I like what skydiver did with iconic vs. best. Good thread mutation imo.
Zeppelin and Purple I agree. But come on bro. Have you listened to Freebird lately? Shit is fire.
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This is a very solid list. A+
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Ok, I’m convinced. Queen doesn’t have one best song.
Scorpions:
Rock You Like a Hurricane (iconic)
Big City Nights (best)
Beastie Boys:
Fight For Your Right (iconic)
Sabotage (???) (best)
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You familiar with Ozzy’s ‘Speak of the Devil’ album? It’s the absolute Goat, but unfortunately it’s one of those albums rigorously kept off of utube. It’s a live double-album and all Sabbath covers. Amazing stuff. Shortly after Randy Rhoads death.
I’d like to add “Don’t You (forget about me)” by Simple Minds.
Of course this is the song pretty much everyone has heard and pretty much everyone associates strongly with The Breakfast Club movie and the band Simple Minds, but it always struck me that the song was actually written by producers Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff. They wrote the song in the style of Simple Minds, hoping that Simple Minds would of course agree, but the band responded as though they were a single white female who just found out a complete stranger has been stalking them.
Jim Kerr, lead singer of the band, said, “We are Simple Minds - we don’t do songs that sound like Simple Minds.”
LOL. That’s when the song was shopped around to other singers like Billy Idol, who I have to say would have sounded fantastic on the recording, but with one huge huge HUGE difference if he had said yes.
The thing is that Billy Idol was already famous and went on to record a number of iconic songs, but Simple Minds was struggling for commercial success at the time and, aside from that one song they very fortunately eventually agreed to record, I challenge anyone ITT to name a second Simple Minds song.
Having said that, Simple Minds is still writing great music. It just wasn’t as popular. Example, the song “Honest Town” from their 2014 album Big Music.
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Scorpion’s best - The Zoo
Scorpions also win ugliest band ever except for when Sabbath had Ronnie James Dio
I miss that old slow 80s rock beat. Everything is like double time now compared to that.
Beastie’s best - every song on Paul’s Boutique and Check Your Head - evenly
Billy Idol - White Wedding - both iconic and best.
Best song of the 80s imo.
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ABC - Look of Love - also most iconic and best and 2nd best song of the 80s.
My coworkers are all like 30 and younger and literally know none of these songs. I found out yesterday none of them had seen Rain Man.
/ancient
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I just saw them live last year. They still sound great
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Laura Branigan is very much not a one-hit wonder. Five top-20 songs off her first three albums.
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I hate The Zoo as much as you hate Magnolia.
Scorpions is another band that’s continued to make new music. There was some weird and terrible shit in the 90s but last two albums (2010, 2015) are a return to form imo.
I didn’t realize it was possible to have such a strong opinion about a Scorpions song. I also like Still Loving You a lot even though I generally hate heavy metal ballads.
Somewhat obscure 80s hard rock bands that had at least one really good song:
Zebra
Fastway
Krokus
Accept (Balls to the Wall)
Great White (would be obscure if not for the fire)
Who am I forgetting?
Totally agree with the Duker’s Beastie Boys ranking! Sabotage GOAT.
I can do my favourites on the iconic/best basis.
Radiohead:
Iconic - Creep
Best - Reckoner
REM
Iconic - Losing My Religion
Best - Be Mine
Bowie
Iconic - Life On Mars
Best - Five Years
The Smiths
Iconic - How Soon Is Now
Best - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Joy Division
Iconic - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Best - Atmosphere
New Order
Iconic - Blue Monday
Best - Subculture
Arcade Fire
Iconic - Wake Up
Best - Rebellion / Lies
(getting deliberately obscure/pretentious now)
The Cure
Iconic - Boys Don’t Cry
Best - Plainsong
Manic Street Preachers
Iconic - A Design For Life
Best - IfWhiteAmericaToldTheTruthForOneDayItsWorldWouldFallApart
John Grant
Iconic - Where The Dreams Go To Die
Best - Vietnam
Stone Roses
Iconic - Fools Gold
Best - Made Of Stone
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Gerry rafferty: Baker Street.
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Iconic song for Kansas: Dust in the Wind or Carry on Wayward Son?
I would have said Basket Case is Green Day’s iconic song.
And I would say Beat It (not Thriller) for Michael Jackson.
Freebird was iconic for Skynyrd in the 70s, 80s, and maybe 90s. But Sweet Home Alabama took over at some point.
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Bowie’s most iconic has to be Space Oddity (is that what you meant?). Suffragette city is my favorite Bowie song.
Stone Roses most iconic is I Wanna Be Adored
It makes me sad if Losing My Religion is really REM’s most iconic song.
Agreed, and holy shit has Klaus Meine’s voice held up over the years. He’s one of the few 80s singers in a class with people like Bryan Adams who sound better now than ever.
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MJ is neither of those, it’s Billie Jean.
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