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Cast Your Votes in the First Annual Rate-A-Record Tournament of Champions
It’s the best of the best (so far)
I seriously doubt that when Terry Barr wrote the very first Rate-A-Record article back in June of last year he had any idea that it would still be sweeping the Internet eight months later. I just checked my Library (did anyone else notice they changed “Lists” to “Library”?) and saw that I’ve done 33 of them myself, and I I’ve got no intention of stopping. What I did think it was time to do was round up some of the highest ranking among all these songs and see which of the best would come out on top.
As you all know, we normally use the classic American Bandstand scale of 35 to 98 when rating these songs. However, in order to actually crown a champion, for this edition only you will need to rank these songs 1 through 5 in order of preference. Again, this is the only time we will use a rating scale that actually makes sense, so enjoy it.
Does it bother me that songs like Drive-By Truckers’ “Gravity’s Gone,” Maná’s “Bendita Tu Luz,” George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning,” and (unbelievably) The Smiths’ “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” didn’t make the final five? Yes, it does. But unlike some people who will remain nameless, I accept the results of voting whether I agree with them or not.
