It occurred to me to look back at the top selling singles from the past 60 years in increments of 10 years. I’ll bring this to my class and use these songs for analysis and discussion. Questions: why do you think this song was so popular? What is unique about this song? What is the song structure? Is there anything harmonically or melodically unusual or eccentric in this song? Can you dance to it? Could it be Muzak? How are these three songs different than the songs from 10 years ago? [rankings from Billboard and other sources]
Top Songs of 1959
Johnny Horton – “The Battle Of New Orleans”
Bobby Darin – “Mack The Knife”
Dave Brubeck Quartet – “Take Five”
Top Songs of 1969
The Archies – “Sugar, Sugar”
The Fifth Dimension – “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine Inâ€
The Beatles – “Something”
Top Songs of 1979
The Knack – “My Sharona”
Gloria Gaynor – “I Will Surviveâ€
The Clash – “London Callingâ€
Top Songs of 1989
Madonna – “Like A Prayer”
The Cure – “Love Songâ€
The B-52’s – “Love Shackâ€
Top Songs of 1999
Cher – “Believeâ€
Backstreet Boys – “I Want It That Wayâ€
Eminem – “My Name Is”
Top Songs of 2009
Kelly Clarkson “My Life would Suck without Youâ€
Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Powâ€
The All American Rejects “Gives You Hellâ€
{ 1 comment }
Comments on this entry are closed.