Nirvana, The Beatles, Oasis and U2 are among the artists whom scientists have decided are responsible for ‘the most iconic songs of all time’. Computer scientist and musician Dr. Mick Grierson of the University Of London analysed seven major ‘Best Of’ lists, breaking various components such as beats per minute and lyrical content to decide ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit‘ is number one.
“We looked at a range of measures for each song and compared them to see if there were similarities in these recordings which occur less in other songs,” Grierson is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. “We found the most significant thing these songs have in common is that most of them use sound in a very varied, dynamic way when compared to other records.”
All the usual suspects are included; ‘Imagine‘, ‘One‘, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘, ‘Hotel California‘ and all their perennial stable-mates.
British rock is represented too by the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Clash and The Kinks, while Oasis’ ‘Live Forever‘ is at #17.
Here’s the top 20 ‘most iconic songs of all time’:
1/ Nirvana – ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’
2/ John Lennon – ‘Imagine’
3/ U2 – ‘One’
4/ Michael Jackson – ‘Billie Jean’
5/ Queen – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
6/ The Beatles – ‘Hey Jude’
7/ Bob Dylan – ‘Like a Rolling Stone’
8/ The Rolling Stones – ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
9/ Sex Pistols – ‘God Save The Queen’
10/ Guns n Roses – ‘Sweet Child O Mine’
11/ The Clash – ‘London Calling’
12/ The Kinks – ‘Waterloo Sunset’
13/ The Eagles – ‘Hotel California’
14/ Elton John – ‘Your Song’
15/ Led Zeppelin – ‘Stairway To Heaven’
16/ Chubby Checker – ‘The Twist’
17/ Oasis – ‘Live Forever’
18/ Whitney Houston – ‘I Will Always Love You’
19/ David Bowie – ‘Life On Mars’
20/ Elvis Presley – ‘Hotel California’
Source: Live4ever