If you like more chill-out songs, try also Art of Noise's "The Ambient Collection". They are very good at the art of sampling.

Will do.

Lists like this exist more for people who think they know what they're talking about to nod and say, 'yes, that should be in there' than as some method of teaching the youth about the past.

 

Starship and Bon Jovi were presumably included by the paper's current 'ironic' scribe. They're in there to provoke conversation as otherwise it's a really, really boring, very thick and completely pointless list.

This is exactly what this list is about. The whole of my teens took place through the eighties and I know how rich the music of that decade really is if you discount the old fart rock like Collins and Clapton and the utter shite like Starship and Bon Jovi.

 

We even had a real indie chart full of good alternative records. God I didn't know it at the time but it does feel like a golden age of music.

One more Art of Noise song: Art of Love. I think there are some common elements between this song and "Loaded" by Primal Scream (esp. the rhythm).

 

We even had a real indie chart full of good alternative records. God I didn't know it at the time but it does feel like a golden age of music.

 

It was the chart show indie chart that showed me the way. Sadly it was the success of Britpop and the loss of truly indie labels, replaced by major subsidiaries with monosyllabic names (Nude, Hut et al) that killed this and replaced it with identikit band after identikit band.

It was the chart show indie chart that showed me the way. Sadly it was the success of Britpop and the loss of truly indie labels, replaced by major subsidiaries with monosyllabic names (Nude, Hut et al) that killed this and replaced it with identikit band after identikit band.

I started reading the inkies back in about 1984. Even then the NME was known a boring w*n**rs paper. I read Sounds at first coz it covered more rock as well as the indie and then switched to Melody Maker just as it was going through an amazing phase with Simon Reynolds, David Stubbs and Chris Roberts and The Stud Brothers all writing for it. Oh how I long for the days of arsequake!

 

This really opened my eyes to the true breadth of indie music, from the fey tweepop to the utter outrageousness of the Buttholes. Amazing.

And all contained within the indie chart. Even as late as 1991 the Buttholes reached #1. Never would happen now.

Concur with everything Grebo and Richie have just said. Under the surface (and sometimes on it) the 80s really were brilliant.

I am sorry but Teardrops better than Life's What You Make It, Spacemen 3's Revolution or anything by The Sisters of Mercy?

 

 

I dont agree with you. Teardops is more than just an ordinary song. It's been with me for over 20 years and I love it more now that I ever did. I really didn't appreciate it's structure or flow for a long time. I never considered it credible but I really feel it is quite special. I guess it was a retro at the time and maybe that could be a reason to claim it wasn't exactly cutting edge. Maybe you feel that only cutting edge songs should be in a list of the best of any decade. You may be right. In my book a good song is a good song (but they can be good for different reasons) and if it flips the right switches in my head for over 2 decades it is either nostalgia or it is good. Maybe it's both, in the case of Teardrops.

 

I'm not ranting or being overly defensive, I've just been thinking about why I love it and thought I would put forward my thoughts as maybe a reflection on the list as a whole.

 

Having also considered the list as a whole I don't think it would have been too much of a surprise for them to have included Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. It would fit with the revisionist attitude often afforded to dead artists and also to the ironic or guilty pleasure feel to some of the other tracks included.

Edited May 4, 201213 yr by tonyttt31

I don't think Teardrops was retro at the time, it was very contemporary. It's a good pop song, I liked it then, I quite like it now, but it's not important.

 

And, no, including Whitney Houston would be so far away from what the NME is supposed to be about. Death of an artist should never lead anyone to reassess how they feel about them...even though it does in so many for some bizarre reason. Whitney's songs were, virtually without exception, absolute rubbish.

Oh, I think I wasn't really clear there. I wasn't supporting an inclusion of Whitney - I'm saying that it would be typical of NME's current revisionist attitude. The publication is a long way from "what the NME is supposed to be about" and her inclusion would not have been surprising to me.

 

 

I deplore revisionism - especially of a dead artists catalogue.

I dont agree with you. Teardops is more than just an ordinary song. It's been with me for over 20 years and I love it more now that I ever did. I really didn't appreciate it's structure or flow for a long time. I never considered it credible but I really feel it is quite special. I guess it was a retro at the time and maybe that could be a reason to claim it wasn't exactly cutting edge. Maybe you feel that only cutting edge songs should be in a list of the best of any decade. You may be right. In my book a good song is a good song (but they can be good for different reasons) and if it flips the right switches in my head for over 2 decades it is either nostalgia or it is good. Maybe it's both, in the case of Teardrops.

 

I'm not ranting or being overly defensive, I've just been thinking about why I love it and thought I would put forward my thoughts as maybe a reflection on the list as a whole.

 

Having also considered the list as a whole I don't think it would have been too much of a surprise for them to have included Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. It would fit with the revisionist attitude often afforded to dead artists and also to the ironic or guilty pleasure feel to some of the other tracks included.

That is a really clear and well thought out set of reasons why you like the track.

 

Personally I thought it was cloying to the nth degree and absolutely hated it from the first time I heard it. I never hated it because it wasn't credible, I hated it because it sends that shudder of revulsion up the base of my spine everytime I hear the song.

 

And it does not belong on any list of the best songs of the decade no matter how much you like it (IMO). I have loved Love Missile F1-11 and Prime Mover for the same length of time and still listen to both of them but I would not include them in a list of the best tracks of the 80s.

 

And, no, including Whitney Houston would be so far away from what the NME is supposed to be about.

 

Just like including Bon Jovi and Starship.

That is a really clear and well thought out set of reasons why you like the track.

 

I'm not sure if that is sarcasm or not as I dont think I listed any reason why I like it.

I have loved Love Missile F1-11 and Prime Mover for the same length of time and still listen to both of them but I would not include them in a list of the best tracks of the 80s.

 

 

 

I have to ask, why not?

 

When constructing a list do you only put in songs that have pushed their genre forward or are important for some reason?

 

Oh, I think I wasn't really clear there. I wasn't supporting an inclusion of Whitney

 

Ahh...well, I don't think even NME is that desperate yet. Heat and all that lot are doing enough to repopularise Houston's massively overrated back catalogue.

I'm not sure if that is sarcasm or not as I dont think I listed any reason why I like it.

Definitely not sarcasm as you do say why you appreciate it although you do say much more than that.

TBH Tony your posts never deserve sarcasm.

I have to ask, why not?

 

When constructing a list do you only put in songs that have pushed their genre forward or are important for some reason?

No I don't but I recognise the difference between a best records list and a favourite records list.

 

 

I think Whitney was so over-rated as a singer. Basically her singing is the equivalent of a guitarist noodling away with a thousand extra notes in a guitar solo.

 

She has a great deal to answer for.

http://www.nme.com/list/100-best-songs-of-...s/267775/page/1

 

also a bit grim. No Teardrop or Loser. No Spice Girls whatsoever. And probably actually a distinct lack of Oasis (i'm not really a fan anyway tho)

I was trying to find that list in postable form. Amazing that Stay Together was so high. Very little dance and thankfullu no cheese. Lots of hip hop and related sub-genres.

http://www.nme.com/list/100-best-songs-of-...s/267775/page/1

 

also a bit grim. No Teardrop or Loser. No Spice Girls whatsoever. And probably actually a distinct lack of Oasis (i'm not really a fan anyway tho)

 

Absolutely delighted (and shocked!) that they've put "Stay Together" by Suede at no.3. Also great to see Animal Nitrate at Number 13 and McAlmont and Butler's "Yes" top 10. Not so good that they've left out Eels and Teenage Fanclub.