I'm doing this in protest of MTV/ROLLING STONE's little poll. Most of the songs on that list are listenable at least, but i don't think its any secret that those institutions are full of trend/corporate convergence fashion nonsense. Here is my own list, entirely biased, contrived, and arbitrary. All are post-1955. The numbers mean nothing, as art can not be measured in statistics. All are amazing songs, this is just the order i thought of them in. There are hundreds of other songs that didn't come to mind. And how their top 100 exists without one Elvis Costello song is just bad thinking.
THE SULLIVAN FALL TOP 100
1)"God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
2)"Ruby's Arms" by Tom Waits
3)"Dark End of the Street" by James Carr
4)"Baby Plays Around" by Elvis Costello
5)"Withered and Died" by Richard and Linda Thompson
6) "Kick Out The Jams" by the MC5
7)"Another Saturday Night" by Sam Cooke
8)"You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" by The Beatles
9)"Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison
10) "I Want You" by Bob Dylan
11)"If I Was Your Woman" by Gladys Knight and The Pips
12)"Brand New Love" by Sebadoh
13)"Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
14)"Rearview Mirror" by Pearl Jam
15)"Try A Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding
16)"Rain" by the Beatles
17)"Here" by Pavement
18)"Wild Horses" by The Rolling Stones
19)"Wise Up" by Aimee Mann
20)"He's Sure The Boy I Love" by The Chrystals
21)"The Weight" by the Band
22)"Don't Make Me Over" by Dionne Warwick
23)"For Once in My Life" by Stevie Wonder
24)"Repeater" by Fugazi
25)"Be My Baby" by The Ronettes
26)"You and Me" by Archers of Loaf
27)"You Can't Always Get What You Want" by The Rolling Stones
28)"I Want You" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
29)"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" by Neil Young
30)"Hardly Getting Over It" by Husker Du
31)"Saturday Sun" by Nick Drake
32)"I Wish It Would Rain" by The Temptations
33)"If I Can't Change Your Mind" by Sugar
34)"Pennyroyal Tea" by Nirvana
35)"Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead
36)"Heroin" by The Velvet Underground
37)"Tracks of my Tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
38)"I Want You" by Holly Cole
39)"The Boy With the Thorn In His Side" by The Smiths
40)"It's Over" by Roy Orbison
41) "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" by the Shirelles
42)"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" by Bod Dylan
43)"Cruel to be Kind" by Nick Lowe
44)"Dancing Queen" by Abba
45)"It's the End of the World As We Know It" by R.E.M.
46)"Form and File" by Archers of Loaf
47)"Always on my Mind" by Willie Nelson
48)"After the Goldrush" by Neil Young
49)"Tyrone" by Erykah Badu
50)"Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke
51) "Hospital" by The Modern Lovers
52) "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division
53) "You Make Me" by Nick Lowe
54) "Damaged" by Black Flag
55) "Spanish Bombs" by The Clash
56) "What's So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions
57) "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols
58) "I Can't Explain" by The Who
59) "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zepplin
60) "At Last" by Etta James
61) "I Keep Coming Back" by The Afghan Whigs
62) "Pretty Good Year" by Tori Amos
63) "One In A Million" by The Pet Shop Boys
64) "Up the Ladder to the Roof" by The Supremes
65) "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child
66) "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" by Neil Young
67) "Too Much" by The Spice Girls
68) "Piss Bottle Man" by Mike Watt
69) "Atlantic City" by Bruce Springsteen
70) "Who Are You?" by Tom Waits
71) "Juliette" by Crooked Fingers
72) "Stay Awhile" by the Bells
73) "Basement Apt." by Sarah Harmer
74) "All Around Me" by Percy Sledge
75) "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield
76) "Want-Ads" by Honeycomb
77) "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" by Aretha Franklin
78) "Love" by John Lennon
79) "Castles Made of Sand" by Jimi Hendrix
80) "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues
81) "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" by Stevie Wonder
82) "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" by Public Enemy
83) "Night Life" by Willie Nelson
84) "Jealous Guy" by John Lennon
85) "Crazy" by Patsy Cline
86) "I'm So Tired" by The Beatles
87) "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" by The Pogues
88) "Imagine" by John Lennon
89) "I'm On Fire" by Bruce Springsteen
90) "Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes
91) "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge
92) "Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You)" by Aretha Franklin
93) "I'm A Boy" by The Who
94) "Against the 70s" by Mike Watt
95) "Dignified and Old" by The Modern Lovers
96) "Lonesome Tonight" by New Order
97) "Rudie Can't Fail" by The Clash
98) "Atmosphere" by Joy Division
99) "Give Paris One More Chance" by Jonathon Richman and The Modern Lovers
100) "Blue Monday" by New Order