pitchfork

lol at Pavement taking #1

totes mediokes imo

Trip-hop was already plenty cinematic by 1996, when DJ Shadow dropped his stunning debut LP Entroducing.... His contribution to the scene was to focus on the small stuff. Shadow dropped the world-weary narratives associated with the genre and zoomed all the way in, creating richly detailed atmospheres out of samples that felt less like film scenes and more like a master painter's collected work.

feel like this cat is bluffing most of the time. a bit like the blur thing earlier, it seems weird to me to talk about shad's 'contribution to the scene', as if he didn't help build the fuckin thing. i guess massive attack had 'world-weary narratives' but a lot of trip-hop followed in shadow's footsteps -- was instrumental hip-hop. whether his atmospheres are less filmy than painter-y, idk.

eh i didnt say it was a BAD top 20 i said it was a weird one. rlly shocked nirvana in particular didnt make top ten, and lost out to, well, weezer

Pitchfork's review section is pretty broad-minded - in the past two weeks they've reviewed Kemialliset Ystävät, Oren Ambarchi/Keiji Haino/Jim O'Rourke and Fennesz/Daniell/Buck amongst other non-fuxxor releases - but this isn't reflected in their charts or in the canonical history adopted by the site. As has been observed, one factor is that the intersection of the reviewers' tastes is presumably indiecentric and any consensus work will reflect this. Another factor I think is that their historical perspective (what they cover in terms of reissues/retrospectives) is a lot more limited.

But yeah, it's not as if Pitchfork=the critical universe. Their reviews don't have much influence on my purchases (unlike say 10 years ago) but I check it mostly to see what people are buzzing on.

xp - Weezer > Nirvana is a classic result.

this list is so hilariously challoping at every level

except of course that afaik its basically about counting up ppls votes

if in order to make it interesting you need to do things like say gold soundz is the best pavement song; maybe you shouldn't have made the list at all

then a group of ppl were challoping with their votes--don't see why that wouldn't follow

I thought it might be interesting to compare the Pitchfork poll with the results of ILX's 1990s singles poll. So here's the Pitchfork top 50, and I've put the song's placing in the ILX poll in brackets:

50. Oasis - Live Forever [#73]
49. Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater [-]
48. Foo Fighters - Everlong [-]
47. PJ Harvey - Rid of Me [-]
46. Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You [#16]
45. Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me [#5]
44. Massive Attack - Unfinished Symphony [#15]
43. The Chemical Brothers - Setting Sun [-]
42. Nine Inch Nails - Closer [-]
41. The Pharcyde - Passin' Me By [-]
40. The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds [#43]
39. Beastie Boys - Sabotage [-]
38. A Tribe Called Quest - Check the Rhime [-]
37. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U [#17]
36. Guided by Voices - Game of Pricks [-]
35. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.) [#65]
34. New Order - Regret [#6]
33. Missy Elliott - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) [#62]
32. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - I See a Darkness [-]
31. Underworld - Born Slippy NUXX [#28]
30. The Flaming Lips - Race for the Prize [-]
29. The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony [-]
28. Nas - It Ain't Hard to Tell [-]
27. Elliott Smith - Needle in the Hay [-]
26. Blur - Girls & Boys [-]
25. Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Pt. II [#51]
24. Built to Spill - Car [-]
23. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Elvis Version) [-]
22. The Breeders - Cannonball [#3]
21. The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979 [-]
20. DJ Shadow - Midnight in a Perfect World [-]
19. Mazzy Star - Fade into You [#49]
18. Daft Punk - Da Funk [#23]
17. Belle & Sebastian - The State I'm In [#21]
16. Outkast - Spottieottiedopalicious [-]
15. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence [#24]
14. The Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy [#35]
13. Nirvana - Smells Like Teens Spirit [#12]
12. Aphex Twin - Windowlicker [#8]
11. Björk - Hyperballad [#10]
10. Weezer - Say It Ain't So [-]
9. Beck - Loser [#14]
8. Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody? [#13]
7. Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945 [-]
6. My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow [-]
5. Wu-Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck [-]
4. Radiohead - Paranoid Android [#9]
3. Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg - Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang [#18]
2. Pulp - Common People [#1]
1. Pavement - Gold Soundz [-]

8 songs in the Pitchfork top 20 also made it to the ILX top 20. 7 songs in the Pitchfork top 20 didn't place at all in the ILX top 100, though My Bloody Valentine, Wu-Tang Clan, and Pavement all had other songs place in the ILX poll. Oddly enough Outkast had no songs in the ILX top 100.

were there any denim tracks in the top 200? i didn't see one.

Boo, those whores.

That looks exactly the way Pitchfork's Top 20 Songs of the 1990s should look.

okay I'd never heard that Pavement song before and is just not made for me

no real opinion* on the rest of the top 20; most of it is awesome, some of it I never, ever want to hear again, pretty much all of it "deserves" to be there

* okay, more like "really obvious opinions"

Couldn't help but notice that "I Can't Dance" by Genesis didn't make any list, so I question the validity of the results.

Nothing from Dance into the Light either.

lol at Pavement taking #1

Really this is just as hilarious as it was last night when I first saw the list. I mean, if you just took Pavement down from #1 and swapped their entry with Biggie (#14), Nirvana (#13), Bjork (#11), MBV (#6) or Wu-Tang (#5), I think the top 20 would make a hell of a lot more sense. Pavement deserves to be in the top 20. All of those other folks would make fantastic #1 picks. But really, "Gold Soundz" is #1 of the decade?? O_O

no 'vogue'

I still don't remember, was there any Madonna at all??

"Ray of Light" as a See Also pick?

no xpost

I still don't remember, was there any Madonna at all??

hahahaha i'm not even bothered about this list so these ridiculous omissions are just funny to me. smh

Really this is just as hilarious as it was last night when I first saw the list. I mean, if you just took Pavement down from #1 and swapped their entry with Biggie (#14), Nirvana (#13), Bjork (#11), MBV (#6) or Wu-Tang (#5), I think the top 20 would make a hell of a lot more sense. Pavement deserves to be in the top 20. All of those other folks would make fantastic #1 picks. But really, "Gold Soundz" is #1 of the decade?? O_O

RIP polls

existence needs a hide polls option that we can turn on for as long as we need to

it's not surprising that Pavement is #1 on this list, and for Pitchfork, having Pavement there makes sense. although the song choice is, of course, debatable

mass debatable

Really and truly, though, I think U2 deserved an entry -- "One," "Mysterious Ways," "The Fly," "Stay (Faraway, So Close)," "Numb," "Staring at the Sun," "Please" -- all are light years better than anything Pavement ever did.

Was that Passengers album from 1990? If so, add "Your Blue Room" and "Miss Sarajevo" to the above list...

Are there really people out there who think Gold Soundz is the best pavement song?

has crooked rain ever been polled on ilx?

Really and truly, though, I think U2 deserved an entry -- "One," "Mysterious Ways," "The Fly," "Stay (Faraway, So Close)," "Numb," "Staring at the Sun," "Please" -- all are light years better than anything Pavement ever did.

don't like all of these u2 tracks but that effing glam rock batman one pisses over the whole pavement catalogue so... yeah basically

"Ultraviolet", "So Cruel"?

i am beginning to understand the "lol [insert nationality]" mindset ilm has devolved to over the last few years.

man I was sure the #1 spot belonged to me this time, wtf, had booked a table at le bernardin

First reaction: *smh*... ;)

Really though, I'm surprised that given the wealth of Mtn G0ats love in the last 10 years, Pfork didn't find any room in the 101-200 range for "Cubs in Five," "Going to Georgia," or something along those lines.

I've never heard anything by Pavement. I guess they don't make dance or rap or techno or any other type of good music?

stfu moron

they're rap

^^^

I'm listening to "Gold Soundz" now... It sounds kinda like Soul Asylum, but with less gift for melody. Weren't these kind of bands dime a dozen in the 90s? What makes this one so special?

I think it's really funny pavement is at #1 - it's like p4k was all "we've really changed guys, we're trying to cover a lot more bases and acknowledge a lot of music we know we haven't really covered before.... SYKE"

at which point they dump the bucket full of pig's blood onto carrie.

And what's with the "z"? Clearly they're not rap.

Tuomas to thread: "I wish you were many thousands of posts longer"

haha actually "Gold Soundz" vs. "Runaway Train" would have been a good poll too

"It sounds kinda like Soul Asylum, but with less gift for melody"

this would be A+ trolling if tuomas wasn't the kindly incontinent uncle everyone pats on the head of ilx trolls.

Tuomas to thread: "I wish you were many thousands of posts longer"

New board description.

haha actually "Gold Soundz" vs. "Runaway Train" would have been a good poll too

I can still hum "Runaway Train" even though it's been 15 years since I last heard it - I doubt "Gold Soundz" would have the same quality. Basically, when you sound like a million other rock bands and your lyrics are just a bunch of forgettable metaphors, catchy melodies are the only thing that make you stand out. At least Soul Asylum had that.

tuomas killin it itt

I can still hum "Runaway Train" even though it's been 15 years since I last heard it

I can still remember what it felt like when I was riding my skateboard on my belly and I ended up eating the curb, but I hope I never actually experience that again just like I hope I never hear "Runaway Train" again even though yeah I can still hum it

tuomas i can still sing every word to gold soundz whereas all i remember of soul asylum at this point is that dave pirner's dick drove winona ryder to shoplifting so ymmv.

I'm not trying troll here, I'm genuinely interested if there was some special quality that made this band stand out? Because I don't here any in this song, supposedly the #1 of the decade.

(xx-post)

There's no such thing as a #1 song of any decade. Polls apply an inappropriate model to reality so the estimates are always going to be off. Woah.