PAVEMENT • TRAX • POLL rEsULtS!!!

57 people voted for 118 different Pavement songs. Here are the top 61!

(Starting with #61 tonight as something of a bonus. Will count down #60-41 during the day Monday. You're gonna love the images I hope.)

61. ALL MY FRIENDS (1993) [115 points, 4 votes, 2 first-place votes]
http://youtu.be/p6JK4p_vnqo

http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lYNYk6L3OKc/TfWT4ug8fSI/AAAAAAAAAuk/ckzkeKoHgDk/61.jpg

2 first place votes for #61!?!?

"All My Friends" was known as "Sebadoh/Helen Stones" in it's infancy during the S&E tour (via a setlist I have).

wau @ TWO #1 votes, this is going to be fucking epic. cheers JF!!

That is the best song with the title "All My Friends."

you closed the voting at 9PM tonight and started the results at 9:40PM! Welcome to the Guiness Book my friend.

which 2 lunatics think AMF is the very best Pavement has to offer?!

j/k i love you guys because you love this band

wau jfever with custom art

Working on the art for 41-60 right now. Kinda fun, all things considered. All baby/cute animals!

haha for a sec i was like wtf i never saw that cover (for a song that was unreleased, i think)

good start. i felt bad about missing off the CRCR deluxe tracks from my ballot, I also missed Soiled Little Filly and Same Way of Saying.

and all those young girls are cryin',
cryin', "why, why, why johnny fever?"

but i say, "go, go, go johnny fever"

boring song tho. congrats to whoever loves this above all other pavement.

^ sb

2 first-place votes is serious trollin

I'd never even listened to this song until I was finding the youtube link. It's okay. I should probably get around to buying the CRCR deluxe edition (I don't have any of the deluxe editions).

^ This. I think I first heard it yesterday via the voting thread, but was kinda underwhelmed tbh.

[But I'm someone who got kinda burnt out on Pavement some point between Terror Twilight and the reissues. Only this poll has managed to draw me out of a decade-long refractory period after over-listening in my youth.]

if you lasted up through TT then you're ripe for reappraisal (sorry dog latin)

i haven't heard this song before.

good start!

Hey that song is not bad and I might have got into it at the time but it's too late now.

i voted for that! far from my #1 though. i think it's a great track even if it's only half finished, sort of CRCR condensed into one song.

i think it's hanoiing

The CRCR reissue is totally worth it, I think it's got the best selection of extras (though it does seem a bit weird that demos of WZ tracks are on the CR deluxe and not the WZ - anyway, CR/WZ is my era of Pavement obsession, so that's my bias showing too)

(and I didn't realise this was "Helen Stones" which I remember liking in my Pavement-bootleg-collecting days - but I had a fair few "other" tracks included anyway, so)

anyway, psyched for results, thank you JF!

Oh man I dilly-dallied far too long on putting my list together! V v v excited to watch this unfold, esp considering the two(!) #1 votes for #61 tune.

Another little factoid/tidbit about "All My Friends", an edited fade-in of the last 1:12 of the song showed up on the Gold Soundz b-side under the title "Exit Theory (Edit)".

At 2:18, things get downright into "Stop Breathin" territory.

...ready?

yes yes let's do this

Go for it!

60. FAME THROWA (1992) [115 points, 6 votes]
http://youtu.be/M23G5bXckAI

http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-hDkPWZ_3FyA/TfWvxtJMroI/AAAAAAAAAv8/015EvkcgCpQ/s800/60.jpg

Yea! I had "Fame Throwa" and "Perfume V" vying for the same spot - ultimately gave my vote to the latter. Glad this got props, though.

Shouldn't the picture for this one be a chicken with no feathers? I'll leave you to work out the terrible pun.

fame throwa pass out the gold, the diamond watch, the last reward, all the things we had before you sold us out and took it all

love this song

i voted for it too. there isnt another song like it in their catalogue...

It was all about the fake ending for me. That, and those fuzzy synths and the chorus and the drums and...

After Saturday's S&E reappraisal, this was a standout track.

its the fuzzy synths and the submerged "lalalalala" harmonies

Was Mata Hari the zenith slut?

59. JACKALS, FALSE GRAILS: THE LONESOME ERA (1992) [117 points, 4 points]
http://youtu.be/T0Ydxg-gB-U

http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dDikofVF76k/TfWvxH7KqzI/AAAAAAAAAv4/fG2KCliUzy4/s800/59.jpg

Love both of the above and didn't even vote for them. Just so many great songs this band has, this poll made me realise again

deep into s&e territory now. I'm not sure I even remember how this song goes. One of the reasons I've always found S&E (and to a much lesser extent Wowee Zowee) impenetrable is due to the song titles not really linking lyrically with the songs. Not that I normally complain about this kind of thing.

The images are A++++, awesome work JF!

Loving these images!

Jackals is one of my all-time jams ever. I had it at #2. Early Madchester via the Fall/Swell Maps. Incredible drumming by Gary. Oberheim OB-8 squelch on rapid fire.

I had it at #2.

Your very last-minute ballot got it here.

Yes, the images rule Johhny!

One of my favorites from S&E, shasta OTM.

Slanted & Enchanted sounds like listening to a distant college radio station -- melodies and hooks keep floating in and out of the mix, with individual lines instead of full lyrics surfacing through the murk. --- I was never much for amg reviews, but this line always stuck with me, and JFGLE is pretty much the epitome of this.

It was my only Scott song that made the poll, I don't know if he wrote it but that's him singing.

S&E will always be perfect to me. I'm one of those people who usually can't enjoy a band live if I haven't already heard their recorded stuff previously. First saw/heard of Pavement when they opened for Sonic Youth at Brixton Academy way back when and they were absolutely amazing, so much so that I had to get S&E and Westing the very next day.

yeah same - really looking forward to the next SM album, even if there are only 3-4 real keepers

wouldn't be able to muster anywhere near so much enthusiasm for a pixies poll.

tbh that would just drive me flipping insane because they're my favorite favoritist band!

i know the tide will turn

now pixies/breeders/frank black etc might make an interesting poll...

Guided By Voices would be super fun for me because a) there are almost literally a MILLION songs to pick from and b) I love them like I love Pavement—in a rational and appreciative way—and not like I love the Pixies.

I know the forum has some GBV stans, but I don't know if it's enough to execute a poll of this nature, though.

would happily participate in either a pixies or a GBV poll, esp if they were opened up to include other material by bandmembers. (not that that would be necessary in either case.)

if we want participation, though, sonic youth seems like the way to go.

SY, Pixies and GBV all good choices. Response to a Bowie poll was muted at best when it was suggested after the Blur one, but I also think that would be great fun.

I like the idea of throwing in extra-band options too like Tobin Sprout's records or The Breeders, etc. I offered that same idea re: Prince (as in Sheila E or Vanity 6 or The Time would also be eligible, provided Prince was involved in the creation of said trax in some manner).

Radiohead would probably be an unfun shitstorm, so let's NEVER EVER DO IT.

Pixies!

has Joy Division/New Order been done?

Right now there's a Manics poll happening and it's probably best not to get these things stepping on each other's toes. Plus, I've got the 50s tracks poll coming up in a few weeks (noms end on the 25th, and then voting will probably go 2-3 weeks before rolling out the results), so my plate is full.

Also, if I do another one, it might not include custom art. That was totally fun to make and look at it, but it too way too much time! (Of course I'll do it in the eoy poll, though...that's the big boy.)

40 Shoot the Singer
36 Frontwards
33 In the Mouth A Desert
30 Box Elder
28 Baptiss Blactic
26 Summer Babe
25 Here
24 Texas Never Whispers
23 Lorettas Scars
22 Trigger Cut/Wounded Kite
21 Unseen Power of the Picket Fence
20 We Dance
19 Range Life
18 She Believes
17 Embassy Row
16 Texas Never Whispers
15 Zurich is Stained
14 Stereo
13 Stings of Nashville
12 Jackals False Grails
11 Nail Clinic
10 Sue Me Jack

Thats my wee list. With hindsight left a couple off that I forgot about but ah well. Debris Slide/Fame Throwa and We are Underused? Hey I just realised I had Texas never Whispers twice! Oh well indeed.

Only counted it once btw.

Plus, I've got the 50s tracks poll coming up in a few weeks (noms end on the 25th...)

gah, thanks for reminding me! you should probably bump it every couple days or so to keep us on point. i dunno, maybe you do and i just haven't noticed.

Talking Heads and Outkast/Andre 3000/Big Boi would also make for pretty good band polls (but a smaller countdown obv).

I'd go down the rabbit hole again for GBV, but would def suggest limiting it to official band songs because that's already 35,000 or so. Also, like Pavement, they're essentially a closed book. SY might only be in the middle of their career so their poll would have to get re-done in 30 years anyway.

suppose cosmo's right, re: GBV and the size of their catalog. best to limit their poll to official full band releases only. i only endorse SY because, like pavement (and unlike the manics), interest seems to be high among both US and UK ILXes.

Mostly I would be happy to go through a phase with any of these old favorites the way I did with Pavement this month

Summer Babe - 40
Filmore Jive - 36
Grounded - 33
Texas Never Whispers - 30
Frontwards - 28
Box Elder - 26
Stereo - 25
Gold Soundz - 24
In the Mouth a Desert - 23
Rattled by the Rush - 22
Greenlander - 21
AT & T - 20
Trigger Cut - 19
Elevate me Later - 18
Loretta's scars - 17
Carrot Rope - 16
Embassy Row - 15
Range Life - 14
Zurich is Stained - 13
We dance - 12
Father to a sister of thought - 11
Shoot the Singer (1 Sick verse) - 10

Ultra-conventional: 22/22, my number one, hivemind number one.

Johnny Fever, I'd like to thank you for everything, primarily the cute animal pics.

I had a great time going back to Pavement for this & really enjoyed the countdown. So much love for so many great songs. Warms the cockles.

fwiw Bowie is the most interesting tracks poll to me - know enough to vote, but feel there's a lot to find out.

great poll, great results, great pictures, great read, great band

need more Pavement in my life

For reasons I can't remember I gave up on this band after Crooked Rain but I made a Spotify playlist based on this poll and I've grown to love them all over again. Holy shit what a fucking amazing record S&E was! Thanks and well done to Johnny Fever - the choice of pictures & font & colours were superb.

First heard Pavement via Trigger Cut being on an Indie Top 20 comp when I was 16. Didn't really follow up this (although I liked the song) until I was at uni a couple of years later and Cut Your Hair was pretty big, although I just bought the single and didn't get around to CRCR until later, I got S&E and Westing first. So I'm more of an old Pavement fan than a later Pavement fan but I didn't get the hate BtC got, I like it fine. I never could get into TT much though, I can only remember Cream Of Gold from that album at the moment.

I'm sure I'll get mocked for suggesting this, but Steely Dan would make a nice poll

no Burroughsian pun intended

70 Circa 1762 3 82

Only 3? :(

Otherwise, this was awesome fun.

Wu-Tang poll imo

or Ween

or YLT

Considering doing a Magnetic Fields/Stephin Merritt-associated acts poll...will gauge interest before committing.

Since the thread is dying down now, I'll put a recap here towards the bottom for anyone who stumbles across it in three years and wants such a thing.

61. ALL MY FRIENDS (1993) [115 points, 4 votes, 2 first-place votes]
60. FAME THROWA (1992) [115 points, 6 votes]
59. JACKALS, FALSE GRAILS: THE LONESOME ERA (1992) [117 points, 4 votes]
58. SPEAK, SEE, REMEMBER (1999) [120 points, 6 votes]
57. STRINGS OF NASHVILLE (1994) [120 points, 7 votes, 1 first-place vote]
56. KENTUCKY COCKTAIL (1992) [136 points, 8 votes]
55. TYPE SLOWLY (1997) [141 points, 9 votes]
54. TRANSPORT IS ARRANGED (1997) [142 points, 6 votes, 1 first-place vote]
53. PUEBLO (1995) [144 points, 8 votes]
52. FROM NOW ON (1991) [148 points, 6 votes, 1 first-place vote]
51. PAINTED SOLDIERS (1996) [152 points, 6 votes]
50. CONDUIT FOR SALE! (1992) [159 points, 7 votes, 1 first-place vote]
49. YOU ARE A LIGHT (1999) [159 points, 9 votes]
48. GRAVE ARCHITECTURE (1995) [178 points, 9 votes, 1 first-place vote]
47. AND THEN.../THE HEXX (1997/99) [195 points, 9 votes, 1 first-place vote]
46. HALF A CANYON (1995) [207 points, 10 votes]
45. BAPTISS BLACKTICK (1992) [210 points, 13 votes]
44. DATE W/ IKEA (1997) [213 points, 10 votes]
43. GREENLANDER (1992) [217 points, 11 votes]
42. BLUE HAWAIIAN (1997) [224 points, 10 votes]
41. DEBRIS SLIDE (1991) [226 points, 12 votes]

40. MOTION SUGGESTS ITSELF (1995) [241 points, 11 votes, 1 first-place vote]
39. CARROT ROPE (1999) [245 points, 12 votes]
38. HARNESS YOUR HOPES (1999) [256 points, 14 votes]
37. NEWARK WILDER (1994) [262 points, 12 votes]
36. SPIT ON A STRANGER (1999) [265 points, 13 votes]
35. KENNEL DISTRICT (1995) [275 points, 15 votes, 1 first-place vote]
34. UNSEEN POWER OF THE PICKET FENCE (1993) [281 points, 14 votes, 1 first-place vote]
33. MAJOR LEAGUES/MAJOR LEAGUES DEMO (1999) [293 points, 14 votes, 1 first-place vote]
32. STARLINGS OF THE SLIPSTREAM (1997) [321 points, 16 votes]
31. AT&T (1995) [321 points, 19 votes]
30. UNFAIR (1994) [333 points, 16 votes, 1 first-place vote]
29. PERFUME-V (1992) [340 points, 16 votes]
28. FIGHT THIS GENERATION (1995) [348 points, 18 votes, 1 first-place vote]
27. FIN (1997) [352 points, 16 votes]
26. GIVE IT A DAY (1996) [357 points, 17 votes, 1 first-place vote]
25. WE DANCE (1995) [375 points, 17 votes, 1 first-place vote]
24. SHADY LANE (1997) [377 points, 19 votes]
23. BLACK OUT (1995) [378 points, 15 votes, 1 first-place vote]
22. EMBASSY ROW (1997) [402 points, 19 votes, 1 first-place vote]
21. CUT YOUR HAIR (1994) [456 points, 23 votes, 1 first-place vote]

20. ZURICH IS STAINED (1992) [501 points, 24 votes]
19. LORETTA'S SCARS (1992) [505 points, 23 votes]
18. RATTLED BY THE RUSH (1995) [509 points, 23 votes, 2 first-place votes]
17. STEREO (1997) [547 points, 25 votes, 1 first-place vote]
16. FILLMORE JIVE (1994) [560 points, 23 votes, 1 first-place vote]
15. STOP BREATHIN' (1994) [597 points, 25 votes, 3 first-place votes]
14. SHOOT THE SINGER (1992) [608 points, 27 votes, 4 first-place votes]
13. TEXAS NEVER WHISPERS (1992) [621 points, 26 votes]
12. BOX ELDER (1989) [658 points, 31 votes]
11. ELEVATE ME LATER (1994) [668 points, 32 votes]
10. FATHER TO A SISTER OF THOUGHT (1995) [678 points, 28 votes, 3 first-place votes]
9. SILENCE KIT (1994) [698 points, 29 votes]
8. IN THE MOUTH A DESERT (1992) [711 points, 29 votes]
7. RANGE LIFE (1994) [806 points, 36 votes, 3 first-place votes]
6. HERE (1992) [807 points, 36 votes]
5. GOLD SOUNDZ (1994) [905 points, 34 votes, 3 first-place votes]
4. FRONTWARDS (1992) [906 points, 35 votes, 4 first-place votes]
3. TRIGGER CUT (1992) [910 points, 37 votes, 4 first-place votes]
2. GROUNDED (1995) [922 points, 34 votes, 6 first-place votes]
1. SUMMER BABE (1992) [971 points, 37 votes, 2 first-place votes]

ylt intrigues. gbv i dunno -- i consider myself a fan and i'm not sure i know 20% of the songs.

1. All My Friends
2. Fillmore Jive
3. We Dance
4. Silence Kit
5. Gold Soundz
6. Summer Babe
7. Cut Your Hair
8. Stereo
9. Spit on a Stranger
10. Old to Begin
11. For Sale: The Preston School of Industry
12. Date w/ Ikea
13. Unfair
14. Conduit for Sale
15. Fame Throwa
16. Texas Never Whispers
17. Nothing Ever Happens
18. Flux = Rad
19. Range Life

I think The Cure would make for an awesome poll. I know they're huge and they have a massive catalog, but it seems Cure discussion here is so dominated by Ned and Dan that I don't have a good feel of how the rest of ILX thinks about em.

1. Cut Your Hair
2. Grounded
3. Stereo
4. Newark Wilder
5. Summer Babe (Winter Version)
6. Silence Kit
7. In the Mouth a Desert
8. Perfume-V
9. Blackout
10. Fin
11. Blue Hawaiian
12. Transport Is Arranged
13. Father to a Sister of Thought
14. Range Life
15. Spit on a Stranger
16. Fame Throwa
17. Here
18. Type Slowly
19. You Are a Light
20. Half A Canyon
21. Motion Suggests
22. Major League

i'm not familiar with any non-lp stuff apart from musket and sextant. for some reason it was the last pavement full length i bought (s&e -> wz -> btc -> crcr -> tt). didn't live with it as long as the others. the presence of 3 tt tracks and no m&s tracks probably looks pretty lame.

hmm i don't know why i put motion suggests so far down there :/

i'm sure i don't know why either >:[

1. Father to a Sister of Thought
2. Gold Soundz
3. Perfume-V
4. Here
5. Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era [what a great title that is]
6. Fin
7. Spit on a Stranger
8. Fillmore Jive [or 'Dark Ages']
9. Range Life
10. Grounded [very Sonic Youth-ish]
11. We Dance
12. Black Out
13. AT&T
14. Shoot The Singer
15. Starlings on the Slipstream
16. Grave Architecture
17. Passat Dream
18. Unfair

I guess I like Wowee Zowee the best : )

sorta wish this coulda included the jix/malkmus solo!

Does anyone know where these animal pics are from?

All over the internet. I just GISed for all them, except a few I found on flickr.

goddamn, i can't believe i missed this poll

it's sad, it was a poll

Dude, really?

Glad "Grounded" placed so high. Feels like that's a great song that people didn't immediately recognize as such.

missed it, too. it's ok, tho ... my favorite band ever, would've been impossible to narrow/order.

sad to see no "Westie Can Drum" however...

Weirdly, I remembered "Gold Soundz" winning this and found the thread to complain about it, but my memory was wrong, and "Summer Babe" won, much better. I wonder why I formed that false memory?

gold soundz was the p4k #1 track of the 90s, maybe that's what you were thinking of

Oh yeah you're totally right

And Pitchfork is totally wrong

Love how high "Unseen Power of the Picket Fence" placed in this, ILX gonna ILX (in a good way)

lol we shut Cut Your Hair out of the top 20. we're a bunch of assholes.

Pavement - Black Out (8 bit) https://t.co/6tGEgd3odo via @YouTube

— Stephen malkmus (@dronecoma) February 4, 2022