Top 120 Songs Under 120 Seconds (ILM Poll #95)

lol, from a pessimistic point of view that makes a lot of sense!

i'm gonna move slightly faster now in an attempt to get to #101 before i leave work

https://i.imgur.com/k2zi3cu.jpg
106. Prince - I Wonder U (1:40)
0.3261 points
6 votes

ooh, my first vote to place

I ended up not giving any artist more than one slot except for, I believe, Erykah Badu. That song was one of my toughest exclusions.

https://i.imgur.com/5w8LihC.jpg
105. Elastica - Vaseline (1:20)
0.3285 points
5 votes

i don't understand the appeal of i wonder u. prince does not even sing on it.

https://i.imgur.com/C4HIkbs.jpg
104. Maurice Williams - Stay (1:34)
0.3288 points
4 votes

oh no!

that song by the sea nymphs from the beginning is quite amazing. it is like a small opera in 106 seconds. a nice discovery.

https://i.imgur.com/iY0sdhX.jpg
103. Buddy Holly - Words of Love (1:56)
0.3297 points
6 votes

Yay Elastica! I long-listed "Vaseline" but cut it in favor of the other one which I hope shows up (though the low number of repeat artists makes the prospect somewhat remote).

my favourite sub 2 minute Elastica song is All-Nighter which wasn't nominated (not even by me) unfortunately

https://i.imgur.com/ThDhV3D.jpg
102. Roxy Music - Tara (1:47)
0.3309 points
5 votes

Omg I was all like ill post from my phone! I'll check in! Then I didn't and several of my votes/almost votes (can't current remember what I 51'd) place! Glory, Olson made it, straight edge either placed 50 or just got 51d in the end on my ballot. Flute loop made my top 100 IIRC. This a fun rollout!! Oh yeah "too low" or something. God posting on ilx on a phone feels weird

I maybe should have voted for "Stay"...almost my whole ballot was drawn from my own nominations; I must have have missed that on the big list. Not sure if I would have voted for it, but glad it placed. Nice images!

w00t, it's happening!

A quick skim-through suggests I voted for just Randy Newman from this lot. Glad he scraped in, as a serial offender, concision-wise.

Several of these of tracks are not familiar by title. *commences remedial study*

last one for the day!

https://i.imgur.com/r0QPNUU.jpg
101. Minutemen - Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing (1:31)
0.3318 points
5 votes

the rollout so far:

120 Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Love For Tender (1:58) 1000 0.3 3
119 Sleater-Kinney - Little Mouth (1:45) 1012 0.3036 5
118 Randy Newman - Dayton, Ohio - 1903 (1:53) 1014 0.3042 5
117 James Brown - Think (from 'Live at the Apollo') (1:58) 1026 0.3078 5
116 Beastie Boys - Flute Loop (1:55) 1042 0.3126 7
115 Arthur Russell - Eli (1:56) 1047 0.3141 4
114 Beck - Hollow Log (1:54) 1048 0.3144 4
113 The Clash - Koka Kola (1:48) 1059 0.3177 5
111 The Sea Nymphs - On the Dry Land (1:46) 1065 0.3195 3
111 Minor Threat - Straight Edge (0:46) 1065 0.3195 5
110 The Beach Boys - Caroline, No (a cappella, Pet Sounds, Disc 3) (1:54) 1079 0.3237 5
109 The dB's - Big Brown Eyes (1:59) 1081 0.3243 6
108 Boards of Canada - Olson (1:32) 1082 0.3246 5
107 Liz Phair - Glory (1:30) 1086 0.3258 5
106 Prince - I Wonder U (1:40) 1087 0.3261 6
105 Elastica - Vaseline (1:20) 1095 0.3285 5
104 Maurice Williams - Stay (1:34) 1096 0.3288 4
103 Buddy Holly - Words of Love (1:56) 1099 0.3297 6
102 Roxy Music - Tara (1:47) 1103 0.3309 5
101 Minutemen - Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing (1:31) 1106 0.3318 5

on sunday i'll do one of the side-polls, and then we'll resume the countdown on Monday with #100-81

xp that was on my shortlist but I cut it

"Eli" is kinda remarkable, I'm thinking.

Also: nice work, Karl Malone!

great results, very diverse, looking forward to the rest of this

it wasn't a difficult bar to clear, but based off of very limited internet searching i feel that this is already greatest ever list of songs under 2 minutes. but that's only because the few other lists i saw were terrible and written for content farms

koka kola is a good song, but bottom five on london calling.

possibly top five for "stacked Mick harmonies play a counterpoint melody to Joe's lead vocal line" though

huzzah, ZS! Feel free to throw a few up over the weekend if you feel like it imo, not like it'll take ppl long to catch up on Monday morning US time

Xp

Diverse in genres perhaps. The only thing hit out of left field for me The Sea Nymphs and Elastica. I hope there are more oddballs before we get to the standards.

i unexpectedly had some liz phair moments last night. felt very 90s

huzzah, ZS! Feel free to throw a few up over the weekend if you feel like it imo, not like it'll take ppl long to catch up on Monday morning US time

yeah, we'll see how it goes on sunday. i have to work a 14-hour day tomorrow (and drive 2 hours both ways) so I'm hoping to use sunday to work on the images for 100-80 so I can do that on Monday.

xp haven't been following this and not sure what the standards would be, it will be interesting to see

So far I'm mostly impressed by the photoshop skillz

i did vote in this but didn't really look at the nominations. i just wanted to vote for five songs but ended up voting for like 10 songs total. regretting not voting for Elastica. great job as always KM, you really put your heart into these polls and it shows and is appreciated.

i think i might have to do the Beck poll sooner rather than later. i'm seeing Beck this summer for the third time but mainly going for Spoon. i have seen Spoon three times, so this summer will be number four.

not sure why (and this is not the place for it), but Spoon's "Inside Out" has been going through my head for years

I love the Minor Threat, dB's, Boards of Canada, Liz Phair placements

on the whole, really like all of them

this is really great so far, thank you sir!

i am glad "tara" placed. it was in my top ten. the mystic atmosphere of avalon is captured perfectly by the romantic oboe line. somehow i find that the best short songs are instrumentals.

I couldn't find anything to put ahead of eli. still remember how deep it hit me, that feeling of my skin prickling, that instant overwhelming captivation the first time I heard him just singing that name with such rasping intensity over and over. the more I play it the more convinced I am of its perfection. it's so well balanced, with a raw innocent wildness pulling the song taut. this mixture of confusion and empathy and pain, feeling lost, with this restlessness, for now just circling, like he's picking at a wound, but with this emotional unease that exceeds his ability to process it however beautifully he tries, so there's this looming sense that he might fly off at any moment. even by his standards the phrasing is exquisite, the way it doesn't settle, just churns, so I'm left dumb and rapt, waiting for every interval, every harmony, every pause to hit. it's so gorgeously idiomatic, it made me fall in love w/ the cello more than any other piece. it hurts!

^^^this is the kind of write-up each song here deserves

Tara is gorgeous, one of those songs that changes a room when it comes on. But I could only vote for 50 tracks.

dang I forgot to vote for "Stay". you all would loooooove my falsetto on that one

Didn't recognise the name 'Eli' while going through the list, but I'm surprised it wasn't one of the ones I listened to before voting, as I love AR.

Haven't listened through the list yet, I think there's maybe one or two tracks that were on my first pass longlist but nothing I voted for. Makes me pretty worried for some of my personal favourites, as I was expecting a couple to show up at the lower end of the list.

Stay and Words Of Love are criminally low.

hoping Think It Over places

i must say that i really enjoy the countdown so far. three of my choices placed already and most of the other songs are quite good or even excellent.

that oboe on tara really cuts very deep into my heart from the first second on it is intonated. it immediately makes me feel completely lonely and lost in the universe. it totally drives me in and subtracts my attention from everything else which might be around. and there is a calmness and a feeling of relaxation about it as after a big physical effort. or maybe it is the sound of the sun going up in a pale blue sky above a frozen mountain lake in winter.

it definitely changes a room: well put, euler. but only if people hear it. if it came up at a party and i was in a conversation i'd immediately abandon the talk and listen, i'd give up the social for the art. not very polite, i know.

That’s mackay soloing on Tara, right?

i guess so.

Here's an interesting prediction game - which artists do we think will have multiple entries? Obviously a maximum of 16 given the 104 different artists but probably closer to 10/12 given that a few may have 3 or even 4.

A few to begin with:

Elvis
Elvis
Elves (kickers thereof)
Minutefits
Dilla

Oh and The Clash obv

Ramones and Guided by Voices are the two most obvious, I'd say. I wish the Angry Samoans were obvious, but no. Minor Threat, maybe.

i'm still working on the youtube playlist that went up, i'm more than halfway in and putting off all other new listening until i finish it, i wouldn't have imagined listening to 400 measly songs would be such a challenge for me! anyway when that's done i'm looking forward to cherry-picking the poll results :)

Only voted for one track per artist. Of those who had multiple entries on my long list I'd guess Elvis P, Pixies, Beatles, Ramones, Eddie Cochran, Wire and Buddy Holly will figure.

minor threat will get another song for sure, i'd bet the misfits get a couple too, unless they were vote-split to death

I think the Minutemen will get one or two more.