worst song on the 20th century poll

o superman, obv

Purely based on the fact I would never listen to it w/o a prompt from someone else, "Uptown Top Ranking". I don't find it to be objectively bad, though.

I thought about making this 49 and adding "I don't think any of these songs are bad"

but for those people just go with least favorite

o superman, obv

― iatee, Saturday, 4 December 2010 02:54 (15 minutes ago)

ban

way ahead of you

Two jumped out at me - Television and Kate Bush. I'll accept lobbying in either direction before I vote.

and there goes another one

no "worst", but here are least favorites:

o superman: can't get through five seconds of it, i just find it irritating
waterloo sunset: don't care much for the kinks, never liked this song
when doves cry: embarrassing lyrics, blah song
i put a spell on you: possibly more annoying than the laurie anderson song
blue monday: my least favorite new order song

I don't find it to be objectively bad, though.

There are a whole bunch of songs on here where I could say the same: never meant a thing to me personally, but its placement in the Top 50 is fine and even kind of interesting. There are even three or four I don't think I've ever heard.

Polls about polls--they're metatastic!

There should be a 'best discovery from the top 50' poll. I Feel Love currently winning my own

I had never listened to any Big Star – I know they are v well loved here, but when I listened to the youtube linked of "September Gurls," I totally didn't get it at all.

Listen to Thirteen instead.

Or Ballad of El Goodo, which wasn't even nominated iirc.

yeah I love big star but have always been pretty eh on september gurls

I think I voted for thirteen?

I've never gotten Big Star.

I love Big Star, but only really got into September Gurls in the last year.

i find myself enjoying big star less each year. and i can't say september gurls ever really blew me away, the way it seems to other ppl. the thid/sister lovers record has some great moments, but is also one of the most downer records ever, at least parts of it are...

Like a Rolling Stone.

Big Star - 'September Gurls' was one of the better songs of the ones I never heard before

i would probably vote for "o superman" but i pretty much feel like i don't get it & it's pretty much not for me

blue oyster cult on the other hand i get & i just think it's boring as hell

after that probably "once in a lifetime" which is another one that just makes me go \(o_O)/

agree about once in a lifetime.

i'm by no means mr. talking heads, phd over here or anything but i feel like they have to have at least 10 songs that are better than that one

more like 100 songs better than that one.

yeah i was being incredibly conservative there

huh, it's one of the only talking heads songs that i can deal with!

thread of "why you cloth ears braek hearts?"

'When doves cry' for me. I like Prince but that song bores me to tears... I'm not a big fan of ballads tho.

and there goes another one

"Marquee Moon".

"God Only Knows" and "When Doves Cry" close runners up.

Nothing here I really hate but I'm sick of hearing 'Teenage Kicks' on pub jukeboxes, so that.

"Good Vibrations"

Lyrically naff and the chorus melody is just too reminiscent of nursery rhymes I absorbed as a toddler. Even the theremin is pretty dull. I say this as someone who really digs me some theremin and ondes martenot.

BOOOOOOM

thread of "why you cloth ears braek hearts?"

― absinthe of malithe (Noodle Vague), Saturday, December 4, 2010 5:26 AM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yep.

xpost: yeah, I hate fun. I'm totally fine with "God Only Knows" though, and "Surf's Up" for that matter.

Gotta be "Marquee Moon", especially considering how high it got. All the other songs in the top 10 (even the Rolling Stones one which I don't particularly care about) have this "big", epic feel to them, like they deserve to rate among the 10 best songs of the century, but that tune is just... a bit of guitar rock.

'Teen Age Riot' for bringing least to the party. 'O Superman' appears to be complete horseshit, but at least it doesn't sound like anything else.

the Smiths (take yer pick)!

Ismael you're a bro and I want you to know it breaks my heart to SB you

So nothing older than mid-90s on this thread.

The financial crisis, the coalition government => we get what we deserve.

44 Pulp - Common People

that was easy

This is hard.

"Superstition" or "Strawberry Fields Forever", probably.
Or "This Charming Man" just because "There Is A Light" towers over it
These are a bunch of amazing songs

Hated The Smiths at the time, still hate them now. Preciousness and whining are always annoying, so "This Charming Man" for me.

FUCK YOU, THE SMITHS

good topic for a thread imo

Smiths. I was going to say Depeche Mode as well but I actually don't know how that song goes (or most of their other famous ones, tho I've heard them all)

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" is one of the worst things Joy Divison ever did too

um, no

voting for "Love Will Tear Us Apart" but not because i think the band had better songs

it is perplexing to me that people genuinely like "common people" so much

it's alright but it's probably also v. nostalgic for a certain cohort of ILXors, plus "literate indie" kinda people

It's a good song for arguing about.

big star

1 The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
9 The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
12 David Bowie - Heroes
14 The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
15 The Specials - Ghost Town
17 The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
20 The Smiths - This Charming Man
31 The Beatles - A Day in the Life
37 The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
44 Pulp - Common People

^^actively dislike all of these terrible songs - the one that's setting off the hate most is prob "this charming man"

You really dislike "God Only Knows"? Why? To me it seems like a harmless piece of twee pop.

there's nothing harmless about twee pop

eradicate all twee

Why?

because he is the lex

twee shit makes me feel so violent

Depeche Mode 4EVA!!!!!!

Hi,

No vote from me.

Ta.

No idea how "this Charming man" could have placed over "there is a light, etc." so i almost voted for that one, but this has to be boring Teenage Riot by Sonic Youth.

the Specials...that track is just completely unremarkable. sounds almost like the backing track to a video game.

more like the music from a fairground ghost train u mean (this is one of the great things about it)

How could you hate Song X when clearly Song Y is the worst song on this list?

Song Y is the bomb. I SB you.

Now Song Z, on the other hand: what a pile of shit.

I hate music.

I had never heard "Common People" before this poll, either. I thought it was kinda cute.

"Common People"

"Heroes" is a pretty good D Bowie song but not even like the tenth best. Much better ones were nominated. TBH I think my love for this song was stunted by hearing the Wallflowers cover of it first on the radio all the time in jr. high. That guy could make any song boring. OTOH I do like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjBcNU1UZUs

I've stayed away from the 20th century poll (I clicked on the original announcement last month or whatever but thought it was a bit much, haven't touched it since). Am I missing classic ILM discussion (construed as you will) or what?

Seeing 'Common People' does expose it as kind of weak. Great lyric, not much else special about it.

Seeing 'Common People' here, jeez... The poll was fabulous, you missed a treat.

specials & heroes' are v poor, but voting for joy division who have no place in the 21st century. hard to find a starting point w/ people for whom pulp is a live option.

'When Doves Cry' by a mile

As explosions of philistinism go, this thread is second only to the premiere of The Rite of Spring. Seriously.
Anyway, I voted Screamin' Jay Hawkins, but only because Nina Simone's version of the song is so superior.
Also, no Kraftwerk = no credibility.

For the most part the songs here I don't like, I simply don't know. Voted "Gimme Shelter" anyway, but even that is one of their more tolerable songs for me.

Both of these threads, I'm going to vote on the song divorced from its performance and recording. Strictly a case of what's the worst or best-constructed song, lyrically, structurally, balance in terms of melody/harmony/rhythm (the three-legged stool of music that Geir always trips over). Which song would stand up worst/best if it was performed by any of the other 49 artists in the poll? So as much as I love the song, I'm voting "Uptown Top Ranking" here, barely over "Sister Ray".

"Heroes" here too.

New Order doing 'God Only Knows' is the least appealing combo I can think of here

Gotta be "Marquee Moon", especially considering how high it got. All the other songs in the top 10 (even the Rolling Stones one which I don't particularly care about) have this "big", epic feel to them, like they deserve to rate among the 10 best songs of the century, but that tune is just... a bit of guitar rock.

― Tuomas, Saturday, December 4, 2010 5:11 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

10-minute song "not epic," "just ... a bit of guitar rock"

what about bob dylan doing 'the message'? xp

bob dylan doing 'groove is in the heart' obv the best combo

Most folks doing 'Bring The Noise' would be pretty unbearable imo. But that is the third greatest song here.

Maybe The Smiths taking a crack at 'Strange Fruit'

voted "sittin' on the dock of the bay"; i love otis redding but this song always feels totally disconnected from the rest of his catalog and i'd rather listen to pretty much any of his other songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8st0m2fLuk

Ha - don't mind that, but the guitar solo sorta sucks.

Running Up That Hill, just because it placed far too high and I've never really loved it. Not even my favourite Kate Bush song.

smh at Skip's description of Ghost Town.

You mean most hated by those who dislike it? It is already settled, more or less, that "I Put a Spell On You" is the worst in the top 50. :)

Voting for "Bring The Noise" though. The combination of rap and thrash metal.......

least melodic xp

there we go

It is already settled, more or less,

when was that settled?

thrash metal?

HE MEANS BCZ ITS 50TH xp

thrash metal?

I'm guessing he means the 1991 version with Anthrax - which isn't that great but I'm sure it's not the one people voted for in the actual poll.

ah, thanks.

Althea & Donna doing "O Superman" would be my dream combo
Geir what do you think about Laurie Anderson?

I expect no one to agree with me, but "Billie Jean." Fuck that overpraised stack of crap.

Happen to like all these songs a lot, but when I think of all the great songs and artists displaced by what's here, I think "Ghost Town" is the most out of place. Fun song, but not in the same league as most of what's here and taking up space I'd much rather see occupied by something by Duke Ellington, or "Crimson and Clover" or "What'd I Say" or "Heart of Glass."

now I want a Screamin' Jay version of "Sister Ray"

Smiths "This Charming Man"... I do like a few of their songs, but not this one. not crazy about "The Message" or "Sister Ray" either.

wild honey era beach boys doing 'sister ray' would be so amazing

yeah - even, or maybe especially, if they kept it under 2:30

Intra-poll option covers that do actually exist:

New Order - Love Will Tear Us Apart (obv)
Joy Division - Sister Ray
Rolling Stones - Like A Rolling Stone

Any others?

David Bowie - God Only Knows. Ugh.

"Temptation" all the way. This list is way slanted in favour of the last 35 years of the 20th century though.

And "just a bit of guitar rock" is kind of an incredible thing to say about "Marquee Moon".

I think "Ghost Town" is the most out of place. Fun song

Yeah, its timeless evocation of the carnival atmosphere of 80s Coventry on a cold Wednesday night is way too ephemeral and upbeat to deserve a place here.

can't even imagine how high 'ghost town' would have placed w/ british voters only

I'm assuming that no american voted for it, cause I mean, really

I assume that's internet drollery

like a few other posters, I had never heard Ghost Town before. Fookin epic, though; in fact I'm putting it on a mix I'm making for a friend atm.

ghost town is awes

i'd happily have every other song by every other 2tone/ska etc band redacted from history to preserve that one track

1 The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
9 The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
12 David Bowie - Heroes
14 The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
15 The Specials - Ghost Town
17 The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
20 The Smiths - This Charming Man
31 The Beatles - A Day in the Life
37 The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
44 Pulp - Common People

^^actively dislike all of these terrible songs - the one that's setting off the hate most is prob "this charming man"

there's nothing harmless about twee pop
eradicate all twee
twee shit makes me feel so violent

― lex lex lex lex lex on the track BOW (lex pretend)

can we have a thread where we psychoanalyze lex and maybe help pinpoint the time in his life where everything went wrong?

1963 iirc

"Ghost Town" is way better than most of the shite on this list.

alex from london

Yeah, its timeless evocation of the carnival atmosphere of 80s Coventry on a cold Wednesday night is way too ephemeral and upbeat to deserve a place here.

See, that nicely describes exactly why I like the song a lot. It might make my list of 50 favorite songs of the 1980s (somewhere in the bottom half, but still...). It just doesn't offer anything near the same kind of visceral pleasure or fascination I get from most other songs here. Could be an American thing. Could be a 'I'm not generally crazy for ska even under the absolute best of circumstances' thing. And in this company, 'worst' just means least jaw-droppingly great. Though honestly, as much as I love the Smiths, I think the placement of "This Charming Man" is way too high, and I doubt it would be on a list of my 50 favorite songs of the 80s, so maybe I should have gone with that. But I have an emotional attachment to The Smiths that just isn't there for The Specials, so "Ghost Town" was the more obvious choice for me.

None of these are bad songs, I must say.

"O Superman" barely qualifies as a song in my not-so-humble O but I like everything else listed

not-so-humble Opinion Superman

And while it's a great song, "Gimme Shelter" is really only my fourth or fifth favorite track off LET IT BLEED, so I definitely don't agree with the #2 ranking. But there have been times when it was the only thing in the world I wanted to hear for at least a few minutes, which has never really been the case with "Ghost Town." Also, color me shocked that "Gimme Shelter" and "Marquee Moon" apparently manage to make Lex's list of non-terrible songs.

I'm putting it on a mix I'm making for a friend atm.

Dawg, I don't think ATM machines have ears.

Gee. I voted for a bunch of these (without ranking) but "Ghost Town" could even be the most evocative from this lot. And I'm not British either. And as the person who nominated "Marquee Moon" in the first place the backlash is an awesome thing to behold. It's one of the few endless noodly guitar solo fests I can abide.

"Ghost Town" is the only song I wasn't familiar with on the list that I felt the need to download. Still, there's literally 1000 reggae songs I'd rank ahead of it.

Good! but its not reggae. An expert on the genre such as yourself should know better.

Also, color me shocked that "Gimme Shelter" and "Marquee Moon" apparently manage to make Lex's list of non-terrible songs.

it's because i haven't heard them!

"ghost town" is such a weak, insipid thing - so grey and colourless, and his voice is like a wet tissue.

guys, GLEN CAMPBELL. GLEN FUCKING CAMPBELL.

maybe this is my clothears, but i fucking HATE wichita lineman. the rest of this list is pretty innocuous imho.

Teen Age Riot isn't so great.... like all Sonic Youth songs, they each have 20 seconds of greatness before they remind themselves that they're an artsy band and can't possibly play anything you can nod you head to - "quick! do that scary thing with your guitar, i think they're actually liking it!"

xp -- so is your problem with the song, or the performer, or the recording, or some combo?

Was the poll for any complete piece of music from the 20th century or for songs per se?

songs, but we nominated the songs beforehand

it was for "tracks," and a bunch of longer works got shut down at the beginning because they weren't "tracks"

They were whole musicals though iirc - would've been silly if West Side Story or whatever had got in.

Teen Age Riot is an astounding track, and probably one of their most accessible tunes. dunno what yr on about.

Teen Age Riot isn't so great.... like all Sonic Youth songs, they each have 20 seconds of greatness before they remind themselves that they're an artsy band and can't possibly play anything you can nod you head to - "quick! do that scary thing with your guitar, i think they're actually liking it!"

el wrongo

It's kinda inevtiable that there be two camps on this

Many, many Sonic Youth songs match your description, but not this one.

Nothing twee about Beach Boys tho

Teen Age Riot is an astounding track, and probably one of their most accessible tunes. dunno what yr on about.

― hot weiners is the best and i want a hot weiner (the table is the table), Saturday, 4 December 2010 23:17 (2 minutes ago)

uhuh

he's on ritalin iirc

Sund4r, Some people nominated movements from larger works. There were a few instrumental nominations. (I nominated "Evening Star," as a matter of fact.)

They do have their twee corners xp but 'God Only Knows' definitely isn't one of them.

Lex has a theory that twee leads to paedophilia. That's only a slight exaggeration of something he actually said on one thread.

yeah seriously, if there's any song where SY don't get in their own way with artsiness it's that one

i was pleasantly surprised by how much i dug "teen age riot" when i listened to it yesterday

Well I'm inclined not to give a toss about any theory lex might have

that's because "teenage riot" crushes 99% of your goddamn newfangled pitchfork bait you whippersnapper (xpost)

thought it was highly accessible as well

A lot of what Sonic Youth does loses me, but not "Teen Age Riot"; I've always found it amazing on about four or five different levels.

yeah, it always gives me a thrill to listen to it

Good! but its not reggae.

Yes it is.

like all Sonic Youth songs, they each have 20 seconds of greatness before they remind themselves that they're an artsy band and can't possibly play anything you can nod you head to

The weirdest thing about this is that it's the exact opposite of what happens in "Teenage Riot". If any part of the song is artsy, it's the intro. The rest of the song is totally head-nodding and catchy.

Also, ILM hates Duke Ellington and Tin Pan Alley.

(And Bartok but that's less of a surprise.)

Also, ILM hates Duke Ellington

wait waht?

He was wronged, judging by these results.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Ended up voting for Kate. Not enough hate for that track, whereas Television has some vocal detractors.

curious to see if anyone's voted for joy division. it's one of those songs i think ingenius and yet think survives on the line "love will tear us apart alone" - as in that's it's not a very good song if ian had been moaning "coffee and tea for me, for meee"

*ingenious

You shouldn't be allowed to vote for a song in this if you've only heard it for the first time this week.

That should have been a rule.

"Don't Fear The Reaper." This one stands out for me as ??? It's not even the 23rd best song from 1978.

It's from 76, surely? And it's awesome.

there aren't a lot of sonic youth songs with good vocal hooks; teenage riot is one of them

i voted for the joy division song. i don't outright hate it, but it's the one song on here i've listened to a lot of times for which the hook just doesn't do anything for me, and i've always disliked the production/sound of the joy division albums. it's still one of the better joy division songs imo.

Wichita Whineman

Voted Dee-Lite. Runner-up: Depeche Mode. (Have never heard the Smiths song that isn't "This Charming Man," I don't think.)

Dee-Lite? are you strung out or something, man?

guys, GLEN CAMPBELL. GLEN FUCKING CAMPBELL.

maybe this is my clothears, but i fucking HATE wichita lineman. the rest of this list is pretty innocuous imho

So glad that I'm not the only one who voted for this pieces of cheesy schmaltz.

there aren't a lot of sonic youth songs with good vocal hooks; teenage riot is one of them

― ciderpress, Sunday, December 5, 2010 1:51 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

Oh come on. It sounds like Dino Jr. or some bullshit.

So glad that I'm not the only one who voted for this pieces of cheesy schmaltz.

(me three)

it's gonna be in my shortlist for sure

Ha, looks like I'm the only person who voted for New Order.

I tried voting twice but the system wouldn't let me.

dude I really, really don't like New Order but I'm not sure Temptation is the worst thing here

mind you it does blab about doing nothing for ages

oh so THIS is Enjoy The Silence! so many classic songs here I've heard and not known the author of

I tried voting twice but the system wouldn't let me.

Contact Wikileaks--there's something very sinister going on there.

ohhhh this might well be 'teenage kicks' acshully

deee-lite is also terrible, wtf

haha this is all subjective btw and yes I am wrong now shh and let me criticise

i mean, deee-lite made it and james brown didn't? you are all fucking nuts

tbh all the 'college radio touchstone' type picks kind of pale in comparison to almost everything else here

james brown may be the ultimate victim of vote splitting. how many great songs does he have to dee-lite's solitary one?

yeah I mean, anything positive in the deee-lite song has been done so very much better by so very many others, I don't even wanna groove to it

u have no <3.

this Smiths song isn't very good either. 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' and 'The Headmaster Ritual' are so much better, why did they not get nominated?

even How Soon Is Now kills it dead

The vote-splitting explanation makes sense, but there are a bunch of people in the Top 50--Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Prince, Bob Dylan, and Velvet Underground especially--where that must have applied just as much. (Not sure how many actual nominations each got, though.)

I find the Modern Lovers one kind of nothingy.

james brown may be the ultimate victim of vote splitting. how many great songs does he have to dee-lite's solitary one?

― some dude, Sunday, December 5, 2010 10:58 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah I mean, anything positive in the deee-lite song has been done so very much better by so very many others, I don't even wanna groove to it

― Cap.Obv (acoleuthic), Sunday, December 5, 2010 10:58 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i would like to point out that you said some rong shit that makes no sense and had nothing to do w/ my post but phrased it in a way like you were agreeing with me

So glad that I'm not the only one who voted for this pieces of cheesy schmaltz.

ugh, this song.

thereafter follows a run of good songs which is only interrupted by the fact I wish I'd nominated The Passions' 'I'm In Love With A German Filmstar' which is at last count 8395838538540 times better than Love Will Tear Us Apart

this run is terminated, regrettably, by Roadrunner, which is boring as fuck. srsly does this do anything that Sister Ray doesn't do, like, 8395838538541 times better?

"Sister Ray"'s a great song, but it doesn't do a number of things that "Roadrunner" does--doesn't talk about the Stop 'n' Shop, doesn't help you from being alone late at night, doesn't get in the car and go for a ride.

Sam Cooke song also does nothing for me. Truly I have no <3. Although in the interests of fairness, here's a song that does a LOT for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il1T8Qb986U

Embarrassing admission: I might be the only person in the world who likes a second Dee-Lite song ("Picnic in the Summertime"). I may even be the only person in the world who knows a second Dee-Lite song.

Lots of Deee-lite love for "Power of Love" and "Good Beat" on ILM, clem.

Let's start a support group!

96 Tears is also kinda dull. Lotsa mannered rock-crit choices here - very neat and tidy songs that know their sound and don't fancy doing much with it - no moments of sublimity

like if you wanna throw in a big cliched 60s organ-led track at least make it A Whiter Shade Of Pale...or, here's a thought, House Of The Rising Sun (which flipping KILLS this shit)

kills it DEAD. but it's kinda edgy and rambling and unearthly so no dice, gotta go with the 'groovy' boring one

"Love Will Tear Us Apart," "Roadrunner," Sam Cooke, "96 Tears"...keep going, you're on a roll.

Lotsa mannered rock-crit choices here - very neat and tidy songs that know their sound and don't fancy doing much with it - no moments of sublimity

see also: uptown top ranking, although there are a couple of nice synth touches

don't like September Gurls very much either - it has a cracking sound but the songwriting isn't to my taste rly

clemenza ur my ilx mortal enemy, it's taken as a compliment haha

Not liking "96 Tears" is insanity imo.

September Gurls packs as much sadness and joy into three minutes as anyone else ever has.

dude this is a thread of negativity, I could praise all the songs here which I love which is most of them but gotta keep it metal \m/

Acoleuthic, just one request before I vacate: can I claim "mannered rock-crit choice" as my new handle?

for instance, the thought I'm feeling right now is "<3 Prince <3 <3 <3" but that is not for this thread

haha of course my good man!

What, exactly, do you love about that "German Film Star" song? I'd never heard it before, but listening now it just sits there like a dead fish.

its use of space and depth in the mix, its beat, its bassline, and above all its middle-eight which soars into heaven on the back of the most succulent echoey guitars thou will'st hear

it just perfects that sparse 80's art-pop-rock sound which Joy Division helped initiate

Hmm. Missed all that. Might try again.

Yeah, good song (German Film Star)

This Charming Man is considerably better than There Is A Light...but it's not the 20th freaking best song of the 20th century you menks

but yeah it's actually quite good I suppose

It's obvious in my mind that How Soon is Now is the best of the big Smiths song, just for that guitar part that sounds like a car speeding past. I'm not particularly a fan of the band though.

yeah How Soon Is Now is by miles and miles the best of the Smiths songs in this poll, for that exact reason (oh, and the chord-changes in the chorus)

actually quite surprised by how good Once In A Lifetime is on this hearing - have heard it before but it's gotten better in its absence

(oh, and How Soon Is Now's echoey rhythm guitar part kicks ass)

also this Specials song: not bad enough to consider for my Worst Of but jeez REALLY?

"96 Tears" is one of my favorite rock songs. Can't hate.

and "There Is A Light" >>>>>> "How Soon Is Now?"

ok 96 Tears isn't terrible but it's just kinda...not enough

the organ is cool but it could be cooler

but maybe I'll listen to it again. I'm not gonna vote for it here, there's worse

Congratulations, LJ, on hating even more all-time fuiud classics than Lex. Your taste is a complete mystery to me.

Lotsa mannered rock-crit choices here - very neat and tidy songs that know their sound and don't fancy doing much with it - no moments of sublimity

it's a really unexciting list - didn't follow the actual poll itself and this doesn't make me regret that.

h8ing on "uptown top ranking" is absurd though.

haha lol xp

when tom ewing covered "ghost town" on popular last year, this is what i wrote:

The first time I heard of this song was when ILM did a “best UK No 1s ever” poll a few years back, and it was the only song in the top 10 I wasn’t familiar with – I think it may have even come top? Anyway I went to listen to it and was hugely underwhelmed then, and still am now. It’s not awful or anything but I keep finding my attention drifting elsewhere by the first minute, it doesn’t stick with me at all and is actually just a drag by the end. The “hellbound howls” are ridiculously hammy and I can’t take them seriously at all, ditto the “spooky” wind machine effect, and I find the singer’s voice a rather pale, grey thing. I would give it 5, and am completely perplexed by the reverence being paid to it.

^^otm

yeah How Soon Is Now is by miles and miles the best of the Smiths songs in this poll,

lj is actually being OVERLY GENEROUS if anything

I can see why ppl would find "96 Tears" boring or unengaging but I like my rock and roll pretty minimal

louis do you like Suicide? Suicide vs. ? and the Mysterians

once in a lifetime is one of the best songs on that list.

i was going to vote for glen campbell, but then realised that it's actually a pretty good song despite the hammy orchestration.

I think Terry Hall's voice is perfect for Ghost Town, it's all about grey depressing Britain at the end of the 70s. Don't really get the hate for this song tbh, it sums up a time and place perfectly.

Wichita Lineman and Be My Baby are actually quite good on replay. so my line-up of SHAME is complete:

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart
The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
? and The Mysterians - 96 Tears
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking

Big Star are exempted coz it's clearly a good song that isn't for me

not rly listened to much Suicide! gave Frankie Teardrop a coupla goes and it was ok

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart
The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
? and The Mysterians - 96 Tears
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking

has nice synth touches; the lex will kill me if I vote for it

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart
The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
? and The Mysterians - 96 Tears
Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking

has nice organ touches; Abbott and crut are already disappointed in me

ok it gets hard now

also this Specials song: not bad enough to consider for my Worst Of but jeez REALLY?

― Cap.Obv (acoleuthic), Sunday, December 5, 2010 5:11 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

One of my top five ever tracks, no jokes. Hugely atmospheric, elegant, meaningful and danceable.

It was interesting to see how many people were unaware of it. It's such a fixture of the musical landscape in this country.

Like I said in the poll thread, Suicide's version of '96 Tears' is a great piece of cold, clammy horror, like night sweats in a cold water flat.

like what you wanna like I am not disappointed

the massive hammed-up organ bit in Ghost World is awesome and the echoey grim vibe is v appropriate 2 80s england but I can't imagine that song doing so well in this kinda poll! guess there's hope for us all

aw crut that's ok <3 but I do srsly think that song is better than the others there

It's such a fixture of the musical landscape in this country.

it totally isn't

i have NEVER heard it, or even heard it talked about, outside of ilm and freakytrig

thankfully!

How anyone can say they don't get A Change Is Gonna Come and then complain there's not enough "sublimity" in the list I do not know. Listen to it again - the way the arrangement responds to the lyrics, the way it moves between hope and doubt, the final resolution… Come on, LJ, don't blow it.

lex, with the greatest respect you are not the ideal objective arbiter of what constitutes a fixture in the musical landscape.

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart
The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come

after another listen, obviously better than the other four HAHA xpost!!

yeah ok I dropped a big one there

israelites is a cool song. just listened to it for the first time ever.

rooting for lj to pick the smiths obv - don't mind "teenage kicks" or "groove is in the heart" (though not exactly overflowing w/affection for them either), don't know what "roadrunner" is

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart
The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

does not offend me as much as it should

this sam cooke song is WAY better on second listen - I wasn't paying enough attention first time around

lex you don't mind teenage kicks, wtf, it seems designed for you to hate

i don't like the arrangement or vox of the original (or in fact any cover i've heard) but i kind of feel it might be really strong given the right treatment.

as i said i don't have active affection for it though!

'roadrunner' is holy grail for me. cross that off your list next, LJ.

i think i was probably the only person who voted for michael jackson.

objective arbiter

what the hell -- there's no such thing!

Voted for "The Message." Not bad, but I wasn't around when it became epochal. Prefer "The Breaks."

currently drunk enough to sb everyone who votes for Wichita Lineman, O Superman, Uptown Top Ranking

I like most of these songs, how unexpected! kinda surprised that "Gimme Shelter" is so high tho, one of the songs I like more by the Stones but #2, serious?

like if you wanna throw in a big cliched 60s organ-led track at least make it A Whiter Shade Of Pale...or, here's a thought, House Of The Rising Sun

estimated number of SBs i received for above post: 17

but still, it is TRUE (uh)

#
pdorn777
2 days ago

This is Jonathan's unabashed tribute to the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray", which he reworked lyrically while keeping the chord structure fully intact. RIchman's version as "Roadrunner", in my humble opinion, blows "Sister Ray" away hands down and is a heck of a lot more fun to listen to!!!

I basically said this but the exact opposite as my first reaction, lol

R please don't vote for DITL, it's rly good

xpost. I'm not saying there is - just responding to this post:

It's such a fixture of the musical landscape in this country.

it totally isn't

― lex lex lex lex lex on the track BOW (lex pretend), Sunday, December 5, 2010 5:28 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

if SBs were being handed out at that rate for such offences I'd have been RIP about an hour ago fwiw

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

john peel was the man

nah if you choose either of those you gettin murdahd.

'wichita lineman' seems here just to confuse me, i really can't hear what's even supposed to be so great about it.

R please don't vote for DITL, it's rly good

ughhhh such a trite, facile melody to go with its trite, facile lyrics

I'm surprised Lex doesn't see "Ghost Town" as a fixture, since I've often read e.g. Simon Reynolds draw a line between Ghost Town and Hauntology. For me it's one of those tracks which is nowhere near as amazing on record as it should be in my head (i.e. built up from all the wonderful things written about it), but it's a pretty OK track and I'm happy to see it as the epoch-changing landscape fixture it gets written up as even if I can't quite hear it. Obv I realise that people younger than I am have every right to be as annoyed by this as I am by incessant talk of the Beatles changing the world etc

xpost. Vocals, lyrics, melody, arrangement, production.

Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart
The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

I think the first Youtube video I saw was kinda low-quality; it actually has a sweet sorta bounce to it even if it is kinda rubbish

MAYHAP I SHALL PLAY THE COYOTE

ah I used the wrong tag. A SIGN

I've often read e.g. Simon Reynolds draw a line between Ghost Town and Hauntology

(yet) another reason to dislike it

Obv I realise that people younger than I am have every right to be as annoyed by this as I am by incessant talk of the Beatles changing the world etc

i hate the beatles way more than "ghost town" if that helps!

I'd love to read about lex's alternative canon. Lex, ever gotten around to it?

'wichita lineman' seems here just to confuse me, i really can't hear what's even supposed to be so great about it.

the desperation and exhaustion of every person who's ever been trapped alone with their thoughts, duh

fuck it, I'll vote Joy Division instead

I love Wichita Lineman but it finishing top 10 seems overkill, especially when someone similar from that strain of late 60s easy listening/mor like Nillsson or The Carpenters failed to make the top 100.

the desperation and exhaustion of every person who's ever been trapped alone with their thoughts, duh

but like i've totally been there :'(. okay, i'll just listen to it on repeat until i get it or it kills me.

There are a few Undertones singles I *really* love ('Get Over You', 'It's Going To Happen', and especially 'You've Got My Number') but I do find 'Teenage Kicks' totally annoying.

(actually voted for Roadrunner because it is dull and because Sister Ray is already in the top 50 and is like that song done infinitely better, and earlier)

I'd love to read about lex's alternative canon. Lex, ever gotten around to it?

i don't believe in canons at all. nonetheless, someone asked me on tumblr a while ago what my personal canons of the past 3 decades would be, if they existed, and this was my response - http://alexmacpherson.tumblr.com/post/969084940/quick-lex-canon-of-the-past-thirty-years-what-are-your

SB (xp).

i guess my last.fm library is as good a guide to my canon as anything, too http://www.last.fm/user/lexpretend/library

(actually voted for Roadrunner because it is dull and because Sister Ray is already in the top 50 and is like that song done infinitely better, and earlier)

Well, that was quite an adventure...I voted for "Roadrunner" over on the Best-Song poll, so Acoleuthic and I remain perfectly in sync.

"Roadrunner" definitely another song which is better as a memory than on record, and another song where Richman has recorded so many versions of it and so many similar takes on the same theme, same riff, same riff, same etc, that it diminishes the great version, but still, when he hits the "Roadrunner once... Roadrunner twice..." and then the "radio on!" chorus comes back in a little shiver goes down my spine like, fuck yeah, I don't know what this means but it's true, absolutely true

I know it is slightly shaky ground to criticise the guy for going back and back to the same furrow since he may not be not quite all there and who am I to expect more than 4 transcendent minutes of sublimity from anyone when I'll never produce even 4 seconds, but...

same riff, same riff

this was... deliberate? or, I should drink less

it's kinda otm tho

roadrunner is krautrock without the kraut and not much rock either

*prepares for ban*

I think that may be exactly what I want from music, actually. "Crazy Rhythms" (not listed? for shame!), "Roadrunner": non-rocking non-Kraut krautrock.

so nothing then?

While I'm feeling the frisson of building a house of challops, Bo Diddley 'Road Runner' >> Jonathan Richman 'Roadrunner'.

yr right

This thread is filling me with white hot rage in some cases, tho.

there's definitely a lot of white rage here

loooool a++

everybody who says 'i like this' or 'i don't like that' is otm, doesn't matter what the song is or whether i agree

everybody who says 'you're an idiot for liking this or for not liking that' deserves a tempban

this is all on your head, fever

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

this is all on your head, fever

WAHT I didn't start this thread.

for starting the 20th C poll at all, i mean

mostly j/k

:)

JF, which songs would you like to leap vigorously to the defence of?

Like I said a couple times before, while I might not have been 100% pleased with how it shook out, it was all worth it for moments like people hearing "Word Up" and "Sinnerman" for the first time and the collective moment where a bunch of people realized "I Only Have Eyes for You" is quite genius.

JF, which songs would you like to leap vigorously to the defence of?

I've been staying out of this for the most part, but when you and the lex were dismissing Sam Cooke a little while ago, I wanted to start hitting something.

I'll hold 'em while you take your shots.

Yeah, IK's moments of revelation were delightful. xxp

haha but I listened to it again, properly, and realised the error of my ways!

ahem i was not dismissing sam cooke!!!!

Sam Cooke = a good thing!

xp I thought that was the song you said you didn't like the arrangement or vocals of...if it wasn't, I can relax!

that was "teenage kicks"!

or it may have been "a day in the life"

it wasn't sam cooke, at any rate

I'm emerging as the solitary villain of the piece here - I can only plead a cloth-eared first listen - but trust me, Sam Cooke ain't getting hate no more

can we have a thread where we psychoanalyze lex and maybe help pinpoint the time in his life where everything went wrong?

At his birth, which was at least 10 years too late to appreciate proper music.

ok, not solitary now

hi, Geir!

you and me, Geir, let's pair up and terrorise ILM

<3 u geir

ok, not solitary now

Acoleuthic just made me laugh; it's the dawning of a new era.

dude one day we will overcome our differences and make merry upon the good ship ILX, altho maybe not on a music or film thread ;)

Or a souvlaki thread...

dude that shit is not made with chicken

:D

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wtg guys

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Idiots.

There are Marvin Gaye songs I love--"Ain't That Peculiar" and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" are my favourites--but I don't think there was ever a time that I liked "Grapevine" (or the CCR version), even though I can appreciate its place as a precursor to lots of other rumour songs. If I had voted in this (I refrained), that might have been my choice.

'this charming man' is my favorite Smiths song. it's very charming

Remove Bookmark from this Thread

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― congratulations (n/a), Monday, 6 December 2010 00:03 (3 hours ago)

Idiots.

― emil.y, Monday, 6 December 2010 00:06 (3 hours ago)

chic, good times or don't fear the reaper prob

nuthin too crap there tho

The winner is not the worst, yet pretty much horrible. At least for the last 6-7 minutes or so.

you people who voted for 'this charming man' have no soul. that song is pure joy.

Obviously a lot of people here love all of these 50 songs.

"Strange Fruit" getting 0 votes probably tells a lot about how pre-rock music has generally been met on this poll. Not with hatred but with indifference.

No, it's a vote for hate, and nobody did.

You'll have to see the 'like' poll.

.. although it's not a song to like, it's a song to respect.

You guys are dicks for voting O Superman.

Wrongest thing about those results is the anti-Kate Bush contingent.

.. although it's not a song to like, it's a song to respect.

Most of all a performer to respect.

X-Post: Kate Bush is an act that if you don't get her it's very tempting to hate her. I didn't get her before and hearing her voice annoyed the hell out of me then.

challenging opinions being aired on this thread

hard to imagine anyone in the usa voting for "This Charming Man", which is, as others have noted, delightful — guessing this was a uk-centric reaction to smiths/moz inescapability and music-press hagiography

not sure what kinda corny-ass mofo would vote for "wichita lineman" tho.

basically of this top-10, we've got two NY indie-canon sacred cows, two british indie-pop sacred cows (counting depeche mode here), two arty/experimental female musicians with strong personalities (no comment), predictable ilx backlash against the pulp song that has been wildly overpraised and overdiscussed lately, predictable anywhere-in-the-world backlash against the #1 (especially cuz it's lame/familiar/canonical), and then whatever the fuck compelled people to vote against "Maggot Brain" (not even mentioned once in the thread~!) and "Wichita Lineman"

wtf is delightful about "this charming man" and its insufferable whiny affected vocals and grimly jaunty sub-music hall melody

the guitar line is memorable, the rhythm section is energetic, and "I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear" is a fun chorus to sing along to

+ morrissey twirling a bouquet of flowers around on totp

^^one of the worst things i have ever had the misfortune to see. so fucking fey. needs a slap imo (well, since then it's been upgraded to "needs a punch in the face" for the racism).

basically you can play at a (certain kind of) party, and people will recognize it and be into it and maybe even get on the dancefloor (or at least not leave if they're already there), and we all feel kind of young and sexy but in a classy/sophisticated/bicurious/british rather than slutty/common/american way, and then 2 minutes and 43 seconds later something else is happening so it doesn't matter anymore

but in a classy/sophisticated/bicurious/british rather than slutty/common/american way

:o

#icanteven

like where to even start

mouth just opening and closing like a goldfish right now

like WHAT

u r trolling me right?

haha.

#thingscategoricallydesignedtosendlexapeshit

as far as i'm concerned my decision to vote "this charming man" here has just been vindicated unto eternity

Weird, I'm actually working on a project that has to do with N0rman L34r at work.

lex I am being 100% serious. it's weird I know, but I think this is actually how a certain strain of british jangly indie-rock and power-pop is received by young people in america: it's more cultured and sophisticated (reads more 'european') than mainstream american pop, but still has enough 'edge' to compete with the american underground, while also conjuring up a well-ingrained false nostalgia for the 60s heyday of transatlantic rock&roll

... and the fact that morrissey is fashionable and queer, and that this is a song abt clothes and sex, obviously plays into the whole dynamic

also:

as far as i'm concerned my decision to vote "this charming man" here has just been vindicated unto eternity

― lex lex lex lex lex on the track BOW (lex pretend), Monday, December 6, 2010 1:44 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

haha, fair enough!

(I don't have a great deal invested in this song, though, except that it's one of my 2 or 3 favorites out of the handful of smiths tracks I know, and it seems like a lazy/easy thing to hate on)

Someone try and explain to Lex why Slayer are good please.

but I think this is actually how a certain strain of british jangly indie-rock and power-pop is received by young people in america

are these young people actually retarded?

think it's just the radical novelty of hearing clean guitar riffs for the first time that blows their minds

but in a classy/sophisticated/bicurious/british rather than slutty/common/american way

rather than this nonsense you could've just said "cuz some people are insufferable snobs and use foreign shit to bolster their utterly unwarranted superiority complex (without, obviously, knowing jackshit about any of it)"

"bicurious" is prob the most o_0 thing in all of that. being bicurious (rather than bisexual? str8 men playing at being gay can fuck off unless they're gonna take my cock down their throat) (and how is any of this so superior to "slutty", christ) is classy and sophisticated and british? what?

xp yeah but you can't use just any foreign shit — it's still gotta be comprehensible and useable within certain frameworks

hard to imagine anyone in the usa voting for "This Charming Man", which is, as others have noted, delightful — guessing this was a uk-centric reaction to smiths/moz inescapability and music-press hagiography

It may also have something to do with Moz writing "Bengali In Platforms" five years later.

xp lex I am aware of the problematic status of the terms I'm using (probably should've gone with "queer" rather than "bicurious" — was trying to emphasize Morrissey's own 'ambivalent'/non-publicized sexuality, in general as well as this song), and my slashes are usually meant to indicate a cluster of associations rather than one-to-one equivalence — the overall mechanics of the process I'm describing would be something like "coyly restrained same-sex flirtation, repackaged within broadly-relatable youth narrative of ennui" — if you can't see why this would appeal to certain people*, or how this appeal could be both problematic and understandable, then you can fuck off

*teenagers who decide to reject the dominant aesthetics they have grown up around and in, and then some older more respected friend/sibling/blog/sexual predator tells them "hey u shld listen to this mix i made, i think u'll b into it :)"

and then some older more respected friend/sibling/blog/sexual predator tells them "hey u shld listen to this mix i made, i think u'll b into it :)"

I always wanted one of these.

*teenagers who decide to reject the dominant aesthetics they have grown up around and in, and then some older more respected friend/sibling/blog/sexual predator tells them "hey u shld listen to this mix i made, i think u'll b into it :)"

it didn't appeal to me when i was a teenager so that's no excuse. any sexual predator sending teenage lex smiths songs would have been shooting themselves in the foot somewhat

well then maybe it's just a matter of taste!

(... the fact that you don't have any, HAH!)

I wouldn't have talked to anyone who used "u" and emoticons.

It's difficult to speak emoticons.

Do we need/want a thread devoted to people trying in vain to explain the appeal of The Smiths/The Beatles/Slayer/The Fall/etc to Lex/Tuomas?

Or is this just what ILX is half the time anyway?

We could explain all night
but we wouldn't have a Legtostandon.

Didn't notice this in time but consider this a write-in vote for This Charming Man. Most of the songs on this list are good-to-great, This Charming Man is the only one that actually sets my teeth on edge.

Who the fuck votes for Uptown Top Ranking?

Whoever voted for The Israelites needs to go away now.

Mebbe they has an aversion to sunflower spreads or something?

There are plenty of songs int his list that I love unconditionally and yet I understand why someone might vote. However voting for Flamingos is also just some unforgiveable bullshit.

I explained my "Uptown Top Ranking" vote upthread.

33 Funkadelic - Maggot Brain 6

who hates funkadelic - maggot brain?

"This Charming Man" is awesome fuck all y'all

pixelfarmer, fair dos but i don't understand the reasoning though. why would i want to hear Television cover Uptown Top Ranking*? It's a good song because it sounds great!

*actually the more I think about it, the more I can almost imagine it!

So maybe you like it for the ebullience and joy in the performance, that's cool. Like I said, I tried to judge the songs separately from their recordings, and one way to do that is to imagine them being rearranged or covered by someone else. I love the song! I just think it's the least of the 50.

Or rather, I love the record! But I think the song is the least of the 50.

I think the whole problem re "This Charming Man" is that The Smiths aesthetic hasn't really aged well at all. This is all worsened by Morrissey's increasingly annoying and tired persona, which IMO is impossible dissociate with with the public's (at least my own) perception of his early music. I still think "This Charming Man" WAS a great record, until around the early 90s.

I liked it when he appeared on the One Show a few years back saying something like "I don't understand why people are getting upset about the credit crunch and losing their jobs. Why don't they just take up painting or something instead?".

It's difficult to valourise Morrissey as someone who hates boorishness and animal cruelty when you remember he also isn't too keen on Arabs walking around Knightsbridge. He's just a dick who hates stuff really.

^^^ Valuable new perspective I know.

He's just a dick who hates stuff everything but himself really.

The Smiths aesthetic hasn't really aged well at all.

They sound like something you'd read about in a magazine printed on smudgy newsprint.

the smiths' aesthetic has aged so poorly that ilx voted two of their songs into the top 50 songs of the 20th century list

i think the smiths are going to be a band that book-ish, insecure 17-year olds are going to be discovering for the first time for decades to come.

I just want to point out that these are actually ILX's favorite songs of the 20th century:

36 Marvin Gaye - I Heard it Through the Grapevine 0
47 New Order - Blue Monday 0
27 ? and The Mysterians - 96 Tears 0
28 Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come 0
30 The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back 0
10 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message 0
4 The Ronettes - Be My Baby 0
5 Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit 0
37 The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out 0
16 Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime 0

actually sorta makes more sense than the actual top 10

the smiths' aesthetic has aged so poorly that ilx voted two of their songs into the top 50 songs of the 20th century list

― congratulations (n/a), Monday, December 6, 2010 3:25 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OK I meant that more on a personal level, they went from being basically my favourite band ever (20 years ago) to being kind of annoying (today)... but I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.

I used to like Coal Chamber when I was 15.

Well, it's like a whole bunch of stuff you needed at a younger age, and now it's more nostalgia.

(resists the temptation to quote "Rubber Ring" lyric)

^ YES, that is perhaps Morrissey's most brilliant insight.

actually sorta makes more sense than the actual top 10

I know, right?

Also, better than the actual top 10.

DJP = insightful

the top 50 reordered based on this list, then by placing in the original poll:

4 The Ronettes - Be My Baby 0
5 Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit 0
10 Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message 0
16 Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime 0
27 ? and The Mysterians - 96 Tears 0
28 Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come 0
30 The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back 0
36 Marvin Gaye - I Heard it Through the Grapevine 0
37 The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out 0
47 New Order - Blue Monday 0
2 The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter 1
3 Donna Summer - I Feel Love 1
12 David Bowie - Heroes 1
13 Stevie Wonder - Superstition 1
19 Otis Redding - Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay 1
34 The Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes for You 1
31 The Beatles - A Day in the Life 1
43 New Order - Temptation 1
45 Chic - Good Times 1
46 Desmond Dekker - Israelites 1
49 The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray 1
14 The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset 2
15 The Specials - Ghost Town 2
21 Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough 2
25 Althea and Donna - Uptown Top Ranking 2
29 The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner 2
48 Sly and The Family Stone - Family Affair 2
41 Prince - Little Red Corvette 2
50 Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You 2
9 The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations 3
22 Prince and The Revolution - When Doves Cry 3
26 Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone 3
24 Big Star - September Gurls 3
40 Public Enemy - Bring the Noise 3
7 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean 4
17 The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever 4
23 Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper 4
32 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart 4
39 The Undertones - Teenage Kicks 4
38 Deee-lite - Groove Is in the Heart 5
44 Pulp - Common People 5
11 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) 6
33 Funkadelic - Maggot Brain 6
35 Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot 6
1 The Beach Boys - God Only Knows 8
8 Television - Marquee Moon 8
6 Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman 9
42 Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence 9
20 The Smiths - This Charming Man 10
18 Laurie Anderson - O Superman 11

lol @ The Undertones being #39 in both rankings

i love "96 tears" to death but i'm surprised no one voted for it as worst, lots of people hate that song

Really??? I love it, too.

Be My Baby has been materialising in my idle thoughts like some crazed and haunting spectre - I deduce that it's actually quite good & redolent of mythic times

Ronettes @ #1 sounds 100% correct for a board started by belle & sebastian fans

but then the question arises: where be nick drake?

yeah, i almost posted something about how if this poll had been done ten years ago i would expect to see nick drake show up, but i think he's sort of fallen out of fashion again to some degree??

he's def not as trendy as he was in the early-mid '00s. Pink Moon is still an amazing, transcendent album to me tho.

i think he'd show up on an albums poll still

some classic pointless contrarianism itt

not that i condone an albums equivalent of this...

hard to imagine anyone in the usa voting for "This Charming Man", which is, as others have noted, delightful — guessing this was a uk-centric reaction to smiths/moz inescapability and music-press hagiography

― 'The Road'(a hundred less-than signs)'Taken' (bernard snowy), Monday, December 6, 2010 5:17 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

i'm an american, and though i didn't vote here, i'd probably have gone for "this charming man". it's not horrible, but i love hating the smiths. that or "wichita lineman", which is an amazing piece of songwriting, but i just can't stand the recorded/classic version. too schmaltzy by half.

otoh, and though i wouldn't vote for either cuz they're by two of my all-time favorite bands, i think "teenage riot" and "once in a lifetime" are actually the worst songs on this list.

i like all of those songs lol

some classic pointless contrarianism itt

like what? you think it's impossible for people to dislike any of these songs? or if they do, then they should stfu and just bow before consensus?

I considered voting "This Charming Man" if only because it's one of The Smiths worst songs and is grossly overrated, but I do have some residual fondness for it. "God Only Knows" is actively repellent to me; it's basically mealy-mouthed nothingness that would make me want to murder if I wasn't rolling my eyes so hard at it.

someone voted for the flamingos, smh

I find that more offensive than someone liking any of these songs, tbh (although if you like "God Only Knows" that much, please meet me outside so I can steal your lunch money)

"this charming man" confounds me because i can't figure out why it is apparently the default choice for the smiths' best single. i don't hear anything in it that could explain why it transcends the rest of their songs, like i do in "there is a light..." and some others. hearing it without any context i would have just assumed it was a back-end-of-the-album filler track.

^^^^ exactly

It seems like a massive "you had to be there" thing

I like god only knows. You're stealing fuck all off me though!
I dont dislike any of the songs here really. Even if they might not be certain bands favourite songs. If penny lane had been top 50 or that biggie track i'd have voted for one of those.

and its not like they were terrible, just tracks ive never cared much for

"God Only Knows" is actively repellent to me; it's basically mealy-mouthed nothingness that would make me want to murder if I wasn't rolling my eyes so hard at it.

― Yeezy reupholstered my pussy (DJP), Monday, December 6, 2010 11:14 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

i like "god only knows", but its placing in the final results is probably the single most revolting thing about the poll. it makes me feel glad that i cut it so early from my list of possible candidates and ashamed for my fellow man.

"god only knows" makes my skin crawl, there's just something about the production and vocal harmonies that i find really suffocating

"this charming man" confounds me because i can't figure out why it is apparently the default choice for the smiths' best single. i don't hear anything in it that could explain why it transcends the rest of their songs, like i do in "there is a light..." and some others. hearing it without any context i would have just assumed it was a back-end-of-the-album filler track.

really? weird b/c i feel the opposite-- this charming man was the first smiths song other than how soon is now, (which is the most atypical track by them) that really grabbed me and made me understand the appeal of the band and why ppl went on about how johnny marr was this shit-hot guitarist...whereas there is a light is just this pedestrian-sounding track to me, with morrissey endlessly moaning.

well, I'm kind of burnt-out on "There Is A Light..." but pretty much the entirety of The Queen Is Dead is a primer on how/why The Smiths were awesome, especially the title track and "Bigmouth Strikes Again"

xpost same here, it was the first song that I heard that made me go 'woah, these dudes rock!' — (nb this woulda been at some point in the 2000s)

some classic pointless contrarianism itt

Tbh, this list itself is pretty contrary to anything I'd consider a canonical, or even reasonable, list of the greatest songs/compositions from the 20th century, even if one were just considering popular music. (Things that I would rate before I picked a second song by the Smiths include: Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith [Why not "St Louis Blues" if "Strange Fruit"?], Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Gershwin, Porter, Irving Berlin, Willie Dixon, Jimi Hendrix, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", James Brown as LJ noted, ...)

absolutely, that was discussed a bunch during the unveiling of the results

OK, fair enough. I guess it's kind of douchey of me to show up at this point and put down the results.

no James Brown is SO WRONG

i'd agree that this is a shitty list to the extent that it pretends to represent "the greatest songs/compositions from the 20th century," but i don't think that's the dominant theme. it's better described as a list of the songs that ILXors, as a group, love best, as guided (but not dominated) by a sense of historical importance. and as such, it makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, I tried to point that out during the top ten counting down. So weird to me that he appears nowhere in the top 125.

(xpost re James Brown)

no James Brown is SO WRONG

― goat, camel, horse, and water buffalo (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, December 6, 2010 11:51 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

oh, i dunno. there are so many omissions and peculiarities, so many failures to square with canon. after all, it's nothing more than a summary of what 80 message board posters happen to hold dear. i voted for "the big payback", but wasn't surprised that it didn't show. i was surprised that "sex machine" didn't make the top 125, but vote splitting took its toll, and i dunno, maybe we've collectively grown a bit tired of james brown over the last few decades (heresy). right or wrong, it's hard to get too worked up over it.

Let's not forget that the top 125 contained a 10cc song.

Contenderizer: Cool. I just thought it was ironic for someone to then comment on other people's 'contrarianism'.

Let's not forget that the top 125 contained a 10cc song.

hahaha so OTM

by total points received, a partial mollification:

1). The Beatles - 12904
2). The Beach Boys - 10896
3). The Rolling Stones - 9727
4). David Bowie - 9579
5). The Velvet Underground - 9103
6). Bob Dylan - 8662
7). Prince/Prince and The Revolution - 8246
8). New Order - 7816
9). Talking Heads - 6516
10). Kate Bush - 6446
11). The Smiths - 6220
12). Kraftwerk - 5466
13). Michael Jackson - 5393
14). Public Enemy - 5252
15). Joy Division - 5240
16). Fleetwood Mac - 5200
17). Pet Shop Boys - 5134
18). Stevie Wonder - 5130
19). The Clash - 5057
20). The Cure - 4407
21). Sonic Youth - 4310
22). Marvin Gaye - 4301
23). The Kinks - 4289
24). Elvis Presley - 4055
25). Big Star - 4041
26). James Brown - 4034

so vote-splitting is to blame for the most part

most surprised that sonic youth did that well, overall. i am not alone!

hey check it out:

0). Joy Division/New Order - 13056

^ besting even the beatles!

i seem to like exclamation points

*pukes*

some more basic number crunching - top 30 finishers by total votes received, with average points per vote:

1). The Beatles - 122 (105.77)
2). New Order/Joy Division - 120 (107.92)
3). The Beach Boys - 93 (117.16)
4). David Bowie - 90 (106.43)
5). The Rolling Stones - 87 (111.8)
6). The Velvet Underground - 85 (107.09)
7). Prince/Prince and The Revolution - 80 (103.08)
8). Bob Dylan - 79 (109.65)
9). Kate Bush - 66 (97.67)
10). Talking Heads - 62 (105.1)
11). The Smiths - 61 (101.97)
12). Kraftwerk - 53 (103.13)
13). Michael Jackson - 52 (103.71)
14). Public Enemy - 51 (102.98)
15). Pet Shop Boys - 50 (102.68)
16). Stevie Wonder - 48 (106.88)
17). Fleetwood Mac - 46 (113.04)
18). Sonic Youth - 44 (97.95)
19). The Clash - 44 (114.93)
20). The Cure - 43 (102.49)
21). James Brown - 42 (96.05)
22). Marvin Gaye - 42 (102.4)
23). Big Star - 41 (98.56)
24). Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - 41 (94.68)
25). The Kinks - 41 (104.61)
26). Scott Walker - 40 (100)
27). Brian Eno - 39 (101.97)
28). Sly and The Family Stone - 39 (101.13)
29). Elvis Presley - 37 (109.59)
30). Donna Summer - 36 (90.17)

kinda interesting that of the top artists, the beach boys, the clash and fleetwood mac scored the most points per vote, in that order, followed by the rolling stones, bob dylan and elvis presley. you could perhaps say that these are the artists most consistently loved by the people who voted for them.

at the other end of this spectrum you have the likes of donna summer and grandmaster flash. they appeared on plenty of ballots, but didn't score as many points per vote as most of the top finishers.

It's difficult to valourise Morrissey as someone who hates boorishness and animal cruelty when you remember he also isn't too keen on Arabs walking around Knightsbridge

Doesn't he hate everyone walking around Knightsbridge? At least all those who shop at Harrod's?

keep reading Geir, that exact point was made already

i'm not sure i ever realized how great roadrunner was b4

h8rs can jump