PITCHFORK STAFF ARE WEENIES THREAD

pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9935-the-200-best-songs-of-the-1970s/

What did they get right? What did they forget? Is the #1 spot on all pitchfork lists cursed?

ITT: Share your thoughts, share stuff from the 70's

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transmission or disorder was supposed to be no. 1

Never going to read opinions by pitchfork especially for music that isn't their specialty of indie garbage

From 100-50 is actually a decent list, the top 50 is a lot of legacy picks as usual. Michael Jackson is way to high too, just like in the 80s list

Top 10 enshrines critical consensus that disco>punk. I love Prince but I Wanna Be Your Lover is not the 9th best song of the decade. Honestly surprised they kept a rock pick at #1. Agreed that MJ is way too high.

>Top 10 enshrines critical consensus that disco>punk.

Fucking kek

You mean it enshrines shitty pandering revisionist history

disco has always been better than punk

Disco lead to most dance music today

All the more reason it was shit

Looking at the list again the top picks are just a mess, I don't know why they number the lists instead of just doing the list in batches with a general tier. Some artists it seems they pick one of their songs and it's supposed to be a rep for the whole band (Faust, Fela Kuti, Beatles & Stones, Dylan) but then they'll have separate songs for Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, Bowie. Let alone placement, saying Bohemian Rhapsody is a top 20 song of the decade is just ludicrous. I think the disco>punk is just a reaction to their current readership, hip-hop and sampling brought disco back while the decline of indie means that pop is less influential. If this list was made in the 2000s when pitchfork was indie focused it would be the reverse situation

*punk not pop

>I think the disco>punk is just a reaction to their current readership

Current? Pitchfork has always loved DFA artists like The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem or some others like Annie, Justice, Lindstrom, Todd Terje

Disco's been pretty close to the indie scene

But nowadays there's a huge influx of hip-hop too. Also DFA scene could be said to be related to punk as well since dance-punk comes all the way back from Liquid Liquid & friends

well yeah, and that's why it sucked

Punk is dead.

Am I wrong or didn't Pitchfork already make this list like a decade ago? Or was that albums?

Either way the embracing of pure poptimism is no shocker here. The one I remembered paid most love to Berlin, Bowie, Eno, punk, post-punk, krautrock, reggae, dub, funk, etc. etc. Now all that stuff gets the obligatory nod with the focus on disco, pop and rock.

As Pitchfork writers become the age of Rolling Stone writers they just turn into Rolling Stone lol

>that handful of jazz songs scattered throughout

Goddamn it just knock it the fuck off. You are hipster indie neo-poptimist douchebags, don't try to create the illusion that you know what you're taking about.

I'm glad to see "I Feel Love" on there, fucking BANGER lads

This is the banger on the list
This is the banger on the list
youtube.com/watch?v=UbkqE4fpvdI

For as much of a joke as Sup Forums generally is I'm glad we at least have the sense to have genre charts

I didn't say I agreed with it. I don't really like dancing, so punk has always resonated more with me. That's just a huge sea change from a little over 10 years ago.

Lol like House and Techno not EDM

You're totally right. I think the major question is if this decline of indie and rock (at least critically, sales numbers say something a bit different) is here to stay in favor of R&B, hip-hop, and EDM or if things will revert back in a few years. The Guardian pointed out that Frank Ocean's album represents the culmination of a lot of major trends this decade (alternative R&B, the influence of indie on black artists, the surprise album release, gender fluidity, hip-hop influenced by British electronic minimalism, etc etc etc), so maybe something different is on the way. Punk (and things influenced by punk) have never been less in vogue - we'll see if that changes.

God this list is just awful. What is wrong with pitchfork?

Yes and no. The more underground strands of disco, sure, but not Michael Jackson, Chic, and Donna Summer.

Terrible, predictable list and I don't even hate p4k.

is there a tl;dr list

Most songs on #1 Record are better than Thirteen

A few of the clear poptimist moves this list makes (agree or disagree, just what I noticed)

>"Rock music emerged from the ’60s as to go-to choice of white youth culture"
>Michael Jackson with 2nd best song of the decade
>No "classic rock" artists other than Bowie in the top 10
>Disco ranked higher than punk (ex. Donna Summer over Television and Joy Division)
>Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" included and then cast primarily as gay anthem.
>Highest Led Zeppelin song the one most sampled in hip-hop
>The highest ranked Lou Reed/Velvets song being the poppiest (Sweet Jane, which is ofc great)
>Almost completely ignoring prog with just one Pink Floyd song, their most straightforward
>CHIC ranked above Talking Heads and The Clash - would have been unthinkable a decade ago
>The Beatles (solo and otherwise) peaking around #60
>The Rolling Stones (and nothing from Exile on Main St) not cracking the top 60.1/2 mentions was their disco crossover hit.
>ELO > Elvis Costello
>Almost every single one of the write ups referencing identity politics in some way

They did the same with krautrock, I feel you man

Yes, still shit

This is why Scaruffi is the only reliable source

Everyone else just forces their shitty agenda into everything.

Dude Sweet Jane was the best song Lou Reed wrote in his career

>no punk rock in Top 10
Punk rock was one of the most important things to happen to pop in the 70s
Blitzkrieg Bop deserves to be in the Top 10 far more than Bohemian Rhapsody.

>no blacks or homos

Can't be good

My dad's favorite band is AC/DC and he hates Led Zeppelin because "their lyrics are too complex". Still, I am 100% certain he would pick a better song than Can't Stop till You Get Enough as the 2nd best song of the 70s

Their 90s list is white as fuck tho, and because it was the fucking 90s I think had too little rap in favor of boring indie rock

punk was awful. post punk was clearly superior.

It's definitely a contender. You're right, my criticism there was off base.

>punk was awful. post punk was clearly superior.
Only if you're an edgy pretentious teenager who visits rym and thinks that all experimentation is good
If you can't enjoy the Ramones you have pleb taste. They're a band you just have to "get". Once you do, you'll love them.

post punk was not always experimental.
you clearly know nothing about the genre

I never said that post-punk is always experimental.

The Ramones are weird. I feel like if I had been in NYC in a certain time at a certain age they would have been earth shattering and I'd be completely enthralled. Looking back now though I just find there's a lot more bands that did their style, but in a more interesting way (to me ofc). One thing I do have to give them major props on though is song length, a catchy song that ends while you're still wanting more takes a certain genius

The 90's list was written 6 years ago.

The same spirit that informed this 70's list would inform the 90's list if it was written today.

Instead of disco domination it would be hip-hop domination. The poptimist artists would be updated to TLC, Green Day, Mariah Carey, etc. The TRUE ARTIST artists would be Radiohead and Bjork instead of Bowie and Prince. The grunge / indie songs would all be viewed through the lens of identity politics with special attention being paid to women / queer / minority fronted bands like Hole, L7, Bikini Kill, etc..

Eh it's alright. Sure some stuff should have been higher or lower but it's hard making a list of 200 something and make everybody happy.

Why does everyone hate bohemian rhapsody its queens only good song

Faust's Krautrock should be at #1

You had one job

AHEM
It's not even the best song on the same album, that title goes to The Prophet's Song

oh boy, i can't wait for the Big Emotional Thinkpiece about that disco record burning event and What It All Means for the lgbtq community, courtesy of "jillian mapes" or some other dweeb

What the shit are you even talking about?

I hope you know no one can even tell if you're an alt-right retard or a SJW retard, you're just a retard.

what are U even talking about

who the fuck

who even addressed you nigga

Disco Destruction Night is already acknowledged as a big racist backlash to a black music movement for years and years, they would only reinstate that idea with something like that.

Fucking love that song.

Watermelon Man is better for the beer bottle blowing beat but I'll allow it

>only good song

You said it yourself, when a band as popular as Queen has been riding one good song for a near half century it's going to wear on some people. I can enjoy a couple Queen songs here and there but BR is not even close to deserving a top 15 decade spot.Put it between 100 and 60 and nobody would care, but Queen 50 spots ahead of the Beatles and other more deserving rock acts? No way

I have a nagging suspicion prince and bowie were up there because of their deaths. these lists are dumb, how do you even compare the stooges to marvin gaye? Screw pitchfork, anyone who takes them seriously deserves no respect

house and techno are both shit, what's your point?

That song has a really nice second half to it, nice pick

(You)

...

Scaruffi also thinks it's one of the best 10 songs of the decade.

They called Bowie a queer icon in one of the write ups for fuck's sake. P4K is unredeemable at this point.

Unpopular opinion: Off The Wall is Michael Jackson's best album, a contender for the best pop album of all time, Can't Stop Til You Get Enough is deserving of its spot.

#1 should have been Heroes though

i love bowie but Life on Mars is such a bad pick for #1

Pitchfork's newfound attempts at covering jazz is just infuriating in general. You're talking about a complete different world featuring MILLIONS of artists and releases but this one Coltrane reissue deserves coverage? And your grade? 9.7 Best New Reissue. Of course. Why not? It's not like there's community and school of jazz criticism that has existed for close to a century. You just reviewed the new Best Coast EP and what's next on the stack? A Giant Steps reissue! Oh yea this is a definite strong 9.7 I can feel it!

It's a good pop song but if you think a pop song is worthy of being the second best song of the 70s you're missing out on a lot of awesome music. I'm not even trying to be an ass, but the 70s had a crazy amount of boundary pushing stuff, a polished pop song (which isn't even MJ's best - Billie Jean) just doesn't really compare well

Why is pitchfork so "Ayyyy black people" lately? All their best new music is black people. I feel like I'm missing stellar rock/electronic music because pitchfork betrayed me.

1) That's what people want to click on/read about. Drake, Rihanna, Kanye, Beyoncé, and Frank Ocean get clicks. Car Seat Headrest doesn't.
2) There haven't been many high profile rock releases this year outside of Radiohead that are also critically acclaimed by anyone. You have either stuff that's relatively big but not acclaimed (Lumineers, Blink-182, 21 Pilots) or acclaimed but not popular (CSH, Mitski, Sturgill Simpson, Whitney, Savages, King Gizzard, etc). This has been a problem in rock roughly since at least the late 90s.

I'm going through and at least samplign each song, the 80s list last year was a lot of fun to do but WAAAAY overpopulated with black music. It should obviously be included but last time every big indie band got one representational track while 70% of the list was funk/hip-hop/soul/post-disco/dance obscurities. They have a very clear bias even if the music is fine

The anti-disco trend was pretty openly racist/homophobic, I can't see any way around. Getting so angry about music that isn't strictly masculine that you buy records to destroy them shows some deeper issues underneath.

Agree that Disco Destruction Night was bigoted, but think there were some legitimate criticisms of disco that weren't purely racial. People don't want to hear "Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band forever.

You can say that about any genre. Classic rock is way more overexposed than disco ever was but nobody hates that music en masse like that.

>I feel like I'm missing stellar electronic music
FACT and RA cover up that base for me pretty well. They were the only reviewing sites that championed elseq 1-5 I think.

Though the same, just look at the overexposion of boybands in the late 90s or Disney pop in the 00s. There were contrary movements but none reached a climax so violent like Disco Demolition Night.

Reminder that there's nothing wrong with hating gay music. It's actually quite healthy for a society

Why

Why is this broken up by genre every 3 songs or so? 3 disco, 3 punk/underground rock, 3 folk, etc? It makes listing 200 songs seem even more arbitrary than it is

>no songs from Ziggy Stardust
>Young Americans makes it on
Does Pitchfork need to pander this hard to black audiences?

That Disorder write-up is so good I can't believe it's only 91. Maybe I'm biased because it's my favorite song

Spotify playlist:

open.spotify.com/user/pitchforkmedia/playlist/5EFFN9rgKo7iy5nS4OBLXg

>NO FUCKING STARLESS ANYWHERE
>NOT EVEN A SINGLE KING CRIMSON SONG MADE IT ON THE LIST

Absolute bullshit

So much disco compared to punk, also it doesnt really seem like they have based this list upon the quality of the songs more the story behind the song or how 'it changed things'

This is a very good point

Is there any mega collection of BNM or lists anywhere?
Some of the albums are surprisingly difficult o find.

I agree with you except for the position of the song. Feel it should probably round out the bottom 20, it's not the second best song of the decade.

Great post

this list reeks of contrarian overly bowie heavy hipster

>a Pitchfork Best Songs of the 70's where Can doesn't even crack the top 50

I.... what...?

>Pink Floyd's only song on the list so far is "Wish You Were Here"
I can see that P4K is just trying to be trendy and can forgive them on some level
>No "Echoes"
P4K is entirely unforgivable

>no Starless
>no Close to the Edge
why do they hate prog?

Did they include black sabbath?

War Pigs at 51.

I would have put Sweet Leaf much higher but I guess there wasn't room between the 15 Giorgio Moroder and Chic songs.

>why do they hate prog?
P4k hates any kind of music that is not black or trendy

>No Ac/Dc

Don't even talk to me

acdc blows

Lack of Close to the Edge is a crime. They really couldn't spare a single disco track for that?

Lou Reed had plenty of representation. Cale on the other hand got shit, I figured Fear is a Man's Best Friend was a shoe in

And their Faust song was Sunshine Girl, a great track but one of their most openly conventional. Meadow Meal is obviously the one to go for

Good write up, ties in with how pitchfork is complete trash at grading rap releases because of their poptimism goggles. They have a tough job to do because obviously any list for this decade that is rock heavy runs the risk of becoming a rolling stone like echo chamber. They're obviously putting rock on the back burner to try and escape from that sort of theme, but it leads to some outright snubs and a lot of nonsensical positions. They write off rock acts throughout the entire piece (the Springsteen blurbs are just bad) but then give Queen one of the highest rankings, a band that is the epitome of the kinds of rock they're trying to distance themselves from. Meanwhile innovative genres like prog and krautrock are left in the back of the list and given token mentions. You nailed it with them largely putting the most accessible songs on the list too, I think this is something that has gotten worse over time. Some of the earlier lists weren't afraid to put a deep cut in the legacy lists but now I think they know that people put the playlists up on spotify, etc. so they put the more straight forward songs on the list and use the alternative tracks as a place for the deeper cuts. Some of their picks feel like they're from vh1, Prince and MJ both deserved their position on the 80s list but putting them this high in the 70s is just transparent and is getting just as bad as Rolling Stone and the Beatles. Both of their tracks are decent tracks but they're from artists that at that time had nowhere reached their full potential. Can alone has 2 better songs than MJ, let alone all the other great acts that got either a token mention or just snubbed entirely. I feel like this is one of their weakest lists to date and whereas before some of their unconventional picks were at least interesting, now they're just trying to justify a bridge of pop music as a reflection of social changes

But who are they pandering too? Do people give a shit about disco enough for a solid third of this list to pander to it?

I feel like the pendulum swung to the total opposite side. 40 years ago the popular music canon would have dismissed disco and barely acknowledged punk while worshiping mainstream rock and ignoring all else. Now that is uncool so disco and the like dominate the list, rock is dismissed and punk gets a weird mix of obligatory and idiosyncratic picks. Black music from the time deserves respect, but no more than all the "white" genres

was he hating it?

Is disco considered "black"? I thought most of the big hits were produced by white folks.