About 7 or 8 years ago, I read a really fascinating article in Rolling Stone that polled something like 500 musicians from all walks of life — including the likes of Sting, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Elvis Costello, et al — and asked them the following question:

All things considered, in your opinion, what is the most perfect rock song ever written and performed?

Of course, when you have that many diverse voices and musical backgrounds chiming in with their opinions, you are going to end up with just as many unique and varied answers — and they did. However, all things being considered and personal taste aside, there simply does exist a strata of sublime art that just fucking transcends all else — as evidenced by the answer I read that was most often uttered, over and over and over again, from the mouths of what can only be described as the musical deities of our time.

But before I tell you, I feel compelled to add…that I wholeheartedly concur with them — and would like to ask you what you consider to be the most perfect rock song ever written and performed.

Dig deep…and let ‘er rip, kids.

Oh…and their overwhelming choice? With its message of almost sacred devotion and its perfect, otherworldy, empyrean harmonies, it obviously resonates with the most ancient part of our brains — that part that fully acknowledges what it is that compells us as human beings, and why we are here in the first place:

God Only Knows
by The Beach Boys

I may not always love you
But long as there are stars above you
You never need to doubt it
I’ll make you so sure about it
God only knows what I’d be without you

God only knows what I’d be without you