Perfect Pop Songs

Pre disco BeeGees released some pretty iconic pop songs, any of which would fall into the category of perfect pop:

To Love Somebody
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
Lonely Days

Other of my fav 60s/ 70s pop songs that get close to perfect pop:
Diamond Girl - Seals and Croft
Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot
One - Nilsson
Living without You - Nilsson
Rock On - David Essex

And who could leave out:

Brandy (You’re a fine girl) - Looking Glass

I think of the early to mid 1970s as a key time for pop. With the Beatles no more, it opened up the doors for a myriad of artists and influences. Singer songwriters, arrangers, R&B and Soul and gospel influences, so much pop goodness.

Heck, Al Green was a one man pop/gospel/soul hurricane (and among my top 5 artists).

To the above list of perfect pop I’d include:

Baker Street -Gerry Rafferty
Treat Her Like a Lady - Cornelius Bros and Sister Rose
Pretty much any hit by the Staple Singers
She’s Gone - Hall & Oates
I’ve Got the Music in Me - Thelma Houston
Shining Star - The Manhattans
Pretty much any hit by the Temptations
Cruisin - Smokey Robinson

@dayglow I think Michael Jackson was the biggest pop sound of the early 80s who was not new wave. “Don’t Stop till you get enough” is just a perfectly crafted pop tune that holds up better than anything later except maybe Man in the Mirror..

Unlike her early to mid 80’s stuff, several of Madonna’s 90’s tunes hold up well, as do certain George Michael cuts. I’m a big Prince fan too. But after Hanson’s “mmmBop”, which I still think is a well crafted pop tune that suffered from over exposure, I agree it’s hard to find enduring stuff in the early 2000s.