Hey, Stylus--publish a top 100 albums of a decade list.

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Your Top 50 albums of the 00s list was great (especially the graphics, major props to that guy/girl). Why not do another decade? I know your editors would be up for it, and it's always nice to have a list to reference if I'm ever looking for some new (old) music ~~especially since I've pretty much exhausted all the old PF ones~~. I'd e-mail you, but it seems like half of the staff posts on ILM. Possible? (I'd keep away from the 70s, though-- the forthcoming ILM list will render all others obsolete haha)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 27 March 2005 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

(Oh yea, and Pitchfork should assemble one for the 1960s, although that's pretty scary. You have to deal with a lot of heavyweights there.)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 27 March 2005 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure how big everyone's gonna be on doing even more lists...

― djdee (djdee2005), Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry, i don't mean to derail or hijack this thread, but i'm just curious, does anyone actually read these lists (besides poortheatre)? i can't stand these damn things, and every music magazine/website has one, every week, with some minor difference from the one they published the week before. i'm somewhat surprised to see someone asking for yet another list, considering the suffocating abundance of them. i figured that people just sort of look over them quickly to see if their favorite album in there, or if some shitty album is too high on the list, and then go off to some message board to complain about the list. i didn't figure that anyone actually anticipated them.

sorry, i was just talking to myself.

― Michael C. Bonk, Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm pretty sure they're very likely to increase the number of readers. Lists get hits.

― djdee (djdee2005), Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:05 (twenty-one years ago)

and in an archival sense, these things are gold.

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:20 (twenty-one years ago)

and from a writerly angle, they're great opportunities to write little bits about favorite albums. or write little bits about albums that your editor assigns you.

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm somewhat surprised to see someone asking for yet another list, considering the suffocating abundance of them.

The only music publications I read are Village Voice, Pitchfork, Stylus, and whatever my girlfriend's roommate has stacked up on the back of their toilet, and the only lists I see in those come at the end of the year.

i figured that people just sort of look over them quickly to see if their favorite album in there

I do that when I come across some Rolling Stone list from '92 or something, but Stylus has a really dyamic, talented staff right now, and I'd like to see their take on a decade. Lists are especially helpful for amateurs like me just for the exposure to new artists.

The individual lists are the most helpful part, actually. If there's an editor that has eight of my favorite albums in their top ten, and I haven't heard the other two, that's the most effective recommendation I could get...

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I seem to remember really liking when Stylus did their 101-200 favorite albums list, if even for just the concept.

Anyway, I'd be more interested in a Top 100 singles of the 19X0's, preferably a decade where 45's were more prevalent.

― Matt Chesnut, Sunday, 27 March 2005 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

how about an extra kink rather than just a damn decade? how about best albums that sold more than two million copies? best album that starts with the letter "s"? best album to have only one top 40 single? best album the writer's owned longer than they haven't? i think Senor Googl-a-lot can find plenty of decade lists.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 27 March 2005 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

or we could get really kinky and do the 100 best albums of a year that aren't on any of a couple other places' lists rather than reaffirm that yes David Bowie made a couple winners.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 27 March 2005 04:06 (twenty-one years ago)

or we could do a seventies list for the folks who don't inhabit the ilm hive!

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Sunday, 27 March 2005 04:14 (twenty-one years ago)

on stylus? how?

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 27 March 2005 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

(I kid)

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 27 March 2005 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Agree that there are too many lists with this years, Mojo’s "50 Albums That Will Fry Your Brain" confirming it. What? Some great albums were listed though.

That being said, I love lists and could never have enough of them but the beginning of this year was a bit much. I think http://acclaimedmusic.net lists are the best, most balanced and the one I seem to refer to the most. I also really like Tony’s web site http://www.fastnbulbous.com , how can one man listen to that much music?

― BeeOK (boo radley), Sunday, 27 March 2005 05:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I know there are countless lists out there, but I want the Stylus interpretation. I love all the "Best songs to listen to while eating bananas Foster" lists you guys do, but think those are a lot more entertaining for the writers than the readers.

You guys are like a great theatre troupe. Why avoid Hamlet?

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Sunday, 27 March 2005 05:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I just checked out fastnbulbous and I am perplexed. How in the hell could someone absorb that much music (and still like Razorlight)?

― jmeister (jmeister), Sunday, 27 March 2005 05:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm down for doing a list on Stylus any time, any qualifier.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 27 March 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"Andrew Unterberger's Top 100 Words To Use When Proposing List Ideas"

;-)

― Matt Chesnut, Sunday, 27 March 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I've made some pretty obscure top 100 lists in my time.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 27 March 2005 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, but have you made a top 100 list of top 100 lists? And are you making a top 100 list for this thread (once it reaches 100 posts, of course)? I'm beginning to question your devotion.

― Matt Chesnut, Sunday, 27 March 2005 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

nah, my closest thing to that so far is

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 27 March 2005 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

wasn't there talk on the staff board that we should lay off the lists for a while? (oh sure, right after i join!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Sunday, 27 March 2005 08:10 (twenty-one years ago)

BAN LISTS

― whatever (nordicskilla), Sunday, 27 March 2005 08:11 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost

― whatever (nordicskilla), Sunday, 27 March 2005 08:11 (twenty-one years ago)

My pitch to Stylus for a list exercise would be sort of what miccio said above: do "Top 100 albums not in the Rolling Stone 500" (or some other well-known, canonical list). That'd be interesting and definitely worthwhile (esp. the individual writers' lists).

― Keith C (kcraw916), Sunday, 27 March 2005 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

yes but it would mean looking at a rolling stone top 500 list!

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Sunday, 27 March 2005 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

one of the only such lists i've ever really enjoyed and repeatedly returned to was the Wire's 100 Records That Set The World On Fire lists. It was ranked, it wasn't a best of, it was just an index of amazing overlooked stuff that and little blurbs on why they were influential, etc. Actually had a point and turned me on to some amazing stuff.

― william fields, Sunday, 27 March 2005 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

typo: I meant to say it *wasn't* ranked...

― william fields, Sunday, 27 March 2005 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

can I find that list somewhere on the net?

― Rizzx, Sunday, 27 March 2005 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

hopefully, the next pfm list will be the year-end ones. I think the staff has a list hangover at the moment. If there was another non-2005 list in the next year or so, I would guess it most likely would be a 19x0s singles list.

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Sunday, 27 March 2005 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait...did anyone say "pfm"? ;)

― deej., Sunday, 27 March 2005 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry, i don't mean to derail or hijack this thread, but i'm just curious, does anyone actually read these lists (besides poortheatre)?

Me! I often discover a lot of stuff I like through them. Especially pfm's.

[ducks]

― sleep (sleep), Sunday, 27 March 2005 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

The wackier the better. "Top 5 Julian Lennon Songs," say.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 27 March 2005 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Stylus could do a "Top 100 Tracks By Either Girls Aloud, Nellie McKay, or The Junior Boys".

Actually, we should.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 27 March 2005 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Really" will be robbed. I can just tell.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 27 March 2005 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

wasn't there talk on the staff board that we should lay off the lists for a while? (oh sure, right after i join!)

Yeah, there's always 1/2 of the staff that's all anti-canonical and shit. Oh well.

We've probably got a list coming up for SGS, if it's any consolation.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 27 March 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The list is here: http://www.fastnbulbous.com/wire100.htm but it doesn't include the commentary. The Wire's site only has an appended "extras" they did later...and it's not so good.

― william fields, Sunday, 27 March 2005 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

Did someone say lists? ;) I just wanna say that my own lists aren't necessarily an attempt to create a "canon." Rather it's just a way to keep track of favorite albums, as I have a memory like a sieve. Julian's Rock List site (http://www.rocklist.net) is a great source for those masochi...hungry for more lists.

**[Wire's 100 Records That Set The World On Fire] doesn't include the commentary.**

They used to have a page with the commentary but it disappeared. Maybe I'll try to dig that up -- they did give me permission to reprint it a long time ago, but I forgot about it.

― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, 1 September 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

Julian's Rockist site.

― Confounded (Confounded), Thursday, 1 September 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

There's a couple of lists coming up in the next few weeks.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 1 September 2005 20:28 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

Wish this could happen for the 00s.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 3 October 2009 09:58 (sixteen years ago)

Cosign.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Saturday, 3 October 2009 10:09 (sixteen years ago)

was just reading the freestyle guide again

― alex b. skeaton (tremendoid), Saturday, 3 October 2009 10:21 (sixteen years ago)

Wish this could happen for the 00s.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 3 October 2009 10:58 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

― I'M LEGALLY A MIDGET (a hoy hoy), Saturday, 3 October 2009 11:39 (sixteen years ago)

c'mon dudes. One more go for old times sake?

― cervix-a-lot (Pillbox), Saturday, 3 October 2009 13:58 (sixteen years ago)

Someone pay me and I'll organise it.

― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 3 October 2009 14:23 (sixteen years ago)

brought to you by Salcombe Dairy Frosty Goods

― modescalator (blueski), Saturday, 3 October 2009 15:04 (sixteen years ago)

Salcombe Dairy is actually just down the coast from me, and their ice cream is exquisite.

― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 3 October 2009 15:11 (sixteen years ago)

they're already paying you i see

― modescalator (blueski), Saturday, 3 October 2009 15:28 (sixteen years ago)

the Wire list, with commentary: http://rateyourmusic.com/list/FeifUmgotnn/wires_100_records_that_set_the_world_on_fire__while_no_one_was_listening____30_runners_up_that_were_left_out_of_the_original_article

― kclu, Saturday, 3 October 2009 17:16 (sixteen years ago)

"100 Records That Set The World On Fire (while no one was listening)"

um, no one was listening to dr.john, blue cheer, sun ra, albert ayler, steve reich, son house, esquivel, stan kenton, or charles ives??????

i've only made it to number 15 on the list.

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 17:21 (sixteen years ago)

phil ochs and buffy sainte marie????

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 17:22 (sixteen years ago)

herbie hancock and miles davis????

okay, i'll stop. just sayin'...

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 17:24 (sixteen years ago)

Compared to, you know, Radiohead, no one was listening.

― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:27 (sixteen years ago)

yeah, okay...

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:29 (sixteen years ago)

I wish it wasn't so, you know. It's just the way it is.

― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:31 (sixteen years ago)

i will now judge everything in units of radiohead. how much i weigh, the time it takes me to get to one place or another, etc.

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:32 (sixteen years ago)

esquivel was the radiohead of his day. and he sold a TON of records.

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:33 (sixteen years ago)

gonna stick my neck out here, not heard most of the albums in the wire list...

― modescalator (blueski), Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:34 (sixteen years ago)

Wish this could happen for the 00s.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, October 3, 2009 2:58 AM Bookmark

― wit and wisdom (snrub 'n' tug remix) (The Reverend), Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:34 (sixteen years ago)

i'm just going by the title of the list. "NO ONE" was listening. i mean, i know its hyperbole, but come one, plenty of people bought that miles davis album. there are a zillion great albums that only, like, 20 people bought. that's the list i want to see. bob dylan bootleg series CD? ????

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:38 (sixteen years ago)

esquivel was the radiohead of his day. and he sold a TON of records.

"Señores y señoras, del álbum nuevo Niño A, 'Todo En Su Lugar Correcto.'"

*stereophonic keyboards zoom across the speakers*

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:39 (sixteen years ago)

okay, what do i know, maybe NOBODY bought on the corner when it came out. it was supposed to be kind of a dud for him, right? but still...

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:49 (sixteen years ago)

and they are right on with the joe meek album. nobody heard it cuz it never came out.

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:50 (sixteen years ago)

scott, shouldn't you be arguing about whether these records really 'set the world on fire' - that part of the hypothesis is easier to disprove, as the world has never been set on fire.

― iatee, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:52 (sixteen years ago)

scott, shouldn't you be arguing about whether these records really 'set the world on fire' - that part of the hypothesis is easier to disprove, as the world has never been set on fire.

― iatee, Saturday, 3 October 2009 19:52 (50 seconds ago) Bookmark

really? the world always seems on fire somewhere

http://scf-cfs.rncan-nrcan.gc.ca/images/7818

― I'M LEGALLY A MIDGET (a hoy hoy), Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:54 (sixteen years ago)

I feel like the implication is 'the entire world' - but I suppose it could be interpreted as 'set part of the world on fire'

― iatee, Saturday, 3 October 2009 18:56 (sixteen years ago)

yeah, i didn't even think about that. that whole list is a lie!

― scott seward, Saturday, 3 October 2009 19:00 (sixteen years ago)

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