I came across this article the other day. It's all about "Dancing Queen" from ABBA. The author conveniently listed Beatles, Elvis, and ABBA as the 3 wonders of the music world. Quite a declaration, don't you think?The taste of music is absolutely subjective. However, ranking ABBA among Beatles and Elvis is a ridiculous insult to the influence of Beatles and Elvis. In the meantime, I was curious how the snobby Rolling Stones magazine rated "Dancing Queen". Therefore I went to their website then found their 500 greatest songs of all time, i.e. the 500 songs that influence the American society the most.
Guess what, Dancing Queen IS on the chart, ranking #171th. Not too shabby at all.
Nevertheless, ranking ABBA among Beatles and Elvis is an ignorant insult to the artists like Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Beach Boys, Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Little Richard, Prince, U2, and even Michael Jackson.
For people like me who was a teenager in the '80, the most familiar names on the chart are Bob Dylan, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, Michael Jackson, and Rolling Stones. Sadly enough none of the top 50 songs was recorded in the '80. And the top song from '80 is "When Doves Cry" from Prince. Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" follows a few steps behind. Police's "Every Breath You Take" occupies #84. Then U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" finishes the last top 100 songs from '80. What a drought for the pop song production in '80!!
As a matter of fact, since the late '70, there have been few songs that are influential enough for our generation. Nirvana's "Smell Like a Teen Spirit" stands out among all the newer songs at #9, then the next closest one is U2's "One" at #36. Both songs were recorded in the early '90.
Ranking all the songs in the recent decades is a colossal task. After the first 100 or so songs, it probably doesn't make much difference in terms of the influential factor. We can probably all agree that Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" and Aretha Franklin's "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." are more influential than Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mind", which is a great rock song at #196, and Beatles' #8 "Hey Jude" is far more influential than Jimmy Hendrix' #198 "Hey Joe".
Many top ranking songs were not even top popular songs at the time they were released. Songs like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” didn’t have much commercial success at the time of release. However, this is type of song that will survive year after year, and people keep coming back to it. Of course, if the lyrics of the song has some special kick to it, it would be heavily used in the commercial advertisement, i.e. Blondie’s “Call me” at #283, which topped Billboard chart in 1980.
The taste of music is subjective. The piece of music, that inspires you, may not inspire the one next to you at all. However, if a specific piece of music inspires a whole music world then directs them to a whole new realm, it would be something special. There is no doubt about the impact Beatles, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Elvis, Jimmy Hendrix, and Beach Boys have created. ABBA had their share of influence, but more or so of the influence of The Bee Gees. Both can be defined as opportunists in the heat of DISCO, which made them fame and wealthy.
