Preliminary Pazz & Jop Singles Agony

[koganbot]

It's almost December, which means it's time for me to start going into agony over my Pazz & Jop singles list. I narrowed this down to fifty, any one of which is good enough for my top ten.

Anything from "Ghetto Story" up could be number one, except the point of there being a number one is that there only be one of them, not twenty-three. And a top ten only gets ten, not fifty. The torment will continue for the next month, exacerbated by slews of country and hip-hop and dance tracks I'm going to start force-feeding myself.

A song is a single if it (1) is an actual physical single or (2) is a radio focus track or emphasis track or whatever they call it or (3) acts like a single (e.g., lots of people talk about it or it gets lots of club play; in 2001 Jay-Z's "Takeover" was a good example of an album track that acted like a single) or (4) is offered for download on myspace or somewhere (not counting short-term promo dl's).

Songs released late in 2005 count for 2006 if a hunk of their impact was this year.

This list contains twins, sisters, great Max Martin and/or Dr. Luke tracks that flopped commercially, a larger number of Norwegian country tracks (one) than have ever previously appeared on my lists, and disco. I spent most of 2005 berating myself for not putting JoJo's "Leave (Get Out)" on my 2004 ballot. This year I'm well on my way to repeating the mistake.

How is it that I haven't put Cassie's "Me & You" at number one? This and other puzzles will be ruminated upon in future posts.

Singles 2006, Preliminary List (November 30, 2006)

1. Veronicas "4ever"
2. Aly & AJ "Rush"
3. Lily Allen "LDN"
4. The Pack "Vans"
5. Marit Larsen "Only A Fool"
6. High School Musical (Zac Efron, Andrew Seeley, Vanessa Hudgens) "Breaking Free"
7. Hi_Tack "Say Say Say (Waiting for You)"
8. Britney Spears "And Then We Kiss"
9. Blog 27 "Hey Boy"
10. Yung Joc "It's Goin' Down"
Sally Shapiro "I'll Be By Your Side"
Paris Hilton "Nothing In This World"
Fergie "London Bridge"
Cassie "Me & U"
Lillix "Sweet Temptation"
K-Sis "Beijos, Blues E Poesia"
JoJo "Too Little Too Late"
Cansei De Ser Sexy "Let's Make Love And Listen Death From Above"
Jessica Simpson "A Public Affair"
t.A.T.u. "Loves Me Not"
Marion Raven "End Of Me"
Young Jeezy "Trap Star"
Cham "Ghetto Story"
Simian Mobile Disco "Hustler"
Marit Larsen "Don't Save Me"
Beyoncé f. Slim Thug "Check On It"
Wir Sind Helden "Von Hier An Blind"
Snook "Snook Svett Och Tarar"
Fergie "Fergalicious"
Brooke Hogan "About Us"
Nelly Furtado "Say It Right"
Poni Hoax "Budapest"
Sticky f. Lady Stush "Dollar Sign"
The Automatic "Monster"
Megan McCauley "Tap That"
Flyleaf "I'm So Sick"
Carrie Underwood "Before He Cheats"
Gnarls Barkley "Crazy"
Marie Serneholt "That's The Way My Heart Goes"
The Ark "Clamour For Glamour"
Chow Nasty "Ungawa"
Morningwood "Nth Degree"
Paris Hilton "Stars Are Blind"
Lil Jon f. Three 6 Mafia "Act A Fool"
Dixie Chicks "Not Ready To Make Nice"
T.I. "What You Know"
Too Short "Blow The Whistle"
Sammy & Sasha "Fine"
Pitbull f. Lil Jon & The Ying Yang Twins "Bojangles"
Nelly Furtado "No Hay Igual"

How I whittled my list down to only 50 (stuff that I'd include in my top 50 if I could convince myself it was eligible; if any of you have info as to when these were released, please let me know):

-Mahshar "Vase Chi" [don't know the year it came out; if eligible it could well make my top ten]
-Girl Authority "Hollaback Girl" [don't think it was a single; I could claim it acts like one, but not enough people have paid it attention]
-Ashlee Simpson "L.O.V.E." [yes, it had as much impact this year as last, but I already went through the pain of reluctantly keeping it off my top ten last year and I don't want to go through that again]
-Lida "Bito Nemikhandam" [don't know the year it came out]
-DJ BC (Phillip Glass Vs. Dizzee Rascal) "Stand Up And Dance" [think it came out in 2005 or earlier]
-Jena Kraus "Both Dads R Dead Dogs" [it was recorded a decade ago, was unreleased, original tape was lost, was posted on her MySpace page in a low-quality dupe but she hasn't kept it there; if I thought it was going to be in my top ten I'd count it, but it's probably in the thirties]
-Benyamin "Mesl-e To" [don't know what year it came out]
-Mohsen Yegane "Atish Pare" [don't know what year it came out]

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Budapest' was quite early 2005 I think; 'Dollar $ign' was like 2002 or something!

I can't even think about mine. Singles I haven't even heard yet which I know I'll love could easily make up a respectable top 20. 'Promise' and 'Me & U' are pretty much shoe-ins for No 1 and No 2 though.

Albums are so much easier to do. The reason I focus on them more isn't because of rockism but because the volume of good albums doesn't make my brain break (and even so I could easily get between 40 and 50 I wanted to give a shout out to) (three clear leaders in my album list: Ellen Allien & Apparat, Paris Hilton, The Knife; followed by Justin Timberlake, Junior Boys; followed by Joanna Newsom, Fuckpony, Beyoncé, Booka Shade, Cassie, Scott Walker &c &c)

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

yeah, dollar sign was on the CD tom made for his 30th birthday, which would make it 2002...

lex you are such a rockist though ;)

[koganbot]

Problem with albums is that you have to actually hear them to vote for them. (Well, that's not true, but it's advised.) My album list goes Marit, Paris, Brooke, and then it's kinda um... I'll prob'ly pad with compilations, which I have nothing against in principle, but if most of the material on them is from 2005 or earlier I'd rather go with something else.

Didn't realize "Budapest" was that old: It got a PTW review this year, which means it was on a new release, but of course old songs can make their way onto new albs.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I actually prefer the Joakim italo dub of 'Budapest' to the original! I heard it first on the Ivan Smagghe Fabric mix, it's a lot less messy, more disco.

In the 05 I hardly heard it anywhere except for me and my friend Dan (we both played it EVERY time we DJed), but it still felt like this massive house anthem.

[koganbot]

Never heard (of) the Joakim. Haven't been wild about the few other tracks of Poni Hoax I've heard. (Think the "Budapest" bitch woman was a guest on that track and unfortunately isn't on all their tracks.)

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Will see if I can ysi it or something - it's instrumental! I am not keen on the woman, really.

btw I think I have finally 'got' I Am Me: this happened after I had a bit of a Hole Reminiscence Month, and suddenly realised that I should be listening to I Am Me with my Celebrity Skin ears rather than my Avril/Lindsay ears. Still don't like 'LOVE' though; am bemused and curious about the Missy remix which apparently exists, however.

[koganbot]

The Missy remix is pretty horrible, unfortunately. It sounds like two different songs at once, trying to be dark (neither of which are bad approaches; they just don't work in this case). It sounds as if Missy and Ashlee weren't in the room together - which happens on all sorts of recordings, of course, but they're note supposed to sound that way.

"I Am Me" is definitely Ashlee's most Courtney song, and is my favorite on the album. But the most interesting is one that doesn't always work, "Burning Up," a dub song - dance and dub really are not Shanks' forte - but the melody isn't reggaeish, it's this flitty descending thing that reminds me of "Habanera" from Carmen, and then there's the break which manages to be genuinely sexy (I love "La La," but it's more about sex than actually sexy) while being a hilarious send-up of that kind of a husky sex track.

not THAT horrible

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Well yeah, they obviously just took Ashlee's vocals and pasted em over the new track. I don't hear it as "dark," though, just...stompy, with some OH SHIT minor chords to add some drama. Pretty silly overall.

Ashlee/Missy - LOVE