Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
Sat 9 Nov 2002 11.57 GMT
There is cheese, there is schmaltz, raw emotion and the odd killer tune in the list of the nation’s favourite number ones of all time. The list, released yesterday, shows that the public prefers older songs to modern tunes.
It was compiled to mark the 50th anniversary of the British charts and top of the 100 most popular number ones is Queen’s ever popular Bohemian Rhapsody.
Not one track from the last 15 years makes it into the top 25, with just four songs from the last 10 years squeezing into the chart.
From the past decade there is only Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Oasis’s Don’t Look Back In Anger, U2’s Beautiful Day and Elvis’s remixed A Little Less Conversation.
Modern day stars such as Robbie Williams, the Spice Girls and Westlife failed to get in, though the Irish band will get a consolation prize by reaching number one in this week’s chart, the 941st record to do so.
The 1984 chart topper Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas is the most modern song in the top 25.
Users of various websites and Radio 2 listeners voted in the poll, which could explain why the chart skews towards golden oldies.
The school of thinking which says modern music just is not very good will argue that the chart shows people want proper songs, played by people who are more than the creation of marketing men chasing the attention of teenage girls.
All bar three of the Beatles’ 17 number ones make the all time top 100, with their post-break up efforts seeing George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord at number five and John Lennon’s Imagine at number two.
Darren Haynes of the Official Chart Company which compiled the list said: “The public’s taste is pretty consistent. These classic popular songs are still the tunes people love most of all. Even the younger generation take these songs aboard as their own.”
The complete 100 will be broadcast by Radio 2 this evening.
These we have loved
- Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
- John Lennon – Imagine
- Beatles – Hey Jude
- Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
- George Harrison – My Sweet Lord
- Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale
- Animals – The House Of The Rising Sun
- Abba – Dancing Queen
- Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
- Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure
- Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights
- Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall
- Police – Every Breath You Take
- Righteous Brothers – You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
- Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas
- Rolling Stones – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
- Beatles – She Loves You
- Soft Cell – Tainted Love
- Beatles – All You Need Is Love
- Elvis Presley – Jailhouse Rock
- 10 CC – I’m Not In Love
- Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel – Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)
- Rod Stewart – Maggie May
- Roy Orbison – Oh Pretty Woman
- David Bowie – Space Oddity
- Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
- Beatles – I Want To Hold Your Hand
- Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
- Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
- Monkees – I’m A Believer
- Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays
- Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night
- Beatles – Help!
- Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
- Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
- Queen – Innuendo
- Byrds – Mr Tambourine Man
- Abba – Waterloo
- Elvis vs JXL – A Little Less Conversation
- Kinks – You Really Got Me
- Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger
- Elvis Presley – All Shook Up
- Fleetwood Mac – Albatross
- Elvis Presley – Are You Lonesome Tonight
- Bryan Adams – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
- Rolling Stones – Paint It Black
- Nilsson – Without You
- Elvis Presley – The Wonder Of You
- Louis Armstrong – What A Wonderful World/Cabaret
- Ian Dury & The Blockheads – Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
- Abba – The Winner Takes It All
- Blondie – Heart Of Glass
- Beatles – Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out
- Elvis Presley – Can’t Help Falling In Love/Rock-A-Hula Baby
- George Michael – Careless Whisper
- Beatles – Ticket To Ride
- John Lennon – Woman
- Beatles – Can’t Buy Me Love
- Elvis Presley – It’s Now Or Never
- Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Chile
- Dusty Springfield – You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
- Beatles – Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby
- Human League – Don’t You Want Me
- Roy Orbison – Only The Lonely
- Bill Haley & His Comets – Rock Around The Clock
- Beatles – Paperback Writer
- Jam – Going Underground
- T Rex – Get It On
- Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody
- Sonny & Cher – I Got You Babe
- Kinks – Sunny Afternoon
- Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse Of The Heart
- Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends
- Abba – Mamma Mia
- Gerry & The Pacemakers – You’ll Never Walk Alone
- David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes
- Righteous Brothers – Unchained Melody
- Beatles – Get Back
- Abba – Knowing Me Knowing You
- Madonna – Like A Prayer
- Elvis Presley – Return To Sender
- Bangles – Eternal Flame
- Freddie Mercury – Living On My Own
- U2 – Beautiful Day
- Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star
- Rolling Stones – Jumping Jack Flash
- Meat Loaf – I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)
- Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
- Scott McKenzie – San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)
- Beatles – From Me To You
- Alice Cooper – School’s Out
- A-ha – The Sun Always Shines On TV
- Bee Gees – Night Fever
- Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
- Rolling Stones – Honky Tonk Women
- Hollies – He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother
- Beatles – Hello Goodbye
- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Tears Of A Clown
- Police – Message In A Bottle
- Billy Joel – Uptown Girl
Vikram Dodd
Sat 9 Nov 2002 11.57 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/nov/09/arts.buyingmusic