The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present (11-11-08)

not to take anything away from the poll threads that Kevin Keller started but since the list has leaked, it deserves it's own thread.

http://thepitchfork500.com/

here is the link Kevin posted for the actual list (thanks):

http://fromclosertonear.blogspot.com/2008/11/pitchfork-500-our-guide-to-greatest.html

I love all these songs.

Ooh, Lesson No. 1!

OK, here is that list:

1977 – 1979

David Bowie – Heroes
Iggy Pop – The Passenger
Lou Reed – Street Hassle
Kraftwerk – Trans-Europe Express
Brian Eno – 1/1
The Ramones – Rockaway Beach
Talking Heads – Psycho Killer
Television – Marquee Moon
Patti Smith – Rock n Roll Nigger
The Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen
The Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen in Love?
Vic Godard and the Subway Sect – Parallel Lines
X-Ray Spex – Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
The Adverts – One Chord Wonders
Wire – Ex-Lion Tamer
Donna Summer – I Feel Love
Giorgo Moroder - The Chase
Chic – Good Times
Thelma Houston – Don’t Leave Me This Way
Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
Parliament – Flash Light
Marvin Gaye – Got To Give It Up
Public Image Ltd. – Public Image
Gang of Four – Damaged Goods
Magazine – Shot by Both Sides
The Cramps – Human Fly
The Misfits – Night of the Living Dead
Wire – Outdoor Miner
Joy Division – Disorder
Althea and Donna – Uptown Top Ranking
Lee Perry – Roast Fish and Cornbread
The Congos – Fisherman
Willie Williams – Armagideon Time
This Heat – 24 Track Loop
The Slits – Typical Girls
The Pop Group – She Is Beyond Good and Evil
The Clash – The Guns of Brixton
James Chance and the Contortions – Contort Yourself
Suicide – Dream Baby Dream
Cabaret Voltaire – Nag Nag Nag
Throbbing Gristle – Hot on the Heels of Love
Devo – Mongoloid
Candido – Jingo
Dinosaur – Kiss Me Again
Machine – There but for the Grace of God Go I
Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights
Goblin – Suspiria
Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
Van Halen – Runnin’ with the Devil
Fleetwood Mac – The Chain
Steely Dan – Deacon Blues
Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky
The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
Plastic Bertrand – Ca plane pour moi
The Records – Starry Eyes
Cheap Trick – Surrender
The Cars – Just What I Needed
Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Radio Radio
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
XTC – Making Plans for Nigel
Blondie – Atomic
Talking Heads – Memories Can’t Wait

1980 – 1982

Kurtis Blow – The Breaks
Spoonie Gee Meets the Sequence – Monster Jam
The Sugarhill Gang – 8th Wonder
The Treacherous Three – The New Rap Language
The Clash – The Magnificent Seven
Talking Heads – Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
Yoko Ono – Walking on Thin Ice
Klein + MBO – Dirty Talk
ESG – Moody
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel
Funky 4+1 – That’s The Joint
Kraftwerk – Numbers/Computer World 2
Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – The Message
Glenn Branca – Lesson No. 1 for Electric Guitar
Laurie Anderson – O Superman (For Massenet)
Joy Division – Atmosphere
The Fall – Totally Wired
Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Beyond Belief
The Pretenders – Back on the Chain Gang
The B-52’s – Private Idaho
Dexys Midnight Runners – There There My Dear
Young Marble Giants – Final Day
Altered Images – Happy Birthday
The Specials – Ghost Town
Robert Wyatt – Shipbuilding
Bauhaus – Third Uncle
Adam and the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
Scritti Politti – The Sweetest Girl
The Human League – Don’t You Want Me
Soft Cell – Tainted Love
The Associates – Party Fears Two
ABC – All of My Heart
New Order – Temptation
The Jam – Town Called Malice
Duran Duran – The Chauffeur
The English Beat – Save It for Later
The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed
Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love
Prince – Dirty Mind
Daryl Hall & John Oates – I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
ABBA – The Day Before You Came
Roxy Music – More Than This
Queen – Under Pressure
Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City
Journey – Don’t Stop Believing
Bad Brains – Pay to Cum
Minor Threat – Minor Threat
Dead Kennedys – Holiday in Cambodia
Black Flag – Rise Above
Wipers – Youth of America
Flipper – Sex Bomb
Motorhead – Ace of Spades
Iron Maiden – Run to the Hills
Orange Juice – Blue Boy
The Television Personalities – This Angry Silence
The Fall – The Classical
The Clean – Tally Ho!
The Feelies – The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness
R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe
Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun
Mission of Burma – That’s When I Reach for My Revolver

1983-1986

The Smiths – This Charming Man
Sonic Youth – Death Valley ‘69
Husker Du – Pink Turns to Blue
Meat Puppets – Plateau
The Replacements – I Will Dare
Minutemen – History Lesson (Part II)
R.E.M. – So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)
Echo and the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
The Cure – Close to Me
Siouxsie and the Banshees – Cities in Dust
Run-D.M.C. – It’s Like That
Crash Crew – On the Radio
Rammelzee vs. K-Rob – Beat Bob
Boogie Down Productions – South Bronx
New Order – Blue Monday
Prince and the Revolution – When Doves Cry
Talking Heads – This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)
Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)
U2 – New Year’s Day
Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)
The Replacements – Bastards of Young
The Mekons – Last Dance
Big Black – Kerosene
Scratch Acid – The Greatest Gift
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Just Like Honey
The Smiths – How Soon Is Now?
Cocteau Twins – Lorelei
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
Billy Bragg – A New England
Metallica – Battery
Slayer – Angel of Death
Saint Vitus – Clear Windowpane
Einstruzende Neubauten – Halber Mensch
Art of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion One)
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Relax
Liquid Liquid – Optimo
Alexander Robotnick – Problemes d’Amour
Shannon – Let the Music Play
Section 25 – Looking from a Hilltop (Restructure)
Madonna – Holiday
Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Prince – Kiss
Run-D.M.C. – Rock Box
LL Cool J – I Can’t Live Without My Radio
Beastie Boys – No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Mantronix – Needle to the Groove
The Go-Betweens – Cattle and Cane
The Chills – Pink Frost
Felt – Primitive Painters
The Smiths – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Tom Waits – Jockey Full of Bourbon
Bruce Springsteen – I’m on Fire
Scott Walker – Rawhide
U2 – Bad
Don Henley – The Boys of Summer
Paul Simon – Graceland
Wayne Smith – Under Me Sleng Teng
Anthony “Red” Rose – Tempo
Model 500 – No UFO’s

1987-1990

Mr. Fingers – Can You Feel It
Rhythim Is Rhythim – Strings of Life
A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray
M/A/R/R/S – Pump Up The Volume
My Blood Valentine – You Made Me Realise
Spacemen 3 – Walking With Jesus
Ride – Dreams Burn Down
Glaxie 500 – Blue Thunder
Happy Mondays – Kinky Afro
The Stone Roses – She Bangs the Drums
Sonic Youth – Teen Age Riot
Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene
Butthole Surfers – Human Cannonball
Pixies – Where Is My Mind?
Fugazi – Waiting Room
Audio Two – Top Billin’
Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul
Public Enemy – Rebel Without a Pause
N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – The Mercy Seat
Ministry – Stigmata
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Head On
The Sugarcubes – Birthday
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
Morrissey – Everyday Is Like Sunday
The Pogues – Fairytale of New York
The Wedding Present – My Favourite Dress
The Field Mice – Emma’s House
Another Sunny Day – You Should All Be Murdered
The Dead Milkmen – Punk Rock Girl
The Primitives – Crash
The La’s – There She Goes
They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse in Your Soul
Superchunk – Slack Motherfucker
Fugazi – Merchandise
The Jesus Lizard – Mouth Breather
Slick Rick – Children’s Story
Gang Starr – Just to Get a Rep
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock – It Takes Two
Sal-n-Pepa – Push It
Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies
De La Soul – Me Myself and I
Biz Markie – Just a Friend
Public Enemy – Fight The Power
Guns N’ Roses – Welcome to the Jungle
Swans – Beautiful Child
John Zorn – The Sicilian Clan
Prince and the Revolution – If I Was Your Girlfriend
Madonna – Like a Prayer
Deee-Lite – Groove Is in the Heart
Pet Shop Boys – Being Boring
Sinead O’Conner – Nothing Compares 2 U
The Orb – Little Fluffy Clouds
The KLF – Wichita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard
808 State – Pacific State
Orbital – Chime
Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Sileince
My Blood Valentine – Soon
The Vaselines – Son of a Gun
Beat Happening – Indian Summer
Daniel Johnston – Some Things Last a Long Time
Mudhoney – Touch Me I’m Sick
Pixies – Wave of Mutilation

1991-1993

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
Pavement – Summer Babe
Archers of Loaf – Web in Front
Yo La Tengo – From a Motel 6
Sebadoh – The Freed Pig
A Tribe Called Quest – Check the Rhime
De La Soul – A Roller Skating Jam Named ‘Saturdays’
Black Sheep – The Choice Is Yours
Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
Tricky – Aftermath (Version 1)
Primal Scream – Higher Than the Sun
Spiritualized – Step into the Breeze
Slowdive – Alison
Aphex Twin – Xtal
Talk Talk – Ascension Day
Slint – Good Morning, Captain
Disco Inferno – The Last Dance
Stereolab – French Disko
Acen – Trip II the Moon Pts. 1 and 2
The Future Sound of London – Papua New Guinea
Human Resource – Dominator (Joey Beltram Mix)
Metalheadz – Terminator
Omni Trio – Renegade Snares
Red House Painters – New Jersey
Teenage Fanclub – The Concept
Heavenly – C Is the Heavenly Option
Tindersticks – City Sickness
Unrest – Make Out Club
Tenor Saw/Buju Banton – Ring the Alarm Quick
Dr. Dre – Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang
Ice Cube – It Was a Good Day
2Pac – I Get Around
Souls of Mischief – 93 ‘Til Infinity
Suede – The Drowners
Blur – For Tomorrow
Elastica – Stutter
Ween – Doctor Rock
Wu-Tang Clan – Protect Ya Neck
Geto Boys – Mind Playing Tricks on Me
Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth – They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl
Melvins – Hooch
Dinosaur Jr. – Start Choppin’
Pixies – U-Mass
Liz Phair – Divorce Song
PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
The Afghan Whigs – Debonair
Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name
The Lemonheads – It’s a Shame About Ray
Beck – Loser
The Breeders – Cannonball
Nirvana – Scentless Apprentice

1994-1996

Hole – Violet
Smashing Pumpkins – 1979
Green Day – Longview
Weezer – Say It Ain’t So
Blur – Girls & Boys
Oasis – Live Forever
Pulp – Common People
The Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy
Nas – It Ain’t Hard to Tell
Mobb Deep – Shook Ones, Pt. 2
GZA – 4th Chamber
Pavement – Gold Soundz
Built to Spill – Car
Modest Mouse – Broke
Frank Black – Headache
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Bellbottoms
Guided by Voices – I Am a Scientist
Nine Inch Nails – Closer
Bjork – Hyper-Ballad
Beck – Devil’s Haircut
Portishead – Sour Times (Nobody Loves Me)
Saint Etienne – Like a Motorway
Basic Channel – Octagon
Paperclip People – Throw
DJ Shadow – Midnight in a Perfect World
Dr. Octagon – Blue Flowers
Common – I Used to Lover H.E.R.
Jeff Buckley – Grace
Mazzy Star – Fade Into You
Arthur Russell – This Is How We Walk on the Moon
Low – Words
The Auteurs – Unsolved Child Murder
Jawbox – Savory
Drive Like Jehu – Luau
Brainiac – Pussyfootin’
Napalm Death – Twist the Knife (Slowly)
Darkthrone – En As I Dype Skogen
Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Brooklyn Zoo
Snoop Doggy Dogg – Gin and Juice
Luniz – I Got 5 on It
Cutty Ranks – Limb by Limb
The Prodigy – No Good (Start the Dance)
Underworld – Born Slippy (NUXX)
The Chemical Brothers – Setting Sun
Daft Punk – Da Funk
Belle and Sebastian – The State I Am In
Elliott Smith – Needle in the Hay
The Magnetic Fields – Take Ecstasy with Me
Palace Music – New Partner
Arab Strap – The First Big Weekend
Tortoise – Gamera
The Sea and Cake – Parasol
Pavement – Rattled by the Rush
Guided by Voices – Game of Pricks
Weezer – El Scorcho

1997-1999

Radiohead – Paranoid Android
Bjork – Joga
The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
Elliott Smith – Between the Bars
Cat Power – Cross Bones Style
The Clientele – Reflections After Jane
Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I See a Darkness
Smog – Teenage Spaceship
Silver Jews – Random Rules
Autechre – Arch Carrier
Boards of Canada – Happy Cycling
Herbert – So Now…
Aphex Twin – Windowlicker
Uilab – St. Elmo’s Fire
Air – Le Soleil est Pres du Moi
Massive Attack – Teardrop
Black Star – Respiration
The Notorious B.I.G. – Hypnotize
Outkast – Spottieottiedopaliscious
The Roots – The Next Movement
The Flaming Lips – Waitin’ for a Superman
The Beta Band – Dry the Rain
The Olivia Tremor Control – Hideaway
Neutral Milk Hotel – Holland, 1945
Super Furry Animals – Ice Hockey Hair
Stardust – Music Sounds Better with You
Basement Jaxx – Jump n’ Shout
Wilco – Via Chicago
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
Belle and Sebastian – Lazy Line Painter Jane
Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater
Sleater-Kinney – One More Hour
Refused – New Noise
The Dismemberment Plan – The City
Boredoms – Super Shine
Mogwai – Like Herod
Jim O’Rourke – Halfway to a Threeway
Sigur Ros – Svefn-g-Englar

2000-2002

Daft Punk – One More Time
Radiohead – Idioteque
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Storm
The Avalanches – Since I Left You
Broadcast – Come On Let’s Go
Aaliyah – Try Again
Justin Timberlake – Cry Me a River
Luomo – Tessio
Vitalic – La Rock 01
Kylie Minogue – Love at First Sight
Jay-Z – Big Pimpin’
Outkast – B.O.B.
Eminem – The Real Slim Shady
Ghostface Killah – Nutmeg
Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On
The White Stripes – Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
The Strokes – The Modern Age
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Another Morning Stoner
Interpol – Obstacle 1
Electric Six – Danger! High Voltage
Golden Boy with Miss Kittin – Rippin Kittin’
Jurgen Paape – So Weit Wie Noch Nie
Osymyso – Intro-Inspection
The Knife – Heartbeats
LCD Soundystem – Lossing My Edge
The Rapture – House of Jealous Lovers
The Streets – Weak Become Heroes
Aesop Rock – Daylight
Rjd2 – Good Times Roll Pt. 2
Bright Eyes – The Calendar Hung Itself
Wilco – Poor Places
Queens of the Stonge Age – No One Knows
My Morning Jacket – The Way That He Sings
Modest Mouse – 3rd Planet
Clinic – Distortions
Shellac – Prayer to God
Mclusky – To Hell with Good Intentions
Lightning Bolt – Ride the Sky
The Microphones – The Moon
The New Pornographers – Letter from an Occupant
The Shins – New Slang
The Decemberists – Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect
Radiohead – Life in a Glasshouse
Broken Social Scene – Cause = Time
Deerhoof – This Magnificent Bird Will Rise
Spoon – The Way We Get By
Dizzee Rascal I Luv U
M.O.P. – Ante Up
Clipse – Grindin’
Talib Kweli – Get By
Jay-Z – Takeover

2003-2006

Outkast – Hey Ya
Kanye West – Through The Wire
R. Kelly – Ignition (Remix)
Beyonce – Crazy In Love
Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
!!! – Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)
TV on the Radio – Staring at the Sun
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps
The Walkmen – The Rat
Devendra Banhart – A Sight to Behold
Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear
Sufjan Stevens – Casimir Pulaski Day
Antony and the Johnsons – Hope There’s Someone
Animal Collective – Leaf House
The Books – Take Time
M83 – Don’t Save Us from the Flames
The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
Annie – Heartbeat
M.I.A. – Galang
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
The Fiery Furnaces – Here Comes the Summer
The Mountain Goats – No Children
The Wrens – She Sends Kisses
Les Savy Fav – The Sweat Descends
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone?
The Exploding Hearts – Modern Kicks
Art Brut – Formed a Band
Boris – Farewell
Mastodon – Sleeping Giant
Madvillain – America’s Most Blunted
T.I. – What You Know
Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
Amerie – 1 Thing
Ciara – Oh
The Go! Team – The Power Is On
Feist – Mushaboom
Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Wolf Parade – I’ll Believe in Anything
Band of Horses – The Funeral
The Hold Steady – Stuck Between Stations
Beirut – Postcards from Italy
Johnny Boy – You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve
Love Is All – Busy Doing Nothing
Jens Lekman – Black Cab
Christian Falk – Dream On
Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks
Justice vs. Simian – We Are Your Friends
Hot Chip – Boy from School
Animal Collective – Grass
Black Dice – Cone Toaster
Liars – The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack
Panda Bear – Bros

this list is v. shrill...

Only one Bowie song, and it's not "Sound and Vision"?
No Ricardo Villalobos?
No Burial?
No Kyuss?

yeah, i tried to make a poll for the whole list, but i guess there's a 50-item limit. i ran out of energy after the first two.

Only one Bowie song, and it's not "Sound and Vision"?

― Vision, Wednesday, November 5, 2008 3:03 AM (1 minute ago)

my thoughts exactly. i'm also in the camp that sound and vision is his best song.

anyway, i'm ecstatic that clinic's "distortions" made the list, so have no complaints. one of my favorite songs ever.

ehhh....looking over it again, it's not quite as bad as i first thought--there are lots of good songs, lots of things pitchfork does right--yet it somehow seems slightly unsatisfying... :[

xpost...distortions is excellent, but what would have made me ecstatic was including porno

also, i would have liked to see more fiery furnaces, but they got my favorite song of theirs, and honestly p4k was pretty brutal to them for a stretch. i think there could have been a song from gallowsbird's bark ("inca rag/name game"?) too, but i'm pleased with "here comes the summer."

also, and this is just fucking nitpicking at this point, i would have chosen "range life" over "gold soundz", and though i don't think "rattled by la rush" is the best on wowee, it's probably the logical choice as it was the big single. obviously being a pavement lunatic i'll never be happy with anyone else's choices though. "box elder" or "frontwards" could have found a place here too. (along with "here," but i guess there's a one per album rule.)

Ooh, Beat Bop! Another song from New York Noise! How many can you spot?

Actually, The Sugarhill Records Story may be the most-represented compilation here. Any other contenders?

No Stranglers, no Joni Mitchell, no Rush. No King Crimson. No Faith No More.
Four Talking Heads songs but no "Once in a Lifetime" or "I Zimbra".
Three Pavement songs.
Dozens of interchangeably vapid indie bands.

On the other hand: props for including Shellac and Teenage Fanclub.

you can't be surprised at the lack of rush, for example, honestly. at least they're being honest.

I wasn't surprised per se but if they're including BOC, ELO, Queen, Journey,...

you can't be surprised at the lack of rush, for example, honestly. at least they're being honest.

― Kevin Keller, Wednesday, November 5, 2008 4:01 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

I can understand their editorial criteria, but to choose Gloria Gaynor/Hall & Oates/Cindy Lauper/Journey/Deee-Lite/Kylie over Rush still seems to me more than a little puzzling.

what does ILM think about them listing songs and not limiting it down to just singles?

i feel like this overall list would have been better severed if they just stuck with singles. if you included almost every song from 1977 to 2006 it just becomes too watered down when you expand the list that big.

they at least should have chosen "time after time"

Actually, one omission that does surprise me a little is Battles.

any list that includes "renegade snares" is fine by me!

the 2000-2006 stretch seems a bit tired though... those are great songs but i feel like pitchfork's already written so much about them, pick other songs plz : )

no cuban linx...

11-11-08 is the publishing date. better numbers, in the title, would have been 1977-2006.

I can understand their editorial criteria, but to choose Gloria Gaynor/Hall & Oates/Cindy Lauper/Journey/Deee-Lite/Kylie over Rush still seems to me more than a little puzzling.

This is about the most understandable thing in the world.

It weird that there's (at least) two Eno covers on there.

Extremely pleased to see Cutty Ranks' Limb by Limb there. I don't know why, it's not like they're any sort of authority or anything.

Please don't tell me you guys are ACTUALLY going to argue about this as if it was the result of some sort of flawed mathematical process

xpost exactly!

The KLF – Wichita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard

ORLY?

(I know where it's from, I don't know *it* but can guess...)

Why does it stop at 2006? Part of the fun of these lists is to look at it ten years later and see how well the list compilers did as far as what eventually became canon and what didn't.

This list was obviously a "hey pitchfork writers, everybody email me your 500 favorite songs and i'll give points to each entry and only the cream of the crop will make the final list" kinda thing. no room for ultra-obscure special personal favorites :( Did I mention how much I absolutely hate that style of list compiling? Well, I do.

It's taken a while to get published - hence ending in 2006.

It'st akena whilet oge tpublishe - dhenc eendin gi n2---------

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hCsPtIKhpsk/SO3-hQJL4II/AAAAAAAAB8k/YhaRW7AGV_M/s1600/xgu-041.jpg

Presumably they will do a big top 100 tracks of the 00s this time next year so I guess you can pick out much of what will form that from the above

Burial and Battles are in a 2007 sidebar fwiw. The 500 songs, and all the other sidebar material, in the book are from 1977-2006.

anyone else happy to see all that twee stuff? felt! heavenly!

somehow this is even more tedious than i expected

the few great tracks in there make it somehow even worse

this list is v. shrill...

― ^ban with extreme prejudice (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, November 4, 2008 9:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this list seems very cliched and shrill...i mean, all the songs are good, but i would def. have different choices from the artist i really like on this list.

― ^ban with extreme prejudice (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, November 4, 2008 9:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2210/2195149174_42d3f23b13_o.png

Christian Falk - "Dream On"

WTF?! I mean, I really like that song, better than a lot of other songs here, but where did the support come from? Did I miss out on the massive "Dream On" hype? Wasn't it immediately eclipsed by the much better "With Every Heartbeat"?

no Tori Amos
no Janet Jackson
no Blackstreet (i mean 'No Diggity' is better than 'I Got 5 On It' cmon)

what other big names with several hits are not represented?

Chas & Dave

The Longpigs

Mr Fingers the only big US House name. Kevin Saunderson always missing out in favour of Atkins and May.

xpost lol...

i mean 'No Diggity' is better than 'I Got 5 On It' cmon

hahahahaha ban

I can understand their editorial criteria, but to choose Gloria Gaynor/Hall & Oates/Cindy Lauper/Journey/Deee-Lite/Kylie over Rush still seems to me more than a little puzzling.

This is about the most understandable thing in the world.

It weird that there's (at least) two Eno covers on there.

― Enrique (Raw Patrick), Wednesday, November 5, 2008 9:32 AM

OK Enrique, care to explain? I'm curious, even if it is, as you say, "the most understandable thing in the world".

"shrill" = gratingly one-dimensional?...

...which, upon further consideration, is not really all that apt, since the list seems to work on at least two levels: 1) to compile all the awesome & epochal singles from that era; and, 2) to include songs from other landmark albums and artists that were making noise at the time. From the sound of it, it seems like they hit the mark on the former, but as far as the latter is concerned, they tend to just pick the first track off the album (or the A-side to the band's first single). No matter how good that first song is, every time they do it, it scans as a token gesture, and after a while it starts to grate...

Maybe I'd be happier if Pitchfork was more concerned with the best songs instead of the greatest. For example, The Clean's Compilation album is easily tied for my second-favourite album ever, but "Tally Ho!" is probably my fourteenth favourite song on it. You can't tell me that it was included because it was one of the best songs in the past three decades; more like because the Clean is an important band, and Tally Ho! was the first single on the Flying Nun label, and that was an important label. And when you bring the concept of "importance" into a discussion about pop music, it always sounds a shrill note.

then again, if they truly picked out what were the "best" songs, no one would agree with any of the picks and it would doubtless be seen as pretentious. list-making is a daunting and thankless task, and it seems the people who have the biggest problem with them are the ones who take them so damn seriously, as if they expect them to be "right"

you're absolutely right Kevin and this list is actually way better than it has to be, but when I first saw it, I thought "shrill!" and was called upon to explain (or at least prove I knew what the word meant)...the whole first-track tendency (and it's more much prevalent than I had first suspected...Heart of the Congos, Dirty Mind, Hex Enduction Hour, Houdini, In Utero, Odelay, Pink) is mainly a gateway to talk abt these seminal albums...I do think this list is obvious in its goal: to provide maximum opportunity to write at great lengths abt music...

sry bout the rants and oblique words...methinks i am getting allergic reactions to any rocklists not my own...

Vision, I believe Enrique was merely pointing out that choosing songs by Gloria Gaynor, Hall & Oates, Cindy Lauper, Journey, Deee-Lite, and Kylie over songs by Rush is understandable because songs by Gloria Gaynor, Hall & Oates, Cindy Lauper, Journey, Deee-Lite, and Kylie are usually much better than songs by Rush.

shrill | sh ril|
adjective
(of a voice or sound) high-pitched and piercing : a shrill laugh.
• derogatory (esp. of a complaint or demand) loud and forceful : a concession to their shrill demands.

verb [ intrans. ] make a shrill noise : a piercing whistle shrilled through the night air.
• speak or cry with a shrill voice : [with direct speech ] “For God's sake!” shrilled Jan. noun [in sing. ] a shrill sound or cry : the rising shrill of women's voices.

DERIVATIVES shrillness noun
shrilly |ˈ sh ri(l)lē| adverb

ORIGIN late Middle English : of Germanic origin; related to Low German schrell ‘sharp in tone or taste.’

okay now I know what shrill means

stuff I can't stand on this list. and i know some of it is well-loved here.

Journey – Don’t Stop Believing
The Replacements – I Will Dare
Beat Happening – Indian Summer
Daniel Johnston – Some Things Last a Long Time
Red House Painters – New Jersey
Teenage Fanclub – The Concept
Blur – Girls & Boys (their worst song?)
The Notorious B.I.G. – Juicy
The Notorious B.I.G. – Hypnotize (zomg)
Guided by Voices – I Am a Scientist
Elliott Smith – Between the Bars
Herbert – So Now...
Belle and Sebastian – Lazy Line Painter Jane (but "state i am in" is one of their few that i like)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Storm
Aesop Rock – Daylight (really, really bad)
Bright Eyes – The Calendar Hung Itself (does it matter which song this is? i'm not looking it up)
The Books – Take Time
Madvillain – America’s Most Blunted

I would definitely disagree with you about that last one, although that's def not the best on Madvillainy

Broadcast – Come On Let’s GoLunch Hour Pops - this is definitely the song.

that would be my pick these days too but COLG is probably their most well known song

This list seems to seriously go off track starting around '94-96 - after 2000, it's pretty much a crapshoot.

I do appreciate the fact that they made it chronological - makes it a bit less bafflingly random to read than the Blender list.

how could anyone have a problem with "i am a scientist"?

Robert Polllard played his first solo show last night to a half empty crowd in Athens, GA

i like most of the songs on this list, but it still sucks cuz it's pitchfork, lol

what's the point of linking to that thread, sleeve? it starts off by discussing why pollard drew an average-sized crowd (in a small city like athens, shocker!) and then goes back and forth arguing whether ten dollars is an exorbitant amount to charge for a show, which was rather hilarious.
"i am a scientist" is a perfectly logical pick. It's a fully-realized song with a perfect pop hook and is representative of pollard's growth as a songwriter. i believe pollard said the latter himself somewhere. it's not my favorite song from Bee Thousand either, but I didn't expect "Ester's Day" to make the list.

wait, the Daniel Johnston pick is soooooo OTMFM

I picked this up the other day and have finished the 1977-79 portion. Not too fond of the book's layout, all black and white and orange, but that's a minor complaint. Reminds me a lot of the old Trouser Press guides with author's initials after each blurb. An interesting read, even if I've heard 90 percent of the praises for these songs before.

This list is too rockist and too safe. It seems like they just picked the most popular, rather than best, songs from the standard hipster canon. No other way to explain the selection of One More Time over Digital Love, for example.

Still, I'd rather listen to this list than the Rolling Stone equivalent.

Oh jeeze, I wouldn't.

It seems like they just picked the most popular, rather than best, songs from the standard hipster canon.

That's because it is a poll and not a list. Happens all the time with polls.

This list is too rockist and too safe. It seems like they just picked the most popular, rather than best, songs from the standard hipster canon. No other way to explain the selection of One More Time over Digital Love, for example.

because p1tch4k suxxxorz!!1

cool book, wish it was more visually appealing but the writing is pretty great all around

Mr. Snrub, please do tell us more about how our book was compiled.

haha

question, though, scott. how WERE the songs chosen, if it wasn't done by polling your staff (a la end-of-year lists etc.)?
this is probably laid out somewhere though and i just havent seen it.

I thought the list looked more like personal selections from various writers, not a poll.

The list is cool, but not very sexy. No 'Always on time' by Ja Rule & Ashanti. No 'Mona Lisa Talking' by Al Stewart. No 'Can't You See' by Total feat. Biggie. No 'There She Goes, My Beautiful World' by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. No 'Over Like A Fat Rat' by Fonda Rae. No 'Stay Free' by Ashford & Simpson. No 'Lost In Music' by Sister Sledge. Plus, 'Take Ecstasy With Me' is much sexier by !!! than the ok version by its writer.

I am curious why you think "One More Time" is a safer, more rockist choice than "Digital Love."

I don't know about rockist, but as far as safe goes consider the following: To my ears both songs are great, but DL is clearly better. In the Discovery poll ILM voted for Digital Love in a landslide. Making the ansatz that ILM's taste roughly approximates (and to some extent samples) that of the Pitchfork staff then DL really ought to be their Discovery pick (although I think the notion that any given album can only contain one "greatest" song pretty absurd anyway.) On the other hand, OMT is the Daft Punk song that people who aren't into Daft Punk have probably heard and liked. Thus I find its selection suspicious. Of course its possible that the Pitchfork staff legitimately likes OMT more, but many of the selections seem to me to be the artists most famous or "important" song rather than the song that fans would actually listen to most.

Also where's the Life Without Buildings (Juno or Philip) and 4hero (Parallel Universe)?

I breifly browsed over this book today and I actually really liked it. I think my comments upthread were taken a bit more as a criticism than what I originally intended to say, which was more or less this:

maybe we shouldn't "expect" anything other than indie shit from pitchfork but if that's the case then maybe they should think about rephrasing pretty much every sentence on the book's website to remove the claims to all-encompassing pan-genre eclecticism

― lex pretend, Friday, 7 November 2008 01:04 (1 week ago)

Ablaeser there's no specific song on Parallel Universe that deserves to be in a Consumer Guide book (though it's a good album). I'd go for "London Sumting Dis" maybe, or "We Who Are Not As Others", but y'know we could sit here arguing all day.

As for "One More Time" vs "Digital Love", I prefer the latter too, but that's also something that is a bit of an article of faith in ILM, and I think it's quite unusual. Pitchfork overlaps ILM tastewise but they're very distinct, in the same way that ILM overlaps Poptimists or Dissensus but remains very distinct from both.

The lone wilco choice was a strange one, no? Nothing from Being There for one. And "Poor Places"? Not Ashes of American flags or I Am Trying to Break Your Heart? Pretty good over all though. Found it strange to see names like Justin Timberlake dropped, but not Pearl Jam or Metallica. Not that I like Metallica. But they were effing huge.

As for things I'm happy about: the Sufjan and Microphones choice, the leaving out of Coldplay and Goo goo dolls. Thank you for that.Two other songs that maybe should have made the list:The Obvious Child - Paul Simon. And if you're going to mention Bright Eyes, why not Landlocked Blues?

That sure makes 94-96 look dire, even the 2000s lists look better.

hah, i can see a lot of people here disagreeing with every single word koole just wrote

poor places wouldnt have been my wilco choice either i suppose, but that's not what it's about. i'll wait to see what they have to say about it/why it's significant etc. that's the point of the book anyway

I only skimmed the "Poor Places" entry, but I seem to recall an emphasis placed on the song's outro as evidence of the band's experimental leanings. Maybe a mention of Kotche's drumming, too.

It's my favourite Wilco song and I'm still surprised it would have been picked.

"That sure makes 94-96 look dire, even the 2000s lists look better."

You have to try hard to make 94-96 look dire. Plenty of amazing stuff happening at the time.

2003-6 is interesting, the rest isn't, really

maybe all the 2000s are interesting, but getting better

Found it strange to see names like Justin Timberlake dropped, but not Pearl Jam or Metallica. Not that I like Metallica. But they were effing huge.

"Battery" is on the list.

quick q for nabisco or scott or mark or whoever: have i not picked up on the rhyme or reason behind how the songs are ordered per chapter or is there not one or is it a secret?

or are they loosely grouped by genre?

can't believe how good SOME THINGS LAST A LONG TIME is. never heard this before.

Jordan: I'm wary of talking too much about a book I wasn't in the room organizing, but I can give a shot at that one. I think the goal with organizing the tracks was to create as much of a narrative as possible, so that the writing makes sense and the content isn't scattered or leaping from idea to idea. So yeah, that winds up with certain things in loose groups -- because if the text for one song explains a particular idea or sub-genre or moment, you want to put that next to other songs and texts that follow on from that idea.

I don't know if you're looking at the list or the book itself, but I think (and hope!) that as you move through the book, a lot of the connections should be clear and interesting. That's one of the things I like about the process of reading through it all again at once -- the way different writers' approaches to songs play off of one another, and different ideas trace their ways through the text.

yeah, I wasn't there either but the songs are pretty apparently ordered as a playlist, an approach I've always liked.

I think the goal with organizing the tracks was to create as much of a narrative as possible, so that the writing makes sense and the content isn't scattered or leaping from idea to idea.

I'll second this as a reader. The second chapter kicks off with four or five early hip-hop cuts, which is a good example. The rest of the book does this as well, so far. I like it.

it's on my christmas list :D

well i haven't read the book, but that extract about Daydream Nation of pitchformedia put me right off.

good subway sect choice
parallel lines >>> ambition

This is of course hit or miss, but it's nice to skim through the book and read the blurbs by the few writers I try to follow on Pfork. I'll read anything I can get my hands on by Mark R., for example, and his entries in the book are great. There are others as well.

It's a solid list and representative of Pitchfork's general P.O.V. Therefore satisfactory, though unsurprising: as others have said, too heavy on iconic tracks and big singles. Then again, hits are hits for a reason, and this is (I assume) an aggregate list of stuff that got the thumbs-up all around, rather than any individual's more personal scrapbook. In which case, "Heroes" over, say, "Sound and Vision" = indisputable. Would make a GREAT starting point for "non-expert" listeners curious about the history of late 20th-century pop (with an emphasis on what we used to call college rock), and maybe that's the point. More than to impress the vocationally jaded, I mean...

did anyone read the book? is it worth it or not? the list looks ok for an indie lover like me.

i think this is as good as a list of 500 songs can be. i doubt many of you would still be complaining about songs left out if it had been 750 or 1000 songs, and i'm sure the pitchfork staff are also bummed out to have left song #501 and so on on the cutting room floor. but however shitty you think the list is, you have to atleast agree that it does a nice job of giving the rolling stone 500 & other likeminded, out-of-touch contemporaries a run for their money. anyways, i am just happy that wave of mutilation is on there.

i doubt many of you would still be complaining

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever doubt this.

Don't care about individual choices. Care that the minority guitar genre is majority. But is Pitchfork. Fuck 'em.