pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

Ace of Spades is on the PF list, btw.

(switching out for master of puppets)

or orion actually

also sekoi fali by the bulgarian women's radio choir

aw that hugh mundell is 78 and not 80's till it hit the uk/us so i'll remove on a technicality
so subbing in Byron Lee's "Tiny Winey", the cover of which was an early heterosexual awakening marker
also yellowman's zungguzunngguguzungguzeng because i'm tired and it feels right

Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Stool Pigeon
Junior - Mama Used to Say (original version not on Spotify, just a re-recording)
Marshall Crenshaw - Whenever You're on My Mind

Ready for the World - Oh Sheila

the glamorous life is on the list too

seems lke a dumb exercise imo once ppl just start naming 80s songs but w/e

Yeah, I mean I already mentioned the three songs upthread I thought absolutely should've been included (and I'd stan just as hard for "Oh Sheila"), but I guess I'm just contributing good stuff to forks' playlist at this point...which, btw, got me to listen to S.O.S Band for the first time and now they're my new favorite thing.

never been wild about 'oh sheila', feels like something wrote on a napkin that sheila e rejected & is more hook than song imho

something *prince* wrote

it ain't best-of-decade material but it's dope

Why is there no Tom Waits? 80s are his best decade by far.

Apart from Doves Cry would change all Prince songs to SOTT-songs lol

Hows about an opinion (positive or negative) on a blurb for a change eh?

no If I Was Your Girlfriend is a genuine 0_o as that's become the hip pick from SOTT era of late in polls and lists.

SOTT at number 3 here too. not sure if ILX has kicked this list around yet in this thread as it's impossible to open/read in full.
http://www.spin.com/2015/05/the-300-best-albums-of-the-past-30-years-1985-2014/5/

Hopper's "Gypsy" blurb is great.

also applaud anytime a song was prominently sampled in a post-'80s hit and the blurber managed NOT to mention it.

I enjoyed deej and Tim F's blurbs quite a bit.

thanks alfred, though I will at least try to claim I wasn't fishing for compliments. Comment above more born of frustration that these tentpole features often have really fascinating writing - not just fascinating as in "good" but fascinating as in it tells you about the strengths and weaknesses of modern crit (e.g. see below) - but then all we tend to talk about is whether X song ought to have made the cut. Ultimately I think a much more interesting question is "what do these blurbs say about modern perspectives on the 80s" and etc. Especially when the voting process that leads to the final list makes the actual song choice as meaningless as any other qualitative population sampling.

also applaud anytime a song was prominently sampled in a post-'80s hit and the blurber managed NOT to mention it.

yeah in general I think the "let's connect this with modern stuff and trends" imperative often came across quite hamfisted or even worse ass-backwards (justifying past masterpieces by reference to contemporary stuff that isn't fit so much as to gather up the crumbs from under the table of etc.). That kind of thing can be really interesting in a think piece but it's really hard to pull of successfully in a capsule review. Best case scenario you sound glib.

I didn't do it but I don't think the songs I had to write about lent themselves to the approach anyway.

it's like edm but old

i'm still reading through the blurbs but tim's on "teardrops" is wonderful and so is meaghan garvey's on "how will i know"

I enjoyed Katherine St. Asaph's blurbs, I enjoy her writing on The Singles Jukebox as well.
And for what it's worth, I thought the Madonna picks were spot on-but I suppose her position in the 80s has never been subject to reappraisal.

the "how will I know" blurb is so surprisingly dark! I love it.

seems lke a dumb exercise imo once ppl just start naming 80s songs but w/e
― mods = chickenshit idiots (D-40), Tuesday, August 25, 2015

I can name a lot of 80s songs, but I give them different names and make them sound better.

also really great: douglas wolk on "white lines" and eric on "back to life"

"(the snares sounding like they’ve ricocheted off every building in Minneapolis)" damn tim (re: "saturday love")

with this and Marcello's reappraisal of the first Soul II Soul album a couple weeks ago I've been playing them a lot.

deej completely nails "never too much"

yep

also, katherine on "sweet dreams," meaghan on "your love" etc.

Man I'm really suffering from pfork PTSD cuz I skipped the blurbs in a "fool me once, shame on you" way but then everybody's listing specific author names and its like "oh right, I like a bunch of those critics, maybe I should read the blurbs."

Tim f otm about the frustration in people only talking about song choice not writing content when it comes to lists, though sometimes I think sites could do a better job featuring that content over song choice

Didn't expect these to make it, but still sad that they didn't:

'Til Tuesday - "Coming Up Close"
Commodores - "Nightshift"
The Jets - "You Got It All"

Overall I think it's a really good and interesting list. Feel like synth pop/new romantic music isn't represented as much as I'd like. I wasn't expecting Party Fears 2 to be in there (Which is my favourite ever) but it would have been nice to see something by any of these, Duran Duran, Human League, ABC, Soft Cell, OMD, Yazoo, Adam & The Ants, Japan Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Heaven 17, Propaganda, Erasure etc.

admittedly I have only skimmed the list so far, but not because I'm not interested, because it crashes my browser

(so does this thread if I click view all)

I didn't notice it wasn't there, but yeah, thinking of it, Only You is a weird absence. Or perhaps I have a skewed idea due to the recent season of Americans.

Haha, that was a great episode. Love that album.

But also, there's the Mau Maus, a militant fictional rap group named after a real mid-century Puerto Rican gang in Brooklyn,

uhhh

lol

no way, where

daaaamn

nobody edits that Pitch section, is my impression

that's in the "fictional rappers" piece

Much appreciated KSA's precise and pointed work in the 80s list on Sheila E., Shannon, and esp. Janet.

Glad to see "Night Nurse" (and the volume and selection of Jamaican music in general) but Mistry's take seems like a stretch?

I glanced at a couple blurbs and saw something about how Rhythm Nation's relevance is justified because Beyonce dressed in that outfit for Halloween. And then I decided not to read the blurbs.

in the spirit of the 80's, i remixed and edited pitchfork's list. i kept the general spirit of the original list. nothing too weird or obscure. lotsa hits. but now i like it much better! (also, i don't feel like working today...)

200) Prince - “1999”
199) Bow Wow Wow - “I Want Candy”
198) Donald Fagen - “I.G.Y”
197) Peter Gabriel - “Shock The Monkey”
196) Eddie Grant - “Electric Avenue”
195) LL Cool J - “Rock The Bells”
194) Double D & Steinski - “Lesson 1”
193) Kano - “I'm Ready”
192) Bronski Beat - “Smalltown Boy”
191) Yello - “Bostich”
190) Michigan & Smiley - “Diseases”
189) David Bowie - “Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)”
188) ABC - “The Look of Love”
187) Gwen Guthrie - “Padlock”
186) The Clash - “Rock the Casbah”
185) Man Parrish - “Hip Hop Be Bop (Don't Stop)”
184) Wayne Smith - “Under Me Sleng Teng”
183) Loose Joints - “Is It All Over My Face”
182) Strafe - “Set It Off”
181) Eurythmics - “Love Is A Stranger”
180) Frankie Smith - “Double Dutch Bus”
179) Yazoo - “Situation”
178) Tom Petty - “The Waiting”
177) The Pretenders - “Brass in Pocket”
176) Schoolly D - “P.S.K. What Does It Mean”
175) Mantronix - “Bassline”
174) Minor Threat - “Screaming At A Wall”
173) Wipers - “Youth of America”
172) The Go-Betweens - “Cattle and Cane”
171) Malcolm McLaren & The World's Famous Supreme Team - “Buffalo Gals”
170) Cybotron - “Clear”
169) The Chills - “Pink Frost”
168) George Kranz - “Din Daa Daa (Trommeltanz)”
167) Thomas Dolby - “She Blinded Me With Science”
166) George Benson - “Give Me the Night”
165) Inner City - “Good Life”
164) Meat Puppets - “Up On The Sun”
163) The Go-Go's - “Our Lips Our Sealed”
162) XTC - “Senses Working Overtime”
161) U2 - “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
160) Sheila E. - “The Glamorous Life”
159) Digital Underground - “Doowutchyalike”
158) 808 State - “Pacific State”
157) Aztec Camera - “Oblivious”
156) Siouxsie and the Banshees - “Spellbound”
155) A Guy Called Gerald - “Voodoo Ray”
154) Trio - “Da Da Da”
153) Joe Jackson - “Steppin' Out”
152) Galaxie 500 - “Blue Thunder”
151) Dead Kennedys - “Holiday in Cambodia”
150) Beastie Boys - “Paul Revere”
149) Shannon - “Let the Music Play”
148) Junior - “Mama Used To Say”
147) The Blue Nile - “A Walk Across The Rooftops”
146) Simple Minds - “Promised You A Miracle”
145) Liquid Liquid - “Optimo”
144) Big Daddy Kane - “Ain't No Half-Steppin'”
143) Talking Heads - “Burning Down The House”
142) Tears for Fears - “Head Over Heels”
141) Jesus & Mary Chain - “Just Like Honey”
140) B-52s - “Private Idaho”
139) Spacemen 3 - “Walkin' With Jesus”
138) Rob Base / DJ E-Z Rock - “It Takes Two”
137) Mission of Burma - “That's When I Reach for My Revolver”
136) Motörhead - “Ace of Spades”
135) Pixies - “Gigantic”
134) Queen - “Another One Bites The Dust”
133) Fleetwood Mac - “Everywhere”
132) Split Enz - “I Got You”
131) Yellowman - “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt”
130) Phil Collins - “In the Air Tonight”
129) This Mortal Coil - “Song to the Siren”
128) R.E.M. - “Radio Free Europe”
127) Cyndi Lauper - “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
126) Janet Jackson - “Control”
125) The Replacements - “I Will Dare”
124) Biz Markie - “Nobody Beats The Biz!”
123) Run-D.M.C. - “It's Like That”
122) Grandmaster & Melle Mel - “White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)”
121) Slick Rick / Doug E. Fresh - “La Di Da Di”
120) Rick James - “Give It to Me Baby”
119) Soul II Soul - “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)”
118) Visage - “Fade To Grey”
117) Rhythim Is Rhythim - “Strings of Life”
116) Adam & The Ants - “Antmusic”
115) The Police - “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
114) Talk Talk - “Life's What You Make It”
113) Dire Straits - “Romeo and Juliet”
112) The Gun Club - “Sex Beat”
111) The Clash - “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”
110) Softcell - “Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go”
109) The Smiths - “This Charming Man”
108) 2 Puerto Ricans, A Blackman, And A Dominican - “Do It Properly”
107) Alan Parsons Project - “Time”
106) Madonna - “Borderline”
105) The Cure - “In Between Days”
104) AC/DC - “You Shook Me All Night Long”
103) Whitney Houston - “Saving All My Love For You”
102) Michael Jackson - “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
101) Grauzone - “Eisbar”
100) The Soft Boys - “I Wanna Destroy You”
99) Donnie Iris - “Ah! Leah!
98) Violent Femmes - “Blister in the Sun”
97) Chaka Khan / Rufus - “Ain't Nobody”
96) Felt - “Primitive Painters”
95) Grace Jones - “Pull Up to the Bumper”
94) Mary Jane Girls - “In My House”
93) Prefab Sprout - “Appetite”
92) Fleetwood Mac - “Gypsy”
91) Expose - “Point Of No Return”
90) Midnight Star - “No Parking (On The Dance Floor)”
89) Man 2 Man Meet Man Parrish - “Male Stripper”
88) Alisha - “Too Turned On”
87) OMD - “Enola Gay”
86) Dead Or Alive - “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”
85) Lionel Richie - “All Night Long (All Night)”
84) Slayer - “Angel of Death”
83) My Bloody Valentine - “You Made Me Realise”
82) Tears for Fears - “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
81) Diana Ross - “Upside Down”
80) Zapp - “Computer Love”
79) Throwing Muses - “Green”
78) The Specials - “Ghost Town”
77) Metallica - “Master of Puppets”
76) Fingers Inc. - “Can You Feel It?”
75) Black Flag - “Rise Above”
74) B-52's - “Give Me Back My Man”
73) Agent Orange - “Bloodstains”
72) Bad Brains - “Pay to Cum”
71) Bruce Springsteen - “Glory Days”
70) Pet Shop Boys - “Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)”
69) Prince - “When You Were Mine”
68) Dominatrix - “Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight”
67) Guns N' Roses - “Sweet Child o' Mine”
66) Altered Images - “I Could Be Happy”
65) Echo & the Bunnymen - “The Killing Moon”
64) David Bowie - “Let's Dance”
63) Stevie Nicks - “Leather and Lace”
62) Art of Noise - “Moments in Love”
61) John Cougar Mellencamp - “Small Town”
60) ESG - “Moody”
59) Depeche Mode - “Just Can't Get Enough”
58) Daryl Hall & John Oates - “I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)”
57) Eric B. & Rakim - “Follow the Leader”
56) Duran Duran - “Girls On Film”
55) New Order - “Ceremony”
54) Roxy Music - “More Than This”
53) Kraftwerk - “Computer Love”
52) The Stone Roses - “I Wanna Be Adored”
51) Bruce Springsteen - “Hungry Heart”
50) Madonna - “Like a Prayer”
49) Neneh Cherry - “Buffalo Stance”
48) Janet Jackson - “When I Think of You”
47) Joy Division - “Atmosphere”
46) Sly Fox - “Let's Go All The Way”
45) De La Soul - “Me, Myself and I”
44) Laurie Anderson - “O Superman (For Massenet)”
43) S-Express - “Theme From S-Express”
42) Eurythmics - “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”
41) Guns N' Roses - “Welcome to the Jungle”
40) The Cure - “Close to Me”
39) Information Society - “Walking Away”
38) Salt-n-Pepa - “Push It”
37) Tom Tom Club - “Pleasure of Love”
36) The Chameleons - “Swamp Thing”
35) Sade - “The Sweetest Taboo”
34) Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force - “Planet Rock”
33) Prince and the Revolution - “I Would Die 4 U”
32) N.W.A - “Fuck tha Police”
31) New Edition - “Cool It Now”
30) Commodores - Nightshift”
29) Diana Ross - “I'm Coming Out”
28) Kate Bush - “Running Up That Hill”
27) Janet Jackson - “Love Will Never Do (Without You)”
26) Public Enemy - “Bring the Noise”
25) Animotion - “Obsession”
24) 'Til Tuesday - “Voices Carry”
23) Van Halen - “Jump”
22) Yes - “Owner Of A Lonely Heart”
21) Prince and the Revolution - “I Wish You Heaven”
20) “Bruce Springsteen - “Dancing In The Dark”
19) Eric B. & Rakim - “Paid in Full” / ”Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Madness Mix)”
18) Marvin Gaye - “Sexual Healing”
17) Madonna - “Into the Groove”
16) The Cars - “Drive”
15) L'Trimm - “Cars With The Boom”
14) Big Black - “Kerosene”
13) Michael Jackson - “Billie Jean”
12) Bauhaus - “She's In Parties”
11) Prince and the Revolution - “When Doves Cry”
10) The Smiths - “How Soon Is Now?”
9) Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - “The Message”
8) Talking Heads - “Once in a Lifetime”
7) Joy Division - “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
6) Freez - “I.O.U.”
5) Bananarama - “Cruel Summer”
4) The Fall – “Cruisers Creek”
3) Company B - “Fascinated”
2) Michael Jackson - “Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'”
1) Wide Boy Awake - “Slang Teacher”

I am having a great time just comparing this 80s list to the 00s list.

spotted some challops in scott's remix - "edge of seventeen" replaced with "leather & lace, "let's dance" left exactly where it was

the inclusion of "hungry heart"