Fab 50 Songs - the Countdown (we've reached #1)

[Billys Boots]

Well, it was strange.  We had 649 votes for 191 different songs - all that means is that it didn't take many votes for a song to get into the Top-10 (i.e. 2), though given the vagaries of the system one song got three votes and isn't featured in the countdown (as they were all fifth place votes).  Don't blame me - it's AZ's bright idea of a system.

Any hooo.

Right, democratically everyone who voted got a first choice song into the Top-50, so the cut off point was 5-votes and songs from #44 to #13, in no particular order (though Excel may have alphabetised it) are:

A Town Called Malice - The Jam
A Trick of the Light - The Triffids
All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
American pie - Don Mclean
Another Girl Another Planet - The Only Ones
Bat Out Of Hell - Meatloaf
Brown Sugar - Rolling Stones
Jersey Girl - Bruce Springsteen
Friends In Low Places - Garth Brooks
Galileo - Declan O'Rourke
Geno - Dexy's Midnight Runners
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Highway to hell - AC/DC
I'll be Waiting - Horslips
July - Mundy
Keep On Running - Spencer Davis Group.
Little Musgrave  - Christy/Planxty
Melt - Leftfield
Murder Incorporated  - Bruce
Nirvana - Drain You
Oasis - Let's All Make Believe
One - U2
Red Hill Mining Town - U2
REM - Talk about the Passion
Seven Spanish Angels - Willie Nelson & Ray Charles
Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
The National - Slow Show
The National - Terrible Love
The Stranglers: Golden Brown
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Yesterday - Ray Charles

[Billys Boots]

Two to go before the Top-10, which are:

#12 Hurt - Johnny Cash

#11 Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen

[Doogie Browser]

No REO Speedwagon 

[Billys Boots]

No REO Speedwagon 

Should there have been?  Things are bad enough as it is!

[Billys Boots]

For nostalgia/boredom/OCD reasons I'll remind you that the Top-10 in the GAABoard 2004 poll were:

#1 Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
#2 Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
#3 One - U2
#4 Fairytale of New York - Pogues/Kirsty
#5 I am the resurrection - Stone Roses
#6 There is a light that never goes out - The Smiths
#7 Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
#8 Bad (Live) – U2
#9 Supersonic - Oasis
#10 Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack

[Mayo4Sam]

This is making my albums countdown look good

[Billys Boots]

In 2005, the Top-10 was:

#1 One - U2
#2 Fairytale of New York - Pogues/Kirsty
#3 There is a light that never goes out - The Smiths
#4 Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
#5 Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
#6 Motorcycle Emptiness - Manic Street Preachers
#7 Mr. Brightside - The Killers
#8 I am the Resurrection - Stone Roses
#9 Stone Roses - Waterfall
#10 Wake Up - Arcade Fire

[Billys Boots]

In 2006, the Top-10 was:

#1 Teenage Kicks - Undertones
#2 Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
#3 There is a light that never goes out - The Smiths
#4 Redemption Song - Bob Marley
#5 One - U2
#6 I wanna be adored - Stone Roses
#7 Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles
#8 Bad - U2
#9 Motorcycle Emptiness - Manic Street Preachers
#10 All These Things That I've Done - The Killers

[Billys Boots]

in 2007, the last time this happened, the Top-10 was:

#1 There is a light that never goes out - The Smiths
#2 Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
#3 Olivers Army - Elvis Costello
#4 Teenage Kicks - Undertones
#5 Baba O'Riley - The Who
#6 Gimme Shelter - the Stones
#7 Rebellion/Lies - Arcade Fire
#8 She Bangs The Drums - Stone Roses
#9 A Town Called Malice - The Jam
#10 Another Girl Another Planet - The Only Ones

[Billys Boots]

This is making my albums countdown look good

You f*cking wish - this thread is a sociological and chronological experiment, not just some friggin list. 

[Mayo4Sam]

This is making my albums countdown look good

You f*cking wish - this thread is a sociological and chronological experiment, not just some friggin list. 

Aye, an experiment gone wrong, in fairness Fionntamhnach is putting us all to shame the bollix.

Interesting that the Stone Roses had three different songs in the top ten on three different years

[Billys Boots]

This is making my albums countdown look good

You f*cking wish - this thread is a sociological and chronological experiment, not just some friggin list. 

Aye, an experiment gone wrong, in fairness Fionntamhnach is putting us all to shame the bollix.

Reflective of the poor musical taste, in general, of the patrons that the Stone Roses had three different songs in the top ten on three different years

If you had a reasonable or scientific bone in your body you would know that an experiment can't (by definition) go wrong.  And I fixed your statement above there - you're welcome.

[Billys Boots]

OK, we're off, at last.

2011, #10 - Redemption Song - Bob Marley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJHgMD1S0bg

Wiki: "Redemption Song" is a song by Bob Marley. It is the final track on Bob Marley & the Wailers' ninth album, Uprising, produced by Chris Blackwell and released by Island Records.[2] The song is considered one of Marley's seminal works, with some key lyrics derived from a speech given by the Pan-Africanist orator Marcus Garvey.

At the time he wrote the song, circa 1979, Bob Marley had been diagnosed with the cancer that later was to take his life. According to Rita Marley, "he was already secretly in a lot of pain and dealt with his own mortality, a feature that is clearly apparent in the album, particularly in this song".

Unlike most of Bob Marley's tracks, it is strictly a solo acoustic recording, consisting of Marley singing and playing an acoustic guitar, without accompaniment. In subsequent live performances, however, a full band was used. A full band rendition of "Redemption Song" was made available as a bonus track on the 2001 reissue of Uprising, as well as featuring on the 2001 compilation One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley & the Wailers. However, the solo performance remains the take most familiar to listeners.

In 2004, Rolling Stone placed the song at #66 among The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the Top 20 Political Songs.[3]

[Billys Boots]

At nine, we have:

2011, #9 Hey - Pixies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdZGvMEeNLw

Wiki:  Hey is an album track off Doolittle, the second studio album from the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 1989 on 4AD. The album's offbeat and dark subject material, featuring references to surrealism, Biblical violence, torture and death, contrasts with the clean production sound achieved by the newly hired producer Gil Norton. Doolittle was the Pixies' first international release, with Elektra Records acting as the album's distributor in the United States and PolyGram in Canada.

Pixies released two singles from Doolittle, "Here Comes Your Man" and "Monkey Gone to Heaven", both of which were chart successes on the US chart for Modern Rock Tracks. The album itself reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart, an unexpected success for the band. In retrospect, album tracks such as "Debaser", "Wave of Mutilation", "Monkey Gone to Heaven", "Gouge Away", and "Hey" are highly acclaimed by critics, while the album, along with debut LP Surfer Rosa, is often seen as the band's strongest work.

Doolittle has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, and in 1995 was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been cited as inspirational by many alternative artists, while numerous music publications have ranked it as one of the most influential albums ever. A 2003 poll of NME writers ranked Doolittle as the second-greatest album of all time,[1] and Rolling Stone placed the album at 226 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[2]

After writing "Smells Like Teen Spirit", both Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana thought: "this really sounds like the Pixies. People are really going to nail us for this."

[Billys Boots]

At eight, it's:

2011, #8 Alive - Pearl Jam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbhsYC4gKy4

Wiki: "Alive" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. "Alive" was Pearl Jam's first single, and appeared on the band's debut album, Ten (1991). Written by guitarist Stone Gossard, "Alive" originated as an instrumental titled "Dollar Short" and was included on a demo tape circulated in hopes of finding a singer for the group. Vocalist Eddie Vedder obtained a copy of the tape and wrote lyrics that describe a fictionalized account (though somewhat based on Vedder's personal experience) of the time when he was told that the man he thought was his father was not actually his biological parent.

"Alive" charted at number 16 in the UK (the single was available only through import in the US). Remixed versions of the song were included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003), and the 2009 Ten reissue. Although the song was not a huge hit upon its release (peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart), it has endured as a fan favorite and a staple of rock radio since then, as well as one of the most requested songs at the band's concerts.