Cosign all you people saying "Back In Stride Again" should be here. Feel like with all the quiet storm faves this should have made it in. Also, that song is the motherfucking best.
― drown zoowap (The Reverend), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 04:20 (eight years ago) link
In other things:
Of course there will always be omissions but everybody else already posted their "I cant believe x isn't on the list!". So my two cents:
- I would have preferred if they had limited entries to only the most voted song per artist. It feels like almost half of the list is by the same artists. Maybe they deserve it but I would have preferred the other approach to see a more diverse list.
- There's some great surprises on the list particularly on the first half. Also some songs I didn't know which are amazing. Two favorite discoveries for me are Jungle Brothers and Egyptian Lover.
- Guns n Roses?... twice!? If you're going to do space in the list for douche-rock then having Ac/dc twice or something like Aerosmith would've been less annoying. At least those guys handle their douchiness with a tongue in cheek.
- Important omissions that noone cares about because it's not my list:
Songs that feel like 'pretty big deals in the 80s to me':
Tom Waits - anything from him would've been nice, really Julee Cruise - fallingGlenn Branca- lesson no 1A number of names - sharevariGrauzone - EisbarRheingold - Dreiklangs-dimensionenYoung Marble Giants - Final dayVisage - fade to greyRigheira - vamos a la playaAlexandre Robotnick - problemes d amourDie doraus and des marinas - fred vom jupiterLes rita mitsouko - marcia bailaBilly bragg - a new englandLiasions dangereuses - niños del parqueEnya - orinoco flow (yes, really!)
Songs that are more 'pop' and aren't important omissions but better than similar songs that did made it:The fixx - one thing leads to anotherHuman league - dont you want meThe flirts - passionPat Benatar would have been cool, too.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 04:49 (eight years ago) link
No pump up the jam is killing me. I honestly thought that was 1990
― mods = chickenshit idiots (D-40), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 05:25 (eight years ago) link
The other two, whatever
It hit in the UK in 1989 and in the US in 1990, so that might account for the overlooking of it.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 05:27 (eight years ago) link
smdh
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 05:28 (eight years ago) link
No way!
Pump up the volume > the other two pump songs.
I count pump up the jam as 90s in my mind.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 05:32 (eight years ago) link
either way it's also missing from their best 90s songs list.
Pump up the jam is way more timeless as dance floor material IMO
― mods = chickenshit idiots (D-40), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 05:34 (eight years ago) link
"I can't believe x isn't on the list!"
*makes joke, goes back to sleep*
― Hi, my name's David and I quit (wins), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 05:50 (eight years ago) link
has anyone mentioned how surprising the presence of the Alice Coltrane pick is? because it really is
― misterjoshua, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 06:03 (eight years ago) link
Yes the Alice Coltrane pick was a nice surprise. I was also surprised with the Nina Simone inclusion but in the opposite way, I think it's an unremarkable song of hers, yet still happy to see her. Both artists sound a tad out of place in the 80s though.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 06:15 (eight years ago) link
also whoa a Tatsuro Yamashita mention in the see also section for Never Too Much?! I'm so happy. Whoever was responsible for that... I love you. Also the only Japanese artist brought up here, no?
― misterjoshua, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 06:30 (eight years ago) link
I've totally committed the "Never Too Much" karaoke folly.
― drown zoowap (The Reverend), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 06:34 (eight years ago) link
I Wanna Be Adored is on both the 80's and 90's lists
― ufo, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 08:38 (eight years ago) link
I want to read the blurbs and discuss, but that takes a lot more time than commenting on just the list of tracks
but given p4k's role in modern music crit the list in itself is interesting, and probably works as some kind of new pop-political manifesto? even though this may be totally obvious choices for the new generation, I find it weird to have no Neil Young, Tom Waits, Lou Reed or Bob Dylan tracks when all those legends released some p good 80s stuff
― niels, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 08:52 (eight years ago) link
some fair points, well made http://www.collapseboard.com/music-blogs-3/considering-pitchforks-200-best-80s-songs/
― piscesx, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 11:46 (eight years ago) link
lotta otm stuff in that collapseboard piece imo
― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 12:42 (eight years ago) link
geeta wrote about the apple thing too the other day:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/aug/24/rolling-stones-greatest-songwriters-list-corporate-sponsorship-apple-music
― scott seward, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:13 (eight years ago) link
You know, when I looked at the list the first thing that caught my eye was the Apple thing. But whatevs on that front. I don't, however, think this list felt particularly clickbaity. Pitchfork has been doing this for years ('60s list was great), and the format and rollout remains (iirc) pretty much unchanged. I do like the idea that contemporary perspectives have skewed or revised past canon (I am old), but some things on here are inexplicable. Again, like "Purple Rain" at number 1 (is it because younger and more diverse writers listen to or hear Prince differently in 2015 than I did in 1984?) or the absence of college rock ringers (if only critics listened to the Go Betweens at their prime, who listens to them now?) or two GNRs or two Bowies/Replacements when one would have easily done, etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:36 (eight years ago) link
Hard to jump in this thread at this point, but the list itself didn't bother me much -- it had tons that frankly, I just wasn't familiar with, and usually that's a good thing in a list. I wish XTC was in there, and agree that on the can't-be-a-coincidence of NWA having 2 songs near the top (and I like them!) Seemed very white, indie-listener centric -- hardly a surprise coming from Pitchfork. I like the quote above regarding the notion of convincing a listener in 1995 that some Whitney Houston singles were better than the New Order ones or whatever. Not totally sure who gets zinged more by that.
The Apple Music stuff in the articles above is obviously troubling. Not even sure what to say about it, because people have said the same kind of stuff about Rolling Stone in the past, and to argue about it misses the point that as long as you have ANY advertising in journalism, you're opening the doors to diminished objectivity. It's a music site, and as any musician can tell you, you have to hustle to make the money work. Don't buy into everything you read, right?
― Dominique, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:42 (eight years ago) link
not seen the list but no senses working overtime?!
?!??!?!
― Yul Brynner playing table tennis with a deviled kidney (imago), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:45 (eight years ago) link
"Purple Rain" is an amazing song but it's not exactly a weird choice. It's the title song to his biggest movie, the one that all millenials saw last year at the art theater.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:45 (eight years ago) link
It's only weird that it's top of the list. Because as many (most?) would probably agree, it's not even the best song on that album.
xpost Don't forget Scott P. connection. Former Fork honco now works at Beats/Apple as their "editorial content manager." So there's a Fork/Apple/Dre connection all wrapped up in one person! Tin hats on.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:48 (eight years ago) link
"Where Is My Mind" also placing high, also the one Pixies song from a big movie.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:49 (eight years ago) link
"not seen the list but no senses working overtime?!"
it made my new and improved list.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:50 (eight years ago) link
as did fade to grey and eisbaer since someone mentioned them...
Also, regarding the bit in the Collapseboard article on NWA's lyrics -- this is par for the course as far as I can see. The things about music that get passed on to the next generation are aesthetic in nature, not content. When you look at Whitney Houston singles placing high, think of the indie acts who make shiny, drum-machine driven synth pop and soul. They're not singing about "I wanna dance with somebody who loves me", they're singing "I wanna dance to lose myself in myself because I hate myself so I love myself". Keep the music's aesthetic that you like, but use your own life's perspective.
haha not actual lyrics of course
― Dominique, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 13:55 (eight years ago) link
just read the list
where's the freaky shit? apart from 'o superman' there's little that's particularly odd. no diamanda galas, no foetus, no c******s. do pitchfork just not care about weird music any more?
my other complaint is that 'west end girls' is too low
― Yul Brynner playing table tennis with a deviled kidney (imago), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 14:14 (eight years ago) link
oh and there wasn't a single track off Rio. BAD PITCHFORK
― Yul Brynner playing table tennis with a deviled kidney (imago), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link
From collapseboard piece:
Then there’s the writing, which pretty much sticks to the tight, clenched ‘I’ve heard every note of recorded music ever made and will now evaluate it from up on high’ style I find so grating on that site. For example, someone writes in the entry for ‘Ceremony’ that New Order ‘wouldn’t find their creative footing for a few more years’ as if it were the most obvious thing in the world instead of a (hugely) subjective opinion
That's a bit harsh, but can relate to this a lot - p4k 500 book is an infuriating/impossible read bcz of this
― niels, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link
pfork lists are never particularly "weird" (including the reasonable/safe #1 choice)
― nashwan, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 14:18 (eight years ago) link
ugh the worst example of the disconnect btwn matter-of-factly tone and bullshit (or at least highly contestable) opinion is anything music-related on Vox.
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 14:28 (eight years ago) link
didn't know Chris Ott changed his name.
― Van Horn Street, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 14:31 (eight years ago) link
They picked the wrong side of the Run-DMC single.
― drown zoowap (The Reverend), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:37 (eight years ago) link
otm
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:50 (eight years ago) link
had a giggle that the artwork was for the jason nevins remix
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 15:58 (eight years ago) link
looks like they changed it now
― da croupier, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:01 (eight years ago) link
lol
― dyl, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:03 (eight years ago) link
"Walk this way" (the definite run dmc one) would have been better than guns n roses.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:11 (eight years ago) link
tru, especially the farther back the time period they are covering. i think once they wrote something like 'there wasn't as much music released back then!' to semi-explain why all their selections were chart hits and/or from predictable artists for one of these things, which, lol, i don't think is even true??
― dyl, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:14 (eight years ago) link
If anything it's the song that got half of the 80s into hiphop.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:14 (eight years ago) link
Good call. Too bad they aren't making a documentary on Run DMC.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
i think once they wrote something like 'there wasn't as much music released back then!' to semi-explain why all their selections were chart hits and/or from predictable artists for one of these things, which, lol, i don't think is even true??
Yeah it would be better to say 80s and 90s lists can be more hit-filled because there were far more hits then than before or after and that means there were more unusual-sounding (however you interpret it) hits too.
― nashwan, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:20 (eight years ago) link
Maybe they could explain it as "we would have included these more obscure songs but it turns out Apple Music didn't have them in their library"
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:22 (eight years ago) link
But yeah the hitmachines of the 80s and part of the 90s were pretty forward-thinking compared to the past decades. Can you imagine a song like 'O Superman' being pushed as a single and actually becoming a hit in this day and age?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:25 (eight years ago) link
Naw the Run-DMC pick should have been "Sucker MCs" because it completely changed what hip-hop sounded like instead of just convincing white people to listen to it.
― drown zoowap (The Reverend), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:28 (eight years ago) link
^ this
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:35 (eight years ago) link
The Walk This Way collab did more for Aerosmith's rep than it did for Run DMC's.
We can have both. Run DMC is way more deserving of two spots than NWA.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:35 (eight years ago) link