1001 Song You Must Hear Before You Die - 1981

smh @ this list

stevie vs. soft cell vs. rick james

went with soft cell

oh wait Yoko song is dope, i'll vote for that

This..... is.... impossible.....

Well, at least almost. For me, it's between two of my all-time favourite songs. Voting for "Ghosts", but then regretting not being able to vote for "Ghost Town", which is way better than most of what I've voted for in the other polls.

"It Must Be Love", "Girls On Film", "In The Air Tonight", "Our Lips Are Sealed", "Genius Of Love", "Tainted Love", "Super Freak" and "Radio Free Europe" are also all really, really good songs, although not in quite the same league as those two ghost songs.

At least three life-affirming tracks for me here. It Must Be Love is so beautiful with such incredible arrangements - it makes my heart swell. O Superman - one of the craziest, strangest most wonderful hit singles of all time. And then there's Ghost Town.

Thinking about it, I think O Superman has to win. One of the first songs I ever heard - it certainly didn't sound weird to my infant mind when my Dad would play it on a loop. Just womb-like and pretty as hell.

Dad here. "Radio Free Europe," no runner-up. Also: DB's' "Black and White," Minor Threat's "Minor Threat," New Order's "Dreams Never End" or "Ceremony," Undertones' "It's Going to Happen!", Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping."

No 'Love Action'?

I certainly like a couple of these songs quite a bit but only one of them caused me to post the following:

I just want it recorded somewhere how amazingly epic I think Under Pressure is. For some reason I've heard it like 5 times in as many days and it's just so damn good. All time imo. That is all.

― ENBB, Wednesday, March 16, 2011 1:32 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark

So Under Pressure it is.

Radio Free Europe

I guess I should come out and say I secretly prefer Ice Ice Baby to Under Pressure. I know that's wrong, but pfff...

^fyr

Flash Your Rack?

x-post

Pretty sure it's not just you and that a lot of people hate it. That's OK but you're just all wrong.

I guess I should come out and say I secretly SB a lot of people on ILM every day.

I sort of forgot how good the beginning of In the Air Tonight is.

first reaction was "oh madness instant winner" and then i looked at the rest of the list

altho I am prepared to accept that the correct answer here - "O Superman" - is a vaguely idiosyncratic choice and will refrain from SBing idiots purely because they don't understand that.

Torn between O Superman and Under Pressure here...

No 'Love Action'?

No "Don't You Want Me" is worse.

OK I just heard O Superman for the first time ever.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GOD AWFUL SHIT?!

You two can't be serious.

Yet, even with Human League being a glaring omission, I reckon this is probably the strongest list yet. Well, maybe save for the 1966 and 1967 ones.

OK I just heard O Superman for the first time ever.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GOD AWFUL SHIT?!

OTM!

Under Pressure alone deserves a vote because it made this cover with Michael Gira happen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ogR3IIbu6U

But then there's also Bowie going for O Superman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5dRY_EHMjU

I think this is the worst list yet for me. Especially since it caused me to listen to that song. :[ Mad at Vadge.

OK I just heard O Superman for the first time ever.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GOD AWFUL SHIT?!

You two can't be serious.

― ladies love draculas like children love stray dogs (ENBB), Saturday, August 20, 2011 2:07 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Hahaha

"Don't You Want Me" is the most boring Human League song of all time btw.

also E as much as i admire and respect you you are tippy-toeing a razor-wire tightrope here

Don't you dare!

also E as much as i admire and respect you you are tippy-toeing a razor-wire tightrope here

― Looking for Mrs Nutbar (Noodle Vague), Saturday, August 20, 2011 2:10 AM (9 seconds ago) Bookmark

NV otm here. O Superman is unfuckwithable.

idgi

That's OK though. We can all like different things!

ENBB - you know O Superman got to number 2 in the charts in 1981? It's something so engraved on my brain, it's practically part of my DNA. The repetitive "Ah ah ah ah" is like a drone for the whole track to play around. I say it's womb-like - like a mother's voice as heard by her unborn infant. And "Here come the plaaaaaanes" And then there's those synth strings that come in right at the end. It's such an oddity - a one in a million chance, and yet people bought it in droves (twice, in my Dad's case).

"Don't You Want Me" is like the theme tune from Steptoe and Son of overrated shite numpty electronic pop records that might as well have been made on paper and comb and make Status Quo sound like Messaien

x-post - Yeah I just found that out and, tbh, that's pretty mind-boggling! Huh.

ENBB - you know O Superman got to number 2 in the charts in 1981? It's something so engraved on my brain, it's practically part of my DNA. The repetitive "Ah ah ah ah" is like a drone for the whole track to play around. I say it's womb-like - like a mother's voice as heard by her unborn infant. And "Here come the plaaaaaanes" And then there's those synth strings that come in right at the end. It's such an oddity - a one in a million chance, and yet people bought it in droves (twice, in my Dad's case).

― Why'd You Wanna Tweet Me So Bad? (dog latin), Saturday, August 20, 2011 2:13 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

This... this is beyond beautiful a description DL... <3

I haven't been voting in these for a while, but I gave 'O Superman' another one because ENBB is so RONG. Even though I probably would have voted 'Ghost Town' otherwise.

Pretty sure this book/list is made up btw. This list in partic is like the elephants's graveyard of once pretty tunes that only an OCD sufferer wd ever want to listen to ever agian.

i mean obv this is the board but

I listen to most of these (not "O Superman" obv) a lot. The pinnacle era of music was just starting in 1981, and would last for a few years more.

yeah i remember when god sent me the letter about that

also iirc sexual intercourse first began in 1983, between the end of the Pistols ban and Kajagoogoo's first lp

Dear lord, what a dropoff from 1980.

"The pinnacle era of music," gosh. Geir, you are a piece of work.

This is one of my favourite lists so far, but I can't look beyond Genius of Love.

Ghost Town, all-time top ten material.

I listen to most of these (not "O Superman" obv) a lot. The pinnacle era of music was just starting in 1981, and would last for a few years more.

― Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Saturday, August 20, 2011 2:39 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah i remember when god sent me the letter about that

― Looking for Mrs Nutbar (Noodle Vague), Saturday, August 20, 2011 2:40 AM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark

Rofflicious!

I'm starting to think "O Superman" is one of those songs where you must have had to been in the U.K. and tuned into music when it came out or something because out of context it makes zero sense to me. Anyway, I voted for The Go-Go's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT7P7ijpAPY

ENBB OTM re: o superman

yoko VS kraftwerk.

i like under pressure even tho i've never liked queen. edge of 17 has aged way better than expected (there's a pun in there somewhere). but overall i would've picked more R&B/rap.

By far the most impossible list for me up to this point.

I Love Rock 'n' Roll, with Under Pressure nipping at Joan's heels. Nothing else very close.

I'm deeply conflicted about "Under Pressure." Everything about it is great EXCEPT for that gawdawful scatting. It's not just that Mercury can't scat for shit (though that's certainly a large part of it), but that it sounds like, "Hey, should we write a new line or two here? Eh, fuck it."

Go Gos over Specials

Fun Boy Three over Go-Go's
(still voting for the song)

Mickey is an amazing song, all it takes is a few milliseconds to elicit the "change the station" response. The video, if anything, was/is even worse.

Voting for Radio Free Europe just ahead of Pretty in Pink, Our Lips are Sealed, and Genius of Love.

"Don't You Want Me" should have replaced "Mickey" in the list obv. (And, well... OK.... I suppose there are enough people who like that awful "O Superman" thing, but who many people today still acknowledge "Mickey" as a worthwhile song?)

I'm starting to think "O Superman" is one of those songs where you must have had to been in the U.K. and tuned into music when it came out or something because out of context it makes zero sense to me. Anyway, I voted for The Go-Go's.

No - I was in southern California and among the high-school-theater Sartre-in-hand Yale-bound kids I looked up to it was a gigantic deal - it felt like the weirdo aesthetics we prized were starting to get a really firm foothold in the broader culture, pretty bracing. Much disagreement when Big Science came out a little later about whether she should have just packed it in after O Superman because a whole album of it sort of demystified that strange, one-of-a-kind shadow-silhouette 12".

at any rate the winner here is "Super Freak," be serious people, the pre-chorus breakdown alone is one of the richest musical moments of the entire decade, plus: the production, the performance, the Temptations, whatever vocal mic James has on his voice & whatever room he's singing in bringing such an incredible texture and warmth, "she will never let your spirits down/once you get her off the street" a wink to the freaks who know that an album called "Street Songs" is for them, people front too fucking hard on Rick James whose artistry was very high at its peak, he writes that bassline and then puts the song in the #5 slot on the album, "Edge of Seventeen" meant the world to me at one point but "Super Freak" through a good club system will alert you to the awesome power that's inside you, get right with God and vote for Rick James because it's the right thing to do, I thank you for your attention

Yoko VS Kraftwerk

but I voted Pretty In Pink

pretty tough decision, but i voted for 'walking on thin ice,' which is basically the creepiest disco song ever even if you're totally unaware of the circumstances of its recording.

Computer Love. runner up: Ghost Town.

fuck this book

'The Clean, "Point That Thing Somewhere Else"
The Fall, "Leave the Capitol"
Liquid Liquid, "Push"
Flipper, "Sex Bomb"
ESG, "U.F.O."
The Slits, "Difficult Fun"
The Psychedelic Furs, "Mr. Jones"
X, "Adult Books"
Hall & Oates, "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"
ZZ Top, "Pearl Necklace"'

born in '81, this was the year that made me vote 80s in that 80s v. 90s poll, ^this is a POX I did for the 'year you were born' thread...now I don't expect 'Difficult fun' on here or anything, but as usual this list shows itself deftly dodging whole pockets
of musical experience. I mean, there's no Gun Club, no Birthday Party, no Flesh Eaters...not even any ZZ Top or Hall and Oates.

that being said, even tho Aero and ENBB are otm w/ their respective choices, I'm stuck between Pretty in Pink and Tom Sawyer

"Tom Sawyer" for me. The swingingest Rush track ever.

(but if I hadn't already voted, I would've gone with "Super Freak" thanks to aero's post)

I'm starting to think "O Superman" is one of those songs where you must have had to been in the U.K. and tuned into music when it came out or something because out of context it makes zero sense to me.

the U.K., northeast Mississippi...same difference

The answer is clearly 'O Superman', though there are other essentials in this list too ('Ghost Town', 'Computer Love', 'Walking on Thin Ice'). Not SBing anyone but will think less of you if you don't like Laurie Anderson.

Hall & Oates, "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"

?!

How did this kiss miss the list?

I love most of these songs, but I've heard them so much they lost a lot of the excitement they originally had. Right now it's between Krafwerk and The Passions for me.

born in '81, this was the year that made me vote 80s in that 80s v. 90s poll, ^this is a POX I did for the 'year you were born' thread...now I don't expect 'Difficult fun' on here or anything, but as usual this list shows itself deftly dodging whole pockets
of musical experience. I mean, there's no Gun Club, no Birthday Party, no Flesh Eaters...not even any ZZ Top or Hall and Oates.

Apart from "I Can't Go For That...." none of those songs were particularly noticed at the time among more than a few underground devotes. I guess your ages kind of explains, but the likse of Duran Duran, Soft Cell, Japan and the absent Human League are more representative of the typical style of this particular time than anything else.

Japan isn't representative of anything except a very small segment of a subgenre - ZZ Top outsold Japan in '81 by a very healthy margin, I'd guess, and not only in the US

I really like the selections for this year. Torn between 8 choices. Here's some more.

Appendix: Songs You Must Hear Before You Die 1981 (Non-featured)

Birthday Party - Release the Bats
Blurt - The Fish Needs a Bike
The Clean - Tally Ho!
The Creatures - Wild Thing
Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough
Die Doraus und die Marinas - Fred vom Jupiter
Durutti Column - Never Known
ESG - Moody / You're No Good
Flipper - Sex Bomb
Grauzone - Eisbär
The Gun Club - Sex Beat
Hall & Oates - I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)
The Human League - Don't You Want Me
Josef K - Sorry for Laughing
Liaisons Dangereuses - Los niños del parque
Mecano - Perdido en mi Habitación
New Order - Ceremony
Pigbag - Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag
Portsmouth Sinfonia - Classical Muddly
Pylon - Crazy
Scientist - Laser Attack
Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut
Virna Lindt - Attention Stockholm
Vivien Goldmann - Launderette
Yuri - El Pequeño Panda De Chapultepec
08/15 - 1000 Gelbe Tennisbälle

In the appendix, this comes down to Gun Club v Flipper v The Clean for me. hard to pick between those.

I mean, I guess this is my list of songs I like from 1981, which is quite a lot:
http://open.spotify.com/user/geirhong/playlist/5dJQyPCt236B72ZQax6zDD
The 1982 one is even longer though. :)

r.e.m. v. psychadelic furs v. journey.

I've been disappointed in these lists, but am dropping in to vote for "Pretty in Pink," which the 1981 version of myself would have approved of my doing.

Oh wait, I didn't even see Super Freak. Hmmm. Too late now, but I'm not sure which I would have voted for.

Memories of dancing like a lunatic to "Under Pressure" with my friends push that to the top of my list. Tho if "Walking on Thin Ice" had been playing instead, I would be voting for that.

Dr Casino nailing why the Journey song is so bad:

The Journey song annoys the shit out of me, in part because it's been so universally adopted as a song that everyone likes, so you can just bet on any karaoke night or dance party or whatever having this turn up in the mix and you're supposed to be not only delighted but somehow SURPRISED that this universally beloved song has ONCE AGAIN reared its gorgeous head. Which is to say if you already are lukewarm to the song you're very rapidly going to move to associating it with feelings of alienation and resentment to the crowd even when you've long outgrown such things. Plus Steve Perry's voice is annoying.

It wasn't even a hit here in the UK, the whole "OMG it's Journey!" thing that suddenly popped up in the last couple of years is totally fake transplanted nostalgia. Plus the message of the song is so transparently obvious, and empty at the same time - "People! Streetlights! Woah!"

Yup, i'm pretty sure no one in Britain knew who Journey were before the last episode of The Sopranos

In the Appendix I'd have to go with Ceremony although there are a couple other good ones there.

The Journey song annoys the shit out of me, in part because it's been so universally adopted as a song that everyone likes

i normally get this, but this song is undeniable.

voted Ghosts, to my own surprise. This seems a less impressive list than for 1980. Are we missing something?

yeh, ceremony, wtf?

We are missing a couple of Human League songs. Dunno if we are missing all that much more. Maybe "Planet Earth" instead of "Girls On Film".

"Our Lips Are Sealed" over a lot of goodness here. I love how it manages a bridge where it goes into another world for a bit, then comes back in and combines the bridge with the verses, finishing perfectly in under 2 minutes, 46 seconds.

I went for Ghosts but I really love all of these.

Madness: It Must Be Love
Kraftwerk: Computer Love
Queen & David Bowie: Under Pressure
Go-Go's: Our Lips Are Sealed
Yoko Ono: Walking On Thin Ice
The Specials: Ghost Town
The Passions: I'm in Love with a German Film Star
R.E.M.: Radio Free Europe

One of the hardest years yet.

Hmm... good year. "Via Con Me", "In the Air Tonight", "Genius of Love", and "Tainted Love" are all top-notch songs. But Aero is right - I've got to vote for "Super Freak" here.

Yup, i'm pretty sure no one in Britain knew who Journey were before the last episode of The Sopranos

― Number None, Sunday, 21 August 2011 00:13 (Yesterday) Bookmark

And Scrubs. And Family Guy. Actually the Family Guy episode plays on the whole "Oh my GOD! It's JOURNEY!" thing in a fairly funny way, if you like that sort of thing :-)

On the other hand, the acts and styles that to me define this era (Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Human League, Depeche Mode etc.) were completely unknown in the US until MTV opened and slowly introduced the American audiences to synthpop and new romantics.

Mmm, I remember "Don't You Want Me" being a big hit well before we had MTV.

MTV started in '81, but it wasn't all over the country at first.

ironically, MTV wasn't available in most of Manhattan in 81-82, even though that's where the studios were.

"don't you want me" was pretty much the radio/chart break-out hit for uk new pop in the states, tho songs (and videos) by duran, spandau etc got a lot of play in dance clubs. most of you are too young to remember "rock discos" but thanks to MTV you didn't miss too much

I'm glad we Americans have Geir to tell us what our experience was like.

a lot of classics here. I am very much pro-"O Superman" but I'm gonna have to go with the Passions, whose appearance in any poll can pretty much guarantee a vote from me.

so you're gonna rock that dn everywhere huh?

"Tainted Love" was a US hit just ahead of "Don't You Want Me." Both were Top 10s in early '82. (Soft Cell set some kind of record for staying on the charts for 9 months or something). Bow Wow Wow had a lesser hit with "I Want Candy" in spring/summer of '82. Then ABC's "Look of Love" was a Top 10 in the fall of that year. MTV began to saturate the market around early '83 by which time Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" and Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" were also Top 10s.

Also, Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" was a hit in '82.

I think "Our Lips are Sealed" is pretty much the ultimate 80's new wave pop song. I went with that.

Voted the Go-Go's, a band I still love and listen to regularly, just over Stevie, Duran Duran and R.E.M. But if "Hungry Like The Wolf" shows up next poll, watch out.

i gave that o superman crap a listen and it sucks buttholes. the 'ha ha ha' stuff just makes me wish i was listening to 'Moments In Love'

voted Edge of Seventeen, was tempted by Ghosts, Superfreak, Mickey, RFE, here's the case for In The Air Tonight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh0oSrjLlwY

rme @ first time listeners dismissing O Superman itt

superfreak ahead of soft cell, under pressure and madness

x-post - Sorry Crut but it's awful.

That MV scene is so great.

considered voting tom sawyer as an act of canadian solidarity

will never be prepared for 'o superman's victory as evidenced by the 20th century poll

voted 'under pressure' just ahead of le go-gos

in the air tonight is pretty fkn sweet when the gorilla starts drumming, tho -- tamtam otm

For whatever reason, my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin had MTV from the start, ahead of Minneapolis and New York. I remember the videos for most of these, which also played at the Rollerdrome alongside stuff like Billy Squier's "The Stroke" or whatever. (Surprisingly, "O Superman" was on MTV too, at least as far as I remember.) But Top 40 radio was shifting toward synthesizer-based rock and pop slightly ahead of MTV, I think--Hall & Oates'"Kiss on My List," Paul Davis's "'65 Love Affair," Foreigner's "Urgent" were pretty indicative.

Among missing stuff, I love X's "White Girl," the Clash's "This Is Radio Clash," and Black Flag's "Six Pack." But I haven't bothered trying to think of all the missing tracks from each year before...

Bow Wow Wow had a lesser hit with "I Want Candy" in spring/summer of '82.

"I Want Candy" was more guitar based new wave than synth/new romantics, although I guess mainstream charts in the US weren't very used to new wave either before that.

But if "Hungry Like The Wolf" shows up next poll, watch out.

It doesn't. They picked another "Rio" hit instead.

"I Want Candy" was more guitar based new wave than synth/new romantics, although I guess mainstream charts in the US weren't very used to new wave either before that.

Of course they were. Certainly US bands like Blondie, the Knack, Go-Gos, but also records like "Pop Muzik." "Cars" was (according to Wikipedia) a top ten hit here.

Seriously. K-Tel's "Rock 80" track list:

Gary Numan - Cars
Pretenders - Brass In Pocket
Sniff 'N' The Tears - Driver's Seat
Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind
Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Pat Benatar - Heartbreaker
Blondie - Call Me
The Ramones - Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?
The Knack - My Sharona
Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
Ian Gomm - Hold On
Blondie - One Way Or Another
Pat Benatar - We Live For Love
M - Pop Musik

"Whip It" by Devo was a big hit as well (1980).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFbh6WDQ9w0

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

I thought computer love was gonna crush this one ps o superman is a bad song

o britishes

Don't look at me, I voted for The Specials.

Awful.

Also, I really hope I actually voted in this and not just posted in the thread like I often due because I'd hate to think it could have been a tie if it weren't for me.

Oh that's not to you, Chap. Ghost Town is a fine song. Awful was to the winner - obv.

1982 - do 1982 now pls!!!

http://knowyourmeme.com/i/000/039/080/original/5008_9c00_420.gif?1265669754

It's true. I am a hater of that song. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

LOL ILX. I would even have voted Phil Collins before Laurie Anderson if it came to that.

i like Big Science and all but seriously ilm's stannery for that song knows no bounds

Don't blame me, I voted "Genius of Love." But "O Superman" was in the top 5 runners up.

I'm sorry I missed this. '81 was probably the best year for singles of the eighties, second only to '84. The P&J poll is unstoppable:

1. Laurie Anderson: "O Superman"/"Walk the Dog" (One, Ten/Warner Bros.) 56
The Rolling Stones: "Start Me Up" (Rolling Stones) 56
3. Grandmaster Flash: "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (Sugarhill) 44
4. Kim Carnes: "Bette Davis Eyes" (EMI America) 39
Yoko Ono: "Walking on Thin Ice" (Geffen) 39 *
6. Tom Tom Club: "Genius of Love" (Sire) 36
7. Pete Shelley: "Homosapien" (Genetic import) 31
Soft Cell: "Tainted Love"/"Where Did Our Love Go?" (Sire) 31
9. Funky Four Plus One: "That's the Joint" (Sugarhill) 28
10. Prince: "Controversy" (Warner Bros.) 27
11. Grace Jones: "Pull Up to the Bumper" (Island) 26
12. Taana Gardner: "Heartbeat" (West End) 24
Billy Idol With Generation X: "Dancing With Myself" (Chrysalis) 24 *
Teena Marie: "Square Biz" (Gordy) 24
Frankie Smith: "Double Dutch Bus" (WMOT) 24
16. Go-Go's: "Our Lips Are Sealed" (I.R.S.) 23
17. Smokey Robinson: "Being With You" (Tamla) 22
18. Rick James: "Super Freak" (Gordy) 21
19. Rosanne Cash: "Seven Year Ache" (Columbia) 20
20. New Order: "Ceremony" (Factory) 18
21. Bob Dylan: "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" (Columbia) 17
22. The Pointer Sisters: "Slow Hand" (Planet) 14
The Police: "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (A&M) 14
24. Squeeze: "Tempted" (A&M) 13
25. Gang of Four: "To Hell With Poverty" (EMI import) 12
Deniece Williams: "Silly" (Columbia/ARC)

^^^^
about 800% better than this book's 1981 list

even #12-#21 make my mouth fall open

^^^^

I am seeing some essential similarities between them. This list and the P&J list both have a horribly and overlong piece of "avant garde" wank on top, and neither include anything from the marvellous "Dare!" album. But the book is better because it does at least have "Ghost Town" and "Ghosts" in there....

there was a kid on my little league team in 1981 named denny davis

he did not enjoy being serenaded by kim carnes or any of her fans

Jeez, been seven years since I did the 1981 mixes. . . 30 years ago now, instead of only 22 when I started the project!

http://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/musicophilia-the-complete-1981-box-set/

Not really where my ears have been the last few years--but the stuff still holds up as some of the best "rock/pop" music ever made, imo.

o superman winning otm. would probably make my top five overall songwise.

note: not british

o superman

o jjjuuuuusten

omfg we won

props to Rick James tho

Well you don't know me, but I know you. And I've got a message to give to you.. Here come the plaaaaaaannnnneeeesssss.....

Top Comments

I like the part where it goes...

"huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh".
PIlotrcm 3 months ago 114

a horribly and overlong piece of "avant garde" wank

how do you account for it reaching #12 in the charts then you dolt

#2, even

It's been said before, but some of the lyrics in O Superman are remarkably prescient.

I quite like "Walk The Dog" on the b-side too. And the shadow-puppet motif as well. This is the kind of song that sounds great on vinyl. The "ah ah ah ah" layer kind of syncs up with the light crackle and pop of the turntable. It made me think it would be great to have a deck of about nine 7" turntables all playing different loops which you can speed up and slow down to create different rhythms and tones, using the records' blemishes as a kind of natural metronome.

omfg we won

― Countdown to Alma Cogan (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 25 August 2011 09:05 (2 hours ago) Bookmark

I'm feeling this. We came out of nowhere. Veni vidi vici.

There was a poll a little while ago where we had to vote for a bunch of songs and O Superman won. Then we voted for the worst of those songs and O Superman won that one again, so it's a real Marmite track.

I'm not going mad am I? There has been a minimal house cover of O Superman, right?

A line like "here come the planessszzzzzz", um, means something else thesedays I guess.

I'd love to have heard it slipped into an "Immer"-style set.

They're American planes, made in America.

certainly were.

how do you account for it reaching #2 in the charts then you dolt

Some things are just unexplainable. :)

People Bought it.

Explanation ends.

There's some M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Booka Shade O Superman remixes on Spotify.

Yes, I remember that one now, but I found it a bit disappointing. I'd love to hear a really slow dub-pulse version.

The Audiofly X one's pretty good. Audiofly X mix of M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Booka Shade mix that is. ffs.

If "Seven Year Ache" had been a choice it might have been tough not to vote for it over the Go-Go's.

how do you account for it reaching #2 in the charts then you dolt

Its novelty.

"Novelty Avant Garde" is absolutely right. I mean that in the best way. It manages to be arty, new wavey, proto techno/ambient, and memorable.

also, not that difficult to understand!

The sad thing is that I find it impossible to imagine "O Superman" making #2 in the charts today. Or making the charts at all, for that matter.

^why the 80s rules always and forever

nnooooooo 70s>>>80s

yeah the 70s charts had way more weird shit than the 80s did

i think it would have been difficult to imagine it getting to #2 in any other time. It really was an astral alignment. a complete one-off. plus these days isn't there a length limit to tracks in the charts?

watch and marvel

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

lol meant in the whole 80s v. 90s poll (which I see finished when I wasnt looking)

the donk remix of o superman was rly good i wish i had saved it before donkdj went offline

Somehow, that's like the most ILM post I've ever seen.

the original is fine but it lacked the weird schaffelly phasing effects of the donk remix

a worthy winner itp anyway

pigbag - papa's got a brand new bag