The greatest Pop song yet written and recorded.

Good one @tylermunns. Yeah, Rock music can just be considered one branch of Pop music. How about Blues? My focus on Pop songs started in the late-60’s, when the album format replaced the 45 RPM single as the dominant format for Pop music.

I heard album after album with no really good songs, which is my first love in non-Classical music. Rock bands in the late-60’s and 70’s were more interested in exploring improvisation (often in pale imitations of Jazz), and in becoming virtuoso musicians, rather than writing good songs. So my attention moved on to singer/songwriters like Randy Newman, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, etc. I reserved my admiration of superior musicianship for the likes of The Band, Ry Cooder, and studio musicians (the L.A. guys of course, but also those in the Muscle Shoals studios---the recording team now known as The Swampers).

And like you, I consider the song "form" (verses, choruses, bridges, etc.) the determining factor in what makes for a Pop song. So when the debut album by The Dwight Twilley Band came out in 1976, I was stoked! They were a Rock ’n’ Roll band, but they wrote fantastic Pop songs, combining Memphis R & R with Merseybeat, an unbeatable combination. Their Sincerely album sounds as exhilarating today as the day it was released. Their follow up Twilley Don’t Mind has some great Pop songs, including the irresistible, hook-filled "Trying To Find My Baby", a great, great Pop song.

And then in 1977 Dave Edmunds’ Get It album appeared, and I discovered "The Master". 😉 Not just a great Rock ’n’ Roll guitarist, but one hell of a producer. He recreates the Sun Records sound like no other, as well as Spector’s Wall-Of-Sound. His albums with the Rockpile team (Nick Lowe, Billy Bremner, Terry Williams) are as good as Rock ’n Roll gets, with the emphasis on songs.

These days there are more good songwriters active than ever before. My musical taste leads me to the Americana genre, which is filled with great songwriters and singers, creating music as good as I have ever heard. It's a great time to be alive!

Lots of good and thoughtful selections.  I vote for "Dirty Water" by the Standells (I hear you rolling your eyes out there).  Great rhythm, good guitar hook, simple lyrics and it sounded good on a portable transistor radio or in the car, where people listened when it was released.  And it still sounds good. 

I consider Stairway To Heaven the best song ever written, but while it was played extensively on the radio, I consider it album rock rather than pop rock. Pop music is not complex. I consider it mood music more than something that can be meticulously analyzed. As a 17-year-old going to the ocean I listened to The Beach Boys' Endless Summer non-stop and this is the age group that most pop is written for. Most people remain emotionally attached to the music they listened to during ages 15-20. That didn't happen to me. For pop rock, nothing gets my happy emotions going as much as I'm Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. No, it's not complex, but no pop song is complex.

Miles Davis knows:  it’s either “Bye Bye Blackbird”, “My Funny Valentine”, or “Time after Time”.  

Honorable mentions (cuz Miles didn’t cover them): “Daniel” by Elton John, and “Angel From Montgomery” by John Prine.

@jssmith My "happy tune" is "Rythm of the Night" by El Debarge. 😊