Best Pop Song?

[mad rhetorik]

A while back I did a thread asking what your favorite "epics" (songs ten minutes long and over) were. Here's the flip side--what is the perfect "pop" song to you?

Here's some criteria:
1. Has to be at least a minute long, but no more than 4 minutes maximum.
2. Doesn't have to be in radio rotation.
3. Can be in any genre.
4. Can't be an instrumental.
5. Covers are allowed.

Based on the above criteria, here are some of my faves:

Joy Division: "Shadowplay" (Unknown Pleasures) 3:53
Although they never wrote a dud over their three or four-year existence, IMO this is the best song they've ever done (and yes, that's even considering the whole of Closer). A veritable anthem for the night, opening with a dark bassline and crashing cymbals and closing with one of the most desperate, striking guitar solos ever played.

The Pixies: "Where Is My Mind?" (Surfer Rosa) 3:50
Kind of an obvious pick, but I really had a hard time narrowing it down to just one sub-four minute Pixies track. Eerily beautiful, with Kim Deal's ghostlike backing and a more subdued than usual but still quite deranged Black Francis vocal.

McClusky: "To Hell With Good Intentions" (Do Dallas) 2:30 est.
A pounding backbeat, a joyously obnoxious yet undeniably melodic guitar squall, and Falkous chanting lyrics like "My dad is better than your dad/he's got eight cars and a house in Ireland/sing it." The irrepressible anthem for the smartass fucker in all of us.

Bob Dylan: "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" (Blood On The Tracks) 2:53
A short, throwaway tune (by Bod Dylan standards) dedicated to a lost lover. It's brief, but undeniably affecting. As much as I love his long, evocative, scenery-chewing romps like "Visions Of Johanna" and "Desolation Row," I wish he would do more songs like this.

Ramones: "Rockaway Beach" (Rocket To Russia) 2:30
Both a hilarious Beach Boys sendup and rocking anthem. Da Bruddas at their best. And the radio stations of the day were too busy playing Kansas and Journey to run this little gem. What a disgrace.

Wire: "Ex Lion Tamer" (Pink Flag) 2:17
This has, word for word, some of the best and most absurd lyrics written, driven by one of the greatest guitar lines in a "pop" song ever. Even if lyrics like "fish fingers all in a line" and "stay glued to your TV set" don't grab you, that driving melody sure as hell will.

Anthrax: "Got The Time" (Persistence Of Time) 2:45
A cover of Joe Jackson, this opens with a lightning-fast bass solo then goes tearing off into a killer thrash number. Although the John Bush-era band has covered it, this only sounds right with Belladonna's punkier vocal style. Still one of my favorite Anthrax songs, even if the fans insist it's overplayed live.

Nirvana: "Serve The Servants" (In Utero) 3:30 est
Opening with a roaring burst of feedback that soon turns into a genuinely catchy melody, Cobain sarcastically intones lyrics like "Teenage angst has paid off well/but now I'm bored and old." While it's not my favorite Nirvana song ("Scentless Apprentice" is) it's the perfect opening number for the harsher, punkier sound of In Utero, and one of its most memorable tracks.

Jimi Hendrix: "All Along The Watchtower" (Electric Ladyland) 3:50 est
Hendrix takes one of Dylan's lyrical gems from the folksy John Wesley Harding album, and with a burst of electricity from his Stratocaster and some wild Mitch Mitchell percussion turns it into a psychedelic standard (you know, the one being constantly played with Vietnam footage on the TV ; P). Jimi's solo midway in burns like a mofo.

Motorhead: "Ace Of Spades" (Ace Of Spades) 3:20 est
As soon as I hear that bass intro, I'm in the mood to break bottles over my head. "That's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever!" Preach on, brother Lemmy. I seriously doubt that there would've been a Metallica if not for this band.

EDIT: I realize that many of the "pop" songs I picked really aren't "pop" in the conventional sense of the word (typically I think of pop as "under the 4-minute barrier"). Here are a few better examples:

White Stripes: "Hello Operator" (De Stijl) 2:00 est
There are other great pop songs in the 'Stripes oeuvre, but I really dig this one. One of my favorite lyrics ever is "My coffin doesn't have a phone." Meg White's goofy little "solos" are fun. Nice harmonica too.

Stone Roses: "Elephant Stone" (debut) 3:30 est
Classic jangly Britpop, though often overlooked in lieu of "I Wanna Be Adored," "Sugar Spun Sister" (good call Jar), "Bye Bye Badman," and "I Am The Resurrection" (which doesn't really fit the "pop" format).

The Who: "Happy Jack" (A Quick One..) 3:00 est
Early Who gem alongside the likes of "I Can't Explain," "Substitute," "I'm A Boy," their cover of "Fortune Teller," and of course "My Generation." Totally nonsensical and fun lyrics, a great bassline, and Moon and Entswistle pounding away in place of a guitar solo. Once Tommy rolled around they wouldn't make fun singles anymore and that's too bad (though I won't deny the quality of some of their later achievements).

R.E.M.: "Radio Free Europe" (Murmur) 3:50 est
Jar couldn't pick a fave R.E.M. entry, so here's mine.

Husker Du: "Books About UFO's (New Day Rising) 3:30 est
If it weren't for the really lo-fi production and abrasive guitar distortion, this would be a killer power pop song. Grant Hart nails this one. Also notable is "The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill" and Mould's "Celebrated Summer." Hell, 90% of that record is ace.

Weezer: "In The Garage" ("Blue") 3:40 est
The epitome of nerd rock right here, with lyrics celebrating "my favorite rock band KISS," and "twelve-sided die." Lots of Cheap Trick-meets-Pixies quirky fun.

The Replacements: "Waitress In The Sky" (Tim) 2:20 est
Yeah, I know Paul wrote better songs ("Bastards Of Young" and "I Will Dare" come to mind), but this hiliarious diss is one of my fave Westerberg moments. "Sanitation expert and a maintenance engineer/Garbage man, a janitor and you my dear/A real union flight attendant, my oh my/You ain't nothin' but a waitress in the sky."

Points go to Dusty for mentioning Blur's "Song #2." Never got tired of that adrenaline blast.

Also notable is Big Star, but I can't narrow it down to one song.."Ballad Of El Goodo" would've been my pick but it's just outside of the 4-minute max.

[nobody]

One song just popped into my head, so I'll mention....


There She Goes by the La's

[Stone]

A while back I did a thread asking what your favorite "epics" (songs ten minutes long and over) were. Here's the flip side--what is the perfect "pop" song to you?

Here's some criteria:
1. Has to be at least a minute long, but no more than 4 minutes maximum.
2. Doesn't have to be in radio rotation.
3. Can be in any genre.
4. Can't be an instrumental.
5. Covers are allowed.

Based on the above criteria, here are some of my faves:

Joy Division: "Shadowplay" (Unknown Pleasures) 3:53
Although they never wrote a dud over their three or four-year existence, IMO this is the best song they've ever done (and yes, that's even considering the whole of Closer). A veritable anthem for the night, opening with a dark bassline and crashing cymbals and closing with one of the most desperate, striking guitar solos ever played.

The Pixies: "Where Is My Mind?" (Surfer Rosa) 3:50
Kind of an obvious pick, but I really had a hard time narrowing it down to just one sub-four minute Pixies track. Eerily beautiful, with Kim Deal's ghostlike backing and a more subdued than usual but still quite deranged Black Francis vocal.

McClusky: "To Hell With Good Intentions" (Do Dallas) 2:30 est.
A pounding backbeat, a joyously obnoxious yet undeniably melodic guitar squall, and Falkous chanting lyrics like "My dad is better than your dad/he's got eight cars and a house in Ireland/sing it." The irrepressible anthem for the smartass fucker in all of us.

Bob Dylan: "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" (Blood On The Tracks) 2:53
A short, throwaway tune (by Bod Dylan standards) dedicated to a lost lover. It's brief, but undeniably affecting. As much as I love his long, evocative, scenery-chewing romps like "Visions Of Johanna" and "Desolation Row," I wish he would do more songs like this.

Ramones: "Rockaway Beach" (Rocket To Russia) 2:30
Both a hilarious Beach Boys sendup and rocking anthem. Da Bruddas at their best. And the radio stations of the day were too busy playing Kansas and Journey to run this little gem. What a disgrace.

Wire: "Ex Lion Tamer" (Pink Flag) 2:17
This has, word for word, some of the best and most absurd lyrics written, driven by one of the greatest guitar lines in a "pop" song ever. Even if lines like "fish fingers all in a line" and "stay glued to your TV set" don't grab you, that driving melody sure as hell will.

Anthrax: "Got The Time" (Persistence Of Time) 2:46
A cover of Joe Jackson, this opens with a lightning-fast bass solo then goes tearing off into a killer thrash number. Although the John Bush-era band has covered it, this only sounds right with Belladonna's punkier vocal style. Still one of my favorite Anthrax songs, even if the fans insist it's overplayed live.

Nirvana: "Serve The Servants" (In Utero) 3:30 est
Opening with a roaring burst of feedback that soon turns into a genuinely catchy melody, Cobain sarcastically intones lyrics like "Teenage angst has paid off well/but now I'm bored and old." While it's not my favorite Nirvana song ("Scentless Apprentice" is) it's the perfect opening number for the harsher, punkier sound of In Utero, and one of its most memorable tracks.

Jimi Hendrix: "All Along The Watchtower" (Electric Ladyland) 3:50 est
Hendrix takes one of Dylan's lyrical gems from the folksy John Wesley Harding album, and with a burst of electricity from his Stratocaster and some wild Mitch Mitchell percussion turns it into a psychedelic standard (you know, the one being constantly played with Vietnam footage on the TV ; P). Jimi's solo midway in burns like a mofo.

Motorhead: "Ace Of Spades" (Ace Of Spades) 3:20 est
As soon as I hear that bass intro, I'm in the mood to break bottles over my head. "That's the way I like it baby, I don't wanna live forever!" Preach on, brother Lemmy. I seriously doubt that there would've been a Metallica if not for this band.

I guess this depends a lot on one's definition of "pop." I've never really considered most of the above songs to be pop songs, especially Anthrax, Motorhead, and Mclusky, but I can see how one could include them in that definition if it's a broad one. My favorite pop song, and probably favorite song of all time is:

The Left Banke - "Walk Away Renee"
The arrangement of this song puts it on top for me. It just wouldn't be the same without it, especially without the strings.

Others that come to mind:

Only Ones - "Another Girl, Another Planet"
The Kinks - "Victoria"

[Swish]

One song just popped into my head, so I'll mention....


There She Goes by the La's

and I'm only sorry I didn't come up with it first!

Swishy

[Finch Platte]

Dim, by dada.

I'll third the 'There She Goes' suggestion.

Sounds like a good basis for a comp!

fp

[tentoze]

What Stone said about Walk Away Renee. And throw "Cherish" in there not far behind somehwere, for my money.

[-Jar-]

as far as "Pop" the style.. New Order did some of my favorites.. "Love Vigilantes" and "Age of Concent" are just about perfect.

as far as a song that was actually popular.. one of the most perfect examples is "Just Like Heaven" by the Cure.

"I'll Be You" by the Replacements is one of my favorites from this side of the ocean.

"She's So Young" by The Pursuit of Happiness.. insanely catchy.

I'm thinking about R.E.M... but they pretty much wrote exclusively in the "pop" style.. so really, they were just so damn good at it it's hard to pick a favorite.

a song that should have been a huge hit that wasn't? easy.. "Crystal Clear" by the Darling Buds from their 2nd album CRAWDADDY. It's just too bad they were a few years ahead of their time to catch the whole wave of female-vocal bands like Varuca Salt and Letters to Cleo, etc.. like the Primitives before them, the Darling Buds did it first and were way better.

oh yea, and one for Stone.. "My Biggest Thrill" by the Mighty Lemon Drops! :-)

-jar

[nobody]

How about Pure by the Lightening Seeds?

[-Jar-]

how do you pick just one Stone Roses song? They wrote some of the catchiest damn songs of the year 1989, and maybe the whole decade of the 80's..

I love "Waterfall" but the form really doesn't fit. "I am the Ressurrection" is just too long to be considered a pop song, though the early version doesn't have the "jam" tacked on.

I guess I'd go with "Sugar Spun Sister" - I never get sick of that one. They deserved better than they got.. such a good band.. again, ahead of their time.. Oasis got all the glory.
By the time of SECOND COMING, it was too little, too late.

-jar

[Slosh]

"Add It Up" Violent Femmes
"Kiss" Prince
"Native Numb" Enon
"Army Of Me" Bjork

[skewiff]

Cruel to be Kind.................Nick Lowe
Clampdown.......................The Clash

two that always come to mind

Tony

[Davey]

but when Markus launches into the chorus on "One With the Freaks" I really do get all messed up....great pop song!

Have you ever, have you ever
been all messed up, have you ever?

Have you ever, have you ever
been all messed up, have you ever?

You're the pincard, you're the lifeguard, you're the information guy,
but things, look much bigger, on your knees, on your knees.

Miss the signal, miss the signpost, lose the access to it all,
and all, of a sudden, you are one, with the freaks.

Have you ever, have you ever
been all messed up, have you ever?

Have you ever, have you ever
been all messed up, have you ever?


EDIT: And after reading the whole thread, I wholeheartedly endorse everything that preceded me, although I do tend to agree with Stone that some of your picks Mad were hardly what most would call pop. But still, "There She Goes" and "Walk Away, Renee" (along with the lovely version by Rickie Lee Jones that Stone and I have previously talked about) and all those Sloshy picks and the Stone Roses and about a million others all ring my bell (ding-a-ling ).

[Dusty Chalk]

You know, that "...I vant to schtup you like an animal..." song.

"Jenny (867-5309)"

Someone mentioned this song in a one-hit wonders thread the other day, and now it's stuck in my head! I don't even know who does it (Tommy Tutone, apparently).

I like Joe Jackson's version of "Got the Time". I've heard Anthrax's, but Joe Jackson's is just insane. He wrote a lot of great tunes. "Beat Crazy" comes to mind.

What about "Play that Funky Music, White Boy"? Pretty much never gets old.

Garbage had a couple: "Only Happy When It Rains", "Stupid Girl", "Push It".

How about Blur, "Girls and Boys"? Or even "Song #2"?

[Stone]

oh yea, and one for Stone.. "My Biggest Thrill" by the Mighty Lemon Drops! :-)

-jar

Awesome stuff. A lot of my faves in this thread (Lemon Drops, Stone Roses, New Order, etc.). Here are a few more faves of mine from the 80s (but it's really hard to narrow this down):

Ocean Blue - "Between Something and Nothing"

Wild Swans - "Now and Forever"

Close Lobsters - "Foxheads"

The Clean - "Billy Two"

General Public - "Tenderness"


And a couple with female singers:

New Pornographers - "Letter from an Occupant"

Kirsty MacColl - "You and Me Baby"


And recent faves:

Sekiden - "Alexander"

Beulah - "If We Can Land a Man On the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart"


And this thread really hasn't even touched much synth pop. Where's Jim C?

[Jim Clark]

And this thread really hasn't even touched much synth pop. Where's Jim C?

jc was watching the Chiefs win on Monday Night Football which seemed like a miracle.

Looking at the list so far I'm not sure what a 'pop' song even is. I'm going to be lazy and not take the time to verify the length of each song and just try to offer up a couple that seem to me to fit in with the others mentioned.

New Order-True Faith
The Judy Bats-Ugly On The Outside & Dulcinea
Cure- Why Can't I Be You?
Smiths- This Charming Man
T4Fs-Everybody Wants To Rule The World
The Pretenders-Tatooed Love Boys &Don't Get Me Wrong
Iggy Pop-Lust For Life
Iggy Pop+Kate Pierson-Candy
Micheal Penn-No Myth
Blondie-Maria
Cindy Lauper-Drive All Night
b-52's- Mesopotamia
Erasure- A Little Respect
Devo-Whip It
Alphaville-guardian Angel
Ramones-Rock And Roll Radio
Lightning Seeds-Pure (good selection Nobody) but I could add Life Of Riley, Sugar
Coated Iceberg, and a ton of others since I really like the Lightning Seeds

I surely hope at least some of these are pop songs. The problem is that when you think of one, that leads to another, and another and another. Scary to think of all the ones I didn't write that just popped into my head and then was immediately replaced by anothert.

jc

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Most of my "perfect pop songs" follow a common stylistic path. Usually starts out quietly, building to a faster chorus, where the song emotionally ebbs. Almost always acoustic guitar carries the tune. some examples;

Well Alright - Buddy Holly
Crying - Roy Orbison
Helpless - Neil Young
Aujourd'hui, Je Dis Bonjour A La Vie - Harmonium (French-Canadian folk-rock group from the 70s)
Everyday is Like Sunday - Morrissey
Dear God - XTC
What a Good Boy - Bare Naked Ladies
Father & Son - Cat Stevens
Butterfly Collector - The Jam
Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
Life on Mars - David Bowie
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles

I concur with most of those mentioned so far, at least the one's I'm familiar with...

>>>Wire: "Ex Lion Tamer" (Pink Flag) 2:17
This has, word for word, some of the best and most absurd lyrics written, driven by one of the greatest guitar lines in a "pop" song ever. Even if lines like "fish fingers all in a line" and "stay glued to your TV set" don't grab you, that driving melody sure as hell will. <<<
Nice one Mad, though I'd probably pick "Map Ref 41 degrees... ", or "The 15th", or maybe "Fragile" as perfect examples of Wire's criminally under appreciated mastery of the art of writing a "pop" song, but there are literally a dozen more that could be chosen.

>>>There She Goes by the La's<<< Also the first song to pop into my head.

>>>The Left Banke - "Walk Away Renee"
The arrangement of this song puts it on top for me. It just wouldn't be the same without it, especially without the strings.<<< I definitely need ot become more intimate with this song. Hey Stone, why not build a comp around it and put me at the top of the distribution list? :-)

>>>"Just Like Heaven" by the Cure.<<< See, now I'd go "In Between Days", but that's just me, and maybe it doesn't fit your "actually popular " criteria.

>>>I'm thinking about R.E.M... but they pretty much wrote exclusively in the "pop" style.. so really, they were just so damn good at it it's hard to pick a favorite<<<, I'd go with "Superman", but it's not their song and I've never heard the original, so not really a fair pick.

>>>a song that should have been a huge hit that wasn't? easy.. "Crystal Clear" by the Darling Buds from their 2nd album CRAWDADDY<<< I don't have Crawdaddy, so I can't comment on that song, but I certainly don't doubt your assessment. I do agree that a DBs song should be mentioned, so I'll go with "If".



And some other recent and not so recent favs...

A Good Man is Easy to Kill - Beulah
New Slang - The Shins
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve

and some overlooked gems from the '80s

I Held Her in my Arms - Violent Femmes
Echo Beach - Martha & the Muffins

[jasn]

As far as "pop songs" go, I lean much closer to WalkAway Renee than many of the others listed above.

My entry would be The Beach Boys' Don't Worry Baby. I just ran through their entire 4-CD retrospective a few weeks ago, and for all the stunners that cut stood out the most.

[-Jar-]

>>>"Just Like Heaven" by the Cure.<<< See, now I'd go "In
Between Days", but that's just me, and maybe it doesn't fit your "actually popular " criteria.

Dunno, just always liked "Just Like Heaven" more.. though I've always also thought of the two songs as kind of twins.. It's funny how I think like that.. "Catch" and "Six Different Ways" are another pair of twin songs.. and both would probably make my top 10 Cure song list.


THE BLIND LEADING THE NAKED was my first Violent Femmes album.. kind of a weird place for me to start with them.. I've never replaced my worn cassette copy either, but there's some great tunes on that one.

I love that Beulah song too, I think Stone put that one one of his comps a few years ago. Great tune..

-jar

[Troy]

Anthrax is a pop band? Well, your idea of pop is WAY different than mine. I could make a list like this all day long, but here's the first 10 that popped into my mind . . . before reading the rest of the thread.

Sewing the seeds of Love- Tears for Fears. Beats the BeAtles at their own game.

Hello it's Me- Todd Rundgren. It's all about the trumpet. If this song was done today, not may bands would bother with the trumpet . . .

She Would Have Her Way- Neil Finn. Sweet and melencholy

Superman- REM. Bittersweet and funny. One of the best hidden tracks of all time.

Orrinoco Flow (Sail Away)- Enya. Freekin Enya? Did I pick an Enya song? Best Phil Spector knock off I've ever heard. Her only good song IMO.

June- Spocks Beard. Go ahead, try NOT to sing along.

Art for Arts Sake- 10CC. Money, for god's sake! Unmitigated joy and humor leap from the grooves.

Where do you Get Love?- Matthew Sweet. High-gloss power-pop at it's very best.

New Mistake- Jellyfish. Elaborate and baroque hook-packed masterpiece. I love the bass-line in the fade-out section.

Nice Nice, Very Nice- Ambrosia. Hilarious Kurt Vonnegut lyrics set to perfect lilting melody with that Alan Parsons sheen.

Jeez, 10 already and not even ONE Beatles song?

[Worf101]

Varies with the age of the responder. Since I'm older than dirt, I'll qualify my answer's by era I lived through.

Pop for the 50's:
1. Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino - Rollin and Rockin'
3. Sh-Boom - The Chords - The real version, hot as stank.
3. Hound Dog - Elvis before the corruption.
4. Numerous "teen idols" of dubious musical worth.

60's
1. The Flower Girl - The Hollies. Nice harmonies....
2. Would it be nice - The Beach Boys. Nicer Harmonies
3. My Girl - The Temptations - Perfect love song.
4. I Want you Back - The Jackson 5, when Michael still lived on planet Earth.
5. She Loves You - Da Beatles, hey... wouldn't be "pop" without em.

70's
Who gives a f**k.

80's
Who really gives f**k.

90's
I'm still alive?

Da Worfster

[Mr MidFi]

Let It Be by The Beatles
Earn Enough for Us by XTC
You Were On My Mind by We Five
Fall On Me by REM
Gloria by U2
Renee Remains the Same by Material Issue
Pillow Talk by Guadalcanal Diary
Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds
Peace, Love and Understanding by Elvis Costello & the Attractions
...and my favorite pop tune ever...
Words Falling Down by EIEIO

[kexodusc]

1) Sweet Dreams - Annie Lennox/Eurythmics...what a woman!
2) Beat It - Micheal Jackson...could there be a better song...didn't Eddie Van Halen help out on the guitar riff with this?
3) Thriller - M J is the King of Pop for a reason...dang it if he just didn't get a bit weird in his old age...
4) Like a Prayer - Madonna, I wish we would have seen more of this side of her...oh well
5) Celebrate - Kool & the Gang....OOooh yeaaahh!!! I was the only black kid in my elementary school and this song was the most popular at sock-hops/dances!!! What's the significance of that? Well, for a few minutes I was Kool (you had to be there)...I kissed my first lady during this song!!!

Hmmm, I could be wrong, but weren't all these from the 80's, IMO, the best "pop" decade ever...
I think most before was either disco, or rock, not really "pop"..but it's a fine line I suppose!

[Swish]

which, in my opinion, is a nearly perfect pop record.

Swish Baby

[Jim Clark]

One song just popped into my head, so I'll mention....


There She Goes by the La's

Has this song been comped already? I don't recall ever hearing it before but it seems to be the single biggest vote getter. I looked through three comp books and can't seem to find the track anywhere.

Never mind-should have checked out the sound clip at AMG first. Duh.

jc

[DariusNYC]

1) Sweet Dreams - Annie Lennox/Eurythmics...what a woman!
2) Beat It - Micheal Jackson...could there be a better song...didn't Eddie Van Halen help out on the guitar riff with this?
3) Thriller - M J is the King of Pop for a reason...dang it if he just didn't get a bit weird in his old age...
4) Like a Prayer - Madonna, I wish we would have seen more of this side of her...oh well
5) Celebrate - Kool & the Gang....OOooh yeaaahh!!! I was the only black kid in my elementary school and this song was the most popular at sock-hops/dances!!! What's the significance of that? Well, for a few minutes I was Kool (you had to be there)...I kissed my first lady during this song!!!

Hmmm, I could be wrong, but weren't all these from the 80's, IMO, the best "pop" decade ever...
I think most before was either disco, or rock, not really "pop"..but it's a fine line I suppose!

Well done! Five songs that were actually popular. All done by actual pop artists. I was waiting for a post like this.

I agree that the 80s were a great era for pop singles. But hey, so were the 60s. I'm less familiar with 70s pop singles other than the major players, but there are several volumes of the "Have a Nice Day" compilations to argue for 70s pop hits. And of course there were some great "pop" singles to come out of the post-punk new-wave scenes in the late 70s, and some great Soul/R&B singles.