have always struggled to understand why people like that song as much as they do - the changes are nice and there's a turn of phrase or two but there's also "it's on america's tortured brow / mickey mouse has grown up a cow"
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 22 August 2016 12:22 (eight years ago) link
i'm the biggest fan of Prince's self-titled album but "I Wanna Be Your Lover" is not one of the ten best songs of the '70s, that's way more of a ridiculous response to a recent death than Bowie at #1 imo
― Best Beloved Trump-Pence (some dude), Monday, 22 August 2016 12:24 (eight years ago) link
i think my views on lists as a whole are pretty well known but furrowing your brow about why "Life on Mars" might end up at the top of one of these things is just daft posturing
― Herodotus Reading (Noodle Vague), Monday, 22 August 2016 12:27 (eight years ago) link
some #1 singles of the 70s: Neil Young, "Heart of Gold." The Jackson Five, "ABC" and "I Want You Back." The Temptations, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Stevie Wonder, "Superstition." Roberta Flack, "Feel Like Makin' Love." Dionne Warwick & the Spinners, "Then Came You." Earth, Wind & Fire, "Shining Star." David Bowie, "Fame." Michael Jackson, "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." Blondie, "Heart of Glass."
Life on Mars peaked at #12. Yeah Noodle you're right, it's a total lock for best single of the decade, how could anybody be at all surprised that it'd rank above those
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 22 August 2016 12:38 (eight years ago) link
waiting for a redditor to c/p the list in text format, guessing you'll get a cool playlist from excluding all overlap with acclaimed music's aggregated list http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/Current/1970-79s.htm
― niels, Monday, 22 August 2016 12:41 (eight years ago) link
JC come the fuck on where i have said "IT'S CLEARLY THE GREATEST THING EVER" or even that I'd pick it over a kajillion other things?
just saying - voting demographic, site demographic, necro-nostalgia, a v. popular slightly maudlin slightly epic ballad, these things are not mysterious
all lists that aren't predicated on being individual, personal and transitory are the height of bullshit - that's the game
― Herodotus Reading (Noodle Vague), Monday, 22 August 2016 12:47 (eight years ago) link
Life on Mars is a British song, and went to #3 in Britain. Not everything revolves around the US.
― Frederik B, Monday, 22 August 2016 12:49 (eight years ago) link
half a degree in a given direction and this is some bollocks like "Stairway to Heaven" or "Bohemian Rhapsody", why would an indie-ish internet music site's "best of the 70s" poll thing have anything to do with merit or history or my or your personal predilections?
having said this i would like to distance myself from Fred because clearly everything does revolve around the US
― Herodotus Reading (Noodle Vague), Monday, 22 August 2016 12:50 (eight years ago) link
Wow, "Hammond Song"... I don't think I've heard this before.
― jmm, Monday, 22 August 2016 12:54 (eight years ago) link
lol where is Stairway on this list anyway
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 22 August 2016 12:59 (eight years ago) link
As always with pitchfork or any other list, the first 100 songs are way more interesting than the top 100.
Too many token 70s tracks from 80s bands on the list and I love I Wanna Be Your Lover but it's hardly a top 15 Prince song let alone song of the 70s
― you think Lou Bega gave up after Mambo Number One??? (voodoo chili), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:01 (eight years ago) link
no Aretha!
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:02 (eight years ago) link
On one hand I'm not surprised because Pitchfork has tried to form its own counter-canon comprised of equal parts familiarity and woven from the most acceptable parts of punk and disco; this leads to oddities like fucking Dinosaur, whom I love but no way does "Kiss Me Again" belong on this list, in part because no one heard it in 1970-whatever.
On the other hand, it still leaves them gasping for air because no counter-canon would be complete without the one-offs and oddballs that characterize any decade: "In the Summertime," Jim Croce, "Sweet City Woman," etc. And, you know, country was crossing over in the '70s. Loretta Lynn's "The Pill" is an ideal Pitchfork song because It Breaks the Mold but not the Conway Twitty duet "After the Fire is Gone. But not Don Williams. But not "The Fightin' Side of Me." And so on.
It makes more sense for Pitchfork to compile a 100 Best Disco Songs. At least it'll force them to dig through crates.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:07 (eight years ago) link
man yeah Jim Croce was such an essential sound of the early/mid-seventies, you can't really fully tell the story of the decade without one or two of those tunes
― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:21 (eight years ago) link
This list is way better than their recent 80s one, which seemed like it was expressly designed to annoy old Gen Xers like myself and shame us for not likeing Whitney Houston.
The big WTF placement was Anarchy in the UK at just 118, and not even having the insanely great Public Image make the list. And no Shake Some Action? Come on people!
A handful of obscurities I would have put on there to introduce to the youth: Saint Dominic's Preview - Van MorrisonThe Everlasting First - LoveI Bet You & Red Hot Mamma - FunkadelicSay It Ain't So Joe - Murray HeadBrother John - The Wild Tchoupitoulas
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 22 August 2016 13:22 (eight years ago) link
"Anarchy" is the worst Pistols single including the joke ones
― Herodotus Reading (Noodle Vague), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:29 (eight years ago) link
I was a child with no awareness of the Pistols whatsoever while they formally existed, but considering the breadth of that decade's music, 118 is actually a generous placement.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:30 (eight years ago) link
i predicted the no. 2 would be no.1, just bc the opening of "don't stop til you get enough," the way it evolves from the bassline and mj's whisper into this dense technicolor swirl, what a song, etc. "life on mars?" was sort of a shocker as i thought, of all bowie songs, "heroes" would take it.
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:40 (eight years ago) link
would've been great to read you or Eric H@rvey on "You Light Up My Life."
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:41 (eight years ago) link
ahaha that would've been amazing
the semi-impossibility of reflecting the breadth of the '70s is why my ballot was essentially "100 best disco songs" which of course also for the most part reflects where my taste is at at the moment
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:45 (eight years ago) link
you're not an imaginationless hack tbf
― imago, Monday, 22 August 2016 13:49 (eight years ago) link
sorry, pitchfork
― imago, Monday, 22 August 2016 13:50 (eight years ago) link
Nitpicking aside, 10 years ago this list would've been all proto-punk/punk/post-punk songs with obligatory nods to Fela, P-Funk and Joni Mitchell.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:50 (eight years ago) link
I'd really hoped to write about "Rock With You," as that's probably my favorite MJ song! Ah well.
― Crazy Eddie & Jesus the Kid (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:50 (eight years ago) link
So...that's progress. xp
otm
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 August 2016 13:54 (eight years ago) link
Wow, these guys really like Bowie, huh?
― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:02 (eight years ago) link
Almost as much as they hate prog!
― imago, Monday, 22 August 2016 14:05 (eight years ago) link
Dumbest inclusion on the whole list is that Donnie & Joe Emerson song that no one except the Emersons themselves ever heard in the actual 70s and is in no way top 200 material in any decade. It's a fucking meme.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:07 (eight years ago) link
as with most things i blame ariel pink
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:08 (eight years ago) link
it's a nice song, but yeah there are about a billion better soft rock classics that don't have the Pink seal of approval
― Number None, Monday, 22 August 2016 14:12 (eight years ago) link
although Ariel's own list would probably be pretty excellent tbh
― Number None, Monday, 22 August 2016 14:15 (eight years ago) link
The thing that bothered me most as I was going to bed last night, having just quickly looked through the list, was the absence of the Staple Singers. And, as Alfred pointed out above, no Aretha either.
On some days, I'm pretty sure the Staples are the greatest band to have ever existed.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:19 (eight years ago) link
xp Yeah Donnie and Joe is kind of a bullshit pick.
Also no Carole King. If they really wanted to shake some action they coulda thrown in more pop and AM Gold.
Lol if the list were made in 2001 it would have included "Ventura Highway" just because of that Janet single. There's always a "topical" quality to these lists, like NWA placing at #3 on the '80s list last August.
― billstevejim, Monday, 22 August 2016 14:29 (eight years ago) link
Also if it were made in 2001 it would have included "Tiny Dancer" because of Almost Famous.
― billstevejim, Monday, 22 August 2016 14:32 (eight years ago) link
If they really wanted to shake some action they would've listed "Shake Some Action" by the Flaming Groovies
(Maybe they did, I haven't look at the whole list)
― you think Lou Bega gave up after Mambo Number One??? (voodoo chili), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:32 (eight years ago) link
*looked
― you think Lou Bega gave up after Mambo Number One??? (voodoo chili), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:33 (eight years ago) link
Reddit is slow on getting a plain text version of the list available, and I'm sure as hell not going to do it.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:33 (eight years ago) link
No it's not there. I was trying to be clever by throwing that in.
― billstevejim, Monday, 22 August 2016 14:33 (eight years ago) link
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 22 August 2016 14:35 (eight years ago) link
if you need a scapegoat to blame whatever you want to blame on, it was my ballot. it was me, I did it
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Monday, 22 August 2016 15:33 (eight years ago) link
(either that or blame the mathematical impossibility of consensus picks to reflect your particular idiosyncrasies of taste, but the former is way easier)
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Monday, 22 August 2016 15:36 (eight years ago) link
You put Donnie & Joe Emerson on your ballot?
― MarkoP, Monday, 22 August 2016 15:36 (eight years ago) link
blame everything but that
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Monday, 22 August 2016 15:39 (eight years ago) link
We all know how consensus polls work, tbh. Overall, the final result was varied and diverse and not in any way embarrassing for anyone involved (well, except for the Emersons thing). I just think there were some shocking exclusions.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 22 August 2016 15:43 (eight years ago) link
https://twitter.com/1000TimesYes/status/767745011236601856
love how whiney has been at the cutting edge of painstakingly documenting every whim of millenial taste for like a decade now and is somehow SHOCKED JUST SHOCKED that Steely Dan can make it onto a p4k list in 2016
― flopson, Monday, 22 August 2016 15:54 (eight years ago) link
ha
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 22 August 2016 15:57 (eight years ago) link
TWO Steely Dan songs!
Apparently David Bowie is "in" now??!?!?!?
― the enigma of dagmar krause (wins), Monday, 22 August 2016 15:59 (eight years ago) link
nice to see the ILX love for Croce and Staples
I didn't read this list and have no plans to
― Οὖτις, Monday, 22 August 2016 16:04 (eight years ago) link