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

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"

lol

I dig Sade but would not say that I love Sade (outside of maybe 'It's Only Love That Gets You Through', which is just...uhhh, words fail). But then I generally dig music that makes me feel like I'm in a JC Penney's ca. 1987.

Sade is dope / Cure are mopes
― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP),

this should be the new board description

I'm just really glad "Is It a Crime" made it! Cool that a fan-fave made it over more obvious picks, although I would have taken "Smooth Operator" (or maybe "Love Is Stronger Than Pride"?) as my other Sade track.

It's weird to me that there's no hair metal on the list (closest thing is AC/DC and Guns n Roses, but neither really qualify, IMO). Also, very little mainstream rock in general. No John Cougar Mellencamp, no Dire Straits, no Duran Duran, etc.. Seems a bit narcissism of small differences.

well, in order to get John Mellencamp on the list, we would have had to drop one of the De La Soul songs.

I mean selecting only 200 songs to represent the '80s is no doubt a thankless task, so I can't be too hard on them, though yeah, it makes it a bit harder to defend multiple selections from some of these artists, though I also quibble with lots of their single-selection artist picks. Like Nirvana for instance - it seems a stretch to include them on an '80s list. If they'd never released anything after 1989 I think it's safe to say they wouldn't be on this list.

I havent looked at this list yet but this thread makes it seem afuckingtrocious (also: this,messageboard)

yeah, well that's true that Nirvana wouldn't appear on this list if they hadn't released anything post-1989, but at the same Bleach wouldn't have received anywhere near the same level of acknowledgement, generally speaking, where it not for the record(s) that came after. so in other words, i think the inclusion of Nirvana isn't so much an immediate nod to their output/ influence in the 90s as a reflection of the fact that the 80s stuff was (understandably) re-approached with a more enlightened scrutiny some time after its release.

x-post

This might be challops for some of you but i think 'about a girl' is one of their best songs, however I agree with the sentiment that if it not were for their 90s output noone would remember it.

I'm more invested in 60's rock than 90's rock so there's that. I wasn't really listening to any music in the 90's so I don't have the nostalgia googles to consider Nirvana a super influential band.

The best thing about Nirvana is that Kurt Cobain had a certain songwriting connection to 60's rock, they were the grunge flag bearers but there was something else in there. At their best they were channeling bands like the beatles, at their worst they were... well a grunge band. A product of their generation. Same thing can be said about the Smashing Pumpkins. Gish was interesting to me and channels some Hendrix here and there but the follow-up albums deviated more and more into the rock miasma of the 90's.

I'm aware this could be an 'idiot' opinion and if they had followed the sound of their debut they wouldn't be as famous and 'groundbreaking' as they were, but they also wouldn't sound as dated if they had followed on those 60's influence, ironically.