Just for fun, I thought I'd post this. For the last two and a half years, every week I have played a song to my tutor group (each one released before they were born) and asked each of them to give it a mark out of ten, from which I calculate the average score and place the song in its rank order. The pupils were in Year 8 when we started and are now about to start Year 11. The results have interested me as they have become harsher with their marking as they have got older and have been particularly unreceptive to rock music, favouring upbeat pop music. Results are skewed by the fact that they are probably influenced somewhat by the videos. Also, it's not a fair comparison as I sometimes play the best-known song by a singer/group and sometimes play a lesser-known track - I have to throw in popular hits some weeks to keep their interest! Incidentally, the track at number one was the very first song I played.
The idea was to introduce the pupils to genres and artistes they had never heard before and hopefully spark an interest in the music.
MUSIC FRIDAY – Top 100
1 A-Ha Take on Me 8.88
2 Tracy Chapman Fast Car 8.72
3 Queen Don’t Stop me Now 8.67
4 KC and the Sunshine Band Give It Up 8.32
5 Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell Ain’t No Mountain High Enough 8.31
6 Sam Cooke A Change is Gonna Come 8.21
7 George Michael Careless Whisper 8.09
8 Earth, Wind and Fire September 8.08
9 Chuck Berry Johnny B Goode 7.91
10 Michael Jackson Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough 7.90
11 Cyndi Lauper Girls Just Wanna Have Fun 7.88
12 ELO Mr Blue Sky 7.80
13 Minnie Riperton Loving You 7.64
14 Nat King Cole When I Fall in Love With You 7.52
15 Tears for Fears Everybody Wants to Rule the World 7.48
16 The B52s Loveshack 7.27
17 Stevie Wonder Superstition 7.17
18 Simple Minds Don’t You Forget about Me 7.16
19 Debussy Clair de Lune 7.11
20 Audrey Hepburn Moon River 7.07
21 Johnny Cash Hurt 7.00
22 Erasure A Little Respect 6.99
23 Gene Kelly Good Morning 6.97
James Brown It's a Man's World 6.97
25 Boney M Sunny 6.96
26 The Beatles Hello Goodbye 6.85
Rainbow Since You’ve Been Gone 6.85
The Shirelles Will you Still Love me Tomorrow? 6.85
29 The Gypsy Kings Bamboleo 6.84
30 James Sit Down 6.83
31 Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons I Love you Baby 6.81
32 Deacon Blue Real Gone Kid 6.78
33 The Monkees Daydream Believer 6.73
34 Jackie Wilson Reet Petite 6.65
35 Eva Cassidy Fields of Gold 6.45
36 Aretha Franklin Say a Little Prayer 6.40
37 Elvis Presley The Girl of my Best Friend 6.35
38 The La’s There She Goes 6.33
39 Louis Armstrong We Have All the Time in the World 6.32
40 Tom Jones Delilah 6.29
41 Pink Floyd Another Brick in the Wall 6.25
42 Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star 6.20
43 Demis Roussos Forever and Ever 6.10
44 Yvonne Ellman If I Can’t have You 6.09
45 Oasis Cast No Shadow 6.06
46 Jimi Hendrix All Along the Watchtower 5.96
47 The Verve Bittersweet Symphony 5.94
48 The Smiths There is a Light that Never Goes Out 5.88
49 The Cure Friday, I’m in Love 5.82
50 Blondie Dreaming 5.77
Dolly Parton Jolene 5.77
52 The Jackson Sisters I Believe 5.72
53 Edith Piaf Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien 5.58
54 Don McLean Vincent 5.46
55 Abba Bang-a-Boomerang 5.42
56 David Bowie Space Oddity 5.37
57 Musical Youth Pass the Dutchie 5.33
Cast Walkaway 5.33
59 The Pogues Irish Rover 5.31
60 R.E.M. Losing my Religion 5.30
61 Bronski Beat Smalltown Boy 5.25
62 Stevie Nicks Landslide (Live version) 5.23
63 Madness Embarrassment 5.21
64 P.M. Dawn Set Adrift on Memory Bliss 5.10
65 Blur Parklife 5.07
66 Smokey Robinson Tears of a Clown 4.96
Bobby Vinton Blue Velvet 4.96
68 The Bay City Rollers Bye Bye Baby 4.91
69 The Cocteau Twins Carolyn’s Fingers 4.91
70 John Lennon Nobody told Me 4.88
71 Dinah Washington Mad about the Boy 4.85
72 The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter 4.82
73 The Mamas and the Papas California Dreamin’ 4.73
74 Kate Bush A Woman’s Work 4.68
75 Morrissey Every Day is Like Sunday 4.62
76 Nina Simone Mr Bojangles 4.58
77 Herman’s Hermits Something Tells Me 4.55
78 The Osmonds Love me for a Reason 4.55
79 Suzanne Vega The Queen and the Soldier 4.52
80 Bobby Womack Across 110th Street 4.46
81 Underworld Born Slippy 4.41
82 Motorhead Ace of Spades 4.38
83 Bananarama Cruel Summer 4.36
84 The Three Degrees When Will I See you Again 4.32
85 Puccini O Mio Babbino Caro 4.31
86 Kyu Sakamoto Sukiyaki 4.30
87 Cilla Black Anyone who had a Heart 4.20
88 The Jam Going Underground 4.17
89 Madonna Cherish 4.10
90 Tasmin Archer Sleeping Satellite 3.71
91 Henry Mancini Lujon 3.67
92 Vanessa Paradis Joe Le Taxi 3.55
93 Billy Idol Eyes Without a Face 3.12
94 U2 New Year’s Day 3.00
Haircut 100 Fantastic Day 3.00
96 Bjork Big Time Sensuality 2.85
The Sugarcubes Birthday 2.85
98 Lemon Jelly Nice Weather for Ducks 2.84
99 The Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK 2.62
100 The Doors Light my Fire 2.55
47
Comments
I hope they got detention.
Down the Jam Night/Open Mic in our village pub, we get youngsters come along and say, "I'm now gonna do a classic tune ...".
And play Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl.
Or stuff from that period.
Classic tune
Do you play each song just once and ask them to give a mark immediately? I think if so then that's why the pop songs have got relatively higher scores. Some rock music tends to be difficult to get into on first listen.
When I was at university I got interested in a lot of 80's music released before I was born. I remember it took me a few weeks to like Depeche Mode's music (I didn't 'get' it at all at first. Thought it was flat.) They slowly became one of my favourite bands.
I agree with your point but if they don't score immediately, they'd have forgotten by the next day!
Ironically though, the stones/Jimi Hendrix/Bowie all get low scores but no doubt on a t-shirt they wear
I don't think there is much danger of old songs being forgotten, when you consider the songs most football chants are based on are from the 60s and 70s!
They have no taste.
Hotel California
Then ask them what they think the song is about.
We listen to a lot of music in the car (mainly on the radio) & get him to try to guess the artist......was stumped by I am the Walrus the other day but I suppose its not quite a Beatles standard.
Pupils in other classes have seen my list and the music afficianados have commented on the odd placings such as 'Space Oddity' being so low. I think Bowie would score higher if they listened now rather than two years ago when they were 13-year-olds.
Coming soon...Led Zeppelin, Dylan, Sinatra, Mozart...
My number one would be; The Jam - Going Underground, just cause the remake of “London Underground” cracks me up.
Would’ve posted the link but naughty words in it, so not sure the rules etc of posting on a forum!
I’m down with the kids
I would think videos would have great influence on their markings...
Mind you, now days its hard to tell weather we are watching a song supported by a video or the other way around.
So perhaps it is a good idea to repeat the experiment 2 more times.
1. Videos (or stills when none is available) andno sound
2. Audio only.
Chop chop...
Regarding the comment about higher scores now, why not play some of the same tracks again and see what they do score now?
Music really has dumbed down now, nothing really original.
Cant believe kids giving the Doors such a low mark has riled me this much!