Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time! (2009 ILX Trax Poll Results: TOP TEN TODAY)

Xgau:

The E.N.D. [Interscope, 2009]

How dare people call this wondrous album--actual quotes, now--"insipid," "saccharine," "clumsy"? Only I don't mean people--I mean journalists professional and self-appointed, from rockist sourpusses to keepers of the hip-hop flame. Just plain people love it--love it so much that various of its tracks topped the pop charts nonstop for the entire summer. "Party All the Time" is no more a recipe for living than is instant Wi-Fi for all, the message of the supposedly "political" "Now Generation." But in a party anthem it's the definition of intelligence. Sampling classic rap rapaciously and as cool with Auto-Tune as with getting their drunk on, they party beginning to end, which as it happens is a far rarer achievement than signifying beginning to end. Maybe this album is dumb on the surface, though not as much as fools claim. But sure as showbiz it isn't dumb underneath.

i'm kind of crushing on kelly rowland tho

1901 being everywhere hasn't ruined it for me. Strong stuff.

it's "the heart of saturday night" that actually sounds like saturday night, and if not your saturday night, at least that of like dozens and dozens of people you've known and you love, can't front on that, and if that isn't so, you need to leave the dorm or the bedsit and mingle a bit imo

I can totally front on that. It's one of the really grating things about it.

also can't stand Boom Boom Pow, though mostly because of Fergie's "People in the place..." bit.

I don't like anything. :(

how so, gubke?

it's "the heart of saturday night" that actually sounds like saturday night, and if not your saturday night, at least that of like dozens and dozens of people you've known and you love, can't front on that, and if that isn't so, you need to leave the dorm or the bedsit and mingle a bit imo

― zvookster, Monday, February 1, 2010 5:16 PM Bookmark

Oh, sure, I get why people like it. I just find that it plays its hand too openly. It kinda has the same problem described in the "100 great things about 'Ignition'" thread about why "Working for the Weekend" isn't a good weekend song. (And can we not take the "If you don't like this, you must not get out much" line? Nice strawman there.)

wasn't aimed at you, and was actually a softening of a "you hate the working class" line :D

I could have imagined xgaus insights there just fine w/ out him having to actually write them down.

IK,R, how many reasons do you need now that yr liking all music? I was thinking maybe it'd work out more economical in the long run, that you would end up w/ a few more general reasons. I'm barely taking the piss, maybe it could fuel a thread - I think it hits something pretty interesting and reveals something about how some ppl are listening.

do you feel it's kind of manipulative and bossy, like superobvious john williams style strings in a movie soumdtrack? xp

Joy Orbison - I guess you have to really be into dance music to understand why this is great.

― _Rudipherous_, Monday, February 1, 2010 7:52 PM (22 minutes ago)

i'm really into dance music and don't really get the fuss over that track

― jabba hands, Monday, February 1, 2010 7:55 PM (20 minutes ago)

same here, i mean it sounds nice, but i really don't get what makes it such a breakout track. but i guess i feel that way about a whole lot of dubstep and dubstep-not-dubstep-crossover type stuff, though. it just doesn't cohere for me the way that techno and house do, the structure of the beat doesn't click in the same satisfying way, it lacks the infinite/hypnotic feel that connects techno and house to disco and kraut for me. i wish these dubstep/not-dubstep producers would more often just go with the 4x4 a la Burial/Four Tet's Moth (speaking of which, i guess its not showing up here.)

moth is a house party heard thru a wall

Close to what the Rev said. It feels engineered for that one purpose, which in turn makes it feel forced. You can plan all you want, but a really great night out just happens. 'Lahyme' makes me laugh tho.

Also, Working for the Weekend has that great synth, so I can get with that song.

xposts

oh god "Moth" isn't going to make this list. should have placed it higher on my ballot. one of the non-album trax that should be preserved on this list for generations to look back on and discover.

yeah a lot of times people actually do have to force it though, the prospect of staying in or a glum night is a non-starter, for instance if you don't go on nice vacations, or have good tv, or something in between, the weekend's gone and it's a two week grind not a one week one and that can break you down. anyone buying this at all?

i dunno, i like it.

kind of think that if someone needs 'I gotta feeling' to get excited about going out, they're the ones that need to be mingling with people

ice cold

will give you that it works well in that 2009 mix that kicked off this thread.

tru.dat

i'm all for people with shitty jobs going nuts to a fun pop song on saturday nights, i'd just prefer it were a less grating song. also i don't associate 'i got a feeling' with blue collar normal folk as much as i do popped collar leather shoed douchebags.

fuck this class shit imo. keep that in the VW thread.

^^^

btw "i gotta feeling" was in my top 10 y'all suck it

do you feel it's kind of manipulative and bossy, like superobvious john williams style strings in a movie soumdtrack? xp

― zvookster, Monday, February 1, 2010 5:42 PM Bookmark

yeah, exactly, but more annoying than that

I no longer care for this list now that "I Gotta Feeling" was named the 12th best song of 2009.

fancy at #11!!! this was awesome news to come home to

i don't think i've ever heard i gotta feeling. i'll check now.

can't believe you have internet access under that rock you've been living under

nope, i had never heard that. and christ on a stick is it awful.

goddammit can people not pull the fucking "how could you possibly avoid mainstream song x" thing on me?

well dude not only was it the #1 song in the country for like 3 years, it's in every commercial

don't know what to tell you man, i watch my share of tv and i've never heard that song in my life.

it's funny because except for stuff from england i've known the vast majority of this poll so far!

PTSD

yeah this is like the opposite of last year where i didn't know half of the picks

MUSICALLY: can you email my ballot?

Yo P&J, I'm really happy for you, Imma let you finish, but ILX had the greatest 2009 poll of all time! All time!

This was feasible up until #12.

Man - it's still better than pretty much every other 2009 poll I've seen. One BEP track does not scupper the entire thing. Like...better this than 20 trax of glo-fi and chillwave.

hilarious when the indie people act like the big dumb pop hit pissed in their pool and now they can't enjoy any of it

chill-fi & glowave

it hardly ruins anything, tho i wld be curious to hear from people who voted for it about its good qualities

yeah i'm no fan of the BEP or that song but getting upset over its placement is dumb on a few levels

Indeed! Especially when it's really not as awful as everyone's making it out to be.

I mean, is Boom Boom Pow the weirder and better BEP track of the year? Probably. Was I Gotta Feeling a totally ubiquitous presence any time I was drunk and in a club this summer? Totally. Unavoidable, and once it beat you into submission, sort of awesome.

NB: I didn't vote for it, but I have discovered that mysterious zone of inebriation and sleep-deprivation wherein it suddenly becomes AMAZING.

TS: Lust for Life v I Gotta Feeling

In that ever-so-dire predicament, I'd go BEP.

imo "I Gotta Feeling" just has a very effective combination of wistful and celebratory, it feels like summer, and the way the drums never seem to get going like they seem like they're gonna, and eventually get overpowered by the vocals, creates an interesting dynamic. calling it 'manipulative' only makes any sense if you think that other fun or moving songs just happen by accident and there's no intentional pulling of strings on the part of the songwriter.

the idea that "i gotta feeling" is somehow more poisonous to this list than fucking "empire state of mind" is crazy -- at least one is open about its shamelessness and is better because of it

xp sure, but the difference is that in this case, I can see the strings

haha, I hadn't thought about it that way, but both those songs have the same effect