Vote today on Top 10 pop songs of the rock era

Step right up to the stage, folks, we’re taking requests.

Oh, yeah!

The first-ever Press Pop Music Poll is going to be fun, fun, fun.

We want all you readers to tell us your favorite pop songs — from any genre since the mid-1950s — and we’re going to count all the votes.

Here’s a story to get the ball rolling: Quite a few years ago, a buddy and I stayed up ’til dawn in his Dallas living room, trying to pick our top 10 songs from that same time span.

Now here we are, a really long time later, and the song we ultimately chose at No. 1 after hours of debate back in Texas is still in that position on my personal list.

You may disagree, so …

Here’s what we’re going to do: We want to assemble a list of YOUR 10 favorite pop songs released since the start of the “Rock and Roll Era,” or roughly 60 years ago.

ALONG with this column, you’ll find two other items to help you understand the spirit and rules of this thing.

The first is an information box, explaining how to vote and what deadline you have to meet.

The other — just to get you rolling today — is my list of the 50 best songs since the mid-1950s, tunes I love personally or that have special meaning to me.

Yes, 50. I’ll explain that in a minute.

There are a couple of issues to note here before you see my list and start calling me names and wondering if I’ve been hard of hearing, if I don’t know music, yada, yada.

First, even though I did plenty of research and had the joy of narrowing down a list of 50 songs, our final list — The Press Pop Music Poll — will rank just 10 (TEN) fantastic tunes.

And no, none of yours have to match any of mine.

Now trust me, a list of 50 would be just too many for most voters, unless you want to go about half-mad and have the cat sitting on your head while howling for dinner.

Hey, I listened to more than 160 songs over a month and a half, and my head is still ringing.

THE NEXT item on the agenda is the criteria: Vote for any songs you like from that period (1957-2017) from ANY genre.

Oh, and did I mention you can only vote once?

Right, I forgot, so …

You can only vote once!!

Now here’s what you should be thinking when you send us your list of 10 songs:

Was the song popular?

Would most people still remember it now?

Did it strike a unique chord with the public, something beyond just the usual Billboard ranking?

Why did you love it so much?

And finally, did the artist make a meaningful contribution in his/her/their genre during that era?

It seemed kind of important to have these criteria to use as tools, because if we’re being straight with each other here, Bob Dylan could have several songs on any list.

Ditto with the Beatles, or Elvis, or any of your household names.

SO, SURE, I stretched things a bit in my 50 to try and get as many fascinating, history-making artists on the list as I could — but NOT if it meant I had to reach for a song I didn’t really, really like.

I also wanted to have some fun with it.

For instance, I enjoyed introducing some folks to Cajun music by including the bayou-based band Beausoleil — as fiddler Michael Doucet and the boys backed Mary Chapin Carpenter in her Grammys performance of “Down at the Twist and Shout.”

Another time, I’ll tell you some stories about the legendary Bo Diddley, who made my list with “Who Do You Love?”

Heck, I’ll wrap up for now with just one cool tale (besides the fact that he appeared several times alongside the Rolling Stones).

Bo once actually walked out on a studio deal because the company president wouldn’t give a contract to Bo’s young valet — who happened to be a kid named Marvin Gaye.

Yep, Bo knew.

Enough chat: Now think of your all-time favorite songs and … vote!!

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Steve Cameron is a special assignment reporter for The Press and all-around music lover.

EMAIL YOUR VOTE TO: [email protected]