Greatest Single Ever

[the brill bedroom]

The Buzzcocks sure had some great singles, and "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones never gets old, and you gotta give it up for "Like A Rolling Stone", but man oh man is "Be My Baby" incredible.

[winky dinglehoffer]

A big one for me: Cold Sweat, Parts I and II. Bought it as a kid at a Goodwill, never listened to it till I was in college, stayed on my turntable for weeks.

Also, the Sex Pistols singles, the Stranglers' London Lady/The Grip, the Raincoats' first 45, the B-52's' first (indie) single, the Ramones' Sheena is a Punk Rocker--and many, many more.

Tom

[syrupcore]

I'm not sure I'm getting the thread - most of the songs mentioned are from great albums. I thought you meant songs that were _only_ singles, maybe otherwise collected. If so, I'll have to say The Smiths - Shiela Take a Bow.

"Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear"

[A.L.]

I'm not sure I'm getting the thread - most of the songs mentioned are from great albums. I thought you meant songs that were _only_ singles, maybe otherwise collected. If so, I'll have to say The Smiths - Shiela Take a Bow.

"Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear"

Well, there are a ton of singles that got stuck on cassette and CD editions later on, or even sometimes the eventual LPs.

Like Blue Monday isn't really off of Power Corruption and Lies, it just got added on to certain later versions. My cassette copy has it my CD copy doesn't, for instance. Both JD's and New Order's Substance releases were singles collections, not albums, anyways.

And "How Soon is Now" isn't really from Meat is Murder, it just got stuck on to sell the versions of the album.

[I'm Painting Again]

The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats

NICE ONE!

[I'm Painting Again]

I'm going to say my current favorite is the Donovan 45 with Atlantis on the A side and To Susan on the West Coast Waiting on the B side..

[inverseroom]

I just thought of another one: half the Stax catalog.

[lobstman]

Easy. The best 45 of the rock era is: The Kingsmen- Louie Louie. Hands down. Don't even try to argue.

Although I have to give props to:

The Stones- Satisfaction
Dylan- Like A Rolling Stone
CCR- Proud Mary
The Beatles- Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane
Sex Pistols- Anarchy In The UK
The Buzzcocks- Ever Fallen In Love
Mission Of Burma- Academy Fight Song
Superchunk- Slack Motherfucker

Oh, and just about every top 10 song from the early '80s:

Private Eyes
The Final Countdown
Jesse's Girl
In A Land Down Under
Seperate Ways
Hungry Like The Wolf
Rock You Like A Hurricane
Freeze Frame
We Got The Beat
Hey Mickey
ad nauseum...

[Kyle Motor]

I like this thread....

My favorite all-time has to be "Tonight" by the Raspberries. It's got "hugest-song-ever radio hit single" all over it, but it just didn't happen. I also would nominate:

Stop! Get a Ticket/First Tell Me Why - Clefs of Lavender Hill
Gimmie Gimmie Good Lovin - Crazy Elephant
most Buddy Holly/Crickets 45s from 56-59
Ticket To Ride - Beatles
The Kinks holy trifecta - You Really Got Me/All Day and All Of The Night/I Need You
Jennifer Eccles - The Hollies
Carrie-Ann - The Hollies
Look Through Any Window - The Hollies
I Can't Let Go - The Hollies (shit, I like the Hollies too much)
plus a thousand more......I have too many records

And the winner for obscure soul/R&B single:
Tighten Up The Slack/Tell Me It's Alright - Howard Peters

[Fieryjack]

Rag Doll: Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons

[craigloom]

"Rain/Paperback Writer." Beatles 1966.

Also

"Ceremony/In a Lonely Place". New Order 1981.


"Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" Solomon Burke. 1964.

...and a thousands others...

[Devlars]

Family Affair by Sly and the Family Stone.
Amazing dynamics, with the low vox and drum machine...what year was that? Gotta be one of the first drum machines on a hit song.

There's a Riot Goin On released in 1971. I believe it may have been one of the firt pop records to have a drum machine used so predominantly, but I doubt it was hte first to use a drum machine period...Kraftwerk defnitely had them beat on that and I know I've heard spacey, experimental stuff from the 50's that used drum machines.

Best non album singles is tough because of the non album part but that being the case...(The) Verve- All In The Mind. There first recording ever and what a fantastic start!

[Kyle Motor]

I forgot about "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart......as well as their "I'm Gonna Blow You A Kiss In The Wind".

[JASIII]

Kyle, your suggestions are killing me! How about "Hang On Sloopy" by the McCoys?

Or "Pushin' Too Hard" by the Seeds?

"Psychotic Reaction" Count 5?


Oh hell, just go out and find a copy of "Nuggets" and be done with it!

[telepathy]

now that Burma & Superchunk have been mentioned, I'll have to say "Rumble" by Link Wray.