Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
I WAS quietly surprised at how many nice comments I received during the week after my token gesture towards music legend Bob Dylan. Whilst researching my work (which is a thin way of saying I can use Google!) I stumbled across an article about Rolling Stone magazine's '500 Greatest Songs Of All Time', or more importantly, the way it had been updated after the original list of 2004 was revamped in 2010.
As you can imagine with lists involving songs from all time there is always an outcry if at least the first 100 songs aren't exclusively from the 1960s and 70s. This is when 'real music' was produced according to many experts who also know everything about DIY and how to cook a chicken properly!
In fairness though, I have to agree that music went through many years of being predictable and was churned out quicker than a Simon Cowell plastic boy band group. But, after seeing the songs that dropped out of the original list to be replaced with newer tunes, maybe, just maybe, the future is brighter than people think.
Let me start with the original top 10 tunes which feature Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Marvin Gaye - all from the 50s, 60s and 70s apart from seminal grunge band Nirvana, which creeps into that top 10 with Smells Like Teen Spirit. And then we move onto some of the 26 songs that were removed from the 2004 listing which included:
Lose Yourself by Eminem
Sh-Boom by The Chords
One Fine Day by The Chiffons
On the Road Again by Willie Nelson
Desperado by Eagles
I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly
In my opinion, some of the songs from that 26 should not have been replaced but then the new 2010 listing threw up some interesting replacements including:
Since You've Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson
Last Night by The Strokes
Umbrella by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
American Idiot by Green Day
Rehab by Amy Winehouse
Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
The point to note is that not one replacement song made it higher than number 100, which happened to be the Gnarls Barkley track, and a little known fact is that Crazy was the first song to reach the top of the UK charts on download sales alone! Oh the joys of progress!
Here's hoping that you all enjoy the end of season nail-biting football matches, and I'll leave with this little gem: Confucius Say - A monthly magazine is a bunch of printed pages that tell you what's coming in the next issue.
