ILM POLLS THE 20TH CENTURY'S BEST TRACKS ››› YOUR RESULTS THREAD ‹‹‹

You nominated and then voted, and now we get to count down the top 125 tracks of the last century according to all of US. Many many thank yous to seandalai, without whom 100-vote ballots would never have been possible.

88 ballots: 17 weighted, 37 unweighted, 34 mixed
1901 tracks received points
The most votes for one track is 32
The most first-place votes for one track is 2
Votes for Eddie Murphy - Boogie in your Butt: 0

oh man, are we starting now??

125. JOHNNY CASH "Folsom Prison Blues" (1955) [1,153 points, 13 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayLFNFlc9hU

xp just a few to grease the wheel tonight.

if there are 124 better tracks than that coming up this is going to be fun!

wow! we're starting at 1100 points and 13 votes!? Suddenly my hopes for most of the songs on my ballot getting represented have been severely crushed.

Very excited on seeing results on this tho.

Awesome that this is getting going. Johnny, do you have a EST timetable for the weekday results?

Can't believe the countdown is beginning!

"Folsom Prison Blues" was actually a very last minute addition to my ballot -- glad my impulsive choice got it in the top 125.

Johnny, do you have a EST timetable for the weekday results?

I'm going to try to get it rolling around noon-ish each day if I can.

imo "Folsom Prison Blues" is probz the greatest track to ever come out of the heyday of Sun Studios. A line like "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die" would get bleeped on radio/Mtv these days.

124. FLEETWOOD MAC "Go Your Own Way" (1977) [1,155 points, 10 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GN2kpBoFs4

^ this song is unimpeachable, and I'm kind of bothered with myself for not even voting for it.

It was one of the most difficult ones to cut for me.

123. MOTÖRHEAD "Ace of Spades" (1980) [1,159 points, 13 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwC2QljLn4

haha nice. didn't vote for it, but it's a great song.

all the oldies ;)

I can't wait until 2030, when "Ace of Spades" will be fifty years old and I'll be listening to it like my mom listens to Dean Martin now.

122. STAN GETZ & ASTRUD GILBERTO "The Girl From Ipanema" (1964) [1,160 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jrJ5mcCshw

I don't think I voted for any of these so far but I love them!

I think I voted for Cash, but I'm not sure about the others. I, too, love all of them so far.

This is the last late-night one. More coming later today...

121. PIXIES "Debaser" (1989) [1,161 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDw-hTuwcvA

Yeah, all great songs so far, but how could they not be? Basically, anything that makes this list—considering there were over 2000 noms, some of which weren't even (necessarily) the best representations of each artist—is a complete winner, wherever it places.

probably not necessary yet, but to summarize:

125. JOHNNY CASH "Folsom Prison Blues" (1955) [1,153 points, 13 votes]
124. FLEETWOOD MAC "Go Your Own Way" (1977) [1,155 points, 10 votes]
123. MOTÖRHEAD "Ace of Spades" (1980) [1,159 points, 13 votes]
122. STAN GETZ & ASTRUD GILBERTO "The Girl From Ipanema" (1964) [1,160 points, 11 votes]
121. PIXIES "Debaser" (1989) [1,161 points, 11 votes]

Ipanema and Debaser were on my ballot but they were also some of what I thought some of the most popular votes in there... not happy to see them placing this early.

"Debaser" is my first vote to make it. My list is total canon.

I love Pixies like nobody's business, but I voted no Pixies.

very deliberately didn't vote any pixies, but i'm not surprised at all to see them place. wouldn't even be surprised if we haven't seen the last of them on this list.

great start! voted for "ace" and "girl", but different FM & pixies tracks. probably unforgivable that i didn't vote for cash, but something had to give.

Voted for MBV and only MBV because I am kelpolaris.

liar. I've seen all the ballots and there no all-MBV ballot. again I say, LIAR.

(I probably wouldn't have voted for it, but I'm sad no one nomm'ed "Liar" by Rollins Band.)

I might've clicked on David Bowie a couple times on accident.

didn't vote any of them but all great tracks obviously

dig the high number of points

we have virtually 5 decades represented already.

by which you mean 34 years?

that's one way of looking at it

voted for folsom prison and debaser, debaser was a last second add-on

I'd love to see people's individual lists for the 20th century. Not ballots, but what ilmers would construct w/o a pesky nomination process. I'd guess a sizable chunk of my own top 100 wasn't even nominated here, or if they were they didn't receive a lot of support. I may start a tumblr for just that purpose next year.

Mine would include a handful of album tracks that I didn't bother to nominate because only I would vote for them, such as "The Landscape Is Changing" and "Told You So" by Depeche Mode.

I didn't manage to squeeze "Girl from Ipanema" to my ballot, but it's a beautiful tune, would've expected it to be in the top 100. I guess it suffers from overexposure, what with being the best known bossa nova song of all time. (Possibly even the best known Brazilian tune of all time, alongside "Aquarela do Brazil"/"Brazil"?) I've always kinda wondered about the legend related to the recording of the Getz/Gilberto version "Ipanema": supposedly João was supposed to sing the whole tune by himself, but his English pronounciation was so bad he asked his wife, who happened to be in the studio, to sing the English part. Sounds kinda too fortuituous to be true, but nevertheless it was the first time Astrud's singing was ever put on record, so that's one hell of a debut.

"Folsom Prison Blues" is fine too. As for other three songs here, well, they're not my thing.

I might have voted for "And Then" (xpost to geir)

Also, the pedant in me would like to remind that the song should be credited to "Stan Getz & João Gilberto" (that's how the record was credited when it came out, as Astrud only did a guest vocal), but of course it's Astrud's part that everyone remembers, and not João's Portuguese verse.

As for other three songs here, well, they're not my thing.

I get that for Motorhead and Pixies, but it puzzles me re: Fleetwood Mac. Even at their most commercial, Lindsey Buckingham is still doing all kinds of unconventional musical things within the song (the same goes for most of what he's ever recorded). I think if you ever really spent time going under the surface of Buckingham-era Mac, you'd arrive at a happy destination.

Also, the pedant in me would like to remind that the song should be credited to "Stan Getz & João Gilberto" (that's how the record was credited when it came out, as Astrud only did a guest vocal)

I actually looked around to verify some things on a few entries, including this one, and (as a single) it was released as Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto. ¯(°_o)/¯

"Also, the pedant in me would like to remind that the song should be credited to "Stan Getz & João Gilberto" (that's how the record was credited when it came out, as Astrud only did a guest vocal), but of course it's Astrud's part that everyone remembers, and not João's Portuguese verse."

i mentioned this somewhere in the noms thread a while back.

Later pressings of it might've been credited to Astrud, but at least according to discogs.com the original 1964 Verve single was credtited to Getz and João.

Yeah, I just saw that. oh well.

think i nominated it (?), and yeah, went with the credit i've most often observed: stan & astrud. hard to argue with those label photos, though. ah, well...

It's okay - since many of the older songs in the poll have a kazillion different recordings, I guess it's fair that we mention the names that people most often associate with the tune. Just because some of the Duke Ellington big band songs were originally released under some alternate pseudonym doesn't mean we can't credit them to "Duke Ellington & His Band" now.

yeah, but i hate getting stuff wrong. according to wikipedia (lol), billboard credited it to stan & astrud in '64. odd.

Although I enjoy 'Debaser' as much as anything else by the Pixies, that one lead guitar line is really weedy and terrible.

Great list so far! It's just what I was hoping it would look like, so long as there's some pre-50s stuff to come. Good mix of genres and eras, plus a cult-y thing even if it's not my thing at all - I'm just never going to get Pixies, I can tell, their stuff always seems so unadventurous and pointless, it's not even a vehicle for the lyrics which are even more inane so far as I can tell. Reasonable tunes to be fair, but they shouldve tried a bit harder imo.

why u braek hart, IK? Just kidding. It's cool if people don't love Pixies. I know other people who don't, and I still talk to them. (but I don't buy them anything on their birthdays)

I was in my twenties for most of the 90s and I look back on a lot of the music made then with absolute disdain. Even some of the stuff I really, really liked. I can't really explain it other than to say some of it just doesn't retain its eternal mystery like the stuff I heard in my youth and teens, and the stuff I've heard over the last ten years of this century. The second half of the 90s is just a time I'd rather selectively remember one day, but I'm not in that place yet.

100% otm in ways i cannot begin to describe.

IMO ppl who say this were not into drum n bass

I love that 'Gimme Shelter' placed so highly - they were channelling magic there

IMO ppl who say this were not into drum n bass

I wasn't, but it wasn't due to lack of exposure. I could just never get into like I did the more icy elements of IDM. But there was also the "lookitme!" of the period's hip-hop, the really droll post-rock, the horrible radio rock and the reemergence of boy bands and Britney/Xtina right at the tail end. Even bands I liked from earlier in the decade released some of their worst albums during that time.

It's weird how I can see it so clearly, yet if asked what I was listening to between 1995-99, I couldn't tell you with any certainty. Except I'd probably say it was a time I spent really getting to know older music...well, from the sixties and seventies anyway.

i was into drum & bass in the 90s and don't look back at plug with any more fondness than nirvana.

anyway:

I was in my twenties for most of the 90s and I look back on a lot of the music made then with absolute disdain. Even some of the stuff I really, really liked. I can't really explain it other than to say some of it just doesn't retain its eternal mystery like the stuff I heard in my youth and teens, and the stuff I've heard over the last ten years of this century. The second half of the 90s is just a time I'd rather selectively remember one day, but I'm not in that place yet.

here is the thing: the clothes that have just recently realized are unfashionable will always seem infinitely more hideous than the clothes you realized were unfashionable ages ago. it's possible to cherish the ridiculousness of the distant past, but we can only flee in abject horror from yesterday's mistakes.

I recommend going back to check out Panacea's Low Profile Darkness and Amon Tobin's Permutation.

95-99 were my formative years in terms of listening, but I'm not sure I voted for anything from that period. I guess the primary reasons are that my tastes have broadened into other areas (I was a resolute proto-fuxxor at the time) and that my knowledge of what preceded means the "achievements" of the 90s don't stand out for me as much as they used to. I might throw dEUS/Morphine/Tindersticks/GYBE/AMT/SY a few places in my Top 500 but they don't make my Top 100.

The point about drum and bass seems plausible though. I had no idea about such things.

I just can't fathom hating the late 90s since it's like the heyday of jungle/dnb/trip-hop

Also there were some excellent, game-changing albums from Orbital and Underworld in that time period.

don't forget about good 90s rock :|
le sigh

I still listen to Archers of Loaf, Guided By Voices and, if I'm feeling masochistic, some Pavement. Less Superchunk than I used to, but even at the time I knew their post-On the Mouth albums weren't as good.

I find I actually do have some weird affection for some of the big rock radio hits of the era, though, but that's mostly because I heard them a zillion times while I was delivering pizza. ("If You Could Only See" by Tonic, for example)

a lot of what you still like 90s-wise is BLANDDDDDD

Eh, I likes what I likes.

I just can't fathom hating the late 90s since it's like the heyday of jungle/dnb/trip-hop

My biggest problem with the poll results was that the whole 15 year period of electronic dance music from mid-80s to 1999 (house, techno, jungle, trance, drum'n'bass, big beat, etc) was represented by just one track, "Pump Up the Volume". That's more than a decade of highly influential and important stuff that was pretty much ignored - as far as I know, electronic music has never been as popular as it was in the 90s. (Except maybe in 2009-10.) I don't really know why this stuff didn't make the list... Maybe because the 90s are still too close to feel nostalgic about? Or because ILM has become more US-centric, and AFAIK Americans were much less into electronic music in the 90s than Europeans?

a lot of what you still like 90s-wise is BLANDDDDDD

eh, a lot of what everybody likes is BLANDDDDDD (how many Ds?) if you don't like it. like amon tobin always kinda bored me, but maybe i was listening to the wrong albums/tracks.

in defense of 90s rock: melvins, cheater slicks, royal trux, karp, sun city girls, new bomb turks, jesus lizard, unrest, brainiac, polvo, sleep, kyuss, sonic youth, swans, boredoms, teenage fanclub, electric wizard, unwound, teengenerate, spiritualized, country teasers, urge overkill, monoshock, the fall, th faith healers, GBV, headcoats/childish, gories, mr. bungle, buffalo daughter, cathedral, circle, cynics, tav falco, the magic hour, steel pole bath tub, bassholes, jon spencer BX, the ex, the kent 3, laughing hyenas, monster magnet, godflesh, oblivians, angel'in heavy syrup, rocket from the crypt, terminal cheesecake, brainbombs, fushitsusha, entombed, the mummies, ST-37, yura yura teikoku, dog faced hermans, ETC

I wouldn't even recognize music from 4/5ths of your list. Just goes to show how little people know about 90's rock (which is the point I've been hinting at). People shouldn't dismiss 90's rock when they don't know 90's rock. End of story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeuHjrttE_I

I recognize about 95% of contenderizer's shortlist there, and listened to a fair chunk of it at the time, but I've got almost zero desire to do that now.

By the way, that's a pretty big net he cast with that list stylistically. What 90s rock are you referring to anyway?

apparently not contenderizers favs :/
I can make a shortlist tomorrow

My biggest problem with the poll results was that the whole 15 year period of electronic dance music from mid-80s to 1999 (house, techno, jungle, trance, drum'n'bass, big beat, etc) was represented by just one track, "Pump Up the Volume"... I don't really know why this stuff didn't make the list... Maybe because the 90s are still too close to feel nostalgic about? Or because ILM has become more US-centric, and AFAIK Americans were much less into electronic music in the 90s than Europeans?

fair complaint, but the run-up process took several weeks. during that time, the nominations thread was rarely far from the top of ILM's main page. i.e., most everybody who visits here even occasionally had time to get their favorites on the ballot. and it's not like "pump up the volume" was the only semi-contemporary electronic dance track nominated. the rest just didn't make the final cut. me, i wound up striking stuff like "one more time" and "music sounds better with you" pretty early in the process.

xp to Johnny Fever
(also my jab on you liking some "bland stuff" like pavement was retaliation of what you said about Can upthread - and yeah, bland is different for everyone)

Fair. I don't hate Can, but I definitely don't love them either. Except "Turtles Have Short Legs". I love that one.

I don't even know which Can song is that one. What do you feel about their short more pop oriented songs? Like say; Moonshake, Mushroom, I'm so Green...

as this is not clear; i'm not complaining that this list is unrepresentative of ilm due to the lack of T.I., rangda & terror danjah. however when i initially brought up dance/goon/noise shit i was not being facetious & i believe there is more diversity&variety on ilm than would be likely to appear on any 88 ballot poll.

it wld be odd if ppl w/ different interests in music of the present had similar interests in music from the past. most music discussed on the noise board isn't noise, but there is def a noise board ethos/flavour & v little of it was nominated for this list. i am sceptical of the idea that talkings heads & kate bush form part of the glue which unites the various ilx subgroups.

a poll this size will likely be fun & not v revealing about the broad workings of the landscape of ilx taste.

contenderizer's almost saying - "the results of a poll are representative if everyone had the opportunity to take part" - ...

moka you should get to know "turtles have short legs"

xpost Most of the 90's bands listed above that I recognize are cool.. However, except for Sonic Youth (who placed) and maybe Guided By Voices (although that's pushing it), I don't think any of them have written or recorded any of the 100 or 200 best songs of the 20th century, whereas (IMO) Nirvana and Radiohead most certainly have.

Regarding electronic dance music, that genre has sort of made a point out of not wanting to have a "canon", so there is probably more of a voice split than in the case of rock and pop music and even hip-hop/R&B.

There are definitely a few canonical choices in '90s electronic/dance, though. I mean, if 18 year-old rock dude version of me bought the Utah Saints album in 1992, it must've had a sizeable impact outside of the club scene.

Listening to "turtles have short legs" right now. It's incredible! Very different from everything else they have in their catalogue (at least when Damo was in the band) I forgive JF for being a Can detractor for indirectly introducing me to it.

I think the closest it comes to is 'I'm So Green' which is my favorite Can song and iirc also Julian Cope's.

who the fuck are utah saints

Big dance act in the early 90s, had three top 10 singles and a top 10 album in the UK, and they were quite popular elsewhere in Europe too.

Utah Saints - Classic Or Dud?

Based on the above thread many Americans seem to have heard them back then too, don't know why or how. Anyway, you might've been too young to register them back then. They pretty much disappeared after the first album, releasing only one single in 1995 (which is dope, btw). They put out a comeback album in 2000, but I don't think too many people cared about that, even though it features Chuck D and Michael Stipe.

The New Yorker list: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/12/ben-greenman-songs.html

1925: “Collegiate,” by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians
1926: “Fat Meat and Greens,” by Jelly Roll Morton
1927: “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue,” by Louis Armstrong
1928: “Statesboro Blues,” by Blind Willie McTell
1929: “That’s How I Feel Today,” by The Little Chocolate Dandies
1930: “It Happened in Monterey,” by Ruth Etting
1931: “Farewell Blues,” by Cab Calloway
1932: “Night And Day,” by Fred Astaire
1933: “Tea for Two,” by Art Tatum
1934: “Moonglow,” by Benny Goodman
1935: “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter,” by Fats Waller
1936: “Summertime,” by Billie Holiday
1937: “Sweet Home Chicago,” by Robert Johnson
1938: “Begin The Beguine,” by Artie Shaw
1939: “Moonlight Serenade,” by Glenn Miller Orchestra
1940: “New San Antonio Rose,” by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
1941: “Jumpin’ Punkins,” by Duke Ellington
1942: “Sleepy Lagoon,” by Harry James
1943: “Paper Doll,” by The Mills Brothers
1944: “Swinging on a Star (Single),” by Bing Crosby
1945: “Scorpio,” by Mary Lou Williams
1946: “Choo Choo Ch’boogie,” by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
1947: “Serenade of the Bells,” by Jo Stafford
1948: “Nature Boy,” by Nat King Cole
1949: “Just Friends,” by Charlie Parker
1950: “The Fat Man,” by Fats Domino
1951: “Rocket 88,” by Jackie Brenston
1952: “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” by Lloyd Price
1953: “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” by Hank Williams
1954: “Work With Me Annie,” by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
1955: “Folsom Prison Blues,” by Johnny Cash
1956: “Strode Rode,” by Sonny Rollins
1957: “Mona (I Need You Baby),” by Bo Diddley
1958: “Rock Billy Boogie,” by Johnny Burnette
1959: “Along Came Jones,” by The Coasters
1960: “Walk Don’t Run,” by The Ventures
1961: “Shout Bamalama,” by Otis Redding
1962: “Return To Sender,” by Elvis Presley
1963: “Be My Baby,” by The Ronettes
1964: “Nadine (Is It You?),” by Chuck Berry
1965: “I Can’t Explain,” by The Who
1966: “Day Tripper,” by The Beatles
1967: “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” by Gladys Knight & The Pips
1968: “White Light / White Heat,” by The Velvet Underground
1969: “Israelites,” by Desmond Dekker
1970: “Spirit in the Sky,” by Norman Greenbaum
1971: “Family Affair,” by Sly & The Family Stone
1972: “Superfly,” by Curtis Mayfield
1973: “The Payback,” by James Brown
1974: “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” by Stevie Wonder
1975: “The Ballroom Blitz,” by The Sweet
1976: “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker),” by Parliament
1977: “Got to Give It Up—Pt. 1,” by Marvin Gaye
1978: “Miss You,” by Rolling Stones
1979: “Rock Lobster,” by The B-52’s
1980: “Cars,” by Gary Numan
1981: “Rapture,” by Blondie
1982: “Buffalo Gals,” by Malcolm McLaren
1983: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” by Michael Jackson
1984: “Head Over Heels,” by The Go-Go’s
1985: “Perfect Way,” by Scritti Politti
1986: “Walk This Way,” by Run-DMC
1987: “Housequake,” by Prince
1988: “Express Yourself ,” by N.W.A.
1989: “Me Myself and I,” by De La Soul
1990: “Love Will Never Do Without You,” by Janet Jackson
1991: “Mama Said Knock You Out,” by LL Cool J
1992: “Rump Shaker,” by Wreckx-N-Effect
1993: “Return of the Crazy One,” by Digital Underground
1994: “Whatta Man,” by Salt-N-Pepa
1995: “California Love,” by 2Pac
1996: “Where It’s At,” by Beck
1997: “Hypnotize,” by The Notorious B.I.G.
1998: “Intergalactic,” by Beastie Boys
1999: “Vivrant Thing,” by Q-Tip
2000: “Music,” by Madonna
2001: “Get Ur Freak On,” by Missy Elliot
2002: “Without Me,” by Eminem
2003: “Crazy in Love,” by Beyonce, featuring Jay-Z
2004: “Yeah,” by Usher, featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
2005: “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House,” by LCD Soundsystem
2006: “SexyBack,” by Justin Timberlake
2007: “Umbrella,” by Rihanna
2008: “Paper Planes,” by M.I.A.
2009: “Heads Will Roll,” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2010: “Monster,” by Kanye West, featuring Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver

i am sceptical of the idea that talkings heads & kate bush form part of the glue which unites the various ilx subgroups.

a poll this size will likely be fun & not v revealing about the broad workings of the landscape of ilx taste.

contenderizer's almost saying - "the results of a poll are representative if everyone had the opportunity to take part" - ...

― ogmor, Friday, December 10, 2010 6:09 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

yeah, but i was being somewhat facetious there. thing is, this isn't an ILX poll; it's an ILM poll. those might seem similar, but i agree that they're not exactly the same. and while it was open to all, from the discussion on the related threads, it seems to have drawn the most participation from ILM regulars, no surprise. of course, it's likely that greater participation from posters who spend most/all of their time on ILE, noise, 1p3, 77 or whatever would have altered the results in some way, but it's impossible to say how things would or wouldn't have changed. like a heavy noise turnout might have given us a better showing for the boredoms and steely dan, right? but i doubt that things would have been radically upended. a lot of the most prominent contributors to the threads related to this poll regularly post on many other boards, and the sample size here is quite large relative to the day-to-day ILX population. a sample of 80 respondents when the population size is so low to begin with is plenty large enough to guarantee a low margin for error (were we to pretend this survey was in any way scientific). and from what i've seen in my years here, talking heads and kate bush really are the ties that bind - two of them, anyway...

Utah Saints more than most others to me seem like very much a thing of the moment back in 1992-93, and then not much more. I think that is also part of the thing here, in that those few electronica acts that have gotten some kind of "canon" recognition (Prodigy, Leftfield, Chemicals etc.) usually have because they have maybe appealed more to typical "rock" fans than most electronica acts did.

Utah Saints are very much trapped in 92/93, I agree, but that doesn't lessen the imprint of "Something Good" and other first-album tracks on the dance/electronic canon, though. I'd imagine the reason they're not still frequently mentioned alongside Prodigy, etc is that their output since that time has a) been nearly non-existent and b) not at the forefront of anything.

in defense of 90s rock: melvins, cheater slicks, royal trux, karp, sun city girls, new bomb turks, jesus lizard, unrest, brainiac, polvo, sleep, kyuss, sonic youth, swans, boredoms, teenage fanclub, electric wizard, unwound, teengenerate, spiritualized, country teasers, urge overkill, monoshock, the fall, th faith healers, GBV, headcoats/childish, gories, mr. bungle, buffalo daughter, cathedral, circle, cynics, tav falco, the magic hour, steel pole bath tub, bassholes, jon spencer BX, the ex, the kent 3, laughing hyenas, monster magnet, godflesh, oblivians, angel'in heavy syrup, rocket from the crypt, terminal cheesecake, brainbombs, fushitsusha, entombed, the mummies, ST-37, yura yura teikoku, dog faced hermans, ETC

If there's one thing any ILM poll needs its more indie rock.

Are you guys really arguing about the absence of Utah Saints in a best of the 20th century poll? What next, Carter USM?

What next, Carter USM?

lol

re: Utah Saints, "What Can You Do For Me?" > "Something Good"

Also I can't believe "Motorbike" by Sheep On Drugs didn't make it! Were you all living under rocks in the 90s?

Would've been weird if both "Something Good" and "Cloudbusting" had placed.

The lack of "This is House" by Elevator 101 has seriously shaken my faith in ILM's ability to venerate music

Are you guys really arguing about the absence of Utah Saints in a best of the 20th century poll?

No one was arguing for that. Johnny mentioned the Utah Saints album as an example of dance music even American rock fans knew of, Curtis asked who the Utah Saints are, and I answered the question. There are certainly many dance tunes much more iconic than Utah Saints absent from the list.

The KLF could've at least shown up. Not a glimpse from the Prodigy either?

What happened to all of the 80 AUM heads?

Were ABBA in this thread?

"Whatta man" might be the most annoying song of 1994.

that new yorker list is sweet, especially the accompanying youtube playlist http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D9814090B61CF731 I'm at 1942 right now. It's a great resource for the pre-1950 poll

sb xp

ILX probably showed me this one back in the day: Here's Stephin Merritt's one-recording*-a-year list for the 20th C (taking some licence with years, classical works being dated by first performance etc).

*) Not "track".

Utah Saints are very much trapped in 92/93, I agree, but that doesn't lessen the imprint of "Something Good" and other first-album tracks on the dance/electronic canon, though. I'd imagine the reason they're not still frequently mentioned alongside Prodigy, etc is that their output since that time has a) been nearly non-existent and b) not at the forefront of anything.

My main problem with Utah Saints is the sample sources were way too obvious. And I know a lot of other people thought alike.

boggled that Over the Rainbow isn't on here

Way overrated.

It's a shame how myopic this list ended up being. 1950's poll that sprang from it was fucking great, tho!