Songs Every Good American Should Know

A few years ago, I made my wife (then my girlfriend) a "mix CD" of the title "Songs Every Good American Should Know." It was based on the premise that there are certain songs which are part of the national consciousness, and everybody growing up in America without question--at least from my general age group--knows these particular songs. I was also shocked at the time that I was dating somebody who was not exactly sure who James Brown was, and I aimed to change that.

The ground rules were simple: only American artists (sorry, no Beatles, Rolling Stones, or U2--even if they are perhaps more in the American consciousness than many legitimate U.S. bands) and only one song per artist. I fully admit that this list is heavily skewed towards artists popular between the 70s-90s, in large part because of my own frame of reference. Anyways, here's the list:

Blue Suede Shows (Elvis Presley)
R-E-S-P-E-C-T (Aretha Franklin)
Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
American Pie (Don Mclean)
Hotel California (Eagles)
Piano Man (Billy Joel)
I Feel Good (James Brown)
Light My Fire (the Doors)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
Like A Virgin (Madonna)
Purple Rain (Prince)
Michael Jackson (Thriller)

Born in the U.S.A. (Bruce Springsteen)
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
Ice, Ice Baby (Vanilla Ice)

As if it needed to be said, that last one was a joke. It's pretty hard to come up with such a list--arguments could easily be made for R.E.M., Van Halen, Janis Joplin, Stevie Wonder, and Milli Vanilli (again, kidding about that last one). No doubt somebody else's equally-valid list would look very different from this. Anybody with any suggestions out there for egregious omissions to this list?

French for the Day: the French word for "booger" is "une crotte de nez."

Also, the literal translation for "Vanilla Ice" would be "la Glace Vanille."