Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Just So You Know

Radiohead did not write three of the top 20 songs of all time. Or even one of them.

Sorry Nathan.

16 comments:

Nathan said...

Am I missing something? Did Thom Yorke (Radiohead's singer) not write Creep? and Paranoid Android? And didn't the band write Karma Police.

I'm not sure - is this irony? Are you suggesting the list is flawed.

Is this sour grapes because the Beach Boys came in at number 43?

Ben McLaughlin said...

Yeah, sour grapes.

Not neccesarily about the Beach Boys, just about the annoyingly shallow pool the list is made from. It's a list of 'all-time', yet there are about four songs not from the 90's and 00's.

Yeah, I know, it's Triple J listeners, what do I expect-- this is the music they play.

But it still annoys me.

Nathan said...

4 songs not from the nineties? My post (that I'm currently writing) about the list bemoans that it's full of old people's music.

Anonymous said...

I remember reading a book published by rolling stone, that was by thousands of music critics all over the world rating the top 500 albums of all time.

Top 5 albums

1 - beatles revolver
2 - radiohead - the bends
3 - beatles - sgt peppers
4 - radiohead - ok computer
5 - beatles - white album

it's not just triple j, but music lovers all over the world agree that Radiohead will be one of the most influential and significant bands of the nineties and make their mark in history as one of the greatest. It's no wonder most contemporary artists are always trying to name drop them as their favs. Dave Grohl said the bends was the greatest rock album of all time, and paul mcartney named them in a list of bands at the best music festical ever. I think they were the only band in it from the nineties.

They're a bit hard to listen to a first. It took me 6 months of owning ok computer before I liked it, then another 6 before i realised it's the best album I've ever owned.

rant over.

Ben McLaughlin said...

Hey Geoff-

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I haven't thoroughly roadtested them, or even that I don't like them. I have owned at one time or another every album except In Rainbows, and I liked them enough to go and see them a few years back.

My point was less a criticism of Radiohead and more a criticism of the limited range in the 'all time' list. 3 songs in the top 20 by one band? Nuh.

In the time since rock and roll began, there have been probably ten thousand songs made that are better than 'Creep'!

Nathan said...

"In the time since rock and roll began, there have been probably ten thousand songs made that are better than 'Creep'!"

On what criteria...

Ben McLaughlin said...

Well, pretty much on any criteria.

But for me, the criteria of having the lyrics 'I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo'. Any song with sadsack pretentious boohoo lyrics like that as THE CHORUS should be disqualified from at least the top 1000 songs.

Go a few years backwards to The Pixies, Echo and the Bunnymen, Sonic Youth who could do it better.

Nathan said...

None of them have the looks that Thom Yorke brings to the table. He's a much more believable creep.

Ben McLaughlin said...

well, you're right. A lazy eye goes a long way towards making you look creepy.

But it's all soooo self-conscious.. oooo look at me, I'm so angsty and troubled. Get a job, wonky eye.

Nathan said...

"I liked them enough to go and see them a few years back."

We could well have been in the same place at the same time then Ben.

Imagine if our paths had actually crossed.

Ben McLaughlin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ben McLaughlin said...

yeah, there would have been a break in thespace and time continuum.

I saw them I think when they toured for Hail To The Thief at the Entertainment Centre (Syd).

Nathan said...

Me too. On their second night.

Maybe it did happen and past you came into the future to delete past me's message about our encounter... see the deleted post above...

Ben McLaughlin said...

yeah, that sounds like the kind of awesome thing past me would have done. He's cool like that.

Yep, I was there that night--I was the bloke sitting next to you with the 'I'm with stupid' t-shirt on.

Anonymous said...

I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo

Well, perhaps the reality is that this is a truth for many people, and how they feel, expecially in regard to approaching women. although it may be self indulgent and boo hoosih, clearly it resonates with people.

Bunch of whingers I say. They should just go to the gym, buy some hair gel, spend some money on some gucci and pretend to be confident at a club. It will solve everything. Then maybe sobby artists like Cobain, yorke and buckley will be replaced in the hottest 100 by what we all need: Chad kroeger. Then we can all sing along to the most profound lyrics ever written: "I like your p..." You know the rest.

:-)

Ben McLaughlin said...

I'm not sure what p... stands for but my mind boggles at the possibilities.

It's hard to explain my feelings, and why exactly those lyrics grate on me so much. I like melancholy music, and I'm a fairly melancholy person.

It's not the lyrics are sadsack, but that there so'look at me, I'm so strange and depressed- please affirm me'. Vomit.

Brian Wilson, Beach Boys singer was a complete mess by the early 70's. And this was reflected in whathe wrote-- but to me,it rung much more true and genuine than 'I wish I was special.. whine whimper'

If you listen to The Beach Boys song 'Till I Die', that's what I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcUeSDMll5s