Popular Isn’t the Same as Important
What can Engelbert Humperdinck teach us about the algorithm?
I’ve recently been catching up on the exceptional podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a delight — both an encyclopedic record of the evolution of rock and roll and an artifact of the obsessive dedication of its host, Andrew Hickey, as he attempts to wrestle the entire history of the genre into something understandable and digestible.
The project seems to be spinning slowly out of Hickey’s control, but in the most delightful way. His episode on “Hey Jude” was three and a half hours long, and it didn’t feel bloated.
Hickey is currently making his way through 1967 and 1968, which, as everybody knows, was a pivotal moment in the history of music. During these two years, much of the foundation of modern popular music was laid. Some of the seminal tracks released in 1967 and 1968 include:
- “Respect” and “Think” by Aretha Franklin
- “Ruby Tuesday” by the Rolling Stones
- “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane
- “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding
- “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix
- “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison
