The 13th P&J Singles Poll!

"The Unforgiven" was the only video option not included in the singles list for that year.

Wow, what a great list! Lots of great one-offs (Londonbeat, Billy Bragg, Divinyls, Geto Boys). Went with "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" because that's what I wanna hear right now.

Summer Babe vs. Teen Spirit. That's a battle of the heavyweights right there.

Summer Babe, but it's close.

"Mind Playing Tricks on Me" for me--probably one of my top ten singles ever! (Agreed on the quality of the list, except that the EMF & Jesus Jones singles seriously need to be destroyed--right here, right now!)

Oddly, I've never gotten tired of "Unbelievable," despite all the car commercials.

Geto Boys: "Mind Playing Tricks on Me"

By a mile -- probably the greatest single of the '90s

Though okay, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" comes close I guess.

Next: "O.P.P," "Losing My Religion," "How I Could Just Kill A Man" (though its B-side is just an okay album track to my ears), "Summer Babe," "Unbelievable," "Enter Sandman." It's a suprisingly great list! And it's fun to see Color Me Badd and Jesus Jones and the Unrest and Londonbeat up there too.

I'll never understand what people see in that Seal song, though. And those two Prince singles are just spinning of wheels to me.

And "U2" by Negativeland isn't a record; it's just an idea (and not all that brilliant of one). (Anthrax covering P.E. is just an idea too, probably, but at least it's got some energy to it. Ditto 3rd Bass's stupid but possibly enertainingly silly despite itself Vanilla Ice, maybe.)

I totally forget what the Dream Warriors song sounds like, but I think I might have liked it okay once.

And cheese commercials. x-post

"stupid but possibly enertainingly silly despite itself Vanilla Ice diss," I meant.

"Gett Off" and "Sexy MF" sound more like wheel-spinning than "Cream."

Among those listed: "O.P.P."
Overall: "Jesus Built My Hotrod"

La da dee, la da dah.

There's loads of good songs on this list. 1991 was a great summer and all these songs bring it all back.

"O.P.P." edging out five or six others which are just as good, and a few others which are only slightly less good. (I'd include both Prince singles in the latter group, the only two post-80s Prince songs I think I like.)

This is basically the 1st and 2nd Radio On charts combined (minus shout-outs to Tom Cochrane and Bootsauce, of course).

I've always though "Cream" was great Prince; "Gett Off", slightly less so.

xp (Fun to see Divinyls up there too, I meant to say! Though no matter how sexy a karaoke song "I Touch Myself" is, it's far from their best record; Christina Amphlett and her boys were even more fun on their more glam-punky first couple of albums.)

The ones I liked at the time which don't hold up for me at all:

"Enter Sandman" (I mean, I didn't like it that much, but now I pretty much can't stand it; don't mind "The Unforgiven," however)
"Gypsy Woman" (yawn)
"Unbelievable" (ouch)
"Gonna Make You Sweat" (ESPECIALLY this one)
"Black or White"
"I've Been Thinking About You"
"Mysterious Ways."

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK

Terrible list.

That was actually my very first impression, but as I started counting what I liked I realized it was actually pretty good (though kind of far from amazing).

Pretty good list up there. Career-highlight singles from LL Cool J, Geto Boys, Cypress Hill. The two Prince singles were, in my opinion, his most interesting in 5 years. I don't even mind "Gonna Make You Sweat" or "Unbelievable" despite hearing them during every damn hockey game in the last 15 years. Never could stand Jesus Jones or those Metallica singles, tho.

Cypress Hill takes it.

I'm really tempted to vote for the Dream Warriors. Someone's gotta. "Summer Babe" is prob the song I listen to the most from this though. I've always really liked "The Unforgiven". It's like an inverted power ballad where the verses are heavier than the chorus.

This takes me back. Nevermind and Diamonds and Pearls were the first 2 cds I ever owned. I really like those Prince singles, especially Cream. Might have to vote for Geto Boys, though.

"Gonna Make You Sweat" -- Hated this at the time; haven't heard it in years, though, so I'm guessing that hearing it now might be kind of amusing.

"Black or White" -- I probably still cut this slack because of the car-smashing video. There's way better stuff on the album, though.

"Mysterious Ways." -- yeah, this sucks.

"Cream" - wait, is this the one with the "96 Tears" keyb hook? If so, I remember thinking it was not bad.

Bob's singles list for the year was pretty great, too:

(Damn stupid keyboard!)

L.L. Cool J: "Around the Way Girl" (Def Jam/Columbia)
Geto Boys: "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" (Rap-a-Lot)
Negativland: "U2" (SST)
R.E.M.: "Losing My Religion" (Warner Bros.)
Color Me Badd: "I Wanna Sex You Up" (Giant)
G.W. McLennan: "Haven't I Been a Fool" (Beggars Banquet import)
C + C Music Factory: "Things That Make You Go Hmm . . ." (Columbia)
Tim Dog: "Fuck Compton" (Ruffhouse/Columbia)
Michael Jackson: "Black or White" (Epic)
Londonbeat: "I've Been Thinking About You" (Radioactive)
Crystal Waters: "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)" (Mercury)
Color Me Badd: "All 4 Love" (Giant)
Abdullah Roueshid: "Alla Homma La Ertarag" (Sono Cairo import)
Bonnie Raitt: "Something To Talk About" (Capitol)
Ministry: "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (Sire/Warner Bros.)
"Give Peace a Chance" (Virgin)
Queen Latifah: "Fly Girl" (Tommy Boy)
The KLF: "The White Room" (Arista)
Gerardo: "Rico Suave" (Interscope)
C + C Music Factory: "Here We Go, Let's Rock and Roll" (Columbia)

Alfred, what's this like (I take it you've heard it):

G.W. McLennan: "Haven't I Been a Fool" (Beggars Banquet import)

My answer's a no-brainer: extremely, seductively catchy (as one would expect of McLennan), not much more at this point.

You can hear that on the very dearly departed Grant Go-Between's Watershed album. Fine tune but not very singley. Nothing The Go-Betweens Co. ever did was very singlely, great as they were (and I guess are to whatever extent).

Missing:

Electronic, "Get The Message"
Jesus Jones, "Real Real Real" (MUCH better than their version of "Wind of Change")
Karyn White, "Romantic" (the year's best Jam & Lewis single)
Natural Selection, "Do Anything" (the year's best Prince single)

I can see why Bob loved "Haven't I Been A Fool?" but there's stuff on Watershed that's even more single-y; and "Fool" even pales before Robert Forster's own "Baby Stones," his greatest solo song, released that summer.

Karyn White, "Romantic" (the year's best Jam & Lewis single)
Natural Selection, "Do Anything" (the year's best Prince single)

Definitely these would be up there for me, esp. the latter (which I agree is the best Prince single of the year, if not the '90s).

Definitely the first year albums kicked singles ass.

I went with Negativland. I'll take a brilliant (!), hilarious idea over a even a good record any day.

M.I.A.:

Garth Brooks: "Shameless" (Capitol 1991)
C+C Music Factory: "Here We Go" (Columbia 1991) - Never understood the "Gonna Make You Sweat" haters but this still cuts it. I love how The Factory includes Ed Sullivan in their history of rock-n-roll. Scandalous!
Color Me Badd: "All 4 Love" (Giant 1991)
Tim Dog: "Fuck Compton" (Ruffhouse/Columbia 1991)
David Peaston: "String" (MCA 1991)

And I guess Crystal Waters: "Makin' Happy" from last time.

Re "Enter Sandman": I'm not sure when I realized this (probably when my youngest kid turned ten), but it is a great song for ten year old boys, about having scary nightmares and stuff. Thought it was merely okay at the time, but in retrospect I sorta think it's definitive, in its own special way. Plus it also has a real cool guitar riff.

Kevin (trying to suppress yawn): 'Member when Spin chose Jesus Jones as one of ten bands (I think) that were the Future of Rock. 'Member?

C+C Music Factory: "Here We Go" (Columbia 1991) - Never understood the "Gonna Make You Sweat" haters but this still cuts it

The original 12" version (now found on that very easy to find and well worth your money MTV Party To Go comp) is even better. Actually, their best moment may be the forgotten fourth single "Just A Touch."

This was a GREAT year for Top 40, maybe the best of the decade. I'd also add:

D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Summertime" (still Will Smith's finest moment)
Robyn Hitchock and the Egyptians, "So You Think You're In Love"?
Roxette, "Fading Like a Flower (Everytime You Leave)"
Bryan Adams, "Can't Stop This Thing We Started"

Cool--I'll have to get a copy ofWatershed. Thanx for the info, guys.

'Member when Spin hyped Bandwagonesque as album of the year?

Also, I agree with xhuxk on "Enter Sandman" having gotten better as the years have passed--as has the album in general, I think. It really does have a great guitar riff, though.

xp

I always thought that was just plain silly.

'Member when Spin didn't hype Hi-Five's "I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)" as one of the greatest singles of that year? Apparently Pazz & Jop voters didn't remember either!

Forgot about that one! A #1 hit!

Wait, how did "Summertime" get left out? 1991, explain yrself.

"Summertime" - absolutely.

Also, I would still consider placing the Bryan Adams ballad in my top 10 (or anyway, top 20), which I still feel the same way about now as I did then: beautiful song and melody, slightly unfortunate middle section.

there's also the problem of Adams' voice.

Like I said a couple of posts ago, "Can't Stop This Thing..." is one of his better generic crunchy rockers. As far as ballads go, "Do I Have To Say The Words?" has a nicer chord progression.

Overall, the Bryan-Mutt Lange marriage worked pretty well.

You guys aren't talking about "Everything I Do", are you?

Ugh! I don't think so.

Oh shit! It's hard to believe that Summertime is even that old. That's one of the best singles ever.

Yeah, I always thought it was bizarre that "Summertime" didn't make the overall P&J list -- it would easily be my second favorite song up there (after the Geto Boys) if it was.

As far as Bryan Adams goes, I'm really an early/mid '80s purist when it comes to him. He was just plain crunchier and less mushy then -- after Cuts Like A Knife and his masterpiece Reckless, it was all down hill, though he had moments I guess. (And though sure, "Can't Stop.." is better than "Everything I Do...", no question.)

Um, I am in fact talking about "Everything I Do..." I have to say, I totally prefer it (and about a dozen other Bryan Adams songs, not that he even has that many good ones) to "Can't Stop This Thing" which just strikes me as pure journeyman hack rock. (That said, you can turn this argument around easily enough, and I can't really argue with haters of the ballad--it grabs me, but nothing anyone says about it will really strike me as being off base. I just have a high tolerance for that kind of pretty piano line.)

Pretty sure I don't even know "Do I Have To Say The Words," however.

but, Scott, calling Adams journeyman hack rock is like calling Neil Tennant a gay aesthete!

I loved Erik Davis' Pazz blurb on "Crazy" where he zeroed in on the line "I threw a fractal on the breaking wall" (which really is a great line even though I'm still not sure what a fractal is) as a metaphor for both Seal eclecticism and the world's borders eording with the fall of the Berlin Wall. I obsessed on that line too at the time (asking all my computer geek friends to explain what a fractal is and all) because I thought Seal would turn into some crazy Divine Styler-style shapeshifter.

Alas, the album was snoozerific. Seal went AC. Multinational capitalism got/is worse and even harder to pin down than a fractal. And, in retrospect, the dance beats in "Crazy" weren't exactly starting any disco infernos.

Oh well - another 1990s hope dashed.

"Losing My Religion"

but, Scott, calling Adams journeyman hack rock is like calling Neil Tennant a gay aesthete!

But IS Tennant a "gay aesthete"? I've heard the term, obviously, but I'm not sure I really know what it means. Speaking of the Pet Shop Boys, though, the U2/Frankie Valli medley is another key 1991 record for me. Pretty sure I chose it as my #1 single that year.

top ten for sure.

KLF IS GONNA ROCK YA

KJ Bozelka OTM about Seal!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I never loved Seal's "Crazy," either, but the way it's used in the Heddy Honigmann doc of the same name makes me think just about any music can be powerful. She interviews UN vets from peacekeeping missions and asks about particular songs that sustained them through traumatic experiences. Then she has the vets listen to those songs again, on camera. One Dutch officer chooses "Crazy," and the director cuts away from him wiping his brow as the music plays to BBC footage of the Sarajevo marketplace massacre he described. One of the great movie-music moments.

Sounds moving, but for some reason I thought you were going to say the documentary was about seals!

hahaha...good lord, yer absolutely terrible!

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

HELLZ TO THE YES, results-wise.

Wait! I sooo voted for Negativland! Qu'est-ce qui c'est passé?

Maybe the poll counter program refused to count any vote for Negativland. Seems reasonable.

Pavement: "Summer Babe (Exact Wording of Threat)" (Drag City)

???

The main problem with these Pazz and Jop polls is that because the critics are all American they have a total ignorance of dance music. Where's "Papua New Guinea"? Where's "Energy Flash"? WHERE'S "UNFINISHED SYMPATHY"?!

Mama Said Knock You Out - generic and boring? Or misunderstood?

oh good the thread is about to get awesome now

Maybe the poll counter program refused to count any vote for Negativland. Seems reasonable.

Stop.

The main problem with these Pazz and Jop polls is that because the critics are all American they have a total ignorance of dance music.

Oh Prunella!

WHERE'S "UNFINISHED SYMPATHY"?!

Blue Lines finished in the albums poll.

I forgot to vote, but would have given one to "Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl," that single mix is beautiful.

But whatever. This American didn't spend the decade in dance clubs. This American didn't spend hours upon hours upon hours learning how to beat match. This American didn't sweat fuckin' balls keeping the beat going to the break of dawn on a weekly basis. This American didn't have one of the most orgasmic disco moments of his life spinning Latin house for a crowd of drunken hets outside a Mexican restaurant in Milwaukee. This American didn't work that crowd to the fuckin' heavens. This American didn't fill a dancefloor in 30 seconds during a Black Party c. 1997. This American doesn't have tubs and bins and crates of 12" dance singles. This American didn't review dance music for tons of publications in the 1990s. This American doesn't have tons of dance music on his top 100 singles of the 1990s list. This American doesn't think disco is the greatest music of all-time.

This American has a TOTAL ignorance of dance music. Total.

Oh yeah Xhuxk is WELL known for being total ignorant about dance music.

Soto and JN$OT (assuming they're American) clearly know NOTHING bout it.

Matos is yet another American is downright IGNINT about dance music.He'd NEVER be marooned on a desert island with a mere dance mix.

Sw00ds is Canadian (right?) and since no one knows anything about that greatest of all nations, he's exempt.

OH PRUNELLA!!!!!!!!!

hahaha--Matos to thread! Stat!

xp

Soto and JN$OT (assuming they're American) clearly know NOTHING bout it.

Please call me John, OK? (A curse 'pon ILX2 for not allowing me to change my ultra-lame user name[!]--what can I say, it seemed like a good idea at the time.) BTW, I'm Greek-American, actually--been living 'round about the Athens area since 1993 (although I did live in LA from 1972-93). And, sure, I'm not in any way totally ignorant of dance music/culture, but I would never claim to be expert in the field/genre(s) either.

(Also, the lack of knowledgeable dance music crits amongst the P&J electorate of the time is, to a certain extent, a legit complaint. But I'm also positive that xhuxk and Matos--among others--will be far better able to address that issue.)

Not me! I read "Unfinished Sympathy" and I was like "What -- By the Verve??" (Just kidding. Maybe.)

Anyway, this isn't about Americans ignoring dance music. It's the old story about the nature of consensus (just like whenever anybody else complains about Pazz & Jop results. Including me, probably.)

clearly hyperbole is a funny thing.

Also, there are lots of danceable songs up there on the list, duh. (As for techno, which is only part of dance music, I personally was ignoring a lot of it in 1991. Probably wrongly -- "Papua New Guinea" and "Energy Flash" are great. But I'd been paying attention to techno and house like crazy in 1988, back before England seemed to know it existed, and when the Brits took it over it seemed to me they drained the life out of it. I'm not saying I was right. But it had nothing to do with me not liking the genres in the first place. Americans dance good!)

Well yeah, the idea that Americans (and even American music critics, har) have a total ignorance of dance music is of course absolute horseshit. But that really just goes without saying. So I didn't, until now.

However, Mr. Snrub may very well find this thread informative:

Robert Christgau - Ima'murrican, Gawdammit!

The main problem with these Pazz and Jop polls is that because the critics are all American they have a total ignorance of dance music.

By and large, remembering that it's 1991 we're speaking of, I don't completely disagree with this. "Total ignorance" is obviously an overstatement, but I don't think Pazz & Jop was populated by clubgoing critics back then, and you really weren't hearing songs like the ones mentioned anywhere BUT in clubs, I don't think. By and large, I don't think American critics really paid attention to that music until it became defined as "electronica" and was spread out beyond the clubs. And of course, there are a bunch of exceptions to this (and in fact, there were more club hits--Soul II Soul, etc.--in the last couple polls, weren't there?).

ps: Songs on this list I own as 7-inch vinyl 45s:

Nirvana: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (DGC)
Pavement: "Summer Babe (Exact Wording of Threat)" (Drag City)
R.E.M.: "Losing My Religion" (Warner Bros.)
Naughty by Nature: "O.P.P." (Tommy Boy)

(Nirvana and Naughty By Nature were ordered through a jukebox distributor.)