Has The NME Got Good?

if anything the scene kids are a bawhair away from being corny undie mfers anyway, the mainstream guys just seem to randomly dig whatever's vaguely crossed over plus odd stuff from god knows where. any yes Hull is high on the list of Least Urban cities in the Yoo Kay too.

yeah i wouldn't be surprised xp....i mean some of these names don't mean a lot to me

a hoy hoy is clearly through the looking glass itt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOkeYyrwB6g

lol I think we've got an EP of theirs lying somewhere round the house

these are like standard "100 best hip hop records ever" records btw, so let's not act like ahoy is totally crazy. nme kids prob haven't heard any queensbridge hip hop but u still don't put illmatic in the issue u present as secret sounds.

they didn't put illmatic in iirc

also (i've said this elsewhere) the list has 'the marble index' and xtc and the go-betweens and felt so it isn't *that* obscure

the argument "nme kids haven't hear this" mayne

nah that's quibbling. "secret sounds" to their readership is a different thing. moaning about the NME's choice of music coverage is like getting radge cos X Factor doesn't have enough chillwave acts on it.

and yeah it's uk-centric and honestly in the mid-90s queensbridge rap, it wasn't a thing a whole lot of nme readers or writers read or wrote about

the problem itt appears to be that it's an nme list full of music ilx people actually like

nas has had chart hits in the uk, mobb deep didn't. that's just how it was.

also they'd purged all the journos that gave a shit about Hip Hop by '91

these are like standard "100 best hip hop records ever" records btw

apart from all the 00s lost-in-the-landfill indie on there a majority of the list is pretty standard "100 best [genre] records ever" records - doesn't mean most of the world knows or cares about them

Is this list linked anywhere so that I don't have to buy the NME to know what you're talking about?

01.Clor <Clor>2005
02.Performance <(we are) Performance>2007
03.Jenny Wilson <love and youth >2005
04.Leadbelly <last session>1948
05.the shaggs <philosophy of the world > 1969
06.the wipers < is this real > 1980
07.young marble giants <colossal youth>1980
08.shonen knife <burning farm > 1983
09.jad fair <great expectations >1989
10.Felt <forever breathes the lonely word >1986
11.john phillips<john , the wolfking of LA >1970
12.bad brains <roir >1982
13.atlas strategic <that's familiar >2002
14.jonathan richman and the modern lovers <modern lovers 88> 1988
15.the electric prunes <underground >1967
16.the television personalities <they could have been bigger than the beatles >1982
17.the red crayola <the parable of arable land > 1967
18.love <da capo>1967
19.euphoria <a gift from euphoria > 1969
20.the field mice < skywriting >1990
21.satisfact <the unwanted sounds of satisfact >1996
22.eliane radigue <adnos 1-3>1975-1983
23.the zombies <odessey and oracle >1968
24.the associates <sulk >1982
25.magazine <real life > 1978
26.pop levi <the return to form black majick party > 2007
27.jay farrar / benjamin gibbard <one fast move or im gone :kerouac's big sur >2009
28.floraline <floraline > 1999
29.arthur russell <calling out of context > 2004
30.mccarthy <i am a wallet >1987
31.cluster < zuckerzeit >1974
32.the prisoners < thewisermiserdemelza>1983
33.the cardigans <long gone before daylight >2003
34.60ft dolls <the big 3>1996
35.thomas dolby <the flat earth >1984
36.jeffrey lee pierce <wildweed >1985
37.simple minds <reel to real cacophony >1979
38.ABC<beauty stab >1983
39.the bodines <played >1987
40.john cale <fear >1974
41.cocteau twins < heaven or las vegas>1990
42.crass <the feeding of the 5000>1978
43.eater <the album >1977
44.the dancing did <and did those feet >1982
45.organisation < tone float >1970
46.LFO <frequencies>1991
47.boards of canada < twoism>1995
48.motorbass <pansoul >1996
49.position normal <goodly time >2000
50.freestyle fellowship < innercity griots >1993
51. all night radio < spirit stereo frequency >2004
52.chick corea <my spanish heart >1976
53.nico < the marble index>1969
54.queen <queen >debut album
55.the kossoy sisters <bowling green >1956
56.the germs < GI >1979
57.orphan boy < shop local >2008
58.the pretty things < sf sorrow >1968
59.cardinal < cardinal >1994
60.the red devils < king king >1992
61.michael hurley< have moicy > 1976
62.jens lekman < night falls over kortedala >2007
63.curtis mayfield < curtis live !>1971
64.lizzy mercier descloux< mambo nassau >2003
65.XTC <white music >1978
66.serge gainsbourg < you're under arrest >1987
67.the for carnation <the for carnation >2000
68.jarcrew <jarcrew >2003
69.studio < west coast >2007
70.huggy bear < our troubled youth >1992
71.this heat <deceit >1981
72.superstar <palm tree>1997
73.skinnyman <council estate of mind >2004
74.jeffrey foucault <ghost repeater>2006
75.mclusky < mclusky do dallas >2002
76.suicide 1977
77.suicide 1980
78.the prids < chronosynclastic >2010
79.moebius and plank <rastakraut pasta >1980
80.fleetwood mac < mirage >1982
81.howlin' wolf < this howling wolf's new ablum , he doesn's like it . he didn'g lke his electric guitar at first either >1969
82.edgar 'jones' jones < soothing music for stray cats >2005
83.smif -n-wessun <dah shinin ' >1995
84.PETE ROCK AND CL SMOOTH < MECCA AND THE SOUL BROTHER >1992
85.DIAMOND D <STUNTS BLUNTS AND HIP HOP>1992
86.MOBB DEEP <THE INFAMOUS >1995
87.BRAND NUBIAN < ONE FOR ALL >1990
88.SHIT AND SHINE< JEALOUS OF SHIT AND SHINE >2006
89.90 DAY MEN < CRITICAL BAND >2000
90.SANDY DENNY AND THE STRAWBS < ALL OUR OWN WORK>1973
91.FANNY <MOTHER 'S PRIDE >1973
92.THE GO-BETWEENS <16 LOVERS LANE >1988
93.THE WALKMEN <YOU AND ME >2008
94.JUNIOR BOYS < SO THIS IS GOODBYE >2006
95.FIGHT CLUB < CAT FARM FABOO >1984
96.BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB < HOWL >2005
97.SUN RA < THE HELIOCENTRIC WORLDS OF SUN DA >1965
98.JACKIE MCLEAN AND MACHAEL CARVIN < ANTIQUITY >1974
99.morrissey < bona drag >1990
100. the buff medways < steady the buff >2002

― BIG HOOTY aka the Sapperticker (electricsound),

Oh for god's sake. Anyone seriously arguing that this list is too obvious or not obscure enough is an idiot.

The Clor record at #1 is, Love & Pain aside, pretty awful though.

I might actually go and buy the NME this week to reward them for putting West Coast in there though.

you'd have to be a beast not to like The Shaggs but I rilly don't think we need any more shmindie bands being influenced by them.

Anyway fuck polling this but I think the Black Rebel Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club made me laugh longest and hardest.

Don't think the list was really ranked- when I flicked through, it was presented as "Mark Ronson's hip hop 5", "MGMT are a bit psychedelic, so here's their 10" sort of idea.

Why should the NME readers need to check out some of the weakest albums by XTC, ABC and Queen?

"Odessey & Oracle" is the only classic in that list btw, with "The Flat Earth" probably the closest otherwise (Thomas Dolby's classic was his debut album though).

what don't you like about young marble giants?

Worst album by Simple Minds up there too. This is really pointless, really. Why couldn't they have recommended "The Lexicon Of Love" and "New Gold Dream Instead". Or "Alphabet City", for that matter, which is a much better album than "Beauty Stab" and yet not at all in the "canon"?

lexicon of love was given away as a free .flac download to suicidegirls subscribers so most nme readers have already heard it

Then, "Alphabet City" would be the one. Or "How To Be a Zillionaire". Both really good and underrated pop albums, unlike the horrible "Beaty Stab", on which "SOS" was the only decent song.

Geir, why do you care what NME does? It's not like it will influence anyone in Norway.

Actually a lot of Norwegians read NME. We hardly have music mags here at all (market for rock specialist mags just not big enough) so we are stuck with the English and American ones. And NME/Q/Mojo/Select sell considerably better here than Rolling Stone/Spin.

Was giving a lift in my car to a couple of 22-year-old students from Manchester over Christmas, both of whom were pretty cool, highly web-literate ect. One asked "is this the Smiths?" when Bigmouth came on the stereo and the other thought the intro to It's My Life heralded a Gwen Stefanu tune. I guess the romantic in me loves the potential effect this list could have on them, especially given that it can be accessed without needing to risk precious ££ as would have been the case when I was a nipper.

the intro to It's My Life heralded a Gwen Stefanu tune

i only realised the no doubt version of this wasn't the original a few months ago! (i have never heard the original.)

it's funny, in this thread, seeing how people are still holding a candle for the nme (or their idea of what the nme should be)

i think it ties into a need that some fans have for a canonical "paper of record", plus nostalgia for being 17? bollocks to it all tho.

yeah both that need and that nostalgia are basically super lol to me

Having the Prisoners on there almost redeems the rest of the list.

btw 17 year olds have seen 8 Mile, they know what fucking Shook Ones is.

these are like standard "100 best hip hop records ever" records btw

apart from all the 00s lost-in-the-landfill indie on there a majority of the list is pretty standard "100 best [genre] records ever" records - doesn't mean most of the world knows or cares about them

― Scilk Mahouthy (DJ Mencap), Monday, January 3, 2011 4:13 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

so why even fucking bother?

yeah, everyone who saw that movie from 2002 looked up the names of the songs

i think it ties into a need that some fans have for a canonical "paper of record", plus nostalgia for being 17? bollocks to it all tho.

― Shanty! Shanti! Shanté! (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, January 4, 2011 8:15 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

idk some people want to read informed opinion about pop music? that's the idea. same way that people still read newspapers when they could just read "citizen journalists". or when their boiler's broken they call in a plumber. otherwise you're left with, well, uninformed opinion.

and bought the soundtrack iirc

the intro to It's My Life heralded a Gwen Stefanu tune

It's not that 'lol', they are virtually identical.

think she meant "they thought the song was by gwen stefani"

Poor Dr Alban.

some people want to read informed opinion about pop music?

yeah sure but was talking more about why people care about the NME as a "we cover everything equally well" icon rather than letting a thousand specialist comics bloom. valuing the NME in 2010 is a bit like thinking it's still 1975 in terms of how pop works and is consumed? obv the Free Market is evil but if there was that much call for well-written analysis of all strands of contemporary pop in one digestible weekly then there'd be a paper full of brilliant professional journos supplying that need?

can't claim to know everything on that list, but these are impeccable:

04. leadbelly < last session> 1948
05. the shaggs < philosophy of the world > 1969
06. the wipers < is this real > 1980
07. young marble giants < colossal youth > 1980
08. shonen knife < burning farm > 1983
12. bad brains < bad brains (roir cassette) > 1982
17. the red crayola < the parable of arable land > 1967
18. love < da capo > 1967
23. the zombies < odessey and oracle > 1968
29. arthur russell < calling out of context > 2004
31. cluster < zuckerzeit > 1974
35. thomas dolby < the flat earth > 1984
40. john cale < fear > 1974
42. crass < the feeding of the 5000 > 1978
45. organisation < tone float > 1970
53. nico < the marble index > 1969
54. queen < queen > 1973
56. the germs < GI > 1979
58. the pretty things < sf sorrow > 1968
61. michael hurley < have moicy > 1976
63. curtis mayfield < curtis live! > 1971
64. lizzy mercier descloux < mambo nassau > 2003
65. XTC < white music > 1978
66. serge gainsbourg < you're under arrest > 1987
69. studio < west coast > 2007
71. this heat < deceit > 1981
75. mclusky < mclusky do dallas > 2002
76. suicide < suicide > 1977
79. moebius and plank < rastakraut pasta > 1980
80. fleetwood mac < mirage > 1982
81. howlin' wolf < this howling wolf's new album, he doesn't like it. he didn't like his electric guitar at first either. > 1969
86. mobb deep < the infamous > 1995
88. shit and shine < jealous of shit and shine > 2006
97. sun ra < the heliocentric worlds of sun ra > 1965

good list

i.e. in terms of "paper of record" I'm not playing the "bloggers can do everything paid journos can do" game but I am suggesting that somebody dropped the canon down the stairs and now it's all in bits and the NME in the Tweenties represents a slightly Quixotic effort at sellotaping all those bits back together.

better than nothing imo. sorry i mean 'better than pitchfork'.

It is a good list, and the fact that they would even approach this sort of thing means that the Conor Mc era is well over and thank god. (It's clearly an issue made up at their leisure to be produced during the office closure over christmas)

A couple years ago, they asked for 'readers' to make up a 'focus group', I couldn't go but I do have to say they've done all the things I would have suggested.

To be fair though, there was a long period where loads of Music mags closed, so even managing to keep the paper existing is something that gives credit to McNic, but if the product is lame it's not worth saving.

Now, the product is not lame. OK, I don't need a Pulp retrospective, but someone does. And they had better have a wonderful Beefheart tribute issue now, they've had plenty of time (due to the guy dying just after the christmas issue went to press)

apart from all the 00s lost-in-the-landfill indie on there a majority of the list is pretty standard "100 best [genre] records ever" records - doesn't mean most of the world knows or cares about them

― Scilk Mahouthy (DJ Mencap), Monday, January 3, 2011 4:13 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

so why even fucking bother?

― irish xmas caek, get that marzipan inta ya (a hoy hoy), Tuesday, 4 January 2011 09:40 (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

because most of the world doesn't know or care about them, but they should, because they are good. I'm not sure if I can break down the basic premise of this feature any more than that

i agree with that and i am enjoying flicking through new nme while bored on my work break. my problem was always with mark ronson than the nme btw. i remember him back when he'd go on about kool g rap records, now he seems to be almost shunning his hiphop background as if its beneath him. even his blurbs were just like 'couldn't you ask a black person, i cover smiths songs now fyi'.

Mark Ronson OTM on that last bit to be fair.