Pitchfork's 2005 singles list

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A 2005 singles list without Girls ALoud's Biology is like a dictators list that doesn't include Hitler...

― snowballing (snowballing), Monday, 19 December 2005 11:47 (twenty years ago)

didn't we do this two weeks ago?

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 19 December 2005 11:50 (twenty years ago)

It was the stylus list, wasn't it ?

― snowballing (snowballing), Monday, 19 December 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

i always suspected Antony & the Johnsons were just another lame singles band.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 19 December 2005 11:54 (twenty years ago)

Please add my name to that list (sigh).

― nancyboy (nancyboy), Monday, 19 December 2005 11:56 (twenty years ago)

didn't we do this two weeks ago?

0.3 zing.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:00 (twenty years ago)

Stoopid yanks.

― zeus (zeus), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:02 (twenty years ago)

But I have to say, it's a much better list, than Stylus's ridiculously "uncool enough to be supercool" list, though I miss 'Biology'.
And three cheers for including 'Apply Some Pressure'!

― zeus (zeus), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:06 (twenty years ago)

oh, link i guess.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

don't worry. it's already everyone's homepage.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

lol

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)

quite a bad year for singles then.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:29 (twenty years ago)

Pitchdork's list was way better than Stylus' list.

This shows you how crap Stylus is now, considering that the Pitchdork list had that Antony Johnson GUFF at number one.

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!, Monday, 19 December 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

bad year for hip-hop if 'hate it or love it' gets polled so high in both lists.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

Aside from maybe 'Golddigger' Kanye West, 'Hate or Love It' has seemingly become the hip-hop anthem of 2005. Both shocking and depressing.

― Mika, Monday, 19 December 2005 12:44 (twenty years ago)

'hate it or love it' is so far from being the best singles either fiddy or the game were involved in this year!

(respectively: 'just a lil bit' or maybe 'candy shop' which is 100x better than people say, and 'dreams' cos it's dedicated to venus and serena's dead half-sister)

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

Lex, by default, NO single involving 50 Cent is the 'best' of anything.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

'candy shop' was last year. on the other hand, annie 'my heartbeat', pf's surprise high entry of 2004, was released as a single this year.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

You guys do realize that Pitchfork is an American site and Girls Aloud are virtually unknown in the US, right? On top of that, it's a December release, meaning that even the word of mouth here won't really kick in for a couple months.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:57 (twenty years ago)

uh, 'candy shop' was THIS year.

Rex The Dog's 'I Look Into Mid-Air' was last year in the UK at least.

still do not get the Clarkson and (esp.) Hegarty love.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:59 (twenty years ago)

Also, you guys do realise that Girls Aloud is a pile of shit? No? Well, now you know. Possibly even Pitchdork does.

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!, Monday, 19 December 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

oh ned, fiddy is quite cute really. have you heard 'magic stick', his duet with lil kim? if that doesn't win you over nothing will.

'candy shop' was definitely this year, i remember giving it 9 in the stylus jukebox.

i get the hegarty love but i can't join in, his voice has too much tremolo for my tastes.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

I like the ID of 'Maps' (so blatant!) and the Interpol-guitar borrowings from 'Since U Been Gone' by Jess, never really listened that closely. I still find this song annoying though.

― Mika, Monday, 19 December 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

Now, look: I may not "LIVE IN WILLIAMSBURG." I don't "SHOP AT AMERICAN APPAREL." I can't "SCORE SOME COKE." I've never "KISSED A GUY." I don't "PLAY IN A NOISE BAND AT LUKE AND LEROYS"

but come on "Hollback Girl" should be way higher.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

Really?

― Mika, Monday, 19 December 2005 13:03 (twenty years ago)

well, i was just doing chris farley on the first part... but no kidding about "hollback girl"

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:06 (twenty years ago)

actually this is a great list even if the order seems completely jumbled up ('heard 'em say' in the top 10 but not 'gold digger'? eh?). it's got the trentemoller royksopp remix in it!

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

No Get Physical though? Where's Mandarine Girl or Body Language? :(

― Mika, Monday, 19 December 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

I think Mandarine Girl might actually have been close

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:23 (twenty years ago)

I think Mandarine Girl might actually have been close

I think it polled somewhere between 51-55.

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

i love love love 'mandarine girl' but i do wonder why lots of people voted for it, but not as many for 'body language'

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

I find these lists weird. What makes the five or six dance tracks they include any better than 40-50 or other dance tracks they didn't include? Do they vote on this or just ask the dance writers to nominate a couple of tracks?

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone ever played Animal Collective's "Grass" next to Tyrannosaurus' Rex "She Was Born to Be My Unicorn" ?

Don't do it alone/in front of the mirror, etc.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

i had 'candy shop' on dubplate, in 2002.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:53 (twenty years ago)

I think this is a decent list. It represents a pretty reasonable cross section of the pop and indie I imagine PFM writers listen to, and anyone who's second-guessing the intentions of the compilers is probably wasting their time.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 19 December 2005 13:55 (twenty years ago)

What makes the five or six dance tracks they include any better than 40-50 or other dance tracks they didn't include? Do they vote on this or just ask the dance writers to nominate a couple of tracks

yeah this is the impression i can't help getting too. the Lindstrom track and even the Trentemoller mix are feeling quite over-rated now because of how they keep appearing on lists looking quite isolated, at the expense of other tracks/remixes just as good if not better.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:01 (twenty years ago)

I'm surprised no singles list has tapped Vitalic's remix of Bjork's "Who Is It?" yet. That might be my favorite track of the year.

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

oh ned, fiddy is quite cute really.

Actually I like the idea that Eminem is to Joe Meek as 50 Cent is to one of his many anonymous male teen dreams.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:23 (twenty years ago)

eh? how 'r' em and meek related?

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

Yay my torturous analogies.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

If Franz Ferdinand can claim to be influenced By Meek, then why not 50 cent...

― snowballing (snowballing), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

Hoo boy. Remind me to include a conceptual flow chart next time.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

you have missed the point of ILM!

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

wtf

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

antony and the johnstons?!?!?!

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

scott, i resign

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

this is not a joke

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

No reggaeton :(

here's a link
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/top/2005/singles/index5.shtml

and more lists they collected

http://pitchforkmedia.com/features/comments/12-16-05/

top 10s from artists collected by Pitchfork

― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 December 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

anyone who's second-guessing the intentions of the compilers is probably wasting their time

err viz the lists of those 3 rap rvw spastics they have

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Monday, 19 December 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

They need ya Jess.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 December 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 128 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

actually ronan my point was that more exists out there than the slim intersection between house and techno that people have been banging on about for the past two/three years.

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:28 (twenty years ago)

BROWN
D. Raposa
T. Breihan
A. Phillips
D. Daniel
M. LeMay
R. Mitchum
N. Sylvester
R. Schreiber
J. Shepherd
E. Carr

LIGHT/SANDY BROWN
C. Kaskie
S. Plagenhoef

BLOND
M. Richardson
A. Petrusich

RED
D. Pecoraro

BLACK
N. Abebe

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

ahem.

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

BROWN!?!?! Dude, I am totally black w/ gray highlights! You're on notice, pal.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

where in the fuck was Imogen Heap "Hide and Seek"? This was a single, no? Pitchfork gave it five stars and it was a killer single. Did they all forget about it? Cause I'm listening to this Tremoller remix, which fucking sucks and sounds like some Paul Van Dyk garbage, and don't see why it couldn't be replaced.

― Tynan DeLong (TynanTynan!), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

RAINBOW FAUX-HAWK
J. Harvell

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:37 (twenty years ago)

x-post
Whenever people talk about the "lack of real trends or movements" in '05, I feel like I live in a parallel universe - you know, one where there are TWO all-reggaeton-all-the-time FM stations in New York, and there weren't any 12 months ago.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

what's reggae?

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

Your search - rainbow faux hawk - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:
Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
Try different keywords.
Try more general keywords.
Try fewer keywords.

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

REGGAETONED
M. Idov

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

hahahaha

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Monday, 19 December 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

You know I'm not much of a popist - I'm an indie bandwagoneer with half-hidden goth proclivities - but the reggaeton shutout does seem surprising, no?

Well, i guess it's not a total shutout ('Fork "Gasolina" scores: Breihan 44, Harvell 18, Hogan 50, Scott 43).

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

"Gasolina" is totally a token pick on my part insofar as I dont really like reggaeton at all.

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

I think there's still a huge reggaeton breakout song waiting to happen. "Gasolina" came close but not quite.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

Well, "don't really like reggaeton at all" is an exaggeration. I have yet to crack the repetition code.

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

actually ronan my point was that more exists out there than the slim intersection between house and techno that people have been banging on about for the past two/three years.

haha well what do you suggest?

funny though, once again I have to question whether Isolée's "Schrapnell" and both of those Superpitcher tracks really do exist in the "slim intersection between house and techno", do they?

You could just as easily complain that the list was totally unrepresentative of any dancefloor track music but I'm not sure what the point would be.

The inclusions could be so much worse!! just thank your lucky stars there are no dance album acts these days, are Superpitcher and co really so bad?

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:06 (twenty years ago)

haha well ronan i write a drum & bass column every month for the same publication so...

i think if phil is really confused about why records that may not have actually rocked a euro dancefloor placed so high, he's forgotten how america works.

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

I donno I always think of "Gasolina" as being huge. I'm fairly certain that part of the reason it didn't top many polls this year is because it was pretty solidly '04. I missed it too. "Rompe" this year seems like it could be just as big to me, but maybe I'm totally wrong.

― deej.. (deej..), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

"Rompe" does not seem quite as big to me. Reggaeton also has the language gap, and not every city has a station or clubs hyping it.

But yep, it's that time of year when folks complain, rightly so I think, that "specialty" genres don't get the attention they should. But there's already a backlash to this notion:

Writer Mark Jenkins, who likes rock,bhangra, afropop, and avante-classical sounds, nevertheless defended NME's rock-heavy 2005 list against charges that it was not multiculturally eclectic enough. I do not agree with this Jenkins piece (although I like other things he's written alot):

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/indc/what/what.html

"To some early commentators, the horror was not that Bloc Party beat the Arcade Fire (a 2004 release in North America), but that either band took a top slot. Why not, say, Danger Doom, Amadou & Mariam, or—to pick a Brit—Lady Sovereign? The only mainstream hiphop act on the NME list is Kanye West, who in just two albums has become a best-of obligation...
One of the two reasons for the resurgence of so-called white rock—and let's note here that the frontman of list-topping Bloc Party is not white—is the decline of electronica, rock's principal competitor on the British charts for the last 20 years. Another, I suspect, is that NME's readership has gotten younger and is thus less inclined toward eclecticism. And there's one more possibility: sheer fatigue at the range of new subgenres, cross-pollinations, and over-hyped trends that will expire in a year or two...Yet it's a safe bet that most NME readers don't listen to Japanese space-rock, obscure '60s English folk, or Indian ragas. They prefer music with rhythm and melody, and lyrics that express the agonies, pleasures, and uncertainties of adolescence. That's rock, mostly."
quoted from his online Washington City Paper What Goes On column.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 December 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

'gasolina' was even huge in BRITAIN

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:41 (twenty years ago)

Aww... No "We Belong Together"

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

Actually, "Candy Shop" WAS 2004, 50 leaked it in December cause his record was supposed to come out in February (it WAS called "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" before it got bumped and he changed it to "The Massacre").

It doesn't really matter, but either way, it didn't get insane rotation till' late January or February, but it was technically released to the public / internet in December.

― Erock LAzron, Monday, 19 December 2005 22:46 (twenty years ago)

where in the fuck was Imogen Heap "Hide and Seek"?

it was, like, #51 or 52

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

ouch.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

"Rompe" gets constant play from la kalle, the reggaeton station here. Not that this guarantees crossover or anything. Obviously it's quite difficult when the language barrier is an issue to be anything other than tokenistic w reggaeton, but what was so addictive about "Gasolina" (never mind "Rompe") superseded that to a degree. Which is fine, obviously.

― deej.. (deej..), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:18 (twenty years ago)

i don't understand why the "language barrier" keeps raising its head wrt reggaeton. do people really give a fuck what the words are about, especially when there are so few of them? (this is, in part, an honest question, because i've never cared about words in songs, or at least almost never - perhaps that's why i prefer songs without words.)

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:44 (twenty years ago)

You can't sing along! At least, without embarrassing yrself.

― deej.. (deej..), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:02 (twenty years ago)

Actually, "Candy Shop" WAS 2004, 50 leaked it in December cause his record was supposed to come out in February

that's 'disco inferno' ur thinking of

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:08 (twenty years ago)

Pitchfork got it mostly right again (again!), and so they should be congratulated. I wish Stay Fly got higher than Random, and Kryptonite should have been on there, but nobody’s perfect. Pitchfork’s list didn’t cover reggaeton, but I don’t think the list has to be a musical state of the union. The list also didn’t cover the critical resurgence of Detroit techno, or the emergence of baile funk, or hick-hop, but that’s ok, right?

Sasha F/J’s last piece said that “As a genre, reggaetón is where hip-hop was twenty-five years ago, slowly making the transition from dance singles and d.j.s to hit songs and stars.” This might explain the slow critical reception. Lots of people have heard “Gasolina,” magazines have run “TREND ALERT: NEW GENRE” articles, but I haven’t really gotten to get a feel for the personality of any of the artists. I think that’s where the language barrier becomes relevant. I’ve come to know and like Pitbull, but I think he’s more crunk en español. I mean, I turned on 96.3 here in L.A. and shit is pretty wild, and it’s all over the place. It’s Twangy guitars feed through electro filters and wildly shifting tempos and all sorts of quirks, but it’s hard to sit through 20 minutes of the same damn drum break.

I heard both Candy Shop AND Disco Inferno on the radio in Dec 2004. Not braggin, just sayin.

I thought that "Hide and Seek" was obvious and sentimental, like a garden state soundtrack sequel. It sounds... made for the O.C.
Am I wrong?

― theghostrobot, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

Also, you guys do realise that Girls Aloud is a pile of shit?

Esteban Buttez OTM.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

it’s hard to sit through 20 minutes of the same damn drum break

"Now, now, Ghost Robot!"

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

Is MIA paying tribute to:

http://photo.sing365.com/music/picture.nsf/SingerPicUnid/48256C71003578A248256A920023C68C/$file/hall+oates.jpg

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:53 (twenty years ago)

Or...

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

i dig the repetition in the music. i mean, i like baltimore club, and that's just the sing sing drum break for the last 10 years. i just think repetative drums can limit the appeal of new genres of music, and may explain the slow critical reaction.

that said, it was incredible to hear MIA on the missy album and that insane 'nookie' soca riddum. maybe she'll do reggaeton next year. or a hall and oats cover. or screwed and chopped hall and oats cover en español.

― theghostrobot (theghostrobot), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 00:59 (twenty years ago)

Kelly Clarkson? What is it with Americans and their bland radio rock?

― Lovelace (Lovelace), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

um . . . we're not Englandthankfuckinggod, maybe?

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

yes, let's make this an america vs england thing. fun!

― Lovelace (Lovelace), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

glass houses ahoy!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:19 (twenty years ago)

only im not english or british...

― Lovelace (Lovelace), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:20 (twenty years ago)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/matlhendo/Hacksaw_Jim_Duggan_-_James_Duggan_04.jpg

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:23 (twenty years ago)

let's recap:

Loveless: ad hominem raspberry at America
Matos: it could be worse--there are other countries w/worse mainstream rock, like England
Loveless: oh, so now you're making it a contest between countries!
Matos: you're the one who started it, d00d

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:24 (twenty years ago)

Where is Hacksaw Jim Duggan in your description, Matos?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:27 (twenty years ago)

I started something, but it wasnt what you tried to make it out to be.

― Lovelace (Lovelace), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

Loveless: I don't like koalas
Matos: What are you talking about? Koalas are so much better than capybaras. You're an idiot.
Loveless: Umm, I never mentioned capybaras. And I don't like them anyway. I was saying I didn't like koalas.
Matos: lol u like stoopid animals amirite?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:30 (twenty years ago)

haha I didn't call anyone an idiot, but think what you like anyway Dom

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 01:57 (twenty years ago)

HOOOOOOO! TOUGH GUY!

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!, Tuesday, 20 December 2005 03:39 (twenty years ago)

Matos, I'm with you on this one. Koalas are secret savages!

― regular roundups (Dave M), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 04:40 (twenty years ago)

On a different note, I'm a little bummed that news writers didn't get to vote (or at least I didn't!), but I don't think they ever have, so I guess I can't be too livid. But I will say this:

Let me in na! Let me in na! Ryan S, Scott P, let me in na!

― regular roundups (Dave M), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 04:54 (twenty years ago)

well the whole albums list is up now. new thread?

― älänbänänä (alanbanana), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 07:39 (twenty years ago)

o yes plz!

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 20 December 2005 07:53 (twenty years ago)

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