The History Of Jop Part 13 aka It's fun to lose and to pretend

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Back after a short absence it's the Pazz and Jop poll for 1991 - a particular blockbuster of a poll this with TEN ticks to be shared between 28 singles (would have been 29 but for C&C Music Factory cropping up last year too).

There's a fair bit of ground to cover in the comments boxes, I'm thinking!


[Poll #845917]


1990: Time For The (Poptimist) Guru

1. Groove Is In The Heart (48 votes)
2. Vogue (42)
3. Nothing Compares 2 U (34)
4. Gonna Make You Sweat (28)
5. Been Caught Stealin (26)
6. Justify My Love (25)
7. Hold On (24)
8. Kool Thing (21)
9. Epic (19)
10=. Welcome To The Terrordome (18)
10=. 911 Is A Joke (18)

Note very rapid drop off in vote totals from 1-3 down.

Comments

I was a Complete Chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

[koganbot]

1. Corina "Temptation" (Cutting Records)
2. Lisette Melendez "A Day In My Life (Without You)" (Fever)
3. Enigma "Sadeness" (Charisma)
4. Naughty By Nature "O.P.P." (Tommy Boy)
5. Shonen Knife "Lazy Bone" (Rockville)
6. Sandee "Love Desire" (Fever)
7. Mysterious Art "The Omen"
8. Geto Boys "Mind Playing Tricks On Me" (Rap-A-Lot)
9. Ce Ce Peniston "Finally" (A&M)
10. R.E.M. "Losing My Religion" (Warner Bros.)

I was a complete chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "How I Could Just Kill A Man." My excuse on the latter was that it came out late in the year and I hadn't fully absorbed its brilliance. Also, it scared the shit out of me. (It scored #5 in 1992's poll.) My excuse on the former isn't very good: I was so full of utter resentment at the triumph of "alternative" over so much better music that I wasn't willing to acknowledge that it had produced a great song.

I still haven't finished unpacking from moving, so I don't know what box Sandee and the Mysterious Omen and Shonen Knife are hiding in - therefore don't know if they belong, or were basically overrated by me in order to defeat Nirvana. If I hadn't voted for them I might have voted for "Unbelievable" or Mylene Farmer's "Psychiatric" or Yo-Yo's "Stompin to the '90s" just to keep Nirvana off.

Anyway, the top three songs of 1991 ("A Day In My Life Without You," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Temptation") could well be the top three songs of the DECADE, though I might sneak "Lollipop (Candyman)" or "Nann" or "...Baby One More Time" or "Violet" or "Doll Parts" ahead of "Temptation."

Re: I was a Complete Chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I was so full of utter resentment at the triumph of "alternative" over so much better music that I wasn't willing to acknowledge that it had produced a great song.

you were RIGHT!

Hole are the only grunge band who've ever made music which was resonant with me, and I suspect this is because of Courtney Love's un-grunginess, all the things which made her problematic for the 'alternative' community.

Re: I was a Complete Chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

[koganbot]

I'm with you on Courtney. She's a Grace Slick roarer and wailer, awesome and fearsome. Kinda wish there were more soul-r&b in the Hole rhythm, as there usually is in most great rock bands. Would make it kick harder, even. (And actually I rate "Doll Parts" and "Violet" ahead of "Smells Like Teen Spirit.")

By the way, Ashlee used to cover "Celebrity Skin" in concert.

Re: I was a Complete Chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

[koganbot]

And I'll admit that there's no way Ashlee has Courtney's power as a singer; but Ashlee works hard hard hard on arrangements etc. to try to get across, and her lyrics are way more articulate.

Re: I was a Complete Chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ashlee is probably technically superior to Courtney as a singer!

I like the idea of her covering 'Celebrity Skin' but fear that she might have too much respect for the original, where someone like Paris - for whom the lyrics would be brilliant - would breathe them non-committally as if completely oblivious to their power, and Hilarity or Avril would just have a load of fun not playing it straight.

I suspect I will tick all of the Hole tracks which are to come.

Re: I was a Complete Chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

[koganbot]

Well, they both have trouble staying in tune, and Courtney is far LOUDER. But it's more the way her voice can rip you up - which ultimately isn't Ashlee's personality, anyway.

Re: I was a Complete Chump for not voting for "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

[koganbot]

Oh, I doubt she'd have sung it with an excess of respect, as I'm guessing that she took the song as BEING ABOUT HER (just as I took "Autobiography" as being about me), so the whole point would have been for her to get up in front of her fans and sing "Make me over," and then "Look at my face/My name is Might Have Been/My name is Never Was/My name's Forgotten" and enjoy while people gasped.

Have you seen Ashlee doing "Sweet Dreams"? She prances around the stage flourishing a couple of white capes.