The Top 500 Songs of This Decade?
In case you don’t check their site regularly, for the past week Pitchfork has been counting down the top 500 songs of this decade. I kind of marvel at not only the ambition but how in the hell they went in trying to figure out which songs rated higher than other songs in a sequential order? To me, songs are pretty ephemeral. You love them, you hate them, you forget about them and you rediscover them again. It’s an endless cycle. I couldn’t ever begin to try and sequentially rank them in order of worst to best. Albums, yes… songs, never.
I was shocked at the sheer amount of Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, LCD Soundsytem & Hot Chip songs that make up the top 200. I think 13 slots to those 4 bands (or members) is a bit ridiculous. Come on, really, “My Girls” is #9? A song about 9 months old is ahead of “House of Jealous Lovers” (16), a song that (like it or not) ran the course of indie music for a good 3 or 4 years. And ahead of “Cry Me a River”, which was unjustly placed at #65 (should have been in the top 5). Or get this! It’s ahead of a not-even-ranked Eminem’s “Stan”, which up until today, I was positive its absence meant it would be in the top 20. Something like System of a Down’s “Toxicity” not making it, while criminal, I can (sort of) understand, being that Pitchfork generally ignores anything Metal (good, bad, mainstream or underground) unless it’s released on Southern Lord records.
We were, however, pretty dead-on with our predictions in the office of “Paper Planes” being in the top 5 (#3) and that Outkast would probably take number 1… I’m just shocked that it was B.O.B (Mike Jones’ guess) that was given #1 and not the far superior “Ms. Jackson” (55) or “Hey Ya!” (12).
But seriously, how the hell do you overlook “Stan” and “Toxicity” when discussing songs of this decade, but make sure Animal Collective gets as many tracks on the list as they do? We get it! You L-O-V-E Animal Collective… I like them too, but frealz?
I’m sure there are other tracks missing and countless other injustices. And since Pitchfork doesn’t allow comments or host a forum to discuss their reviews and articles, I figure why not just do it here for those interested.
- My Pal the Crook
August 21st, 2009 at 10:17 am
personally, i’m pretty excited that the ignition remix made the top 20. i’m surprised “get low” didn’t make the top 50.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:34 am
The remix to ignition deserved to be in the top 20.
August 21st, 2009 at 10:58 am
Dude what about Weird Al White and Nerdy. That song has to be in the top six of the decade. I bump that shit so hard!!!!
August 21st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Animal Collective sure is lucky Phish hadn’t recorded anything new in the past decade.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Pretty sick of Animal Collective/Grizzly Bear/whatever else white 20 somethings living in Brooklyn are listening to these days.
And Pitchfork in general as well, but that’s hardly new.
August 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I hadn’t heard of a few artists on there so for introducing me to some new music the list was good.
They jumped the gun though, what if Blueprint 3 is fucking amazing?
August 21st, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I don’t think history is on Jigga’s side on that one.
August 21st, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Yeah that new song with Ye and Rihanna was a disappointment. Lol Maybe Katy Perry will release a new album.
August 21st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I’m actually listening through most of the list to get reacquainted with most of teh songs and I’m kind of baffled by why certain singles from bands were chosen over others. Like say with Interpol and Ladytron… “Destroy Everything You Touch” is not Ladytron’s best single this decade.
August 23rd, 2009 at 3:09 am
i was actually pleased with how the list turned out. of course, i have some issues with rankings, of course, and how they tooted their own horn by prominently featuring ‘their’ bands (animal co., lcd, etc). but hey, at least clap your hands say yeah did not place. phew!
it is definitely a dumb idea to try and sequentially rank the top 500 songs of a decade… but it is fun to play along. i’m just surprised with how many of their picks i agreed with.
for the record, i thought BOB was a righteous choice. they also picked the best interpol tracks too.
August 24th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Time + Distance. This is the first, really rough draft of the ’00s cannon.