DESTINY'S CHILD singles poll

BILLS

BILLS

BILLS

<3 this poll

'cater 2 u' is...such an ignominious way to end a career like this :o

think i'm going for 'bug-a-boo' but will think on't for a while

Survivor

also take the survivor era singles on their own and they are a fine, fine, endlessly awesome body of work in themselves. place them next to the writing's on the wall singles and they don't stand a chance

also i think i am still the only person in the world who will rep for 'soldier'?

4-way fight to death:
Bug-A-Boo
Say My Name
Independent Women Part 1
Bootylicious

did Beyonce and co 'invent' the specific 'pay ma own bills' theme in this music? did TLC or En Vogue touch on that much before DC?

Could be any one of these, really, but I'm in a Survivor mood right now.

Bills Bills Bills
Bug-A-Boo
Say My Name
Jumpin' Jumpin'
Independent Women Part 1
Survivor
Bootylicious
Lose My Breath

You're not alone, Lex; "Soldier" is bad-ass.

I went for "Get On The Bus" which in a 1999 way is kind of the beginning of everything.

i thought soldier was great!

voted 'say my name'

(I voted "BOOTYLICIOUS")

but all of these songs are old , lex

their last single was actually some schmaltzy ballad nonsense called "Stand Up For Love" that was on the best-of, but that's even worse than "Cater 2 U."

Bug-A-Boo barely beats Bootylicious

Between Bug-A-Boo and Lose My Breath, with Emotion being an underdog for having some omgwtf vocal hysterics.

'stand up for love' was on their wikipedia page but it didn't chart anywhere and i'd never even heard of it so assumed it wasn't a proper single. i apologise to its fans, who must be devastated at its exclusion...

the contrast between the three DC voices is probably most marked on 'soldier', and really makes the song.

"even if the pope said he liked you too" => i have just voted for 'bug-a-boo'

and 'get on the bus' is such a weird, weird track. i don't remember it as a single at all, and it's strange to think that it was chosen as one.

i can't remember 'with me' or 'emotion' at all. 'get on the bus' was a big "hey i like this kind of stuff (again)" moment for me but more down to timbaland than the girls i guess

"Stand Up For Love" had a video on MTV (in this country, at least, I don't know about in other markets) and everything, but the fact that it was released simultaneously with "Check On It" helped it get completely ignored.

Get On the Bus is spectacular.

TOO HARD

I love "soldier" but it took some doing.

voted "say my name" but "independent women" and "bills" are both really close, imo.

Wait, I'm Alan N?

never mind, too many vitamins this morning apparently.
Lose my breath was playing when my girl and I hooked up, but it could otherwise be bills or say my name with no hesitation.

Too easy. "Lose My Breath" then "Bug-A-Boo."

sa-LOOOT!

i voted bug a boo

man i hate lose my breath

say my name

almost voted independent women. dark horse is jumpin jumpin.

Say My Name just ahead of Lose My Breath, yup.

Another vote for "Say My Name".

say my name cuz of the double time weird "something's goin' on thats the way it seems" part.

but jumpin jumpin close 2nd for me....great run of singles.

is the writing on the wall as classic as poptimists make it out to be

"Bug-A-Boo" is gonna win this one. I just voted for it.

Always thought Bug-a-boo was way overrated on ILM! easily the weakest of that album's singles for me. Can't choose between Bills, Say My Name and Jumpin' tho.

I wish So Good had been a single so I could just vote for that.

lose my *heh* *heh*

I wish So Good had been a single so I could just vote for that.

This is probably the most OTM thing ever said about Destiny's Child.

This is rock but "Say My Name" is prob'ly the pinnacle of a Mauna Loa album.

Haven't heard the first three, but from the rest, it's a battle between "Bills Bills Bills," "Independent Women," and "Girl."

"Emotion". Because it is musically atypical and less staccato and annoying than the rest.

I wish So Good had been a single so I could just vote for that.

best bit of 'so good' = near the end when beyonce sings softly and half to herself, "i am SO SO good!"

the beat on 'lose my breath' is still pretty insane.

"THROW! OUT! MY! PAGER!"

This is an amazing run up through "Jumpin' Jumpin", but I don't like any of the ones after it except the obviously peerless "Bootylicious". Too much overweening stridency, esp "Survivor" which is really jsut a whole bunch of yelping and the lyrics are awful. "Lose My Breath" is a great beat in search of just about anything to go with it, and lol at "Cater 2 U".

^^^ All true. "Independent Women" = shit lost

"is the writing on the wall as classic as poptimists make it out to be"

Erm, depends on yr standard of classic. Aside from the singles I'd say only "So Good" and "Hey Ladies" are truly great (haven't listened to it in a while though). OTOH, that's 7 great songs on one album.

I love "Survivor" but have difficulty explaining why.

My vote is for "Bug-A-Boo".

i love how massive that bass is on 'survivor'

edwardo OTM to the extreme

"Bootylicious," and edwardo OTM about "Survivor."

i am torn between jumpin jumpin and say my name

"Girl" is way underrated, btw, probably my favorite post-Writing single.

"Survivor" has great lyrics. Or, rather, Beyonce (and Kelly for her bridge) perform them greatly. Lex back me up on this. Of course it's yelping - it's brilliant yelp-pop.

I AIN'T GONNA DIS YOU ON THE INNERNET!

No, you're incorrect. Non-scanning, self-interested pram whingeing in the worst of all ways and 100% hypocritical since her dad was running the show anyway - hardly "I Will Survive."

"I just sold five million" - so fucking what?

"I'm gonna work harder" - fine, see you in the cardiac tent in twenty years' time.

Of course it's self-interested, whinging and hypocritical. This is Beyonce. She's hardly gonna show humility or a sense of proportion.

I've never understood the critical argument that somehow this undermines her appeal as a pop star. It's widespread and espoused by people I usually agree with though, so I'm prepared to accept this might be something to do with me.

No but she can be big-headed and disproportionate in INTERESTING ways, i.e. after she sacked the rest of the group went solo. On "Survivor" her selfism is just dull.

I think I like the song because it's so pathetically childish.

Ha ha probably we agree completely about the song it's just what you find dull I find carcrash-transfixing.

i think i love survivor (album and single) precisely because her ego is so rampant on it. there was a brilliant village voice review of it at the time which perfectly summed up all the reasons that DC era is so great (the writer erroneously concluded that ego, self-absorption and hypocrisy are off-putting qualities but wvs). apart from anything else, it's funny, i mean on half the tracks you can almost the girls start...vibrating with the force of riding that high horse.

also edward, i know 'survivor' is strident yelping (and love it for that) but really, when are DC ever not about the strident yelping? 'bootylicious' certainly qualifies

Not an erroneous conclusion, otherwise you end up getting wet over the bucking bin Laden bronco.

love a lot of these but it's gotta be 'say my name'.

(i voted "Girl," but it was close)

I kind of want to know what you have to be smoking to pick "Girl" as the best song on this list. It must be amazing.

"Girl" is the most soulful DC single. I'm sold by the warm production and Beyonce's amazing runs. It was a tough call, but I figured it needed more support than, say, "Bills Bills Bills."

"Girl" is the most resolutely average DC single.

At least it's not boring, like, idk, "No, No, No," "With Me," "Survivor," "Bootylicious," "Emotion," "Lose My Breath," "Soldier" and "Cater 2 U."

a) by average, I meant boring and b) you are high on RONG

I don't see how it can be anything other than "say my name" just for pure huge pop impact. "Bills", "Lose my breath" are close seconds though.

And I'm with marcello, there's just something a bit too hen-night about "Survivor"...

Also: got to karaoke in any country and the 2 DC songs that will be there are "Say my name" and "Survivor"...

"Bills Bills Bills", "Bug-a-Boo" and "Jumpin' Jumpin" would all be pretty hard to sing unless you know them really well - too many tempo shifts, sudden pauses etc. "Lose My Breath" wouldn't work (not so much too hard as too breathy). "Soldier" is the secret best karaoke pick.

But I've seen more karaoke performances of "Independent Women" and "Bootylicious" than I have of "Say My Name" or "Survivor".

In a nutshell that there is probably the difference between Australia and Asia...

Can't abide "Independent Woman Part 1" either, for the same reasons. But "Independent Women Part 2" is brilliant.

i'm with the Survivor lyric lovers. esp fond memory of seeing them perform it on ITV's Record of the Year show when Beyonce changed the 'sold 9 million' line to 'sold 16 million' or whatever the most up-to-date sales figures were. so pedantic and brilliant.

'independent women part 2' being the more self-absorbed, misanthropic, self-important version?

xp that is brilliant, beyoncé has always been at her best when focused on the economics of a situation.

DC are a total karaoke minefield - people always think they can handle it cuz their songs are so catchy but usually by midway through the first verse they're really struggling

i don't vote in polls but "say my name" comes in first for me for the just barely restrained desperation of the chorus. 2nd place is "lose my breath" maybe... i really have never understood the "great beat in search of a tune" criticism that's constantly levelled at it, its tune and beat are inseparable to my ears

big overlooked DC album track for me: "Stay" from The Writing's on the Wall. it's the best kind of outdoors summer-jam '90s r&b tearjerker.

"IW pt 2" - more for the music and performance than the words, it's like Kurt Weill ODing on Strepsils.

I love "Independent Women Pt 2" but my favourite overlooked DC track is "Perfect Man".

there was a pt 2?

yeah i love the way they sound almost shellshocked on 'perfect man', and the beat is sick. 'where'd you go?' and 'hey ladies' are my favourite overlooked TWOTW album trax, the latter has some great lyrics plus that astonishing echoing beat after "rewinding it..."

part 8 is best

part 8 days of christmas

I remember the songs on Survivor that took me completely by surprise (outside of the singles) were "Apple Pie a la Mode", "Happy Face" and the mopey one about the girl who didn't think she was beautiful (blanking on the title, too lazy to look it up). Oh, and "Dangerously In Love", of course.

THE STORY OF BEAUTY!

it's even more wtf than that, it's about a girl who was abused by her stepfather and then no one believes her and then she ends up with a boyfriend who also abuses her. and only destiny's child can reassure her that she is beautiful

"is the writing on the wall as classic as poptimists make it out to be"

Erm, depends on yr standard of classic. Aside from the singles I'd say only "So Good" and "Hey Ladies" are truly great (haven't listened to it in a while though). OTOH, that's 7 great songs on one album.

OTM. But that's 6 great songs, no? The two mentioned above and the singles ("Bills, Bills, Bills," "Bug A Boo," "Jumpin, Jumpin," and "Say My Name"), right? And do poptimists actually rep for anything outside of these 6?

I ask because this is the album that made me view hits-plus-filler as a self-consciously pernicious activity rather than (merely) a measure of human fallibility. In (very much) related news, it was also one of the few albums I paid cash money for at the time. As such, all those bullshit ballads felt not just bad but evil and suddenly the significance of the mp3 came crashing down on me. If we owed the biz for downloading the singles, they owed us for intros, outros, skits, interludes, and the Filler Queen herself Diane Warren.

So I actually calculated what Columbia Records would owe each person who bought the well-titled The Writing's on the Wall. I counted the good tracks (in which department I was VERY lenient including the weak Missy joint and at least one other cut) and divided them by the (discounted) price of the CD. The crap came out to $5.27. Which, hmmm, would just about cover all the good tracks if purchased as mp3s.

Holes:

1. There's no scientific way of calculating filler. Some intros, outros, skits, interludes, and even Warren copyrights ("Rhythm of the Night," "Un-Break My Heart") are good. Dude upthread repped for "Stay" although to my ears it sounds about as outdoorsy as a Kray supercomputer.

2. Almost a decade later and I've yet to get rid of my actual CD of The Writing's on the Wall. Maybe it's the over-it, Pet Shop Boys-like cover portrait.

i'm using "outdoors" in more of a "this would sound great in a convertible" sense

the only songs i'm not crazy about on twotw are "confessions" and "she can't love you" and the intro obv. and even "she can't love you" has a pretty good beat (that nowadays reminds me of radiohead's "reckoner"!)

KJB, your idea of filler sounds suspiously like a manifestation of the same "eww ballads!" attitude shared by the overwhelming majority of rock critics with a passing interest in R&B, not a profound epiphany about the nature of modern pop albums and singles.

Re 7 tracks - "Get On The Bus" was on the album over here, I forget that it's really a bonus track.

I don't really go for the ballads on The Writing's On The Wall but I don't think there's anything pernicious about them - it's just that the group don't pull them off completely. I don't mind "Stay" and "Where'd You Go" and "Confessions", I just don't think they're quite "great". In general DC/Beyonce are at a relative disadvantage when doing ballads because they find it hard to convincingly perform "frailty".

Compare/contrast with Pink's first (consciously post-TWOTW) album, where the ballads work really well because a) they're all clearly different from one another; b) they're good songs; and c) Pink's vocals are framed so as to highlight their humanness and vulnerability - in a way that isn't necessary for the uptempo jitter-R&B numbers.

yeah you're right that they don't do frailty well. i think i like their ballads more for how they sound, i get a perfect bittersweet summery vibe from them. hey Tim what's your opinion on Beyonce's "Dangerously in Love pt. 2"? it's a great ballad but it doesn't go for frailty, it's more of a "i'm pushed to the brink" track, maybe like a slower "Say my name"

i still haven't heard Can't Take Me Home! i was planning on getting into Pink a while back and then I just kind of forgot

Yeah - like, I like "Emotions" but basically only a formal level - it's technically perfect. I remember liking Dangerously In Love Pt 2 but I'd have to listen to it again.

I'd say that getting into Can't Take Me Home is an entirely different prospect to getting into Pink. Most of the things that make her interesting on her last three albums are very different to the things that made her first album interesting. To my mind it's just an incredibly well done generic R&B album.

Although it may have been more impressive in 2000 when its brand of genericism was still shiny and new.

KJB, your idea of filler sounds suspiously like a manifestation of the same "eww ballads!" attitude shared by the overwhelming majority of rock critics with a passing interest in R&B, not a profound epiphany about the nature of modern pop albums and singles.

And yet DeBarge's In A Special Way is my second favorite album of all-time. Also, I know the epiphany isn't profound. It's just that I encountered it with The Writing's on the Wall. Still, I'm extremely open to any defense of the ballads.

I don't really go for the ballads on The Writing's On The Wall but I don't think there's anything pernicious about them

It's not so much that the ballads themselves are pernicious as it is their larding up the album. They seemed more like self-conscious attempts to sucker people into springing for the album rather than merely bad songs.

Another album from the same year that made me think similar bad thoughts was Mary J. Blige's Mary. But there it was just the Diane Warren ballad that seemed pernicious. The album would have been about 65 minutes long without it. Did she really need to tack it on, esp. with a throwaway cover of "Let No Man Put Asunder" bringing up the rear?

Compare/contrast with Pink's first (consciously post-TWOTW) album, where the ballads work really well

I've never been able to tell what counts as a ballad on Can't Take Me Home but if you're talking about "Most Girls" and "Is It Love," I couldn't agree more. "Is It Love" in particular is flat-out shocking, its spiritual coordinate as much "Suck My Left One" as "No Scrubs." Which leads me to wonder how generic it really is in the end. In any event, a great album. Definitely remember to pick it up sometime, aaron.

Actually I'm not talking about either of those songs, neither of which i would consider to be a ballad (although there's a case for "Is It Love" which at least is mid-tempo...). For me the ballads on that album are "Let Me Let You Know", "Love Is Such A Crazy Thing" and "Stop Falling" - none of them anywhere near as good as "Is It Love" but all much better than you'd expect.

"Is It Love" is an amazing track but it's very different to the other stuff on the album, lyrically/thematically at least. All the singles plus "Split Personality", "Hell Wit Ya" "Private Show" (my favourite), "Do What You Do", "Hiccup" and the title track are fairly "generic" (as in they're oh so very millenial R&B) but not at all in a bad way.

In fact, after Kaleidoscope and Aaliyah, I'd say it's the strongest R&B album that era produced. Certainly better than TWOTW or Fan Mail, although the highs on those album are mostly higher.

(after that maybe Mya's repackaged Fear of Flying and 100% Ginuwine. Amerie's All I Have signalled the beginning of the new world order)

surely the beginning of the new world order would involve crunk to some degree

For me the ballads on that album are "Let Me Let You Know", "Love Is Such A Crazy Thing" and "Stop Falling"

Ah ok! Completely forgot about the outer two. And right, definitely better than the filler on The Writing's on the Wall.

In fact, after Kaleidoscope and Aaliyah, I'd say it's the strongest R&B album that era produced. Certainly better than TWOTW or Fan Mail, although the highs on those album are mostly higher.

No heavy arguments there although I'd add Raphael Saadiq's Instant Vintage and Koffee Brown's Mars/Venus (which even boasts a great intro). Those are more trad, though, and didn't dovetail much, if at all, with teen pop. And if the Ghost Dog soundtrack counts, well, that's one of my favorite albums of the decade.

Still, if "great album" means "a repository for several great songs and damn the filler," then The Writing's on the Wall may still be the best album here. Except for Ghost Dog.

*reps the ghost dog soundtrack*

srsly, the og version of "Walking Through the Darkness" is about as great as they come

In general DC/Beyonce are at a relative disadvantage when doing ballads because they find it hard to convincingly perform "frailty".

'irreplaceable' was the first really, really great ballad of b's career.

'where'd you go' is at least as good as 'hey ladies' and 'so good', i don't really think of it as a proper ballad though

also i think i am still the only person in the world who will rep for 'soldier'?

no! i voted for that too. michelle sounds great on that one

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I love "Independent Women Pt 2" but my favourite overlooked DC track is "Perfect Man".

-- Tim F, martes 29 de julio de 2008 11:14 (5 days ago) Bookmark Link

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

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

only 3 for IWp1??? I thought that was one of their best-loved

Not enough love for Get On the Bus, but a worthy winner nonetheless.

If we're to trust these results, no one loved DC's singles (with one exception) after 1999.

Bug-A-Bo_O 10

we picked the emo-est one huh

I have the CDS of Say My Name with Kobe Bryant rapping on it.

I <3 the 90s

only 3 for IWp1??? I thought that was one of their best-loved

i love IW1 but it's probably dated the worst of their singles, maybe the charlie's angels ref

say my name is emo?

writing's on the wall singles are so insanely good

smh @ shipley hating on "bug a boo"

i don't hate it but it's by far the least successful single off that album for good reason, and though i can kinda see it being in someone's top 5 it being 10 people's #1 is nuts.

Awesome lyrics, awesome beat, awesome singing, what's the issue.

that there are several songs here that are more awesome?

again, i'm not really knocking the song itself so much as expressing surprise at the # of people that hold it above all the others

low cut caesars with the deep waves
so quick to snatch up your beyoncé

"No, No, No" getting completely shut out is pretty sad

yeah the first album's singles don't get enough shine

was part 1 ever a single or was it just part 2?

i saw a video for Part 1 way after the fact, but afaik the song didn't really go anywhere until Wyclef remixed it (although it's hard to tell since Billboard didn't give the two versions separate chart entries).

god, laying eyes on beyonce for the first time as a 16-year-old boy was such a "ho. ly. shit." moment

^^

OG Beyonce wasn't very memorable to me but when "Bills, Bills, Bills" came out I basically was like "now wait a second, who is THAT"

well, she is/was my age, so part of the immediate impact for me is i think how shockingly womanly she was at that age

i was literally just about to post about how they never ever ever seemed like the 15-year-olds they were!!!

ha yeah, when BBB came out I thought she was MY age

like relistening to "no no no", it's basically a really predatory song, yet at no point do they seem like they're trying to be older than they are

britney was born in the same year and for someone in the same school year there was a real sense that she was "one of us", someone our age, and that's actually persisted through the years and accounts for a definite loyalty i've noticed among people my exact age to her. beyoncé...not so much

http://soundcloud.com/cyrilhahn/destinys-child-say-my-name

hmm i like the music and the idea of turning "say my name" into a deep house track, not wholly on board w/turning DC into gloomy dudes

Cyril Hahn is A+ - that's my favourite mix of his but his take on Solange's Losing You is pretty good and his Jessie Ware Sweet Talk mix also.

last weekend i was playing "Say My Name" for Hannah and we were just vibing to it for 15 minutes so good :D

i decided after i bumped it that the pitched-down vox were kind of gross and awful, soz

i'll stick with whatever remix of "say my name" jackmaster dropped into his EOY mix

or the original obv

actually i think the only r&b remixes i outright adore are the big trashy space battle homo vibes ones, anything that tries to be tasteful i find myself pursing my lips and thinking "i want to hear the ORIGINAL"

i was really into that house mix of J. Holiday's "Bed" and that's the last housey R&B track i can remember digging