30 Great Songs From The Last 30 Years

Friday is fun because it's about music. So there's always a playlist. (Or two). Today, a specially made playlist featuring 30 great pop songs from the last 30 years...

Don’t worry! You’re not going to have to read my thoughts on 30 individual songs. I don’t even think I could stick with myself for that long! It’s just a playlist. On a whim. And a few thoughts around its creation, and what it signifies.

Last week I wrote about three ‘pop’ albums I loved and how I can’t always get on board with the pop stars du jour (Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, et al). I chose to talk about three (modern/ish) albums from three different eras that had strength in numbers, those records were and are complete albums. Sure, each one’s got a killer single or two, but for me they work because of the strength of them as a whole; it isn’t about loving one single song more than any of the others. And that’s largely the way I’m wired, and largely why I can’t always get on board with modern pop acts. I just don’t play the same game. I’m not better because of that. And I’m not necessarily doing it wrong either. It’s just my approach – for the most part. I like a lot of great singles, but I was raised on albums, and I might die on a huge stack of them still.

But it’s always about ‘songs’ – a love of songs. And sometimes a song sneaks through on its own.

It would be easy to make a playlist of 30 bangers from across all eras – I might have Sam Cooke’s What A Wonderful World, and I would certainly include something by Suzanne Vega. Something by Kate Bush too. A Prince song would be hard to narrow down to just one, but I guess I’d find a way. I’d find space for something by Curtis Mayfield. And it would fill up so quickly that it would probably spill over into several volumes.

But what about “modern” pop songs. And what is the cut off? I couldn’t pick 30 songs from the last year, or last three years, probably not even the last decade. So I went with 30 from the last 30 years (or so). And decided that was technically still “modern”. But 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins (on the list, of course) feels like some old classic rock song in some ways.

It's a random dump of tunes, by which I mean I haven’t really shaped it to play in any particular order – it’s just a gathering of the songs I first thought about when I set this parameter.

Also, these are not one-hit-wonders at all.

What got me thinking about this was how much I love the Natalie Merchant song, Carnival. Some days I think this is my all-time favourite song by anyone ever. And I certainly play it most weeks, and think about it almost all of the time. In fact, I wrote about it right here. And my point in saying all that is that, as you’ll read if you click that link, I love Natalie Merchant. Her whole career (and maybe more on that soon, some other newsletter on some other day). So, Carnival isn’t her only hit, nor the only one I think of – but what I did think about was how this song always gets (to) me. Whenever I hear it. This song always takes me back to when I first heard it and where I was when I first heard it. And it feels like a forever-song. One that’s been around for longer than me. One that will outlast us all.

To varying degrees, I feel the same way about all of the songs here. They all work on the same sort of level. Of course some of them are ‘lighter’. But it can’t all be deep, Andy.

And also some of them really are one-hit-wonders, in my world at least. By which I mean, I might not really give anything else by the artist a second glimpse, but I’m besotted with the track I’ve selected for the playlist.

Rap records, pop songs, a bit of rock, 90s, 00s, and the ‘10s. Thirty songs.

I thought you might like to hear them. And you might have some favourites among them. Or some suggestions from your listening to lengthen this playlist. Or to make another.

Share your thoughts, and track selections, or whole playlists, below.

And of course, it’s Friday, so there’s another playlist. It’s Vol. 130 of the continuing saga of a quack who has gone to the dogs…of a playlist that has gone on for a long time. And will keep going as long as there are Friday “Sounds Good!” newsletters about music. I hope you like this one, I got off on an R’n’B/hip-hop vibe and kinda stayed there. And very much liked that. And you might too…

Also, reminder, tomorrow Dirty Spoons will be in Masterton as part of The Next Big Thing. We’re super excited to be playing our first “away” show of the year. (Ticket link).

Rock On.

And happy weekend. What musical plans do you have this weekend?