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Musicians and writers select the songs you have to hear – everything from sex to heartbreak, operatic villains to rock in the movies and beyond
Matthew says: ‘In the early 1990s, a wave of democratic revolutions swept across eastern Europe again, but this time, savvy young activists were using the power of rock music to fuel movements aimed at overthrowing repressive governments. “Razom Nas Bahato” (“Together We are Many!”) was a rudimentary hip-hop stomp that became the theme tune of Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004 – a piece of shouty propaganda that helped keep demonstrators dancing on the streets day and night amid subzero temperatures in the snowbound capital Kiev until they managed to overturn the results of faked elections.’
Previewed live in Atlanta in June 2000, this then-unreleased song makes specific and powerfully direct reference to the killing by four NYPD officers of an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean immigrant, Amadou Diallo, in 1999. The performance prefaced Springsteen’s ten-date run in Madison Square Garden, and before even hearing it, the head of the NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association called on the city’s 27,000 cops to boycott the shows by refusing to work as security guards. NYC Police Commissioner Howard Safir supported the boycott, while Mayor Giuliani complained that ‘there are still people trying to create the impression that the police officers are guilty.’ Of course, Springsteen added the song to his MSG set.
Igor Stravinsky - (C) Getty Images
Stravinsky wrote this piece of music for a ballet he helped compose with producer Sergei Diaghilev at the turn of the twentieth century. When it was premiered on May 29 1913 in Paris, it prompted one of the most famous classical music riots in history. The choreography was violent and the music complex – something that was vastly different to the elegance audiences were used to in ballets at the time. Members of the crowd began heckling, which caused fights between them and the fans and led to rioting in the aisles. It’s difficult to imagine that a piece of music can cause such distress, but something similar happened in 1973 during Steve Reich’s performance of ‘Four Organs’ at Carnegie Hall in New York, which caused such despair that one woman repeatedly banged her head on the stage requesting they stop.
Of the seemingly endless reasons to find Margaret Thatcher loathsome, her decision to quote St. Francis of Assisi on the morning of her election in 1979 stands out. Handed the quote by her speechwriter in the early hours of the morning, she parroted 'The Prayer of St. Francis' outside Number Ten, pledging 'where there is discord, let us bring harmony'. Almost a year to the day later, Birmingham 2-Toners The Beat were the first band to call her out. They saw 'no chance of your bright new tomorrow' and knew 'love and unity' were 'the only way'. In doing so, The Beat blazed a trail for a generation of musicians who would all try and put dents in the Iron Lady.
Eschewing camp, fabulousness and torch-song lament in favour of sheer, unadulterated bile, this singular gay anthem is an angry reflection of late '70s homophobia, shot through the prism of punk. Save for the rousing chorus, everything it depicts is murky and rotten – evoked perfectly by the downbeat, Kinks-ish melody. The police raid gay pubs for no reason. ‘Gay News’ gets prosecuted for obscenity while ‘Playboy’ and ‘The Sun’ don't. The papers are free to call gay men child molesters. As attitudes changed, Robinson adapted the song over time to address Aids and his own developing sexuality. But the chorus thankfully never changed.
The Byzantine Cross - (C) Getty Images
Bettany says: ‘Back in fifth century Byzantium – known as Istanbul today – you had the first combination of church and state. And in order for the crowning ceremony of the emperor and empress to be considered complete, there had to be this sung acclamation from all the Byzantine priests, which effectively said: “God has given you the right to have power over us.” It changed history because it was the first attempt by a monarch to claim that they had a divine right to rule. And for the next fifteen hundred years, virtually every other ruler followed suit. If you think about world history, it’s been the way it has because it was ruled by monarchs who said they had the right to rule because God gave it to them.’
Mick Jagger had boasted that 1969's Altamont Free Concert would 'set an example to America as to how one can behave in large gatherings'. Fat chance. Altamont was the violent and chaotic inverse of Woodstock. On one hand, a low stage meant Hells Angels were paid in beer to sit and guard it all day. On the other, a flood of LSD and amphetamines passed among the 300,000-strong crowd, making them increasingly restless and aggressive. The two came together in the worst way when, during 'Under My Thumb', 18-year-old Meredith Hunter, high on methamphetamine, violently tried to rush the stage brandishing a gun, only to be met by Hells Angel Alan Passaro and his knife. Hunter died on the scene, and with him, history added a full stop to the hippie dream.
Napoleon - (C) Getty Images
History, they say, is written by the victors. But sometimes cultural fossils of Darwinism’s losers remain. Although the Battle Of Waterloo is generally considered to be a great British military victory, ‘Bonny Bunch of Roses’ suggests the news may not have been universally well-received in this country at the time. Indeed, this was just one of several subtly coded (‘bonny’ being a nickname for Bonaparte) pro-Napoleonic folk standards. It suggests that, as the nation’s political and military leaders were uniformly drawn from the ruling classes, many of the poor viewed Napoleon as a liberator who would free them from the misery of aristocratic oppression. Oh well.
Eugene McDaniels - (C) Getty Images
Although little known outside funk-nerd circles these days, in his ’60s pomp, righteously indignant psychedelic soul-jazz singer McDaniels had the ear of some very important people. One of these was Richard Nixon’s notoriously truculent Vice President, Spiro Agnew, who was so incensed by the overtly political lyrics of McDaniels’s second album, 'Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse', that he personally called the board of Atlantic records to demand it be withdrawn from sale. It was. McDaniels never released another record.
Kino
Matthew says: ‘Leningrad rocker Viktor Tsoi and his band Kino brought dissident spirit and lyrical invention to Soviet pop in the pre-glasnost era. Tsoi, who died in a car crash in 1990 at the age of 28, was an anti-establishment icon in a time and place where it was genuinely risky to be one. His song “Peremen!” (“Changes!”) was a post-punk anthem for disaffected Soviet youth that continues to have an impact long after his death: this year it was banned by the dictatorship in Belarus after being played regularly by pro-democracy protesters.’
Re: the James Brown. Great choice but the vid clip to go for is perhaps the one on YouTube 'I Can't Stand It (Finale)'. That's the one where he talks down a riot single-handed. It's incredible. Of course with JB the performance is always involved and perhaps things are not quite as they seem but still, it's truly incredible. Cheers for an interesting list
Peace,World Love is One World........... visit www.reverbnation.com/johnnybonkers
I do hope at least someone will read the whoel thing.. it means so much to me..
if if it's one month old
The chart sounds a bit like this -music can be labeled as: good music, heart touching music, bad example music (somebody needs to make a fool of himself averynow and then and music seems to be the right environment), revolutionary music(triggers or embodies revolutions - not necessarily good music).. ..at the same time revolutionary music has more impact on the world than the rest of labels, while good music seems to be one of the least important things that actually change the world (more obvious if one looks at the end of the chart....
towards the beggining of the chart we have more complex songs that combine the initial labels into things like verygood music and captivating message etc. although towards the final three positions the kind of correctness and rigor that could be felt throughout becomes extrem and no 2 is chosen (i'm not saying is good or bad) due to helping raise 160 mil "quid" whilst number 1 is somehow what i have expected- a rap song- and i think it has to do with the fact that rap was born as (not anymore) social-political music and it holds an implicit message of rebellion or uprising.
now, what i draw out of all this is the fact that when listening to music people feel different things and out of those feelings some are more likely than other to push people to the streets or unite people into action – the visible revolution! but i'm also wondering about the song that spread through out the world, that lives in everyone mind and heart and is invisible in it's direct effects - nothing to be televised about it... the song we all now about, the one that embodies the idea of song- our internal notion of what a song is.... i think it's jingle bells... no just joking, i don't know what it is, but to go back to my analysis, due to this rigour of thought and criteria through out the top i was left with the feeling that this top was purely informative... this was not a good moment to make a top 100...i think there was another one last week, and I think there are tv stations specialized in this … and why make a top like this, what;s the use of it ???????? (this my true question) i didn't participate and no one will ever acknowledge this because it's not normal to acknowledge something like this and i think it a very strange way to look at music.!
not to mention that maybe, who knows what crazy thing happened in this century that was done by one men who got a crazy idea (invading polland) while listening to his favourite ...oh by the way, i completly agree to puting biber in the chart - as I was saying i think it's very important for someone to give a face to contemporary eveil and allow as to candidly dipise a certain category of people… to be able to look the enemy in the eye!..if you know what I mean…. Kisses ,
Actually I would give Biber no 1, for his personal sacrifice. You little shit!
sorry time out, this was so unprofessional . is very clear, that you really dont know what changed the history, who did this article? a 20 years old kid? or a 17 years old girl ? How in this world, Justin bieber, and others of the same type, how they can change the history? is a joke right? please tell me it is. because If you want to talk about facts, real facts, this list would be very different.
number 1 changed history? even number 2.. not that much.
Iam sure that a lot of others songs, did a bid difference and a big change in the history. chuck berry, mick jaegger, axl? where are they? even bee gees, ray charles, Elvis is not in top 10? the king of rock n roll, who created the rock how can he be at 30,20's,...??
you should do this article again, more accurate next time please
Number 100. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7MVQV-SuPZg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
yet again we get the cliched Elivis & his gyrations/rock'n'roll outraged the world
and induced panic in the music business perspective : Charlie Parker and the be-boppers were causing moral concern 2 decades earlier when this style of jazz was seen as polluting young minds and was referred to as "devil's music" ( as were
the songs of certain blues singers) well before the phrase was applied to R'nR and well before punks thought it was clever to wear Swastika t - shirts
I have to totally disagree with NUMBER ! but certainly NUMBER 2 changed the world - however its just a shame it did not change it permanently as we are still seeing the same poverty all over the world now!!!!!! I look forward to looking through all the other 98? Pauline
well i agree with most of the list, but you forgot a song that did make history and that's Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, that should of been in the top 70 at least
This list is beyond terrible...... I'm seriously offended, as a person with ears who's not tone deaf and is interested in the cultural history of things.
Also, I was in Tahrir square the entire 18 days. Ramy Essam is a very nice guy and a very passionate singer, but by no means did his songs resonate across Egypt. They were important for one of the groups in the square (not even all of them). The song you specifically chose, is actually a combination of a few chants that we were all used to saying. These chants should be included in this list, and not the song. Ie, this song did not "drive" anything in the revolution, but was more of a transcription (one of many).
what the hell justin bieber is doing here?!
and why even in 20 aren't ,,Zombie'' and ,,Wind of change'' ? ...
This song has raised the enthusiasm of many people in tahrir square ... It is one of the sparks for the continuation of demanding the departure of regime
This song has raised the enthusiasm of many people in tahrir square ... It is one of the sparks for the continuation of demanding the departure of regime
I was alerted to this list by a friend ( I now live abroad and do not read Time Out
anymore)
There is a certain amount of arrogance implicit in the fact that these music journalists and panel of experts think that they can determine what goes into this kind of list and then invite the rest of us plebs to comment whilst at the same time stating that they stand by their choices - I've not actually heard of any of these people apart from the historians etc . . . TO journalists are not known beyond the sphere of London surely ?
some of the comments suggest to me that we need to distinguish between music that changed the world, music that changed music and music that people like . . .
Smells Like Teen Spirit is probably the favourite song of a lot of people and in itself it's very good but it did not change music & it did not change history
likewise Woodstock : the event was historically significant to a small degree but the
song did not change history nor musical history : it's not that good a piece of music
out of it's particular nostalgic context
Don't know about "Tipper stickers" protecting "young, fragile minds" from Prince :
have you heard Bessie Smith's Empty Bed Blues with it's references to "coffee
grinders" & "deep sea divers" ? Never ceases to make me smile with it's
outrageous innuendo - makes Prince look positively adolescent
I don't know who Michael Wood is but he clearly doesn't know that That's Alright Mama
has absolutely nothing to do with Bo Diddley - it was written by Arthur Crudup
fully agree with this thread apart from " had", Chuck D still empowers ppl with his music and teachings and therefore he HAS.......
What about CSN&Y Teach Your Children
Hendrix All Along the Watchtower?
GREENDAY IS NOT POP PUNK! And what about the people who's songs and styles changed music. Like WHERE THE HELL IS LES PAUL? This whole artical is crap. It's like a sixth grader who only used only the small knowledge of music they have wrote this, it sucks!
I called BS on this list the moment I saw Justin Bieber's name. When has he EVER changed the world? Never. That's when. He only convinced a large group of teenie-boppers to constantly spam the internet. This list is a complete joke.
I was honestly expecting Bohemian Rhapsody to be on here... how did Barney and friends get on here, but not that?
So let me get this straight. Justin Bieber, The Spice Girls, and Barney and Friends are on the list, but U2 isn't? Have you ever heard of Sunday Bloody Sunday? Where the Streets Have no Name? Walk On? Look up how these songs ACTUALLY changed the world.
I agree with the comment left by "Chris" on one of the other pages of comments :
where on earth is Paul Robeson ? I was listening to Ole Man River just the other night
and some of his other more overtly "political" songs and he deserves to be on the list if only because of the activist & musical risks he took in that whole Cold War
period - he makes Lennon look like a lightweight poseur
it saddens me that there is a whole generation who think Bieber is talented and
who have never heard of, let alone heard, Robeson, Mario Lanza or Richard Tauber sing & who have never heard of, let alone heard, Fritz Kreisler play
Chanson Hindoue on violin : the very definition of sadness
where are "where the streets have no name", "I still haven't found..." and "with or without you" of U2 ?
Not a fan.............but it was my impression that Elvis changed the way we all listen to music..........how on earth he like many of the GREATS has not even made the top ten. I can only assume that those that took part in the pool are tone death or teeny boppers.
Great though this version is the original by Bob Marley is vastly superior and is based on a speech made by the Emperor Haile Selassie to the League of Nations in 1936.
not sure I would describe some of the contributors ( Katy B ? ) as "experts" - I still
have the Vox booklets mentioned by "Terry" and they had some real heavyweight
contributors to them, not here-today-gone-tomorrow-forgotten next-week types
and I'm ambivalent about a music section that constantly refers to itself as "we" !
however, interesting reading none the less and plenty to debate . . . . .
my personal choices would have included :
Beach Boys God Only Knows (for it's production)
Miles Davis Bitches Brew (boundary stretching)
South Wales Striking Miners Stout Hearted Men on Test Dept's Shoulder To
Shoulder ( captures the significant miner's strike perfectly)
Moondog Stamping Ground (captures the mood of a personally significant year)
I guess it's in the nature of these things that we could all come up with our own
Top 100 so I'll leave it at those 3 !
Attributing the birth of the acid house scene to the boom in football's success as a business is more than a little tenuous T.O? Yes, it may have had an effect on reducing football violence, but there were thousands more catalysts that fired football's resurgence, Sky being the largest. And you can't blame Danny Rampling for spawning Three Lions either. I think the birth of acid/house music, and in particular the emergence of tracks such as 'Phuture' are responsible for much more. Most notably, it influenced a generation who adopted a certain attitude - by creating a movement that exemplified freedom of choice combined with a certain kinship. It laid the foundations that enabled a thousand dance sub-genres to proliferate. No taste is left undernourished - garage, dubstep, grime, trance, gabba, ambient, you name it - literally. It nurtured a change in approach to clubbing - dancing was at the heart and rarely was there a dress code, any code for that matter. It led to the emergence of the Superclub and Superstar DJ, the sought after producer with that magic touch that can turn an album filler into a floor-filler (Oakenfold/Orbit/Cooke). Clubbers became walking (or dancing) advocates for the brand and the sound. Dance festivals and street parties now stand alongside the traditional rock events and in most cases, infiltrate them with a dance tent or silent disco. Let's broaden our horizons a little and credit 'Phuture' for more than the Premier League.
As I recall Vox Magazine did something like this in the late 80s or early 90s in the form
of 2 booklets issued with the magazine (although I think it included LPs as well as
individual songs) ?
Interesting list, pleased to see "classical" music get some acknowledgement but
I don't see any jazz (specifically Coltrane's Love Supreme) nor blues (given the
huge influence of some of it's exponents) but was very pleased to see Sam Cooke
there along with some folk songs such as Woody Guthrie :
so, good to see lots if items that would possibly have been overlooked by younger
readers who think that a lot of the "45 second attention span music" as I call it
has any lasting influence
the song on this list that has the most resonance for me is God Save The Queen, purely because I saw them on Xmas Day 1977 at Huddersfield Ivanhoes : their last
UK gig
if I could choose one song to add to the list it would be Robert Wyatt Shipbuilding
(can't see it there & apologies if it is & I've missed it)
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