Thanks crüt for the tip on the Slicing Up Eyeballs reactions. Hoo boy! I maybe have problems with this list, but when you're writing comments like "I can't take this serious because I never heard of a lot of trash here," you are a dope.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:19 (eight years ago) link
i counted 137 songs that i like/love. i don't mind that this list is half random and half the usual. lots of great music. fugazi is ugh to me. their one good song is nowhere near as good as a good minor threat song. also, no B-52s no credibility.
― scott seward, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
also, when i saw grace jones on there i couldn't help but think that you could replace ten of the songs on this list with ten grace jones songs and you would make your list better.
― scott seward, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:30 (eight years ago) link
Can you imagine the "criminally excluded" list if they done this ten if not fifteen years ago
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:44 (eight years ago) link
These lists are always a photograph of its authors current fascinations and canon, and man Ive seen worse
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:46 (eight years ago) link
Exactly. If they'd done this list in 2000, it would've been all Mission of Burma and R.E.M. and maybe one token rap single.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:49 (eight years ago) link
Without talking about exclusions - there will always be exclusions - I would swap "When Doves Cry" (11) with "Purple Rain" (1).
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:53 (eight years ago) link
I'm pretty sure 10 years ago the highest charting Kate Bush tune in the list would have been below 50, this is a turn of the tide I'm particularly fond of.
― cpl593H, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:56 (eight years ago) link
Purple Rain is one of the most 60s/70s-sounding songs of the entire 80s and When Doves Cry is futuristic even now. iow, I agree with you. xp
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 August 2015 15:57 (eight years ago) link
purple rain is really such a bore of a choice
― jamiesummerz, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:02 (eight years ago) link
*prince choice
― jamiesummerz, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:03 (eight years ago) link
seems like the UK in general and synth-pop in particular are underrepresented. No 'Tainted Love'?still, there's something kind of fun about the uber-indie rock site more or less snubbing a lot of college rock.
― campreverb, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:05 (eight years ago) link
don't mind most of the list! If anything, it tracks Pitchfork's progress since injecting new blood almost a decade ago.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:05 (eight years ago) link
whether its a tendency of consensus, an active aesthetic choice or a little of both, pitchfork tends to give the top spot of their big lists to grand expressions of romantic sentiment - "purple rain," "seasons (waiting on you), "Hold on we're going home," "midnight city," "gold soundz," "god only knows". big exception: "oblivion"
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:05 (eight years ago) link
I mean, "Love Come Down" and refs to Rene & Angela would've been unheard of in 2005.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:06 (eight years ago) link
whether its a tendency of consensus, an active aesthetic choice or a little of both, pitchfork tends to give the top spot of their big lists to grand expressions of romantic sentiment -
yeah where IS "He Stopped Loving Her Today"?
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:07 (eight years ago) link
confession - i would have forgotten to include george jones on my Best 80s Songs Ever ballot too
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:08 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f16Fw_K45s
― Meta Forksclove-Liebeskind (forksclovetofu), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:08 (eight years ago) link
dunno if it's the most egregious miss but it was one of the first things i looked for that wasn't there
― Meta Forksclove-Liebeskind (forksclovetofu), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:09 (eight years ago) link
i kinda wish #1 had either been "straight outta compton" in a fit of YES IT IS 2015 or "I've Had The Time Of My Life" with a video of all the writers dancing at the launch party
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:10 (eight years ago) link
"How Soon Is Now" for the Smiths"Just Like Heaven" for the Cure
Yeah this is a really boring list.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:10 (eight years ago) link
yeah but "Never Too Much"
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:11 (eight years ago) link
its better if you start at the bottom
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:12 (eight years ago) link
I think I've finally gotten confident enough to finally admit that I do not particularly care for "How Soon Is Now." There, I said it.
― The New Gay Sadness (cryptosicko), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:12 (eight years ago) link
"How Soon Is Now & "Just Like Heaven" are kinda beloved. I suppose they didn't need to place as high as they did, but they needed to be in there.
― billstevejim, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:13 (eight years ago) link
if you're the kind of person who knows the 80s canon very well thank you imo it's better not to cross your fingers that the top ten will blow yr mind but to be like 'hey a carly simon 12-inch'
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:13 (eight years ago) link
"How Snore Is Now"
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:13 (eight years ago) link
is it petty to suggest that no one be allowed to participate in a "best of the 80's" poll unless they lived through the entirety of the 80's
― Meta Forksclove-Liebeskind (forksclovetofu), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:13 (eight years ago) link
yes
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:15 (eight years ago) link
Yes.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:15 (eight years ago) link
I don't think anyone who voted in our 50s polls lived through the 50s, but it turned out pretty fucking great imo.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
speaking of petty, he wasn't in this, was he?
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
look at the rolling stone Best of the 80s list from '89='90 you'll see that being there is overrated
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
I like when #1's are huge, iconic epics. I think "Purple Rain" is a great choice for #1. It's one of the only things about the list that I really enjoy a lot. After getting all the way through it, at least they closed it out with a really good top 2.
― billstevejim, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
Good for having Egyptian Lover on the first page of the list but he has so many better songs "I Need a Freak", "Freakaholic, the aforementioned "Egypt Egypt".
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:17 (eight years ago) link
I know pointing out what's missing from these lists is such a cliche but I'm still shocked at no "Relax", though I may have not done my CTRL+F research that thoroughly.
big exception: "oblivion"
I stil have hopes I will at some point reap the benefits of those dusty old Terrorvision CDs.
Also, I wanna be adored both in their 90's and 80's lists? Get your shit right b*tchfork!
― cpl593H, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:18 (eight years ago) link
I'd rather randomly hear "How Soon Is Now" on the radio than almost any other Smiths song.
― billstevejim, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:18 (eight years ago) link
like i doubt this egyptian lover fellow would be on a list by rock critics who remember the 80s well
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:18 (eight years ago) link
anthony decurtis and kurt loder be all about them 12-inch classics
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:19 (eight years ago) link
If they included I wanna be adored in their list of the 70's just for the sake of it, that would be something.
― cpl593H, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:20 (eight years ago) link
It's possible that I just don't like the Smiths all that much, though I do like "Panic" and "Ask." I've never felt the need to own anything by them, though.
― The New Gay Sadness (cryptosicko), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:21 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, every list of this nature has headscratching exclusions, but I thought "Relax" not being on it was pretty o_O.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:22 (eight years ago) link
If King Sunny Ade made it and not "Relax," then I'm good w/this list.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 24 August 2015 16:22 (eight years ago) link
yeah, there are about 1000 songs i would have picked before egyptian lover. no offense to egyptian lover.
― scott seward, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:23 (eight years ago) link
i was half-disappointed that "shout" by tears for fears didn't make the list it would have been baller for those guys to get three spots
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:26 (eight years ago) link
ten years ago "mad world" DEFINITELY woulda made it
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:27 (eight years ago) link
The Tears For Fears picks were on point IMO.
― billstevejim, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:27 (eight years ago) link
When you're taking into account an entire decade's worth of music, it's pretty inexcusable for ANY ARTIST to make more than one appearance.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:28 (eight years ago) link
I like the Prince picks, though it seems I hear more 1999 than Purple Rain today. MJ's 'Human Nature' is kind of a head-scratcher though.
― campreverb, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:29 (eight years ago) link
yeah if they'd done one spot per artist (with some honorable mentions) underneath that would have been cool.
did i miss one or did they say the best clash song of the '80s was "the magnificent seven"
― da croupier, Monday, 24 August 2015 16:29 (eight years ago) link