Yet another interesting list to review.....and so I will, but first a couple of more thoughts on the sixties list.

I did a quick count of how many times some of the major artists appear on the list, and was interested to see that each of The Kinks, The Stones, The Beatles, The Velvets, The Beach Boys, and Dylan are each given five songs. Simon and Garfunkel and The Who were good for four appearances, and Led Zeppelin (from its first two records only) and The Zombies were there three times.

It reinforced a thought I had as I read through in increasing frustration, that the list was done almost on a quota basis, to ensure that they couldn't be accused of missing the big names, but also to create room to over-emphasize the P/F critical darlings of the moment (far beyond their merit in my view), who would appear to be the Beach Boys and the Kinks. So, I may as well just say it, I think the Beatles probably deserve ten to fifteen spots on the list, not just for their genre busters that P/F has chosen like Eleanor Rigby, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Tomorrow Never Knows, I am the Walrus (a terrible choice in my opinion), but more importantly for the songs that they wrote and played better than anybody at the time or likely since. Early period stuff like She Loves You, Please Please Me, All My Loving, Can't Buy Me Love, slightly later stuff like Hard Day's Night, I Feel Fine, And I Love Her, If I Fell, Eight Days a Week, Help, Ticket to Ride, Hide Your Love Away, mid-period gems like Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, In My Life, Michelle, I'm Looking Through You, Yesterday (the most covered song in the history of music, incidentally), Day Tripper, Paperback Writer, almost any freaking song off of Revolver (and to be fair they chose two), and the psychedelic era stuff (Day in the Life is there thank God) like Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane (which I personally think exemplifies Brit pop best of all to this day), All You Need is Love, Fool on the Hill, and late period classics like Hey Jude, Come Together, Something, Here Comes the Sun, Across the Universe, and Let it Be. Just to name a few. I'm sure y'all have your own favourites, and I'm sure that not all of you agree, but in my view no band has ever written and performed so many songs of such magnificence. All in seven years. Incredible. Any sixties list should be laced with the Beatles, literally stuffed with them. They changed the rules forever and for everybody. And yet, apparently The Kinks, The Beach Boys, and even the Velvet Underground had as many songs that needed to be on the list (Dylan and the Stones I'm OK with, though I argue with the choices). I absolutely love the Kinks and VU (more on the Beach Boys in a minute) but come on....what utter nonsense.

So someone please help me with the concept of the Beach Boys as the best / most important band of the sixties. I'm serious - help.
I get that they explored innocence and loss, that they therefore captured a particular zeitgeist, that their vocal arrangements are out of this world, but it stops there for me. Definitely a top twenty band of the sixties for BD. No question. But I truly doubt that the BB's were listened to as seriously or as widely at the time (particularly not the Pet Sounds period, which was after they were at their most popular) as the Beatles, Stones, or Dylan, they participated in none of the defining musical events of the sixties, and many of the songs have dated terribly in my view - the lyrics are often puerile, and the Phil Spector-ish Wall of Sound production style on Pet Sound though important in its time is a relic compared to the cleaner, fuller sounds of the same period by the Beatles (Revolver) and Stones (Aftermath). I won't deny they had a shining moment in Pet Sounds, but it sure as hell doesn't warrant two songs from the record being in the top seven. And Good Vibrations (#21) is their greatest single.

I'm running on a bit here, so a couple more quick thoughts - a sixties list without Satisfaction is a joke. In fact, all of the Stones songs chosen were post 1966, thereby ignoring a fantastic (and important) period that included 19th Nervous B/Down, Get Off My Cloud, The Last Time and numerous others.

Mixing modern composition (Reich, Axelrod), country, and jazz into the list is silly. These things are largely incomparable, and ruins the purity of the list that simply looks at the pop charts. Just for example, Coltrane is there with Favourite Things (but not Love Supreme), but no Miles Davis, no Wayne Shorter, no Lee Morgan...and yet there's room for the Shirelles, the Shangri-Las, yadda yadda. Ok sure.

Nice to see Nico at 31 with These Days. Great song.

Three Zombies tracks (which is great), but not Time of The Season. Again, don't try so hard Pitchfork.

Re Dylan, I get that his early electric period (Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde) is uber-cool as we sit in 2006 (and yeah it's great) but his early folk period, which influenced so many songwriters and inspired people in the social movements of the day have got to be there - choose from Blowin' in the Wind, Times They are a Changin', Masters of War.... Don't Think Twice is a great little ditty but misses the point.

Eight Miles High at 109 is just silly. It's a top tener. And not having either or both of Mr. Tambourine Man or Turn Turn Turn doesn't cut it.

And finally, I Want You Back is sure as fuck NOT the second best song of the sixties. And the Sam Cooke song as #3, though well-intentioned, is equally comical.