In Your Opinion The Greatest Song Of All Time Is?

[Dan89]

But that goes back to the point that does a song have to be popular to be considered great?

Chris Evans was very popular back in the day.

He's still a ginger c**t though.

I think people would agree that MJ makes better quality music than Chris Evans as well. Same can be said for MJ vs Arctic Monkeys.

edit: And yes it does beg the question what is greatness.

To me Greatness is a brilliant song, which is recognised as brilliant despite the musical period it came in - it should be timeless, it should represent a whole generation, it should evoke emotion from all who hear it - it should amaze and 'wow'.

In 20 years time A Certain Romance will sound like any other Indie Rock tune.

edit 2: That's why despite liking hundreds of other songs more than I like Thriller; Ain't Sayin Nothin' New by The Roots off 99s Thing's Fall Apart can never be the greatest song of all time.

[Weinerdog.]

Surely Thriller isn't old enough to be considered great then. It's only from the 80's. Age has absolutely nothing to do with being a great song. We aren't talking about the biggest classic ever, if we are talking about the best constructed song ever it would be something like Beethoven or Mozart or Bach as they construct the music in Aria's better than pop musicians ever could.

[G.T.M]

Bottom line is it's all personal choice.

One man's garbage is another man's treasure.

I've never cared for The Libertines in the way Weinerdog doesn't care for Oasis.

So these discussions are always going to go around in circles.

Defining what should make a song great is also pretty arbitrary because ultimately it's what you like regardless of anything.

[Stevoefc]

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

[johngilbert]

John Lennon - Imagine

[Dobba]

The Jam - Down In The Tubestation at Midnight

[rfc_scott]

I would of said Weiner would of plumped for a Libertines song and rfc_scott would of had the BNP March myself...

Very close 2nd.

[Raccers]

I would say Rigobert

[smb69]

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

what he said.

[heskeyhater]

I've just noticed this and I'd have to say a handful of Beach Boys tracks could be up there, but I'm going to go for...
...
...
...
God Only Knows
(could so easily be God Vibrations/I Get Around/Fun Fun Fun/Surfin' USA/California Girls)

The greatest pop band of all time, yet so much more. The intricacies involved in the composition, production and performance of any given track is mind-blowing (in that no-one can sit and busk a beach boys song off the cuff) Not to mention it's a goddamn great singalong, must see Brian Wilson one day.

[miss_upton_park]

God Vibrations?

[heskeyhater]

It was a satirical religious parody on Good Vibrations, have you never heard it? Much better than the original

[sky blue sam]

Surely Thriller isn't old enough to be considered great then. It's only from the 80's. Age has absolutely nothing to do with being a great song. We aren't talking about the biggest classic ever, if we are talking about the best constructed song ever it would be something like Beethoven or Mozart or Bach as they construct the music in Aria's better than pop musicians ever could.

For one thing, the 80's were 20 years ago. I'd say that's enough time to judge if a song has aged well.
Age isn't the be all and end all, but to dismiss it as unimportant is foolish. How many times have you heard a song, loved it straight away, then a month down the line heard it again and gone 'meh'? Happens all the time.
If you want to consider a recent song as the greatest of all time, then fair enough. I just don't think you can have the full picture, when you simply have no idea how good it'll sound in even 5 years time, never mind 20, 30, or more.

Secondly, that's just not true about composers. Yes, classical composers were incredibly good at arrangements, and so on, but it sounds like you're implying that no 'modern' musicians even come close.
Just because it's not written for a full orchestra, it doesn't mean it's a compositionally poor piece.
Listen to The Smiths, Muse or Radiohead, as 3 examples that spring to mind. There's so much going on in a lot of their songs, and it would all sound a mess if Johnny Marr, Matt Bellamy and Thom Yorke/Johnny Greenwood respectively weren't fantastic composers. It just wouldn't work.
There are some fantastically complex arrangements going on, that need major talent to pull off.

[Weinerdog.]

I was making the point that if you bring time into this, where do you draw the line? Can "Last Nite" be considered a classic yet, it's 5 years old. I don't see where the line is drawn where it becomes timeless, 5? 10 years?

The way I see it is that time is totally irrelevant, I see the point you are making about loving a song first time then thinking less of it and I think that is true, but for me if you hear your favourite song/what you consider to be the greatest song of all time, you know it and it takes something very special to beat it, I'm not talking merely about a great song, I'm saying it's my favourite song of all time and therefore the greatest.

Also I wasn't implying that modern composers don't come close, but if you are bringing in construction to it, classical composers win hands down. I agree though that simplicity is a brilliant tool and some of Johnny Marr's arrangements are so simple they are fantastic, where as someone can write an extremely complicated arrangement and it can be shit. I've realised that actually Beethoven et al didn't create songs, so bringing them into this is going off the subject slightly, but the point is still the same.

[sky blue sam]

I think we're possibly saying similar things here, just approaching it from different angles.
Time isn't the be all and end all. If you love a song now, and think it's the best ever, then fair enough.
That said, I would be interested to see if there's any revision to a belief like that in, say, 5 years time. Because time can affect things like that, when you can reflect on something.
Being new doesn't automatically make something bad, but at the same time, I'd say it's hard to make a fully reasoned judgement.

[G.T.M]

Listen to The Smiths, Muse or Radiohead, as 3 examples that spring to mind. There's so much going on in a lot of their songs, and it would all sound a mess if Johnny Marr, Matt Bellamy and Thom Yorke/Johnny Greenwood respectively weren't fantastic composers

Always seems strange when Matt Bellamy's name is thrown in there, while they are not to my taste I can appreciate their music but I do laugh when he's entered into an argument especially against the likes of Marr and Yorke...

[Weinerdog.]

I completely see where you are coming from, but surely your favourite song ever, which, after all is what we are discussing here, is surely only there to be beaten by the next classic, more often than not that will be a new song that hasn't been written yet rather than some kinks b-side.

[trundle_legend]

Whether a song is the most popular has sweet fuck all to do with how great it is, the profound is left to only the profound. The essence of this thread offends good taste, by assuming such a question could categorically be answered.

[chesterred]

As subjective as this thread is, there is a certain nobility in the quest for an absolute, ie Truth.

“The terrible thing about the quest for truth is that you find it.”

Said Remy de Gourmant.

I just pray the truth is not "Agadoo".

[turkish]

A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran