Get your arguments ready for another round of one of music’s great debates. There’s a new ‘definitive’ list on the block.
Following on from re-opening the discussion on the greatest albums ever made last October, iconic UK publication NME now turns its attention to “the definitive countdown of the best tracks ever recorded.”
The latest issue of the long-running British magazine has revealed their full list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, while the NME website has unveiled the Top 5 as well as drip-feeding the full results, beginning with the #500-#401 rankings.
The list was compiled from votes by writers of the magazine, both past and present, who each submitted a Top 50 list of their favourite songs (just imagine how long that took). Interestingly, these results were “combined with lists of NME’s Top 50 tracks of the year to create the definitive list of 500 essential songs.”
That makes the contingent of Aussie artists that cracked NME’s Best Tracks of 2013 list eligible for ‘Greatest Song of All-Time’ status, meaning there’s a slim chance that the likes of Jagwar Ma, Courtney Barnett, and Pond could be rubbing shoulders with the best of the best on the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time rankings.
In fact, a selection of Aussie artists have already made it into the #500-401 rankings; namely Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ murderous 1994 single ‘Red Right Hand’ (at #489), AC/DC’s 1979 anthem ‘Highway To Hell’ (at #478), and even Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’ (at #426) from 2012 Lonerism (which NME crowned the Best Album of 2012). In fact, a selection of Aussie artists have already made it into the #500-401 rankings of the Greatest Songs Of All Time…
As for NME‘s Top 5 Greatest Songs of All-Time, well the results uncharacteristically focus on American acts, with only two of the five top songs being bands from the UK – surely leading to foul cries of ‘No Beatles/Bowie/Oasis?’ though there’s no doubt they’ll each make strong showings in the full list.
Love The Beatles?
Get the latest The Beatles news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
But the #1 spot goes to (Spoiler Alert) the deathless grunge anthem that is ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, taken from Nirvana’s Nevermind. Though the album landed at #11 on NME’s accompanying 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list, the Seattle trio trumped all-comers with their legacy-making 1991 hit.
Coming behind Nirvana with the second greatest song of all-time on the NME list is ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ by Joy Division (which interestingly, topped the Triple J Hottest 100 twice in its formative years until the release of Nevermind saw ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ topping the 1991 poll and the subsequent ‘Hottest 100 of All Time’ polls in 1998 and 2009).
While those songs regularly appear at the business end of such ‘best of’ lists, the #3 spot is much more worthy of chatter, going to disco diva Donna Summer (R.I.P.) and her Giorgio Moroder-produced classic ‘I Feel Love’.
The #4 and #5 positions return to NME form. Trailing Summer is The Smiths, with ‘How Soon Is Now?’, its high placing is little surprise given the 1986 album the song is taken from, The Queen Is Dead, topped the magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums list. Ditto for The Strokes’ jittery slice of guitar rock, ‘Last Nite’, with 2001 parent album Is This It also lording it high on the same Albums list.
Whether you see such lists as a redundant exercise in self-fulfilling prophecy making, interesting topics of healthy music debate, or a nasty grab at relevance from a publication that’s experienced a sharp decline in its physical circulation in recent years – it’s heartening to see Australian artists making the cut.
Plus there’s probably more Aussie artists set to appear in NME’s 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time, as its unveiled in print and digital, or you can follow along online here.
The Top 5 Greatest Songs Of All Time
According to NME
- ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ – Nirvana
- ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ – Joy Division
- ‘I Feel Love’ – Donna Summer
- ‘How Soon Is Now?’ – The Smiths
- ‘Last Nite’ – The Strokes
View the #500-401 rankings here.
