Ladies and gentlemen....the 1990s ILX SINGLES POLL RESULTS

I do kind of envy that whole thing, though.

Out of curiosity, how many votes did "Gloomy Sunday" get? "The Diamond Sea"?

NOVEMBER RAIN?!!?!?!?!!!!!

1. New Miserable Experience is their first and essentially only album. The main songwriter killed himself after being kicked out of the band (alcohol related issues, I believe) and though they still wrote some great songs ("Follow You Down," maybe "Day Job") afterwards it wasn't quite the same.

2. "Hey Jealousy" is by far the band's best, but "Follow You Down," "Til I Hear it From You," "Found Out About You" and "Lost Horizons" are all excellent as well.

3. The Replacements are a good comparison (especially "Within Your Reach"), and though I wouldn't go so far as to call the Gin Blossoms better (I might like HJ more than any individual Mats song but they're still the better band) I do think much of the urgency and sound is the same.

4. I don't see how the "Westerberg-ian ache" that Anthony talks about is at all absent from "Hey Jealousy." In fact, with the possible exception of "Unsatisfied," I think that Robin Wilson nails the Westerberg-ian ache better than Westerberg himself ever did. It's one of rock and roll's ultimate glory shots, and he sings it so passionately and so within an inch of myself, that I couldn't believe it was him and not Hopkins that was singing. That last part--"Hey Jealousy / 'coz she took my heart"--he just barely warbles it out, almost too emotionally overcome and embarrassed to say it out loud. His voice even cracks like Westerberg's.

NEIN!

SPIN DOCTORS - "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong"

k? thnx. bye.

Basically Johnny and Robin have a little too much Jon Bon Jovi in them to be Paul Westerberg. This doesn't nullify their ability to make good stuff (Jon Bon wrote some good stuff), it just makes them different.

Needless to say, I don't see him on par with Jon Bon Jovi at all (nor do I see "Hey Jealousy" as being just a really good pop song).

Matter of opinion at this point, I suppose. I'm glad you're even willing to talk about the song seriously.

(fixing my sentence so that it makes more sense)

6. NEW ORDER - "Regret" (647 points, 36 votes)
5. GETO BOYS - "Mind Playing Tricks On Me" (710 points, 33 votes)
4. MY BLOODY VALENTINE - "Soon" (735 points, 34 votes)
3. THE BREEDERS - "Cannonball" (780 points, 47 votes)
2. DEEE-LITE - "Groove Is In the Heart" (1056 points, 53 votes)
1. PULP - "Common People" (1387 points, 61 votes)

Of course, the trend I wrote about completely broke down once we hit the top three -- as noted by Gear, the point difference between #1 and #5 > no. of points given to #6. The consensus lauded on the top three (compared to the rest of the poll, and compared with the 00's poll) is remarkable ... about half of the people voted for "Common People" (~ 61/120) compared to about a third who voted for "Hey Ya" last time (~61/170). Even more significant -- there were TWICE as many songs to choose from on this poll (although we also listed twice as many songs on our ballots, do these effects cancel? I'm not sure). It helps explain the similar number of votes for most of the songs in the top 20, as well as the close packed nature of the top 100 as a whole (i.e. several ties, narrow point differentials, one less or one more vote for almost any song could have drastically changed its placing).

Great poll, Gear, thanks for all your hard work!

Where was Lazarus overall?

I liked how Cannonball came #3 but was no-one's favourite. The kind of song everyone loves, but no-one loves.

make that pissed person in the 00s student/graduate with a disposable income in the 90s

I like this list, and I especially like how I've never heard 15 or 16 of these songs, although I assume the majority of them are techno, so they probably won't all fit on one CD. eh.

"Just for a second" was my #1, AFAIK