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Pitchfork's Top 500 Songs of the Decade


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It's at 21.

 

50-21 posted here

 

Glad to see Everything In It's Right Place make it. I love that song. Conversely, I don't think I've ever been as annoyed by a song as I am by Float On.

 

 

Really glad to see Take Me Out. I have never tired of that song.

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There's plenty of great music on the list, but overall it seems HEAVILY skewed to Pitchfork's darling-of-the-week bands, with token nods to some mega commercial pop and rap like Britney, Alicia, Jay-Z et al. But others like Gwen Stefani and Franz Ferdinand are getting dicked. Same for bigger acts like Radiohead and Green Day are dicked here. My beef is that some very established artists that have done great work this decade are either severely underrepresented or posting a big fat Zero on the list so far. Examples....Springsteen, Cohen, Young, all zero. Nothing for Golden Smog or Loose Fur, nothing for Mark Knopfler or Gary Louris. Nothing from In Rainbows or Icky Thump, two of the best records of the last 3 years. MMJ has 2 songs in the first 438. I think Ryan Adams has 2 also. 1 for Sufjan Stevens. Yo La Tengo, Interpol and Sonic Youth are getting token crumbs, I think 1 each. Bob Dylan has 1 song from Love & Theft, zero from MT(!) or TTL. Lucinda is shut out. Daniel Lanois shut out. Paul Simon is shut out and cmon, his record Surprise was outstanding. Sorry if Im dating myself mentioning some of these older guys. But even major up and coming rappers like Knine and Buck65 are shut out. MIA will have more songs on the list, only 1 so far though. Canadian bands like Arcade Fire, Feist-New Pornos are nearly ignored, and where are Final Fantasy and City And Colour. Anyway there are loads of examples and yeah it is pretty subjective.

 

3 for Wilco is a joke too IMO, but thats just preaching to the choir....theyve had four excellent studio releases and I wont hold my breath for anything from SBS or WTA to show up. So yeah I dont know everything but I do think its a bit of a joke......Pitchfork are a bunch of snob hipsters, imo.

 

I think you expect a little too much. Especially if all you want out of a list is for it to more closely reflect your tastes.

 

I think those Canadian bands have all had multiple tracks on this list. Radiohead has too. Franz Ferdinand showed up today with Take Me Out. I think I remember Gwen Stefani from earlier this week. And more White Stripes today.

 

Plus a lot of the artists you think should be there, I would hope don't come close to sniffing a list like this. So I guess it's all subjective.

 

It's actually been a really good list and I'm really looking forward to the Top 20. Surprisingly enough, I trust Pitchfork more with lists like this than any other publication. Although, maybe that shouldn't be so surprising, because, lately, I've been seeing a lot less snarkiness and a lot more reasoned and well-written reviews of albums and tracks.

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fucking Kelly Clarkson would be in my top 20, mainly because I haven't slept with 20 women.

She ain't that cute, though.

But seriously, if you have to include shallow pop-songs I can understand why Umbrella is on there. That was actually a catchy song which received lots of airplay around the globe. The Clarkson-thingy did none of those things.

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She ain't that cute, though.

But seriously, if you have to include shallow pop-songs I can understand why Umbrella is on there. That was actually a catchy song which received lots of airplay around the globe. The Clarkson-thingy did none of those things.

 

SUBG is pretty catchy. I don't like it as much as others here do, but it's a damn fine song.

Crazy In Love would be my #1, I think.

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I love the list, mainly because it's fun to read WHY they think a song is great. But my list would look WAY different.

 

Their pop song choices seem scatter-brained to me.

 

I'd prefer to see an Avril Lavigne song over Kylie, Kelly, Britney, Beyonce OR Alicia. If "Since You've Been Gone" makes the list, shouldn't a Jonas Brothers song?

 

Kanye is included a bit, but I prefer much of his 808s & Heartbreak songs over those of his that Pitchfork selected.

 

Is Jay Z REALLY all that? Eminem's "Lose Yourself" is the "Don't Stop Believing" of rap music and should be rated higher.

 

 

But outside the popular Billboard Top 40 songs, there's some solid choices....Yo La Tengo's "Way To Fall", Sigur Ros' "Svefn-g-englar" and the Flaming Lips "Do You Realize" as examples.

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Guest Speed Racer

Which one? I don't think I know any Jonas Bros songs, actually.

 

Exactly. JoBros are supposed to appeal to the 18/under crowd, and KC's target demographic is the 18-35ish folks.

 

That being said, I can honestly say I have never, ever heard Since U Been Gone. I've heard nearly every other pop song on the list, but not that one.

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I can honestly say I have never, ever heard Since U Been Gone. I've heard nearly every other pop song on the list, but not that one.

Check it out sometime. There's a reason Ted Leo covered it, and it wasn't just for the sake of irony.

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Which one? I don't think I know any Jonas Bros songs, actually.

 

 

I used them as an example. But Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone", in my mind, is just another catchy pop song that teenagers like. Same with some of the other selections. Maybe Nickelback should be on the list?

 

It's like bleedorange said earlier, Pitchfork decides which pop acts are cool and hip enough to make their list.

 

Meanwhile, Pitchfork's list is filled MOSTLY with unique, interesting songs that probably wouldn't crack Billboard's Top 100,000 List, if it existed. How can Beck's "Lost Cause" or songs by the Mountain Goats exist with "Cry Me a River".

 

 

 

(If I must pick one Jonas Brothers, I'll say "A Little Bit Longer")

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Guest Speed Racer

Meanwhile, Pitchfork's list is filled MOSTLY with unique, interesting songs that probably wouldn't crack Billboard's Top 100,000 List, if it existed.

 

Billboard's lists are based on sales, and Pitchfork's are not.

 

How can Beck's "Lost Cause" or songs by the Mountain Goats exist with "Cry Me a River".

 

Because it's a damned fine song, and it's the one that took him out of JoBro demographics and made the older crowd pay attention to him. Career-altering and wildly successful, and it's a song that all of us heard WAY too much - and others still not enough.

 

The distinction to me, when reading this list, is that Pfork readers hear "Since U Been Gone" and want to turn it up; they hear "Cry Me a River" and turn it up; they hear "Toxic" and turn it up; people hear Nickelback and change the station. Most Pitchfork target-market readers have likely downloaded the first three tracks, and definitely DEFINITELY have not downloaded Nickelback.

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Billboard's lists are based on sales, and Pitchfork's are not.

 

 

 

Because it's a damned fine song, and it's the one that took him out of JoBro demographics and made the older crowd pay attention to him. Career-altering and wildly successful, and it's a song that all of us heard WAY too much - and others still not enough.

 

The distinction to me, when reading this list, is that Pfork readers hear "Since U Been Gone" and want to turn it up; they hear "Cry Me a River" and turn it up; they hear "Toxic" and turn it up; people hear Nickelback and change the station. Most Pitchfork target-market readers have likely downloaded the first three tracks, and definitely DEFINITELY have not downloaded Nickelback.

 

 

JoBro and Hannah Montana and Taylor Swift are played on the same stations as Timberlake and Beyonce and Britney and Pink. Not sure I get your demographic point.

 

Why Kylie and Britney and Beyonce, but not Fountain's of Wayne's "Stacy's Mom"? I'll take Pete Yorn's or Phoenix's pop songs over some of the crap on this list.

 

It's just weird to me to try to rank catchy, sometimes-silly pop songs, with more obscure, arty, sometimes moody and depressing songs. Do you want to crank up "Hope There's Someone" by Antony and the Johnsons"? (ranked #28).

 

Again....I like lists like these. They're fun and sometimes lead to me to music I'd otherwise not hear.

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