This'll be an ongoing list. Some guy on the I Love Music message board has begun
posting polls wherein Dave Marsh's book The Heart of Rock & Soul is chopped up into
increments of 25 songs at a time. ILM has been giving readers the option of creating
polls for the last couple of years or so, and I'm guessing that at least 15 or 20%
of the threads these days are polls: the mundane (best Beatles album), the exotic
(best middle-period Henry Cow album), the highly controversial (best line in the
third verse of Huey Lewis's "Hip to Be Square"), etc., etc. I've posted two myself,
and I've voted in a bunch (usually, but not always, commenting as well). If you're
someone who thinks ILM was at its best five years ago when people debated the meaning
and the merits of M.I.A. over the course of 1,000+ posts, then I imagine this turn
towards obsessive polling amounts to a true jumping-the-shark moment. For me, it's
easy, doesn't require much thought, and tends to involve the likes of the Carpenters
or the Replacements rather than the Hold Steady or MGMT. So jump away.
Here are my Marsh picks thus far:
#1001-#976: "ABC's of Love," Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
#975-#951: "Family Affair," Sly & the Family Stone
#950-#926: "Dead Skunk," Loudon Wainwright III
#925-#901: "Reeling in the Years," Steely Dan
#900-#876: "Rubber Biscuit," Chips
#875-#851: "Whole Lotta Love," Led Zeppelin
#850-#826: "Come Go with Me," Del-Vikings
#825-#801: "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," McFadden & Whitehead
#800-#776: "('Til) I Kissed You," Everly Brothers
#775-#751: "Just Once in My Life," Righteous Brothers
#750-#726: "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," Steely Dan
#725-#701: "Hello Stranger," Barbara Lewis
#700-#676: "Smiling Faces Sometimes," Undisputed Truth
#675-#651: "I'll Be Around," Spinners
#650-#626: "Do You Believe in Magic," Lovin' Spoonful
#625-#601: "All I Have to Do Is Dream," Everly Brothers
#600-#576: "Pretty Flamingo," Manfred Mann
#575-#551: "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)," Temptations
#550-#526: "Temptation ('Bout to Get Me)," Knight Brothers
#525-#501: "I Love Music," O'Jays
#500-#476: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," Michael Jackson
#475-#451: "Tired of Being Alone," Al Green
#450-#426: "The Mountain's High," Dick & Dee Dee
#425-#401: "Suspicious Minds," Elvis Presley
#400-#376: "The Lonely Surfer," Jack Nitzsche
#374-#351: "The World Is a Ghetto," War
#350-#326: "Positively 4th Street," Bob Dylan
#325-#301: "Hot Fun in the Summertime," Sly & the Family Stone
#300-#276: "The Stroll," Diamonds
#275-#251: "Who Do You Love," Bo Diddley
#250-#226: "Fortunate Son," Creedence Clearwater Revival
#225-#201: "For Your Precious Love," Jerry Butler & the Impressions
#200-#176: "Bad Moon Rising," Creedence Clearwater Revival
#175-#151: "Baby I Need Your Loving," Four Tops
#150-#126: "Street Fighting Man," Rolling Stones
#125-#101: "I Fought the Law," Bobby Fuller Four
#100-#76: "Anarchy in the UK," Sex Pistols
#75-#51: "Good Times," Chic
#50-#26: "Ticket to Ride," Beatles
#25-#1: "Everyday People," Sly & the Family Stone
Addendum: "Gin and Juice," Snoop Doggy Dogg
Addendum #2: "Jump Around," House of Pain
I don't know who the poster is ("President Keyes"); I assume he has access to
a complete list of Marsh's 1001 singles online somewhere, and isn't typing them
up by hand, but I'd still be surprised if he lasts the whole way. If he does bail,
I'm sure someone else will step in and finish up.