pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

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.

"careless whisper"

(My likely choices would be I Want Your Sex and Freedom).

well then i suppose no one aligned behind one single (i would've actually picked "one more try")

An all-things-to-all-people list would be published by Buzzfeed. This list is identifiably Pitchforkian from beginning to end, but the Pitchfork of 2015 and not the Pitchfork of 2003. They're doing a good job and making a list full of songs with straight lines to the music they're reviewing on a daily basis.

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

really think this actually just corresponds to the tastes of the ppl who ended up writing the blurbs

the degree to which the list ignores the music between r&b radio and 120 minutes - with the exception of some diamond-selling icons - is actually kind of amazing when you compare it to how many people think of "the eighties"

Was George Michael on the ILM '80s results?

They really should have put "Stand" on there; then they could have it both ways, including a historically important band AND trolling aging REM fans who hate this song.

(I mean, also, "Stand" is a tremendous pop single that belongs on this list anyway, very much of the '80s but completely absent from people's reflexive "hey remember the '80s" mental playlist as far as I can see.)

Like I said in the Slicing Up Eyeballs comments, if you were looking at a list that properly reflected the eighties, you'd see Mr. Mister and Taylor Dayne and Bonnie Tyler and Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, but that's not the kind of list they were making.

really anyone who isn't of the "pixies were great but oh man have you heard cherelle" brand of nerd is going to be very, very disappointed if they click on this thing

i bet daryl hall is mad he didn't make the top 50 so i hope someone lets him know he's above peter gabriel and that paul simon didn't even make the list

I like that this list is taking a somewhat different look at the 80s, I don't need another list to just enumerate all the hits of the 80s that I already have permanently lodged in my brain. They definitely are trying to highlight 80s tracks that can be connected to sounds of 2015. If this were 2005, they would have included "Come On, Eileen" as a way to explain the popularity of The Arcade Fire and "Warm Leatherette" to remind you of Electroclash.

Wait, how did nothing from Graceland make the list? OUTRAGEOUS!!!

Other than that, I like the list. Lots of interesting stuff in the lower half that I didn't know about, and a fine mix in the upper half. But lack of Graceland...

david lee roth started the list like "this...is...awesome...i haven't thought of that 12-inch in YEARS! YES!" but then gradually turned "fuckin college rock...oh more new order, fuck me" by the end, before making his assistant tell him the top 20

Vampire Weekend no longer popular, hence no need for Graceland.

i hope roth shows up at the pitchfork office for a photo op before announcing "you fucks better remember running with the devil when you do the 70s"

Warm Leatherette is from 1978, but point taken. xps

grace jones did warm in 80

I am totally outraged that Stacy Q's Two Of Hearts failed to make the pitchfork list.

Hey, Vampire Weekend topped pitchfork album list two years back. Of course, it wasn't a Graceland rip-off anymore (or ever, or whatever, but y'know, other discussion), but still.

And seriously, how can you have an 80s list without any plight of the family farm songs? And absolutely nada in terms of songs about CIA involvement in Central America.

Farmer and Central America songs...that's what the 80s were all about, man. I was there, Goddamnit!!!

grace jones did warm in 80

True, but if the intention of including it was to tie it into electroclash in 2005, The Normal would've been the more direct line of sight.

Farmer and Central America songs...that's what the 80s were all about, man. I was there, Goddamnit!!!

and i cannot forget from where it is i come from

one PSB track.. hm.

Top Charity Singles Accompanied By "Check Your Ego At The Door" Videos Of The 1980s

If this were 2005, they would have included "Come On, Eileen"

Even worse though, if this were 2005 they would have included "Don't Stop Believing."

i don't have a problem with multiple songs by artists on a list like this. i would have three wide boy awake songs on any top 200 songs of the 80's that i did.

Someone might have, but not Pitchfork. Not in 2005.

just noticed that WHAM/ Everything She Wants sneaks in the 'See Also' bit under Hall And Oats. not sure if that makes it better or worse.

xp "DSB" is one of the '80s picks in The Pitchfork 500 (published in 2008).

glad 2 see that the pitchfork list has launched successfully

xp oops!