Some songs are instantly forgettable, and others have incredible staying power. Songs that stay popular for years on end, don’t always have to have deep and meaningful lyrics. Sometimes the most listened-to songs are the ones with a catchy beat, or a matching dance fad or just songs sung by awesome bands.
On this list are just a few of the hundreds of songs that have truly stood the test of time, and can be found on personal playlists everywhere. Try not to tap your feet as you listen to these tunes. I dare you.

10 Wild Drug Stories About Your Favorite Musicians

10 “All Shook Up” – Elvis Presley

The history of the Elvis Presley hit “All Shook Up” is somewhat convoluted. It is widely accepted that songwriter, Otis Blackwell, wrote the song after one of the owners of Shalimar Music saw him shaking a bottle of Pepsi and suggested he write a tune incorporated the phrase ‘all shook up.’

Another version has it that during an interview in October 1957, Presley said that he’d never had ideas for songs, except for the night he “had quite a dream, and woke all shook up.” Shortly after phoning a friend to tell him about the dream, the song was written by both Presley and Blackwell.

“All Shook Up” was recorded in January 1957 and became hugely popular, staying at number 1 on the Billboard Top 100 for eight consecutive weeks. It was Presley’s first number one hit on the UK Singles Chart where it stayed for seven weeks. The single sold more than two million copies. The song has been credited as being part of the rock and roll revolution that took place during the 50s in which rock music was influential in breaking down racial barriers in the USA after WWII.

9 “The Loco-Motion” – Little Eva

Songs that spawned dance-crazes didn’t start with the Macarena. Dance fads started as early as the 50s and the massively popular “The Loco-Motion” continued in this trend when it was released in 1962. The song was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King but not, as myth would have it, after Eva Boyd started dancing while doing some chores at King’s house. Instead, Boyd was given the song to record after Dee Dee Sharp turned it down.

“The Loco-Motion” started a line dance craze and eventually appeared in the American Top 3 three times, each time in a different decade. Eva Boyd’s name was changed to Little Eva and she came up with dance steps to accompany the song. She also started performing the dance during live performances. In 1987, Kylie Minogue recorded a cover of the song and the resulting success of the single saw her signing a record deal with PWL Records.

8 “The Twist” – Chubby Checker

Speaking of dance crazes, Chubby Checker’s version of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters’ song “The Twist” still sees people twisting to the tune almost 61 years on. The song was released in 1960 and again in 1962 and reached the top of the Hot 100 singles chart both times.

In 2020, during a telephonic interview, Checker had the following to say about the song: “I just say it’s dancing apart to the beat because we don’t touch each other when we look at each other and do the boogie. That’s why it’s caught on the way it has: because of the style of the dance.”
Sounds about right for social distancing in 2020.

7 “Hotel California” – The Eagles

The 70s were all about disco, bell-bottoms and “make love, not war.” This decade was a great one for music, with ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Diana Ross and many more releasing songs. It was also a rocking 10 years what with “Stairway to Heaven”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Dream On”, and “Sweet Home Alabama” making their mark on the music charts.

In 1976, rock band The Eagles released their mega-hit “Hotel California”, which was originally named “Mexican Reggae.” The song was credited by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as being one of the songs that shaped rock and roll and the band was inducted in 1998. “Hotel California” is still considered the band’s most famous recording and they have performed it live over a thousand times.

6 “When Doves Cry” – Prince

The 80s are considered by many to be the golden age of a lot of things, including movies, TV shows, and of course music. Between 1980 and 1989 great songs were released, including “Sweet Child O’Mine”, “Billie Jean”, “Eye of the Tiger”, and “Under Pressure”. And who could forget Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
One of the best songs to come out of this era, is “When Doves Cry” by Prince. The singer was asked by film director Albert Magnoli to write a song that would match the movie, Purple Rain’s theme of parental issues and a love affair. By the next morning, Prince had come up with two songs, one being “When Doves Cry.”
The song ended up being Prince’s first Billboard Hot 100 Number One single and became a hit worldwide.

5 “(I’ve had) The Time of My Life” – Bill Medley, Jennifer Warnes

The 80s are known for its great soundtracks in popular movies. Just think Top Gun, Flashdance, Pretty in Pink and Footloose.

One of the most popular movies and accompanying soundtracks from the 80s is Dirty Dancing. In the film, songs from The Ronettes, Bruce Channel, and Eric Carmen can be heard among many others. But, of course the most karaoked tune from the movie is the one that plays during the pivotal dance scene at the end. The song truly reverberated around the world, winning many awards including an Oscar for Best Original Song. To date it is still one of the most frequently played radio songs worldwide.

The song was originally intended to be recorded by Donna Summer and Joe Esposito, but Summer was put off by the title of the film.

4 “Black or White” – Michael Jackson

For those who grew up during the 90s, it might be terrifying to think that it’s been 31 years since. But let us not dwell on that. Instead, let’s focus on the great music the 90s gave us. While it was the decade of introducing pop stars such as Britney Spears, The Spice Girls and Ace of Base, the 90s were also about Nirvana, Radiohead, the Notorious B.I.G., Madonna and Oasis. Not to mention the hordes of boy bands.

By the time the 90s rolled around Michael Jackson was already a huge star who had released the best-selling album of all time, Thriller, in 1982. In 1991, he released the very catchy “Black or White” which has been describe as a ‘rock dance song about racial harmony’. The song was the fastest climber on the Billboard Hot 100 since “Get Back” the Beatles. In 1992 it became the best-selling single worldwide.

3 “Joyride” – Roxette

Also in 1991 Swedish pop rock duo, Roxette, released their third studio album featuring “Joyride” as the lead single. The song became one of the band’s biggest hits and topped several charts across Europe and the USA.

Roxette took much of their inspiration from 60s rock music and had 19 top 40 hits in the UK and four number ones in America. So popular were Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson that they were both honored with their own stamp in Sweden, their native country. The band is the country’s second best-selling music act, after ABBA.

2 “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) – Meat Loaf

The 90s was also the decade of the power ballad as evidenced by the releases of “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, “When Love and Hate Collide”, and “Wind of Change”.

A power ballad still standing the test of time is the 12-minute long “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) by Meat Loaf. The song was a huge success, reaching number 1 in 28 countries and earning Meat Loaf a Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance.

The line “But I Won’t Do That” cause a lot of confusion and then a lot of interpretation among fans. In 2014, Meat Loaf explained that the words refer to the line before every chorus.

1 “Mr Brightside – The Killers

By the early 2000s, boy bands’ popularity was fading and contemporary R&B was taking over the charts. Post punk, Britpop and alternative rock was enjoying great popularity and country music kept going strong.

The years between 2000 and 2009 saw many memorable songs released including “Rehab” by Amy Winehouse, “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliott, “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga, and “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay.

One of the best songs to see the light of day during this decade is “Mr Brightside” by The Killers. An upbeat tune of jealousy and betrayal, it became one of the most sing-along-worthy songs after its release in 2003 and also one of the longest-charting songs in UK history, 208 weeks in total.

Top 10 Iconic Moments From The History Of Music

First proposed by computer scientist, mathematician, logician, and all-around genius Alan Turing back in 1950, the Turing test has penetrated pop culture unlike pretty much any other method or concept of philosophical inquiry. Also known as the imitation game (the namesake for the 2014 film on Turing’s life), the Turing test is designed to assess a machine’s ability to reason and interact like a human being.

The test is traditionally conducted blind between an interrogator, a person, and a machine. The interrogator deploys a series of questions on his subjects’ habits, interests, likes, and dislikes to try and determine which of their subjects is the machine and which is the person. At the same time, the machine aims to persuade the interrogator of its personhood.

While Turing was right that we would have advanced systems with massive storage capacities by the new millennium, we are nonetheless still years away from a walking, talking A.I. that might pass as a real person. But that hasn’t stopped science-fiction filmmakers, who have used increasingly sophisticated advances in practical and digital technology to bring free-thinking machines to our screens, playing with the boundaries of what artificial intelligence can be. So here are ten movie robots who would pass the Turing test.

Related: 10 Futuristic Things AI And Robots Are Already Doing

10 T-3000: Terminator Genisys (2015)

Everyone loves the original films the best, but neither Terminator’s T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) nor T2’s T-1000 (Robert Patrick) would pass any kind of serious test, whether Turing, driving, or basic sociology. These Terminators are the ultimate killing machine, designed to infiltrate and, well, terminate. But as the universe has developed, Skynet (the series’ villainous artificial superintelligence) has had to innovate to remain ahead of the killing curve.

Enter the T-3000 (Jason Clarke). Unlike most other robots seen in cinema, the T-3000, in some senses, used to be human. Infecting a body and replacing all of its cells with nanomachines, it can imitate every aspect of human behavior, possessing the psychological landscape native to its original host.

Though the T-3000 may easily pass the Turing test, it raises another tricky philosophical problem, known as the Ship of Theseus. This questions whether the identity of an individual or object holds up as every part of it is changed, even if it outwardly appears to be the same. We are left asking whether the host is the T-3000 or if there is even a difference?^[1]

9 Chappie: CHAPPiE (2015)

Neill Blomkamp’s CHAPPiE may not have received the attention or critical acclaim of the director’s earlier Johannesburg sci-fi, District 9, but the deep, enduring humanity of its main character is what redeems it. It just so happens that the character is a robot named Chappie.

Voiced by long-time Blomkamp collaborator Sharlto Copley, Chappie is a police bot whose body is a test pilot for a piece of software its creator Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) believes to be the first true A.I. While Chappie’s boxy frame and metal coverings mean he may not pass any visual tests, there is no denying his personality, charm, and distinctly human character.

Unlike many other movies featuring near-human robot characters, we actually get to witness Chappie’s entire development, from being inserted as a piece of software to full personhood. Along the way, he learns how to speak ghetto from Die Antwoord and acclimatizes to his surroundings and a cruel world that repeatedly tries to crush him. He has a conscience, learns forgiveness, and discovers a penchant for wearing “blings”—with 5,500 individual links of chain painstakingly rendered by the visual effects team.^[2]

8 Morpheus: The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

The Wachowskis’ Matrix series has offered up a cornucopia of Turing candidates, from the rogue computer program Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) to the evil machines’ horrifying leader, the Deus Ex Machina.

But it is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s version of Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections who comes up trumps, managing as he does to exist as a convincingly human mind in both the virtual and real worlds. Resurrections introduces paramagnetic oscillation to the series, which allows the program version of Morpheus created by Neo (Keanu Reeves) to take on a humanoid form. In this form, Morpheus is brought to life outside of the Matrix via a collection of nanobots—an amalgamation of many smaller constituent parts, not unlike the T-3000.

However, while this Morpheus would indubitably pass the Turing test, his existence touches on the philosophy of mind problem of functionalism—exemplified in Ned Block’s China Brain. This raises the question of how Morpheus’s mind can exist, or if it is a mind at all if it is only made up of these small, purely functional nanobots.^[3]

7 Sonny: I, Robot (2004)

It is from science-fiction godfather Isaac Asimov’s short stories that the sci-fi actioner I, Robot draws its material. Thus it is replete with deep questions and concerns regarding the intersection of technology, humanity, and philosophy. Most notably, this includes Asimov’s ethically grounded Three Laws of Robotics: a robot must not harm a human, it must obey orders, and it must protect its own existence.

The film takes place in a technologically advanced near-future, where police detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) comes to believe an NS-5 robot called Sonny (Alan Tudyk) murdered the founder of U.S. Robotics and staged it as a suicide. Hijinks ensue.

Akin to many of the other robots on this list, Sonny is the first of his kind, custom-built with different programming from other NS-5s that allows him to disregard the Three Laws. While this alone doesn’t make Sonny particularly special, it is his development of human-like mental features—namely, emotions and dreams—which are indicative of true intelligence and an independent mind.^[4]

6 C-3PO: Star Wars (1977– )

Though a far cry from the deep and noble robots movies often thrown our way today, Star Wars’ iconic gold protocol droid C-3PO embodies certain distinctively human traits that aren’t often found in artificial lifeforms, namely sarcasm, spite, and cowardice.

One of the few robots which is neither distinguished by his morality nor his desire for freedom, C-3PO has both regardless. With more individuality and sass than most of the human characters in the saga, his personality cannot really be explained by conventional logic, as it is neither a product of his creator’s programming nor his social environment. So, although he is technically not an imitation of humanity, he plays the part to perfection.

Phantom Menace dropped the bomb that C-3PO was built by Darth Vader, although this was a surprise George Lucas had in store from the very first film. While this might seem cause for concern, protocol droids are almost exclusively neutral figures in the galaxy far, far away. Threepio has been exposed to evil and comes away with no greater agenda than service, companionship, and self-preservation.^[5]

5 David: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Godfather of the family-friendly heart-warmer, Steven Spielberg tore audiences into pieces with his devastating 2001 feature A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Based on Brian Aldiss’s story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” and highlighting the emotional and material wastefulness of humanity, A.I. follows orphaned child robot David (Haley Joel Osment) as he embarks on an existential journey, longing to be loved and searching for meaning.

It is David’s heart, emotion, and determination that set him apart from the other robots—many of whom are capable of complex thought and reasoning but without the necessary emotions to pass as human. Unique in his capacity to love, David is more human than human and seeks out an understanding and meaning of life most of us never even dream of.

Such heavy themes highlight Stanley Kubrick’s involvement in the project. While Kubrick died before the film was ever released, it was Spielberg’s foray into the other end of history, with 1993’s Jurassic Park, that convinced the auteur that cinematic technology was finally ready for his vision.^[6]

4 Bishop: Aliens (1986)

While they are rarely at the center of the action, artificial lifeforms nonetheless find their way into every entry of the Alien saga. Prometheus’s David (Michael Fassbender) may be the most memorable, devoid of all conscience as he is, but he is not the films’ best candidate for passing the Turing test with flying colors.

Arguably the most autonomous of the franchise’s automatons, Aliens’ Bishop (Lance Henriksen) is the Sulaco spaceship’s artificial crewmate during Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) second encounter with the xenomorphs. He walks like a man, talks like a man, prioritizes his human companions’ safety in the face of the alien threat, and even volunteers for dangerous jobs, overcoming his desire not to. It is this desire that is the most convincing component of Bishop’s programming.

Some of Bishop’s machinations, however—like his notorious knife trick—wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. And, though the character’s compassionate nature has him place his hand over Private Hudson’s (Bill Paxton) in the film, this didn’t prevent Paxton, who moved his pinkie finger at the last second, from getting hurt.^[7]

3 Ava: Ex Machina (2015)

Alex Garland, director of 2022’s creepy countryside horror Men, had his first big outing with Ex Machina, in which programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a week at the private estate of his firm’s CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac).

Unbeknown to him, Caleb has quite literally been brought in to perform the interrogator’s role in a private Turing test designed to determine the intelligence and consciousness of Ava (Alicia Vikander). She is Nathan’s robotic creation, with the face and figure of a woman, created via the clever use of skin-tight mesh bodysuits and CGI. Via daily, face-to-face engagements, Caleb is not only fooled by Ava’s ability to imitate the expressions, emotions, and intellect of a human being, but he actually begins to doubt his own humanity.

Though Ava manipulates Caleb using claims of objectification, trauma, and fears for her safety, it is undeniable that she authentically desires freedom and kills Nathan in order to obtain it.^[8]

2 Roy Batty: Blade Runner (1982)

Much like Ex Machina, we see characters administering the Voight-Kampff test—basically Turing on steroids—in Ridley Scott’s classic philosophical sci-fi Blade Runner.

Harrison Ford stars as Deckard, a blade runner brought out of retirement to hunt four Replicants from off-world colonies who have returned to Earth in search of their creator. Adapted from Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the film plays with some weighty themes best exemplified in the rogue Replicant leader Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), whose philosophical musings and lucid understanding of mortality, morality, and freedom stand him apart from other engineered lifeforms. So well designed are his physique, intellect, and social comprehension that Batty would have no trouble trouncing a Turing test.

Ford’s Deckard would have been a shoo-in for this slot if it weren’t for the film’s ambiguity as to whether he is a Replicant or not, contrary to whatever Ridley Scott says. But if films have taught us anything, it’s that it is better to err on the side of caution when dealing with robots.^[9]

1 Marvin: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Douglas Adams completes the triptych of science-fiction gods (alongside Asimov and Dick). However, his fiction is geared less toward meaningful advances in the philosophy of technology and more toward highlighting the absurdity of the human condition. Nowhere is this more apparent than in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, adapted into a gem of British cinema four years after Adams’s death in 2001.

When it comes to imitating humanity, perfection might lie in the flaws, something Adams demonstrated in one of his finest creations: the clinically depressed Marvin the Paranoid Android, voiced in the film by Alan Rickman but with a body custom-built around Warwick Davis.

To be human is to suffer, beset by psychological difficulties and an overwhelming ennui for life and all the things we can’t control. Marvin recognizes this to his core, regularly lamenting the meaninglessness of it all. Thus, though he is considered a failed prototype by his makers, Marvin serves as the most convincing of all Turing candidates because he understands the futility inherent in human existence.^[10]

DNA testing is something in the realm of futuristic sci-fi movie territory: most people have heard of the concept, but we don’t really believe it works, know much about it, or want to be experimented on to find out! But like most futuristic concepts, DNA testing has some seriously cool applications that can change the way you live your life forever.

Nervous about taking the plunge with your own DNA test kit? Check out ten awesome things you can learn from one of these tests and how it can benefit your day-to-day life.

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #1

Discover new ancestors or distant relatives

DNA test kit services don’t just look at your DNA samples. Instead, they comb through an entire database of DNA samples and cross-reference your DNA with theirs to find common ancestors. This is an amazing discovery tool that has helped people learn about their family tree and relatives that they never even knew existed.

One story helped a woman from Honduras find out about a great, great, great, great, great grandfather who had been dead for three hundred years!

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #2

Getting back to your roots

Do you have a preference for a certain type of beer? Ever notice you’re particularly pedantic about the way people pronounce words? Maybe you have particularly rosy coloring in your cheeks that you just can’t place? Well, all these traits might be the result of your heritage, and DNA test kits can help you solve the mysteries at last. Scanning your DNA across hundreds of regions around the world, these tests can trace your lineage back for generations, and many times the results are enlightening. So, if you always felt like you had a bit of Irish in your heart, a DNA test could prove that you actually do…

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #3

Find a brother or sister you never knew you had…

A recent study showed that more than 22,000 babies are left in hospitals, at churches, or tragically on the side of the road. Sometimes, these babies are adopted by loving homes, cared for, and raised to adulthood. And when these kids grow up, they naturally have a lot of questions about where they came from, who they are, and who their birth parents are.

One of the biggest questions kids from adopted homes have is do they have any siblings. With DNA testing technology, people are finding their birth brothers and sisters, creating new bonds, and answering life-long questions at last. What’s really cool about these discoveries is that a lot of times you’ll find that one of your long-lost relatives looks just like you!

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #4

…or a Parent!

Even more emotionally cathartic than finding a sibling is being able to walk up to your birth mother or father for the first time and give them a hug, ask them your burning questions, or just say hello over a cup of coffee. With billions of records in their databases, DNA test services are making connections faster and easier than ever before. What’s really amazing is that even if your biological parent didn’t take a DNA test, you can still find each other. How? Because of the DNA chain. If anyone related to your birth mother or father took a DNA test, their results will be in the database. DNA services can use these results to connect your DNA back to the biological parent you are searching for.

Often, when people find their birth parents, they also discover many half-siblings that they never knew existed, extending their families even more.

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #5

You might be famous!

Well, you’d probably know if you were famous (paparazzi outside your windows is a good indication), but DNA testing can tell you if you’re related to someone famous. In fact, in one well-known case, a guy found out he was related to Abraham Lincoln from doing a simple DNA test from MyHeritage.

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #6

Or you might be Jewish

In another weird case, a woman who had been raised in a completely Irish Catholic home with Irish Catholicism coursing through their veins made a wild discovery. The woman had strong Jewish strands of DNA mixed in with her Catholic chromosomes. This was confusing to the family since as far back as both parents knew, there hadn’t been any intermarriage at all. After much digging and through the help of 23andMe, a genetic testing lab that does at-home DNA test kits, this family found out that the father had been accidentally switched at birth in the hospital! The two babies had been born at the same time in the same hospital (back in 1913), and because identification procedures were less than perfect back then, the two babies had been given to the wrong parents. After 100 years, the truth came out, both families were reunited, and now they are one big(ger) happy family!

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #7

You can trace your lineage back to locations

Many of us know what general area our heritage came from, but wouldn’t it be cool to know exactly where in that city your family tree took root? With a good DNA test kit service, you can narrow down your location to regions, countries, and sometimes even a specific town. Imagine visiting Sicily, hearing a story about the local butcher from 200 years ago, and knowing ‘hey, that was my granddaddy!’. Now that would be a trip!

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #8

Genetic disposition towards diseases

One of the most useful discoveries you can make from taking a DNA test is what genetic diseases you may be predisposed to. While this is not a medical diagnosis, DNA tests can show you that you have a stronger propensity towards a certain disease or condition than the general public. Since genetic risks are hugely based on probability, knowing what dispositions you have is the kind of early warning information that can help save your life.

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #9

Discovering your health/weight body type

Another fascinating discovery DNA test kits can help you make is what type of biological makeup you have going on inside you. With the right combination of results, you can find out what foods are good for you, how well your body responds to different types of exercises, and what type of eater you are. This kind of information is invaluable if you’ve been trying to lose weight and can’t seem to manage. These DNA test results can help you figure out what diet plan will work for you, how and when to exercise for maximum results, and which foods to avoid for optimal living.

Cool Discoveries and Gains You Can Make From DNA Testing #10

You could change the world

Finally, some DNA test kit services will offer you a chance to take part in a research program. These programs use your donated DNA samples to research the connections between various genetic information and traits or conditions to see if they can find causal relationships, preventative medicines, and cures. Current studies are working with infectious diseases, as well as life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and dementia. So, your DNA sample could really change the world for the better!

DNA test kits are non-invasive, quick, and easy to administer. And as technology advances, the price of these tests keeps going down. So, if you ever had a question about your heritage, personality, or body makeup, now is the time to find your answers.