Village Voice's F2K

I mean, a lot of those songs are just goofy. Goofy is not the same as bad. I honestly feel sorry for anybody who hates electro-hamsters that much!

I am of the opinion that most of these songs are significantly worse than just "goofy" and people who put extraneous letters in the word "hamster" should die.

Well, critically acclaimed music is theoretically at least somehow distinctive. And distinctions, by definition, would seem to provoke strong reactions -- good and bad. So it seems curious to me that they haven't flipped the tables on some distinctions that aren't as good (or distinctive) as they're cracked up to be, that's all.

i still can't believe anyone would give the time of day to that heidi montag track

the most offensive kind of music is indistinctive shit that just sounds like everything else which unfortunately is a lot of popular music these days and i kinda love sometimes how people run around in circles trying to prove how interesting and distinctive some of it is.

lol @ people still trotting out the tedious "offensively bad music is actually better than boring music because of the strong reactions it elicits!" trope which is basically a rationalized "so bad it's good". 1) it's not true and 2) it's much more interesting to write about "goofy" or awesomely bad songs anyway

i mean is anyone really looking at idolator.com's list of the top 50 worst songs of the decade and complaining about the choices? what the hell do you expect, it's just a bit of fun

do y'all who are calling radiohead boring typically enjoy "slow" music, be it modern classical, ambient soundscapes type shit, super esoteric minimal stuff that's not "fast"? out of sheer curiosity.

― jØrdån (omar little), Friday, November 6, 2009 3:15 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i dont find radiohead boring bcuz of its pacing, if thats what you're asking

Whiney asked me to post this for him:

xhuxk, we purposely avoided making challopsy takedowns because it would just make us look spiteful and silly. Like on the Blender lists when they're saying "We Didn't Start The Fire" is one of the worst songs ever or Primus is one of the worst bands ever. It doesn't read as "insight" it reads as "intentionally riling people up."

the most offensive kind of music is indistinctive shit that just sounds like everything else which unfortunately is a lot of popular music these days and i kinda love sometimes how people run around in circles trying to prove how interesting and distinctive some of it is.

― jØrdån (omar little), Friday, November 6, 2009 3:31 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dude do u really think thats more true now than ever ... ppl have been on some "all popular music sounds the same" shit for ages .... not to sound like john d. here but were getting old, thats about it

if this list causes this thread to turn into a p4k style clusterfuck, it's time to reassess and then shut down the internet.

30 is the new 20

but doesn't critically acclaimed music usually get acclaim because it isn't horrible?

lol

p4k style clusterfuck

Don't worry, at some point Ned will be back w/ a new link to remind us that yes, most of these tracks have been totally horrible.

the Blender lists when they're saying "We Didn't Start The Fire" is one of the worst songs ever or Primus is one of the worst bands ever.

I've never seen this, fwiw. (And "We Didn't" and Primus are hardly the canon, by any stretch of the imagination, and, either way, I don't see why you couldn't be insightful chopping them -- or the Hold Steady or M.I.A. [both of whom I like btw], or Animal Collective, or whoever -- down. Doesn't depend on who you pick; it depends on what you say. If you make a smart case against a record you think is shitty, why worry about idiots who might accuse you of just being "challopsy"?)

Will still rep for "Food Play," tho. SO HILARIOUSLY GROSS.

honestly xhuxk i think its way more interesting to cover songs other ppl arent going to be talking about

Don't worry, at some point Ned will be back w/ a new link to remind us that yes, most of these tracks have been totally horrible.

Just chilling here.

Needs more critically acclaimed boring music.

to be fair the list has already included the moldy peaches

I doubt they're gonna be throwing in tv on the radiohead or the fleet furnaces tho

Best disses tend to be the most difficult ones, though as far as cheap laughs go that Smash Mouth one is pretty great. That's in part because I don't give a shit about Smash Mouth, though. I tend to respond better to takedowns from people who might conceivably be fans of the music -- or, maybe a better way of putting it, someone who might actually give the track the benefit of the doubt. So I don't think I'd want to read someone who doesn't know indie rock write a "TVOTR is boring" blurb any more than I want to read someone bashing a decent-ish novelty track for being stupid or annoying. (Not that they aren't, but that pointing this out isn't usually very interesting.)

fwiw I support "Bingo" or "Jimmy" showing up on this list and M.I.A. is one of my favorite discoveries of the decade

I would love to read Rich Juzwiak pick some latter-day Mariah Carey track for a 50 Worst feature, e.g.

Good exercise -- get people to write a blurb destroying a terrible track from a band they usually love.

Give ya an essay on Radiohead's "Pop is Dead" easy.

I would love to read Rich Juzwiak pick some latter-day Mariah Carey track for a 50 Worst feature, e.g.

― The Cure for Mugabe's Concubine (dabug), Friday, November 6, 2009 3:58 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i kind of wouldnt, though -- or i enjoy it only in the context of him sharing shit that is actually good, i.e. "compare this great track im putting you on to to this less mariah track"

there is really no point in expending tons of time talking about shit that isnt good! its a waste of my time! unless its done in an entertaining way, w/ entertainingly shitty music.

like, i think a song can be simultaneously 'entertainingly bad' & still not be something i'll actually want to hear again ... sorry guys \Oo/

Maybe. Though line between entertainingly-bad and bad-bad is a tough one. Where does Blue October's "Hate Me" fall?

(Surefire for the top twenty, I'd hope...)

LOL, listening to "Hate Me" for the first time in years and the first thing it's reminding me of is the Interpol song about the subway she is a porno.

Maybe. Though line between entertainingly-bad and bad-bad is a tough one.

this is exactly why there shouldnt be a distinction! bad is bad

OK, now I'm having a Bad Song flood in my brain. "Screaming Infidelities" was this decade!

xpost -- but it's really not true! There are a thousand different bads, as many bads as there are goods!

Mediocre-bad and spectacular-bad seems to be the key distinction here, tho -- point being that it can be difficult to say interesting things about stuff that's just mediocre.

right i just don't agree with the idea that "specacular bad" = "kinda good in a way!!"

I dunno, I have a soft spot for spectacular failures. And not just "failures that are also spectacles" (a la a bunch of Metallica from this decade, though at least something featured in Some Kind of Monster should make it, with full-on description of the writing process documented in the film, shudder) but a special kind of jaw-dropping badness. Not good as a song, but good as an experience!

^^^^^ I think this is how I feel about that Lady Sovereign song...? I spend way too much time laughing at it to actively hate it.

Oh man, I hope "Do You Realize???!?!??!??!??!!!!?" makes it, though I think that falls into the "failure that is also a spectacle" category rather than spectacular failure.

Lessee, Miley's spectacular failure's gotta be "Wake Up America":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdcOKHQmYDA

Aly and AJ's Amber Alert Anthem "I Am One of Them" terrifies the crap out of me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrN24ErsK3Q

Lindsay song + video for "Confessions of a Broken Heart" (dir. Lindsay Lohan):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yJqDTSufBE

omg that Lindsey Lohan song, I'd forgotten about it

Ooh, spectacular failure, K-Fed's "Lose Control" as performed at the Teen Choice Awards!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aam1pDl8wnM

(although really the wtf thing about the LL song is the video; the song itself isn't as horrible as the other things on the list)

Well, if there must be some Lohan representation, several things off of Ali's holiday album should do. I vote "Christmas Magic," despite my semi-affection for its total AM cheeze:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGv4-jbccSQ

(OK, I'll stop spamming with Rolling Teenpop holdover Youtubes now.)

"I mean, a lot of those songs are just goofy."

Exactly. I'm not having any fun w/the Idolator list cause it comes off too much like the Joke Police. I'd rather see more ridicule for stuff that's been critically or commercially acclaimed--someone articulating why, say, Grizzly Bear sucks than a blurb putting Smash Mouth in their place. The idea that you can't do this without seeming "spiteful and silly" is just dumb. Just, like, don't be spiteful and silly about how you do it.

And "challops" is an even dumber term than "hater" and serves the same irritating purpose of shifting the focus away from the actual argument being made and to the motives of the person arguing.

you would seriously rather read MORE coverage of grizzly bear

smh

you would seriously rather read MORE coverage of Heidi Montag

[retarded internet abbreviation]

Have you been on any gamer forums and discovered the magic of "QQ"?

(because that's kind of what you're doing here)