The Perfect ´Pop Record´

[Rufus]

Well, just because something is a huge hit, doesn't necessarily make it a good song. There's been lots of massively successful songs that were absolutely terrible. Ballad Of The Green Berets, anyone?

Agree %100 ...that´s why I didn´t list the Birdy Song

I´ll add two more classics that meet the criteria of the thread...Tears For Fears-Mad World & Labi Siffre-Something Inside So Strong !

[JKL2000]

Mr. Telephone Man
The Streak
Mr. Jaws
Shaving Cream

[Scott Bails]

Pac-Man Fever

[notallwhowander]

I was kinda on the edge about "Don't Fear the Reaper" too. It is rather the opposite of the sunny optimism and playfulness that is at the core of the vast majority of pop music. However, it is a perfectly rendered song, crafted for radio at a time when radio was the medium for pop music. It also has, and continues to have, broad appeal. So I included it in my list to show that a dark edge can be honed from the pop formula to great effect and success.

I think there's more rock songs in this sample, because this is a group of rockers. I know fuckall about R&B from the past twenty years, though R&B artists have dominated pop for quite a long time.

[Lopez]

My top 5 perfect pop records are:

Good Vibrations - Beach Boys
Happy Together - Turtles
Lonely Hearts - The Atlantics (local Boston power-pop band from the late 70s, early 80s; it had global appeal in Boston and was a local smash hit; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xct0Upvxc0w)
Here We Go Round the Lemon Tree - The Move
Be My Baby - The Ronettes

My wild card pick: And speaking of the Ronettes, the Beach Boys cover of their song "I Can Hear Music." Carl's singing is angelic.

[GuitarGeek]

Very true, but the OP specifically asked for songs with global appeal.

Yeah, well, if I was good at following orders, I wouldn't have gotten kicked out of the Navy.

[GuitarGeek]

Pac-Man Fever

I actually have a promo copy of that LP. If you took the tacky video game lyrics out of the songs, and replaced them with something more conventional, it'd actually be a pretty good MOR record.

[llanwydd]

The only perfect pop album I can think of is the first one I ever bought, Band on the Run - Wings. Not a dud on the whole disc. I don't know if I can count any Beatles albums since there were different versions of the early ones and the later ones all had at least one clunker.

One of my all-time favorite albums is Highway 61 Revisited - Dylan. There isn't a bad song on the album but his style was so unusual that I can't call it pop.

[ronmac]

Well, just because something is a huge hit, doesn't necessarily make it a good song. There's been lots of massively successful songs that were absolutely terrible. Ballad Of The Green Berets, anyone?

I'll see your "Ballad of the Green Berets" and raise it one "Achy Breaky Heart."

[ronmac]

The only perfect pop album I can think of is the first one I ever bought, Band on the Run - Wings. Not a dud on the whole disc.

"Mamunia," anyone?

I don't know if I can count any Beatles albums since there were different versions of the early ones

Only if you count the chopped-up US Capitol versions, which don't count. There was only one true version of each album. "A Hard Days' Night," IMO, would be the perfect album of their early ones. All originals and each one is killer pop.

[bill g]

Keeping it to one per band:

Beach Boys - God Only Knows
Yes - Roundabout
Beatles - Martha My Dear
Tears For Fears - Sowing The Seeds of Love
Chicago - Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

[Deano]

Blackberry Way - The Move
Livin' Thing - ELO
I Don't Like Mondays - The Boomtown Rats
Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
Down Under - Men At Work

[No Pride]

Five off the top of my head (and excluding The Beatles, who wrote so many perfect pop songs):

Bus Stop (The Hollies)
Reach Out I'll be There (The Four Tops)
What a Fool Believes (The Doobie Brothers)
Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears For Fears)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)

[progeezer]

Bus Stop
Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?

[PeterG]

Well, just because something is a huge hit, doesn't necessarily make it a good song.

Way to totally miss the point of the thread.

[GuitarGeek]

My top 5 perfect pop records are:


Here We Go Round the Lemon Tree - The Move

Was that a "global hit"? How come you get to post stuff that was huge all over the world, but I don't?

[GuitarGeek]

Way to totally miss the point of the thread.

Well, with people posting songs from The Move and other things that weren't global hits, I guess I'm not the only one. I'm just the one who gets picked on for it.

[Lopez]

posting songs from The Move

Many of the Move songs were huge hits in England. I suppose, by right, that's not really "global." Still they're great pop songs that had global appeal, at least, in their home country.

[JJ88]

That particular Move song was a B-side or album track (don't remember which...maybe both), not an A-side. But they certainly had a lot of great songs that were big hits at the time, yes.

I've always been an admirer of 'What A Fool Believes'. I love the chord progressions. Agreed on 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' and 'Seeds Of Love'.

[JKL2000]

"Mamunia," anyone?

I submit to you that without "Mamunia" there would be no "Sussudio."

Damn you, Paul McCartney!

[GuitarGeek]

That particular Move song was a B-side or album track (don't remember which...maybe both), not an A-side. But they certainly had a lot of great songs that were big hits at the time, yes.

Worldwide hits? I know they were big in the UK, but I had the impression in the States, they're more or less unknown (apart from the cognescenti, of course...oh, and Paul Stanley!).

[nosebone]

Brandy ( your a fine girl) - Looking Glass
Rikki don't lose that number - Steely Dan
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
Across 110th Street - bobby Womack
Wichita Lineman - Glenn Campbell

[Scott Bails]

Definitely making a playlist this weekend.

Unfortunately, I might be luck if I have half of the songs mentioned, but I may have to break tradition and download singles.


Some great, great songs in this thread.

[meimjustalawnmower]

[Dave (in MA)]

Billboard's #1 song of 1987.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsofwhCA1sw