Best 3 pop songs ever

This is a tough one. Puppet on a String - Sandie Shaw Alright - Supergrass Me and you verses the world - Space I'm gonna change my mind - I can just feel it. :-0 There's nothing more mind-teasing than the incomprehensible eagerly avowed - Dennett

Living on the Ceiling - Blancmange Born to be Alive - wossisname - Patrick Hernandez, was it? Sugar Sugar - the Archies. Fuck me, that was a bit limp-wristed. I've changed me mind. No, wait, I'll leave it.

Sit Down - James (original version) Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths Nobody's Twisting Your Arm - The Wedding Present. I am absolutely right on this - there's no point arguing!

Living on the Ceiling, Josie... wow! What a great song. Good choice. John Peel would've approved of your choice, Tony. I've also left out the 60s - far too much choice and quality: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths Novocaine For The Soul - Eels Gudbuy t' Jane - Slade That was tough! What about REM, Led Zep, Nirvana, Brotherhood of Man....

I wouldn't say these are the best, but they are pop, and remind me of particular moments: Can't Buy Me Love - Beatles Land Down Under - Men at Work Red Red Wine - UB40

Crazy Horses - The Osmonds Rambling Pony - Fleetwood Mac God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols. Mummy made me write the last one.

Ha ha - "I come from a land down under / where women blow and men chunder" - now there's a great idea from the Australian tourist industry!

Can't you hear can't you hear the thunder?

You better run, you better take cover. And isn't there something about a vegemite sandwich too?

Why hasn't anyone mentioned The Baron Knights? Sheer class!

At this tiny moment in time it's... Def Con One - Pop Will Eat Itself Common People - Pulp Close (to the Edit) - The Art of Noise ...ooh, can't I add s'more, Mr C? {{{_"P"_}}} ... What is "The Art of Tea"? ... (www.pepsoid.wordpress.com - latest... Can We Ever Really Know the Truth About Anything?)

From me to you/Let it be - Beatles (cant pick just one) Tell me lies - Stevie Nicks&Fleetwood Mac Piano Man - Billie Joel That took me forever to come up with I've got a huge list in front of me that didn't quite make it!

'Get Into the Groove' - Madonna 'End of the Line' - The Traveling Wilburys 'Speed of Sound' - Coldplay (sorry, I usually can't stand them but it's sooo catchy)

Land Down Under was very popular in the union bar when I was a "mature" student. The lyric is "women glow and men chunder", not "women blow". Wwwishful thinking there gggareth.

Damn - I knew it was too good to be true! I've been saving up for a holiday there for years - I think I'll spend it on Christmas booze instead.

My only encounter with Australian culture was in a pub near Twickenham after an international match, when a couple of Ozzies recited the following poem: I was strolling down the Earls Court Road When into a pub I was lured By a nosy Pom Who said "where are you from?" As I downed the amber fluid. So I told him straight I'm an Aussie,mate And I feel like getting plastered But the beer's all crook, and the Sheilahs all look Like you, you pommy bastard.

I have two sets of selections ...drunk and sober Drunk Go West - Pet Shop Boys Club Tropicana - Wham Fairytale of New York - Pogues featuring Kirsty McColl Sober Days - the Kinks (hard to choose tween that and Waterloo Sunset) Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles Billy Jean - Michael Jackson Here is another question for you...the three pop songs you want played at your funeral, Mine are Wild Horses - Rolling Stones Golden Slumbers - The Beatles Lucky - Radiohead jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net jude "Cacoethes scribendi" http://www.judesworld.net

You Get What You Give - New Radicals Dreadlock Holiday - 10 cc Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks nobody

Ah, Tony - bless you for making me feel young again! fyi, The Traveling Wilburys were a band consisting of Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and George Harrison (and some others I can't remember) so there's no shortage of pop talent in that little lot (and they had at least one top twenty hit); and The Wedding Present, in 1992, equalled Elvis Presley's record of having 12 top-thirty hits in the same year. Also fyi, you didn't actually stipulate "singles" - just "songs"...!

'The Wedding Present, in 1992, equalled Elvis Presley's record of having 12 top-thirty hits in the same year.' Didn't know that. I have a 12" of their take on Beatles 'Getting better (all the time)' somewhere. Or was that a b-side - can't remember now. So we're talking popular music or music that has achieved commercial chart success? Which chart? lol. There's nothing more mind-teasing than the incomprehensible eagerly avowed - Dennett

3 when I'm drunk: Love Shack - B52s Everything She Wants - Wham! Don't Stop 'til you Get Enough - Michael Jackson 3 when I'm dead: Your Lucky Day in Hell - Eels (reached # 35 in UK chart and was there for 2 wks) Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash I've been High - REM (did it chart? can't remember. don't care.) Pick the bones out of that lot.

Mmm. This is turning into a thorny issue! Yan - the Weddoes' version of "Getting Better" was the B-side to a dreadful Wet Wet Wet cover version of some Beatles' song. They were both taken from the album "Sgt Pepper Knew My Father", which was patchy to say the least. The question of what to have played at your funeral is harder- you have to really think about that. I'll get back to you, if that's okay...

Now *drunk* is a completely different thing! Disco 2000 - Pulp The Whole Of The Moon - Waterboys Dancing Queen - Abba Spirit In The Sky - Dr and the Medics I know that's more than 3 but that's alcohol for you! Bring on the party season!

3 bouncy pop ones…! Love To Hate You – Erasure Voyage Voyage – Desireless (dunno exactly what she’s singing, but the whole sound seems to be ‘proper pop’!) You Spin Me ’Round (Like a Record) – Dead or Alive

Reminisce - Mary J Blige Summer Here Kids - Grandaddy What a waste - Ian Dury & The Blockheads

The Traveling Wilburys definitely had a hit with 'End of the Line' in the States. You didn't *specify* that they had to be *British* chart hits, now did you, Tony? That would be prejudicial. Feh.

Oh well in that case, I'd like to add... "Big in Albania" by Norman Wisdom and the Pitkins (feat. Tony Hawks) ... and if you don't believe me, click here! {{{_"P"_}}} ... What is "The Art of Tea"? ... (www.pepsoid.wordpress.com - latest... Can We Ever Really Know the Truth About Anything?)

The title suggests you want what are considered the best by popular concensus, and practically all of the above are personal 'best ever's, and that's gonna vary enormously over the generations. In any case to cite three as the 'best ever' is not on, there're hundreds that are equally good, and dozens that set new standards or sales records in their day. Many songs achieved massive popularity on air-play alone, and the best place to hear those is on drive-time radio, especially in the USA. Songs that are truly among the best as recognised by the music industry, radio and popular music 'experts' (of which I ain't one), are a different kettle of fish entirely. High on THAT list are : Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley Yesterday - The Beatles I Left My Heart In San Francisco - Tony Bennett (I was tempted to add 'Mississippi' by that well known Dutch band, Pussycat, and give all my 'friends' the opportunity to take the piss, but I've no doubt they will anyway)

"you lot are all thinking of those jumping up and down in the disco pissed songs - what do you sing three hours later when you are lieing in the gutter?" Can't remember, but hopefully not football type chants. When pissed. anything by the Clash Come on Eilien - Dexy's Midnight Runners Wake up Boo - Boo Radleys I'm pretty sure The Traveling Wilburys had a hit in the UK with the song mentioned earlier by AG. I spent a lot of time listening to the radio in the 90's and if it wasn't a hit it sure got a lot of air play. But like Tony said, that wasn't the song listed anyway. nobody

Pissed and lying in the gutter: Always - Leonard Cohen My LIfe - Billy Joel The Mad Lady and Me - Jimmy MacCarthy

Woohoo, watch the sexy pedant dance, watch him shimmy his sexy nitpicking right across the floor... Tony, Another GIRL Another Planet by The Only Ones never charted on release in 1978. So I'm not sure you're the best placed to adjudicate on what goes in and what doesn't. Ooooo, you are a sexy pedant, Mark. Correct me, correct me good. Cheers, Mark

Guess I'll make up for the sixties deficit... For What It's Worth: Buffalo Springfield California Dreamin': The Mamas and the Papas A Whiter Shade of Pale: Procul Harum would have said Hey Jude, too, but it's not a short one.

I'm still trying to decide if that name-drop is an impressive one or not, Tony!

Can't get you out of my head - Kylie Just a little bit more - Liberty X Hey little girl - Icehouse These are pop songs and quite brilliant. In my opinion. (note my refusal to use text speak.) Most of the other songs mentioned are rock songs, Tony asked for pop songs. N.B. The extended versions of Kylie's and Icehouses's songs are fucking trippy. Take a toot on a joint, clamp the headphones on your ears, turn up the volume up to 11and whoa!!

'Stole' by Kelly Rowland - brilliantly crafted song which delivers in every way: lyrically, melodically and in overall arrangement. 'Would I lie to you' by Charles and Eddie - deceptively simple homage to Motown that is actually as good as the very best Motown "I have nothing' by Whitney Houston - OK it's cheesy, and the lyrics are weak, but I just like it. I'd love to be able to sing like that.

Ah Styx, Hey Little Girl is brilliant. I was contemplating nominating the Kylie one too. I think my top three would be: Heard it Through the Grapevine (yes, sorry, the Marvin Gaye version) Never Ever by the All Saints (even though you could play Amazing Grace over the top of it) Wouldn't It Be Good by Nik Kershaw p.s. Bruce, I loved that Charles & Eddie one - I bought the cd on the strength of it, but all the other tracks were instantly forgettable. ~ www.fabulousmother.com

AGGHHHHHHHHHHHH There's nothing more mind-teasing than the incomprehensible eagerly avowed - Dennett

That never charted, Yan. ~ www.fabulousmother.com

Yes it did. Bjork recorded it. It's also my reaction whenever I hear a Bjork song - just before I destroy the radio...

Yes agree with you Alan. She pronounces her name Byerk which is very similar to Berk. Fitting. As a sub-heading what about 'hate the band but loved the song' as in The Spice Girls 'If You Wanna Be My Lover' or whatever it was called. Damned catchy tune. Apparently there's talk of them reforming! They are the second best selling girl group of all time. Anyone know the best selling?

The Beverley Sisters

If you want maudlin "sing in the gutter when pissed" then Irish traditional wins hands down: She moved through the fair Spancill Hill Kevin Barry All are best sung soggy-trousered and cluthching a Donegal lampost at 11.45 on a Saturday night. Not that I have ever done so.

You're soooo close Alan. The same era.