Rolling Stone magazine updated its list of the top 500 songs of all time on September 25. In 2004, the magazine chose many soul and early rock tracks to make their list. The new edition includes an eclectic mix of songs. This includes hip-hop, r&b, reggae, and country. We reviewed the top 50 songs by listening to them and writing notes on each of them.

Teddy’s favorite song on the list is Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen because it has a lively beat. It gets your heart pumping and makes you feel like you can do anything. Born to Run is a classic song of which most people know the lyrics. People start singing as soon as they hear the iconic drum intro. 

George’s favorite song is Imagine by John Lennon which is ranked at No. 19. Imagine is a pretty piano ballad with calm drums and backing string instruments. It is easily one of the best songs of all time. This song highlights Lennon’s signature voice. His lyrics talk about a world without war, politics, and even religion. It is a beautiful song that was very controversial in the 1970s. 

In Teddy’s opinion, the most overrated song in the top 50 is Royals by Lorde at No. 30. Royals is a good art-pop song, but it is simply not one of the best songs of all time. It is hard to understand why Royals is higher on the list than Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes, a global sports stadium anthem, which sits at No. 36.

In George’s opinion, the most overrated song is Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones at No. 13. While this song has thought-provoking lyrics about the Vietnam war, the instrumentals feel a bit claustrophobic making this song undeserving to be in the top 50. Even though this song is important and influential, other songs from underrepresented genres should have this spot in the top 50.

Other incredible songs on this list are Respect by Aretha Franklin at No. 1, Smells Like Teen Spirit at No. 5, Hey Ya at No. 10, God Only Knows at No. 11, Bohemian Rhapsody at No. 17, A Day in the life at No. 24 and Paper Airplanes at No. 46. In Teddy’s opinion, the worst song is B.O.B by Outkast. For a hip-hop song, it is uninteresting and dull. The lyrics feel repetitive and insignificant. Due to the fast pace of the song, the lyrics go in one ear and out the other. George would argue that the worst song is Runaway by Kanye West. While the rapping in this song is unique and calming, the repetition of the piano keys throughout the song irritated him. He argues that Power, from the same Grammy-winning album, My Beautiful Dark Fantasy, is much better.

While many of the artists on this list deserve to be here, the song chosen from that artist is not their best work. An example of this is Strawberry Fields by The Beatles ranked at No. 6. Better songs by the Beatles are Hey Jude and Revolution. With Bruce Springsteen, a better song than Born to Run is Dancing in The Dark. Another example of this is Radiohead’s Idiotesque. A better song from them with more creative risk-taking is Paranoid Android. Overall, our rating for this list of songs is a 7.5 of 10. There are some fantastic songs from a variety of different artists, mainly from rock and hip-hop genres. If you have time and access to a streaming platform like Spotify, you should try out this list. You may find that our song choices from this list are not your favorites, but you are bound to find something you might like.

Link to the Rolling Stone Article

Link to the Spotify playlist

Link to the Apple Music playlist