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Today, Pitchfork—the snarkalicious online music zine
everyone loves to hate—will release a book, printed on actual paper. The tome
is called The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the
Present, and it is billed as containing
“all-new essays and reviews written with the sharp wit and insight for which
the site is known.”
A list like this practically begs for argument, and so it made sense to create a list of amazing songs that Pitchfork forgot. And while we were eventually able to succeed, we must give the Fork credit. Several songs we thought we might list—“What You Know” by T.I., “Galang” by M.I.A., “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and “Check The Rhime” by A Tribe Called Quest—are indeed included in this book. Good for them!
Here, finally, are five tunes that didn’t make the 500, along
with suggestions of songs they could replace should Pitchfork ever decide to
publish a second edition, updated and corrected for posterity.
Elvis Costello - “I Hope You’re Happy Now” (replacing “Runnin’ With The Devil” by Van Halen) — One of Elvis’ bitterest songs comes from his terribly underrated Blood And Chocolate album, which may explain its exclusion.
Blink-182 - “Adam’s Song” (replacing “This Is Hardcore” by Pulp) — The quintessential pop-punk trio has been misunderestimated due to its momentary (but massive) popularity. But “Adam’s Song” still captures teenage angst in a poignant, tuneful way.
Backstreet Boys - “I Want It That Way” (replacing “I Can’t Go For That” by Hall & Oates) — If you’re going to have a cheesy blue-eyed soul ballad on the list, you might as well go all the way.
Lily Allen - “LDN” (replacing “Hyper-Ballad” by Björk) — Addictive fun. A lovely little pop song driven by a jaunty melody and a charming bit of British rapping. The opening scene of the video, which takes place in a record store, is priceless.
Kathleen Edwards - “Six O’Clock News” (replacing “Devil’s Haircut” by Beck) — An Americana instant-classic!
Which songs do you wish Pitchfork would've included?
The Best Producers of the Decade (2000-2009)
The 10 Best Comedians of the Decade…
Where Have All The Weird Girls Gone?…
Evil Dead to Rise Again to Theaters…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
Heather Greene - Moon Hangs Fire
James Yuill - This Sweet Love (Earth…
Orenda Fink - That Certain-Something Spring
Susan Enan - Paste Reviews: Plainsong
Pete Yorn - Last Summer
Replacing Pulp with Blink 182? I thought I respected Paste...
And even thinking about removing "Devil's Haircut"...
Mr. Marino, you obviously weren't at the Paste party at The Knitting Factory in New York when Beck played "Devil's Haircut." As much as I love "Six O'Clock News," leave Beck alone.—Respectfully your editor-in-chief
PS - Kudos to Pitchfork for choosing the right Sufjan Stevens song ("Casmir Pulaski Day")
They put 'This magnificent bird will rise' by Deerhoof but not 'Spirit dities of no tone'? Not 'Top tim rubies'?
They put 'Don't save from the flames,' but not 'Can't Stop'?
They put 'Since I left you' by the Avalanches, but not 'Frontier Psychiatrist'?
They put 'Staring at the sun', but not 'Wolf like me'?
They put any Decemberists songs on this list.
They put 'Poor places', but not 'I am trying to break your heart'?
I could go on and on.
As usual, Pitchfork lists serves as good sources for a couple handfuls of real gems you might not have heard of, but not much else.
Where is 10AM Automatic by The Black Keys!! or any song by them! shame on you pitchforkmedia, they deserve to be on the list, i defy anyone to listen to that song and not feel turned on..
Replacing Björk with Lily Allen (especially "LDN") is a horrible idea. Replacing "Devil's Haircut" at all is a horrible idea...
But the idea of replacing "This is Hardcore" with ANYTHING is blasphemy. And replacing it with a Blink 182 makes me want to kill myself.
Replacing Pulp and Bjork with Blink 182 and Lily Allen. I'm going to assume Nick Marino is a high school student who hacked the Paste site and not blame it on the mag.
Tell me this guy doesn't get paid to write this. I know it's not 'cool' to like Hall & Oates anymore, but replacing them with the Backstreet Boys is the dumbest thing I think I've ever heard. And replacing Bjork for anyone is simply unforgivable. Not to mention that Kathleen Edwards' Six O'Clock News is a beatiful piece of Canadiana. I suppose you wanted them to replace Panda Bear with Jack Johnson, too?
While I can appreciate a couple of the suggested additions, the thought of replacing Pulp with Blink 182 or Bjork with Lily Allen, is juvenile. While music is a preference, I prefer never to read an article by the likes of this guy again. He is clearly waxing nostalgia for his sad MTV upbringing and obvious influence on his musical tastes, while anyone who reads Pitchfork generally never would be influenced by MTV, at least in the last 20 years. Paste should do themselves a favor and let Mr. Marino never express an opinion again.
WOW...
Backstreet Boys - “I Want It That Way” (replacing “I Can’t Go For That” by Hall & Oates) — If you’re going to have a cheesy blue-eyed soul ballad on the list, you might as well go all the way.
Lily Allen - “LDN” (replacing “Hyper-Ballad” by Björk) — Addictive fun. A lovely little pop song driven by a jaunty melody and a charming bit of British rapping. The opening scene of the video, which takes place in a record store, is priceless.
----WOW