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

So happy to see Hyperballad so high, it was in my top five.

If I had to pick one song of hers to keep forever, it would be "Jóga". If I couldn't have that one, it would be "Hyperballad".

'too low' is kinda arbitrary for this poll (which is itself arbitrary, but also fun!)

Of the various rap tunes I went to the trouble to memorize completely when I was a kid, MIPTOM & 'Paul Revere' are the only two I still totally remember! I've probably listened to it, on average, at least once or twice weekly for the past twenty years (!). So yeah, naturally it made my top ten. I'm just glad to see that it placed (even tho I knew it kind of had to)

h8 bjork

man, i dig me some bjork. but on a goat list? i dunno...

xpost Jóga is probably my second favourite Bjork song, I was surprised it wasn't nominated. Bachelorette was very close to my making my final list.

64. WIRE "Map Ref. 41°N 93°W" (1979) [1,401 points, 14 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ2RvSHK_B8

yay!

Another perfect song!

Whoever voted for BJÖRK is a DÖRK

TOO WHITE

whoa - is this the first track on the countdown to receive a 1st place vote?

TOO WEAK

Was "The 15th" even nominated? I might have been persuaded to rep for Wire if that were the case (though I love "Outdoor Miner" too and think this track's pretty okay).

whoa - is this the first track on the countdown to receive a 1st place vote?

Clair de Lune was.

xp Clair de Lune and Aguas de Marco also got 1st-place votes.

d'oh, didn't notice that.

My first time hearing that Wire song. Great!!

My Bloody Valentine has a neato cover of it on the WHORE compilation.

Great to see Geto Boys here, had hoped it would do well.

Voted for 'Hyperballad' but would possibly have gone for 'Joga' as well/instead had it been nominated.

also worth seeking out: the dykehouse cover of the mmv cover

xp

mbv

This next one is probably my favorite track to have placed in the top 125 (since my own #1 didn't)...

63. M|A|R|R|S "Pump Up the Volume" (1987) [1,402 points, 15 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9gOQgfPW4Y

pre-'50s?

xp

haha--no.

hell yes.

pre50s, post-50s, whatever...this song has ALWAYS EXISTED. We were just fortunate enough to have it captured on tape in 1987.

This is better than Born To Run, Pressure Drop or Heroin? Really?

clearly, every song ranked higher than another song on this list is objectively and intrinsically superior.

Was a teenager when this came out. I remember thinking at the time that it was extraordinary.Like music from another planet. I had no idea if similar stuff had come before which I'd not heard or whatever, but this seemed unlike anything else happening at the time to me.

Every now and again I'll hear one of the sources that song samples and I'll be like 'Ah... MARRS'. Love how that keeps on happening.

tbh I'm a bit surprised Heroin made it at all b/c I'd thought all of us cool kids would have given our 'noisy VU' vote to Sister Ray. I know I sure did, at least.

and it predates the widespread use of sampling technology, iirc.

xp

viceroy's theory upthread applied with me. I had quite a few pre-50s songs on my long list and ended up culling them in favour of ones I had more of a connection with. it would have been wrong for me to vote for the charles mingus nomination if i didn't really like the song, just so that mingus got my vote.

really hoping elvis, little richard, buddy holly, jerry lee lewis get a look-in.

^that is, all that shit you hear was cut and spliced directly onto the master tape.

xp

Hell yeah, "Pump Up the Volume"! Great tune! Though sadly it'll probably be the only house tune in the top 100... Kinda symptomatic in house and techno that European followers get more props than the American originators.

Actually, for me the best thing about the MARRS song is that it gave AR Kane lots of money to fuck about in the studio with.

Wish I'd voted for 'Pump Up the Volume' now.

62. CURTIS MAYFIELD "Move on Up" (1970) [1,407 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JJlG6-AFAM

"Map Reference" and at least three or four other Wire songs are just incredible--don't have my own list here, and can't remember what they were nominated for, but I hope they show up once or twice more. (Sorry for barging in on Curtis.)

Excellent! I think I voted for this.

Aw man! So many great Curtis songs to choose, thoughtI might have wasted my vote going for the obvious big hit.

xp to Tuomas: what about "Your Love"?

Yay, this poll needs more soul and r&b.

Is this the biggest Curtis song? I voted for Don't Worry Hell Below, which will always be my favorite

I think I voted for Move On Up, hope I did. I definitely had another song of his quite high on my list.

Is this the biggest Curtis song?

It was his only top 40 hit in the UK at least (#12, 1971). Anyone know what his singles stats were like in the US? Wikipedia is being lame here.

I'm kind of ambivalent about 'Move on Up' - I'd usually say I don't like it at all, but every so often I hear it somewhere and it really fits. I did vote 'Hell Below', though, that track is awesome.

I voted for "Move on Up", though I gave "The Makings of You" more points (it was my #7) in the vain hope that it might make it to the top 100. To me, that song is the most beautiful slow jam ever made by anyone. But "Move on Up" is of course brilliant too, and I'm glad that we have at least one Curtis tune on the list.

I don't have charts in front of me, but my guess would be that "Superfly" is probably his most recognizable song to the average ear.