I agree about Frankie Teardrop….but the problem with that song for me is that its actually too horrifiying and it sorta’ feels a bit like emotional manipulation what with those screams and all. That song is just way way too much. It’s like hearing a Charles Manson record (without Dennis Wilson)

I agree with Jeff, “The End” is a masterpiece in it’s time and place. The problem is, it’s only time and place is in Apocalypse Now. Anywhere/when else it is drivel. I could listen to it as a kid and find it annoying; say what you want about “Frankie Teardrop” but I still find it pretty powerful/disturbing now that I’m fully grown.

And while I see what everyone’s sayimg, I do think Morrison was a good poet. Was he Rimbaud or Ginsberg? Not quite. But he was strong especially for rock music. Plus, the guy was young when he did all this stuff…he died at 27 and his best work was written when he was 21, tripping on acid in Venice. To write the first album as a 21-year old is a pretty astonishing achievement.

I know the End is a bit much to stomach, I can only listen to it once every five years at this pt, but in its time and place its a masterpiece. Plus, again its like the Smiths. Morrissey seems a bit whiny to me now but when you’re younger it hits you pretty hard and not in a stupid Dashboard Confessional emo way and I think there’s something to be said for that.

Those are some great picks Amphimacer, I co-sign on the pts though I’ve never heard much Phil Ochs. I prolly should. And they did get Respect in there, I think they put it pretty high too. Can’t argue with that pick.

Dylan certainly could get more songs, and would get more on my list, too, as would the Beatles. As noted in a previous comment, I am enamoured of “Norwegian Wood” and, I would add, I think the most wonderful early song may be George’s “Don’t Bother Me.”

But I like your commentary, although you didn’t have any Bach on your list. (Yes, I know he died in 1756.) The Procol Harum on Pitchfork’s list doesn’t count.

The Donovan song “Sunny Goodge Street” is on “Fairytale” (I think it was the album right after “What’s Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid,” which is where “Catch the Wind” is (those are the two early Donovan LPs I own). Frankly, I’m blasted if I can figure out why “Catch the Wind” isn’t on the list.

Phil Ochs: His best work is much less known than his protest songs, and I think I would nominate (I’m not checking my LPs, so forgive me if I get it wrong) 1969’s “The Scorpion Departs but Does Not Return” — source of one of the era’s greatest lines: “I’m not screaming, no I’m not screaming,/Tell me I’m not screaming.” Frankly, his one hit, “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends” is also better than “I’m Not Marching Any More.” Now, I bought that album, too, but that’s not his best work by any stretch of the imagination.

Nilsson: “Everybody’s Talkin’” was his first hit, from the “Midnight Cowboy” soundtrack, and it’s a great song and a terrific version. Why didn’t they say anything more about Fred Neil, who wrote some other excellent songs? If they’re trying to bring to light a few lost gems, F.N. is a good place to start. On the other hand, I love Nilsson’s version of “River Deep, Mountain High”; I like it better than Ike & Tina Turner’s. And when they say his “One” is a better version than Three Dog Night’s — well, okay, but where’s their best work? “Eli’s Coming” maybe? And Laura Nyro’s missing, too.

“Wichita Lineman” remains Jimmy Webb’s most perfect song, in a career of big hits and unknown gems. Every time I hear it, even just in my head, I get goose bumps. But where is “P.F. Sloan” (well, that’s probably from 1970 . . .)? Not to mention P.F. Sloan’s own great manufactured protest song, “Eve of Destruction” that Barry McGuire sang the hell out of?

Simon & Garfunkel: “America” is notable for one unlikely feature, which ought to have been mentioned, because it’s so unusual — it doesn’t rhyme. The lyric is an extraordinary piece of what might be called blank verse. It’s a wonderful song, and deserves better commentary than the bland “dewily harmonious” they give it.

Re “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”: that’s not girls, that’s a boys’ choir.

Other missing songs: “Liar” by the Castaways, “Keep on Dancing” by the Gentrys, and I don’t recall seeing “My Girl.” And they named the Supremes over and over, and left off “Stop! In the Name of Love”! And “The Mighty Quinn” as done by Manfred Mann. When I was doing a campus radio show that was the record I opened with every week. That’s a great record (of course, it’s another Dylan song, which makes it a problem, like the Byrds doing “Mr. Tambourine Man” or the other fifteen or so Dylan songs they recorded — praising Gene Clark, when you can praise Bob Dylan, seems like praising hamburgers when you can praise filet mignon, doesn’t it?). Or the Chairmen of the Board’s “Give Me Just a Little More Time” and Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” and James Taylor’s “Carolina on My Mind” (1968). And on and on. They didn’t even pick the best of Miles Davis, as far as I’m concerned, but that’s arguable. One could go on and on, to be sure, but did I just miss it, or is Aretha Franklin singing “Respect” not on the list? Only a moron could say that wasn’t one of the best records of the 1960s. Okay, I’ve got it off my chest now.

A couple of months ago, for some reason, I decided to dip into my Doors CDs, which probably haven’t been played in 10 years. The results were mixed. Their first album and “LA Woman” hold up pretty nicely. The rest I thought fell somewhere between weak and inconsistent. “Strange Days,” once my favorite Doors album, bored me. But “The Doors” and “LA Woman” had real underlying strangeness. To me, they both sound dark and challenging and credible. “Peace Frog” also held up really well.

I can’t muster the same enthusiasm for “The End.” It works perfectly in “Apocalypse Now” and as a stand-alone song has probably been eclipsed by its place in that movie. It meanders into garble and at points both the lyrics and their delivery sound just ridiculous, particularly, “The killer awoke before dawn/ he put his boots on /he took a face out of the ancient gallery/ and walked on down the hall!” Like a lame ghost story being told by an anthro major on a bad acid trip. But that song played while Martin Sheen cuts himself on a mirror and a water buffalo is sacrificed by natives? Blood-curdling.

Morrison Hotel was released Jan 1 1970

But anyway, a lot of people grow ashamed of their pubescent obsessions (including the Doors).

I haven’t checked out the PF list yet but good top 10 and commentary in these 2 posts.