OT - The search for the perfect pop song

[mordhiem]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This thread just confirms what I've known for years - by the 90's, the art of the pop/rock song was relegated to the bottom of the barrel. Not sure if that's the fault of radio conglomerates, MTV, or just a change in public taste. It used to be that pop music was, at least in part, made up of songs written and performed by actual bands, like many of the 60's, 70's, and 80's suggestions in this thread. For the most part, those kinds of artists are no longer in the mainstream and thus, very few people are nominating any songs from the 90's to present.

Pop is still very strong in Britain, it is still acceptable to be called 'a pop band' here without loosing all credibility. New bands like Keane (very popular, but I don't really like them) and Franz Ferdinand (who are really, stonkingly, terrific) actually activley cultivate the label 'pop band'. But then Britain has always had a strong pop tradition from The Beatles to Bowie to Oasis to Coldplay.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

As for Funkytown, if that makes the list then I think there's some Chic and Earth Wind and Fire songs that merit consideration.

And Rick James! (bitch)

Originally Posted by Fonzie

I agree - but was thinking of The Reflex because it is a classic "nonsense" song. Rio or Hungry Like The Wolfwould also be good choices.

I love the Reflex. Had a 45 of it.

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Some more guilty (and not so guilty) pleasures in the pop vein:

America - Sister Goldenhair
.....
Rod Stewart - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy
.....
I also agree with ABBA as a great pick!

Waterloo maybe? And I had been thinking Infatuation for Stewart (excellent, excellent video too ). And I'll give a thumbs up to Sister Goldenhair.

Originally Posted by CentralMassHokie

Bus Stop by The Hollies

Car Wash anyone?

[mordhiem]

My nomination:

Paperback Writer - The Beatles

When I think of classic 60's pop, that is the exact sound I think of. The Beatles post-boy band stage, but pre-experimental 'serious rock band' stage.

[clintl]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This thread just confirms what I've known for years - by the 90's, the art of the pop/rock song was relegated to the bottom of the barrel. Not sure if that's the fault of radio conglomerates, MTV, or just a change in public taste. It used to be that pop music was, at least in part, made up of songs written and performed by actual bands, like many of the 60's, 70's, and 80's suggestions in this thread. For the most part, those kinds of artists are no longer in the mainstream and thus, very few people are nominating any songs from the 90's to present.

OK, I'll nominate some.

"Planet Love", the Dylans
"Feed the Tree", Belly
"The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead", XTC
"Dreams", The Cranberries
"Here's Where the Story Ends", The Sundays
"When the Stars Go Blue", The Corrs with Bono
"Hell", Squirrel Nut Zippers
"Zoot Suit Riot", Cherry Poppin' Daddys

Not from the 90s or later, but a couple that haven't been mentioned yet:

"Balloon Man", Robyn Hitchcock
"September Gurls", Big Star

[Fonzie]

ABBA's Waterloo absolutely rocks. I'm also a big fan of Take a Chance on Me, which is more in keeping with their pop tradition.

[ahbrady]

QS, I'm pretty much in complete agreement with you as to what would qualify as a pop song and what wouldn't. I agree that "Billie Jean" is probably too serious to be considered, and I also think that "Don't stop til you get enough" is probably MJ's best submission for this topic. But I would still consider "Beat It" to be a pretty good one as well. Were you saying it was too serious as well? I don't know that it really matters, just curious.

For Hall & Oates, I would submit "Maneater." I'm a pretty big fan of "Come on Eileen." I think that's my favorite of the ones mentioned so far.

[ahbrady]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

What does being pro-electrodes on genitals have to do with pop music?

Everything. Is that not what everyone does when listening to pop music?

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This thread just confirms what I've known for years - by the 90's, the art of the pop/rock song was relegated to the bottom of the barrel. Not sure if that's the fault of radio conglomerates, MTV, or just a change in public taste. It used to be that pop music was, at least in part, made up of songs written and performed by actual bands, like many of the 60's, 70's, and 80's suggestions in this thread. For the most part, those kinds of artists are no longer in the mainstream and thus, very few people are nominating any songs from the 90's to present.

I think the pure pop style of music has been pretty much moved to the smaller labels, but it's certainly still being performed by groups like the Shins and the Apples in Stereo, Mates of State, GBV, etc. etc. but it just fails to really fulfill the whole 'popular' part. On the other hand most popular music today seems to go through so much genre mashing that it's hard to classify as true pop. I am sad enough to admit to actually liking more than a handful of neuvo-soul/pop by the likes of Usher, Ginuiwine and Timberlake, but I really wouldn't classify as either 'pop' or 'great'. However, I'm COMPLETELY SURE that I would've had the same complaints you voiced above about 95% of the 80s songs we've mentioned here at the time or soon after. Some of the stuff we hate now might sound great in ten years if you let it stand on it's own.

Likewise, don't give 60s pop groups too much credit...a lot of these guys are great bands and great songwriters, but were even more reliant on producers, session musicians, and someone else's words and music than the groops today. I think it was a law in the 60s that you had to record at least three Beatles songs on every record produced.

[clintl]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I think it was a law in the 60s that you had to record at least three Beatles songs on every record produced.

And the Beatles had to record at least three songs for each album from the Fifties until they proved themselves.

[Fonzie]

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Fonzie

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out.

That's a GREAT one!

Elvis Costello also has some songs that should be considered, I'd go with 'Radio' myself.

[Buzzbee]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This thread just confirms what I've known for years - by the 90's, the art of the pop/rock song was relegated to the bottom of the barrel. Not sure if that's the fault of radio conglomerates, MTV, or just a change in public taste. It used to be that pop music was, at least in part, made up of songs written and performed by actual bands, like many of the 60's, 70's, and 80's suggestions in this thread. For the most part, those kinds of artists are no longer in the mainstream and thus, very few people are nominating any songs from the 90's to present.

I pretty much agree with this. However, are we returning to pop with people/acts like the Spice Girls, Brittany Spears, NSync, Back Street Boyz, Christina Aguilera, and more recently Hillary Duff and Raven Simone. I guess you could consider this the "Disney movement". (Can't you tell I have pre-teen/new-teen daughters.)

Wouldn't they be considered the essence of pop? I'd contend that we don't mention them because they are like poison (oooh, there's a pop hair band for you - Cherry Pie, She's Only 17) to us since a lot of us grew up with pop music of the 80's and it is therefore a trip down memory lane (an acid trip for some, I'm sure). However, I'm pretty sure Brittany Spears has a song or two that belongs in this thread, whether we like it or not.

[ahbrady]

Warrant sang "Cherry Pie."

[Buzzbee]

Dola - Also I think the movement of the record labels to grunge in the early to mid 90's (Pearl Jam, Nirvannah, Stone Temple Pilots, etc.) and later to hip hop kinda changed the idea of what was 'popular'. To me, hip hop is the new pop.

[Buzzbee]

Originally Posted by ahbrady

Warrant sang "Cherry Pie."

Warrant, Poision, Ratt. Same difference.

[Bubba Wheels]

Originally Posted by Fritz

I would submit the following:

Sugar Sugar
( The Archies )

Sugar, ah, honey, honey
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you
Honey, ah, sugar, sugar
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you

I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you
(I just can't believe it's true)
I just can't believe the one to love this feeling to
(I just can't believe it's true)

Ah, sugar, ah, honey, honey
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you
Honey, ah, sugar, sugar
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you

When I kissed you, girl, I knew how sweet a kiss could be
(I know how sweet a kiss can be)
Like the summer sunshine pour your sweetness over me
(Pour your sweetness over me)

Sugar, pour a little sugar on it, honey
Pour a little sugar on it, baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah yeah yeah!
Pour a little sugar on it oh, yeah!
Pour a little sugar on it, honey
Pour a little sugar on it, baby
I'm gonna make your life so sweet, yeah yeah yeah!
Pour a little sugar on it, honey!

Sugar, ah, honey, honey
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you
Honey, ah, sugar sugar
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you

Sugar, ah, honey, honey
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you
Honey, ah, sugar sugar
You are my candy girl
And you've got me wanting you

Trivia note: This song was performed by the Archies after the Monkees declined to record it. Written, I believe, by the song writing team of Boyce and Hart (featured in a Bewitched episode) who wrote the majority of the Monkees tunes.

Monkees also get a perpetual bad rap. They were what they were, a made-for-TV pop group that did play their own instruments at the end and did make some catchy and engaging pop tunes that still stand up today.

[Bubba Wheels]

Originally Posted by Fritz

From the exiled sjshaw:

Come On Eileen

( Dexys Midnight Runners )

(Come on Eileen!)
(Come on Eileen!)

Poor old Johnny Ray
Sounded sad upon the radio
He moved a million hearts in mono
Our mothers cried and sang along and who'd blame them?
Now you're grown, so grown, now I must say more than ever
Go toora loora toora loo rye aye
And we can sing just like our fathers ....

Come on Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)
At this moment, you mean everything
With you in that dress, my thoughts I confess
Verge on dirty ......
Ah, come on Eileen!

(Come on Eileen!)
(Come on Eileen!)

These people round here wear beaten down eyes
Sunk in smoke dried faces
They're so resigned to what their fate is
But not us, no not us
We are far too young and clever
Go toora loora toora loo rye aye
Eileen, I'll sing this tune forever

Come on, Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)
Ah come on, let's take off everything
That pretty red dress .... Eileen (tell him yes)
Ah, come on! Come on Eileen!!!

Come on Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)
At this moment, you mean everything

Come on, Eileen, taloora aye
Come on, Eileen, taloora aye
Come on, Eileen, taloora aye
Come on, Eileen, taloora aye
Come on, Eileen, taloora aye
Come on, Eileen, taloora aye

Go toora loora toora loo rye aye

Come on Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)
At this moment, you mean everything
With you in that dress, my thoughts I confess
Verge on dirty ......
Ah, come on Eileen!

Come on, Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)
Ah come on, let's take off everything
That pretty red dress .... Eileen (tell him yes)
Ah, come on! Come on Eileen!!!

Come on Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)
At this moment, you mean everything

Come on Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)
At this moment, you mean everything

Probably says too much about me, but my absolute favorite of all time. Great video.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

... thus, very few people are nominating any songs from the 90's to present.

I dunno... isn't this always how it works when people are asked to name "great" anything? Anything that hasn't been declared old is somehow a sophomoric selection, it shows you aren't refined and don't have enough appreciation for "the old stuff."

How about "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors? I'm right on the border between liking and hating the song, but it has a lot of the elements of a good pop record.

[Bubba Wheels]

Show Me The Way: Kiss

[cuervo72]

Another song with a tie to Michael Jackson (and of course, the Hollies): Rockin' Robin.

(hmm, the Hollies are a pretty decent band for this; also Peggy Sue, Just One Look, and my favorite of theirs, Long Cool Woman).

edit: ok, maybe not Peggy Sue. That website was wrong!! And I believed them!!!

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I dunno... isn't this always how it works when people are asked to name "great" anything? Anything that hasn't been declared old is somehow a sophomoric selection, it shows you aren't refined and don't have enough appreciation for "the old stuff."

How about "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors? I'm right on the border between liking and hating the song, but it has a lot of the elements of a good pop record.

That song is pretty catchy, just not my style.

On the first point, just to show I've got an appreciation for the old stuff...and I don't think this one's been mentioned yet, but I could be wrong...how about Pretty Woman?

[Fritz]

for the 90s

how about Laid? (might be too complex)

I think you might have to look to bands like EMF, The Soup Dragons, Jesus Jones, etc to get what you are looking for.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Fritz

I think you might have to look to bands like EMF, The Soup Dragons, Jesus Jones, etc to get what you are looking for.

I don't think so. There are plenty of power pop-type bands writing perfect pop songs that no one hears. Again, I don't think a song needs to be popular in order to qualify as a great pop song.

[Fritz]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I don't think so. There are plenty of power pop-type bands writing perfect pop songs that no one hears. Again, I don't think a song needs to be popular in order to qualify as a great pop song.

I could rattle off long list of obscure or semi obscure pop music from the 90s. I don't think that is what the thread orginaly called for.

[Ksyrup]

If they are great pop songs, how does that not fit the original definition as described by QS? I see nothing that suggests the songs have to be chart-toppers or any such criteria.

[WSUCougar]

Some more recent fare:

"Kiss Me" by Six Pence None the Richer
"Breathless" by The Corrs (which is simply an awesome song IMO)
That fast song by the Bare Naked Ladies, I think it's something like "Three Days"

[HornedFrog Purple]

"Jack and Diane" by John Cougar Mellencamp?
"Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen?

[HornedFrog Purple]

dola

"Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner

[Mac Howard]

Hasn't John Lennon's "Imagine" been voted best pop song of all time several times?

My own choice is "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harlem.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Fritz

for the 90s

how about Laid? (might be too complex)

I think you might have to look to bands like EMF, The Soup Dragons, Jesus Jones, etc to get what you are looking for.

Right Here, Right Now did come to mind for me, too.

I love the song Laid (and that album, too) but I agree it's too complex for the category I have/had in mind.

[ahbrady]

Originally Posted by Mac Howard

Hasn't John Lennon's "Imagine" been voted best pop song of all time several times?

My own choice is "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harlem.

"Imagine" may have been voted best pop song, but I wouldn't think it would qualify by the standards that have been put up here.

I like "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

[GrantDawg]

So, do the song lyrics have to make sesnse? If so, then as pointed out already, that leaves out Duran Duran, but they have some of the catchiest hooks/beats. Reflex being a great one, Wild Boys, New Moon on Monday being a couple of others.

Their slower songs come the closest to acually have lyrics that make sense. Songs like Save A Prayer, Ordinary World and Come Undone.

[Passacaglia]

"Dance to the Music" Sly and the Family Stone
"True" Spandau Ballet

[Bubba Wheels]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

That song is pretty catchy, just not my style.

On the first point, just to show I've got an appreciation for the old stuff...and I don't think this one's been mentioned yet, but I could be wrong...how about Pretty Woman?

The one man Elvis stated he would never follow on stage...Roy Orbison. Elvis never wanted his own voice compared to Ray's, he thought it was that good.

[judicial clerk]

You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'

[zums]

If they are great pop songs, how does that not fit the original definition as described by QS? I see nothing that suggests the songs have to be chart-toppers or any such criteria.

Yes, that is correct. Chart-topping or popularity were not among the original criteria. Go on and list as many obscure, unheard by everybody but you pop songs. There should be some great discussion about em. Err....

-zums

[SplitPersonality1]

Originally Posted by mordhiem

Pop is still very strong in Britain, it is still acceptable to be called 'a pop band' here without loosing all credibility. New bands like Keane (very popular, but I don't really like them) and Franz Ferdinand (who are really, stonkingly, terrific) actually activley cultivate the label 'pop band'. But then Britain has always had a strong pop tradition from The Beatles to Bowie to Oasis to Coldplay.

I've just discovered Franz Ferdinand and absolutley love "Take Me Out". Great guitar riff and love the tempo shift midway through the song. Good tune. Haven't had a chance to listen to much of there other stuff, but so far I like what I've heard.

Sorry to threadjack. Carry on.

[Aylmar]

One of my favorites:

Any way you want it
That’s the way you need it
Any way you want it

She loves to laugh
She loves to sing
She does everything
She loves to move
She loves to grove
She loves the lovin’ things

Ooh, all night, all night
Oh, every night
So hold tight, hold tight
Ooh, baby, hold tight

Oh, she said,
Any way you want it
That’s the way you need it
Any way you want it
She said, any way you want it
That’s the way you need it
Any way you want it

I was alone
I never knew
What good love could do
Ooh, then we touched
Then we sang
About the lovin’ things

Ooh, all night, all night
Oh, every night
So hold tight, hold tight
Ooh baby, hold tight

Oh, she said,
Any way you want it
That’s the way you need it
Any way you want it
She said, any way you want it
That’s the way you need it
Any way you want it

Okay, I admit it. I love Journey. I have nearly all their albums and have slowly replaced them with CDs. Time for me to crawl back into my hole.

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by Aylmar

Okay, I admit it. I love Journey. I have nearly all their albums and have slowly replaced them with CDs. Time for me to crawl back into my hole.

You're not alone, my friend. Quik's example of a pop "record," Don't Stop Believin', is a great example of pop music (although not a pop "song", per his definition). Since we've already diverged a bit from submitting just strictly-defined pop songs, here's another Journey submission from a somewhat ashamed fan:

Journey - Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

You make me weep and wanna die
Just when you said we’d try
Lovin’, touchin’, squeezin’ each other

When I’m alone all by myself
You’re out with someone else
Lovin’, touchin’, squeezin’ each other

You’re tearin’ me apart
Every day, every day
You’re tearin’ me apart
Oh what can I say?
You’re tearin’ me apart

It won’t be long, yes till you’re alone
When your lover, oh, he hasn’t come home
Cause he’s lovin’ oo, he’s touchin’,
He’s squeezin’ another

He’s tearin’ you apart
Every day, every day
He’s tearin’ you apart
Oh girl what can you say?
Cause he’s lovin’, touchin’ another
Now it’s your turn, girl to cry
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na
Na na na na na na
Na na na na na

[Buddy Grant]

The definition of a great pop song has changed over the decades, during tin pan alley times lyrics were probably a lot more important than they were in the 1960's-1990's. During the big band era lyrics were often secondary to a hooky melody (and a driving beat didn't hurt). The music factories of the 50's, 60's and 70's seemed to be going for similar things from a great pop song in those days: big hooky choruses that repeated ad nauseum, and that mainstream (AKA pop) song writing strategy continues today. To ensure popularity among youth (wasn't that always the target of pop music? I think so) each era must include some current musical references so that the music does not sound like the youth's parents version of pop music. In the swing era the rocking beat set those pop songs apart from the previous generations, in the 1950's and early 60's the R&B music influences in pop would make the big band loving parent declare that Pat Boone pop was nothing but noise. The later 1960's pop tended to have either drug references or some trippy musical instrument or sound (eg: tremelo in crimson & clover vox). Later 1970's and early 80's pop often had new wave or heavy metal influences, and 1990's+ pop has a mix of house, rap, electronic influences to fool some kiddies (the ones that go for pop music) into thinking these songs are their music, even though the pop song structure and arrangements resemble the same pop songs from 1962.

That being said, my fave pop from various era's...
1950's: Doo Wop hits
1960's: Motown factory hits & Brill building songs
1970's: Cars & Reservoir Dogs soundtrack
1980's: Too embarrased to admit even to strangers.
1990's-now: Stopped listening to 'pure' pop music, but enjoy pop-influenced non-mainstream music. Not to be cool but because it's generally much better, IMO.

[SunDancer]

[quote=Buzzbee]I pretty much agree with this. However, are we returning to pop with people/acts like the Spice Girls, Brittany Spears, NSync, Back Street Boyz, Christina Aguilera, and more recently Hillary Duff and Raven Simone. I guess you could consider this the "Disney movement". (Can't you tell I have pre-teen/new-teen daughters.)
QUOTE]

I cannot stand Hillary Duff. Sadly, if these people actually song without all the electronic improvements that make them sound alot better then they really are, I would have alot more respect for them.

[oykib]

Dion and the Belmonts -- "Runaround Sue"

2-Pac -- "Holler if Ya Hear Me"

Marvin Gaye -- "I Heard it Through the Grapevine"

The Temptations -- "Can't Get Next to You"

Prince -- "Seven" (not that I have any idea what it means, but it sounds like something S. T. Coleridge might've written)

[Buccaneer]

My very favorite and most influential genre has been the folk/pop movement coming out of the 60s and reaching its peak in the early-mid 70s. This has influenced not only those seeking alternatives to acid rock but also profoundly caused a radical shift (and schism) among Christians with the Jesus Movement (which I identify with very closely). I believe there were several ancestors to this (from pure folk, country, gospel, etc.) that gave rise to the "coffee-house" singers of the 60s which then migrated to the "back-to-nature" singers and bands of the 70s. My (and my wife's) main love of this music, as I had expressed a while back, has focused on John Denver, even back to his early days in the LA coffee-houses and the Chad Mitchell Trio. With that, I submit Rocky Mountain High as a pop classic.

[duckman]

Eminem's The Real Slim Shady is a very good example of the modern 'pop' song. The song has a very recognizeable beat and the chorus is very catchy. It was the song that propelled his album into the number 1 rap album of all time.

May I have your attention please?
May I have your attention please?
Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
We're gonna have a problem here..

Y'all act like you never seen a white person before
Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like Tommy just burst in the door
and started whoopin her ass worse than before
they first were divorce, throwin her over furniture (Ahh!)
It's the return of the... "Ah, wait, no way, you're kidding,
he didn't just say what I think he did, did he?"
And Dr. Dre said... nothing you idiots!
Dr. Dre's dead, he's locked in my basement! (Ha-ha!)
Feminist women love Eminem {*vocal turntable:
chigga chigga chigga*} "Slim Shady, I'm sick of him
Look at him, walkin around grabbin his you-know-what
Flippin the you-know-who," "Yeah, but he's so cute though!"
Yeah, I probably got a couple of screws up in my head loose
But no worse, than what's goin on in your parents' bedrooms
Sometimes, I wanna get on TV and just let loose, but can't
but it's cool for Tom Green to hump a dead moose
"My bum is on your lips, my bum is on your lips"
And if I'm lucky, you might just give it a little kiss
And that's the message that we deliver to little kids
And expect them not to know what a woman's clitoris is
Of course they gonna know what intercourse is
By the time they hit fourth grade
They got the Discovery Channel don't they?
"We ain't nothing but mammals.." Well, some of us cannibals
who cut other people open like cantaloupes {*SLURP*}
But if we can hump dead animals and antelopes
then there's no reason that a man and another man can't elope
{*EWWW!*} But if you feel like I feel, I got the antidote
Women wave your pantyhose, sing the chorus and it goes

Chorus: Eminem (repeat 2X)

I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady
All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating
So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up?

[Eminem]
Will Smith don't gotta cuss in his raps to sell his records;
well I do, so fuck him and fuck you too!
You think I give a damn about a Grammy?
Half of you critics can't even stomach me, let alone stand me
"But Slim, what if you win, wouldn't it be weird?"
Why? So you guys could just lie to get me here?
So you can, sit me here next to Britney Spears?
Shit, Christina Aguilera better switch me chairs
so I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst
and hear 'em argue over who she gave head to first
You little bitch, put me on blast on MTV
"Yeah, he's cute, but I think he's married to Kim, hee-hee!"
I should download her audio on MP3
and show the whole world how you gave Eminem VD {*AHHH!*}
I'm sick of you little girl and boy groups, all you do is annoy me
so I have been sent here to destroy you {*bzzzt*}
And there's a million of us just like me
who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me
who dress like me; walk, talk and act like me
and just might be the next best thing but not quite me!

Chorus

[Eminem]
I'm like a head trip to listen to, cause I'm only givin you
things you joke about with your friends inside your living room
The only difference is I got the balls to say it
in front of y'all and I don't gotta be false or sugarcoated at all
I just get on the mic and spit it
and whether you like to admit it {*ERR*} I just shit it
better than ninety percent of you rappers out can
Then you wonder how can kids eat up these albums like valiums
It's funny; cause at the rate I'm goin when I'm thirty
I'll be the only person in the nursin home flirting
Pinchin nurses asses when I'm jackin off with Jergens
And I'm jerkin but this whole bag of Viagra isn't working
And every single person is a Slim Shady lurkin
He could be workin at Burger King, spittin on your onion rings
{*HACH*} Or in the parkin lot, circling
Screaming "I don't give a fuck!"
with his windows down and his system up
So, will the real Shady please stand up?
And put one of those fingers on each hand up?
And be proud to be outta your mind and outta control
and one more time, loud as you can, how does it go?

Chorus 2X

[Eminem]
Ha ha
Guess there's a Slim Shady in all of us
Fuck it, let's all stand up

[lcjjdnh]

Here would be my top picks:

A Smokey Robinson tune-Probably Tears of a Clown
My Girl-The Temptations
Paperback Writer-Beatles
Two Princes-Spin Doctors

And because I'm listening to it right now and think it may be the perfect pop song:

No Rain-Blind Melon

Cool lyrics, great music and a catchy tune.

[cthomer5000]

"Kiss on My List" by Hall & Oates

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Fonzie

ABBA's Waterloo absolutely rocks.

The chorus simply cannot be denied. The same can be said for "Fernando" which is one of the best choruses I've ever heard trapped in an otherwise so-so song.

[Bubba Wheels]

Originally Posted by oykib

Dion and the Belmonts -- "Runaround Sue"

2-Pac -- "Holler if Ya Hear Me"

Marvin Gaye -- "I Heard it Through the Grapevine"

The Temptations -- "Can't Get Next to You"

Prince -- "Seven" (not that I have any idea what it means, but it sounds like something S. T. Coleridge might've written)

I would add Del Shannon's 'Runaway" to that list.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Bubba Wheels

I would add Del Shannon's 'Runaway" to that list.

This reminds me - I've always liked the song The Wanderer by Dion and the Belmonts. Another good one from the era - Why Do Fools Fall in Love.

[SirFozzie]

Top 5 Pop Songs I can think of right now:

Bananarama: Venus
Bangles: Walk Like An Egyptian
Ace of Base: Beautiful Life
Aqua: Barbie Girl
Roxette: The Look