The 17th P&J Singles Poll!

1995 should sue VV for defamation

what a great year

i got 5 on it edges out kiss by a rose but barely

Bottom seven were video picks, btw.

Hip hop and R&B rule this list for me. But when all is said and done, it basically came down to Meth vs. Coolio. Went with the latter cause I figured mine may well be the only vote for it.

A very close call between Meth/Mary and "Stutter," so I picked the latter.

Missing:

GZA feat. Method Man, "Shadowboxin'"
Garbage, "Only Happy When It Rains"
Tricky, "Black Steel"

didnt fantasy come out in '95

Also missing:

Portishead - Glory Box

I imagine that it didn't do too well in the US at the time. Or was it simply a case of it being a '94 release?

Man, these 90's P&J singles polls really make this decade look good by comparison. Were critics really THAT into VH1's playlist 10 years ago? Maybe the whole popism/anti-rockism thing wasn't that necessary after all.

a scar's a souvenir you never lose
the past is never far

what good there is on here is played the fuck out. maybe i should leave that out as a consideration, you guys seem to be enjoying yourselves.

Just out of curiosity, tremendoid, what '95 releases would you say are not played out?

"You Oughta Know" - Did we ever figure out if the dude she blew in the theater was the non-Bob Saget/John Stamos dad from Full House (my vote for the worst TV show of all-time)?

M.I.A.:

Whitney Houston : "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" (LaFace 1995) - A hymn for our times, such as they are.
Mariah Carey: "Fantasy" (Columbia 1995) - (sheepishly) Um, I like this better than the Tom Tom Club's. (ducks)
Real McCoy: "Another Night" (Arista 1995) - The children of Foucault and Jolt.
M People: "Itchycoo Park (Morales Classic Club Mix)" (Deconstruction 1995) - I'm not sure I've heard the album version. But this remix, goddamn - as they say (MANY times), it's all too beautiful.
Shades of Love: "Keep In Touch (Body To Body) (Junior's 10/30 Mix)" (Vicious Muzik 1995) - Whenever someone wants me to define "slammin'," I direct them here...with a hard hat.
The Bucketheads: "The Bomb (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)" (Big Beat 1995) - Duh.
Michael Jackson featuring Janet Jackson: "Scream" (Epic 1995) - I'm voting for it as a song not a video (although the latter includes my fave MJ dancing towards the end). Post-Dangerous MJ is severely underrated. Just ask black radio.
Michael Hall: "Frank Slade's 29th Dream" (Dejadisc 1995) - I met him last summer but was too chickenshit to gush over this single/album blur. Another reason to bless Xgau.

"Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)" is probably my favorite Whitney ballad.

"You Oughta Know", killer single in a career otherwise full of dreck. Next best: Skee-Lo.

relatively lame list, gonna go with "Stutter"

shit

wish I went with "A Girl Like You" now.

SKEE-LO, BITCHES.

Surprised the album didn't make it (not cuz it's good but cuz pollsters often vote for singles on the albums list):
Edwyn Collins: "A Girl Like You" (Bar/None/A&M)

Ugh go away:
Dionne Farris: "I Know" (Columbia)

I cannot hum these songs:
Foo Fighters: "This Is a Call" (Roswell/Capitol)
Foo Fighters: "I'll Stick Around" (Roswell/Capitol)

I can hum this one:
Matthew Sweet: "Sick of Myself" (Zoo)

Could probably hum it if you got me started with a few notes:
Goo Goo Dolls: "Name" (Metal Blade/Warner Bros.)

Dull already:
Seal: "Kiss From a Rose" (ZTT/Sire/Warner Bros.)

Found a way to sneak these guys in:
The Beatles: "Free as a Bird" (Joe Pytka)

Song that made me realize Simon Reynolds was a genius (because I never once thought to pay attention to the rhythm since the song seemed to live and die with its lyric):
TLC: "Waterfalls" (LaFace)

More hip-hop songs should begin like this one (hello):
Skee-Lo: "I Wish" (Scotti Bros./Sunshine)

I JUST realized that I don't much like this guy's videos or movies (cute though):
Bjork: "It's Oh So Quiet" (Spike Jonze)

Just wanted to say that I like like like this song:
The Presidents of the United States of America: "Lump" (Columbia)

Just out of curiosity, tremendoid, what '95 releases would you say are not played out?

kinda depends, some omissions are so glaring I know I may be off on my chronology (even allowing for Tragic Kingdom, which was a latebloomer iirc), but there's nothing from the Tupac album, the absolute best crop of Wu albums, Dogg Pound, Bjork, D'Angelo, Goodie Mob, Mobb Deep, Pumpkins singles other than that one, etc. and then there's stuff obv. a shade too esoteric (E-40, Quik, WC, Big Mike); A plucky blonde yodeler taught us how to cry again...
and yes I know a poll that size will always shake out this way except in an exceptionally strong year but since you asked. I really have no point except i'm meh'ed out looking at the list. If i'm way off and stuff is supposed to be from '94 I could bore you with more picks

Lamest-ass P&J singles list yet -- A surprise, since the couple previous ones seemed pretty good.

I voted for "Creep," my favorite TLC song. Beyond that, uh, "Gangsta's Paradise" and "You Oughta Know" and the two Elastica songs are okay, I guess. Beyond that.....wow.

Songs I will never like, I promise (and I may well be missing some -- can't remember how the songs from those Bjork or Yo La Tengo videos go, but since I've never much cared for anything by either artist, they probably belong here too):

Edwyn Collins: "A Girl Like You" (Bar/None/A&M)
Joan Osborne: "One of Us" (Blue Gorilla/Mercury)
PJ Harvey: "Down by the Water" (Island)
Dionne Farris: "I Know" (Columbia)
Shaggy: "Boombastic" (Virgin) *
Oasis: "Wonderwall" (Epic)
Foo Fighters: "This Is a Call" (Roswell/Capitol)
Foo Fighters: "I'll Stick Around" (Roswell/Capitol)
Matthew Sweet: "Sick of Myself" (Zoo)
Seal: "Kiss From a Rose" (ZTT/Sire/Warner Bros.)
Goo Goo Dolls: "Name" (Metal Blade/Warner Bros.)

*-- Note, btw, that I voted for "Oh Carolina" a couple polls previous. So I have nothing against the guy.

xp: Tragic Kingdom? Really?
No problem with the rest of your picks, except for maybe the Dogg Pound.

Btw, these three made the '96 list, guys:

Garbage: "Only Happy When It Rains"
Whitney Houston: "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)"
Smashing Pumpkins: "1979"

(Exhales) Oops oops.

"Creep," easy--not like there's almost any competition whatsoever, obv.

Possibly the most annoying part of any song recorded in the '90s, by anybody: The part in the PJ Harvey song where she whispers about "little fishes."

Possibly the worst sung pop hit of the '90s, by anybody: Edwin Collins's "Girl Like You"

Worst decade ever: The '90s.

Better crap than most of the other crap on the list, for whatever that's worth: "I Wish," "Sour Times," "Lump," "Hey Man Nice Shot," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "Rat With Bullet Wings," "Butterfly With Rat Wings."

Punchline: Don't go chasing wonderwalls.

Better than "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails: "Hey Man Nice Shot"

Probably better than I remember (though also possibly worse, and I'm too lazy to check): Method Man with Mary, Luniz, Garbage, Madonna, Michael Jackson, the Beatles.

Worst decade ever: The '90s.

Oh I don't know. The 19 Aughts were pretty stolid.

relatively lame list, gonna go with "Free as a Bird"

the 90s were pretty great

Definitely an uninspiring list. Even stuff up there which I like just feels too boring to think about right now.

I don't know how I place the '90s overall. Without doing the analysis that would be required, my instincts tell me that the best stuff from that decade is at least as good as the best stuff from the '80s but that the lesser stuff is far, far worse than even the worst stuff from the '80s (because it's so bland and forgettable). But that's nothing more than a hunch (and 1980-1982 alone probably pulverizes the entire '90s, now that I think about it).

The '90s were a very mid-tempo decade. That can't be good.

haha not from where I was listening they weren't

Scott mostly OTM, as per usual.

I'll never understand what Chuck has against poor Peej and her little fishies swimming in da water. (Do you hate seafood or something, Chuck?)
(Ugh, lame [and quite innapropriate] joke! Please shoot me now!)

I'm listening to "Only the Strong Survive." (Wha?)

The '90s mostly sucked! Except when they didn't, natch.

Possible thread derailment:

So who's gonna win this years P&J / Jackin' Pop polls?
2005 revisited (M.I.A.I vs. Kanye), or do Arcade Fire actually stand a chance of upsetting ye old apple cart?
Still haven't heard Graduation, btw. Hope to do so soon.

How the fuck did that extra *I* get in there?

There's a theory that when the economy is bad, music is good, and vice versa. I think there might be something to that.

1970s - stagflation : awesome music
1990s - roaring stock market : pretty lame music

If one theorizes that the pool of potential musicians and the pool of potential business careerists overlaps, and that pursuing one path tends to conflict with pursuing the other, then when the national employment picture is stronger, it would tend to weaken the music scene. (However, there has to be a minimum baseline of national affluence for this to work, so that there is still a healthy market for the music that is being produced.)

That doesn't explain the '60s.

Yes, it doesn't work so well pre-70s. Perhaps there were other variables that took precedence then.

there has to be a minimum baseline of national affluence for this to work

Doesn't explain 1929 (a great year for music, though it's possible all the good releases came out before the stock market chrashed, I suppose. In which case, come to think of it, it might explain why 1929 was so much better than 1930. Assuming it actually was.)

I think it's hard to really tell in the '20s and '30s, since the popular music recording industry was still in its infancy. Though it does seem that the '20s was a good decade for music, and the economy was also doing well.

Where is "This Is How We Do It"? I'm sincerely surprised that didn't make it.

You people. The '90s ruled. And "the economy" was most definitely not good for everybody, obv.

And all of these still sound great to me:

Elastica: "Connection" (DGC)
TLC: "Waterfalls" (LaFace)
Oasis: "Wonderwall" (Epic)
Skee-Lo: "I Wish" (Scotti Bros./Sunshine)
Yo La Tengo: "Tom Courtenay"

I'll go with "Wonderwall."

Possible thread derailment:

So who's gonna win this years P&J / Jackin' Pop polls?
2005 revisited (M.I.A.I vs. Kanye), or do Arcade Fire actually stand a chance of upsetting ye old apple cart?
Still haven't heard Graduation, btw. Hope to do so soon.

Start a new thread. I always like P&J prediction threads.

Yeah, I knew someone was gonna suggest doing just that.

Possibly the worst sung pop hit of the '90s, by anybody: Edwin Collins's "Girl Like You"

why

Yeah, I don't get that either.

crazy talk

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Alanis

"Sick of Myself" is fantastic, with the veteran NYC shredding undercutting the perfect-sweet alt-pop tune.

"I Wish" obviously

That's my #2.

Possibly the worst sung pop hit of the '90s, by anybody: Edwin Collins's "Girl Like You"

why

Because I can't think of another one sung in a flatter, more rigid, more strained voice? Though you're welcome to suggest competitors, of course.

(Though again, like lots of comments on these P&J poll threads, that's going by how I heard the song at the time. I'm not guaranteeing that, if I heard it again, I'd feel the same way. Who knows, maybe I'd love it now. Though I will guarantee that I have no intention of going out of my way to hear it now. I'm sort of fine with having old opinions sometimes, even if they might not necessarily always be right.)

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

Glad to see others picking "You Oughta Know".

Very glad to see 0 votes for "Hey Man Nice Shot".

Damn, I REALLY wished I'd voted for "A Girl Like You" now.

It's a lot more fun then you remember, Chuck.

I wish "Lump" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" got at least a vote each too