The Pop That Matters: 25 Best Songs Of All Time

Rolling Stone's Countdown Revised

They Whipped It Good: Devo makes number 19 on a pop list, befitting Oberlin sensibilities. (photo courtesy touchandgo.com)

The Dec. 7 issue of Rolling Stone ran a large feature in which they listed their top 100 pop songs of all time. I would have loved to have been at the editorial board's meeting when they decided which canonical songs to chart where. Picture a group of ponytailed, middle-aged white men smoking a joint, eating roast beef sandwiches and whining about which Michael Jackson song from Thriller is best and you can figure out for yourself what kind of stuff makes their top pop chart.

Instead of just complaining about Rolling Stone's dull and predictable selections (Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Hanson and Queen all make the top 25), I present here my own college-age revision - better yet, make that an Oberlin-specific revision. I have completely disregarded the amount of time the song spent on the chart, but I have tried to select songs released as singles, throwing extra weight to those that have repeatedly arisen in conversation while at Oberlin.

As opposed to Rolling Stone, I omitted hip-hop singles, as hip-hop is large enough to deserve its own chart. And forgive me if this list of the top 25 pop songs seems a bit "alternative" leaning. But after all... this is Oberlin.

25. "Alive" - Pearl Jam, 1991: The first single by one of the defining bands of our formative years of musical taste. The only difference now is that we know wearing shorts over long underwear does not, in fact, look cool.

24. "Da Doo Ron Ron" - the Crystals, 1963: The freshest sounding song that your mom probably likes more than you do.

23. "Happy When it Rains" - Jesus and Mary Chain, 1987: Since Rolling Stone included Garbage's gag-inducing rip-off song with the same name, it seemed necessary to include the real, and far superior, version.

22. "What Do I Get" - Buzzcocks, 1978: Oberlin students can empathize when Pete Shelley sings, "What do I get - no love - no sleep at night."

21. "You're Gonna Miss Me": 13th Floor Elevators, 1966: The soundtrack inclusion of this song was maybe High Fidelity's most redeeming quality.

20. "Bring the Noise" - Public Enemy and Anthrax, 1991: This genre-bender is the true precursor to the dubious white boy rap-metal the kids seem to like so much.

19. "Whip It" - Devo, 1980: Proved an important lesson for Oberlin kids - "social fools" can succeed. And they're from Youngstown!

18. "Longview" - Green Day, 1994: A turning point for angst-ridden high school freshmen at the time. Myself, admittedly, included.

17. "Blame it on the Rain" - Milli Vanilli, 1990: A good lesson for pre-teens at the time - rock stars can be ridiculous too.

16. "Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads, 1977: Bailey House residents will appreciate the liberal use of French.

15. "Personality Crisis" - New York Dolls, 1973: Glam rock would have been a much cooler thing if all the bands had sounded as good as the Dolls.

14. "Boys Don't Cry" - the Cure, 1979: Anthemic for the sensitive guy-types.

13. "I Wanna be Your Dog" - the Stooges, 1969: Anthemic for the un-sensitive guy-types.

12. "The Robots" - Kraftwerk, 1978: Beloved by those TIMARA kids you never see.

11. Anarchy in the U.K. - Sex Pistols, 1976: Beloved by those socialist kids you always see.

10. "In My Eyes" - Minor Threat, 1981: Let's be serious - how many of you got your start liking music because of this band?

9. "Blue Monday" - New Order, 1983: Even the most stoic can't help but shake their booty a little to this toe-tapper.

8. "Feels Blind" - Bikini Kill, 1991: The leaders of the "second wave" in feminist rock.

7. "Damaged Goods" - Gang of 4, 1979: Punk rock with a socialist conscience. It doesn't get much more Oberlin.

6. "Femme Fatale" - the Velvet Underground, 1966: What Oberlin student doesn't own this album?

5. "Love Will Tear us Apart" - Joy Division, 1979: Agreed upon as classic by pomos, goths, synth-o-philes and everyone else - so Oberlin it hurts.

4. "The Stars of Track and Field" - Belle and Sebastian, 1996: Why does everyone love them so much? Because they're that good.

3. "Wouldn't it be Nice" - the Beach Boys, 1966: Is it actually possible that our parents understood how cool this band is?

2. "Loser" - Beck, 1994: I think we all went to the record store to get Mellow Gold about five minutes after seeing the "Loser" video on MTV.

1. "Debaser" - the Pixies, 1989: The most unassailably "college" band of them all.