The 18th P&J Singles Poll!

"Common People," obviously, with apologies to Whitney, Beck, Nas, and Garbage.

Oh right, good thing you mentioned that (as I didn't notice it was there initially) or I would have voted for "California Love" (or maybe something by the Fugees).

Like many here, I stopped reading at Common People. The obvious choice.

"Common People", but this is a really enjoyable list, apart from Oasis, and even those are only mediocre, not outright horrid. "No Diggity" and "1979" are my second and third choices.

"Setting Sun"

'no diggity'

strong feeling this chart has missed out lots of very good music in favour of unlistenable crap alt-rock though.

Like many here, I stopped reading at Common People the Quad City DJs. The obvious choice.

-- kornrulez6969, Thursday, September 27, 2007 8:43 AM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I count about 14 or 15 obvious choices, actually. Good list.

"Macarena" and Eels are the worst things on the list, although I've never cared for "Killing Me Softly" and prefer EBTG's "Wrong" to "Missing."

Uh-oh. This is the year I started listening to radio and MTV of my own accord, and thus anything I was familiar with at the time is completely unimpeachable. Well, except for "Macarena" and "Wonderwall". But about a dozen of these are my favorite songs ever. I'm going to have to give this more thought.

the train, now and forever

nas and eels are the only songs in this list i don't like

oh god and "champagne supernova." that's the worst on here.

yep

a friend of mine had it come on the radio when he was taking his driving test and said it was the longest six minutes of his life.

Bizarrely, I just voted for Underworld over Quad City DJs and Los Del Rio, though it was a close race.

Next in line, in more or less this order, would probably be "Pepper," "California Love," "Santa Monica," "1979," "Common People," "No Diggity," and "Where It's At."

These are the ones I actively dislike (as opposed to being merely ambivalent about):

Oasis: "Wonderwall" (Epic)
Beck: "Devils Haircut" (DGC)
Oasis: "Champagne Supernova" (Epic)
Eels: "Novocaine for the Soul" (Dreamworks)
Rage Aginst the Machine: "Bulls on Parade" (Epic)

Xgau's list is kind of cute and occasionally mysterious:

Pulp: "Common People" (Island)
Los Del Rio: "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)" (RCA)
R. Kelly: "You Remind Me of Something" (Jive)
Fugees: "Fugee La La" (Ruffhouse/Columbia)
Quad City DJs: "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)" (Big Beat/Atlantic)
Bass Kittens: "Heartbreak Factory" (Imix)
Alanis Morissette: "Ironic" (Maverick/Reprise)
Chris Butler: "The Devil Glitch" (Future Fossil)
Purple Penguin: "Tribhuwan" (Cup of Tea)
Tupac & Dr. Dre: "California Love" (Death Row/Interscope)
Smashing Pumpkins: "1979" (Elektra)
La Bouche: "Sweet Dreams" (RCA)

Who the hell were Bass Kittens and Purple Pemguin?

*Penguin, even.

No one was listening to Aaliyah yet, huh?

She doesn't make the cut until the '98 poll, interestingly enough, with "Are You That Somebody."

IT'S THE CHOO-CHOO TRAIN

'if i ruled the world' is such a wack song

I don't think I've ever heard this "C'mon N Ride It (The Train)." It was really that popular?

Here ya go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9vZ_akgmXU

And after seeing it again, I wish I could change my vote (hahaha--that beat is fuckin' unstoppable! Choo-Choo!!).

I love Wonderwall. Trying to express love when you've got Beatle Tourette's must be tough.

I went with "Wonderwall," so catchy, so stupid, so awesome.

"No Diggity," not even fucking close.

born slippy for me.

underworld

I'm surprised that Primitive Radio Hindu Love Radicals song that gets so much love here hasn't been mentione dyet.

"no diggity"
the sample on the radio gods song is cleverly employed, though; i bet that guy was pleased with himself
and i've only heard the shatner version of "common people," which is pretty great, so maybe i'd change my vote if i heard the real thing

"1979," but fucking bravo to the PRGs for getting into the top ten.

http://growabrain.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/clapping.gif

I liked this selection (it seems like '96 was probably a better year for singles, at least at P&J). But Pulp was hurt (perhaps unfairly) by extra-textual concerns, mainly that after years of hearing it played at every quasi-hip bar or party that I've gone to, I just don't need to hear it again. Ever.

So, with one of those smiles that exist only as pleasant memory, I went with Busta.

'if i ruled the world' is such a wack song

WHY U SO RONG?

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One of the most hilarious thing ever would be to gang rape a giraffe to this song. Imagine that! The giraffe is moaning and thrashing around and shit while two dozens big fat motherfuckers rape the shit out of that giraffe! Imagine it! DO IT!

Missing:

Sleater Kinney's "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone"
Imperial Teen, "You're One"
Tricky, "Christiansands"
David Bowie, "Hallo Spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys remix)"

"You're One" would possibly take it for me if it was available, same with "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" (which isn't even my favourite track from Call the Doctor) (which I can't believe got zero votes in the LP poll, by the way--it's the only album by them I'm crazy for)... Don't know what I like best otherwise--probably Pulp or Quad City DJs, though I haven't listened to either in a long while. I guess I maybe don't like the '90s as much as I thought I did--none of these recent lists have felt too inspiring. Or maybe I just don't like Pazz & Jop in the '90s (which would make sense, given how much I hated the Voice through most of that decade).

I'd take "She Makes Me Wanna Die" over "Christiansands"

I forgot about that one. "Poems" from the Nearly God thing and "Tricky Kid" are pretty ace too. At this point he was a better single than album artist.

since it seems as if quad city is gonna run away w/ this, i'm voting "fu-gee-la"

champagne supernova is awesome btw.

this is a really great year.

There's a lot of karaoke songs, that's for sure.

which is awesome

I should really vote Quad City DJs to head off what I bet will be Pulp's inevitable win, but I can't not vote for "Woo-Hah!!"

The singles lists are basically ace from this year up until the willenium.

I honestly don't know how I'm ever going to decide from 1997's list.

IF YOU REALLY WANNA PARTY W/ ME
http://membres.lycos.fr/underground418/hpbimg/busta%20rhymes%20scream.jpg

A contender there too for sure.

also there are biggie songs.

fionna apple will probably win tho.

fiona*

Where Outkast's "Elevators" at?

"C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)" is the greatest single of the 1990s. The ONLY thing bad about it is the title which is difficult to remember in its exact form.

But actually, even the screwed-up never sung title attests to the song's powers of transubstantiation. This is religious music. Like the wafer and wine in the Eucharist, Barry White's "Theme from Together Brothers" in all its grandiloquent corpulence is actually converted into "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)." Similarly, the ciphers behind the track can shape shift from 95 South to 69 Boyz to Quad City DJs. Utterly unknowable, they arrange the song as a series of talismanic things - the continental plate-smashing bass; "Come on (knowing, even haughty pause) it's the choo-choo;" the utilitarian rap; the "ride that choo-choo choo-choo ride" chant; the barely audible vocoder; Michelle, Tamika, and Tonya. And the way "ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhh" dovetails with "I think I can I think I can I think I can I think I can" is the mystery of the mystery. Listen to the CD single and learn that both the instrumental and the a cappella can hold their own. That's how powerful each element it. Taken together, there's no end to what the song can transubstantiate. Put it on your floor, it will make it clean. Put it in the club, it will make you move your arm up and down and make that choo-choo sound. Put it on your gravestone, it will make you go to heaven.

M.I.A.:
Reba McEntire: "I'd Rather Ride Around With You" (MCA 1996) - In typical country fashion, she simply cannot buy rebellion wholesale (even if the rebellion only amounts to skipping her sister's wedding). You can tell because the line she sings with the most ache is "Oh one of these days I might get married too."

Stab Paradise: "Fuck Me" (Happy Vibes 1996) - A remarkable recasting of "Sweet Pussy Pauline." I'm proud to say I broke this like a motherfucker on my dancefloor. The queens absolutely ate it up.

Stretch 'n' Vern present "Maddog": "I'm Alive" (Grandslam 1996) - Peak records. Nothing but peak records. This one is built on a speedy "Boogie Wonderland" riff and breaks down into an apparently unsampled chipmunk rap. Then the drums speed up so fast they flutter. All other sound drops out. Then....blam blam blam blam blam (the opening of ""Boogie Wonderland") and the track kicks back into gear. Peaky!

Livin' Joy: "Don't Stop Movin'" (MCA 1996) - Hard work doesn't always pay.

Judy Torres: "No Reason To Cry (Glenn Friscia's All Night House Party Remix)" (QPM 1996) - Yes, even better than the original. Like all great house tracks, you can hear the club in it. As well as the destiny of 2am.

Alanis Morissette: "Ironic" (Maverick/Reprise 1996) - She understood irony. Just not in this song.

"Woo Hah" then, "Woo Hah" now.

I got in a big argument w/ a friend over "Come On & Ride It". We were trying to come up with the worst rap one-hit of all time and he suggested this and I practically had a spasm, a hernia, and a conniption all at once. When I told him it was one of my favorite songs ever, he was all like "that song is a joke, no one likes that song". I cited P&J '96 as evidence of his blatant RONGness.

Carry on.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

the worst rap one-hit of all time

...whatever it is, is almost definitely not as half boring as whatever the worst rap hit of all time is by somebody who has had a lot of rap hits (though I'm not sure what that one would be, either.)

not..half...as....boring (i meant)

I never heard this in 1996 and, having heard it now, I'm like...whatever.

I feel the same way about "Common People."

cosign. i do like it, but the 'had to be there' cachet must be pretty fucking potent.

Alfred: search the full 7-minute version and have yourself a private little party.

Xhuxk: Tru dat. I'll nominate Busta's "I Know What You Want".

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

ok i didn't expect that

I'm scared of whoever voted for 'Champagne Supernova'

OK, who rewatched Trainspotting recently?

:( :( :( :( :( :(

who the fuck still likes smashing pumpkins.

I'm not much of a Smashing Pumpkins fan, but (maybe because of that) I think "1979" is a great song, probably my favorite by them (certainly my favorite off that album). It's behind "Common People" and "No Diggity" for me on this list, but it doesn't surprise me that it would still get votes. Neither does "Born Slippy" surprise me, though I'd like to hear more from those who voted for it.

I knew ILM liked Underworld, but not to that extent.

I never did end up voting. It just wasn't possible to choose. "C'Mon & Ride It", "Woo-Hah", "Lovefool", "California Love", "Fu-Gee-La", "No Diggity", & "If I Ruled The World" are all perfect.

blecch

When I told him it was one of my favorite songs ever, he was all like "that song is a joke, no one likes that song".

Apparently only 4 people like it.

blecch yourself, bitch.

I guess that's possibly a response to the results and not to me, so n/m.

"No Diggity" cassingle = first piece of music I bought w/ own money.

i'm familiar with 95% of those singles for once and i do declare there isn't one I don't like. i picked 1979. i'm a huge fan of that album, small fan of the group, HUGE fan of the song.

Neither does "Born Slippy" surprise me, though I'd like to hear more from those who voted for it.

Just a really pleasurable, obsessive, inexorable, Kraftwerk-type choo-choo train rhythm that can't be stopped. Sort of like Quad City DJs, come to think of it. (Also beats the vast majority of electronica by coming with a song attached, which always helps.)

As for Pumpkins: I'm a "1979" fan who has no use for 99% of the other stuff those nitwits did too, fwiw.

I take it you've warmed up to last half to two thirds of the song since your book!

the "blecch" was for Underworld, whom I've never liked.

Yeah, blecch to that. Not even the best token dahnce music there.

xp to Anthony:

Yeah, the last two-thirds eventually kinda wound up sucking me in over the years (but isn't that sort of what I said about it in my book in the first place? I'd have to go back and check, but I thought I did.)

Christgau always hated Underworld too, if I remember right. (But he never was much of a prog or Kraut-rock fan, so that kinda makes sense.) I'm not a huge fan of the band myself, but definitely find them more useful than most of the rest of their genre.

Anyway, I was right about Christgau; here he is:

http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=underworld

Yeah, the last two-thirds eventually kinda wound up sucking me in over the years (but isn't that sort of what I said about it in my book in the first place? I'd have to go back and check, but I thought I did.)

I might be mistaken, but I thought you wrote that you loved the song BEFORE the guy stop chanting and it got all generic.

stopped.

I haven't heard the song in a while, and def. like the vocal part though I'd probably zzz out before the end.

I should admit I've grown to like Underworld's more obvious (and pretty) moments more than I did at the time: "Rez," "Cowgirl," "Two Months Off." "Born Slippy" just sounded obnoxious to me at the time, when someone played it for me in an "I know you like techno, and here's the techno song you should like" manner--and all I could think was, if this drip wasn't yelling bullshit, maybe I would. it's obviously effective in the movie, though, but even there I had my limits with it. but I definitely like it more than the Eels and Oasis songs, the other two that got more than one vote here which I don't have much use for.

Fugees: "Killing Me Softly" (Ruffhouse/Columbia) 0

WHAT?!?

Nas: "If I Ruled the World" (Columbia) 0

HUH?!?

Underworld: "Born Slippy" (TVT) 16
Pulp: "Common People" (Island) 14

WTF IS THIS SHIT?

It's called "taste," look it up

WOW UR CLEVER.

Well, I'm no Nas Escobar.

No, no. Brainwasher is correct.