Pitchfork's Top 500 Songs • Someone transcribed all 500 songs featured in P4K's modern music guide. They're broken down in two and three year chunks starting from 1977 so sorry list fiends, there is no #1. (Though it would have been Deerhunter.) Check out the full list here. You're on your own with the torrent.
Posted at 11:20 AM
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Cold Cave - Life Magazine (»)
Pants Yell! - Cold Hands (»)
Bill Quick - Take Me Away (»)
Fool's Gold - Surprise Hotel (Wallpaper's Mariah Mashup) (»)
Air - Sing Sang Sung (Black Moth Super Rainbow Remix) (»)
Avi Buffalo - What's In It For (»)
Vampire Weekend - Horchata (»)
Small Black - Kings Of Animals (»)
Max Tundra - Which Song (Passion Pit Remix) (»)
Cold Cave - Theme From Tomorrowland (»)
Tegan And Sara - Hell (»)
Jeff The Brotherhood - Bone Jam (»)
Mount Eerie - Wind's Dark Poem (»)
Tigercity - Fake Gold (»)
Yeasayer - Ambling Alp (»)
Drink Up Buttercup - Even Think (Andrew W.K. Remix) (»)
Florence And The Machine - You've Got The Love (The xx Remix) (»)
Cold Cave - The Laurels of Erotomania (»)
Jookabox - Phantom Don't Go (»)
Jookabox - You Cried Me (»)
...Kelly Clarkson? They couldn't maybe sneak in "All My Friends" instead?
Score = -5
2003-2006 would exclude a song from 2007, right?
Score = 5
Didn't realise Kate Nash was about in the 80's...
Score = 4
wow. surprisingly good list. cant argue with a lot of those.
Score = 9
I'm the one that originally posted this list on the Acclaimed Music Forum (acclaimedmusic.net) since for some reason my copy of the book arrived 2 weeks early from Amazon. I just noticed for some reason I put Kate Nash instead of Kate Bush. I'm sure there are a few more errors since I typed the list up really quick.
Anyway as many of you might have already noticed, no artist has more than 4 songs included in the list ,and no album contains more than 1 song. If anyone has any other questions let me know. The book also contains a list of 2007 songs that might have been included if they had been released 1 year earlier. If anyone is interested I can post that too.
Score = 26
sure ya did, sparky. got nothing better to do today, eh?
Score = -44
Wow, that list is about 80% great (having "Longview" and "Closer" on there is a bit of a joke, though). I wish there were more Wu-related tracks, but otherwise pretty solid.
Score = 0
Here is the list of 2007 songs. The book says that most of these would have been included if released one year earlier-
Animal Collective - FIreworks
Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running
Battles - Atlas
Burial - Archangel
Chromatics - In The City
Dan Deacon - Wham City
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Feist - 1 2 3 4
Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
M.I.A. - Paper Planes
of Montreal - The Past Is a Grotesque Animal
Rihanna - Umbrella
Spoon - The Underdog
UGK - Int'l Players Anthem
Score = 19
There are few other interesting lists in the book such as - Top Indie Songs in Commercials, Career Killer Songs (Liz Phair, Weezer, Oasis, Blur, Smashing Pumpkins, Guns N' Roses are all included in this list if anyone wants to guess the song). I'll posts some of these lists later.
Score = 6
boring. generally the right cross-section of bands, but oftentimes the tracks listed are the 4th or 5th best song on the album that contains them. others are completely unjustifiable - there's too much emphasis on balance and variety which sacrifices the focus on picking, you know, actual good songs.
way to miss everything off "the chronic."
Score = -6
WTF? Where's WHAM! or George Michael?
Careless Whisper and Faith..
Score = 13
Thumbs up for the would-have-been-included Animal Collective track. I love that song.
Score = 4
No Wilbury's Handle With Care...booooo
Score = 4
really? It's a good song,but really?
Score = 2
i lol'd at "it would have been deerhunter"
Score = 7
"there is no #1. (Though it would have been Deerhunter.)"
Ha, or Animal Collective's next album.
Either way.
Score = 1
What's the purpose of this list? Is this just lazy journalism?
Score = -9
The big weakness of this list...very shitty selection of R&B. No Mary J. Blige, no TLC, no Janet Jackson, no Luther Vandross, etc.
Black people actually make music other than rap, which is lost on Pitchfork.
Score = 2
Black people make music other than rap?
Score = 7
pretty much skips all of the LA/OC punk and hardcore of the 70s and 80s outside of one black flag song and one minutemen song.
no germs, x, descendents, fear, circle jerks, adolescents, nerves, weridos, dils, screamers etc.
Score = 1
They also got a great Husker Du song in there.
Score = 4
what no torrent
Score = 0
.ZIP!!
Score = 0
also, the inclusion of "distortions" makes me very very happy
Score = 3
Is anyone planning on picking up this book? I am, I was just wondering. It will be good to have around I guess.
Do they have torrents for books yet? Maybe the audio book read by Bradford Cox?
Score = 3
I'm surprised TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me" didn't get a nod.
Score = 13
How could they not find room for Pearl Jam on this list?
Score = 2
What's with Pitchfork's obsession with sorry-ass Top 40 hip-hop and R&B?
Score = 0
yeah radio sucks man! underground 4 lyfe!!1!
Score = 9
I can't really argue with anything on this list. Except Slayer. I mean really...? Slayer.
Score = -2
and yet you have no prob w/ the inclusion of Mastodon or Ministry?
Reign in Blood, whether or not you enjoy the music, was a groundbreaking album
Score = 8
slayer are an amazing band. my fave is 'criminally insane'
Score = -3
Where is the zip? someone?
Score = 1
U2's "One" absolutely deserves to be on there -- if we're going to be honest with ourselves.
Score = 12
"Needle in the Hay" and "The State I Am In" aren't the best songs from those respective artists, imo. I'd probably go with "Pitseleh/The Biggest Lie" and "Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying"
Score = 1
yeah a torrent of this would be nice...
Score = 0
i stopped reading when i saw that richard hell & the voidoids
didn't make the 77-79 list.
f that s.
Score = -2
Solid list I guess. But great songs in a typical sense.
Would've preferred a different Madvillain track.
And I haven't kept up with my Stereogum reading as of late, but do people really like Deerhunter a lot? Seriously, do they? Not to impressed over here. That Bradford dude could fart on tape and Pitchfork would be down.
Score = 5
i picked up the book earlier today and i'm fairly disappointed. it's much smaller than i would've expected (i was really hoping for a larger stocking stuffer coffee table book), and content-wise, it's nothing more than a list of songs with two paragraph blurbs by pitchfork writers.
Score = 2
whaaaat? "life in a glasshouse" instead of "pyramid song"? absurd, i say!
Score = 8
no torrent this year? LAME.
i remember i got the 2007 one last year and it was full of beautiful music.
:)
Score = -2
Whats completely unacceptable is Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart not making the list. Are you kidding me?
Score = 24
I agree with the insanity of not including Love Will Tear Us Apart. I also think it's weird Debaser isn't on there. Another song I think they should have included is Robyns Be Mine.
Score = 5
'love will tear us apart' is a good song, but I can't help but think that Joy Division have several tracks that are much more innovative and interesting. 'transmission', 'isolation' - were groundbreaking, nothing quite like them in rock before JD. ughh, the most egregious thing i see on the list is PIL's 'greatest song' is 'public image', which is like, trash compared to every track on 'metal box'...anyhoooo
Score = -1
Agreed, but I'm surprised they couldn't find room for a Mould-penned song such as "Celebrated Summer" or "Divide and Conquer."
Score = 4
I'm half surprised that Pitchfork's top Evri connections don't include snark or Neutral Milk Hotel - http://www.evri.com/organization/pitchfork-media-0x8eeb3.html
Score = 0
I think if there's any group PF disrespects the most its Pearl Jam. They could have found room for at least one of their tracks, considering that their catalog spans a major section of that list. At very least, they could have added one track from their first album, just to better represent the "grunge scene." Smells like teen spirit was the obvious choice, but not the most representative.
Score = 2
Can someone put this on Megaupload?
Score = 3
Fuck Pitchfork.
Score = -18
it seems like its a cliche to hate facebook
Score = 8
The fact that "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is not included on this list is the moment when Pitchfork jumps the shark.
Seriously, guys? "Since U Been Gone" is better than "Love Will Tear Us Apart"?
Score = 6
Aagh! I thought we had a NO JUMP THE SHARK rule here! Aaagh! And I think the whole point of not including numbers by each of the songs is to avoid the ridiculous comparisons that result from all of the other numbers they put next to things on their site. No, "Since U Been Gone" is not better than "Love Will Tear Us Apart." But they're both great songs, and they chose another Joy Division song--isn't that okay?
And honestly, do you really think that in ten years' time, we'll all look back and think, "Yeah, things really started going south with Pitchfork when they chose 'Atmosphere' rather than 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'?"
Score = 4
I'm shocked that all of my favorite artists and songs weren't listed in precisely the order that I would have listed them. I'm starting to feel like maybe my tastes in things aren't empirically correct. Thanks a lot, Pitchfork! You guys are all jerks!
Score = 20
I'm very surprised that 'I Am Trying To Break Your Heart' wasn't the selection from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Score = 7
You know, half the fun of lists like these is figuring out WHY they chose each song. It's pretty silly to argue with song selection before you read the book's arguments.
Score = 3
Here is another interesting list included in the book- Career Killers: The Songs That Ended It All
Travis Morrison - What's Your Fantasy?
Liz Phair - Why Can't I?
Weezer - Dope Nose
Oasis - All Around the World
Guns N' Roses - Look at Your Game Girl
Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore
Beastie Boys - Ch-Check It Out
Blur - Crazy Beat
Dexys Midnight Runners - This Is What She's Like
Sinead O'Conner - War (Live on SNL)
Happy Mondays - Stinkin Thinkin
Score = 5
The hot chip song shouldn't be on there imo. Also, the ciara song. Doesn't seem like very much rap in the last two years as well. I still think Gnarles Barkley-Crazy will go down as a song to last another 25 years.
Score = 3
I refuse to believe that not one Janet Jackson song would make this list. Miss You Much? If? Love Will Never Do Without You? Anytime Anyplace? I'm a Ciara fan but Oh doesn't stand up to any of these songs.
And there should easily have been more Michael.
Score = 1
PF is always inclined to add mediocre r'n b and hip hop on their lists, spreading the wealth amongst various bands. Fair enough, I guess. Nobody wants to read every track on "Heroes" is better than the rest of '77 - '79 period combined.
But if there's no heavy-handed purple prose to go along with the list then what's the point? PF does this shit for free every year, plus have all those old best of decade lists with cool little blurbs. My coffee table deserves better!
That said, I like PF lists because Ryan and (stereogum) friends generally have great taste and there's almost always something for me to investigate.
Score = -1
no tears for fears? wtf. pathetic.
Score = 3
I just skimmed over it. Is "Born Under Punches" really better than "Once In a Lifetime"? Every song on that album is great though, and they got it right with "This Must Be the Place". I think that "Looking for the Perfect Beat" is better than "Planet Rock." "I'll Believe In Anything" is a really great song from its era and I was glad to see it, but I was upset with the exclusion of the Futureheads' version of "Hounds of Love". They needed better picks for the Minutemen, Big Black, and Neutral Milk Hotel, but it's a good list overall.
Also, I like that "Don't Stop Believing" is right before "Pay to Cum."
Score = 0
yet another 'greatests' list which is really just naming the big singles, just in this case its for a larger number of bands. so what? 'Close to Me' is the best cure song from 83-86? ok...'ex lion tamer' for wire, really? that's their best track? um, oookayy....
for nearly any band you can name who are musically worth paying attention to, the singles are among the least interesting, least risk-taking, least 'good' songs. of course really picking 500 songs that genuinely deserve the title would be an exhaustive undertaking, but that's what would make it cool. this is just kids with big record collections looking at the tracklistings and writing down the 'hits' from every album. yawn.
Score = 0
no BEDHEAD, and no GALAXIE 500 ? back me up on this one peeps.
Score = 0
Galaxie 500's "Blue Thunder" is on the list.
The book also includes a list of definitive 'slowcore' songs, with Bedhead and Galaxie 500 making a showing.
Here:
Galaxie 500 - Snowstorm
Low - Dinosaur Act
American Music Club - Sick of Food
Red House Painters - Katy Song
Bedhead - Bedside Table
Codeine - Pickup Song
Duster - Topical Solution
The American Analog Set - The Magnificent Seven
Mogwai - Burn Girl Prom Queen
Ida - Maybelle
Score = 2
The selection from the Noughties is pretty awesome. They even selected some of the songs i thought i'm the only one who rates them so high. Like 'Boy From School' for example.
Score = 1
But Röyksopp is definitively missing.
Score = 1
Where the HELL is Bleedin Love (or ANY of her other songs for that matter) by Leona Lewis?
Score = -6
So I just bought it today. I'm happy that I bought it but I can understand the argument that it is a little singles heavy. I also thought I Will Dare was an interesting choice for a Replacements song. Personally I would have gone with Unsatisfied.
Score = 2
WHERE'S THE PROCLAIMERS???????????????????
Score = -1
Three nods to the Pixies and Pavement each, only one to PJ Harvey and Sleater-Kinney (And the Mekons! What about "Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem"!).
I'll give you "Atlantic City", but is "I'm On Fire" really Springsteen's other greatest song from the 80s? Really? (And yet "Stuck Between Stations" makes it? And that's a better song than "Stevie Nixx"?)
And nothing (nothing?!) from 69 Love Songs?
Score = 1
Three nods to the Pixies and Pavement each, only one to PJ Harvey and Sleater-Kinney (And the Mekons! What about "Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem"!).
I'll give you "Atlantic City", but is "I'm On Fire" really Springsteen's other greatest song from the 80s? Really? (And yet "Stuck Between Stations" makes it? And that's a better song than "Stevie Nixx"?)
And nothing (nothing?!) from 69 Love Songs?
Score = -4
other nick already posted something sayin that man...
Score = 4
if i wasn't so bored by this idea and list, then i'd yawn or something. talk about who cares.
does anyone see the garbage that pf reviews these days? this once tastemaker has become a complete rag.
Score = 0
What infuriates me is the title "Top 50 SONGS"
This should refer to songwriting. Should be Top 50 Records or Singles.
No one thinks Donna Summer: I Feel Love is a great song.
It is undoubtedly one of the greatest singles ever, though.
Score = 0
Nope, sorry, Michael, songwriting is about more than sheet music. If what you hear is great, it's a great song. Whether that's because of the chord progression or the arrangement or the production is irrelevant.
Score = 2
Why isn't Fall Out Boy on this list?
Score = -1
They succumbed to the "cool" habit of neglecting the better, but more popular, song in favor of the inferior, but lesser known (thus cooler song) by a number of bands. Some hits were were hits because they actually were damn good songs. In other areas, just the opposite. Big hits but neglected great songs.
Can't please all the people all the time sort of situation I guess.
And seriously, Pitchfork should just drop the whole hop-hop/R&B thing. They don't know shit and they try to add it to seem well-rounded, but they fail. Instead it comes off as "hey, look a token black song!"
Score = 0
I think that for the most part, Pitchfork's top 500 greatest songs from punk to the present is very accurate. To be honest, If figured that there would be a lot of questionable artists and songs on there, but I am very happy with the list. I was not surprised to see artists like Kelly Clarkson, T.I., Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, Outkast, and Michael Jackson, because they are obvious stars. I was very ecstatic to see Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" at the top of the 1997-1999 portion of the list, and "Idioteque" at the top of the 2000-2002 list. I am a huge fan of Radiohead, and I think that these are two songs that deserve this type of credit. I also think that Daft Punk's "One More Time" is a great selection for the 2000-2002 list. I was pleasantly surprised to see artists like Animal Collective, Hot Chip, Wolf Parade, !!!, and M83 on the list. All in all, I think the list is very intelligently crafted and covers a wide range of musical tastes.
Score = 1
This list makes me want to commit suicide. No Magazine? And only one Sleater-Kinney song?
Some glaring oversights made by the self-proclaimed arbiters of goodness, huh?
Score = -3
Speaking of glaring oversights, paging The Libertines, Bob Marley, Supergrass, Nation of Ulysses, Gorillaz, Germs, Richard Hell, The Time, Camper van Beethoven, Joe Jackson, Madness, Suicidal Tendencies, Big Audio Dynamite, X...
Score = -3
"i luv you" one of the very worst dizzee rascal songs
Score = 0
This is a pretty decent list. The biggest problem for me is the lack of The Police
Score = -1
Pitchfork deserve credit for overthrowing the old baby-boomer-centred view of rock in which everything since The Summer of Love is seen as a disappointment. "They aren't as good as The Stones mannnn."
But while they have proved that their are 'clever' and 'interesting', they have not yet moved beyond their adolescent desire to appear 'more cool' than everyone else. A good example of this is the way they negelcted "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division in favor of the comparitively obscure "Disorder". They know the first one is an indie favorite so they go for a lesser-known album track. This whole "I'm even more indie than you" thing is getting pretty tired.
Score = 3
I definitely agree with your point about the being "more indie than you" thing. It almost feels like throwing in picks like "Since U Been Gone" is just to negate that attitude. If anybody makes the criticism that they are being elitist, Pitchfork can point to that song, the Beyonce one, the Ciara one, and (holy Fuck!) the fucking R. KELLY song (that motherfucker pees on children and films it! plus his music is terrible! why should a talentless almost-rapist continue to get recognition from anybody, least of all a respected music critic like P4K) and say "look at all these mainstream choices we put on here!" But there is no Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay, anything off of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Rilo Kiley, anything post-Castaways Decemberists, Bob Dylan (he really made nothing great the past 30 years?), etc; they won't put anything that isn't incredibly famous or really underground on, or so it seems.
On the other hand, brilliant picks: Neighborhood #1 by The Arcade Fire, Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens, Via Chicago by Wilco, Soon by My Bloody Valentine, Street Hassle by Lou Reed, and lots of others... I can't say I don't like a lot of what Pitchfork recommends, but the stuff that they noticeably exclude from lists or trash in reviews is sometimes infuriating.
Score = 0
deerhunter is great
Score = 2
surprising that p4k started from 1977. if they started 10 years before, beatles might've taken over the list.
and hell yeah for talking heads.
Score = 0
No Crowded House? Are you taking the pxss? Don't Dream It's Over, Into Temptation, Better Be Home Soon? If you're looking for commercially successful songs that don't carry any of the "corporate invention" tag, how can you go past these perfect pop songs? Neil Finn, undoubtedly the MOST UNDERRATED songwriter of all time...
Also, come on. Rolling Stone chose Summer Babe from Slanted and Enchanted on their top 500 as well. Trigger Cut is where the album really kicks off, and an argument could easily be raised for "In The Mouth a Desert" as the albums best track...
I find most of these lists almost arbitrary...
Score = -1