I randomly came across the interesting snippet of information that on this day in 1970 the song Bridge Over Troubled Water, by Simon and Garfunkel of course, began a six week run at the top of the singles chart in America. It later went to number 1 in the UK and many other countries becoming the duo's best selling and best known song. It's certainly one of the best known songs of all time and this got me thinking about what a Top Ten of iconic songs might look like...... It's not hard to find lists of this kind of thing of course but one of the most interesting I found is by a computer scientist at The University of London named Mick Grierson. Dr Grierson examined a great number of songs that appeared in 'all time greatest' lists in various newspapers, music stations and music publications using analytical software to come up with a formula to determine exactly what makes a song iconic. The research was commissioned by Fiat who were looking for the perfect song to use to promote the Fiat 500 - as far as I can tell they certainly didn't end up using any of the songs in his findings! Our man studied various factors including beats per minute, chord structure, lyrics and musical dynamics before arriving at the definitive list below. Have a read through and let us know what you think....and oddly enough, Bridge Over Troubled Water didn't make the list!
Top Ten Most Iconic Songs Of All Time
1. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
2. Imagine - John Lennon
3. One - U2
4. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
5. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
6. Hey Jude - The Beatles
7. Like Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
8. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
9. God Save The Queen - The Sex Pistols
10. Sweet Child of Mine - Guns and Roses
Check out Number 1 now-
Now time to get in a band and play some iconic tunes yourself!!!
Love 'n' singalongs,
Tim
