worst protest song/political song to place in the Pazz & Jop singles poll

I explained in the original post that this poll is limited to songs that weren't big pop hits -- "Sun City" was the only one that cracked the top 40, and that had to be here since it was so infamously and embarrassingly #1 on P&J. we could do a separate poll of actual hits or better known songs by the artist that are a bit preachy and probably benefited from that on P&J: "Sign O' The Times," "Rockin' In The Free World," "People Have The Power," etc.

I don't have Ramones Mania, and don't know the exact year that P&J singles started ('80 or '81?), but I'm guessing it's either their best single or very close to it during the lifespan of the singles poll. All the Ramones songs I like better myself would come from one of the first four albums.

arguments to the contrary: I Wanna Be Sedated, Rock'n'Roll High School, We Want The Airwaves, Pet Sematary, Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?, I Don't Want To Grow Up

so Creed's "In America" never made Pazz adn Jop then? man that'd be an all-out winner if it'd charted higher.

how many Creed songs made P&J?! I can't imagine more than 3 or 4

3 or 4 too many

good as wolf repellant tho

that fuchs quote is interesting but surely it's from the first edition i.e. circa 1985 re: the wave of singles in the wake of "the message" in a landscape before by any means necessary, before nation of millions, before radicalism and militancy generally speaking. it kind of looks like a 1991 quote up there which is different.

no Creed song ever placed in P&J

^see and you guys say there's no God

i once believed in God so much I removed a tritone from a song I wrote cuz I thought he'd be mad at me

that fuchs quote is interesting but surely it's from the first edition i.e. circa 1985 re: the wave of singles in the wake of "the message" in a landscape before by any means necessary, before nation of millions, before radicalism and militancy generally speaking. it kind of looks like a 1991 quote up there which is different.

― zvookster, Tuesday, January 25, 2011 4:27 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it is & doesnt apply here perfectly but i think in this instance its fair to say that this is the kind of song rap fans dont give 2 shits about

pet semetary is really awesome

kkk took my baby away

xp: Yeah, the Fuchs quote is from the 1984 first edition.

poll should've been for best not worst

Whoops. So, "rap fans" never cared about political rap songs? That's a big leap even from that quote, which is saying something else.

I like Dead Prez

Singles poll started in 1979 (post-"Sedated," which was 1978, unless it got reissued later), and I might agree with clemenza about "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" being their best single since then -- it's up there, anyway -- though I might actually vote for "Tomorrow She Goes Away" off Mondo Bizarro instead, if that was as single.

I remember loving a SPIN piece that said the problem with U2 is they'd never record a song called "Pet Cemetery."

Rock'n'Roll High School, We Want The Airwaves, Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?

On the other hand, these are all real good, too. (And "I'm Affected," if that was a single.)

wikipedia says "Sedated" wasn't released on a single until '79 and not in the U.S. until '80, although I'm not sure how well known it was before the 1988 video shot in support of Ramones Mania compared to after

Whoops. So, "rap fans" never cared about political rap songs? That's a big leap even from that quote, which is saying something else.

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, January 25, 2011 4:45 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

rappers & rap fans kowtowing to critical norms from 'respectable' genres has been a blight on rap thru-out its history which is why i brought up that quote in relation to the legendary ko's wack song

i mean i love the message & so do most rap fans but did u know that its classic verses were actually not a part of 'the message' but another, non-'message' song?

some version of superrappin iirc?

http://palmgoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/the_more_you_know2.jpg

poll should've been for best not worst

― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, January 25, 2011

yeah wld have preferred that as i said upthread but there's a lot of good stuff itt so idk

what rapper has ever kowtowed to "critics" about content

Not to turn this into a Ramones thread, but I was going to say that "I Wanna Be Sedated" is one of the first four albums, so maybe it qualifies (or maybe not, for the reasons cited above). I love "Pet Semetary" too, plus a few songs off of Pleasant Dreams and Subterranean Jungle. For me, knowing maybe two-thirds of their output post-Tommy, it would come down to "Bonzo" or "Pet Sematary." But, to get back to the subject at hand, I think "Bonzo" totally deserved however high it placed in P&J, and don't see whatever votes it got as being career-achievement votes, or people voting for a Ramones song just for the sake of voting for a Ramones song.

wikipedia says "Sedated" wasn't released on a single until '79 and not in the U.S. until '80

Interesting; I had no idea. Though it explains this 1980 P&J singles ballot, which I'd always wondered about.

LESTER BANGS: Au Pairs: "Diet"/"It's Obvious" (021 import); Teenage Jesus & the Jerks (Migraine EP); Mars (Lust Unlust EP); Mekons: "Snow" (Red Rhino); the Clash: "Bankrobber" (CBS import); Lipps Inc.: "Funkytown" (Casablanca); Ramones: "I Wanna Be Sedated" (RSO); Was (Not Was): "Wheel Me Out" (ZE/Antilles); Public Image Ltd.: "Memories"/"Another" (Virgin import); Bush Tetras: "Too Many Creeps" (99).

what rapper has ever kowtowed to "critics" about content

lol Chuck D

Jay-Z

xuxhk while you're here and kind of on the subject: did Bangs vote in '79, the year "Let It Blurt" placed in the poll? and what's up with that, was it like a bunch of his friends and contemporaries voting for a fellow crit's song?

political rap was awesome, i h8 white devils all that shit was great, black fist shit, a lot of ppl on this thread need to listen to poor righteous teachers and study their lessons

it's always been cool guy default ilx to be all like oh god all that self righteous stuff is soooo boring doncha know? omg it's really gauche...but a lot of it was dope and i wish more rappers would be political now, lots of anger and energy about actual stuff not just headbussing (which is cool too sometimes but that's all there is now) would be refreshing and fun....it's fun for kids to get angry about stuff they can't change, i loved every second of it.

build and destroy (ilx)

- rightstarter.

and i KNOW xhuckx classic shit is OH THE MESSAGE VERSES ARE SO MUCH MORE FASCINATING WHEN PLACED AMONG THE BACKDROP OF ALL THE YES Y'ALL AND WHO IS A SCORPIO AND MAKE MONEY MONEY OF THE ORIGINAL BECAUSE ITS SO TEXTUALLY FASCINATING ETC

but it it's better in the actual message and the weird creepy synths of the message is so much cooler than the third hand chic disco stuff

god this is like my all time ax to grind against ilx and i'm grinding it now

I don't remember anyone offering you a grindstone.

i got a grindstone by any means necessary

And the idea that '88 righteousness was the creation of white gatekeepers or whatever is an amazing fiction.

oh god

ppl get mad defensive abt rap on here!

lol @ the idea that i suggested '88 political rap was related to white gatekeepers

i posted that fuchs quote bcuz i think it applies to 'legendary ko' not every political rap ever

u effin nerds

jay-z kowtowed to barack obama not christgau

obama demanded anti autotune song

poll should've been for best not worst

― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, January 25, 2011

yeah wld have preferred that as i said upthread but there's a lot of good stuff itt so idk

― zvookster, Tuesday, January 25, 2011 5:57 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

'best' thread would've had probably a very similar conversation and a much more predictable poll result, with this i really don't know where it's gonna go, which for me is the main criteria for making a thread a poll

obama demanded anti autotune song

― emma goldbond (San Te), Tuesday, January 25, 2011 8:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

oh so by "critics" we mean "rap fans" those notorious agents of change

its fair to say that this is the kind of song rap fans dont give 2 shits about

rappers & rap fans kowtowing to critical norms from 'respectable' genres has been a blight on rap thru-out its history

Not defensive, more just amazed in a baffled kind of way, and genuinely curious about the imagination and projection that would inspire these lines.

Ha, I'm not even sure I'd say "Superrappin" is better than "The Message" these days -- they're both pretty great.

did Bangs vote in '79, the year "Let It Blurt" placed in the poll? and what's up with that, was it like a bunch of his friends and contemporaries voting for a fellow crit's song?

I wasn't there, yet. But I could've sworn that, in his P&J essay that year, Xgau said something like "I feel compelled to mention that at least X votes for 'Let It Blurt' came from confidantes of Lester, and at least one came from Lester himself. I also feel compelled to mention that it's a pretty good record anyway." But looking at the essay on Xgau's website, I'm not finding any of that. (Did I dream it? Or maybe the web version edits the original print version, which I'll check the next time I did through the closet.) At any rate, Bangs definitely did vote that year; his album ballot is still on the website. Not positive he voted for the single, though.

"dig" through the closet, I meant.

Guess it's also possible Christgau wrote that somewhere other than his P&J essay, but I'm not sure where that would be.