Pitchfork has released its picks for the best 500 songs of the current, almost over, decade. I don’t understand how you whittle the millions of songs that were released in the last ten years to 500, but I have to hand it to them for trying. I figured the number one song would be some obscure indie song I had never heard, but it is actually a song I had on CD. It was from the year 2000, and the title seemed anachronistic at the time. Now it seems prophetic and definitive of the last 7 years at least. It’s a great song, but #1? I certainly haven’t heard all of the songs, but this list gives me a great resource to discover what I hope are song great “new” songs.
They are doing a whole retrospective of the last 10 years in music, and some of it is not released yet. These are the first best of the decade lists I am sure we will see a lot coming soon.
Handshake Drugs from “A Ghost is Born”. Hopefully there’s more.
I’ve only just scanned through 500 to 401There’s a lot to like, so far. No too much that’s wilfully obscure, at least by Pitchfork standards. Of course, they lost a lot of credibility for me for listing 412. Scritti Politti’s “Boom Boom Bap”. That gets my vote for most annoying of the decade.
I got tears in my eyes when I saw Since I Left You by The Avalanches in the top 50.
God I love that album. It was such a complete out-of-left-field find for me; it’s one of those rare albums (I can name maybe five) that completely blew my mind.
Plus I got that album at like the happiest time in my life. This album was the soundtrack.
Please, The Avalanches. I want another album. You break my heart with this nearly decade-long drought.
Grass, by Animal Collective The Start of Something, by Voxtrot Letter From an Occupant, by The New Pornographers Off the Record, by My Morning Jacket Fake Palindromes, by Andrew Bird
I was extremely happy to see:
My Red Hot Car, by Squarepusher The Crystal Lake, by Grandaddy
Most of the other songs on the list, I either haven’t heard or they weren’t memorable enough for me to care one way or the other.
I think The Tain by the Decemberists should have been on there.
It’s a very odd list. There’s some songs I recognize, but a lot of it seems somewhat obscure. And there seems to be some focus on lyrical content. The top 20 especially I can’t make heads or tails of the criteria. I have this strange feeling that they are much much smarter than me. Probably similar to the feeling a lot of people get when they see modern art collections.
I didn’t know most on this list, but here were some things that made me smile:
Kylie Minogue twice on the list, and once even in the top 50. I love her!
Several Nick Cave appearances.
And Bombs Over Baghdad was a terrific choice for number 1.
Radio? Is that some sort of MP3 player? A P2P network of some sort, perhaps?
Ok, all joking aside, I browsed through the top 100 and I’ve only heard a handful of the songs. Shit, I’ve only heard of a handful of the artists! :eek:
What the hell have I been doing for the past decade? I know I live sort of a sheltered life, but goddamn, now I feel like a hermit.
I can’t remember the last time I listened to music on the radio, and when I did, it was mostly metal. That being said, it seems like - from my light skim of a few of the sections - I know more songs (just via recognizing the name) in the other groups than I do in the top 20. (I suspect things might change if I listened to samples but don’t really have the time at the moment.)
On the top 20, I had heard 15. I might be in the right demographic for it (generation wise and culture wise) but it was not really an execise in obscurity. I mean, I don’t go out of my way to listen to radio hits. Nevertheless I hear it in the city, in workplaces, on the TV or in malls and shops. If you lived through the 00’s and didn’t hear “Crazy”, “Hey ya” or “Crazy in love” then I think you deserve some kind of prize. Even a song like “Paper planes” was noticably on the soundtrack to Slumdog millionaire and M.I.A. herself has been one of the hottest up and coming artists the past years.
I suspect that, unless you willfully cut yourself off from any communication medium that might expose you to pop culture, you have heard “Crazy” and “Paper Planes.” Those songs were/are ubiquitous in the mid-00s and late-00s respectively.
Hmm…I’d probably recognize Paper Planes if I heard it, but there’s no way I can summon up any idea of what it sounds like without a prompt. Ditto with Crazy in Love. Or Idioteque.
Admittedly, I’m not a music aficionado. I like music, I do, but I listen to basically two stations: alternative/metal and NPR. Seriously, that’s it. I stopped listening to the pop stations probably 10ish years ago when I realized that most of what they play is dreck.
Likewise…at least, I only recognize two. “Crazy”, I like a lot. “Hey Ya”, I abhor.
Yeah, I might recognize a few others if I heard 'em, but, clearly, I’m old, and don’t listen to current music much. Once upon a time, I considered myself to be a music fan, but, to be honest, when I do hear current stuff, I don’t care for much of it.
I haven’t been keeping up with new music since about the mid 90s (since I stopped listening to radio), so there’s a good chance I don’t even know 5% of these tracks. But I wanted to have a look at what the ‘young kids’ were listening to these days. I’m thinking I should be able to track down most of them on youtube, and if not, then other sources.
I just now started with the 1-20 list… (reverse order) …
#20 - The Walkmen - The Rat
It’s … OK, I guess, but the meat on those angst bones was picked clean in the 70s and early 80’s by better lyricists and a more interesting sound. It might be one of the best of the 00s- but it’s nothing new in concept or craftsmanship.
#19 - R. Kelly - Ignition (Remix)
Wasn’t this the guy who got caught peeing on an under-aged girl? Whatever. Soft, slow-jam rap is just not for me - end of story. Next!
#18 - Hercules & Love Affair - Blind
I enjoy a good electronic track more than most people, so I have no prejudice to the style, but this was just simple uninspired dross and doesn’t hold a candle to its 80s forebears. Not even worth listening to.
#17 - Annie - Heartbeat
I couldn’t find an unremixed version on youtube, so I listened to a remixed version (Royksopp’s Mindre Tilgjengelige Remix). I kinda liked it. Nothing to write home about, but a nicely produced track. I could get behind this.
I’m going to take my time and go through them all, see what I like and what I don’t - it will be fun!
