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

2) It results in lame stilted lists (like this one for example.)

3) Obviously these people exist (see list.)

(ps plz Alex don't hurt me)

Think about the fact that there were people here who had never heard "Mind Playing Tricks" - I wouldn't say it is RACISM that they didn't pick that song/ know that song. But they are a product of a society that does not wholly embrace black music, that black music has had to push its way into our consciousness OR we have to seek it out.

I don't blame individuals for not being aware of music that they did not grow up with but surely there is some blame for a society that reinforces a certain musical perspective.

Imagine a parallel ILM wherein the people discussing it were predominantly black and from the black community of New Orleans. Assuming they had the same interest in exploring a diverse range of music as everyone here, do you think that the list would be very similar to this one?

I'm not sure I'm being clear here, but can someone help flesh out my idea here? heh. Or disprove it, whatever I'm open to that too.

Yeah, you're right. Criticism is mean. We should all stop.

(x-post to djdee)

We're not mean. Just you. Poopyhead.

(x-post to alex)

To dan: can you expound on that? I'm not quite sure what you'd mean, i'd be interested to know why some black american music is accepted in the UK and some isn't ("accepted" = "popular")

x-post dammit

Somehow I don't see myself taking advice on respectability from Anthony Miccio anytime soon.

My point is that it may be obvious "we are all a product of society, what we're exposed to, and how we learn to engage with 'other' music" but I think its OK to complain about that fact when it is confirmed by a list like this!

I'm baffled why I should do that. I don't care about Pulp or St Etienne except that they tolk 10% of the poll.

cases in point:

one of my favorite bands - long fin killie (ROCK -inherently "white" according to our "non-racist friends dee and AlexSF - as played by a band led by a non-white)

or the beastie boys (HIPHOP - inherently "black"? oh i forgot they're white - therefore they've just co-opted someone else's culture and our "non-racist" friends tend to dismiss them.)

good thing djdee and Alex in SF are so colorblind and UNRACIST! *cough*

seriously, i think the most racist people in this thread are the very ones who started trying to pull the race card bullshit because they weren't pleased with the results of the thread

i voted the songs i liked because i liked them, not because of the race of the artists, the amount of "racial" music i've been exposed to, or any ulterior motive. to suggest that votes were cast according to people's races is simply bullshit and embarassing to the accusers. or at least it should be, if they were intelligent enough to realize how insulting they were being to any non-whites in the poll (actually to pretty much EVERYONE in the poll).

now fuck off and go listen to some music

I think you all are smart enough to realize that (almost) nobody here is racist or sexist. They like what they like. And yet, thread after thread ends up turning into a race war (despite the fact that there are few actual black people here)

In the end, there's something everyone here has in common. Not many people in the world would spend so many hours of their lives arguing about a fucking LIST. Get over it.

the music that we are exposed to depends on our parents. i know that my parents along with many other parents dont want their kids listening to music with parental advisory stickers. since i was a teenager or less all of the 90's, i could not possibly be exposed to those artists.

thats all i suppose

Me:

cinniblount made a mistake arguing that people are racist for liking Pulp or St. Etienne which is obviously not fair.

I'm talking about the way our social upbringing and exposure to diversity affects what music we are aware of and such. As much a criticism of nationalistic taste as racism as geographic focus as "hometown pride" or whatever other social tendencies result in limiting our engagement with other forms of music, the kind of engagement that lets 10% of the list be dominated by a rather specific aesthetic. I'm also not accusing any individuals of doing anything "wrong," just wishing that as a group ILM was engaging with a wider range of music.

djdee: i read all of your posts, you've yet to say much of anything that doesn't literally render you a racist of the worst degree

SORRY EVERYONE IT'S MY FAULT

To dan: can you expound on that? I'm not quite sure what you'd mean, i'd be interested to know why some black american music is accepted in the UK and some isn't ("accepted" = "popular")

I would argue very much that The Geto Boys were "an act of their time" who were not going to get the same type of exposure as a political act like Public Enemy or KRS-One, a completely over-the-top controversial group like NWA/Ice Cube/Dr Dre/Eazy E/The DOC or 2 Live Crew, or a positive hippy-esque group like A Tribe Called Quest/De La Soul. They had an edge and were definitely on the dark side but their main hook was that one of their members was a dwarf and since there was no comedy angle to that, there wasn't anything for The Acceptable Face Of Radio Music to hook into.

It's disingenuous to say it's not a racial issue but it's equally disingenuous to say it was solely a racial issue; you're talking about a group who reached their peak right before the music busines figured out that people all over the world really, really, really like all forms of hip-hop.

I agree with this statement 100% incidently.

And the first paragraph is probably right too, although I imagine it could be fleshed out a bit more...but regardless, my criticism of the list is simply an extension of my criticisms of the way some acts are recieved and some are not, regardless of relative "goodness".