Ladies and gentlemen....the 1990s ILX SINGLES POLL RESULTS

ah, I remember that one now. I have to admit I remember more of Chris Rock's "Champagne."

#65

PETE ROCK & CL SMOOTH - "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" (307 points, 13 votes, 2 first place votes)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002H84.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
(from the album Mecca and the Soul Brother)

"pete rock & cl smooth created a subgenre with "they reminisce over you" which is a perfect marriage of elegiac rhymes and muted horns..."

- fred solinger

"nothing sadder in the world than Pete Rock & CL Smooth's "TROY (They Reminisce Over You)" "

- M Matos

ah that's a good one

The squillion-way splitting of the St Etienne vote is no less devastating for it's utter predictability. *cries*

#64

ORBITAL - "Halcyon" (322 points, 17 votes)

http://www.paulstephenson.freeserve.co.uk/orbital_singles/orb_raddico_us12.jpg

"Halcyon is one of the most glorious bizarre and fantastic tracks around."

- Ronan

Yes, I think there were comments to that effect on the noms thread.
But we still have "He's on the Phone" to root for!

(xpost)

#63

LL COOL J - "Mama Said Knock You Out" (323 points, 19 votes)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000024II.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

"And you thought the word "damn" had lost its power..."

- Anthony Miccio

#62

MISSY ELLIOTT - "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" (326 points, 25 votes)

http://www.thehumangenomeproject.com/missy/rain.jpg

"Supa Dupa Fly remains her shining, most coherent, razzle-dazzling moment."

- Vic

Fuck, "Mama Said Knock You Out" must be one of the best straight pop/rock/rap songs ever, I love it so much. That I only rated it #14 says more about how lame and soulless and prog-damaged I am than about the song itself. It's such an amazing performance; he jumps at you and doesn't let go of your collar for the rest of the song, spitting out the simplest rhymes with such aggro poise that they become oratory. In case anyone thought jocks couldn't be poets.

xpost "The Rain" rules too. I love that Ann Peebles song too.

I suppose I should be happy that "Troy," "The Rain" and LL beat Jeff Buckley.

#61

HAPPY MONDAYS - "Kinky Afro" (329 points, 22 votes)

http://home.dialix.com/~u3336/factory/images/302_7b.jpg

"I remember Jess nominated this song for Best Opening Line ('son i'm thirty, i only went with your mother cos she's dirty'). Quite OTM."

-- Aaron A.

My #2 ends up 64, my #1 at 83.

But seriously, "Halcyon" at 64???

I'll take it through to #51 tonight.

interesting results so far, and even moreso later on...

A lot of my very high picks are already here.

but what if you voted hallelujah, the rain, and troy all really high?

anyways, there weren't 64 songs in the 90s better than troy FFS

I could send you some comments as well, Gear, if you need them.

I'm thrilled to see 3 St. Etienne tracks together, although I would have much prefered so see them in the '20s. Still have hopes for "He's on the phone".

BTW I absolutely love the cover of "Nothing Can Stop Us"!

It keeps making me laugh, I'll give it that.

good list, I'm just waiting for the surge of american indie.

Haha, yeah, I'm waiting for the other foot to fall, when the US indie vote exerts it's dominance.

5 of my picks have shown up so far. i wonder if there are any voters whose every pick will appear in this list.

no jungle, hardcore, or techno yet, this is either a good or bad thing.

You're not counting the two Orbital songs as "techno"? (or "Ray of Light", har har)

i forget what i voted for!! troy is the only one so far i am sure i voted for although i am pretty sure about a couple others

i just looked at my ballot and realized i didn't vote for either opp or the humpty dance, and therefore have very little right to bitch about their low placement.

Let the bitching continue! Honestly I would have liked to start this list on Monday, to get more traffic whilst people were at work and online, but I don't know how much time I'll have this week, with the new job, final tallying of the albums vote, and other shite.

anyway, on to 60-51...

I was about to bump this, but thinking about how to do it so it didn't look like that was what I was doing...

i'm pretty shocked at t.r.o.y.'s low showing

I ranked it at number 2!!!! I am also confused.

I'm also puzzled - although I probably shouldn't be as I didn't vote for it.

#60

WU-TANG CLAN - "C.R.E.A.M." (332 points, 21 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://www.mixtapes.ch/images/wu_cream.jpg

"Cash rules everything around me = the way things are."

- daria g

I'm surprised at some of the lower placement of some of the cuts above, while being equally surprised by the higher placement of others. Pleasantly surprised, in some cases.

#59

BJORK - "Joga" (336 points, 18 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000024ZNT.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

"Christ! How can you even begin to question the album with "Joga" on it????"

-- Adam Bruneau

Favourite detail in a pop lyric?

"In 'Joga' by Bjork, when she appears to get the start of the word wrong in one verse, and goes "me-you". "

-- Matt DC

#58

PULP - "This Is Hardcore"(338 points, 22 votes)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000009GDU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

" "this is hardcore" is just so *sui generis*, i can't imagine anyone else pulling anything like that off at all."

- amateur!st

I'm trying to work out if I can divine from this anything about Common People's placement. I don't think I can.

#57

TLC - "Creep" (339 points, 24 votes)

http://www.swr3.de/__pix/cover/500x435/221.jpg

"The first bar or two of Creep, in context, is like manna from heaven."
- gabbneb

"That jazzy trumpet that starts Creep off is a trumpet of joy."
-- syntaxfree

"i think "creep" is one of the 20 best r&b singles ever written."
-- strongo hulkington

"Seconding (or ... 6thing) the suggestion that "Creep" is one of the greatest r and b songs ever."
-- djdee2005

#56

THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - "Cherub Rock" (340 points, 20 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000000HNU.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

"I think I might have a totally different concept of 90s AOR than is being used here. Smashing Pumpkins would be the kings of the genre as I see it, with "Cherub Rock" probably being their best single."
--sundar subramanian

"Makes me wanna fuck shit up. It brings up the violent side of me, that needs to be released once in a while, in order to be tamed. I am sometimes a difficult person to deal with, but, alas, it is just the demons trying to get out."
--JP Almeida

Ah, this one I voted for - but at 28, so this placement kind of makes sense to me.

#55

UNDERWORLD - "Cowgirl" (342 points, 19 votes)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004Y1RR.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

"Isn't the way Underworld use vocals totally unique, I can't think of any band or any dance act who use vocals as a rhythmic part of the song, in something like Rez/Cowgirl the "everything everything everything everything" seems to make the track so absolutely mindblowingly essential and intense and yet later in the track the vocals become like an extra drum or beat or something (an eraser of love)"
--Ronan

I can't decide if my choices were all complete losers or if they'll rank way up. (someone else had to put "Lovefool" #1 surely?)

I had it at 17...

#54

THE KLF - "Last Train To Trancentral" (343 points, 22 votes, 2 first place votes)

http://www.stars-on-7-inch.com/index_k/klf/last_train.jpg

"I think I was awestruck, or something close to it, when I first heard the KLF's "Last Train To Trancentral" on the radio - the idea at a young age that anyone in pop was this intelligent, and this gifted, and had this many ideas."
-- Robin Carmody

"'Last Train to Trancentral' is, to me, the epitome of this method: it's just hook after hook after hook, with a bonkers half-time breakdown and, at the end when it appears no more can possibly happen, a cameo dalek voice chanting 'Mu Mu'. Pop genius."
-- Ben Butler

"Oh, and "Last Train To Trancentral" being kept off Number 1 by Cher's "Shoop Shoop Song". Didn't piss me off so much back then, oddly; 10 years have clearly made me slowly more bitter."
-- Robin Carmody

I'm beginning to suspect my choices were complete losers (esp. since I apparently voted for the wrong songs by the right artists.)

I wonder if the songs added later to the list will do worse than those from the start? And even if they did would it mean anything - added later because they didn't occur to people immediately because they're not as good songs?

#53

PORTISHEAD - "Sour Times" (344 points, 25 votes)

http://www.thefirstcut.net/porsou2.jpg

"Being a stubborn male I refused to ask for help at the music stores. It took me monthes to find this sucker in the dance section months after I first heard it on the radio while I was eating my wheaties."
--zacko

OMG There goes my No. 1 :(

I can't believe this!

Wow, the twelve songs from #64-#53 are separated by just 22 points!

#52

MADONNA - "Vogue" (346 points, 22 votes)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000071TK.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

"'Vogue' - narcissism as spirituality, hollywoodism as religion, star-worship as self-love, and a groove so deep that brown or yellow people didn't even mind being left out of that "doesn't matter if you're black or white" line."
-- Vic

Vogue = my number 3.