ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2020

77 answers (of 77)

77 trombones

The notion of going back to 100 in an era of fewer voters seems wrong-headed

Always thought that if you hang out here for more than a week, you'll usually 'get' 77 (whether that's more getting it or less getting it is up to the individual doing ~research~).

"It's always been 77" suffices by this point.

77 seems always perfect imo
50 too little and 100 just would feel like cannon fodder for the first dozen picks or so, especially on albums

XP: LOL. It's not clear to me after... 18 years or something. Admittedly I wasn't even vaguely curious before recent hours. Sorry everyone. Please forget I raised it.

The hidden board, whose ID number was indeed 77, was discovered by one ILXor it before it was made available to the public when he went through every board ID in the URL until he came across it. This event, and the subsequent debate over the existence and use of the board was so memorable that the board was named 77 and the number itself became an ILX meme.

And there I assumed there was some clever maths reason for it.

Were there only 77 ballots this year

or more than that?

I had also wondered if 77 (incl the hidden board's name) had something to do with punk rock before it was explained to me a couple of years ago. I didn't know there had been debate about it and tbh don't even really understand what happened, technically.

let's get this show on the road, shall we?

It’s the first track of the 77, but will this be our much-beloved disco soul artist’s last spin under the magic mirror ball? Signs point to no...

Hopefully someone will come and post #77 in a minute and we can stop talking about this forever

Omg xp thank you haha

https://i.imgur.com/Njgz4Og.png

#77: Jessie Ware - “What’s Your Pleasure?” - 134 points - 4 votes - 1 #1 Track Vote
video

Jessie Ware: What's Your POLLeasure? (2020)
Jessie Ware - 110% (and everything else she's done)

good placement

P cool that it is the product of two primes.

cool that no. 77 has a no. 1 vote

Jessie gonna bottom the singles and top the albums...versatility, folks

ooh them graphics! <3

Let's get this show on the road properly: Jessie Ware makes incredibly boring music

graphics are once again hot thanks moka

this song title always makes me think of mufasa

oh wait im thinking of “remember where you are”

lmao Simon

My new shout for joint-78 is Fiona Apple btw

i didn't end up voting for any jessie ware tracks bc the album is so consistent it would be very hard to choose. if i did vote for one it wouldn't have been this but it's still a very good track

album is consistent sure but nothing on it rises to the level of “career highlight” for me. not even the mufasa song.

at least half would be career highlights i'd say actually

I've heard this song twice in the wild in the last week.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81nM4Sw%2B9yL._SY355_.jpg

the graphics of the NOW series remain something to aspire to, but that’s very classy stuff, Moka!

as for Jessie: I’ve always loved her, and yet I didn’t feel moved enough to vote for anything she did this year (hinting at the album here, sorry)

looks like that song came joint 5th in the poll of the album - i guess at least a couple more will show up

that's a good looking banner

jessie: never caught my attention

Great start (both the graphics and the first song of the countdown)!

LJs dismissal of Jessie Ware hurts my feelings.

Our first tie of the 77 comes early.

https://i.imgur.com/HgxTi3P.png
#75 (tie): Destroyer - “Cue Synthesizer” - 136 points - 4 votes
video

destroyer
Destroyer "Have We Met" out 1/31/20

ooh i voted for this one!

man this album came out a year ago

I have fond memories of walking around a crowded downtown listening to this near my now permanently closed office. It definitely is weird that this was less than a year ago.

The only knowledge I have of Destroyer comes from ILM polls.

ditto

it will very likely remain that way

you're missing out!

Whereever you are

over the past 15 or so years, my experience with Destroyer has been super consistent: i listen to 1 to 3 tracks off whatever the new album is, find them basically okay but uninspiring then completely forget what both they and he sound like within the hour.
(NB that with a handful of key exceptions, this is the same level of engagement i have with lou reed so i am well aware that ymmv)

Would it have been too obvious to actually cue the instruments when he calls them out?

xp but he's being all meta and extra-cynical on this one, it's about being old and jaded!

I still think Rubies is the only really great Destroyer album; this one didn't click with me at all.

Cool video. Very 2020 vibe for something presumably shot before a certain contagion was even isolated.

This next track, for better and worse, is likely to outlast us all as the key Zoomer memento mori anthem of 2020. The nearest Gen-X cultural analog to my ears is Beck’s “Loser.” Given that this one-hit wonder(?) is similarly bound to be dug up and covered a half dozen times before 2030, maybe it’s best to make your peace with it now.

https://i.imgur.com/HgLHIy7.png
#75 (tie): BENEE with “Gus Dapperton” - “Supalonely” - 136 points - 4 votes
video

rolling pop 2020

singles jukebox

Yeah the entire New Pornographers cinematic universe is theoretically stuff I should like/love, but none of its various franchises ever keep my attention. A flaw of my own, I imagine, because I know people love it.