Jann Wenner Loses His Mind

That put Clarkson over the top and opened the way for the Beningfield/Tunstall genre ascendence. Not thinking it will still be impactful 10 years from now, but for now, it did have a Teen Spirit-type effect.

 

Tunstall isn't bad. She's growing on me.

 

Exactly the same here. When she came out with the first song, I thought it was irritating. Now, I like both hits, and I like her.

 

The song with the refrain "Suddenly I see, what I want to be ... " plays at the gym all the time, and I have come to love it. Yeah, it's girlish, but the music and lyrics and composition of it all is great. It has a Fiona Apple/Nellie Furtado feel to it.

 

Your last argument is not a strong one. The Beatles crush her, absolutely demolish her. Not even close.

I think it's ludicrous to try to stretch this list to 40 freakin' songs, though. I mean, The Ramones and Black Flag are great, but did they really "Change the World" with any songs? The Cure? C'mon, and I love The Cure.

 

Us yes the Ramones did change the world. Listen to the tons of musicians who basically formed bands because of the Ramones. They went to England and punk exploded. If it's possible, they are seriously underrated in their influence. You'd never have The Clash, Sex Pistols, Joy Division or any of the bands they influenced without the Ramones.

There's your lesson for today. I'm quite the music snob.

And whoever thought Brittney Spears had more influence than the other artists combined has absolutely no sense of history. Even in terms of commercialism, the Beatles did way more than Brittney or the Backside Boys or any of that crap.

And it is hard to argue with most of those songs, they did all make a huge mark in pop music history. And I've heard them all, except maybe that Black Flag song. I've hard some music, but not familiar with all the names.

But disco does suck the big one, so Donna Summer has to go.

 

But The Clash weren't just influenced by the Ramones. They were also influenced by the rockabilly sounds as well. Joe Ely, a great musician from Texas, opened for The Clash on a tour of England he did and on part of The Clash's first tour of the US they opened for him (or he opened for them) and the fans loved it.
Joe's disc "Live Shots" is culled from the shows where he opened for them in England. Lloyd Maines (Joe's guitarist at the time, now he works with Terri Hendrix, but he's best known as the father of Natalie in the Dixie Chicks) has some great stories from those days if you ever get the chance to talk to him.
The Clash thanked Joe by inviting him to the sessions for Combat Rock and Joe gets a credit for backup vocals on Should I Stay or Should I Go.

 

I can't compete with your knowledge of music, but I think that's what makes the question different for me than for you. The name of the list is "40 Songs That Changed the World" not "40 Songs That Changed Pop Music History." I realize those may be the same for avid readers of Rolling Stone (which I gave up several years ago when I forgot to change my address with them post-Katrina and realized I didn't miss it that much), but not from my current vantage point.

And I realize that last line was a throwaway, but it goes completely against your interpretation of the question.

 

I would love to hear anyone justify the presence of "TV Party" by Black Flag. Honestly, I can think of at least 10 songs from the early 80s LA hardcore scene I would list before that song... and they don't belong on the list, either.

"Just Like Heaven"? Did they pick a Cure song at random? Silly choice.

There are probably 10 U2 songs that would be more appropriate than "Pride."

And exactly what part of the world was changed by Joni Mitchell's "Help Me"?

 

'Pride' was a huge shift for U2 and helped herald the end of the New Wave-Hardcore height.

 

How was it a shift from "Sunday Bloody Sunday" or "New Years Day"? Seems to me it's an inferior song that had less of an impact than either of those, and also lacked the impact of the Joshua Tree songs that followed.

 

The sound and production were different, much more polished.
It was their first real crossover to mainstream rock radio.