Brian, now that we've been making a greatest progressive rock songs list, you don't think Close to the Edge and Supper's Ready could make the 1972 list? They are some of the most important prog songs ever, and among the most acclaimed songs by Yes and Genesis.

ANMHE does very well in initial popularity, but I thought that when also considering lasting popularity and acclaim, overall it was not a top 10 record. It's at #40 on the extended list, which is higher than than some #1 records are.

"Sex Machine" does very well in critical acclaim, which was the big factor in its placement. It also does decently in initial popularity and lasting popularity, although quite a few other songs do better. I think that the acclaim is in part a recognition of the song's influence.

I see that your list has each of those 2 songs as the highest song by its artist, which might be right with the different kind of approach that is often taken for a subgenre list. However, for a general rock list, which this is, I wouldn't put "Close to the Edge" ahead of "Roundabout". "I've Seen All Good People", or "Owner of a Lonely Heart", nor would I put "Supper's Ready" ahead of several Genesis songs, including 2 that are definitely prog, "I Know What I Like" and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway".

Both songs are acclaimed, but not hugely, and don't do as well in initial and lasting popularity. There are at least 2 songs that didn't make the list that I think beat both songs in both popularity and acclaim: "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed, "Rocks Off" by the Rolling Stones, and probably also "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0yLchb1k ... 5sYKtDYPgg
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Ross_(1970_album)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-story- ... 1517235736

But it was no. 1 album on R&B, the single did win Diana a Grammy. The album did chart at 19. It was successful, not once, but twice. Once as a duet ('67), then as a solo. And it is a song about winning success and fame, in as much as it's a love song. Get Up is more about the funk guitars, then it is about Mr Brown's vocals. ANMHE should win for how much went into producing its many successful versions. Who says this song lacks acclaim?

I don't say that it lacks acclaim, just that there are other songs from 1970 that are more acclaimed. For the 1970 list, only the Diana Ross version matters. The Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell version is also a significant record, but that version is on the 1967 list (coincidentally at #40 there also), so the importance of that version is registered there, not on the 1970 list.

As I see it, "Sex Machine" has much more lasting popularity than Ross's version of ANMHE. It's the Gaye/Terrell version that seems to be more the beloved today. That the song became successful twice should maybe count in favor of the original as influence but not of the remake.

Also, I don't understand what the content of the lyrics should have to do with the song's ranking, especially since it's a remake, the lyrics of which were already part of the original.

Lasting popularity...lasting for whom? TV and film producers? Broad spectrum listeners? Advertisers? How does one judge these things?

One Motown smash replaced another at No. 1 in the US on 19 September 1970, as Edwin Starr’s ‘War’ [14 on DDD's list] was succeeded by Diana’s ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’ [40 on DDD's list] ... Berry Gordy insisted that he would not release it as a single unless the producers move the chorus to the front, which Ashford & Simpson flatly refused. It was radio programmers who took the cut, from her self-titled first album and started playing it, that created the hit. Ross’ remake truly made the song her own, and went on to receive a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, where it lost out to Dionne Warwick’s ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.’ All the same, the song really lit the fire under Ross’ stardom in her own right, and became the first of no fewer than five solo pop chart-toppers.

How is Get Up Sex Machine so radically dif from Mr Brown's other songs? Is not Get Up Offa That Thing [1976], a variation of Get Up Sex Machine, the better song? And his own biggest hit of the 70s?

And how is it that George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord is not one of 1970’s greatest hits? That song is defo popular today, defo popular upon its release as well as upon George's passing, all litigation aside. https://open.spotify.com/track/7N3UAu6FkwdBg9J7OONBBP

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... ce-talamon cool looking book

1978
1. I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
2. Roxanne – The Police
3. Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits
4. Heart of Glass – Blondie
5. One Nation Under a Groove – Funkadelic
6. I Wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones
7. Miss You – The Rolling Stones
8. Le Freak – Chic
9. Old Time Rock and Roll – Bob Seger
10. Rock Lobster – The B-52’s

"'You're the One That I Want' is one of the best-selling singles in history." Which is likely not true of Rock Lobster, not even their most famous song, in as much as I am a B-52s fan and not an Olivia/Travolta fan. But Olivia was such a thing. Like the Eagles. I suspect people listened to Private Idaho and Love Shack, more, at the time. And Bob Seger is more Night Moves [1976] than the Old Time R&R anthem.

And, Starman [1972]. Hmmmm. A pivotal moment in rock & roll. Ziggy Stardust. Is of greater popularity then and now, vs Tumbling Dice -- which Ronstadt sings better.

How come Herb Alpert's Rise isn't in the full 1979 list? https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/bg_h ... ts_79.html "Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist ("This Guy's in Love with You", 1968) and an instrumentalist ("Rise", 1979)."

And just because, "Dickson's Baseball Dictionary records that a "Linda Ronstadt" is a synonym for a fastball, a pitch that "blew by you". That phrase was coined by Mets broadcaster Tim McCarver, during a Mets telecast in the 1980s." Fun fact for Blue Bayou [1977].

I'm working on revising the 70's list, which would include revising the yearly lists to make the two match, and "My Sweet Lord" could end up in the top 10 for 1970. It doesn't have a weak area in the criteria. It would likely be there already if '70 weren't a strong year. I expect at the very least, it and "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" will be ahead of "Black Magic Woman".

"You're the One That I Want" is not as acclaimed as some records, the main reason that it isn't higher, although #24 for the year is pretty good. The song I plan to move up in 1978 is "September", a song with huge lasting popularity. I think it will be ahead of both "Old Time R&R" and "Rock Lobster".

I probably wasn't thinking of "Rise" as being rock, maybe wrongly. Maybe it should be on the '79 list.

Shouldn't Immigrant song be on the 1970 list? It's one of thhe most popular and acclaimed songs by Led Zeppelin.
I also see Paranoid in the top 5, it's perhaps the most influential song of the entire list.

It's there, #52.

I used to have such a crush on Herb. Him, Dizzy and Mr Armstrong.

You can try to find sources that measure it. E.g., on YouTube the highest "Sex Machine" video has 33 mio. plays. The highest video of Ross' ANMHE version has 14 mio., which is less than half of Sex Machine's. On Last.fm, which often has problems with the spelling of track titles, the three highest spellings of Sex Machine add up to about 253,000 plays. The five highest spellings of Ross' ANMHE have a combined 207,000 plays.

Yabbut, those stats count the younger. What about all us older types who still depend on CDs and vinyl? Like I say, long lasting popular to whom? I concede that TV, film and ads favour Get Up, but as an icon of funk and Mr Brown's unique dialogue styling, or because sex sells? And like you know, people who were teenagers in the 70s are retired now.

https://music-worx.com/release/Ain-t-No ... oss-Motown released as a dance remix in 2017, did not know this.

"The Legacy Collection became a top 20 entry for Ross on the US R&B album chart, and reached No. 30 on the Billboard 200."

The Phenix Horns has a playlist on Spotify. =]
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7pjDY ... 3PD1ixA48h
https://open.spotify.com/track/0aeUuMypcIbr5y2oQUKyBV No Reply at All =]

And for me, Bob's Old Time R&R is like Give me that old time religion smacked up against Johnny B Goode.

I know. That's why I said "as I see it" and all the hard stats I find support this view as does my personal experience. I've never heard Ross's version of ANMHE played anywhere. If a version of the song gets played at a party, it seems to be the Gaye & Terrell version. I've often heard Sex Machine.

I tried finding info on things like radio plays or single sales but couldn't come up with anything.