The Best Songs Of All Time—According To Critics And Fans
“The Message” was considered a breakthrough in hip-hop. It took the genre from party anthems to street-level ghetto blues. It was actually originally a poem written by schoolteacher Duke Bootee. Sylvia Robinson decided to make it a rap record with Melle Mel of the Furious Five. Although, they didn’t like how the song was advertised. It wasn’t Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five after all, it was just Mel and Duke. That didn’t make the song any worse though.
The Band was primarily known as Bob Dylan’s touring group, recording their debut album Music from Big Pink. And the song that really brought it all together was “The Weight”. It was a strange story of debt and burden, with a singalong chorus to boot. Robbie Robertson said that he was inspired to write the song after watching a film directed by Luis Buñuel. It was about the impossibility of “sainthood”.
When their album, There’s a Riot Goin’ On, came out a Rolling Stone reporter mentioned a rumor that Stone played all the instruments himself. When someone asked him how many instruments Sly had played, his response was “I’ve forgotten man, what was left.” “Family Affair” was the leadoff single for the group, considered to be about the relationship within the band, family, and the Black Panthers.
“Work It” really was the biggest hit from Missy Elliot and Timbaland. But that didn’t stop them from continuing to make music. The first time they had recorded the song, Tim had actually said, “That ain’t it”, and they returned to the studio. They went back four times in fact, eventually getting the backward-vocal hook everyone loves.
It’s interesting how Madonna was able to combine love, religion, and oral sex into a six-minute gospel-pop powerhouse. It actually debuted as part of a soft-drink ad campaign, but got yanked after the “blasphemous” music video hit MTV. Even the Vatican condemned it. But all that really did was make more people want to listen to the song.
People say that audiences would actually break into tears when hearing Smokey Robinson and the Miracles perform this song. And it makes sense, it is called “The Tracks of my Tears”. Pete Moore of the Miracles said that it “tapped into their emotions”. Pete Townshend was so obsessed with the way Robinson put across the word “substitute” in the song he ended up writing the 1966 hit “Substitute” by the Who.
Donna Summer wasn’t very impressed when Giorgio Moroder presented her with “I Feel Love”. She actually said in an interview that she had finished it as a joke. However, the song still had a major impact on dance music. Getting rid of disco’s fluffy orchestrations for throbbing strobe-light-synth minimalism became a staple of Euro disco. This started a wave of electronic music to come.
Dionne Warwick was initially just a backup singer, but also cut her own demos for Brill Building songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David. And the classic “Walk on By” is what solidified her rise to stardom. A ballad set to a bossa nova beat, but with a downcast theme. It was originally relegated to the B side of “Any Old Time of the Day”, but DJ Murray and K made sure listeners flipped over their records when they got them. And that’s what got the song its praise.
The rapper from Puerto Rico created an excellent and playful phrase that wormed its way into audiences’ ears; “echa, mija, como te gusta la gasolina!” It was a playful phrase lobbed at young woman who were looking for the sleekest rides to get to a party. It morphed into a ubiquitous chorus that began a global interest in reggaeton. Daddy Yanke delivered his verses with so much power that the song sounded like it might combust.
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