Top 120 Songs Under 120 Seconds (ILM Poll #95)

Karl I believe there was an extensive discussion on a Joy Division thread recently about that very issue

It’s just kind of weird to specifically mention a person who is very prominent in their contemporary punk scene, just before launching into a song explicitly about nazi punks

xp thanks sleeve I’ll try to track it down later!

i always thought the martin hannett reference was a non-sequitur

It probably is! But it’s kinda like inserting the line “This is dedicated to Shaq” just before launching into “tall basketball players fuck off”

yeah i get that *removes opening lyric from my song about tall basketball players*

Bonus Napalm Death cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzoebhQ7hjQ

https://i.imgur.com/8K2kS9o.jpg
73. Super Furry Animals - God! Show Me Magic (1:50)
0.4173 points
6 votes

hell yeah

while working on this poll i have come to the conclusion that the mid to late 90s was a very, VERY bad time for publicity/PR photos for bands. especially in the UK. holy shit, there are a lot of really bad photos of 4 dudes standing around with their arms crossed while the lead man looks straight at the camera (or vice versa)

hahaha

it's gonna be fun to blow through the Spotify list later, thanks for the link

https://i.imgur.com/L5UpKAo.jpg
72. De La Soul - Transmitting Live from Mars (1:12)
0.4188 points
7 votes

that SFA press photo could be very easily improved by photoshopping richard d. james' head over each of the bandmembers'

the SFA photo above is literally be most flattering picture of them i could find on the internet - their PR photos are insanely bad, every single one of them

same with cardiacs and other acts that will feature later in this poll.

afaict in the mid-90s the whole slacker ethos expanded beyond the music and started to infect the entire industry. everyone was just like "guess we gotta do this dumb photo", even the photographer. "wanna just stand there and talk for a minute? it'll only take like 15 seconds....ook...now, whoever sings, just look at me like a weirdo - thanks, perfect. that one's out of focus...and none of you are wearing loud plastic adidas pants that make swishswish noises when you walk eh, fuck it. thanks guys, we're done."

what i really like about this poll that it encompasses so many different styles and times. it is like a tour de force around the world of pop in a couple of hours if you take the top 120. another band i didn't really care about a lot before has been discusssed already, the byrds. i voted for another song which totally knocked me out. that full jangly rickenbacker sound is so phantastic and must have influenced most guitar bands from later on which i love. like the feelies, the smiths, the house of love, green on red etc. i hope the other song still places, it is a golden guitar tune.

idk if i'd ever heard that SFA song before, but i'm pretty sure it's the catchiest song i've ever heard in my life

This poll is awesome. I want a downloadable playlist of the final results (I wonder what will the total runtime be?).

My SFA vote was Drygioni

https://i.imgur.com/SoR89JL.jpg
71. Sebadoh - License to Confuse (1:46)
0.4263 points
7 votes

great one

really a standout track on Bakesale and a great opening track as well

idk if i'd ever heard that SFA song before, but i'm pretty sure it's the catchiest song i've ever heard in my life

― to halve and half not (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 9 April 2019 20:23 (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://i.imgur.com/mJ0iWaV.jpg
70. Daft Punk - Nightvision (1:44)
0.4281 points
7 votes

That is a purty image.

since the de la track isnt on spotify, here is the youtube https://youtu.be/U5TDufRDGDU
kind of a random song to place tbh.

always happy to see SFA win new converts

I know SFA mostly through their Songbook Vol 1, which means either I’ve definitely heard GSMM before and wrote it off for some reason, or I accidentally downloaded a copy without that song

https://i.imgur.com/2r9Mhpt.jpg
69. The Zombies - The Way I Feel Inside (1:49)
0.4419 points
6 votes (1)

Either way, glad I know it and like it now

that daft punk song is pretty nondescript huh. its a nice wash of sounds but idk.

yeah, to me it feels like the obligatory inclusion of the short track from a classic album

Damn, wish I'd remembered this Zombies song.

yeah, to me it feels like the obligatory inclusion of the short track from a classic album

― to halve and half not (voodoo chili), Tuesday, April 9, 2019 1:28 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same w de la track

zombies song is gorgeous

there's a youtube version of nightvision that repeats it for 10 hours, designed for falling asleep. pretty nice and basic remix imo

same w de la track

― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Tuesday, April 9, 2019 3:31 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's a few 3 feet high shorties that would've made a lot more sense imo.

i can't believe you don't know "dang me!"

yesterday I got, for the first time, a joke from Good Morning Vietnam, a film I saw 32 years ago

https://i.imgur.com/lyumT4V.jpg
68. Yo La Tengo - Return to Hot Chicken (1:40)
0.4449 points
8 votes

i am entering commute hell, will resume the rest of the countdown to #61 when i get back

The Way I Feel Inside is heavenly. Gave it a bag of points

Transmitting Live From Mars is one of my favorite tracks on that first De La Soul album, possibly my favorite.

I hadn't really considered this YLT song but the instrumental disc of Genius+Love might be my favorite "album" of theirs.

while working on this poll i have come to the conclusion that the mid to late 90s was a very, VERY bad time for publicity/PR photos for bands. especially in the UK. holy shit, there are a lot of really bad photos of 4 dudes standing around with their arms crossed while the lead man looks straight at the camera (or vice versa)

enjoying Karl's conclusion that Cian was the lead man in SFA

also you don't need good posing skills when you're sitting on a whole fucking tank that you've painted blue and driven to the gig to blast techno out of have Pete Fowler

Omg Zombies TOO LOW

i can hear the heart beating as one is such a sprawling and epic album that it can be easy to ignore 'return to hot chicken,' but it really does set a mood and it's very pretty in its own right.

"The Way I Feel Inside" was one of my best discoveries from the nominees playlist, and it fell - ooh, let's see - nine places short of my final fifty. Ditto Solange's "Rise", which was three places below that.

that daft punk track is about the most silent and atmospheric i have ever heard by them. somehow i expect at every second that this turns into a song by chicago. quite nice stuff, could listen to it for a whole night long.

The Way I Feel Inside was my number 1 without a second hesitation. I heard it first when I was 16 (through Von Trier and Vinterberg's 'Dear Wendy' of all things...) and never didn't listen to The Zombies after that. It is such an easy and devastating little song. Blunstone's voice is so haunting, and the little introduction of the organ comes so late and the sparseness is so beautiful. So, wow.