ILM Top 100 2005-2009: TRACKS

yeah i don't know if this is a weird opinion but i feel like graduation is basically even quality across the board; there are prob 4 or 5 songs i'd pick before flashing lights

Flashing Lights for me isn't about Kanye's verses at all, it's about the music behind him. That track itself is bonkers good, and I'm mad that it's as short as it is. I want a 15-min version.

yeah that's the thing it's a great track with subpar kanye

Can I just put in a word for "Gold Digger?" It was my #2 and I'm fully convinced that is is the canniest pop song of this period and the best Kanye's ever done. He crams it full of little micro-hooks, and I love how each verse ends with a sharp little dig, but always directed at a different person.

Two more of my votes in this section, Wiley & Mariah. I'm up to 5!

I haven't even figured out how many of votes made it. I'll have to go look at my ballot again.

I've got 8/60 so far, but a few more to come.

6 songs i voted for today, after only 1 each previous day!

9/40 so far for me, and i probably would have voted for 'zero' and 'shine blockas' if i hadnt glazed over them when i was making my ballot

'Love Story' started out real slowly as my least fave track on the album and now I probably think it's better than 'You Belong With Me'. The transformation from the coy, careful opening to the soaring chorus and later the big climax is satisfying to the absolute max.

not to mention the (perhaps unintentional) depressingly realistic subject matter

I think only four of mine so far. I kicked myself the second after I sent my ballot for forgetting American Boy. Would've placed that like top 3 or something. Rehab was on my longlist but got bumped off the bottom (Back in Black made it though).
So: "Overpowered", "Maneater", "Lisztomania" and "Wearing My Rolex". Fairly good results so far though, I suppose. If a bit poptimist heavy, surprise surprise.

Tracks lists always lean pop where albums lists always lean rock. Not that that's a bad thing, really, but I've really followed singles/tracks more than albums the last five years and I guess I've been dragged into the popist camp without much fuss.

I still can't abide by "American Boy" at all :(

nope, me either

What's not great about it?

it really annoys the shit out of me

it's her voice + the way the hook is written + kanye

that song is like a mosquito to me

bad singing, stupid lyrics, lame kanye verse, good beat that was recycled wholesale from a song released months earlier (xpost)

J0rdan hittin the nail on the head imo

most cringeworthy part is the line about how she doesn't like his baggy jeans but might like what's underneath them x_X

You cats is no fun.

ugh yes such failed sexy (xpost)

also i still thing the chorus sounds like the Green Acres theme

failed sexy is one of the worst qualities music can have

^ how I feel about Barry White's whole catalogue.

we are not going to see eye to eye

i loved that estelle single with sean paul tho -- think it's def in the canon of classic sean paul duets

I mean obviously what is sexy and what is not is totally subjective, but goddamn

I never really thought of American Boy as a sexy song, but a flirty song.

I like "American Boy" mostly because it's hard for me to resist hip-hop that's so indebted to luxuriant disco.

yeah it feel really fancy! like how airplane travel used to be glamorous.

anyway i haven't really thought about that song very hard other than i like it

I never really thought of American Boy as a sexy song, but a flirty song.

Yep.

sure, but that doesn't even slightly change my opinion of it

i like american boy ok (it kinda wore me down actually) but it would have made more sense in the 80s than the 40s

it reminds me of catch me if you can sorta even though the time periods don't jibe

yeah that's totally the aesthetic it's going for...it gets maybe 2/3s of the way there

i love the line about the baggy jeans. most lines about wanting dick are good in my book. in all honesty though it did take me quite a while to warm up to "american boy" but eventually i did realize that it is a very nice track.

my ballot... i have 6/40 so far + 1 other that i nom'd but didn't vote for. it's an absurdly poptimist ballot.

It took me a second to figure out why you were doing it out of 40 instead of 60, but then I realized you were using your ballot instead of the final list as the metric.

ohhhh right. same diff.

didn't realize midlake was a thing. will give it a go and stop ignorning them/confusing them with clearlake.

― Gee, Officer (Gukbe), Friday, 2 July 2010 19:57 (2 hours ago)

Yes, me too - and monolake also. This reminds me of Iron and Wine for whom I'd have voted, if I'd have voted at all.

Iron & Wine EP w/ Calexico (2005) is unfuckwithable imo

I've been meaning to listen to that for five years.

theres zero other midlake songs i like but i <3 roscoe so much

Johnny Fever: listen to it ASAP! It's incredible!

is it good? i only really like that shepherd's dog album (and i mean really like). the rest is too ellito-smith-y for me.

xposts

couldnt bring myself to vote for d.a.n.c.e, hollaback girl, or gold digger. they are good songs, but trapped in time for me

(also - elliot smith, obv)