- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
Although I agree that pre-rock songs should be included on the list ("Rocket 88," anyone?) I was still shocked at how little I disagreed with the list. Did Rolling Stone pay Christgau, Marcus and Marsh under the table?
Just about all eras and styles were accounted for. Even the Britney choice made sense -- when you consider that the world can be changed for the worse. Unfortunately, pop music today still molds itself on the Britney/N'Synch template. While contemporary rock breaks almost no new ground.
My only suggested changes:
1) Bowie -- replace "Ziggy" with "Space Oddity." When the latter was first released in '69 and again in '72 it sounded like nothing else.
2) Zeppelin -- Can't believe "Whole Lotta Love" is on the list, but "Stairway" isn't.
3) Joni Mitchell -- The Eagles' "Take it Easy" is much more emblematic of the '70s mellow-California style than even the best of Joni's output.
3) Queen -- "Bohemian Raphsody" wasn't that popular until it was revived by "Wayne's World" 15 years after it was first released. For a song that opened up possibilities for meat-n-potatoes '70s rock, I would choose Tom Petty's "American Girl."
4) The Cure -- Glad to see English Gloom and Doom represented. But New Order's "Blue Monday" was far more influential.
