ILM POLLS THE 20TH CENTURY'S BEST TRACKS ››› YOUR RESULTS THREAD ‹‹‹

I assumed albums were next...

No interest here, but if someone else does that I'll vote.

Shhh/Peaceful is my first vote to appear so far - though I would have voted for something off Bitches Brew instead if any had been nominated. What's the opposite of vote-splitting? Vote-fusion?

would vote dj premier in such a poll.

112. N.W.A "Straight Outta Compton" (1988) [1,195 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MrQtOoQRpc

Fuck yes! This track still hits like a sledgehammer 22 years after the fact.

i honestly don't think i've played that record in almost 10 years, but yeah killer track.

"Born to Run": okay, but the Frankie Goes to Hollywood version is better.

― Tuomas, Monday, November 29, 2010 1:16 PM (1 hour ago)

I love the Frankie version it manages to sound even more exciting than the original.

Great to see Surf's Up and Controversy, they are my favourite songs by each artist and my first votes to appear.

I was surprised that I only ended up voting for one Prince song but a lot of my favourite songs of his weren't nominated, If I Was Your Girlfriend, She's Always In My Hair, The Cross, I Would Die 4 U and When You Were Mine would have made my list.

What's the opposite of vote-splitting? Vote-fusion?

looooooool excellent work

okay, nommed on the last day(and subsequently voted for) 'Straight Outta Compton' so glad that it got some love here.

Paint It Black one of the two Stones tracks I voted for but that's the only 2 of mine to appear thus far.

111. JOHN COLTRANE "My Favorite Things" (1961) [1,195 points, 12 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQsvMf8X0FY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt9iLDmaQwk

Spotify playlist, for the Europeans: http://bit.ly/fdTfYf

just realised that maybe 2 of mine total will make it

So glad to see the Miles... its was either my #1 or 2, can't remember. Straight Out of Compton was also high on my ballot.

Compton isn't that good. *ducks and covers*. In fact that whole album is kinda lame, NY was so ahead in '88 that it sounds really dated. *prepares for sb fever*

My Favourite Things! One of the two Coltrane's I voted for! That guy can fucking PLAY.

Awww, if I'd have ordered my ballot, 'My Favorite Things' would've got like another 100 points out of me. Love the rumbling of the thunderstorms brewing in the rhythm section. Beautiful playing by McCoy as well. Could have gone for a wilder Trane tune, but that song already has a lot of the ingredients in it that I love him for. Worth hunting down some of the footage of the band playing this on YouTube though.

Awww, if I'd have ordered my ballot, 'My Favorite Things' would've got like another 100 points out of me.

That would've put it in the 80s, fwiw.

110. STEREOLAB "Jenny Ondioline" (1993) [1,197 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEq4mAnV64

(I'd never actually seen the video before just now.)

10cc are of course not "shitty soft rock". Not that there's anything wrong with soft rock in the first place, but 10cc were a lot more detailed and basically more "prog" than, say, Boston or Chicago or Journey have ever been.
That said, they made better, more complex and proggier songs than "I'm Not In Love" although I'm afraid none of them are in the top 125 (except for maybe "I'm Mandy Fly Me", which I know has some ILM'ers loving it)

I thought Stereolab was supposed to be some kind of an experimental instrumental rock band, but I guess I'm mixing the up with something else? Anyway, very boring tune, I can't see how this is supposed to be the 110th best song of the century. It doesn't sound at all different from thousands of other indie songs like it.

Stereolab got a lot more bleepy-bloopy with the Dots and Loops album a few years after this. They started out very straightforward.

Johnny, I am loving this list so far! Well done stretching it to 125. 'My Favorite Things' sounds like the best music ever. I can totally see why people give their lives to jazz right now.

Thanks, but I'm as responsible for the results as everyone else is. I just have the privilege of revealing them.

JF your post on "Rumble" made me vote for it. I had heard the song before but didn't know the title or performer.

109. KATE BUSH "Wuthering Heights" (1978) [1,197 points, 13 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdmvs7r1u9c

I am way down with Kate Bush from, like, 1982 onwards. The really early stuff grates on me like a belt sander, though. More power to those of you who love it.

thx abanana!

Jenny Ondioline has pretty much everything that people who like Stereolab like about Stereolab while also appealing to indie rock people. Not all that surprising that it made the list IMO.

hah! There is no bigger Stereolab fan on this forum than me and it's almost the last track of theirs I'd vote for. Hopefully French Disko will be higher.

hurrah for "Wuthering Heights" though - the first thing on my ballot to make the countdown

Glad Stereolab made it, although I voted for 'French Disko' instead.

"I can totally see why people give their lives to jazz right now."

Totally. I wish I could get into it more.

Jenny Ondioline has pretty much everything that people who like Stereolab like about Stereolab while also appealing to indie rock people. Not all that surprising that it made the list IMO.

But is sounds so boring! There's no catchy melody, nor a groovy rhythm section, nor any sonic innovation. What's the point of listening to music like this?

I, too, would've voted French Disko if I'd voted for Stereolab. (Actually, I would've voted for Crest, but it wasn't nominated.)

There's no catchy melody

Yes there is.

nor a groovy rhythm section

Yes there is.

nor any sonic innovation.

Yes there is. (Although a lot less than later Stereolab, I will grant.)

The entire track is a groovy rhythm section. It's not like French Disko is Brill Building catchy either.

I thought Stereolab was supposed to be some kind of an experimental instrumental rock band, but I guess I'm mixing the up with something else? Anyway, very boring tune, I can't see how this is supposed to be the 110th best song of the century. It doesn't sound at all different from thousands of other indie songs like it.

― Tuomas, Monday, November 29, 2010 3:06 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

xpost as far as "the point of listening to" it: the sharp contrast between the minimal verses and that "ooooooh-oooooooh" harmonized vocal part that comes in as a sort of refrain is the big musical payoff for me, and in general I find the sounds pleasant+dynamic

I can't seem to find the thread where I detailed turning my occasional affair with jazz into a loving marriage but guys ilm is a terrific place to learn and be helped into the many depths of the genre.

It was a real torment deciding how many and which Kate tracks to vote for. I didn't go for 'Wuthering Heights' in the end, even though sometimes the 'let me have it' is my favourite thing in all music.

"Born To Run" was the first song I thought "oh damn, I forgot that one" about after I submitted my ballot, so I'm glad to see it got in without my help. I didn't vote for "Straight Outta Compton" but it gives me a little hope that the 16 rap songs on my ballot weren't wasted effort.

The entire track is a groovy rhythm section. It's not like French Disko is Brill Building catchy either.

Really? Because to my ears the drums and bass are mixed pretty low compared to the rather monotone guitar and vocals, and they play the same tired rock rhythm all the way through with little variation or syncopation (except for some double time drumming when the chorus starts). That isn't my idea of "groovy".

I can't seem to find the thread where I detailed turning my occasional affair with jazz into a loving marriage but guys ilm is a terrific place to learn and be helped into the many depths of the genre.

― wheezy f baby (a hoy hoy), Monday, November 29, 2010 3:25 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark
cosign — ILM has turned me onto more amazing jazz albums than I could ever hope to recall

108. NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE "Cortez the Killer" (1975) [1,198 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GDIkb5CDUY

another of my votes. at this rate levi 167 WILL make it as I am officially becoming an ilm tastemaker ;)

awesome song — one of my favorite extended neil jams — great lyric, skeletal but compelling — dunno what else to say

stereolab are one of my favourite bands, but i didn't vote for either of those songs. i do love 'jenny ondioline' though. would have voted for 'metronomic underground' in a heartbeat had it been nominated. and incidentally, they are a repetitive, rather monotone band by nature. very unique and distinctive, however, as far as contemporary "indie" groups go if you ask me.

i must have been extremely close to including 'wuthering heights' on my ballot. i had to double check whether i'd put it in there or not.

that still makes zero tracks so far that i voted for (including cortez)

I didn't vote for Stereolab because neither "Harmonium" nor "Super-Electric" were nominated. I do like "Jenny Ondioline" and I'm not sure what the point is exactly, but I likes me some drone and digs me some repetition, repetition, repetition. I'm not sure you can judge the mix based on a YouTube clip's sound. The LP version was 18 minutes long and included several different parts.

Got to agree with Tuomas here - they just seem to do so little with any of the elements compared to others. I mean, if drone is the thing, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' didn't even get nominated.

Did 'Cortez' get mentioned in that racist-songs-that-got-under-the-radar thread? I love the song to bits but I was just thinking about that terrible "he came dancin' across de water man" part.

Stereolab really is a tale of two sounds, though. There's a pre-Emperor Tomato Ketchup sound and a post-ETK sound (with ETK existing as the bridge between the two). Later 'Lab really is a lot more funky (I use the term loosely) whereas earlier 'Lab is monotone and driven.

I'm not a huge Stereolab fan or anything but f anyone bitching about a great song like "Jenny Ondioline"

The whole lyric in Cortez puzzles me now - 'war was never known' about the Aztecs?