A POLL Bizarre ~~~ It's the ILM 80's R&B TRACKS POLL ~~~ RESULTS THREAD!!!

It is a testament to the brilliance of this era and genre that #13 was the highest I could rank it.

*checks ballot for what my #13 song was*

Gwen Guthrie - Seventh Heaven

The math checks out.

Ohhhhhh, phew, my ctrl+f skills are broken for some reason. I totally voted for 'I'm In Love'.

There are enough songs on my ballot that have yet to show up and that I figured for shoo-ins that I'm starting to think there's liable to be some serious upsets for top-tier classics that somehow failed to make it into the top 300 (Prince being the most likely victim of the upsettery).

https://img.discogs.com/4KmbNhMoC2dQNb59aBg_-EFNomo=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2598051-1330882134.jpeg.jpg
39. Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life
621 points, 14 votes
https://youtu.be/XeJLZi0uyJw

Ooh

Wow, the idea that there are 38 songs better than 'The Glamorous Life'. What a world.

That was meant to convey a tone of genuine wonder. Such an amazing decade.

"I Feel For You" and "The Glamorous Life" and "The Bird" may all end up placing higher than any Prince-fronted Prince songs! o_0

https://img.discogs.com/Rg5Ug7KzOOIAkRbtW4HIDD4ONdc=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-555809-1472059242-7725.jpeg.jpg
38. Mtume - Juicy Fruit
623 points, 12 votes
https://youtu.be/vnUUgMVd9J0

ah yes a classic

i was also hoping to vote for "you, me & he" but i ended up having to cut it :(

These results are SOOOooo much more representative of my R&B DNA than the '70s poll results.

Love this version of 'The Glamorous Life': glowing drumsticks, syncopated moves, febrile crowd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efkS7NUFPDI

https://img.discogs.com/FwLIyNxjvtfydKyP7Xxgen4uGzs=/fit-in/599x599/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-525990-1356603407-5965.jpeg.jpg
37. Prince - Little Red Corvette
626 points, 9 votes, 1 number one

This was my #1.

still hoping for "Let's Pretend We're Married" and "D.M.S.R." (I have no idea if they were nominated)

https://img.discogs.com/xpTjqF3oVYONR7WbzBJcGxQ9MGM=/fit-in/534x540/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-712830-1294427023.jpeg.jpg
36. Sade - The Sweetest Taboo
630 points, 10 votes
https://youtu.be/kcPc18SG6uA

forgive me ILM; this song irritates me

I enjoy making up unspeakably-filthy lyrics that more accurately reflect the taboo of which she speaks.

i like this song but i am confused by how highly rated it seems to be (not just on this poll). like it was a good solid hit single from sade but they had many better songs *shrug*

I'm mostly of the opinion that Sade is pleasant but slight (with the exception of 'It's Only Love That Gets You Through', which is one of my all-time favorite songs full-stop but well outside the purview of this poll).

https://img.discogs.com/4b6UvX-rpeCYiEzMM1pKRhr_krQ=/fit-in/450x450/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-437870-1113403178.gif.jpg
35. Janet Jackson - When I Think of You
633 points, 11 votes, 1 number one
https://youtu.be/EaleKN9GQ54

My favourite Janet song of the 80s, my second favourite overall behind Empty.

That's six out of my seven Janet votes (and I doubt 'Let's Wait a While' is gonna place this late in the game). Good showing!

omg i totally forgot about this song while putting my ballot together, shame on me!

Sade's greatest song.

Didn't think I was going to be in the position to side with Sade, but there it is.

Sade's greatest song.

... is "Turn My Back On You"

"Sweetest Taboo" is great, though

https://img.discogs.com/7WSzTL8QvreTFL2ibSj1pffgtp0=/fit-in/600x603/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-48721-1290866703.jpeg.jpg
34. Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm
635 points, 9 votes
https://youtu.be/Z0XLzIswI2s

KEEP IT UP
KEEP IT UP

Not in my top ten Jones songs, but it'll do.

Unabashed love for this track.

So massively huge.

https://img.discogs.com/7SnSJ8ifHY39x8LGPd0aQ_n36jM=/fit-in/600x603/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-75536-1458852008-8359.jpeg.jpg
33. Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love
645 points, 11 votes
https://youtu.be/ECiMhe4E0pI

admittedly i know very little of grace jones's music and hadn't heard this either. it's tremendous.

Yes! The full-length "Blooded" version of this is a thing of wonder! As is the other, operatic version of it on the album, but this one is more R&B.

xmessage

That was about "Slave", of course.

Genius would have been my #1 on a different kind of 80s poll

Oh, this one... Very nice synth riff that's been sampled well and often, but it doesn't deserve to be so high in a poll like this.

Chris Frantz's interjections irritate me these days. Nothing like the SMS version.

stfu Tuomas:

On its release in November 1981, "Genius of Love" became a huge hit in the clubs and on the R&B and dance charts worldwide, soon earning the Tom Tom Club LP a Gold Sales Award in 1982. In the U.S. the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Disco Top 80 chart along with "Wordy Rappinghood," and also reached No. 2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It later went on to peak at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1982,[3] becoming the Tom Tom Club's only entry on the Hot 100.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius_of_Love#Chart_performance

David Byrne was...not amused.

Again, we aren't voting based on chart placement, are we? "Genius" has a great synth riff and a nice groove but very irritating vocals, and there are about 70 tunes we've seen in this poll alone that are better than it.

I can yield that "Genius of Love" skews to the cornier side of the results and still add that it's TOO LOW!

https://img.discogs.com/QgqAsbROe8kM56toRoLn_EZQ1RU=/fit-in/600x599/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1693003-1330800759.jpeg.jpg
32. Pointer Sisters - Automatic
670 points, 14 votes
https://youtu.be/sDU6K02igoU

Huh, that's a good song but pretty high. When it came out, lil' me kept thinking they were singing about the short-lived sci-fi-fi crime solving show "Automan."

Ruth's vocal performance buries just about anything else.

Awesome song, deserves a high spot

I actually expected it to make the top 10.

Chris Frantz's interjections irritate me these days. Nothing like the SMS version.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, May 17, 2017 1:21 PM (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They always irritated me. The track rules nonetheless. But it was on the bottom half of my ballot so I agree it might be too high.

I didn't realize that I had any clear preference wrt '80s Pointer Sisters tracks until I was preparing my ballot, when 'Automatic' became the clear (and in retrospect most obvious) winner.

https://img.discogs.com/L9V4xMTqL4bVpy_wxdSrbG1VYNM=/fit-in/600x605/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2645974-1411332208-7303.jpeg.jpg
31. Rick James - Super Freak
672 points, 12 votes
https://youtu.be/QYHxGBH6o4M