Pitchfork's P2k: The Decade in Music

489. Kano
"Reload It"
[679; 2005]

488. Jesu
"Silver"
[Hydra Head; 2006]

487. 65daysofstatic
"Music Is Music As Devices Are Kissing Is Everything"
[Monotreme; 2007]

51-100 is now up...

This list is so lol. It's like pfk is trying to mediate between the brand they've developed and the acknowledgment that the best singles of the decade have all been in hip-hop and R&B. Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Three 6 Mafia, Hot Chip, Aaliyah, The Knife... and then Animal Collective. The Killers, Kanye West, Junior Boys, and then Arcade Fire. Dr Dre followed immediately by Band of Horses. At least for me, the effect - especially as we move down the list - is that the list undermines all the indie music that pfm has stumped for over the last decade. It seems so silly. Is Band of Horses' "The Funeral" a better single than "Izzo," "A Milli" or even "Mr. Brightside?" I mean, it seems self-evident to me that it is not. Maybe an argument could be made for some of these indie bands placing albums at the top of the album list, but it's just bizarre seeing them next to actual singles.

Anyway, no new criticism, but at least IMHO, the discrepancy between these two things (the indie brand and actual pop singles) has never been as evident as this list, and I can only imagine it'll become moreso as it gets into the top 50. "White Winter Hymnal" versus "Cry Me a River..." It's kinda even weirder because I don't know what constitutes "White Winter Hymnal" as a single, and I know it certainly didn't have any kind of impact on music by contrast.

mordy is right but i like this recent installment way better than the previous ones, some good stuff like "gone" & "takeover" - "flashing lights" has always been overrated by the pfork set imo. it's the best song off his worse album but he has about 20 better ones.

this list is really weird to me because I've been writing about music--all kinds!--essentially this entire decade. And I couldn't hum 75% of the non-rap/R&B songs if you held a gun to my head. I totally feel like the Pfork staff has had a completely different decade than me! Maybe they have!

Don't get me wrong, it's not a criticism. But it's definitely speaking volumes about what happens when a generation/music industry gets attuned to thinking in terms of "tracks" instead of "singles."

i mean, The Germs released singles, so we all know what "Lexicon Devil" sounds like.

Wolf Parade "leaks a track" off an album, so I have no fucking clue what "I'll Believe in Anything" is.

I sent my mother (who grew up and did most of her foundational music listening during the 60s) the PFM 1960s best singles list. She recognized about 95% of the songs in the list (tho she admitted she had to listen to a number of them to remember them, she didn't always recognize them from the title alone). By contrast, I think I only recognize around 70%, or even less, of the music from this current list. Some of that obviously has to do with distance -- those 1960s tracks have had decades to circulate and who knows whether she could've replicate that in 1969. Also, as a billion words have been spilled, music isn't as hegemonic now, and there is so much stuff you can miss if you're not paying attention. But, those things said, I write about music, listen to tons and tons of music, and have been reading PFM for years (along with, on-and-off, Spin, Rollingstone, Blender, The Wire, Paste Magazine, these last couple years Idolator, etc). I wonder if some of the obscurity isn't a tad bit intentional. (Which isn't to say I have any problem with it -- I'm thrilled to learn about music I missed, and I'd feel disappointed if I recognized every track off the list) but it also strikes me as slightly disingenuous.

You might be reading into this a bit too much.. I'm pretty sure one person didn't decide upon the results..

What they have in common is that pitchfork loves these songs, and they have all been released since Jan 1st 2000.. I don't see any other huge connections.

"Paranoid" is better than "Flashing Lights."

I don't think it's some big conspiracy, and I think it could speak to a number of contributers who simultaneously appreciate big hooks and huge pop hits, and grew up with a website that built a reputation on obscure indie music. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but I don't think I'm "reading into" it to say that there's clearly two impulses at work in the list.

Ie: I don't buy that a person who voted for Wolf Parade's "I'll Believe in Anything" and Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At?" voted for them for the same reason (because they enjoy both). Presumably there was some thought put into the selection. (Of course, it could be that half the contributers voted for the big pop hits, and the other half voted for the obscure indie "tracks," but that would speak to the contradiction in a different way.)

I doubt it's a democracy, dude.

You might be reading into this a bit too much.. I'm pretty sure one person didn't decide upon the results..

I doubt it's a democracy, dude.

Either way.

Well someone had to break the 7-way ties eventually.

If lady gaga turns out on the top 50 I swear a little part of me will die forever.

This list is so lol. It's like pfk is trying to mediate between the brand they've developed and the acknowledgment that the best singles of the decade have all been in hip-hop and R&B.

Talking about 'p4k' as this sentient, decision-making being is pretty lol. It would be a lot more interesting if these sorta lists were made in a sweaty and violent 20 hour conference meeting where everyone had to agree on the final product, ya know? As if it were some congressional bill or something. Until then, there's no 'meaning' to the fact that Dr. Dre is followed by A Band of Horses - lots of people liked both songs, and a few people liked A Band of Horses a little more.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm not suggesting they intentionally put Dr. Dre next to A Band of Horses. I'm suggesting that - assuming they had some kind of vote - that there were a couple different ideas of what a single was, and that one idea is pretty strong (that a single is a memorable hit) and is undermining the other idea (that it's just a track I dig off an album).

Mordy:
It's easy to think of a site like PF as being this single-voiced monolith (especially when many of the writers bring a similar tone, esp. in blurbs), when in reality it's just a swath of individual specialists coming together and reporting from their neck of the woods. Like you, I'm sure a good portion of their writing staff is oblivious to artists and songs that are gushed about in neighboring PF circles, and their WTF Flags were flying high as well when they read that list.

I actually think pitchfork has been so successful, in part, because they're able to get such a diverse cast to bring a similar style and aesthetic to the site. The site's tone is very consistent.

x-post

That's in regard to your post about the list being obscure in places.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I'm not suggesting they intentionally put Dr. Dre next to A Band of Horses. I'm suggesting that - assuming they had some kind of vote - that there were a couple different ideas of what a single was, and that one idea is pretty strong (that a single is a memorable hit) and is undermining the other idea (that it's just a track I dig off an album).

I imagine the ilm list will look pretty similar in this sense!

Probably! It'll be equally bizarre. "Work It" is not a single in the same way that Wolf Parade is a single.

well, the poll says 'the top 500 tracks' - not 'the top 500 singles' (not that this should matter imo)

coming up on Pitchfork's top 50:

M.I.A. - Paper Planes
Outkast - Hey Ya!
YYYs - Maps
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Battles - Atlas
Daft Punk - Digital Love
The Knife - Heartbeats
Beyonce - Crazy in Love
Franz Ferdinand - Take me out
Mgmt - Kids
Crystal Castles - Crimewave
Panda Bear - Bros
Grouper - Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping
Animal Collective - My girls
Sufjan Stevens - Come on feel the ilinoise!

somehow I doubt outkast will make the top 10.. certainly not "hey ya"

either that or B.O.B. but I could bet you they'll make it to the top 10.

B.O.B. if anything

I'm kinda curious how they determined this list, since a lot of tracks seem like stand-in votes for the entire album. Like I don't remember "Hounds of Love" being a particularly break-through track on that Futureheads album, and it's a good song, but it's good in a way that a lot of the other songs are good. I'm curious why they decided to include one Futureheads song and picked that one, or whether a few people actually felt that was the definitive Futureheads single. (It seems like this in a couple places -- the Fleet Foxes song is another good example.) And if this is the case, and the track is standing in for the album instead of itself as an independent work, then I think it's fair to ask whether these tracks belong with these other singles.

either way this is bound to be the least interesting feature of the whole set.

I'm curious whether they decided to....

I could just be projecting, btw. I've been guilty of this in the past... trying to find a track to pick for my singles list off an album. I think I've even wiki'd an album I loved to find the track that was a single just so I could vote for it on the singles vote. I'm just not sure, even having done it myself, that it's the best approach.

"To Hell With Good Intentions" made the top 100.. I'm already happy.

I don't need to read another paragraph about how "Ignition (Remix)" changed everything.

Also coming up on Pitchfork's top 50:

Lcd soundsystem - someone great
Burial - Archangel
Hercules & love affair - Blind
The field - a paw in my face
Ratatat - Wildcat
Snoop dog - sensual seduction

"Hounds of Love" and "White Winter Hymnal" were the only songs I played from those albums after the hype died down. Hell, WWH is the only song I remember really liking from the Fleet Foxes album; I thought the album was a total lemon at first, instead of one with worth just one good squeeze. I also would list HoL as one of my favorite songs from this decade.

But can someone take a brief moment to explain to me why Outkast decided to stop making music often?

Then I stand corrected!

... although have sensual seduction or perhaps drop it's like its hot, wildcat or crimewave made it already on the list? I wouldn't have thought they would rank this high but I don't see why they would leave them out.

Moka, if you keep playing Pitchfork Fan Fiction I'm gonna give you a "top 51"

I actually think pitchfork has been so successful, in part, because they're able to get such a diverse cast to bring a similar style and aesthetic to the site. The site's tone is very consistent.

They're successful because they have an editorial staff that can pare down the diverse cast's opinions into a cohesive narrative. If more places would do this, they'd still be around.

what's a top 51? Either way, not playing fan fiction, just want to know how many of my dull and obvious predictions turn out right.

I'm really bummed they completely forgot about Lali Puna and Stereolab.

oh no not lali puna

Looking forward to Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" being stretch into the "the song that epitomized the decade." I doubt it'll finish top ten, though.

It's been really weird reading this list and having 2000-2004 be so divorced from the present. I feel like adding to:

Bands/Pop stars that are quickly becoming relics of the earlier part of this decade?

They're successful because they have an editorial staff that can pare down the diverse cast's opinions into a cohesive narrative. If more places would do this, they'd still be around.

I think you're probably OTM about this.

well Lali Puna are pitchfork-friendly and faking the books, bi-pet or nin-com-pop are all great songs. I thought they would go for their cover of 'together in electric dreams'.

Also... Invisible conga people's "cable dazed" is just too damn good to be ommited and I think it placed quite high on their 2008 list... too lazy to check right now tho.

Has sebastien tellier already made an appearance?

Did "Hot in Herre" place? (There are still a bunch of pages I can't read cause they freeze my browser.)

Snoop dog - sensual seduction

lol yeah right, I heard this on the radio for no more than a week

"snoop dog"

"It Wasn't Me"?

Don't think "Hot in Herre" has placed. The remaining fifty will be filled with all of the usual suspects but I'm looking forward to songs we ALL haven't heard before a thousand times before. No doubt a few will show amongst the LCD Soundsystems, Crazy in Loves and Kid A tracks.

I dont think the amount of time you heard it on the radio will influence the decision of it's placement as the whole list has proven to be pretty random But 'drop it like its hot' is a much better candidate, it's true.