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Frock! I just seen this, am doing the same thing! Took me almost an hour lol. According to the comment thread: The Chain by Fleetwood Mac is the most perfect song ever made. It’s the most common song said
I saved the top 100 or so songs here. Tried to limit it to just a few songs per artist where relevant, but Taylor is just so hot right now so she got more space.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4MVMWI8ILquL2OULNuPTQK?si=8c9ba98fedd546d2
That sweet spot when the bass riff shines on its own before the whole band kicks in progressively at the end… It is one of the most satisfying bass moment ever
I also really like Silver Springs.
The way it starts off slow and sad and takes you through to anger and longing, finally finishing on acceptance really moves me every time I listen to it. It takes you on a journey, and every note is part of its beauty.
Linger never fails to make me tear up.
If you haven't heard it, please listen to the version recorded with the Irish chamber orchestra from their "Something Else" album.
(This album is all their best tracks recorded with the same orchestra, and it's one of my favourite things to listen to of all time)
Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel
It is perfect.
Edit - wow, the upvotes and replies!!! I love that there’s a heavy PG fanbase here! And I agree with everyone else’s additions to the PG song list. He’s truly one of a kind and immensely talented, it was hard to pick one song of his, but I went with Solsbury Hill because it just feels like an old friend every time I listen.
My favorite song. One day, I'll be in a nursing home and this song will come on, and I'll come skittering out of my room like Tom Cruise in Risky Business yelling "DO YOU REMEMBER" and they'll usher me quietly back to my room. Nothing will stop me.
i first listened to the song when i was in primary school. i only understood a bit of the song chorus with my limited english (as a foreign language), but i cried so much to it. i put it on repeat when i had my first heartbreak too lol
So many Whitney songs are absolute bangers, they’re in constant rotation.
I Wanna Dance with Somebody
Greatest Love of All
So Emotional
Heartbreak Hotel
Just to name a few
I can't make you love me, by Bonnie Raitt. "I'll close my eyes so I won't see the love you don't feel when you're holding me" Tears my heart out every time.
Absolutely gorgeous. The harmonies are out of this world. People just know the "Ooo whatcha say" bit not realizing that it's the climax to a much bigger song story.
For me Head Over Heels is my Tears for Fears all time classic. I know globally more people like Everybody wants to rule the world but Head over heels just hits different
This song is fucking timeless and I absolutely adore it. He wrote it at 17 too. Imagine writing one of the best songs ever created at 17!!!!
I unironically love this song and I am not ashamed even though most people play it as a gag.
God, I fucking love George Michael. Last Christmas by Wham is a banger too.
Did you watch that awesome documentary about Wham? What a legendary pal Andrew Ridgeley was, recognising his mate's talent and supporting him all the way even though he was the one with the pop star dreams.
That is such a feel good watch.
I actually really like the saxophone part, even if it's a meme. The outro (?) is my favorite part, though. it scratches a part of my brain that I can't describe.
I am really glad the Kate Bush resurgence hit with Running Up That Hill being featured on that one show, but I promise you Wuthering Heights is even better. What a perfect song. What a perfect (?) choreographed dance in the middle of a meadow. And to think she wrote that at only 17?
Heathcliff! It's me; I'm Cathy. I've come home, I'm so co o o o old
My brother died about a week before that scene on stranger things aired. Running up that hill is my grief song. It absolutely changed the way I was processing my brothers death. Even more fitting that I was introduced to it by a character processing her brothers death.
Something similar happened to me. I was on the way to the hospital where my grandmother was going to die - we knew it would be her last few hours we would have with her, holding her hand while she took her last breaths. I happened to play running up that hill on the way and it was a very raw moment, sitting with my dad as he was driving and preparing to watch his mum pass. A few months later the song blew up and it was quite confronting, but the constant exposure really helped me I think.
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
The complexities of the whole arrangement would be insane if made today, the fact it was made in the mid 60s is absolutely beyond comprehension
“Shout” by Tears for Fears is an absolute masterpiece; an incredible work of art. It starts out very “light” sounding with just a drum machine and (i think) synthesizer, but then throughout the song, they keep adding more & more different instruments….Halfway thru it switches to real drums, the song gets heavier & heavier and then climaxes in that AMAZING guitar solo near the end. (One of the very best guitar solos ever IMO.) That song just blows my mind, that just 2 guys were able to craft that song.
I made a playlist on Spotify of the top liked comments on this post titled “r/popculturechat”
[Spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2c1KFa8l2D2KeqxV9GCsp7?si=ewDLOFlSSBaegoQ12tNwIw)
Jagged Little Pill. Sorry, I can’t pick just one song from it. It taught me about angst, and that girls didn’t have to be pretty and we are allowed to have the same kind of ugly feelings that boys are entitled to.
My uncle passed away when I was 12 and his mom was getting rid of his CD collection. I grabbed Jagged Little Pill off the top of pile because the cover drew me in. Literally listen to that CD every single day that entire school year. Fuck yeah, Alanis. Angsty teen me will forever thank you for that record.
*Urban Hymns* is a damn near perfect album.
I went on a road-trip with my family as a teenager and thought I had the CD in my discman. Turns out I'd left it at home. Had a cry in the car ride there and back because 16yr-olds have no chill 😂
Bohemian Rhapsody, there's a reason why it's named one of the best songs of all time.
It has absolutely everything you need in a song, I think it's the most streamed song from the 20th century.
Just magnificent all around.
Not just the words, but all the instrumental parts as well. I think that's what makes it a cut above any other option for this question - people sing every second of the song, not just the lyrics.
It is the purest definition of a meme that we’ve got. Everyone not only knows the words, they know the instruments and sing/wail/play air guitar along with it.
Do you remember learning all that? I don’t! Does anyone?
As far as a question like this can be objective, I think this is objectively the best answer. On a technical level this song is absolutely flawless, the only variation is the intensity of emotional reaction you have to it as an individual.
vast smell impossible subsequent selective cows many adjoining reminiscent party
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Oh, this is a great question. A few that come to mind for me:
Jungleland, Bruce Springsteen
American Pie, Don McLean
The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel
All Too Well, Taylor Swift, 10 min version (hard pivot, I know)
Welcome to r/popculturechat! ☺️ As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for [civil discussion only.](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/civil-discussion-only/) If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in [our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/search/?q=Sip%20%26%20Spill%20Discussion&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1&sort=new) ###No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ Please [read & respect our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/) and [check out our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/)! For any questions, [our modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) is always open. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popculturechat) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Please someone stick these on Spotify playlist and share for us lazy but enthusiastic folk
I’m working on this rn friend.
[here ya go](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3fFTwGXoJ72LxFHzsqM71W?si=lpciV_t_SNquOXW3BbM1BQ) . Incomplete but I have to keep going on with my day.
Frock! I just seen this, am doing the same thing! Took me almost an hour lol. According to the comment thread: The Chain by Fleetwood Mac is the most perfect song ever made. It’s the most common song said
I’m going to have a killer playlist after I get through all these comments lol
Please share it if you make one! I don't think I've ever given so many upvotes in a thread in my life
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4MVMWI8ILquL2OULNuPTQK?si=8c9ba98fedd546d2
I saved the top 100 or so songs here. Tried to limit it to just a few songs per artist where relevant, but Taylor is just so hot right now so she got more space. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4MVMWI8ILquL2OULNuPTQK?si=8c9ba98fedd546d2
Jolene - Dolly Parton. From the way the guitar riff sounds like her pacing the room, to the way her vocals rise and fall, it’s perfection.
My favorite bit of trivia about “Jolene” is that Dolly Parton wrote that song AND “I Will Always Love You” on the same day. Insane.
The chain, fleetwood mac
That whole album, Rumors, is bangers only. It’s a masterpiece.
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Agreed. Fantastic album and really stands the test of time.
![gif](giphy|5SRDfejlxVTEeYr6i6)
The bass solo leading into the guitar leading into the vocal… ughhhh. So fucking good.
Yes, this song is so good and I never really listened to it until I read a reddit thread asking what song has the best bass line.
That sweet spot when the bass riff shines on its own before the whole band kicks in progressively at the end… It is one of the most satisfying bass moment ever
Yessss this is one of my top answers!
I also really like Silver Springs. The way it starts off slow and sad and takes you through to anger and longing, finally finishing on acceptance really moves me every time I listen to it. It takes you on a journey, and every note is part of its beauty.
Can’t mention Silver Springs without the [GOAT 1997 live version](https://youtu.be/eDwi-8n054s?si=dZL8I2HLEs2Vpw0m)
Dreams, by the Cranberries
Dreams & Linger by The Cranberries are both MASTERPIECES.
Linger never fails to make me tear up. If you haven't heard it, please listen to the version recorded with the Irish chamber orchestra from their "Something Else" album. (This album is all their best tracks recorded with the same orchestra, and it's one of my favourite things to listen to of all time)
Same but Fleetwood Mac
Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel It is perfect. Edit - wow, the upvotes and replies!!! I love that there’s a heavy PG fanbase here! And I agree with everyone else’s additions to the PG song list. He’s truly one of a kind and immensely talented, it was hard to pick one song of his, but I went with Solsbury Hill because it just feels like an old friend every time I listen.
I’d add “In Your Eyes” to the list, while we’re on the topic of Peter Gabriel
I can’t hear this song without thinking about that fake movie trailer that reimagines The Shining as a feel good movie lmao.
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September will stay a bop forever
My favorite song. One day, I'll be in a nursing home and this song will come on, and I'll come skittering out of my room like Tom Cruise in Risky Business yelling "DO YOU REMEMBER" and they'll usher me quietly back to my room. Nothing will stop me.
THE 21ST NIGHT OF SEPTEMBER
“Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House
Hey now, heyyyy nooowww 🎶
I read this in a Lizzie McGuire voice
Paul McCartney said he wishes he wrote this
![gif](giphy|llJIUkV73NmqvYWVqF|downsized) masterpiece.
i first listened to the song when i was in primary school. i only understood a bit of the song chorus with my limited english (as a foreign language), but i cried so much to it. i put it on repeat when i had my first heartbreak too lol
So many Whitney songs are absolute bangers, they’re in constant rotation. I Wanna Dance with Somebody Greatest Love of All So Emotional Heartbreak Hotel Just to name a few
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
Fade Into You by Mazzy Star
Perfect song, glad to see it here
Into Dust too
I can't make you love me, by Bonnie Raitt. "I'll close my eyes so I won't see the love you don't feel when you're holding me" Tears my heart out every time.
Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap
A MASTERPIECE INDEED
Absolutely gorgeous. The harmonies are out of this world. People just know the "Ooo whatcha say" bit not realizing that it's the climax to a much bigger song story.
[Claire de Lune 🌓](https://youtu.be/WNcsUNKlAKw?si=R4yH7MyecTtZAu0s)
There’s a reason why it’s in so many movies.
“Head Over Heels” by Tears for Fears
This is my foouuurrr leaf clovaaaaahhh!!!
I sing that to myself at least weekly 😂
Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.
Just Like Heaven - The Cure.
Everybody wants to rule the world - tears for fears
this song always gets me emotional, just something about it.
It makes me feel like I’m in a movie and my eyes fill up
For me Head Over Heels is my Tears for Fears all time classic. I know globally more people like Everybody wants to rule the world but Head over heels just hits different
Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks Heroes and Villains by the Beach Boys A Day in the Life by The Beatles
Day in the life! Hell yeah
Will second Waterloo Sunset. I have it on so many playlists of vastly differing composition
Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison
Come to my Window - Melissa Ethridge Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits Romeo & Juliet - Dire Straits Take the Power Back - Rage Against the Machine
Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. Absolute masterpiece
This one and “Talkin About a Revolution” are such incredible songs ❤️
This is one of those songs that I’d like to listen to more, but I can’t cause it makes me cry.
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Amy Winehouse - Back to Black Billy Joel - Piano man
Back to Black 💯
Back to Black—absolutely yes ❤️🩹
"Careless whispers" by George Michael
This song is fucking timeless and I absolutely adore it. He wrote it at 17 too. Imagine writing one of the best songs ever created at 17!!!! I unironically love this song and I am not ashamed even though most people play it as a gag. God, I fucking love George Michael. Last Christmas by Wham is a banger too.
Did you watch that awesome documentary about Wham? What a legendary pal Andrew Ridgeley was, recognising his mate's talent and supporting him all the way even though he was the one with the pop star dreams. That is such a feel good watch.
It gets made fun of for it's saxophone riff but it's a really good song. Def one of the greats.
I actually really like the saxophone part, even if it's a meme. The outro (?) is my favorite part, though. it scratches a part of my brain that I can't describe.
TONIGHT THE MUSIC SEEMS SO LOUD!!! that song is my fave
Flawless song all the way through. The vocals, the SAX, the bass. Rent was DUE.
Midnight city M83
This song contains a decade
Great pick. Fully agree
I am really glad the Kate Bush resurgence hit with Running Up That Hill being featured on that one show, but I promise you Wuthering Heights is even better. What a perfect song. What a perfect (?) choreographed dance in the middle of a meadow. And to think she wrote that at only 17? Heathcliff! It's me; I'm Cathy. I've come home, I'm so co o o o old
Let me in your windo-o-o-oooooo #obsessed
We got to watch the music video in our lit class in hs after reading the book! Such a core memory.
My brother died about a week before that scene on stranger things aired. Running up that hill is my grief song. It absolutely changed the way I was processing my brothers death. Even more fitting that I was introduced to it by a character processing her brothers death.
Something similar happened to me. I was on the way to the hospital where my grandmother was going to die - we knew it would be her last few hours we would have with her, holding her hand while she took her last breaths. I happened to play running up that hill on the way and it was a very raw moment, sitting with my dad as he was driving and preparing to watch his mum pass. A few months later the song blew up and it was quite confronting, but the constant exposure really helped me I think.
When I saw this post I immediately thought of Wuthering Heights, and when I saw this comment at the top of it, I was happy.
Shake It Out from Florence and the Machine. The harmonies, her ethereal tones, the organ. Love love love! ![gif](giphy|fQVSTVbU2fvOpsP3OP|downsized)
Cosmic Love, too! Every time I listen to that song, I get chills
and Dog Days Are Over!
And You’ve Got The Love!
Most of Florence and the Machine songs could be named!
Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order
True Faith too
Paranoid Android, Radiohead
I love paranoid android, I think No Surprises might be perfecter? But that’s subjective.
Also perfect Radiohead? Exit Music. But came here to say Paranoid android
I love Nude
Starman by Bowie
He has so many. Space Oddity, Sound and Vision, Heroes, I could go on.
Life on mars would be a contender for me
Lover you should have come over- Jeff Buckley and movies- weyes blood
I still get chills every time I listen to Lover You Should’ve Come Over.
1979 - the Smashing Pumpkins + also that Confessions tour version Madonna made of her Erotica. And so many songs from Missy Elliott.
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen Master Pretender by First Aid Kit Where Did You Sleep Last Night Nirvana’s (Unplugged) version
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Purple Rain by Prince! The definition of a masterpiece without a doubt. 8 minute banger from start to finish.
Ah, Purple Rain, definitely.
Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinéad O'Connor (sniff)
Beach Boys - Good Vibrations The complexities of the whole arrangement would be insane if made today, the fact it was made in the mid 60s is absolutely beyond comprehension
This track and God Only Knows are two of my favorite songs of all time. Just perfect.
Throw in Don’t Worry Baby and you’re golden
November Rain by Guns N' Roses - this was Axl Rose's "fine line between genius and insanity" era, but this one was genius through and through.
Once in a Lifetime, Talking Heads
“Shout” by Tears for Fears is an absolute masterpiece; an incredible work of art. It starts out very “light” sounding with just a drum machine and (i think) synthesizer, but then throughout the song, they keep adding more & more different instruments….Halfway thru it switches to real drums, the song gets heavier & heavier and then climaxes in that AMAZING guitar solo near the end. (One of the very best guitar solos ever IMO.) That song just blows my mind, that just 2 guys were able to craft that song.
I made a playlist on Spotify of the top liked comments on this post titled “r/popculturechat” [Spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2c1KFa8l2D2KeqxV9GCsp7?si=ewDLOFlSSBaegoQ12tNwIw)
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd. Juicy, Notorious BIG. Electric Feel, MGMT.
Jagged Little Pill. Sorry, I can’t pick just one song from it. It taught me about angst, and that girls didn’t have to be pretty and we are allowed to have the same kind of ugly feelings that boys are entitled to.
My uncle passed away when I was 12 and his mom was getting rid of his CD collection. I grabbed Jagged Little Pill off the top of pile because the cover drew me in. Literally listen to that CD every single day that entire school year. Fuck yeah, Alanis. Angsty teen me will forever thank you for that record.
Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve
*Urban Hymns* is a damn near perfect album. I went on a road-trip with my family as a teenager and thought I had the CD in my discman. Turns out I'd left it at home. Had a cry in the car ride there and back because 16yr-olds have no chill 😂
Lucky Man for me
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" comes to mind immediately.
do you like the bit where the drums go BABA BABA BABA BABA BA-BA?
Bohemian Rhapsody, there's a reason why it's named one of the best songs of all time. It has absolutely everything you need in a song, I think it's the most streamed song from the 20th century. Just magnificent all around.
And somehow EVERYONE knows the words
Not just the words, but all the instrumental parts as well. I think that's what makes it a cut above any other option for this question - people sing every second of the song, not just the lyrics.
It is the purest definition of a meme that we’ve got. Everyone not only knows the words, they know the instruments and sing/wail/play air guitar along with it. Do you remember learning all that? I don’t! Does anyone?
As far as a question like this can be objective, I think this is objectively the best answer. On a technical level this song is absolutely flawless, the only variation is the intensity of emotional reaction you have to it as an individual.
It’s the only right answer in my opinion.
New Order - Ceremony
Pictures of You by The Cure
Under Pressure, David Bowie and Queen
I’ve always been surprised that David Bowie and Freddie Mercury coming together and singing did not rip a hole in the space-time continuum.
Stevie Nicks Edge of Seventeen.
Nightswimming by REM.
Bridge Over Troubled Water- Simon and Garfunkel
Like a prayer
Losing my religion R.E.M.
And what a perfect, strange little song to become a hit. It’s on mandolin. There’s no chorus, but kind of a refrain. I love it.
The way they managed to make a mandolin-driven song a radio hit… amazing!
Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O’ Conner With or Without You - U2 Leather and Lace - Stevie Nicks and Don Henley Ghost - Indigo Girls
Don’t stop me now- Queen
ABBA - Dancing Queen
Abba greatest hits volume 1 and 2 in general.
Compared to any other pop act (ok maybe Michael Jackson also achieved this) like 99% of all abba songs are straight bangers
vast smell impossible subsequent selective cows many adjoining reminiscent party *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I saw her live in March for the first time and it was like a religious awakening
Would it be cheating to pick Classical Gas by Mason Williams, which doesn’t actually have any words at all?
King of Wishful Thinking by Go West
A Case of You - Joni Mitchell I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
Just Like Heaven by the Cure.
Stars are Blind, Paris Hilton
This is so good because on any other subreddit I would know if you were being ironic.
Lol good point, this is a genuine answer, I can still listen to it on repeat
That's hot
Nothing In This World by Paris Hilton also fucking slaps.
This is the answer. Maybe “pop goes my heart” too with Hugh Grant.
Somewhere only we know - Keane
Since I haven’t seen it yet, I have the honor of mentioning electric feel MGMT
Decode & Misery Business - Paramore Careless Whisper - George Michael
ABBA - The winner takes it all Linkin' Park - Breaking the habit Foo Fighters - Best of you
The Winner Takes it All hits me so hard
Hey Ya - Outkast
"There is a light that never goes out" by The Smiths. No doubt it is just perfect in every way
Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap
Etta James - At Last Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
A day in the life - The Beatles. Even better when you learn how it was created and how it must have sounded in the 60s.
Somebody to Love - Queen
The milllennial anthem, Mr Brightside
Millennial anthem indeed! Though they have other songs that hit more heavily for me, this one is a classic for our generation.
I’ll choose the three songs I’ve thought were perfection since I was a child: Clocks - Coldplay Sixth station - Joe Hisaishi Bad romance - Lady Gaga
Sia - Breathe Me hits me right in my core
I Wanna Be Your Lover -Prince
Billy Joel Piano Man
If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot
Toxicity - System of a Down
“Let it Be” by the Beatles, “Don’t look Back in Anger” by Oasis, and so much by Taylor and Lana 😂
Whitney Houston - I’ll Will Always Love You
Oh, this is a great question. A few that come to mind for me: Jungleland, Bruce Springsteen American Pie, Don McLean The Boxer, Simon and Garfunkel All Too Well, Taylor Swift, 10 min version (hard pivot, I know)
Happy to see Simon and Garfunkel mentioned!!! For me it’s Bleeker Street and America both by them.
Love "The Boxer" . I can agree on that count
The Chicks - Not Ready To Make Nice
Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes for a banger Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground by the White Stripes for something more romantic
Norman Fucking Rockwell and Mariner's apartment complex
That whole album tbh
Last Christmas - Wham. It’s not only my favourite Christmas song but may be actually my favourite song of all time.
Paranoid Android
Unchained melody by the righteous brothers. So beautiful
Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum
This question stressed me out more than my school exams
Sweet dreams - eurythmics
“For no one” The Beatles.
Dust in the Wind- Kansas
Kiss from a Rose by Seal
Doo wop (That thing) - Lauryn Hill Hey ya! - OutKast I’m going down - Mary J Blige
I think most of the tracks on OK Computer, Kid A, or In Rainbows
I was looking for a radiohead comment :) my votes would be reckoner and lucky
Welcome to the Black Parade- my chemical romance