Many of our frequent customers, even those who drink gravity beers on a regular basis, will remember the "Rich O's Top 100 Songs of the Millennium," a promotion that we attempted to stage late in the year 2000. Inspired by an earlier "top album" event on the Louisville public radio station
WFPK 91.9 FM, we conducted United Nations-sanctioned voting and compiled results with the help of a weighted point system.
The judges were the Publican, Joey Burns, Syd Lewison and Jerry Meredith. Each judge was allowed one absolute veto so as to exclude from the final tally songs that engendered intense personal animosity.
Accordingly, my veto was used for "American Pie."
Five years later, after much soul-searching and reconsideration, I’ve decided that my veto … was entirely fitting, completely proper, and should not be changed. Ever.
In the end, we managed to select the Top 100 songs, but assembling the CD and playing the tunes at the Public House proved to be too much for our available time, and as has happened so many times with various of our time-wasting ideas, the project was swept quietly under the rug.
But a year later, in late 2001, WFPK undertook the same venture that we had conceived previously. Staffers solicited votes, computed results, presumably wielded vetoes just like ours, and the station presented its own "Top 2001" songs of all time. Naturally, WFPK's list engendered much discussion around the bar.
We went back and tabulated the Rich O's list, although we never played it. In the interest of providing archival closure, here's a comparison of our top twenty with that of WFPK.
Rich O's Top Twenty Songs
20. Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
19. Pink Houses - John Mellencamp
18. What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
17. House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
16. Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones
15. So What - Miles Davis
14. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
13. Dust in the Wind - Kansas
12. The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King
11. Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
10. Nights in White Satin - Moody Blues
9. Layla - Derek and the Dominoes
8. Hotel California - The Eagles
7. Take the A Train - Duke Ellington
6. Imagine - John Lennon
5. Hey Jude - The Beatles
4. Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
3. Needles and Pins - The Ramones
2. Amazing Grace - Scottish bagpipers
1. Crazy - Patsy Cline
WFPK's Top Twenty Songs
20. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye
19. Let It Be - The Beatles
18. Crazy - Patsy Cline
17. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
16. Hey Jude - The Beatles
15. At Last - Etta James
14. Crossroad Blues - Robert Johnson
13. Respect - Aretha Franklin
12. Yesterday - The Beatles
11. A Day In the Life - The Beatles
10. Satisfaction - Rolling Stones
9. Let's Stay Together - Al Green
8. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
7. What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye
6. Layla - Derek & the Dominos
5. Tangled Up In Blue - Bob Dylan
4. Take Five - Dave Brubeck
3. Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
2. Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
1. Imagine - John Lennon
