Favorite 31 Songs by US Artists According to a Bunch of Middle-Aged Dummies (4 Viewers)

[krista4]

@krista4 What's your preferred format for incoming lists?

Why thank you for asking! I mentioned it a while back and it's worth repeating. If possible, just send me a PM with your list preferably with song title first, then artist, then points. It is also easier for me if you start with your favorite at the top (i.e., 31 points).

It can be in a table or not, however you put it together - I just remove the table and convert to text if it is in one.

Might be helpful to add this to the OP

It's OK. Most lists are in, and many people didn't go with that format. I can deal. But since you asked I thought I'd repeat for any late arrivals.

25 lists in! I have some catching up to do and then will post another "teasers" update. This will be my last one before we get to the big reveal, as I want to leave some of the last-minute changes as a surprise (not that anyone actually knows which artists/songs I'm talking about anyway, but whatever).

 

[shuke]

1960s - 1
1970s - 12
1980s - 3
1990s - 3
2000s - 8
2010s - 4

This was extremely surprising to me.

 

[krista4]

Delete and see my answer to my own question two posts below.

 

[krista4]

Another example would be someone like Dr. Dre, Beyonce, or others who are "feat." on others' tracks. For those, I am tracking separately. For instance, Dr. Dre with Snoop Dogg, I track for both of them. I think that makes the most sense.

And to be clear, these questions don't necessarily affect an overall winner, but I figured I'd do an overall top one billion list or something, so I want to show it the way we all think makes most sense.

 

[krista4]

So...a question about calculating "favorite artist."

Stuff that I gave as examples early on, like Tom Petty solo/with the Heartbreakers, or Paul Simon (or Art Garfunkel) solo/with Simon and Garfunkel, seemed obvious as combinations for purposes of saying who is a favorite artist.

But what about individuals who've been in multiple bands that have votes - for instance, Chris Cornell for Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave, as well as solo works or with other collaborators. Or Dave Grohl, for Foo Fighters and Nirvana, as well as anything with other collaborators.

On the one hand, including that is really hard to track, and frankly I'd rather not do it. Is it "unfair" not to do so? Overall I think we should make a distinction, though, between a lead singer with a backing band - Tom Petty, for instance - and just being parts of different bands without a "leader." Though I suppose in that sense, Paul Simon might be distinguished from Simon and Garfunkel. Or would it, since he's a named member of a duo?

Sigh. I'd really not get to the level of "this guy played harmonica with all these top-rated bands," etc., and would rather limit to solo artists (with or without backing bands) as opposed to bands, where the individuals wouldn't be ranked separately. If we go with that (please), then I am still a little unsure what to do with Simon and Garfunkel as a duo as opposed to separately. I guess the Captain and Tennille, too. Sonny and Cher. Milli and Vanilli.

You know what? Nevermind. (No pun intended.) Nirvana is an artist. Foo Fighters is an artist. Dave Grohl is an artist. I'm treating them separately. People who are voting for Nirvana, for instance, aren't just voting for Dave Grohl, just as voting for The Beatles wouldn't mean you also want Ringo's "Back Off Boogaloo" (though, really, why wouldn't you). The only ones who are treated differently are those who perform with/without backing bands - Tom Petty, Prince, Smokey Robinson, etc. And Simon and Garfunkel will be treated separately than Simon and Garfunkel, if you know what I mean.

:gavel:

 

[Pip's Invitation]

So...a question about calculating "favorite artist."

Stuff that I gave as examples early on, like Tom Petty solo/with the Heartbreakers, or Paul Simon (or Art Garfunkel) solo/with Simon and Garfunkel, seemed obvious as combinations for purposes of saying who is a favorite artist.

But what about individuals who've been in multiple bands that have votes - for instance, Chris Cornell for Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave, as well as solo works or with other collaborators. Or Dave Grohl, for Foo Fighters and Nirvana, as well as anything with other collaborators.

On the one hand, including that is really hard to track, and frankly I'd rather not do it. Is it "unfair" not to do so? Overall I think we should make a distinction, though, between a lead singer with a backing band - Tom Petty, for instance - and just being parts of different bands without a "leader." Though I suppose in that sense, Paul Simon might be distinguished from Simon and Garfunkel. Or would it, since he's a named member of a duo?

Sigh. I'd really not get to the level of "this guy played harmonica with all these top-rated bands," etc., and would rather limit to solo artists (with or without backing bands) as opposed to bands, where the individuals wouldn't be ranked separately. If we go with that (please), then I am still a little unsure what to do with Simon and Garfunkel as a duo as opposed to separately. I guess the Captain and Tennille, too. Sonny and Cher. Milli and Vanilli.

You know what? Nevermind. (No pun intended.) Nirvana is an artist. Foo Fighters is an artist. Dave Grohl is an artist. I'm treating them separately. The only ones who are treated differently are those who perform with/without backing bands - Tom Petty, Prince, etc. And Simon and Garfunkel will be treated separately than Simon and Garfunkel, if you know what I mean.

:gavel:

Who other than Chap would pick an Art Garfunkel solo song for this?

 

[krista4]

Who other than Chap would pick an Art Garfunkel solo song for this?

It happened.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Who other than Chap would pick an Art Garfunkel solo song for this?

It happened.

You aren't even joking, are you? WTF?

 

[Uruk-Hai]

So...a question about calculating "favorite artist."

Stuff that I gave as examples early on, like Tom Petty solo/with the Heartbreakers, or Paul Simon (or Art Garfunkel) solo/with Simon and Garfunkel, seemed obvious as combinations for purposes of saying who is a favorite artist.

But what about individuals who've been in multiple bands that have votes - for instance, Chris Cornell for Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave, as well as solo works or with other collaborators. Or Dave Grohl, for Foo Fighters and Nirvana, as well as anything with other collaborators.

On the one hand, including that is really hard to track, and frankly I'd rather not do it. Is it "unfair" not to do so? Overall I think we should make a distinction, though, between a lead singer with a backing band - Tom Petty, for instance - and just being parts of different bands without a "leader." Though I suppose in that sense, Paul Simon might be distinguished from Simon and Garfunkel. Or would it, since he's a named member of a duo?

Sigh. I'd really not get to the level of "this guy played harmonica with all these top-rated bands," etc., and would rather limit to solo artists (with or without backing bands) as opposed to bands, where the individuals wouldn't be ranked separately. If we go with that (please), then I am still a little unsure what to do with Simon and Garfunkel as a duo as opposed to separately. I guess the Captain and Tennille, too. Sonny and Cher. Milli and Vanilli.

You know what? Nevermind. (No pun intended.) Nirvana is an artist. Foo Fighters is an artist. Dave Grohl is an artist. I'm treating them separately. The only ones who are treated differently are those who perform with/without backing bands - Tom Petty, Prince, etc. And Simon and Garfunkel will be treated separately than Simon and Garfunkel, if you know what I mean.

:gavel:

Who other than Chap would pick an Art Garfunkel solo song for this?

If I had ever done my 2,020 Top Songs Of The 70s, he'd have one on there. It would probably have been somewhere towards the end (Binky: front), but I like that song.

 

[krista4]

Who other than Chap would pick an Art Garfunkel solo song for this?

It happened.

You aren't even joking, are you? WTF?

The lists are a lot of fun, because there's so much diversity of favorites throughout. There are some people who focus strongly on one type of music or even just a handful of artists. There are others who have a wide variety across the board. We've covered just about any type of music you could name, and tons and tons of artists. It's great. I don't know the Art Garfunkel song(s) selected and look forward to listening.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I don't know the Art Garfunkel song(s) selected and look forward to listening.

I'll be shocked if it's not the one record I'm thinking of. What's throwing me is, who took it?

 

[krista4]

OK, a final update before we get to The Big Reveal next week.

Songs! With 25 lists in, we have a new #1. As I mentioned in my last update, one high ranking can make all the difference, as happened with this song, which on the basis of one additional solid vote leapt from #6 to #1. I'd say it's still an open field among the top 7-9 tracks.

Here's a fun-to-me little guessing game...I'll log the guesses and note who won after we do the reveal: which will be the highest ranking song that will be the only song for which the particular artist has votes (and who is the artist)? Or, put in opposite terms, which artist will rank the highest on the basis of only one song (and what is the song)? Right now we have an artist with 85 points and only one song, two artists with 65, and two with 57.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Here's a fun-to-me little guessing game...I'll log the guesses and note who won after we do the reveal: which will be the highest ranking song that will be the only song for which the particular artist has votes (and who is the artist)? Or, put in opposite terms, which artist will rank the highest on the basis of only one song (and what is the song)? Right now we have an artist with 85 points and only one song, two artists with 65, and two with 57.

I might have a song/artist in the running for both of these.

 

[krista4]

Artists!

Once again, an increase of five lists has led to an artist shake-up at the top. Our #1 and #2 have switched places, while #3 has remained the same. #4 is an artist that took a big leap up from #10 in the prior rankings.

And there, hanging still at #5, is the artist I've been talking about all along that has not had any duplicate songs listed. And guess what? Yet again, this artist increased its tally, going from 12 to 14 songs now with no duplications. Amazing!

Mover and shaker! This group of five lists caused one artist to go from a paltry seven points all the way to 80 points. Never give up!

From the ladies' tees, we also had a couple of big surges, including our leader that went up to 89 points. it's a miniscule number compared to the overall leaders, but might set this artist up for a Favorite Female Artist victory - the two closest competitors currently have 60 points each.

 

[krista4]

Here's a fun-to-me little guessing game...I'll log the guesses and note who won after we do the reveal: which will be the highest ranking song that will be the only song for which the particular artist has votes (and who is the artist)? Or, put in opposite terms, which artist will rank the highest on the basis of only one song (and what is the song)? Right now we have an artist with 85 points and only one song, two artists with 65, and two with 57.

I might have a song/artist in the running for both of these.

It's the same question, just posed in the opposite way.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Here's a fun-to-me little guessing game...I'll log the guesses and note who won after we do the reveal: which will be the highest ranking song that will be the only song for which the particular artist has votes (and who is the artist)? Or, put in opposite terms, which artist will rank the highest on the basis of only one song (and what is the song)? Right now we have an artist with 85 points and only one song, two artists with 65, and two with 57.

I might have a song/artist in the running for both of these.

It's the same question, just posed in the opposite way.

I have the flu, so I'm even dumber than usual

 

[krista4]

I have the flu, so I'm even dumber than usual

I was afraid I might have written it poorly. Could be both. I'm sorry about your flu!

 

[krista4]

Right now there are still 14 13 people on the interested list who haven't submitted their rankings. Still a lot of ways this could shake out!

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I have the flu, so I'm even dumber than usual

I was afraid I might have written it poorly. Could be both. I'm sorry about your flu!

Nah, I'm leaning heavily one way on this (did the "bag" emoji get nuked?)

I have one song and artist ranked really high that I doubt anyone else has.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

who took it?

to be continued....

 

[Uruk-Hai]

who took it?

to be continued....

Is Cappy in?

 

[Tau837]

Right now there are still 14 13 people on the interested list who haven't submitted their rankings. Still a lot of ways this could shake out!

I may have a friend give me a list by the deadline, in which case I will PM it to you.

 

[Tau837]

did the "bag" emoji get nuked?

 

[Manster]

One noticeable aspect of the top artists is that women are woefully underrepresented. I can't complain since I think I'm going to have 0.5 women on my list. Maybe we should have a separate contest to see which female artist will do the best. Right now, it's close, and not necessarily those I would have expected.

My list was almost as male as an incel convention.

DrIanMalcolm did much better on that front.

My list is 100% sausage fest .......it's pronouns are dude/bro

 

[Pip's Invitation]

From the ladies' tees, we also had a couple of big surges, including our leader that went up to 89 points. it's a miniscule number compared to the overall leaders, but might set this artist up for a Favorite Female Artist victory - the two closest competitors currently have 60 points each.

Bands that have both women and men in them -- which ones are counted as Female Artists? Lead singer has to be female? Or some other formula?

 

[shuke]

Reminder! If you wish, you can send me your "last five out" and I'll post those for discussion before I post our #31s.

Can we post these after to avoid SPOILERS?

 

[krista4]

Reminder! If you wish, you can send me your "last five out" and I'll post those for discussion before I post our #31s.

Can we post these after to avoid SPOILERS?

I don't really think the last five out for anyone is going to spoil the reveal, at all. And having seen them, even the discussion shouldn't cause any issues. I like posting them in advance.

 

[krista4]

From the ladies' tees, we also had a couple of big surges, including our leader that went up to 89 points. it's a miniscule number compared to the overall leaders, but might set this artist up for a Favorite Female Artist victory - the two closest competitors currently have 60 points each.

Bands that have both women and men in them -- which ones are counted as Female Artists? Lead singer has to be female? Or some other formula?

Lead singer a female is a good rule of thumb.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Bump because I'm still dealing with the flu and want music talk to sooth me.

@krista4 any more stats I can misread?

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Reminder! If you wish, you can send me your "last five out" and I'll post those for discussion before I post our #31s.

Can we post these after to avoid SPOILERS?

I don't really think the last five out for anyone is going to spoil the reveal, at all. And having seen them, even the discussion shouldn't cause any issues. I like posting them in advance.

Yeah, I don’t see what it would spoil really.

 

[krista4]

Reminder! If you wish, you can send me your "last five out" and I'll post those for discussion before I post our #31s.

Can we post these after to avoid SPOILERS?

I don't really think the last five out for anyone is going to spoil the reveal, at all. And having seen them, even the discussion shouldn't cause any issues. I like posting them in advance.

Yeah, I don’t see what it would spoil really.

I think shuke is probably reacting to the earlier posts about last five out. He had asked me about posting them, and I posed the question here to the group. The consensus was not to post them at that time. I can see why there's a distinction to be made between then (when people were still sending lists) and just before the countdown (when all lists will be in). But maybe not. I'm fine to do it whichever way the group would prefer.

 

[krista4]

Bump because I'm still dealing with the flu and want music talk to sooth me.

@krista4 any more stats I can misread?

Need to get some work off my plate and then will play around to find some. Almost no one has tried to guess the "one-hit wonder" artist/song winner, though! (And to be clear, those artists in contention are not necessarily actual one-hit wonders.)

 

[worrierking]

Krista4 knocked one of my tunes off the list due to a foreign band member (dang Czechoslovakians ruin it every time!), and in removing it from my list, I no longer have a single female artist in my top 31. This is distressing me as, I'm sure my therapist will be able to twist this into something terrible; potentially even humiliating. Meanwhile, I have successfully navigated Spotify to create my first playlist. I'll post after all lists are revealed.

 

[falguy]

, I'm sure my therapist will be able to twist this into something terrible; potentially even humiliating.

username checks out

 

[falguy]

Krista4 knocked one of my tunes off the list due to a foreign band member (dang Czechoslovakians ruin it every time!), and in removing it from my list, I no longer have a single female artist in my top 31. This is distressing me as, I'm sure my therapist will be able to twist this into something terrible; potentially even humiliating. Meanwhile, I have successfully navigated Spotify to create my first playlist. I'll post after all lists are revealed.

I have 1. :( I would likely add at least 4 more if this were a top 50.

 

[AAABatteries]

I'm down to 41 songs.

My process (which isn't done obviously) was this.

1. List my top artist that I want represented in the list
2. Being on the list had a lot of factors but I wanted a combination of what I thought was best, what I listen to, what is popular and what best represents American music
3. My list has to be the chalkiest list ever - but I don't care. I'm of the opinion that there's a reason songs are played constantly and that's because they are damn good songs. Radio, businesses, commercials, etc. aren't in the business of playing crap. This is probably an unpopular opinion and I'm ok with that.

Going to be impossible to cut 10 songs.

 

[Pip's Invitation]

Krista4 knocked one of my tunes off the list due to a foreign band member (dang Czechoslovakians ruin it every time!), and in removing it from my list, I no longer have a single female artist in my top 31. This is distressing me as, I'm sure my therapist will be able to twist this into something terrible; potentially even humiliating. Meanwhile, I have successfully navigated Spotify to create my first playlist. I'll post after all lists are revealed.

Do you need a new therapist?

 

[Pip's Invitation]

I'm down to 41 songs.

My process (which isn't done obviously) was this.

1. List my top artist that I want represented in the list
2. Being on the list had a lot of factors but I wanted a combination of what I thought was best, what I listen to, what is popular and what best represents American music
3. My list has to be the chalkiest list ever - but I don't care. I'm of the opinion that there's a reason songs are played constantly and that's because they are damn good songs. Radio, businesses, commercials, etc. aren't in the business of playing crap. This is probably an unpopular opinion and I'm ok with that.

Going to be impossible to cut 10 songs.

Your list will be a counterweight to OH’s, which will likely have nobody any of us have heard of aside from Steve Albini.

 

[AAABatteries]

Final Breakdown

• 40's - 1
• 50's - 3
• 60's - 12
• 70's - 7
• 80's - 5
• 90's - 3

 

[krista4]

Final Breakdown

• 40's - 1
• 50's - 3
• 60's - 12
• 70's - 7
• 80's - 5
• 90's - 3

Not final...

 

[AAABatteries]

Final Breakdown

• 40's - 1
• 50's - 3
• 60's - 12
• 70's - 7
• 80's - 5
• 90's - 3

Not final...

Yeah - I missed that one in the ineligible list.

My list also contains a few curveballs I'll call - best way to describe them are songs that are very sentimental to me.

 

[Ilov80s]

Am I supposed to rank these as well?

 

[krista4]

Am I supposed to rank these as well?

I...I just...

 

[Dr. Octopus]

Am I supposed to rank these as well?

If only there was some way to find out.



Yes.

 

[Bluesbomber]

Working on a list, kind of stream of consciosness of impactful music over 50 or more years...

 

[Ilov80s]

Am I supposed to rank these as well?

If only there was some way to find out.



Yes.

Thanks. I swear I read the first post. Didn't see it but ranking them feels impossible. It took me a month to narrow it down to 31 songs.

 

[krista4]

On November 14, I’ll begin by revealing everyone’s #31, with a reveal every day until we hit all of our #1s on December 14.

Even if one only read the first post in the thread, I thought the above would make it clear, unless I was going to rank them for all of you? No problem. Stevie wins!

 

[Ilov80s]

On November 14, I’ll begin by revealing everyone’s #31, with a reveal every day until we hit all of our #1s on December 14.

Even if one only read the first post in the thread, I thought the above would make it clear, unless I was going to rank them for all of you? No problem. Stevie wins!

I had a fundamental misunderstanding of this thread. I thought you were tallying the songs into some kind of combined list to get a consensus top 31. Which makes no sense given how many random songs would receive votes but that is what I thought this was.

 

[krista4]

On November 14, I’ll begin by revealing everyone’s #31, with a reveal every day until we hit all of our #1s on December 14.

Even if one only read the first post in the thread, I thought the above would make it clear, unless I was going to rank them for all of you? No problem. Stevie wins!

I had a fundamental misunderstanding of this thread. I thought you were tallying the songs into some kind of combined list to get a consensus top 31. Which makes no sense given how many random songs would receive votes but that is what I thought this was.

Well, I will have a top 31 since I'm tallying every entry that comes in. I'll also probably have a top 500.

 

[krista4]

And if you already did the winnowing down to 31, you've done the hardest part. Now just put them in some order based on feel. It's not a science! Definitely want your list to be included.