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

apparently not contenderizers favs :/
I can make a shortlist tomorrow

My biggest problem with the poll results was that the whole 15 year period of electronic dance music from mid-80s to 1999 (house, techno, jungle, trance, drum'n'bass, big beat, etc) was represented by just one track, "Pump Up the Volume"... I don't really know why this stuff didn't make the list... Maybe because the 90s are still too close to feel nostalgic about? Or because ILM has become more US-centric, and AFAIK Americans were much less into electronic music in the 90s than Europeans?

fair complaint, but the run-up process took several weeks. during that time, the nominations thread was rarely far from the top of ILM's main page. i.e., most everybody who visits here even occasionally had time to get their favorites on the ballot. and it's not like "pump up the volume" was the only semi-contemporary electronic dance track nominated. the rest just didn't make the final cut. me, i wound up striking stuff like "one more time" and "music sounds better with you" pretty early in the process.

xp to Johnny Fever
(also my jab on you liking some "bland stuff" like pavement was retaliation of what you said about Can upthread - and yeah, bland is different for everyone)

Fair. I don't hate Can, but I definitely don't love them either. Except "Turtles Have Short Legs". I love that one.

I don't even know which Can song is that one. What do you feel about their short more pop oriented songs? Like say; Moonshake, Mushroom, I'm so Green...

as this is not clear; i'm not complaining that this list is unrepresentative of ilm due to the lack of T.I., rangda & terror danjah. however when i initially brought up dance/goon/noise shit i was not being facetious & i believe there is more diversity&variety on ilm than would be likely to appear on any 88 ballot poll.

it wld be odd if ppl w/ different interests in music of the present had similar interests in music from the past. most music discussed on the noise board isn't noise, but there is def a noise board ethos/flavour & v little of it was nominated for this list. i am sceptical of the idea that talkings heads & kate bush form part of the glue which unites the various ilx subgroups.

a poll this size will likely be fun & not v revealing about the broad workings of the landscape of ilx taste.

contenderizer's almost saying - "the results of a poll are representative if everyone had the opportunity to take part" - ...

moka you should get to know "turtles have short legs"

xpost Most of the 90's bands listed above that I recognize are cool.. However, except for Sonic Youth (who placed) and maybe Guided By Voices (although that's pushing it), I don't think any of them have written or recorded any of the 100 or 200 best songs of the 20th century, whereas (IMO) Nirvana and Radiohead most certainly have.

Regarding electronic dance music, that genre has sort of made a point out of not wanting to have a "canon", so there is probably more of a voice split than in the case of rock and pop music and even hip-hop/R&B.

There are definitely a few canonical choices in '90s electronic/dance, though. I mean, if 18 year-old rock dude version of me bought the Utah Saints album in 1992, it must've had a sizeable impact outside of the club scene.

Listening to "turtles have short legs" right now. It's incredible! Very different from everything else they have in their catalogue (at least when Damo was in the band) I forgive JF for being a Can detractor for indirectly introducing me to it.

I think the closest it comes to is 'I'm So Green' which is my favorite Can song and iirc also Julian Cope's.

who the fuck are utah saints

Big dance act in the early 90s, had three top 10 singles and a top 10 album in the UK, and they were quite popular elsewhere in Europe too.

Utah Saints - Classic Or Dud?

Based on the above thread many Americans seem to have heard them back then too, don't know why or how. Anyway, you might've been too young to register them back then. They pretty much disappeared after the first album, releasing only one single in 1995 (which is dope, btw). They put out a comeback album in 2000, but I don't think too many people cared about that, even though it features Chuck D and Michael Stipe.

The New Yorker list: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/12/ben-greenman-songs.html

1925: “Collegiate,” by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians
1926: “Fat Meat and Greens,” by Jelly Roll Morton
1927: “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” by Louis Armstrong
1928: “Statesboro Blues,” by Blind Willie McTell
1929: “That’s How I Feel Today,” by The Little Chocolate Dandies
1930: “It Happened in Monterey,” by Ruth Etting
1931: “Farewell Blues,” by Cab Calloway
1932: “Night And Day,” by Fred Astaire
1933: “Tea for Two,” by Art Tatum
1934: “Moonglow,” by Benny Goodman
1935: “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter,” by Fats Waller
1936: “Summertime,” by Billie Holiday
1937: “Sweet Home Chicago,” by Robert Johnson
1938: “Begin The Beguine,” by Artie Shaw
1939: “Moonlight Serenade,” by Glenn Miller Orchestra
1940: “New San Antonio Rose,” by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
1941: “Jumpin’ Punkins,” by Duke Ellington
1942: “Sleepy Lagoon,” by Harry James
1943: “Paper Doll,” by The Mills Brothers
1944: “Swinging on a Star (Single),” by Bing Crosby
1945: “Scorpio,” by Mary Lou Williams
1946: “Choo Choo Ch’boogie,” by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
1947: “Serenade of the Bells,” by Jo Stafford
1948: “Nature Boy,” by Nat King Cole
1949: “Just Friends,” by Charlie Parker
1950: “The Fat Man,” by Fats Domino
1951: “Rocket 88,” by Jackie Brenston
1952: “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” by Lloyd Price
1953: “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” by Hank Williams
1954: “Work With Me Annie,” by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
1955: “Folsom Prison Blues,” by Johnny Cash
1956: “Strode Rode,” by Sonny Rollins
1957: “Mona (I Need You Baby),” by Bo Diddley
1958: “Rock Billy Boogie,” by Johnny Burnette
1959: “Along Came Jones,” by The Coasters
1960: “Walk Don’t Run,” by The Ventures
1961: “Shout Bamalama,” by Otis Redding
1962: “Return To Sender,” by Elvis Presley
1963: “Be My Baby,” by The Ronettes
1964: “Nadine (Is It You?),” by Chuck Berry
1965: “I Can’t Explain,” by The Who
1966: “Day Tripper,” by The Beatles
1967: “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” by Gladys Knight & The Pips
1968: “White Light / White Heat,” by The Velvet Underground
1969: “Israelites,” by Desmond Dekker
1970: “Spirit in the Sky,” by Norman Greenbaum
1971: “Family Affair,” by Sly & The Family Stone
1972: “Superfly,” by Curtis Mayfield
1973: “The Payback,” by James Brown
1974: “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” by Stevie Wonder
1975: “The Ballroom Blitz,” by The Sweet
1976: “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker),” by Parliament
1977: “Got to Give It Up—Pt. 1,” by Marvin Gaye
1978: “Miss You,” by Rolling Stones
1979: “Rock Lobster,” by The B-52’s
1980: “Cars,” by Gary Numan
1981: “Rapture,” by Blondie
1982: “Buffalo Gals,” by Malcolm McLaren
1983: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” by Michael Jackson
1984: “Head Over Heels,” by The Go-Go’s
1985: “Perfect Way,” by Scritti Politti
1986: “Walk This Way,” by Run-DMC
1987: “Housequake,” by Prince
1988: “Express Yourself ,” by N.W.A.
1989: “Me Myself and I,” by De La Soul
1990: “Love Will Never Do Without You,” by Janet Jackson
1991: “Mama Said Knock You Out,” by LL Cool J
1992: “Rump Shaker,” by Wreckx-N-Effect
1993: “Return of the Crazy One,” by Digital Underground
1994: “Whatta Man,” by Salt-N-Pepa
1995: “California Love,” by 2Pac
1996: “Where It’s At,” by Beck
1997: “Hypnotize,” by The Notorious B.I.G.
1998: “Intergalactic,” by Beastie Boys
1999: “Vivrant Thing,” by Q-Tip
2000: “Music,” by Madonna
2001: “Get Ur Freak On,” by Missy Elliot
2002: “Without Me,” by Eminem
2003: “Crazy in Love,” by Beyonce, featuring Jay-Z
2004: “Yeah,” by Usher, featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
2005: “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House,” by LCD Soundsystem
2006: “SexyBack,” by Justin Timberlake
2007: “Umbrella,” by Rihanna
2008: “Paper Planes,” by M.I.A.
2009: “Heads Will Roll,” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2010: “Monster,” by Kanye West, featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver

i am sceptical of the idea that talkings heads & kate bush form part of the glue which unites the various ilx subgroups.

a poll this size will likely be fun & not v revealing about the broad workings of the landscape of ilx taste.

contenderizer's almost saying - "the results of a poll are representative if everyone had the opportunity to take part" - ...

― ogmor, Friday, December 10, 2010 6:09 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

yeah, but i was being somewhat facetious there. thing is, this isn't an ILX poll; it's an ILM poll. those might seem similar, but i agree that they're not exactly the same. and while it was open to all, from the discussion on the related threads, it seems to have drawn the most participation from ILM regulars, no surprise. of course, it's likely that greater participation from posters who spend most/all of their time on ILE, noise, 1p3, 77 or whatever would have altered the results in some way, but it's impossible to say how things would or wouldn't have changed. like a heavy noise turnout might have given us a better showing for the boredoms and steely dan, right? but i doubt that things would have been radically upended. a lot of the most prominent contributors to the threads related to this poll regularly post on many other boards, and the sample size here is quite large relative to the day-to-day ILX population. a sample of 80 respondents when the population size is so low to begin with is plenty large enough to guarantee a low margin for error (were we to pretend this survey was in any way scientific). and from what i've seen in my years here, talking heads and kate bush really are the ties that bind - two of them, anyway...

Utah Saints more than most others to me seem like very much a thing of the moment back in 1992-93, and then not much more. I think that is also part of the thing here, in that those few electronica acts that have gotten some kind of "canon" recognition (Prodigy, Leftfield, Chemicals etc.) usually have because they have maybe appealed more to typical "rock" fans than most electronica acts did.

Utah Saints are very much trapped in 92/93, I agree, but that doesn't lessen the imprint of "Something Good" and other first-album tracks on the dance/electronic canon, though. I'd imagine the reason they're not still frequently mentioned alongside Prodigy, etc is that their output since that time has a) been nearly non-existent and b) not at the forefront of anything.

in defense of 90s rock: melvins, cheater slicks, royal trux, karp, sun city girls, new bomb turks, jesus lizard, unrest, brainiac, polvo, sleep, kyuss, sonic youth, swans, boredoms, teenage fanclub, electric wizard, unwound, teengenerate, spiritualized, country teasers, urge overkill, monoshock, the fall, th faith healers, GBV, headcoats/childish, gories, mr. bungle, buffalo daughter, cathedral, circle, cynics, tav falco, the magic hour, steel pole bath tub, bassholes, jon spencer BX, the ex, the kent 3, laughing hyenas, monster magnet, godflesh, oblivians, angel'in heavy syrup, rocket from the crypt, terminal cheesecake, brainbombs, fushitsusha, entombed, the mummies, ST-37, yura yura teikoku, dog faced hermans, ETC

If there's one thing any ILM poll needs its more indie rock.

Are you guys really arguing about the absence of Utah Saints in a best of the 20th century poll? What next, Carter USM?

What next, Carter USM?

lol

re: Utah Saints, "What Can You Do For Me?" > "Something Good"

Also I can't believe "Motorbike" by Sheep On Drugs didn't make it! Were you all living under rocks in the 90s?

Would've been weird if both "Something Good" and "Cloudbusting" had placed.

The lack of "This is House" by Elevator 101 has seriously shaken my faith in ILM's ability to venerate music

Are you guys really arguing about the absence of Utah Saints in a best of the 20th century poll?

No one was arguing for that. Johnny mentioned the Utah Saints album as an example of dance music even American rock fans knew of, Curtis asked who the Utah Saints are, and I answered the question. There are certainly many dance tunes much more iconic than Utah Saints absent from the list.

The KLF could've at least shown up. Not a glimpse from the Prodigy either?

What happened to all of the 80 AUM heads?

Were ABBA in this thread?

"Whatta man" might be the most annoying song of 1994.

that new yorker list is sweet, especially the accompanying youtube playlist http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D9814090B61CF731 I'm at 1942 right now. It's a great resource for the pre-1950 poll

sb xp

ILX probably showed me this one back in the day: Here's Stephin Merritt's one-recording*-a-year list for the 20th C (taking some licence with years, classical works being dated by first performance etc).

*) Not "track".

Utah Saints are very much trapped in 92/93, I agree, but that doesn't lessen the imprint of "Something Good" and other first-album tracks on the dance/electronic canon, though. I'd imagine the reason they're not still frequently mentioned alongside Prodigy, etc is that their output since that time has a) been nearly non-existent and b) not at the forefront of anything.

My main problem with Utah Saints is the sample sources were way too obvious. And I know a lot of other people thought alike.

boggled that Over the Rainbow isn't on here

Way overrated.

It's a shame how myopic this list ended up being. 1950's poll that sprang from it was fucking great, tho!