The Pitchfork 500

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The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present is a book compiling the greatest songs from 1977 to 2006, published in 2008 by Pitchfork Media. The book focuses on specific genres including indie rock, hip-hop, electronic, pop, metal, and experimental underground. The book is broken down into 9 chronological periods, each period beginning with a description of the music scene before the featured artists, and how those artists changed the music scene.[1] Time described the book as having "42 critics to cover 30 years of music, from 1977 punk to 2006 crunk, and all the starry-eyed, acoustic acts in between."[2]

Critical reception[]

The book received attention and criticism from mainstream and alternative media. TIME commented that the book's record reviews "have been pleasantly stripped of their supercilious phrases" and that "its tributes to popular songs are exquisite" but concluded, "the project comes off like a personal message that High Fidelity's Rob Gordon might obsessively attach to a mix-tape."[2] The Washington City Paper called it Pitchfork's "boomer-like shot at print-based respectability, a coffee-table book..."[3] Under the Radar gave the book a 7/10 rating, noting that Pitchfork "has emerged as arguably the preeminent music criticism source of its time while fashioning itself into a multimedia powerhouse".[4]

On the other hand, the Houston Press criticized the book for what it saw as its unwarranted disregard for Latin, country, funk, soul, and classic rock, opining that Pitchfork's "school of criticism has always relied more on trendy perceptions than actual musical merit and song structure."[5] And Time Out Chicago called the book "a slow, meandering walk through the arbitrary tastes of the site’s editors and authors" and "a wasted opportunity".[6]

Statistics[]

Prince and Talking Heads had the most songs featured on the list with four each. The Cure, the Clash, New Order, OutKast, Pavement, Pixies, Radiohead, and the Smiths received three spots each. 38 bands and artists had two songs listed. Björk is featured three times: twice in solo work, and once in Icelandic pop group the Sugarcubes. The surviving members of Joy Division have five total when coupled with their work as New Order.

Brian Eno features once as a performer, twice as co-writer (David Bowie's "Heroes" and Talking Heads' "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)"), four times as a producer (Talking Heads' "Memories Can't Wait" and "Born Under Punches", U2's "Bad" and Devo's "Mongoloid"), and two entries are cover versions of his songs (Bauhaus' "Third Uncle" and Uilab's "St. Elmo's Fire").

The 1977–1979 period had the most songs on the list with 66, and 1997–1999 had the fewest with 38.

1977–1979[]

1980–1982[]

1983–1986[]

1987–1990[]

  • Mr. Fingers – "Can You Feel It"
  • Rhythim Is Rhythim – "Strings of Life"
  • A Guy Called Gerald – "Voodoo Ray"
  • MARRS – "Pump Up the Volume"
  • My Bloody Valentine – "You Made Me Realise"
  • Spacemen 3 – "Walkin' with Jesus"
  • Ride – "Dreams Burn Down"
  • Galaxie 500 – "Blue Thunder"
  • Happy Mondays – "Kinky Afro"
  • The Stone Roses – "She Bangs the Drums"
  • Sonic Youth – "Teen Age Riot"
  • Dinosaur Jr. – "Freak Scene"
  • Butthole Surfers – "Human Cannonball"
  • Pixies – "Where Is My Mind?"
  • Fugazi – "Waiting Room"
  • Audio Two – "Top Billin'"
  • Eric B. & Rakim – "I Know You Got Soul"
  • Public Enemy – "Rebel Without a Pause"
  • N.W.A – "Straight Outta Compton"
  • Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – "The Mercy Seat"
  • Ministry – "Stigmata"
  • The Jesus and Mary Chain – "Head On"
  • The Sugarcubes – "Birthday"
  • The Cure – "Just Like Heaven"
  • Morrissey – "Everyday Is Like Sunday"
  • The Pogues – "Fairytale of New York"
  • The Wedding Present – "My Favourite Dress"
  • The Field Mice – "Emma's House"
  • Another Sunny Day – "You Should All Be Murdered"
  • The Dead Milkmen – "Punk Rock Girl"
  • The Primitives – "Crash"
  • The La's – "There She Goes"
  • They Might Be Giants – "Birdhouse in Your Soul"
  • Superchunk – "Slack Motherfucker"
  • Fugazi – "Merchandise"
  • The Jesus Lizard – "Mouth Breather"
  • Slick Rick – "Children's Story"
  • Gang Starr – "Just to Get a Rep"
  • Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock – "It Takes Two"
  • Salt-N-Pepa – "Push It"
  • Beastie Boys – "Hey Ladies"
  • De La Soul – "Me Myself and I"
  • Biz Markie – "Just a Friend"
  • Public Enemy – "Fight the Power"
  • Guns N' Roses – "Welcome to the Jungle"
  • Swans – "Beautiful Child"
  • John Zorn – "The Sicilian Clan"
  • Prince – "If I Was Your Girlfriend"
  • Madonna – "Like a Prayer"
  • Deee-Lite – "Groove Is in the Heart"
  • Pet Shop Boys – "Being Boring"
  • Sinéad O'Connor – "Nothing Compares 2 U"
  • The Orb – "Little Fluffy Clouds"
  • The KLF – "Wichita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard"
  • 808 State – "Pacific State"
  • Orbital – "Chime"
  • Depeche Mode – "Enjoy the Silence"
  • My Bloody Valentine – "Soon"
  • The Vaselines – "Son of a Gun"
  • Beat Happening – "Indian Summer"
  • Daniel Johnston – "Some Things Last a Long Time"
  • Mudhoney – "Touch Me I'm Sick"
  • Pixies – "Wave of Mutilation"

1991–1993[]

1994–1996[]

  • Hole – "Violet"
  • The Smashing Pumpkins – "1979"
  • Green Day – "Longview"
  • Weezer – "Say It Ain't So"
  • Blur – "Girls & Boys"
  • Oasis – "Live Forever"
  • Pulp – "Common People"
  • The Notorious B.I.G. – "Juicy"
  • Nas – "It Ain't Hard to Tell"
  • Mobb Deep – "Shook Ones (Part II)"
  • GZA – "4th Chamber"
  • Pavement – "Gold Soundz"
  • Built to Spill – "Car"
  • Modest Mouse – "Broke"
  • Frank Black – "Headache"
  • The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – "Bellbottoms"
  • Guided by Voices – "I Am a Scientist"
  • Nine Inch Nails – "Closer"
  • Björk – "Hyperballad"
  • Beck – "Devils Haircut"
  • Portishead – "Sour Times"
  • Saint Etienne – "Like a Motorway"
  • Basic Channel – "Octagon"
  • Paperclip People – "Throw"
  • DJ Shadow – "Midnight in a Perfect World"
  • Dr. Octagon – "Blue Flowers"
  • Common – "I Used to Love H.E.R."
  • Jeff Buckley – "Grace"
  • Mazzy Star – "Fade into You"
  • Arthur Russell – "This Is How We Walk on the Moon"
  • Low – "Words"
  • The Auteurs – "Unsolved Child Murder"
  • Jawbox – "Savory"
  • Drive Like Jehu – "Luau"
  • Brainiac – "Pussyfootin'"
  • Napalm Death – "Twist the Knife (Slowly)"
  • Darkthrone – "En ås i dype skogen"
  • Ol' Dirty Bastard – "Brooklyn Zoo"
  • Snoop Doggy Dogg – "Gin and Juice"
  • Luniz – "I Got 5 on It"
  • Cutty Ranks – "Limb by Limb"
  • The Prodigy – "No Good (Start the Dance)"
  • Underworld – "Born Slippy .NUXX"
  • The Chemical Brothers – "Setting Sun"
  • Daft Punk – "Da Funk"
  • Belle and Sebastian – "The State I Am In"
  • Elliott Smith – "Needle in the Hay"
  • The Magnetic Fields – "Take Ecstasy with Me"
  • Palace Music – "New Partner"
  • Arab Strap – "The First Big Weekend"
  • Tortoise – "Gamera"
  • The Sea and Cake – "Parasol"
  • Pavement – "Rattled by the Rush"
  • Guided by Voices – "Game of Pricks"
  • Weezer – "El Scorcho"

1997–1999[]

2000–2002[]

  • Daft Punk – "One More Time"
  • Radiohead – "Idioteque"
  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor – "Storm"
  • The Avalanches – "Since I Left You"
  • Broadcast – "Come On Let's Go"
  • Aaliyah – "Try Again"
  • Justin Timberlake – "Cry Me a River"
  • Luomo – "Tessio"
  • Vitalic – "La Rock 01"
  • Kylie Minogue – "Love at First Sight"
  • Jay-Z – "Big Pimpin'"
  • Outkast – "B.O.B"
  • Eminem – "The Real Slim Shady"
  • Ghostface Killah – "Nutmeg"
  • Missy Elliott – "Get Ur Freak On"
  • The White Stripes – "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground"
  • The Strokes – "The Modern Age"
  • ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – "Another Morning Stoner"
  • Interpol – "Obstacle 1"
  • Electric Six – "Danger! High Voltage"
  • Golden Boy with Miss Kittin – "Rippin Kittin"
  • Jürgen Paape – "So Weit Wie Noch Nie"
  • Osymyso – "Intro-Inspection"
  • The Knife – "Heartbeats"
  • LCD Soundsystem – "Losing My Edge"
  • The Rapture – "House of Jealous Lovers"
  • The Streets – "Weak Become Heroes"
  • Aesop Rock – "Daylight"
  • RJD2 – "Good Times Roll Pt. 2"
  • Bright Eyes – "The Calendar Hung Itself..."
  • Wilco – "Poor Places"
  • Queens of the Stone Age – "No One Knows"
  • My Morning Jacket – "The Way That He Sings"
  • Modest Mouse – "3rd Planet"
  • Clinic – "Distortions"
  • Shellac – "Prayer to God"
  • Mclusky – "To Hell with Good Intentions"
  • Lightning Bolt – "Ride the Sky"
  • The Microphones – "The Moon"
  • The New Pornographers – "Letter from an Occupant"
  • The Shins – "New Slang"
  • The Decemberists – "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect"
  • Radiohead – "Life in a Glasshouse"
  • Broken Social Scene – "Cause = Time"
  • Deerhoof – "This Magnificent Bird Will Rise"
  • Spoon – "The Way We Get By"
  • Dizzee Rascal – "I Luv U"
  • M.O.P. – "Ante Up"
  • Clipse – "Grindin'"
  • Talib Kweli – "Get By"
  • Jay-Z – "Takeover"

2003–2006[]

References[]

  1. ^ [1] Archived February 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Claire Suddath, "The Skimmer: The Pitchfork 500", TIME, November 26, 2008.
  3. ^ Matthew Siblo, "Rank Bullshit: Pitchfork's list to end all lists should, in fact, end all lists." Washington City Paper, December 18, 2009.
  4. ^ Evan Rytlewski, "Reviews", Under the Radar, November 1, 2008.
  5. ^ John Nova Lomax, "Get Lit: The Pitchfork 500", Houston Press, November 12, 2008.
  6. ^ Jonathan Messinger, "Books: The Pitchfork 500", Time Out Chicago, November 17, 2008.
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