Pop/Awesome Music


 * Vera Lynn, a British singer-songwriter of the 1940s through mid-1950s who broke ground in so many ways. Lynn – born Vera Margaret Welch March 20, 1917 in London – became one of the first, if not the first British artist to gain widespread popularity in the United States, but it doesn't end there. In 1952, at the peak of her popularity, she released the song "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart," a ballad that went on to reach No. 1 on all three of Billboard magazine's popular music charts in use at the time (Best Sellers in Stores, Most Played by Disc Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes, for nine, six and four weeks, respectively) that summer. (The chart generally considered to be the gauge of popularity at the time was the Best Sellers chart, meaning "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" is generally credited with a nine-week No. 1 run on Billboard's pop charts.)
 * Think about this for a second as you consider the following:
 * After "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" wrapped up its run in popularity, it would be another 10 years before another British performer – Acker Bilk, with the instrumental "Stranger on the Shore" – would top the Billboard chart; the Hot 100 was by now in use.
 * For 35 years, only one song (The Beatles' "Hey Jude" in the fall of 1968) could match the nine-week No. 1 run of "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart," with Elton John's double-sided smash "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight" finally surpassing Lynn and the Fab Four by Christmas 1997, en route to Elton's eventual 14-week ride at No. 1.
 * No other British female artist or act with primarily female singers has surpassed the No. 1 run Lynn had in the summer of '52. (Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" at seven weeks in 2011 is second amongst female British singers, with Lulu's 1962 hit "To Sir With Love" at five weeks third).
 * The long-standing appeal of "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart," albeit primarily to people who were young adults in the 1940s and early 1950s, is awesome in itself. But the song's chart accomplishment, and how it compares to the American chart runs of other British performers, is also something to behold.
 * Owl City: "Hot Air Balloon", "Fireflies", "Panda Bear", and "Tip of the Iceberg" were all especially memorable...
 * "Alligator Sky".
 * Or "Vanilla Twilight" or "On The Wing" or "Strawberry Avalanche"... Or just about anything by them.
 * Roxette. It's hard not to love such heartfelt ballads like "Fading Like a Flower", "Listen to Your Heart" and "Things Will Never Be the Same". And though some of their more upbeat pop songs may not make sense lyrics-wise, they are always catchy as hell.
 * Sir John Lennon and his fantastic, international peace-and-love-anthem song "Imagine".
 * Sara Bareilles' "King Of Anything". Especially those "oh-oh"'s at the beginning.
 * Everything Sara Bareilles has ever done is this trope. That girl is made of win.
 * Her EP Once Upon Another Time is the best thing she's ever done.. With Ben Folds producing, and every song in a different genre, it should be a classic. Especially "Lie To Me".
 * Adele has SO many. Among them are "Rolling In The Deep", "Chasing Pavements", "Someone Like You", and "Rumour Has It".
 * What about "Set Fire To The Rain"? That one is downright EPIC!
 * "Hometown Glory" is another wonderful, wonderful song of hers that unfortunately didn't make it to mainstream listeners.
 * "Make You Feel My Love" and "Lovesong" are fierce covers.
 * "Daydreamer" is Sweet Dreams Fuel in song form.
 * "Hiding my Heart" and "Don't You Remember" are also lesser known, under-appreciated pieces.
 * Styx, especially "Mr Roboto", "Come Sail Away" and "Renegade".
 * For a lesson in obscure songs by popular bands, try out "A Day". Despite the eventual popularity of "Lady", Styx II wasn't a heavy seller, but this song more than makes up for it.
 * Dennis DeYoung's live version of "Lady" from his orchestra tour goes UP TO TWELVE when Ravel's "Bolero" kicks in mid-way. On the Channel 11 version, he even said that he intended it to be in there all along!
 * Let's not forget "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)."
 * As well as "The Grand Illusion". Gotta love a song with a lesson.
 * Katy Perry's Teenage Dream album. "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", and "Firework" just win in so many unique ways.
 * YES. Katy Perry is just. that. awesome.
 * Teenage Dream is better than One Of The Boys, but if "Waking Up In Vegas" was from Teenage Dream, it would easily be in the top two songs of the album. As it is, it was the best song from One Of The Boys.
 * Imogen Heap. You've probably heard heard "Hide and Seek" one way or another, but try to listen to "The Moment I Said It" or "Half Life" without being moved. "Aha!" and "Daylight Robbery" are also awesome, but in a different way.
 * "Aha!" is even better live. There's also "Earth".
 * "Just For Now". "Thank you Based God". And she didn't stop there.
 * Dusty Springfield, folks. Dusty. Springfield. "Dusty in Memphis" is a fracking masterpiece. An amazing talent, much missed.
 * Most of you have probably heard of Pink's song "Get This Party Started", yes? Well, Shirley Bassey recorded a cover of that song. Add a hundred-musician orchestra and a heaping helping of Camp, and that song became... this. EPIC.
 * "History Repeating" Shirley Bassey is a goddess.
 * She's still got it.
 * "Gimme Gimme Gimme!" by ABBA becomes "Gimme Gimme Gimme!" by Yngwie Malmsteen!
 * Let's just say, everything by ABBA.
 * Rihanna's "Umbrella". Oh, so good...
 * And the Manic Street Preachers' cover.
 * And the cover by the acapella group The Duke's Men of Yale. Also a Crowning Moment of Funny if you can see them do it live with choreography.
 * Michael Jackson, on stage. Yes, he really was that good, and let's not forget he made the best selling album of all time, Thriller. He was also the KING OF POP!
 * When he sang "Billie Jean" on stage for the first time... Magic!
 * The Moonwalk.
 * The "Thriller" music video, doesn't get any more Awesome than that.
 * Let's not forget the awesomeness that is "Beat It". The Fall Out Boy cover was pretty sick, too.
 * Welcome a challenger from the Sinosphere, ladies and gentlemen. Jacky Cheung's "A Thousand Heartbreaking Reasons". It's not... awesome in the conventional sense, but it is awfully emotive.
 * Carly Simon has a song that launched a thousand questions in "You're So Vain".
 * Madonna. Your Mileage May Vary but her best stuff in the 80s defined a generation of women and gay men. Try looking at a wedding gown the same way after those VMAs.
 * "Vogue". That song just kicks so muck ass...
 * And honorable mentions should go to "Live To Tell", "Frozen", "Into The Groove", and "Like A Prayer".
 * YMMV of course, but Ke$ha's "Take It Off" is made of win.
 * Yes. Yes it is. As is the follow-up, "We R Who We R". Like you said, YMMV.
 * There's also "Tik Tok", "Cannibal", "Your Love Is My Drug", and "Blow".
 * Alanis Morisette. She is awesome enough to play GOD. Plus she has one of the best angry-women-album of all time in Jagged Little Pill which make me see Full House in a completely different light.
 * "Ironic". Seriously. How many times has a song gotten its point across by completely failing at it?
 * "So Pure" was a crowning moment because it was fun, it was cute, it didn't have a case of "I'm going to fit as many syllables as I can onto a line"-itis. The video was cool too.
 * "Hand In My Pocket". It is by FAR Alanis' best song.
 * "You Oughta Know"? Somebody? Anybody? Come on. It was only the song that put Alanis on the map. Such aggression. And then there was the performance of it at the 38th Grammy Awards in 1996, which dials it down to a simple rhythm section, piano, and strings. The album version is great, but that performance is superb.
 * Pink. "Sober" is hands down one of the most emotional songs of the 2000's. And let's face it, we've all gotten "So What" stuck in out heads.
 * "Raise Your Glass" can inspire tears with its defiance.
 * Four Pink songs: "Raise Your Glass", "Who Knew", "Fuckin' Perfect", and "Glitter In The Air".
 * "Raise Your Glass" (and its music video) is just pure awesome.
 * "Stupid Girls" earns a special place in your heart.
 * All the above, plus "Family Portrait" are some of the best songs. Ever.
 * The Jackson 5 and "I Want You Back". Not only did it hit #1 (as did the next four Jackson 5 singles), not only has it been sampled and sampled and sampled ("Izzo" and "Jump" and "My Baby" and "Take Me There"), not only did KT Tunstall put together a staggering SOLO live performance of it, but the "all I need!" at the end of the breakdown is as pure as pop has ever gotten, or likely ever will.
 * Jackson 5. "Dancing Machine." The Paul Oakenfold remix. EPIC WIN.
 * Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams".
 * Who am I to disagree?
 * Their cover of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" is simply astounding.
 * "Winter Wonderland". In some weird way, it perfectly captures the feeling of Christmas- arguably even more so than its predecessors. Which is not an easy job, considering the synthesizers.
 * Andy Williams singing "Impossible Dream". Oh good god. It's beautiful. To Fight for the Right without question or Pause! Tears.
 * Say what you want about J-pop, "Shining Star" by Nami Tamaki is pure heartwarming awesome.
 * "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler. Awesome by itself but quite possibly the best driving song ever.
 * Girls Aloud's "Biology" and "Sexy! No No No...". The songs' lyrics and structure might not make any sense but by the time the songs are over, it has wormed your way into your heard and you just want to listen again to figure out what just hit you.
 * Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." Suddenly it becomes clear that, no, this isn't just an eccentric yet generic pop star, Love It or Hate It, her music is taking this somewhere different.
 * "Poker Face", "Paparazzi", and "Just Dance" can change even negative minds into admirers.
 * "Bad Romance" will grow on you, but "Alejandro" can make a Gaga fan.
 * "Speechless". No, it doesn't really fit in with the rest of The Fame Monster, but it's so epic you won't care.
 * "Dance In The Dark". It is unbelievably epic. It only hit #122 in the U.S. Travesty.
 * "Born This Way" is completely amazing.
 * "Judas". It sounds... dude.
 * "Paper Gangsta": Greatest song she's ever done!
 * "The Edge of Glory" is...well, glorious.
 * Really just any song by Gaga would fit.
 * "I Believe". Just... I Believe.
 * Kat Deluna: it's a shame not many people know about her as she has plenty of amazing songs like "Run The Show", "In The End", "Everybody Dance", "Rock The House", "Party O Clock", and "Club On Smash", etc.
 * Agreed! Her songs are such earworms!
 * Toto. Big hits like "Africa", Hold the Line", and "Rosanna" are good enough to improve any bad day.
 * XTC. "Chalkhills and Children" is especially epic, but there's also some strong contenders in "Making Plans for Nigel", "Dear God", "Generals and Majors", just about everything from Skylarking or Apple Venus Volume 1, etc. etc. ...
 * Depeche Mode! Their song "Precious", live, is an awe-inspiring experience.
 * "People Are People" is such a huge-sounding, epic song. And everything on Violator belongs on this page, full stop.
 * Erasure. Just Erasure. "A Little Respect" is positively made of amazing.
 * Mika. Try to listen to "We Are Golden" and not start dancing! Not to mention "Blame It On The Girls", "Love Today", and the heart-breaking "Happy Ending"!
 * Two reasons to love the soulful sounds of Tavares: "More Than a Woman" and "It Only Takes a Minute".
 * Five reasons why disco doesn't suck, but the people who say it does, do: Kat Mandu, "The Break"; Change, "Angel in My Pocket"; Shalamar, "Right in the Socket"; Donna Summer, "I Feel Love"; and SOS Band, "Take Your Time".
 * It goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway: The Beatles. That is all.
 * Last year, Kelly Clarkson released "My Life Would Suck Without You". It not only kicked ridiculous amounts of ass, it rocketed from #97 to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 within two weeks. Two weeks! That's what you call an overnight success and if that doesn't scream Crowning Music of Awesome, I don't know what does.
 * Agreed, also "Mr. Know It All" and "What Doesn't Kill You" are both just as good, if not better.
 * It doesn't matter if it's in Spanish, you HAVE to listen Tino Casal's "Eloise"
 * Justin Bieber has no business being on this list, right? But play one of his songs eight times slower, and somehow you get this.
 * More Crowning Music of Awesome for the Biebs: "Runaway Love", "Never Say Never", "Down To Earth", and it should go without saying, "Pray".
 * Anya Marina's cover of "Whatever You Like" by T.I. She made it sound way better than the original.
 * Richard Harris, "Macarthur Park." The rest of the song may be Narm Charm, but that instrumental section right before the end? Epic.
 * May I suggest Britney Spears full discography, including, but no way being limited to, "Womanizer", "Circus", "Hold It Against Me", "Baby One More Time", "Toxic", "Slave 4 U" and "Oops I Did It Again".
 * "Circus" in particular has such an epic beat that even those who HATE Britney will get into it.
 * Say what you want about the quality of the TV show, but Hannah Montana's "Nobody's Perfect" is just plain awesome.
 * Miley got a similar reaction to "Fly on the Wall". It was seen as the turning point where she stopped doing the rather generic songs Disney was giving her and was growing into a true artist.
 * "The Climb", "Party In The USA", and "Can't Be Tamed" are pretty good as well.
 * "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye. The entire song is amazing and haunting, with great production and lyrics. And then Kimbra comes in. The song pretty much needs its own trope page.
 * Not to mention the music video, which compliments the song beautifully.
 * "Eyes Wide Open" is just as haunting as "Somebody", if not more. That music video is great too.
 * Rachel Stevens album Come and Get It was something of a commercial bomb, however, music critics have recently been asking people to not let it become a forgotten classic. When you hear "So Good" or "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are), you understand why.
 * 30 Seconds to Mars has the GORGEOUS Jared Leto, and most of their songs (especially "Kings and Queens", as well as "Closer to the Edge") just SCREAM triumph.
 * "Stranger In A Strange Land".
 * "A warning to the people/the good and the evil/this is war"
 * "To the right/ to the left/ we will fight to the death/ To the edge/ of the earth/ it's a brave new world from the last to the first."
 * Attack: "I won't suffer/ be broken/ get tired/ or wasted/ surrender to nothing/ and give up what I started/ and stopped it/ from end to beginning/ a new day is coming/ and I am finally free!" It ends in a scream.
 * "The Kill" in itself was basically a Crowning Music of Awesome, edging out Linkin Park's "In the End" and Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" (according to AOL here) as top alternative song of the decade and spent 94 weeks on the charts.
 * "Come, break me down/ Marry me, bury me/ I am finished with you."
 * "Something To Believe In" by Parachute. If anything, their next album will be a Surprisingly Improved / Better Sequel, what with "What I Know" and "White Dress".
 * Atomic Kitten's "The Last Goodbye" which is accompanied by a Crowning Music Video of Awesome.
 * "Someone Like Me" deserves honourable mention as well.
 * Tina Turner's song "We Don't Need Another Hero." While it starts in a fashion similar to "What's Love Got to Do With It," it's a shame how it got overshadowed by said song.
 * "Dragostea din tei". It. Is. Just. So. AWESOME!
 * Say what you will about Lindsay Lohan, but she has some damn good songs, such as: "Rumors", "Speak", "Confessions Of A Broken Heart", "Bossy", "Can't Stop Won't Stop", "Too Young To Die", "Stay", and "Stuck."
 * This might be sacrilege, but her cover of Stevie Nicks song "Edge of Seventeen" is actually pretty good. She doesn't stray too far from the original, and her raspy voice is a good fit for the song.
 * "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO all the way. The insanely crazy melody and memorable lyrics make it worthy of any party...and worthy of holding the title "anthem".
 * Another Disney example, Selena Gomez's "Naturally".
 * Demi Lovato's "Skyscraper" is supremely inspirational and so, so beautiful.
 * Also "Don't Forget".
 * Eurovision 2011 produced this gem: "Caroban" by Nina.
 * Take That (the band, not the trope). "Never Forget" and "Love Love" to name but two.
 * Oh, "Rule the World" and "Patience". Goosebumps, every time. But all of it, really, especially live.
 * Bon Iver's cover of Peter Gabriel's "Come Talk to Me." Wow. Just... Wow. Though everything he does is Made of Win.
 * Jennifer Lopez. It's almost impossible to resist dancing to songs like "On The Floor", "I'm Into You", "Love Don't Cost A Thing", "Papi", "Do It Well", "Jenny From The Block", and "Let's Get Loud".
 * Swedish all-girl group Play has some great songs, like "Famous", "Under My Skin", and, of course, "Us Against The World".
 * Promptly one-upped with "Must Not Chase The Boys" and "Girls Can Too".
 * Sweden is usually good for those. "Discotheque" and "Doctor Doctor" from Elin Lanto and "That's the Way My Heart Goes" and "Disconnect Me" by Marie Serneholt as well.
 * Christina Aguilera's "Candyman" is a old-school, jazzy, raunchy good time.
 * Jessie J's "Domino" is so incredibly infectious that you just can't help but sing along to it.
 * While a lot of the Spice Girls discography was derided for being saccharine and repetitive, a lot of those people have never heard "Walk of Life", a slow Ode to London Nightlife with hints of Jazz and Reggae.
 * I Blame Coco's "Selfmachine".
 * Mis-Teeq's "Scandolous" (or as most people recognize it, the theme to Catwoman) is an excellent dance song.
 * Do the Vocaloids count? If so, "Happy Synthesizer" is a must-listen.
 * "Good Intent" by Kimbra. That and its equally fantastic music video.
 * My Bloody Valentine. In particular, their second album, Loveless. "To Here Knows When" is without question one of the most ethereal songs ever recorded.
 * When thinking of Awesome Music, Disco isn't the first thing that comes to mind, is it? Well, that may be due to never hearing The Whispers play "One For The Money."
 * "Karma Killer" by Robbie Williams, is a spectacular, vicious Take That against... somebody. Possibly Take That, which would be Made of Win.
 * Aimee Ann Duffy has got some good ones so far, but by far her best is "Rain on Your Parade". If this woman is not doing a James Bond theme at some point in her career, it will be a great injustice.
 * "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto. (Its actual title is "Ue o muite arukou", but the American distributor changed it for whatever reason.)
 * And as covered by Selena.
 * Most songs by The Police, and everything by Sting. The band reformed in 1986 to release a new version of "Don't Stand So Close To Me". By this point, Sting was venturing into jazz and experimental albums, and had expanded his vocal range; Andy Summers had been playing guitar forever; and Stewart Copeland had scored movie themes. It. Was. AWESOME.
 * Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water." Pure dynamite.
 * "We Are the World". You got Lionel Richie, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, numerous others, and a HUGE backing choir of well known names.
 * And twenty-five years later, they released another version with another all-star line-up.
 * Vanilla Ninja: "Blue Tattoo". Beautiful... just beautiful.
 * Undoubtedly the most EPIC foreign pop song ever (it's in Swedish) is Hall Om Mig, attached to a quite well-known and equally incredible Princess Tutu vid.