Mine are :

31) Mr Tambourine Man
38) Superstition
43) That'll Be the Day
45) (We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock
46) When Doves Cry
51) Common People
66) Suspicious Minds
69) Bridge Over Troubled Water
72) That's All Right Mama
85) Mystery Train
86) Crazy in Love
88) Little Red Corvette
89) In the Midnight Hour
98) Will You Love Me Tomorrow

I like all of them at least a bit but if I had to pick my half dozen least favourite:
Crazy In Love
Walk This Way
Louie Louie
No Woman No Cry(album version)
Whole Lotta Love
Get Ur Freak On

It's so hard to say because I've heard most of them a million times and it's tough to say whether I don't like them because I'm sick of them or because I just don't like them. I'd say I'd turn off at least half of them if they came on the radio.

10) Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK
23) Sex Pistols - God Save The Queeeeenahhh
45) Bill Haley - Rock Around The Clock
47) Eagles - Hotel California
50) The Police - I'll Be Stalking You
57) Elvis Presley - Hound Dog
59) Missy Elliot - Get Ur Freak On
68) Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

A lot of the top 100 I think 'That's an okay song, but it doesn't deserve to be nearly that high'.

I agree with BillAdama.

Many of the songs in the top 100... there are even better songs on their respective albums. The only reason they were able to be ranked so high is because they were singles, of course.

Take Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." To me, St. Elsewhere's masterpiece, by far, is "Just A Thought," and many critics preferred it as well. But it doesn't qualify for most songs lists.

No love for Get Ur Freak On! I like that song and have been getting into a lot more by her lately.

Yeah, that's the catch with songs lists. Most critics just stick to the singles.

I love get ur freak on too !

Songs I don't like much (don't hate them neither anyway):
25 - Born to Run
49 - Bittersweet Symphony
73 - When a man loves a woman
88 - Little Red Corvette
96 - Stayin' Alive

Songs I detest:

5. Respect
13. My Generation
16. Strawberry Fields Forever
21. I Want to Hold Your Hand
26. Imagine
37. Hey Jude
47. Hotel California
60. Loser
71. Live Forever
74. No Woman No Cry
86. Crazy in Love
99. She Loves You

Songs I dislike:

9. Stairway to Heaven
15. Heartbreak Hotel
18. A Day in the Life
31. Mr. Tambourine Man
44. Losing My Religion
45. Rock Around the Clock
64. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
76. Whole Lotta Love
79. Summertime Blues
89. In the Midnight Hour
92. Don't Be Cruel
93. I Walk the Line

There are plenty others that I don't really care about.

14 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message
30 The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
59 Missy Misdemeanor Elliott - Get Ur Freak On
71 Oasis - Live Forever
86 Beyoncé - Crazy in Love

Sean Pak and John's point about singles dominating critics lists got me to thinking...

In a compilation like Henrik's it's probably inevitable that singles will end up dominating. That's because there's less consensus about songs that aren't singles. Any number of critics may agree that "London Calling" is not the best song on its album, but they almost certainly won't agree on what the best one really is.

I don't think this is a fault with the list, it's just how it is--and, after all, there is (or should be) a reason songs become singles--they're good songs.

****

Nevertheless, I did a quick count of the songs in the AM top 100. Have a guess--how many of them are singles?

97.

Yep. Only three top 100 songs--"Stairway to Heaven," "A Day in the Life," and "Sympathy for the Devil"--had no single release.

What's more, of those 97 songs, 95 of them made the Top 40 in either the US, the UK, or both. (The two exceptions are Elvis' juvenilia--"That's All Right Mama" and "Mystery Train.")

78 of 100 made the top ten on one side of the Atlantic or the other.

Again, I don't think this invalidates the list, but I thought it was very interesting. My guess is the proportion of singles starts dropping off lower down the list...maybe I'll look into that this weekend.

I Want To Hold Your Hand
Imagine
Hotel California
Dancing In The Street
Get UR Freak On

I made a Beatles CD for my 6 year old son. He said he liked all of the songs except for "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

I think that song's ranking is due solely to its historical importance.

Oh, all right. I was going to resist the temptation to be negative, but I’ll play along.

But for each one, I’ll give a situation where I think I could, perhaps, enjoy it.

Stairway to Heaven – having a portobella mushroom sandwich at the Hobbit Café.
Imagine – if I get to point out to people that Lennon really did mean the line “and no religion too.”
I Want You Back – at a 5-year-old’s birthday party.
Light My Fire – Stoned. (although I haven’t actually done that in over a decade…)
Hotel California – Drunk. And raucously singing along with 20 other people.
Get Ur Freak On – Deaf.
Unfinished Sympathy – Hmmm…this might work to set a romantic mood…
Stand by Me – suffering from insomnia (I know I’m in the minority here, but it’s sooo boring…)
Ghost Town – if it’s in the middle of a Specials playlist. I love the Specials, but I think I prefer all of their other songs to this one.

(Sorry about the Get Ur Freak On comment. Seriously, can someone who likes Missy explain to me what it is I’m not getting about her?)

I agree about Ghost Town. That song isn't as good as most of their songs.

You really have to like mainstream hip-hop to like Missy Elliot. Then you have to look at every other female rapper and realize how far ahead of the pack she is. Then you have to look at every other rapper and realize she's top 10 of all-time at the very least. In a genre that can be repetitive, she's one of a kind.

I organize my itunes playlist in the following fashion:

Five Stars: All-time Fave, 1-500
Four Stars: All-Time Fave, 501-1000
Three Stars: All-Time Fave, 1001-1500
Two Stars: All-Time Fave, 1501-2000
One Star: All-Time Fave, 2001-3000

60 of the Acclaimed Top 100 have five stars.
20 of the Acclaimed Top 100 have four stars.
04 of the Acclaimed Top 100 have three stars.
03 of the Acclaimed Top 100 have two stars.
08 of the Acclaimed Top 100 have one star.

The five songs that lack any star are: Fight the Power, God Save the Queen, Anarchy in the U.K., River Deep, Mountain High, and Bitter Sweet Symphony.

3 The Beach Boys
Good Vibrations
1966

6 Chuck Berry
Johnny B. Goode
1958

12 The Ronettes
Be My Baby
1963
Listen

13 The Who
My Generation


14 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five
The Message

23 Sex Pistols
God Save the Queen

27 Ray Charles
What'd I Say
1959

28 Little Richard
Tutti Frutti

36 The Four Tops
Reach Out (I'll Be There)

44 R.E.M.
Losing My Religion
1991

50 The Police
Every Breath You Take
1983
Liste

64 Jerry Lee Lewis
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
1957

76 Led Zeppelin
Whole Lotta Love
1969


82 James Brown
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
1965


83 Run-D.M.C.
Walk This Way
1986
Listen


86 Beyoncé
Crazy in Love
2003


88 Prince and The Revolution
Little Red Corvette
1982
Listen

Bob Dylan

These are ones I genuinely don't like:
#34 Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil 1968
#55 The Kinks Waterloo Sunset 1967
#65 Massive Attack Unfinished Sympathy 1991

These I'm not familiar with enough to have an opinion:
#51 Pulp Common People 1995
#95 The Specials Ghost Town 1981
#59 Missy Misdemeanor Elliott Get Ur Freak On 2001
#70 Franz Ferdinand Take Me Out 2004
#86 Beyoncé Crazy in Love 2003

Songs I can't stand:
24 You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
51 Common People
53 Dancing in the Street
59 Get Ur Freak On
97 California Dreamin'

Songs I don't understand anyone not liking:
3 Good Vibrations
14 The Message
30 I Want You Back
38 Superstition
44 Losing My Religion