pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

If King Sunny Ade made it and not "Relax," then I'm good w/this list.

yeah, there are about 1000 songs i would have picked before egyptian lover. no offense to egyptian lover.

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

ten years ago "mad world" DEFINITELY woulda made it

The Tears For Fears picks were on point IMO.

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.

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.

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"

"human nature" was aesthetically appropriate for the lush r&b synthscape thing

"Let's Dance" AND "Modern Love" getting in is the only time I've got a problem tbh

And Under Pressure just thrown in there near the middle.

part of what i love about this list is seeing this millennial hipster sensibility form that's as far from spin as spin was from rolling stone

in 2015 the kids reclaimed george benson

No it's like they've gone through the deep cuts and came out the other side and just decided to go with everyone's top 40 hit after all.

i'd agree if the carly pick was "coming around again"

Miles Davis's "Human Nature" > Michael Jackson's

well, it'll take another few years before Pitchfork replaces "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" with "You Give Good Love."

"let the river run"

"pitchfork turned into a quiet storm station so gradually i didn't even notice"

well, basically Eric Harvey's adult R&B essay from a few years ago finally affected got the Sades, Al B Sure!'s and Cherrelles in.

Plus every interview w a punk or indie rock band who goes on about their soft rock and pop tour songs.

All these bands on the road listening to classic pop radio, getting interviewed by P4K, and repping for "Fast Car".

imagine telling a spin writer in 1995 that in 2015 the biggest indecentric website would declare there weren't 20 songs better in the 80s than "i wanna dance (with somebody who loves me)"

indiecentric, i mean

crazy omissions left right and centre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf_Lwe6p-Cg

list could use some debarge and george michael

I love george michael and i also love that he's the most THIS IS AN OUTRAGE exclusion from a pitchfork list

I HATE YOUR SITE
BUT I DONT KNOW HOW
BUT I DONT KNOW WHEN
TO OPEN YOUR EYES

but idk i'm just complaining. it's a neat shift in taste i just wish it wasn't mostly relegated to 200-100

Because otm. He should have multiple songs if Guns N Roses get to.

it's a neat shift in taste i just wish it wasn't mostly relegated to 200-100

100%, and while i love many a pixies and new order song i don't think they needed SO MANY songs up there, but i'm still appreciative that the purview of ryan schreiber has reached a point where the indignance is "WHERE IS TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY?"

That's one of the pitfalls of a list-by-committee. ARTIST has about five songs that seem like sure things, so people vote for two or three of them to make sure at least one of them gets in and then you wind up with three songs by the same artist in a list of 200 songs. I could've lived with either one of the GNR songs not being represented if it had cleared up a spot for "Save It for Later" or "Human."

no FGTH? list if too unwieldy for me too scroll thru again.

None.

ha I thought "Sign Your Name" would get the Knocked Up contingent.

At least they didn't put "Come On Eileen."

which is a song that I like but at one point (the '90s) seemed egregiously overrated.

mid-80s mtv pop-rock and new wave like "come on eileen" def got the shaft unless it was college rock crossover - no "in a big country," no johnny cougar, no "summer of '69," no "boys of summer," no go-gos, no bangles, etc etc

was there any duran duran? without an easily searchable listen its possible i missed "rio" or something

searchable list

anthony i think the shift you're talking about, while probably humorous to 2005 ilx, is indicative of how online media outlets now have to be as 'all things to all people' as possible

the shift where you leave out mtv pop-rock?

no the one about people being upset about the omission of george michael/wham! and ttd — both in-the-main pop artists (who at the time were heralded for their artistic vision!). this list is trying to canonize all of the pop music of the '80s despite the glaring omissions/excessive leaning on certain artists detailed upthread, which indicates a particular myopia.

also the quiet storm rise is probably in part because of drake, right :\

It was nice to see Chills "Pink Frost" on there. For Talk Talk I would have gone with "I Believe In You" instead.

No other strong opinions, though I agree it would have been interesting to see how much more indie lo-fi/jangle pop oriented it would have been if written 10ish years ago

i'm not denying that pitchfork has its omissions, myopic tendencies, etc, etc but if the goal was being "all things to all people" in an SEO stylee then they did a shitty job

(small voice)

I didn't vote for any george michael because I don't like him

I would have picked "Parkside 5-2" over "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?"

I knew you were hating (on him)

That's cool. If I were paring a list down to 200, I might not include any George Michael or Wham! either because I could probably find 200 things I like more. And I can't think of any GM or Wham! song that is THE song that has to be there, either.

if anything the types of blind-spots we're pointing out underscore that this isn't an "all-things-to-all-people" list of the "HEY REMEMBER THE 80s" variety, but rather the expression of a certain critical mindset. one that, just like the rock mags before it, is distinctive in both its interests and its weakenesses.