you know, i haven't done a list in a while ...

so, i came across this list from rolling stone, comprising the best songs, one a year, for the forty years that the magazine has been in existence.

it's a good list--imagine w/ what difficulty one would have said that ten years ago. most notably, they seem to be making amends for almost entirely ignoring britpop : oasis, pulp, suede & hefner made the list--a bit of an overcompensation there w/ the last one. there are also the idiosyncratic selections (the monkees, millie jackson, gbv, the rondelles, hefner); and the verging-on-self-conscious selections for other artists (the stones, "dandelion"; lou reed, "crazy feeling"; morrissey, "playboys"; pavement, "debris slide"; nirvana, "sliver"; missy elliott, "weave"; hefner, "we love the city"--if anything from that year, "good fruit").

i made my own list, rather hastily. there may be omissions; the years may be off. a quick glace tells me that i share w/ the rs list "temptation" and "common people," which are arguably the greatest songs of the 80's and 90's, respectively. oh, and we also both have idiosyncratic selections and verging-on-self-conscious selections--but no hefner from me. what do i have? well ...

1967 : nancy sinatra - "you only live twice"
1968 : david ackles - "down river"
1969 : isaac hayes - "by the time i get to phoenix"
1970 : amon düül ii - "archangels thunderbird"
1971 : the rolling stones - "moonlight mile"
1972 : roxy music - "virginia plain"
1973 : aretha franklin - "angel"
1974 : bob dylan - "dirge"
1975 : steve harley & cockney rebel - "make me smile (come up & see me)"
1976 : david ruffin - "walk away from love"
1977 : talking heads - "love --> building on fire"
1978 : blondie - "picture this"
1979 : dan hartman feat. loleatta holloway- "relight my fire / vertigo"
1980 : dexy's midnight runners - "there, there, my dear"
1981 : prince - "controversy"
1982 : new order - "temptation"
1983 : the the - "uncertain smile" (7" version)
1984 : lloyd cole & the commotions - "rattlesnakes"
1985 : felt - "primitive painters"
1986 : madonna - "open your heart"
1987 : the happy mondays - "24 hour party people"
1988 : pet shop boys - "left to my own devices"
1989 : de la soul - "eye know"
1990 : the fall - "bill is dead"
1991 : public enemy - "shut 'em down"
1992 : nick cave & the bad seeds - "straight to you"
1993 : thieves - "unworthy"
1994 : suede - "the wild ones"
1995 : pulp - "common people"
1996 : sleeper - "what do i do now"
1997 : teenage fanclub - "ain't that enough"
1998 : massive attack - "teardrop"
1999 : the magnetic fields - "the luckiest guy on the lower east side"
2000 : outkast - "b.o.b."
2001 : andrew w.k. - "party hard"
2002 : conway - "lisa's got hives"
2003 : ted leo & the pharmacists - "where have all the rude boys gone?"
2004 : girls aloud - "love machine"
2005 : guillemots - "trains to brazil"
2006 : nelly furtado - "maneater"