'Summer Of 69' is a tad overplayed but an undeniable classic!

Edited Wednesday at 14:112 days by Mangø

17. Alphaville- Forever Young (859 points)

Writers: Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd, Frank Mertens

Producers: Colin Pearson, Wolfgang Loos, Andreas Budde

UK chart peak: 98 (2 weeks in the top 100)

Achieved platinum status on 27/06/2024

Top scorers: danG 50, CowTzy 49, Jason 49

Lowest scorers: dandy* 4, Slick 7, Viper* 8

A late wildcard entry into our rate, "Forever Young" is the biggest selling single in the UK by Alphaville. Initially written as an upbeat dance track, this synthpop ballad was a big hit across Europe for the German band but didn't make much of an impression in the UK upon release in 1984. Singer Marion Gold was not a native English speaker so received help with pronunciation from producer Colin Pearson. A lyric about fascism in the third verse was scrapped after objections from label executives. It became a very popular song on TikTok in late 2024, with 200,000 of its chart sales coming between July 2024 and June 2025. A 2020 charity cover by Becky Hill reached number 35.

Comfortably Numb should have done better than this. The guitar solo at the end of the song would be part of my top 3 all time guitar solos.

16. Lou Reed- Perfect Day (861 points)

Writer: Lou Reed

Producers: David Bowie, Mick Ronson

UK chart peak: 45 (1 week in the top 100)

Achieved platinum status on 22/11/2024

Top scorers: Chez Wombat 49, rio309 47, seven. 47

Lowest scorers: Maestro 4, CowTzy 6, …ready for it 7

Taken from his 1972 album Transformer and included as the B-side on his highest-charting/biggest-selling single "Walk On The Wild Side", "Perfect Day" is heavily rumoured to be about heroin, a claim Reed thought was laughable. This interpretation of the song led to its inclusion in the 1996 film Trainspotting, helping the song gain huge attention in the UK. A year later, an all-star lineup of performers, including Reed and Bowie, recorded a new version of the song for a BBC promotional film. This version reached number one for 3 weeks after being released as a charity single and is one of the biggest-selling singles in terms of pure sales in the UK. The original charted after Reed's death in 2013.

Thoughts on 20-16

I Follow Rivers- much more familiar with the remix which is really good, really captures the 90s feel it's going for. Lykke Li kind of sounds like Crystal Waters so that definitely helps. I've listened to the original a few times and I enjoyed the atmosphere! Bit weird hearing it after the remix

Comfortably Numb- another great song from Floyd, the better of their two in the final. Never actually heard the Scissor Sisters version!

Summer Of '69- not a fan of gravelly voices for the most part but Bryan's doesn't bother me that much. Can see why it's so popular, an essential summer tune. Wouldn't have thought it was the biggest non-top 40 song before doing my research though.

Forever Young- those who know me well know that I think that a lot of 80s synthpop sounds really dated and I don't enjoy it much, can say the same for this track but I do really like the lyrics. Would've preferred if "Redemption Song" made it in as the wildcard instead.

Perfect Day- how anyone thought this was about heroin is beyond me! It's an alright song, call it blasphemy but I actually prefer the BBC version! Definitely prefer this over Lou's "Walk On The Wild Side" which I hate for absolutely no good reason...

Lots revealed since I last commented, but as expected plenty more of my faves are starting to pop up now we're in the top half, including my top score! I knew and loved 'A-Punk' for years before I ever saw an episode of The Inbetweeners (it features in barely a minute of it, if that?) so I don't have that association. Catchy tune, cute instrumentation, cryptic lyrics and such energy, it never gets old. Vampire Weekend have been occasionally hit and miss for me since, but they did bring my favourite song of the year for a second time last year with the very different 'Capricorn'.

'Forever Young' is the other to drop out from my top 10 (I entered it into a contest here and it came 11th, I may have mentioned that before, it has since more than doubled its streams and has surely shaken off the cover version associations by now), a stirring contemplation of youth and mortality that helps me to reflect on what I've experienced as one day it will all be gone. I do wonder how 'Redemption Song' would have done here if it had been given its own chance however, that is equally timeless.

15. The Beatles- In My Life (862 points)

Writers: John Lennon, Paul McCartney

Producer: George Martin

UK chart peak: 78 (1 week in the top 100)

Achieved platinum status on 22/09/2023

Top scorers: Julian_ 50, …ready for it 50, Uls2000 50

Lowest scorers: Nick F1 2, AaronTM 3, CianS 4, detonate 4

Included on the Fab Four's 1965 album Rubber Soul, John Lennon considered "In My Life" his "first major piece of work" as it was the first time he had written about his own life. George Martin provided the piano solo but there has been a long dispute over how much John and Paul contributed to the music compared to each other. Paul says that he wrote the tune and John wrote the lyrics. It was never released as a single, only charting after the Beatles' catalogue was released on iTunes in 2010.

'In My Life' is one of my favourites on Rubber Soul - love its quiet reflectiveness.

So many classics in the 11-20 section so far that I thought would be higher, Perfect Day is such a beautiful song, the minimal backing and quiet, slightly strained vocal add real authenticity to it, the BBC cover version was good in a different way, but doesn't come close to the sentiment of the original (we don't talk about the BBC version of God Only Knows though x). Also love Comfortably Numb, so atmospheric and dreamy and a standout sequence in The Wall as well.

Love I Follow Rivers in both remix and original form too, I'm glad it's much more remembered than its peak might suggest.

Wow just realised that “Blackbird” was 33rd and “In My Life” 15th in last year’s Beatles rate - spooky! I wonder how close their remaining entry will come to its rate position.

I know “In My Life” doesn’t have the experimental brilliance of their later work but I still find it very moving and it would be on my desert island playlist.

14. David Bowie- Changes (894 points)

Writer: David Bowie

Producers: Ken Scott, David Bowie

UK chart peak: 49 (2 weeks in the top 100)

Achieved platinum status on 07/02/2025

Top scorers: Scone1 50, Maestro 46, Uls2000 45

Lowest scorers: CowTzy 4, detonate 8, WhoOdyssey 11

"Changes" features on Bowie's 1971 album Hunky Dory. Bowie wrote the track based on his constant artistic reinvention and lack of success at the time. It failed to chart when released as a single in 1972 and was later included as the B-side to the 1975 reissue of "Space Oddity" which reached number one. It was the final song he performed live, and it charted on its own for the first time in 2016 following his death.

13. Talking Heads- Psycho Killer (896 points)

Writers: David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth

Producers: Tony Bongiovi, Lance Quinn, Talking Heads

UK chart peak: did not chart

Achieved platinum status on 26/01/2024

Top scorers: seven. 50, Brer 49, Severin 46

Lowest scorers: Cymro87 3, AaronTM 7, Slick 10

Early versions of "Psycho Killer" were performed by David Byrne and Chris Frantz's band The Artistics. Written from the perspective of a serial killer, it was released as a single from the first Talking Heads album in 1977 and became popular around the time of the Son Of Sam serial killer's spree. The bridge's French lyrics were written by Tina Weymouth.

Love Talking Heads, they never seemed to follow trends, doing their own thing. Sometimes a bit odd but always interesting, and groundbreaking in their use of African rhythms. I like Psycho Killer but they would go on to greater things

Rubber Soul is my favourite Beatles album (probably controversial), I remember my mum was especially fond of it. I think it’s their most consistently great album, In My Life is one of the more thoughtful moments on there but is still fantastic.

I can only be happy at a Bowie song appearing so high, even if it’s not one of my favourites

Surprised at Bryan Adams going out so early, when I guessed at what I thought might be the #1 on the rate before you started the countdown, Summer Of 69 was one of 3 songs I thought might do it. The other 2 are still to come.

Edited yesterday at 15:101 day by Jaz13music
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4 hours ago, Julian_ said:

Wow just realised that “Blackbird” was 33rd and “In My Life” 15th in last year’s Beatles rate - spooky! I wonder how close their remaining entry will come to its rate position.

Ooh I would love to see what you guys voted for in a Beatles rate! So sad I missed that. Where would I find the results on the forum?

27 minutes ago, Jaz13music said:

Rubber Soul is my favourite Beatles album (probably controversial), I remember my mum was especially fond of it. I think it’s their most consistently great album, In My Life is one of the more thoughtful moments on there but is still fantastic.

Rubber Soul is also my favourite Beatles album believe it or not (though I don't think it's their best). Something about the earlier Beatles material is so endearing to me.

28 minutes ago, Jaz13music said:

Ooh I would love to see what you guys voted for in a Beatles rate! So sad I missed that. Where would I find the results on the forum?

Ditto, wish I was posting when this was hosted!

4 minutes ago, gasman449 said:

Rubber Soul is also my favourite Beatles album believe it or not (though I don't think it's their best). Something about the earlier Beatles material is so endearing to me.

Thanks! Yes you articulated it much better than me. Later albums may be groundbreaking and innovative, but Rubber Soul is just more enjoyable I suppose?

Results on page 19 of this: there was also a 2nd version with a late set of votes.

12. Tame Impala- Let It Happen (915 points)

Writer: Kevin Parker

Producer: Kevin Parker

UK chart peak: did not chart

Achieved platinum status on 12/07/2024

Top scorers: Jaz13music 50, RabbitFurCoat 50, Maestro 49

Lowest scorers: Jason 1, Slick 1, Viper* 3

This 8-minute track from 2015's Currents is acclaimed as one of Tame Impala's best songs. Kevin Parker developed the song while on tour with different sections of the track being composed in different countries. The gibberish closing section was intended to have real lyrics but Parker decided to keep the gibberish for the final song. The skipping section was inspired by Parker's fascination with playback glitches. A 4-minute radio edit was created and was used for the song's music video.

2 minutes ago, gasman449 said:

12. Tame Impala- Let It Happen (915 points)

Writer: Kevin Parker

Producer: Kevin Parker

UK chart peak: did not chart

Achieved platinum status on 12/07/2024

Top scorers: Jaz13music 50, RabbitFurCoat 50, Maestro 49

Lowest scorers: Jason 1, Slick 1, Viper* 3

And the last of my top 3 goes out.

Let It Happen was my song of the year in 2015, in fact one of my favourites of the whole 2010s. An epic disco pop prog psychedelic masterpiece.

I love that it starts simply but, especially in the second half, so many new melodies are added leading to the fantastic ending.

Surprised but very happy it did so well.

23 minutes ago, gasman449 said:

12. Tame Impala- Let It Happen (915 points)

Writer: Kevin Parker

Producer: Kevin Parker

UK chart peak: did not chart

Achieved platinum status on 12/07/2024

Top scorers: Jaz13music 50, RabbitFurCoat 50, Maestro 49

Lowest scorers: Jason 1, Slick 1, Viper* 3

This 8-minute track from 2015's Currents is acclaimed as one of Tame Impala's best songs. Kevin Parker developed the song while on tour with different sections of the track being composed in different countries. The gibberish closing section was intended to have real lyrics but Parker decided to keep the gibberish for the final song. The skipping section was inspired by Parker's fascination with playback glitches. A 4-minute radio edit was created and was used for the song's music video.

Sad