We are the World

After a lackluster and positively soaking wet weekend in the Magic City, it was a pleasure to dip into my usual weekday reading. I was looking through USA Today this morning when I saw an article about the Top 25 Musical Milestones of the last 25 years. You know I live for this shit. My mind works brilliantly with top 10, 25 and 100s. It’s especially gratifying when someone else comes up with the list and I get to knit pick.

This top 25 includes everything from Napster to N’Sync. I have to admit they did a great job compiling the list. I was surprised Madonna wasn’t higher than #16. The #18 placement of George Harrison’s death was an embarrassment of marketing and public opinion. I probably wouldn’t have put it on the list. Woodstock 99’ was definitely tragic milestone fueled by greed and big company branding.

A lot of the individuals listed could probably be lumped with other artists. For sure N’Sync could have been couple with Britney Spears since both were record-breaking pop acts. Eminem should share billing with multiple rappers who took the charts by storm.

The biggest omission for me was “We are the World” which along with Live Aid heralded in a new wave of political and humanitarian activism in pop culture. Every thing changed with the release of that record. The clever marketing and branding brains learned that they could entertain people and raise money for the burgeoning field of charities.

After looking at the list, what do you think is missing?