Imagine that in the course of a conversation, someone expressed both their interest in and lack of knowledge of the body of music created from around 1950 onwards which is generally referred to as “Popular Music”. Further to this, they would be genuinely appreciative if you could put together a list of songs, totaling around an hours playing time, which comprises the key songs from the genre.
The list below has taken some time to compile but surely represents the ten best single pieces of recorded pop music available to us today. All of the songs not only contain that magic something which is absent in so much pop music, but they have all defined eras of popular music – what would have happened to prog rock without “Bohemian Rhapsody” ? Where would the soul in soul music be without “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay” ?
If you have access to any one of these tunes, and the time to listen to it, why not do so now, and see how it affects you?
Welcome to the jungle – Guns ‘n’ Roses Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen Lights of Cincinatti – Scott Walker Rappers delight – The Sugarhill Gang Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd Step on – The Happy Mondays (Get up, I feel like being a) Sex machine – James Brown 20th Century Boy – T-Rex Sitting on the dock of the bay – Otis Redding Imagine – John Lennon Smells like teen spirit - Nirvana
Alex Horwill
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