Most Overrated Act To Get More Than Two Songs On Pitchfork's Best Songs Of The 80s

Maybe surrealism but not horror.

ugh polls ugh bands ugh "one artist one song" ugh ugh but i had to pop in to say "Head Over Heels" is a zillion times waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the cheeseball "Everybody Wants To Run the World"

Incorrect. Thank you for playing.

I don't like DRoss much, but those singles listed upthread are pretty great.

Diana Ross saved my damn life, she's underrated - her '79/'80 stuff just rules imo

TFF has rad keyboard sounds but are one of the most insufferable bands, they have that proggy "here let me explain the world to you chumps" style lyrically. they're essentially Billy Joel with better taste

u2 obviously, but otoh the pixies songs in question don't really make the pixies seem amazing

like, literally every other song they released in the 80s > 'where is my mind'

Also it seems like it's not really a Frankie Knuckles song. It's by Jamie Principle and Knuckles just liked to play it and attached his name to it to make it more famous:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Your_Love_(Frankie_Knuckles_song)

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, August 26, 2015 7:04 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thats not what this says

AnCo did not sample 'Your Love' - three note arpeggios are a pretty common thing.

this thread is odd. not bad, but kind of challop central.

i really like a couple tears for fears songs but this:

they have that proggy "here let me explain the world to you chumps" style lyrically.

― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, August 26, 2015 3:01 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

is very true and nails something i have sometimes felt in an inchoate way, so thanks for that.

i don't think i have a problem in theory with some artists owning huge amounts of real estate on this list. i mean i don't really care about this list full stop, so why am i even posting? because school hasn't started yet. new order should not have four songs, but i'd be okay with prince having ten tbh.

MJ, too. Janet, for that matter. could have ten and it would seem fair to me, i mean.

they have that proggy "here let me explain the world to you chumps" style lyrically.

Hello, Andy Partridge.

Gonna hop in here as much as possible to say Guns N Roses suck.

The whole purpose of this thread is to show how anti-rockist you are but I gotta be me. Diana Ross solo sux 4eva

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, August 25, 2015 8:04 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think this has to be the dumbest post in the thread

This post makes me feel unsafe. I will not be bullied by you and I will not put up with you mansplaining why I'm wrong to think that Diana Ross sux 4eva.

That would be a textbook example of mansplaining, I'll grant.

(In reverse.)

I'm just messing around. But I do find it odd how these threads are always an occasion to talk about how much rock music sucks (except the Smiths for some reason, who have more shitty songs than any "great" band).

why is it odd?

Smiths suck. There, that's evened things up a tad.

A lot of rock music sucks. Like The Replacements.

I think it's a way to fit in with the crowd more than an objective appraisal of the music. Rock music, or music made by white, American (for the most part except U2 is obviously an exception here) males is an easy target.

My intense personal belief that solo Diana Ross sux 4eva will get people angry, but the hatred for U2, the Replacements (who really are just the American Smiths) is welcome.

Obviously this is just my probably uninformed opinion and people like Alfred do not count in it because I've seen from your posts that you listen to everything.

Diana Ross only because we're limiting to the 80s.

I think it's a way to fit in with the crowd more than an objective appraisal of the music.

Think harder. Also, read other people's posts:

I mean, I kind of hate Diana Ross and this is STILL The Replacements.

― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Tuesday, August 25, 2015 9:51 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're all welcome to hate the Eagles.

Axl Rose is a hateful muppet. That is a case of right place right time all-time lucking out and there are way more talented rock and pop and electro (where's the breakdance music?) musicians that get forgotten in lists like this for another yet showing of "Sweet Child of Mine".

I think, at this point, I'd like to read more discussion about why, sonically, the Smiths suck or R.E.M. sucks or the Cure suck or the Replacements suck or the Pixies suck. Conversely, after looking at some of the Pitchfork list, I think I'd like to read less discussion of why, sonically, a record like "In the Air Tonight" is great.

Diana Ross only because we're limiting to the 80s.

this is garbage

Think harder

About what?

I hate the Smiths but that's more of a case of I hate Morrissey as a person than anything.

I like The Smiths but I never listen to them

I think it's a way to fit in with the crowd more than an objective appraisal of the music.

this is such an odd binary if you think of it. Either you're taking a cold hard look at which acts are truly meritous, or you're being deceitful to impress others. no room to have a subjective but genuinely felt opinion.

like, i love the replacements, but to leap to "you're LYING" if someone prefers whitney houston is kinda absurd - if anything THAT suggests an inability to think objectively

Who said it's a binary? Not me. I am just saying that people like to have approval from their peers, especially in music which is such a central part of people's identities. And the way to get approval from your peers, at least on threads like these, is to complain about rock music and praise things that sux 4eva like solo Diana Ross.

I don't believe it's a conscious decision.

Pls read the title of the thread.

Lot of complaining to be expected in a thread titled "most overrate act".

it's a funny thing, nobody ever calls out this need for approval from their peers except when they're not getting it

A lot of rock music sucks. Like The Replacements.

there's no way of proving this without me embarking on a project I do not have the spare time for, but as a former Replacements loather (reading everybody say how fuckin great they were all through the early-mid 80s was such a drag to me every time I actually heard their records: this? this is the hill you guys are putting the flag on? this?) who did the thing I always end up doing -- sitting down with music I'm pretty sure I really hate and giving it a good hard "everybody likes this cake and I don't, what's in this cake" listen -- I wonder if you don't just hate 1) the singing, 2) the production/mix and 3) the aesthetic. Which was me, for years, but im2015o, the songs are actually very often super fucking great. like, the boosters are otm about a lot of the songs.

the records still sound like a fly caught between two window screens though, not in the positive "I love this noise band from Finland" way either.

detaching from having particular artists / aesthetics as a central part of one's identity is a good thing to do in your early 20s. maybe it should be a college course. of course then we're just adopting a meta-aesthetic. btw in this meta-aesthetic the Pixies still suck.

x-post about "read the title of the thread"
I did man. I'm also reading comments like these:

also, who the hell is Frankie Knuckles?
Get out. Get out now.

Could vote for a few of these, but Slick Rick seems the most eligible candidate for knocking off.

terrible opinion

the sound of those replacements albums has always been a huge issue for me but i prob need to try again

I wonder if you don't just hate 1) the singing, 2) the production/mix and 3) the aesthetic.

It is my opinion that 1 and 3 are intrinsic components of any artistic endeavor, so I don't think it's particularly fair or illuminating to say "If The Replacements were a completely different band, I might like them." (The only Replacements song I like is "Within Your Reach", which basically sounds nothing like any other Replacements song I've listened to.)

i started this thread because i wanted to hear who people MOST thought didn't belong on the list, rather than just a general sense that there was chaff. naturally those choices are going to be argumentative and subjective. if you genuinely think diana sux 4eva (a sentiment i personally have only minimal beef with, in that my fave songs of hers kinda work despite her flaws) you shouldn't have to go to some "oh people just like to hate on whitey to impress their friends" self-pity zone just cuz you got a little pushback

Sadly, I have better reasons to go into a self-pity zone than pushback on an 80s thread.

"Within Your Reach" is great, one of their greatest, but yeah, no resemblance to any of their other songs.

The kids I knew in high school who hated the Replacements were super into prog, so their hatred was primarily time-signature-based.

xxp

i mean i only have the slightest clue why people think sade is so great, but its not like i've deep dived on the matter. in terms of artists who've never meant shit to me i'd probably vote for her (frankie knuckles i don't think i've ever heard) and if someone was like "SADE ROOLS, CURE DROOLS" its not like i can't fathom reasons other than "wanting to look PC" that someone might dislike the cure, turgid crybabies who occasionally toss some proto-rebecca black on the top 40

Yeah man

sade rools cure drools

no no no

it should be "Sade is dope/Cure are mopes"