Acclaimed Music Top 40 Songs from 1998 poll

we are finally back after a brief layoff. this will run until finished.

sorry about the image being so big.

Kind of a shitty year

Two Neutral Milk Hotel songs and neither of them is "Two-Headed Boy"? Also, I had no idea "Pure Morning" was so acclaimed!

1. "Doo Wop (That Thing)," 2. "Ray of Light." I like "Awful" much more than the Hole song listed.

i don't recognize the number one song by name, i do wonder if i even know it.

Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/user/cryptosicko/playlist/4U0Dayhy0dj2XCsA4TMCYl

Missing: Stardust, Aaliyah, Super Furry Animals

Cat Power by a country mile. Agreed, what an awful year. Neutral Milk Hotel

There's a fair bit of shit on this list, granted, but Offspring is the only one whose inclusion is truly WTF.

stardust over aaliyah

Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You
Air - Kelly Watch the Stars
Pulp - This Is Hardcore
Massive Attack - Teardrop
Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)

a lot of this list is really terrible though

this would have been around the time that I became "aware" of pop music.

top 8:

Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You
OutKast - Spottieottiedopaliscious
Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank
Moloko - Sing It Back
Massive Attack - Teardrop
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
OutKast - Rosa Parks
Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody?

Beau Mot Plage vs Kelly Watch the Stars

Kelly is the one that really takes me back to '98

I do love the Stardust too but I'm assuming it's not going to be short of votes

isolee

this one feels like it's stretched really thin to reach 40

Love Stardust but Ice Hockey Hair is possibly my favourite SFA track so that gets the vote

Another vote for 'Ice Hockey Hair'

Not sure if I agree that this is a bad list. Maybe not as strong of a year? This list just has a lot more pop on it then they normally do.

I predict Elliott Smith will get shut out. Don't know why ILM hates him.

Elliott Smith was my second choice (after Stardust). "Waltz #2" used to play on the in-store radio at the Walgreens I worked at for two thankless years in college. It took me a month or two to figure out who it was, but as soon as I did I went out and bought XO and the self-titled immediately.

I'm a huge fan of ES but Waltz #2 never did it for me. Probably my least favorite song on XO.

"Waltz #2" got me to buy XO, and while it's not my favorite on that record ("Amity" is), I do love it.

I thought he did a great version on SNL that year (and thought it benefited mightily from an all-electric arrangement), but weirdly, he only did one song. Never found out if that was because of SNL squeamishness, or if Smith bailed or what.

For a few years in the late-90s/early 00s, SNL only had bands do one song because they found that most people changed channels whenever music would come on. I know that the last time the Smashing Pumpkins were on SNL in 1998, they only did one song ("Perfect").

lol at everyone praising "Music Sounds Better with You" because i had never heard it before now. where was i in 1998? oh yeah it was my third year living in beautiful San Francisco.

Lot of songs on here I kind of like but unlike other lists there is really nothing here I love.

"SpottieOttieDopalicious" is prob in my top ten ever

i voted for cher

"SpottieOttieDopalicious" is prob in my top ten ever

― The Reverend, Friday, January 29, 2016 11:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is a good opinion

only stardust i ever heard of is this one

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V9QTZ0X_1WY/UoEWZQnLK2I/AAAAAAAACfQ/_AuHNisKiVA/s1600/Stardust+1+p1.JPG

You get what you give!

Y'all crazy, this is a pretty good year. Funny that the thing I was probably the most vociferous about in '98 (NMH) is dead last in what I'd pick from this list today (although, tbf, that was based more on their superior live performance than the albums).

305 Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You - CLASSIC
2 413 Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank - NOT GOOD
3 634 Beastie Boys - Intergalactic - NOT GOOD
4 653 Air - Sexy Boy - CLASSIC
5 667 Massive Attack - Teardrop - NOT GOOD
6 720 Madonna - Ray of Light - VERY GOOD
7 765 Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time - NOT GOOD
8 768 Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing) - CLASSIC
9 855 New Radicals - You Get What You Give - NOT GOOD
10 903 Pulp - This Is Hardcore - GOOD
11 1043 Moloko - Sing It Back - NOT HEARD
12 1106 Fatboy Slim - Praise You - VERY GOOD, CLASSIC VIDEO
13 1111 Elliott Smith - Waltz #2 - NOT GOOD
14 1144 Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - NOT GOOD
15 1171 Jay-Z - Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) - NOT GOOD
16 1205 Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945 - NOT GOOD
17 1309 Hole - Celebrity Skin - NOT GOOD
18 1525 OutKast - Rosa Parks - CLASSIC
19 1530 Mercury Rev - Goddess on a Hiway - NOT HEARD
20 1556 Brandy and Monica - The Boy Is Mine - VERY GOOD
21 1580 Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next - NOT HEARD
22 1627 Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody? - VERY GOOD
23 1948 Placebo - Pure Morning - NOT GOOD
24 2028 Super Furry Animals - Ice Hockey Hair - NOT HEARD
25 2127 Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap - VERY GOOD
26 2140 Lauryn Hill - Ex-Factor - VERY GOOD
27 2160 Isolée - Beau Mot Plage - CLASSIC
28 2247 Alain Bashung - La nuit je mens - NOT HEARD
29 2271 Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - NOT HEARD
30 2299 Air - All I Need - NOT GOOD
31 2563 OutKast - Spottieottiedopaliscious - CLASSIC
32 2602 Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach - God Give Me Strength - NOT HEARD
33 2653 Manu Chao - Clandestino - NOT HEARD
34 2770 Cher - Believe - VERY GOOD, VERGING ON CLASSIC
35 2805 Cat Power - Cross Bones Style - VERY GOOD
36 2852 The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) - NOT GOOD
37 2875 Air - Kelly Watch the Stars - VERY GOOD
38 2894 UNKLE - Rabbit in Your Headlights - MEDIOCRE
39 3166 Madonna - Frozen - MEDIOCRE
40 3182 Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now - NOT HEARD

i was never a huge fan of it at the time, but looking back there's something fantastic about Music Sounds Better with You.

also, i can never not think of this when Ray of Light get mentioned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZxr5e9W9eg

i have only watched a few episodes but that is one i have seen.

My faves:
1. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap
2. Massive Attack - Teardrop
3. Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
4. Madonna - Ray of Light
5. Placebo - Pure Morning
6. Hole - Celebrity Skin

The Lucinda, Outkast and Manic Street Preachers records have other songs I like better than the ones here. I liked New Radicals at the time, but it sounds kinda "meh" to me now. I still hate "The Rockefeller Skank," "Baby One More Time" and "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)."

h888 these polls rly but this is sfa lol

nakhers better not see this post right!!!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/MountEcclesia_002entr.jpg

32 minutes, maybe a bit rusty coz it's sunday

I don't see Jennifer Paige's "Crush" anywhere.

To me - here she comes again
A perfect ending to a perfect day
A perfect ending what can I say
To you - lonely sunday friend
With you - sunday never ends

A-Z Lyrics S SONIC YOUTH Lyrics
"A Thousand Leaves" (1998)

the super furry animals track is fine tho
tbh i think i enjoyed playing it rn slightly more than isolee

"believe" is one of those songs that gets more poignant and powerful as i get older

Decided to vote for "Holland, 1945."

voted for Bashung because someone had to

This poll has got me listening to and appreciating the Ice Hockey Hair EP once more, so at least that's something. Sometimes I wonder how a band that managed to be that great and that consistent for so long ended up putting out stuff like Love Kraft or Dark Days/Light Years.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I've never even heard of Stardust.

If you lived in Europe in 1998 you definitely would have.

great year, these are faves:

1 305 Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You
3 634 Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
4 653 Air - Sexy Boy
6 720 Madonna - Ray of Light
8 768 Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)
9 855 New Radicals - You Get What You Give
12 1106 Fatboy Slim - Praise You
15 1171 Jay-Z - Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)
20 1556 Brandy and Monica - The Boy Is Mine
30 2299 Air - All I Need
31 2563 OutKast - Spottieottiedopaliscious
34 2770 Cher - Believe
39 3166 Madonna - Frozen

stardust probably the best track, but voting ray of light because it's my favorite :P

That New Radical song seems to be bafflingly overrrated. Boring as shit.

I'm legitimately surprised that some folks haven't heard of the Stardust track. It seemed to be everywhere at the time, and I remember it being highly praised and getting plenty of coverage due to the Daft Punk association.

Probably not a big deal in the states though.

The most memorable part about the New Radicals track is the end where he tells Beck, Hanson and Marilyn Manson etc. to "come around" so he can "kick (their) ass in" ... like, ooooh, go you, you silly-hatted edgy motherfucker who writes songs for Ronan Keating.

i'm a european who cannot bring to mind the stardust song

my gf assures me it's shit

Yeah, no idea how the Stardust track went down in the US, but it was definitely inescapable here.

I assure you she's wrong.

(xpost)

IIRC the ILX rated Stardust track to be the third best single of the 90s or something?

it's been two and a half minutes and nothing has happened yet

literally nothing happens in this song at all. and don't give me any of that 'stretching out the tension without release' bollocks, it feels lazier than that

Clearly you don't do clubbing if that bothers you?

i suppose if i were clubbing i'd dance to it, but it wouldn't be on any fantasy club mix of mine

The thing about the Stardust track is just how little musical ingredients it has, it's basically just a looped funk sample with a couple of lines of lyrics endlessly repeated. Once you've heard a bit of it, you've pretty much heard it all - however, for some strange reason, it manages to transcend its repetition and never really get tiring. Rumour has it that the record company wanted Thomas Bangalter to make a full-length Stardust album, based on the success of 'Music Sounds Better With You' alone, but he refused.

I'm midway between the two camps - it's fine, but there are literally thousands of better dance records.

Also I'd just started uni in 98, and Stardust was played continuously in a campus cafe that gave me food poisoning once, so it reminds me of puking a bit.

I'm midway between the two camps - it's fine, but there are literally thousands of better dance records.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, February 2, 2016 12:05 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh yeah, def. agree with this!

If nothing's happening, try listening

has ilx been a house site the whole time

Try dancing to "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" in the fantasy club of your mind.

"Music Sounds Better With You" is monstrously great, particularly when it hits the variation in the chord progression. It is pretty easily my favorite post-Homework Daft Punk-affiliated piece of music.

If this level of stasis in dance music bothers you, stay away from Richie Hawtin

I had literally never heard, nor heard of, the Stardust song before. Listening to it for the first time right now. Digging it. Might get my vote (and as much as I love Deserters Songs, "Goddess" isn't the best track).

I will cop to the fact that laptop speakers probably aren't the ideal environment for funky house

…but then, who can afford SONOS?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ptQatdjOFM

Many very good choices but I think I've pared my personal preference down to 'Cross Bones Style' and Air's 'All I Need'.

All I Need isn't even the best version of itself (that'd be Les Professionels on the Premiers Symptomes EP)

It's the best version of itself available as an option in this poll.

And it's a worthless comparison anyway plus read heads prefer Solidissimo. Obviously the vocal version that was a hit single would be more popular.

Settled on "This is Hardcore" after all.

I had literally never heard, nor heard of, the Stardust song before.

I had not heard of it as in the name of the artist or the song, but I have heard it a few times before. Reminiscent of Get Lucky actually...epic groove, very digestible, but too repetitive and simple relative to their best stuff.

Even though this is when I stopped listening to the radio there are lots of good tracks here. I'll go for Intergalactic which still sounds fresh 100x listens later.

Looking at this list is a reminder of that funky electro rock aesthetic going on for 2 or so years... and then it disappeared. Daft Punk/Stardust, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, UNKLE, that Beasties song, even Air. Blame computers?

Whenever Elliott Smith shows up in a poll, I can't vote for anything other than Elliott Smith. Even though XO is somehow my least favourite album of his, Waltz #2 is a singularly beautiful song.

I think I was too young to appreciate Stardust when it came out and could never understand why this over-long dance track was always polluting my favourite radio pop shows. I still don't think much of it now, mind.

Just in case y'all were curious, the best song from '98 is actually almost certainly something off of Royal Trux's Accelerator.

Probably not a big deal in the states though.

― the joke should be over once the kid is eaten. (chap), Tuesday, February 2, 2016 3:46 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I never heard it til years after the fact. Obv this is the best version tho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAn5hII6V2I

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Poor Fatboy Slim.

"Rockafeller Skank" was my #2 choice.

aw i missed this one. so many good choices