I gave up on Rolling Stone's "Greatest" lists last year when I saw their Top 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time. They appropriately put Hendrix in the top spot, but quickly sunk their credibility by placing Kurt Cobain at Number 12 and Jonny Greenwood all the way down at 59. If you disagree with my reasoning, just look at the list yourself, I guarantee you'll find something you disagree with.

So, I approached the recently released 500 Greatest Songs of all time list with a good measure of skepticism. The voters included 172 singers, songwriters, musicians, producers, music critics and industry executives who were asked to focus on the music of the 60's and 70's. That focus is apparent. The breakdown of songs per decade looks like this: 40's = 2; 50's = 71; 60's = 204; 70's = 142; 80's = 57; 90's = 21; 00's = 3. The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones account for more than 1/5 of the entire list with 117 songs. Dylan snagged the top spot with "Like A Rollin' Stone."

While the list appropriately awards the Beatles, Dylan and the Stones for revolutionizing songwriting, it undervalues or outright ignores many subsequent groundbreakers. According to the group assembled by Rolling Stone, the past 14 years brought us only 24 songs worthy of the top 500 list. The only songs up to snuff from this decade belong to Eminem and Outkast. With the exception of an over-hyped "Smells Like Teen Spirit" weighing in at Number 9, grunge was largely overlooked. None of the other bands responsible for breaking the infamous Seattle movement, such as Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden, made the list. The few recognized pioneers who came after the Beatles/Stones/Dylan triumvirate, such the Pixies, the Smiths, R.E.M. and Pavement only had one or two songs on the list.

Even the Pop music Generation X grew up with didn't fare well, as Michael Jackson only has two songs on the list, Madonna one and Whitney Houston zero. I'm not arguing that songs such as Jackson's "Thriller" and Houston's "I Will Always Love You" should be included, but their absence is notable considering songs of Dionne Warwick, Sonny and Cher, and R. Kelly made the list.

So read the list with a grain of salt Gen-X, Y and Z, this is your parents' list compiled by your parents' magazine. They do throw you a huge Nirvana bone, but don't expect them to recognize much of music that shaped your life. But those under 40 shouldn't be discouraged, the list has enormous value as a reference to songs from an era which shaped our musical landscape, songs everyone should know. If bringing awareness to songs in danger of being forgotten in this short attention span, MTV-world is the purpose of this list, Rolling Stone succeeded.

Other Artists notably absent: Talking Heads, the Supremes (though Diana Ross has 3 songs on the list), Nick Drake, Gram Parsons, Don McLean, Sting, Elliott Smith, the Pretenders, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Ella Fitzgerald, Carly Simon, Van Halen, Morrissey, Duran Duran, 10,000 Maniacs, Bon Jovi and the Dead Kennedys.