billyworld99
Proud Member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2011
- Messages
- 2,021
- Points
- 0
Songs by Beach Boys, Dylan, Michael Jackson, Beatles, Stones Included on Influential Blog’s "100 Greatest Songs Ever"
http://www.classichitsandoldies.com/v2/2012/09/24/songs-by-beach-boys-dylan-michael-jackson-beatles-stones-included-on-influential-blogs-100-greatest-songs-ever-li/
What are the greatest songs ever? Well, that’s all subjective, but the influential music blog Consequence of Sound has taken a stab at making a list of them in honor of its fifth anniversary.
Landing at #1 on the blog’s eclectic “Top 100 Greatest Songs Ever” list is the 1966 Beach Boys gem “God Only Knows.” Also finishing in the upper reaches of the tally are The Talking Heads‘ “Once in a Lifetime” at #2, Bob Dylan‘s “Like a Rolling Stone” at #3, Michael Jackson‘s “Man in the Mirror” at #4, The Beatles‘ “A Day in the Life” at #5, The Rolling Stones‘ “Sympathy for the Devil” at #7 and Aretha Franklin‘s “Respect” at #8.
Other veteran rock and pop artists who made it onto the list include Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin, The Jackson 5, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, David Bowie, Madonna and Pink Floyd.
To check out the entire list, which also features songs from a wide variety of other genres, including hip-hop, indie rock, jazz and blues, visit http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/09/top-100-songs-ever-50-1/
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Here are the Michael Jackson songs from the list, which can be seen in it's entirety here:http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/09/top-100-songs-ever-50-1/
42. Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”
Thriller, 1982
“It has more hooks in it than anything I’ve ever heard,” said mega-producer/record exec Antonio “LA” Reid. “You could separate it into 12 different musical pieces and I think you’d have 12 different hits.” That’s all very true, but the power of “Billie Jean” reaches far beyond sheer hooks. The video, famed for those squares of road lighting up under Jackson’s flittering feet, is often cited with breaking the race barrier of MTV in the early 80s, when it became the first clip from a black artist to garner heavy rotation. When he sang the hit in 1983 at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever TV special, Jackson premiered his now-iconic moonwalk, a move that went on to define his performances and redefine what your uncle would try to do at weddings. Spending seven weeks atop the U.S. charts, “Billie Jean” was Jackson’s most successful single; with its historical significance, both to Jackson the performer and music as a whole, its eminence is indelible, a mark pop music will wear proudly and gratefully for decades to come. - Ben Kaye
15. Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back”
Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, 1969
The Jackson 5’s first widely released single, “I Want You Back”, couldn’t have been a more memorable debut for its almost unbelievably precocious leader. There was no way ten-year-old Michael had actually been through the romantic regrets he was singing about here; indeed, Motown’s in-house team The Corporation originally wrote the track for Gladys Knight & The Pips. Nevertheless, the ebullient frontboy had no problem giving the song all of his already relentless power, making it easy enough to believe him even when he was offering up lines like “Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night.” Even during the fadeout, he keeps at it, repeating the titular phrase over and again, just to make sure he gets his point across.
But, as they say, it takes a village to raise a child’s most virtuosic performance to its fullest potential. Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, and Jackie back their baby brother’s lead with shimmering pitch-perfection; keyboards flutter, pianos pound, and bass glides next to electric guitar fluidity; and Gene Pello’s snare and Sandra Crouch’s tambourine practically beg the listener to clap along in time. Despite the song’s being more or less about heartache, these things combine for three of the most beatific minutes imaginable, three minutes so addictive that playing them just once through (as opposed to, say, eight or nine times in a row) is rarely a possibility. Would these kids, fresh up out of Gary, Indiana, be one-hit wonders? There was never a chance. -Mike Madden
4. Michael Jackson – “Man in the Mirror”
Bad, 1988
Michael Jackson didn’t write this song, and I don’t think he ever could have. Not in 1998. Maybe in 1984 if Lionel Richie had elbowed him a bit harder, but never in 1988 could Jackson have put a pen to a paper and wrote the words, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror.” When Jackson looked in his bathroom mirror at his Neverland Ranch in 1987, just before Bad was released, he saw his own note stuck to his bathroom mirror that read “100 Million” — the number of copies of Bad he wanted sell. The Jackson that was reflected in that mirror was both a shrewd businessman selling his name-rights and hoarding Beatles songs while making millions, and a fragile hermetic spending his time in hyperbaric chambers trying to recreate Xanadu and managing a steady regression to his childhood. The late ‘80s were thorny for Jackson.
Above it all, both at the time and in his legacy, Jackson was a performer. He belonged on the stage which was one of the only places in his life that made sense to him. Off the stage he’d surround himself with all manners of eccentric company — pet chimpanzees and boa constrictors hardly chief among them — that distracted him until he finally was back to making and performing music. “Man in the Mirror” was handed to him by Quincy Jones through songwriters Glenn Ballard and Siedah Garret. For Jackson, whose distance from reality was by now becoming extra-terrestrial, the only way he could sing about something that personal and introspective was if someone wrote it for him. Even if Jackson managed to trick some fans into thinking that he can write lyrics that weren’t pulled from a Tony Scott movie, there’s a felicitous weight to the song knowing that it was handed to him from a stranger.
Not since maybe Dylan had there been a “message” song that didn’t seem mawkish or sanctimonious. Those divas like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion would try — but “Man in the Mirror” is the yet uncrested high-water mark of Adult Contemporary Pop. Its glossy production by Quincy Jones is complete with gradual crescendo, gospel choir, and The Key Change, while Jackson’s vocals oscillate between a legato stroll on “They follow the pattern of the wind ya see” and a determined staccato grit on “That’s why I’m starting with me.” Its very blueprint is designed to reach as many hearts as possible and squeeze the hell out of them. It doesn’t couch its message in riddles or reward the listener being able to dissect its meaning — its laid bare and it couldn’t be easier to assimilate.
“Do you want to make the world a better place?” Sure I do, buddy, just as much as I want to laugh your haughty platitude off the stage. “Then take a look at yourself and make a change.” I — shit. So that’s where the onus is. I know about that extra second I spend lingering at the mirror in the morning: a little ego, a little anxiety, a little fear. But I can’t linger too long, I’m too self-reflexive. What if I find something wrong or start to doubt what might be right? What if my “100 Million” post-it note isn’t distracting me anymore? What if I’m just a slacktivist masquerading as a selfless contributor to society, thinking that by signing online petitions I “really care” and am helping those who are less fortunate than I? What if I don’t want to change my ways? What do I even want? Michael Jackson just wanted the world to be a better place and thought that maybe by starting small we could do it. So, even if you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for Michael — it’s what he didn’t even know he wanted until it was staring right back at him. -Jeremy D. Larson
Last edited by a moderator:
Which is suppose to be mocking the so called "baby dangling" B.S! So retarded! -_-
