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

My ranked ballot. * = placed.

*The Mountain Goats - Dance Music (1:58)
*Fats Domino - Walking to New Orleans (1:58)
*The Clash - Koka Kola (1:48)
Guided by Voices - Ester's Day (1:51)
The Weakerthans - (Manifest) (1:45)
The Loud Family - Sword Swallower (1:45)
Lesley Gore - Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows (1:36)
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Optimist vs. the Silent Alarm (When the Saints Go Marching In) (1:51)
*Ultramagnetic MCs - Traveling at the Speed of Thought (Remix) (1:51)
*Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues (1:57)
*The Clash - Career Opportunities (1:53)
The Magnetic Fields - Reno Dakota (1:05)
Pulsars - Owed to a Devil (1:59)
*Ramones - Judy is a Punk (1:32)
*The Chiffons - He's So Fine (1:54)
The Regrettes - Juicebox Baby (1:51)
Game Theory - Exactly What We Don't Want To Hear (1:01)
Against Me! - Drinking With the Jocks (1:49)
Odetta - Come a Lady's Dream (1:48)
The Extra Lens - How I Left the Ministry (1:43)
X - Suck Suck (1:55)
Buffy Sainte-Marie - Cripple Creek (1:50)
They Might Be Giants - I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die (1:59)
Kenickie - Private Buchowski (1:45)
*Guided by Voices - As We Go Up, We Go Down (1:37)
*Elvis Costello & the Attractions - No Action (1:58)
Atom and His Package - If You Own the Washington Redskins, You're a Cock (1:47)
The Mountain Goats - Fall of the Star High School Running Back (1:49)
Sleater-Kinney - The Professional (1:31)
The Jam - Boy About Town (1:57)
Prince - Ronnie, Talk to Russia (1:58)
G.L.O.S.S. - Outcast Stomp (1:55)
EMA - Coda (1:01)
Richard Buckner - 10-Day Room (1:26)
*Buzzcocks - Love You More (1:55)
*Elvis Presley - All Shook Up (1:57)
The Clash - The Leader (1:42)
Wheat - Slow Fade (1:40)
The Futureheads - Le Garage (1:45)
The Magnetic Fields - When You’re Old and Lonely (1:57)
Fats Domino - Whole Lotta Loving (1:41)
The New Pornographers - Another Drug Deal of the Heart (1:28)
Game Theory - The World's Easiest Job (1:33)
Ramones - Let's Dance (1:52)
Elvis Costello - Welcome to the Working Week (1:23)
Guided by Voices - Little Whirl (1:46)
*Kenickie - Come Out 2nite (1:58)
The Futureheads - Stupid and Shallow (1:35)
Elvis Costello - Secondary Modern (1:58)
The Magnetic Fields - Absolutely Cuckoo (1:34)

Nice to know that these weren't all that far out of the 120:

128 Swell Maps - Read About Seymour (1:29) 5
133 The Raincoats - No Side to Fall In (1:50) 5
140 The Storey Sisters - Bad Motorcycle (1:56) 4
145 Ken Nordine - Yellow (1:35) 5

Also delighted that I wasn't completely alone with most of the tracks I nominated:

193 Johnny Hawksworth - Thames Television ident theme, c.1968-90 (0:07) 4
270 The Moodists - Where the Trees Walk Downhill (1:40) 2
278 Piero Umiliani - Mah nà mah nà (1:56) 2
359 Felt - I Will Die With My Head in Flames (1:34) 2

I should clearly have actively campaigned for this though:

625 Hugh Le Caine - Dripsody (1:28) 1

xp actually, that makes me very happy to hear, KM! In fact I'm just gonna assume everyone voted for him with slightly different spellings and he would have been #1

wish I had paid more attention to this poll when voting was happening

Laurel Halo's "Holoday" would have been in my top 5, although even that wouldn't have placed in the top 120. glad to see its sole vote was a #1 though

Yeah, highly ranked sole votes are worth checking out

no 'old town road' no credibility

Cool poll KM, thanks for organising :)

I totalled the points per artist and this is the top 10:

Guided by Voices 4.4076
Wire 4.3935
Pixies 3.1545
Pavement 2.3622
Elvis Presley 2.3535
Minutemen 2.2389
Ramones 2.0112
Young Marble Giants 1.9029
The Beatles 1.8243
They Might Be Giants 1.7241

Vote splitting v important in this poll!

Tactical or not I think these are the only ballot-toppers that got no other votes

Bert Jansch - Life Depends on Love (1:48)
Bob Dylan - You're No Good (1:40)
Laurel Halo - Holoday (1:51)
P.E.E. - San Salvador (1:14)
The Pastels, Tenniscoats - Yomigaeru (1:51)
Thingy - Nod (1:38)

data sleuths will probably comb through the long tail of the results and find more mistakes like that on my end.

191 Guided by Voices - Gold Star for Robot Boy (1:39) 6 761 0.2283
758 Guided by Voices – Gold Star for Robot Boy (1:39) 1 217 0.0651

Tactical or not I think these are the only ballot-toppers that got no other votes
.......
Bob Dylan - You're No Good (1:40)

I voted for "Odds and Ends"

If anyone didn’t find something new that could of been added to their top 50 then they might want to keep listening to the nominations. I was surprised with the amount of unique goodies in there, and I haven’t finished listening yet.

Quite interesting to look at the top rankings of the shorter songs:

Top Ten up to 1 minute (dominated by hardcore)
1. Delia Derbyshire - Doctor Who Opening Theme (39 second version) (0:39)
2. Dead Kennedys - Nazi Punks Fuck Off (0:58)
3. Bikini Kill - In Accordance to Natural Law (0:28)
4. Napalm Death - You Suffer (0:02)
5. Minor Threat - Straight Edge (0:46)
6. Johnny Hawksworth - Thames Television ident theme, c.1968-90 (0:07)
7. My Bloody Valentine - Touched (0:56)
8. Boards of Canada - Kaini Industries (1:00)
9. Naked City - Demon Sanctuary (0:42)
10. ABC - The Look of Love, Part 4 (0:59)

I was very surprised that no one else voted for Sonic Youth's brilliant, speedy version of "Nic Fit". The same goes for High Llamas epic beauty "Cuckoo Casino" which is my #1in this category.

Top Ten up to 90 seconds (dominated by indie)
1. "Bad Brains - Pay to Cum (original 7"" version) (1:30)"
2. Delia Derbyshire - Doctor Who Opening Theme (39 second version) (0:39)
3. Wire - Three Girl Rhumba (1:24)
4. Pixies - Allison (1:17)
5. Primal Scream - Velocity Girl (1:22)
6. Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Baz - Duck (1:05)
7. Vince Guaraldi - Linus and Lucy (Lost Cues, Vol. 2 version) (1:20)
8. Crass - Do They Owe Us A Living? (1:24)
9. Jorge Ben - Balanca Pema (1:29)
10. De La Soul - Transmitting Live from Mars (1:12)

I had four songs from this category in my top ten (plus "Cuckoo Casino") . For three of them I was the lonely voter (Miles Davis - Mystery, Jansch/Renbourne - East Wind and Kolbe/Illenberger - Opening) and for This Mortal Coils "The Lacemaker II" someone joined me. I am baffled that my taste seems so special.

(dominated by hardcore)

this is a bit of a stretch, 2 out of 10 is hardly domination! might as well say dominated by TV themes

never really liked Sonic Youth's cover of Nic Fit, one of the weaker songs for me on Dirty. tbh don't really like the original that much either

you are right, i should have said hardcore/punk to include the dead kennedys, crass and bikini kill. my notion of hardcore is quite wide - basically fast and loud music with shouting and basic hooks - as it is not really my fave style.

been not super online but i was able to follow this poll and want to give a huge huge thank you to km for an awesome and very fun poll ! thanks !!

A pro poller would’ve rolled out 120 songs under 120 seconds in under 120 seconds but still p good job km

Fantastic poll!! Thanks to Mr. Karl Malone for running it. Even though my #1 didn't crack the top 264. Dig my ballot:

1
The Beatles - I'll Cry Instead (1:46)
Wire - Sand in my Joints (1:50)
Buddy Holly - Rave On (1:49)
Scott Walker - Cowbells Shakin' (1:06)
Elvis Presley - That's All Right (1:55)
The Glands - Call Me Doctor (1:03)
Pavement - Zurich is Stained (1:41)
Noname - Self (1:35)
Minutemen - West Germany (1:49)
Ramones - Judy is a Punk (1:32)
White Stripes - Now Mary (1:47)
The Kinks - Two Sisters (1:59)
Bruce Springsteen - Johnny Bye-Bye (1:53)
Best Coast - Crazy for You (1:50)
Gene Clark - Jimmy Christ (1:32)
Big Star - I'm In Love With A Girl (1:48)
Elvis Costello & the Attractions - No Action (1:58)
Bikini Kill - Capri Pants (1:43)
Bob Dylan - Odds and Ends (1:47)
Wire - Outdoor Miner (1:45)
Guided by Voices - Pendulum (1:50)
Bully - I Remember (1:48)
Elastica - Annie (1:15)
James Brown - Think (from 'Live at the Apollo') (1:58)
MIssissippi John Hurt - First Shot Missed Him (1:45)
Sleater-Kinney - Little Mouth (1:45)
Silkworm - Raging Bull (1:41)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire (1:53)
Fats Domino - Walking to New Orleans (1:58)
Madvillain - Curls (1:36)
Ray Charles - Hit the Road Jack (1:55)
The Beach Boys - I'd Love Just Once to See You (1:51)
Neutral Milk Hotel - Communist Daughter (1:57)
Parquet Courts - Outside (1:45)
Pixies - Tame (1:56)
PJ Harvey - No Child of Mine (1:13)
Sebadoh - License to Confuse (1:46)
Prince - Sister (1:32)
The Clash - Koka Kola (1:48)
Jay Reatard - Not a Substitute (1:05)
Public Enemy - Show 'Em Whatcha Got (1:56)
The Coasters - Yakety Yak (1:53)
The Magnetic Fields - Love is Like a Bottle of Gin (1:46)
The Mountain Goats - Dance Music (1:58)
Hüsker Dü - Never Talking To You Again (1:41)
Van Halen - Eruption (1:42)
The Box Tops - The Letter (1:53)
The Byrds - It Won't Be Wrong (1:58)
The Doors - Wintertime Love (1:57)
Yo La Tengo - Return to Hot Chicken (1:40)

Did Flopsy/whoever make that "sub-one-minute" paylist?

I guess not.

aw man sorry for messing up "It's Time to Party"

anyway pretty interesting that TMBG got the 10th most points but couldn't place a single song on the poll. "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon" totally should have been on there, not only a perfect 1:59 but also kind of a perfect tune as well

you should've voted for "kiss me, son of god" with me

136 Rihanna - James Joint (1:12) 4 928 0.2784 1

this is an outrage

that was my #1. i dunno what else i voted for.

Wow. Awesome poll. Nice job Mr Malone.

Looking forward to playing around with the playlist.

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

M.O.B • KoKoLeCheL

I'm finally getting around to watching season 5 of Silicon Valley and "You Suffer" makes a cameo in episode 3, which aired a year before this poll. Didn't see "silicon" show up anywhere in this thread so I figure there might be a few other people as surprised as I was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81zBnjh2VT8

Jay Reatard was robbed here! What was I thinking, I shoulda boosted those tunes.

new entry to the list:

Noname - Song 33 (1:10)

Neil Young - Mexico

dang, missed this thread....

Bobby Smith & The Dreamgirls - now he's gone (1:59)

Sven Libaek - open sea theme (2:01)

this was a fun poll

It really was

word

Dead Milkmen - Filet of Sole (1:57)

also, I nominate/invite my friend's band (who worked real hard on their album) for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lw0zldhiBk

Charles Sheffield - it's your vodoo working (1:49)

What, no “Der Weinerschnitzel”?

Should’ve made it less than one minute instead of two. So many of these songs are good hit songs that just happen to clock in at around 1:58 or 1:59, like “Hit the Road Jack” or “Lake of Fire” or “That’s Alright, Mana”.

i suggested a 90 second poll for that reason but alas. still was a really fun poll tho.

and i still regret not voting. my top 10 would have been something very close to this (sticking to a self-imposed 90 second rule):

moby grape - naked, if i want to
big star - ST 100/6
shuggie otis - happy house
gong - chainstore chant
wire - field day for the sundays
the beatles - her majesty
tom zé - complexo de épico
can - pnoom
de la soul - transmitting live from mars
dead kennedys - nazi punks fuck off

also the db's made the top 120 but where, i ask, where are the nerves ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0kYiqWjkXM

fwiw I was one of 2 voters for Walking Out On Love by (Paul Collins) Beat

It's nominations day in Tom's World Cup of sub-2min songs, in case you're interested

This is the NOMINATIONS THREAD for the

WORLD CUP OF SHORT SONGS

You get 4 noms, each under 2 minutes and from a different decade. 1 track/artist!

Guidelines: https://t.co/8xYKFayUyE
Nominations List: https://t.co/kGhFTMYLQg pic.twitter.com/Y2vjmEUad7

— The World Cup Of 1977 (@peoples_pop) May 30, 2021

on further review, not including video game songs here definitely led to a drastically different selection. i assume SMB1 W1-1 would have won this.

Wow, Yummy Fur are criminally underrepresented here, they should own this

Yes

Anyway, um, "inspired" by this poll I've made a Twitter account where I'm posting a song of every length.

https://twitter.com/EverySecondSong

#170 The Beatles - I'll Follow the Sun (1:48) 3 votes

i love this song

Anyway, um, "inspired" by this poll I've made a Twitter account where I'm posting a song of every length.

https://twitter.com/EverySecondSong

― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, August 4, 2021 4:07 PM (five months ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is cool, I love this CaAL!

just listened to Final Day and got annoyed again about people not liking it on this poll lol.

shocked by this though!

"Hybrid Moments" isn't even in my top ten Misfits songs fwiw

― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Friday, 12 April 2019 23:13 (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

putting that on next