Philzone.org Discussion Board: Archive 2004: Music Talk Archive 2004: Rolling Stone's Top 500 is a bad joke

When I first heard that "Like a Rolling Stone" was #1, I had a hard time believing that they chose that song. Don't get me wrong - it's a great song, but IMHO it does not deserve to be #1 (maybe #100 or #200...). A Stones song for #2 was something I can at least live with...When I spoke with a good brother about this nonsense, his seasoned opinion was thus - They chose "Like a Rolling Stone" for #1 and The Rolling Stones for #2 because it is their subtle way of advertising for themselves, ie, Rolling Stone magazine. Makes sense to me ! Corporate America loves to do this sort of thing - advertising on a subconscious level...and they've done it again, with most of us not even realizing it was done again to us !
By the way, not a single Grateful Dead song was on the list...

What would have been your pick for #1 song?

Well you cant expect a Grateful Dead song to top the list. to most non-fans the grateful dead are just " those guys who were old and did a lot of acid and were bad and boring"

I think Bob Dylan being #1 is appropriate; Like a Rolling Stone is a masterpiece.

Rolling Stone mag on the other hand has become very lame over the years.

smells like teen spirit was #9 should have been like 9000 nirvana sucks!

I also think Like a Rolling Stone was a good pick. I think these top song lists are always lame anyways. I could care less if there were any Dead tunes.

I was expecting the list to be much worse. I was suprised to see alot of sly and the family stone as well as the staples.

You think it's a coincidence "Rolling Stone" magazine picked "Like a Rolling Stone" as its top song? I think not. Likewise for their # 2 pick, Satisfaction by..."The Rolling Stones."

I can think of a slew of better candidates for top song. (Bearing in mind they ranked top songs, not top recordings, so factors like influence and multiple covers can come into play.) They would include, for starters:
Not Fade Away,
Johnny B. Goode,
She Loves You

And the Washington Post nailed it:
For All Time's Sake

Rolling Stone has published a "special collectors issue" titled "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
Actually, "All Time" turns out to be "the rock & roll era." A panel of distinguished savants -- including Joni Mitchell, Ozzy Osbourne and Jello Biafra -- voted for their favorite songs and the accounting firm of Ernst & Young tabulated the votes. And the greatest song of all time is (drumroll, please) . . .
"Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan!
Following close behind are "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, "Imagine" by John Lennon and --
Wait a minute! Hold it right there. Didn't Rolling Stone do this same thing last year?
No, it just seems that way. Last year, Rolling Stone published "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time." And in 2002, RS published "Readers Poll Results: 100 Greatest Albums of All Time." Which came out six months after "The 50 Coolest Albums of All Time."
Meanwhile, this year RS has published a cover story on great rock musicians -- "The Immortals: 50 Greatest of All Time" -- and a special issue of rock photographs -- "The 50 Greatest Portraits and the Stories Behind Them."
All of this raises some questions: Is Rolling Stone becoming a nostalgia magazine for aging baby boomers? Or is rock-and-roll a dying art form that isn't producing new music worth writing about? Or both?

>>>>Not Fade Away,
>>>>Johnny B. Goode,
>>>>She Loves You


you're joking, right?

>> Is Rolling Stone becoming a nostalgia magazine for aging baby boomers? Or is rock-and-roll a dying art form that isn't producing new music worth writing about? Or both?

Breakdown of the RS top 500 by date:
1948-1954: 11 songs
1955-1964: 124 songs
1965-1974: 239 songs
1975-1984: 77 songs
1985-1994: 41 songs
1995-2004: 8 songs

Draw your own conclusions...

>>>All of this raises some questions: Is Rolling Stone becoming a nostalgia magazine for aging baby boomers? Or is rock-and-roll a dying art form that isn't producing new music worth writing about? Or both?

The funny thing is that Rolling Stone hasn't been a magazine about relevant MUSIC since the Boomers (myself included) were young.

You think it's a coincidence "Rolling Stone" magazine picked "Like a Rolling Stone" as its top song? I think not. Likewise for their # 2 pick, Satisfaction by..."The Rolling Stones."


I never thought of that. Good point. They are good songs though. Does seem like a bit of a marketing ploy though.

haven't seen the whole list, but it's hard to disagree with those two songs being at the top