting catchy rock music (and some pretty bad rock music) on the radio before hip-hop and club music took over the charts and airplay. Lifehouse is a solid band that was able to make it past the awkward music of the early 2000s and continue to make pretty good albums that were successful enough.
4. OneRepublic - Apologize (Timbaland version)
Oh boy, I didn't expect to see this one here. I just have to say that I really find this song to be pretty overrated. This song was a big hit back in 2008, coming out as 5th best performance of that year and also doing pretty well the previous year at the 66th best song in 2007. The competition was indeed, not fierce. The number one song of 2008 was "Low" by the always amazing Flo Rida and right above this song at the 4th spot was Lil Wayne with his magnum opus: Lollipop.
Apologize is just one of those songs that gets old after one listen. The music is boring and the vocals and melody aren't anything special. There are a few interesting things in the background done with the keys, but the song just drags on after the first chorus. Thankfully OneRepublic did go on to make some great music after about 7 years and got another big hit with the much better song "Counting Stars". Kinda weird how much better your music can be when it actually sounds like you're having fun being creative with it.
5. Nickelback - How You Remind Me
What can I say about Nickelback that hasn't already been said by everyone on the internet and countless memes? This song isn't really that terrible, but much like the previous song, it just doesn't have anything special here. Yes the melody is memorable and catchy, but the music is so generic and boring that it really doesn't give me a reason to listen to it multiple times. Unlike early 2000's rock songs like "Smooth" and even "Hanging by a Moment", this one has nothing interesting or original. Boring strumming and power chords though the whole song. Then of course there's the fact that they pretty much ripped the music from this boring song of and copied it onto another single from the next album they released with "Someday", which is pretty hilarious. Anyway, just another forgettable from the early 2000s from the most infamous band in the world. By the way, this was the best performing song of 2002, a year that also had Puddle of Mudd in the top 10 songs of the year. I know what you're thinking and I agree. This was the greatest year of music ever.
6. 3 (not 6.3, but this is the 6th song on the list and the band's name has a 3 in it so it looks like it's 6.3 but it's actually not, so don't get confused about this. I mean it's not that I think your dumb or anything, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't confusing to you. Because it kinda looks like it says 6.3 but it's not the 6.3rd entry on the list because that doesn't exist. I don't think you're getting it... here let me expl--) Doors Down - Here Without You
The early 2000s rock continues with one of the most popular bands back then: 3 Doors Down. Remember when it was still cool to have numbers in your band name? I honestly don't know how to feel about this song. I think at one point in my life when the song was still popular, I actually really liked this song. It's overdramatic, memorable music, and sad. That was what I was all about back then.. and probably still today. Without nostalgia to attach to this song though, I don't think this is one of those early 2000s rock songs that really holds up today. I'd say I like this better than Kryptonite by the same band (which I was surprised not to see in this spot), but that doesn't really mean much. Besides their popular songs, I don't know anything else about this band, except that they are still making music and touring the world.
The guitar is really the only memorable part musically, with all it's depressing glory. The lyrics are pretty cheesy and the strings that follow along are somehow even cheesier. It all strangely works to make this a somewhat enjoyable listen in that nostalgic sort of way. It has enough to keep it from being too boring, but not enough to make it anything worth coming back to multiple times. With songs like these I guess maybe we know why rock music was eventually gone from the pop charts.
7. No Doubt - Don't Speak
A record breaking song back in 1996, sadly wasn't allowed to be included in the Top 100 songs of the year from Billboard because no official single was released for the song. If not for that the song no doubt (sorry) would have been number one for 1996, possibly beating out the Macarena. This song was from one of my favorite 90's albums "Tragic Kingdom" released back in 1995. The song was written by Gwen Stefani's brother back when he was still in the band. The song showed a different side of Gwen and No Doubt as they were more known for their ska-punk sound back then.
This is one of those songs that just works on every single level. The music is so unique with the iconic opening guitar, the inventive bass lines on the chorus, Gwen's fantastic vocals and that beautiful acoustic solo. It's the kind of song that stands the test of time because of it's attention to detail in every aspect. A good melody and vocals can be enough to get a song on the charts but I feel it takes a song like this one, that gets that AND the music right, to really stand the test of time. I know it's not always the case, but I just really appreciate the way everything comes together. Sadly, No Doubt would go one to focus on a more pop sound later on and never really reach these heights again.
8. Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Much like the last song, Iris was a record breaking song in the number one spot for 18 weeks. The song also wasn't allowed on the end of the year charts like "Don't Speak" for the same reason. The song would probably have taken the number one spot from "Too Close" by Next, which is a song I had no idea even existed by a group I also didn't know existed. Iris is a reminder of how popular movie soundtracks used to be back in the 80's and 90's as it was part of the soundtrack for the film "City of Angels". The song actually went on to become more popular than the movie it was featured on.
This song just feels incredible from start to finish. The guitar actually has a very strange tuning to give it the unique sound it has (BDDDDD tuning is used here, good luck doing it without popping a string). The guitar along with the nice and simple but present bass and the strings all come together very nicely. I love how the songs slowly builds to the epic guitar solo in the bridge. Overall you're left with one of the most memorable songs I've ever heard, the kind of song that sticks with you in a good way. It's something that I feel is sorely missing from the music charts of today...
9. Chainsmokers - Closer
This song is actually pretty special to me now, it was the first song I wrote one of this reviews for. Over the months, I've grown to hate and love this song. One week I hate it for it's crappy male vocals, bad drop, dumb/cringe lyrics. The next week I can't deny it's incredible catchiness and just enjoy for what it is, a dumb pop song. I think I can say that this song is fun and enjoyable despite it's obvious flaws. It's strangely the only modern pop song on this list, I would have expected Taylor Swift to be up here. Like it or not, this song represents what modern music is now. Lots of electronic sounds, with guest vocals and a simple catchy melody. It's tough to say where music is really heading these days, but I would like to see more focus on music brought back. There will always be a place on the radio for songs like this, but it would be nice to get some more songs that also focused on great music and not just vocals and catchy hooks.
10.Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever
Donna Lewis? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. 1996 on the radio to be exact. To my surprise I actually do remember this song, but I have no freakin' clue how. Maybe that speaks to the power of music and how a catchy song will just sleep as a memory in your brain only to be awakened 20 years later for a blog post about the best performing songs of the last 27 years. OR maybe the government used Donna Lewis' music to put these memories in the US citizens back in 1996 to one day trigger everyones memory at the same time and drive us all mad? OR maybe Donna Lewis is part of the Illuminati which led her to...
Actually what probably actually happened was: Donna Lewis wrote a ridiculously catchy song in 1996 that was played on the radio constantly and I listened to it so many times that it was put into my long term memory... that's how the brain works right?
Actually I just have nothing to say about this song so I just rambled on about nothing to make it look like I talked about the song when I actually didn't.
Anyway that's the first ten songs from the list of 100. And while working on this it looks like Billboard took down the list from their site like they knew I was using it, bastards. So I guess that's the perfect excuse to not continue doing this anyway. Or I could just guess the rest of the list, I'm sure I have enough experience with the list to do that...
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