Poptime
Herein, I collect and count down my favorite pop, rock, r&b and hip hop singles released between the time I was born (1/74) and right this minute. Ordering is pretty loose and arbitrary until I reach the top 10 or so, when rankings will really mean something.I'm limiting myself to things that have actually charted in the Billboard Hot 100 (or Billboard subcharts or foreign equivalents when applicable). Otherwise, trying to narrow a list down to 101 songs would be border on impossible.
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Artist: Gerry Rafferty
Song: Baker Street
Year: 1978
Highest Chart Position: #2 (Billboard Hot 100)After taking a short hiatus during the legal kerfuffle that surrounded the breakup of Stealers Wheel, Gerry Rafferty returned solo with City to City in 1978 and the single “Baker Street”.
It contains perhaps the most recognizable saxophone riff in all of pop music history, or at least post-1974 (for the purposes of this list). But that’s not even the end of it. The song has no chorus, rather just verses and instrumental breaks. And a guitar solo modeled on the sounds seagulls were making outside the recording studio. And, to make it fit 1978 radio, the record company chopped and sped up the album version of the song. They didn’t re-record it—they literally sped up the tape! “Baker Street” consistently reminds me why I love music in the first place.
