Acclaimed Music Top 40 Songs from 1998 poll

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