Screaming Trees were the first band i saw live and set the bar very high for future shows. RIP legend!

Good points – the downvote button was true anarchism in action (a compliment) for this particular community

“All them fucking Gorilla albums” – Comment of the week

Great, means I won’t have to hear it.

gunning for that worst comment of the week I see.

Incredible album. It is kind of a shame all the talk around it is the 10.0 thing. It’s such an emotional powerhouse to me.

Oh so THAT’S why I’ve been depressed.

I get that the Clintons are problematic. However, this post is some bullshit.
I can’t downvote, but I can boo you.
BOO!

As a teacher, I remember the line “When you punish a person for dreaming their dream, don’t expect them to thank or forgive you,” all the time. Just an all-timer.

What I love about Grimes is what makes her an object of mockery here at Stereogum. The openness, being unfiltered and weird and not manicuring any opinion to make sure people will approve. She’s got her share of bad takes and clueless observations, and I often disagree with her. But I love that she’s a woman putting herself out there, not trying to meet anyone’s approval or comply with some imposed image.

Visions has some of the best tracks of Grimes’ career. “Oblivion” and “Genesis” are all-timers. And her best was (and still may be) yet come.

I can no longer be silent… I have to jump in and participate and I figured a virtual year, one I definitely remember, would be a good start. I guess you could say my journey to here started as small child, but my road to here would have started in high school. A good friend of mine and I would jam out to everything imaginable on road trips back then. We don’t see each other often anymore, but frequently share a “Song of the Day” when it comes to mind and frequently discuss the lost art of the music video. A little over a year ago, I took it upon myself to rank every #1 from the 1980s and had never been on Stereogum or had any idea this column existed. I couldn’t find anywhere on the internet where a ranking of these songs existed, but then came across Tom’s columns and was instantly hooked. I’ve been reading since probably virtual 1989 and voting in most of the polls too.

A little about myself… I hail from the Southern U.S. and unfortunately my birth song is “That’s What Friends Are For” brought to you by Dionne & Friends. (It is a 3). Interesting enough, it is probably the last time we saw a star-studded ensemble until today. I’ve often said if producers had reached out to Kermit the Frog to be the 4th “Friend”, the overall quality would have been elevated. I might give it a 5 with Kermit. I feel robbed in that regard as my wife’s birth song is “Money For Nothing” by Dire Straits. I even would have settled for “Party All The Time” by Eddie Murphy, which was so, so very close to shocking the world and becoming my birth song.

My love of music has lasted a lifetime. Every weekend I listen to the VJ countdown on 80s on 8 as well as Downtown Julie Brown’s countdown on 90s on 9. I get my love of “Original Rock N’ Roll”, Blue Eyed Soul, British Invasion and 60’s Bubblegum from my mom and I get my love of Motown and Beach Music from my dad. My wheelhouse though has to be 80s and 90s popular music and I would say most of the sub-genres within. I get my love of that from really just living. My first recollection of “Top 40” music oddly enough is a trio of final appearances on the chart. That would Moody Blues’ final two trips to the charts with “Your Wildest Dreams” and its’ sequel “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” as well as “The Doctor” by The Doobie Brothers. Somewhere along that time, my dad was also wearing out Mike + The Mechanics self-titled album. Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) was a 10 back then and still is. Most of what Paul Carrack touches isn’t far off.

One of my earliest memories is making mix tapes on cassette with my dad. That turned into burning CDs on an external CD burner (probably still one of the best presents I’ve ever received. I’m old enough to remember the 80s, even though I was barely there, because it was still all over popular radio. I’m old enough to have begged to go to the record store to buy a cassette tape and spend lots of time there. I’m old enough to have stayed up all night waiting on a yellow or red dot track to download on the first incarnation of Napster, but I’m young enough to have done the “Soulja Boy” in a college bar. (Hopefully that will get a fair grade and not the 8 or 9 that I expect it will). I love reading what Tom has to say and most of the time, I would say he is spot on. A few times, he has let the politics get in the way of the melody. There have only been a few occasions where I deem his grade as totally absurd. That would be the original column featuring my moms’ “first crush”, the late Ricky Nelson and “Poor Little Fool”(It’s an 8). Also an 8 is “Magic” by ONJ and last but not least, I’m giving a 10 to “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood (maybe a 9 if it didn’t feature Chaka Khan). Anyway, I look forward to remembering my youth with all of y’all. Let’s give “The Song of The Day” from today a 5, as I don’t have anywhere close the distain for Bryan Adams’ catalog.

There’s a give-and-take to the new comments system. V-dog’s complaint is one of the biggest drawbacks. That’s a tradeoff with now having an Edit button, which so many of us have wanted for a long time.

I had planned to post a pithy (and not terribly positive) one-liner about “All For Love” today. However, while watching the official video on YouTube last night, I decided to read the comments. Comment after comment was highly positive, with many people indicating that the song meant a lot to them personally. 

The song still isn’t my cup of tea, but this is yet another example of “every song has its detractors, but every song also has its champions”. This is perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learned during my three years of following Tom’s column (and TNOCS!) religiously.

I know I haven’t been the most active of TNOCS members lately, having mostly lurked for the last little while, but I have been enjoying reading everyone’s comments and Tom’s columns, even if the songs are as bland as a lot of the 1992/93 Number Ones have been.

I haven’t actually read today’s column yet, but I wanted to briefly give thanks to the therapeutic power of music, and boy do I need it.

On Monday evening, my wife had a “massive” brain hemorrhage, and once in the emergency room and consulting with neurologists, it was deemed inoperable, so all they can do is administer morphine to ensure her passing is as comfortable as possible.

As you might imagine, I’m devastated. I’ve been playing her a lot of her favorite music since even though she’s non-responsive apparently music can still be soothing per brainwaves, so I’ve heard a lot of Indigo Girls (her favorite band by far). What I need now though, is something for me, so I’d appreciate if you could share a few uplifting songs that make you feel better.

And Now For Something Completely Different: “World Exploding Touch” was Dublin band Fat Lady Sings’ final single, but I’d argue that they saved the best for last. It’s the kind of passionate indie power ballad that only Irish bands seem to do really well. Listen and swoon.
https://youtu.be/LAn26Jqk_i8

my mum and dad were at a Peter Gabriel gig where he brought her out for ‘Don’t Give Up’. I’ve got used to being jealous of the many amazing gigs my dad went to, being a youngin in London in the 70s/80s, but at that particular one my brother was also present, in utero, so I’m mad at him for that.

Yes Legeis, when I read the full lyrics I thought so.

we could do with an option to expand all threads

Janet Jackson’s “Again” top YouTube official music video comments:
 
1.Came back after watching her documentary!!! I have a new found respect for her!!! I LOVE HER! She has never changed or wavered, only changed for the better🥰 I am sooo happy she is getting her flowers while alive!! SHE IS THE BLUEPRINT OF ALLLL THE POP GIRLS💖
 
2.Crazy story…I was in jail when this song came out and almost every morning when they opened up our cells for breakfast we would turn the t.v. on to watch mtv and they mostly started out the show with this video and for the whole time that video was on we all sat quietly and watched it in peace. That was the only peaceful moment of the day do THANK YOU MRS JACKSON
 
3.25 years later…I can finally relate to the lyrics…painful however beautiful 💕

Would like to express condolences for Tom for the loss of his father. From what I’ve read he was a beloved academic presence and Tom inherited his brilliant mind that is evident with The Number Ones’ columns. Rest in Peace Jack Breihan. Thank You Tom for establishing this awesome community that loves what you do.

For those of us who want to feel old and sad, consider that calling a song “2002” this year is akin to the Smashing Pumpkins calling their song “1979.”

In fact 2002 is even farther back from today than 1979 was to that song’s release date.