The Freestyle's Greatest Beats Poll Series (Volume 1): Well I Laughed, And I Cried

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In 1993 Tommy Boy put out a 10-disc series of what its archivists (or whoever) considered the greatest freestyle songs up to that point. Let us poll them, one by one, starting with the first—which is strong, but maybe not the strongest? Time to find out!

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, "I Wonder If I Take You Home"	9
Noel, "Silent Morning"	4
TKA, "One Way Love"	2
Information Society, "Running"	2
Jellybean, "The Mexican"	2
Exposé, "Exposed To Love"	1
Sweet Sensation, "Hooked On You"	1
Cover Girls, "Show Me"	1
Nayobe, "Please Don't Go"	0
Sa-Fire, "Don't Break My Heart"	0
Judy Torres, "No Reason To Cry"	0
Leather & Lace, "Tender Heart"	0

― maura, Friday, 16 May 2014 00:57 (eleven years ago)

(I voted for "The Mexican." Obviously. This one's tough though.)

― maura, Friday, 16 May 2014 00:58 (eleven years ago)

thread of the century

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 16 May 2014 01:01 (eleven years ago)

holy christ, Brad and Maura

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 May 2014 01:18 (eleven years ago)

"Silent Morning," sung in Noel's torpid, lugubrious English, is my pick. But, wow, it's close. Runners-up:

Cover Girls, "Show Me"
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, "I Wonder If I Take You Home"
Sweet Sensation, "Hooked On You"
Nayobe, "Please Don't Go"

WHERE IS COMPANY B?

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 May 2014 01:20 (eleven years ago)

we have nine more volumes to go!!

― maura, Friday, 16 May 2014 01:39 (eleven years ago)

OK. Let's go dancing.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 16 May 2014 01:40 (eleven years ago)

Didn't make it past "One Way Love"; TKA 4ever. Could have voted for any of the first four (I think I've got all the 12"s!); greatest series of comps ever.

― etc, Friday, 16 May 2014 02:01 (eleven years ago)

is it wrong that i'm already crazy anticipating the winners poll in this series?

"one way love" just towers over this comp imo, which is not meant in the least as a slight - every song on this is awesome

― the portentous pepper (govern yourself accordingly), Friday, 16 May 2014 02:57 (eleven years ago)

Jellybean!!!

― lold jamar (lpz), Friday, 16 May 2014 03:34 (eleven years ago)

information society represent

― spacemindy, Friday, 16 May 2014 06:18 (eleven years ago)

"silent morning" pls

― nurse with attitude (get bent), Friday, 16 May 2014 07:03 (eleven years ago)

Silent Morning

freestyle is the best

― Euler, Friday, 16 May 2014 12:14 (eleven years ago)

'tender heart' is the sleeper on this volume, but i had to go 'show me'

― nick m, Friday, 16 May 2014 12:40 (eleven years ago)

I like this series a lot, but I prefer the more compact and diverse Perfect Beats set. Can there be too much Latin Freestyle? 10 discs pushes it a bit.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 May 2014 13:35 (eleven years ago)

"I Wonder If I Take You Home" is possibly the greatest record of the 1980s, so that. But "Hooked on You" has that amazing breakdown with the vocal sampling that still rocks my world. And "No Reason to Cry" is one of my all-time favorite vocal performances in freestyle.

― Josefa, Friday, 16 May 2014 14:30 (eleven years ago)

When it comes to freestyle, the more dramatic and serious the better, therefore "Silent Morning".

― Spencer Chow, Friday, 16 May 2014 14:35 (eleven years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Tuesday, 20 May 2014 00:01 (eleven years ago)

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

― System, Wednesday, 21 May 2014 00:01 (eleven years ago)

I missed that "I Wonder If I Take You Home" was on the list. It's the best track on here, but it kind of goes beyond Freestyle.

― Spencer Chow, Wednesday, 21 May 2014 00:14 (eleven years ago)

Yeah, that and "The Mexican" are the oldest tracks here, both having been recorded in 1984. You can still hear the breakbeat/electro orientation of those tracks as much as you hear freestyle, which was not quite in full flower yet.

― Josefa, Wednesday, 21 May 2014 16:20 (eleven years ago)

three weeks pass...

I absolutely adore 'Running', which is more proto-freestyle as far as I have read.

― Chewshabadoo, Wednesday, 11 June 2014 20:04 (ten years ago)

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