Perfect Pop Songs

My criteria for this subject is what songs are so good (in all or most of the five areas the OP mentions) that you cannot become tired of it, even if it was massively overplayed. The first few songs that immediately came to mind were:

Tired of Waiting - The Kinks
Nothing But a Heartache - The Flirtations
There She Goes - The La's
All I Want - Toad The Wet Sprocket 

Annie - Greatest Hit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNpvRwxeESk

@bdp24 

Kudos for mentioning Emmitt Rhodes, along with Don Dixon & Marti Jones; so, I'll add:

"Praying Mantis" & I Can See the River" - Don Dixon
"Walk Away" & "Tourist Town" - Marti Jones  

This morning’s offering:

Kelley Stoltz - "Are You My Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPpt4EBejpk

@reubent ,

Freedy Johnston - "Bad Reputation" is one cool record. Great video too.

@glupson,

Victims is most certainly a pop song. It has to be by the fact that it topped the UK charts for several weeks around the winter of 1983/4. I can remember watching it on the yearly roundup pop video show back then.

Culture Club was the kind of band you couldn’t admit to liking but you couldn’t ignore either. Quite a few good singles though.


@clearthinker, of course McCartney was the great pop writer. Without him, Mickie Most and Tony Hatch the 1960s pop scene would have looked entirely different. Certainly in the UK.


@mitchagain,

There She Goes by The La’s is certainly a quintessential pop song.

It could probably be a hit for anyone and it’s not surprising that Sixpence None the Richer had similar success with their own version a little later.

https://youtu.be/tMfXeuv4kZE