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

There's no Public Enemy on here yet, and I find it hard to believe they weren't nominated at all.

Also, Paid In Full.

*FLAG* I SB'd everybody who dissed "Genius of Love" on here. Cheers guys.

There were a couple of Wu nominated and a lot of Nas - would like to see 'Triumph' at least but there must be a chance of splitting for both. 'California Love' maybe most likely now?

protect ya neck would be great. i voted for a different eric b track sadly...

PE will definitely make it, but they would have been somewhat spavined by vote splitting.

I voted for "Triumph" too, but I assume "Protect Ya Neck" is the one with the biggest chance of making it to the top 50, even though it is one of the weaker tracks on 36 Chambers.

Also, surely "Planet Rock" will be in the top 50? Many people probably voted for it for historical importance alone.

People who do stuff like that are idiots imo

Why would historical importance be a lesser reason for voting than any other?

Are you calling people who vote in crazy polls idiots?

Historical importance is a rockist and fully valid way of thinking. :) But IMO subjective taste is the best thing if you vote in a poll. :)

Geir otm, as usual.

Pretty sure they didn't use any after 1990 either.

These days they probably use softhsynths like virtually anyone else. And the majority of the most popular softsynths are largely based on old analogue models.

Isn't that what they call shifting the goalposts?

The word 'synths' is probably a bit of a giveaway.

This is a great thread, remarkably civil and readable for 1000+ posts. Praise be to the ILM hive mind. I've added to the tallies of at least 12 tracks.

That being said, and acknowledging we've got 50 - 1 still to go, relatively speaking I would love to see more 50s - early 60s golden oldies (2ish so far); more Motown (just 1); more country (2 not enough); some original blues; a girl group track; and some swing band. Very dad rock taste but it's hard to believe we could go 125 tracks and skip the Buddy Holly, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, etc. crowd. Roll on top 50.

and paging Bo Diddley and Stevie Wonder, you've got to be coming in for a landing in the top 50.

I reckon the only way to get those acts well represented is to make pre-Beatles poll. Which would probably make sense in a lot of ways to try and do.

(i.e.not Motown of course, but the earlier stuff from the 50s and so on)

Might even be an idea to do a 25-1 pre-Elvis countdown afterwards if things continue in this vein

My guess is that, Elvis aside, a lot of pre-Beatles artists are less likely to suffer from multiple nominations and split vote syndrome and could turn up higher in the poll as a result. Or just be overlooked entirely.

I believe people here would be just as likely to vote for jazz, blues and country as they would be to vote for rock'n'roll or Brill Building pop, so I would think a 50s or earlier would have a rather good stylistic spread (in, those few styles that did even exist then)

thanks contenderizer, that Aretha track is banging.

Love Rock Steady.

I think it's entirely natural that a poll overwhelmingly voted for by people born in the second half of the 20th C should be dominated by music from that period, and no one should beat themselves (or other people) up about it.

are you new?

Sometimes I feel that way.

My guess is that, Elvis aside, a lot of pre-Beatles artists are less likely to suffer from multiple nominations and split vote syndrome and could turn up higher in the poll as a result. Or just be overlooked entirely.

I'm not sure if I see the point here. Dylan, Bowie, Beatles, Prince, Rolling Stones, and Beach Boys all had more nominations than Elvis, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra or Duke Ellington, but that hasn't stopped them from turning up in the poll (and at least one more track from each of them is still likely to come in the top 50).

Oops, sorry, I read "more likely" when you actually said "less likely". So I guess we don't disagree.

I'm pretty sure multiple nominations killed the chances of Satchmo though, especially considering that his most iconic and well-known tune ("What a Wonderful World") isn't the one people were likely to vote.

Maybe West End Blues for Armstrong. Duke could be Take The A Train.

I do hope some pre rock and roll stuff makes it. It would be hard to take a poll of 20th century music seriously that omits for example. Rhapsody In Blue.

we all should have co-ordinated our ballots better before the poll. shame on us!

I voted for stuff based on "historical importance" but I consider historical importance to be a fully subjective quality!

It's a pretty sensible basis in a poll based on an era imo

I'm pretty sure multiple nominations killed the chances of Satchmo though, especially considering that his most iconic and well-known tune ("What a Wonderful World") isn't the one people were likely to vote.

One could rather clearly say that Satchmo's biggest hit and most famous song is obviously not very representative of the musical style he has otherwise become famous for.

I voted for stuff based on "historical importance" but I consider historical importance to be a fully subjective quality!

Also a matter of taste of course. My subjective taste is one hundred per cent about sound and zero per cent about context. Which means I like whatever sounds good no matter whether it is innovative and historically important or not. Thus, if Flower Kings makes something that sounds as good as Genesis or Yes at their best (I have to add they haven't quite done it yet), then I will rank them alongside Genesis and Yes. No matter how "derivative" they are.

But,really, historical importance is not just subjective. For instance, I love a couple of the albums Thompson Twins released in the 80s. But that doesn't mean that they have had any kind of influence of any of today's pop music whatsoever. No matter how good I, personally, think those albumsare.

Who are you and what have you done with Geir?

:)

Are you guys honestly surprised that a bunch of 20 and 30-something internet nerds' best-of-music list is heavily scewed to 70s and 80s art pop? This wailing and gnashing of teeth to me seems ridiculous, but also sooo ILX. Carry on.

I just voted for whatever I liked. To claim to somehow know which songs from before I was born were the most culturally significant seems a bit dishonest.

Coming up...#50...

50. SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS "I Put a Spell on You" (1956) [1,495 points, 17 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGmXg6WYJ1U

I can dig it.

it's good but I WISH IT WERE OLDER

^^^this :(

the chord progressions in those horns are disturbing and awesome.

Really glad to see this one make it, I was getting worried it wouldn't. It was in my top 20.

also I sorta got burned out on the original and decided I preferred the CCR version for a while, but now I am back to appreciating them both!

I like the Nina version best. It's so sad.

I voted pretty canon, so not surprised to see a lot of my choices showing up. This one has the distinction of having made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Doesn't quite hit that spot for me anymore, but my 16-year-old self is ecstatic to see it make the list.