Talk:Songs of the Century

message: moved here, where it belongs:
to do
*List by eras
*Add links
*Link back here from artists' and songs' pages''
--b. Touch 17:29, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

message: Not that there are bad songs on the list. Quite the contrary, there probably isn't a bad song on the list. But, first of all, there should be nothing but American musicians on the list. Secondly, the voters clearly allowed themselves to be influenced by what was currently on the radio at the time. Songs like Tim McGraw' "Please Remember Me" were very popular for a short while, but will not be in any music history books and therefore do not belong on the list. Sorry Tim, they won't remember you. Thirdly, these are all top 40 radio hits. Certain genres, heavy metal for instance, are completely ignored. That might have something to do with the fact that only 200, 10% of those asked, took the time to bother to vote on the list. 200 people are supposed to represent every facet of American music culture? A 2 minute scan of the list reveals that this is far too small a sample. Perhaps if the survey had been conducted by a legitimate organization, instead of the comically self-righteous RIAA, more people would have bothered to vote and we would have gotten a list more representative of American music culture.
--
i agree, the song list is very telling of the average age of the respondents.   —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.49.123.175 (talk) 11:58, 15 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  This list DOES suck 

message: No. 76 is missing
All Along the watch tower is by Bob Dylan not jimi hendrix  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.185.97.67 (talk) 10:19, 2 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mistake 

message: Probably all the artists listed should be wikilinked-- any we don't have articles on yet, we ought to. Article should probably explain why particular artists/recordings were selected for each song (some songs were hits for multiple artists, and it's not always obvious why the one on the list is the one chosen). -- Infrogmation 13:39, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text:  The title of this article should be changed to American Songs of the 
 Century.Moitraanak (talk) 20:42, 5 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Improving the article 

message: Virtually every song on this list is a safe entry, something the baby boomers can get into without risk of actually going out of the limited scope and boundaries they've utilized to have a stranglehold on American music since at least the early '70s.  There is not a single song on this list that exemplifies the true, groundbreaking artistic spirit of the late '70s onward.  It's all bland pap or recycled tidbits of others' creativity.  And how laughable is it that "We Are The World" is on this list?  That song is the worst charity single ever recorded and a sign that, in the '80s, all the real artistic wonderfulness was located in the United Kingdom ("Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a far superior song, one that's not even in the same stratosphere as that schlock-filled USA for Africa single).  Krushsister 20:54, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I too find many great songs missing (Red Red Wine), while many songs I don't care about included. That is why I noted in the article that RIAA did not disclose how the voters were selected, nor does this list agree with other lists. Musical tastes are very personal, I think any attempt to compile a list of "Greatest Songs" is kind of silly, as "Greatest" seems to imply an absolute standard that applies to all. Jayanta Sen 07:41, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Fair enough.  Thank you for your level-headed, rational response.  Krushsister 23:24, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Sadly, there were only 200 respondents to the poll.  And the idea that "elected officials, teachers, and students" were the bulk of the polled didn't bode well.  That said, the Top 3 are hard to argue with, things go haywire after that.--Son of Somebody 03:09, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Notice that "Over the rainbow" a song that is hardly embedded or influential in American Culture is #1, while the first Muddy Waters song is 200 something. The first Rolling Stones song is Start Me Up which was a later song, after their popularity had died down somewhat. Over all this list is equal to what comes out of a horses... well nevermind, this is wikipedia.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.185.137.19 (talk) 14:29, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Man this list sucks 

message: I hav estimated almost 75% of this list is music from the earlier half of the century, and the most influential songs are not at the front. For example, house of the Rising Sun, the song that shaped Rock and Roll into  the 60's and 70's and inspired the extensive genres of Rock today is not found near the top of the list. This list lacks in songs that people actually listen too, and i cant really say "Over the Rainbow" should even be on this list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.112.210.153 (talk • contribs) 
: Well, "The House of the Rising Sun" quite likely predates the 20th century. Hm, but that didn't seem to stop "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" from getting on the list. I dunno. -- Infrogmation (talk) 22:24, 12 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lacking in Current? 

message: "YMCA" by the Village People is on the list.  "Funny How Time Slips Away" is not.  I wonder if they saved the ballots.  Because if you think about, this song came out about 1960. There was 40% of the twentieth century left.  Was there a single year among those 40 that some artist did not cover the song?  I would wager not.  It was continuously covered by artists from all genres of music for the last 40 years of the twentieth century.  This slight is unimportant, because they will probably still be playing the song in the 22nd century, when the others have been forgotten.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.140.95.53 (talk) 03:13, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  A prime example why good taste is so rare 

message: This was a marketing campaign from 2001 and released in 2002 by the RIAA. I have seen many references to the Nat'l Endowment of Arts sponsorship of this but it appears they only stamped their name on it. Only 200 people were polled. Less than 2,000 were even asked. The NEA does not have any details available for public review and the RIAA was also marketing collections of these songs the same year.
Is this minor marketing campaign a notable incident worthy of encyclopedic content or is it an attempt to further the title of the "study"?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.212.59.10 (talk) 07:50, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I would have to agree that this list is not notable. Ugh. Patricia Meadows (talk) 05:39, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  This is not notable 

message: To List "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as the most influential song of the century shows, what I believe to be, cultural bias. 
There is an intense connection with the gay community and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". As musicologists know, this Judy Garland tune is literally the anthem for the homosexual community.  Many sociologists even credit the song for being the inspiration behind the "gay flag" which is the colors of the rainbow.  
Since homosexual culture is not the predominant culture in America (or, more important, of the century), this list & results must be invalidated.
This is not a slam on the gay community; this is a simple observation presented from a subjective point of view. Honestly, I don't think 200 selected people from narrow parameters like the RIAA & NEA could conceivably capture the best songs of the century - homosexual or not.  
~~Grimsbah~~  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grimsbah (talk • contribs) 04:04, 8 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  I believe this list is culturally biased. 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on Songs of the Century. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit User:Cyberpower678/FaQs#InternetArchiveBot*this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.riaa.com/newsitem.php?id=B3DB4887-39EE-F70A-8C7A-3B81B66B2C44
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).
Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 04:26, 4 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified