Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Music 13 Things We Learned From the Pitchfork People's List
Posted by Jeff Klingman and Mike Conklin on Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 2:18 PM
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Individual Lists are a Billion Times More Interesting Than the Conglomerate
The things everybody likes are way more predictable than the things beloved of only a small number of people. This is not a surprising concept, because everybody likes them, but it's what makes the combined Top 200 sort of a non-shocking drag to scroll down. But once you start perusing the Staff Lists, you find all sorts of weird idiosyncracies and deviations from the conventional wisdom. Think about how much Ian Cohen loves Jimmy Eats World next time he tears your favorite new record to shreds! (Here's mine, by the way.) -JK
Women Really, Really Hate Making Lists
Perhaps the most immediately striking thing about the whole feature is the gender breakdown: of the 27,981 total voters, only 12% of them were women. Twelve! The list-making tendencies of nerdy dudes everywhere have been well documented, of course, as have the tendencies of the women they love and who maybe, possibly love them back, to roll their eyes at such behavior, so I think everyone knew it would be skew male, but this is just fucking crazy. Twelve percent! -MC
The Semi-Surprising Age Breakdown
Maybe it's because of the easily social site shareable interface that P4K whipped up for this thing, and its grab-and-post Tumblr-ocity, but color us a little surprised that the majority of voters for this poll are under 25. This goes a long way towards explaining why 2010 is considered a better year for music than 1997. That is NOT how we remember it. (Are you saying that well-adjusted adults have started to outgrow compulsive, arbitrary list making? is that what you are saying???) - JK
People Under 30 Have Basically No Interest in Even Indie Rock’s Recent Past
Ok, that’s not entirely true. It’s nice that everyone, regardless of age (including the awesomely creepy 10-15 bracket), is on the same page about In the Aeroplane Over the Sea being really good, and I suppose it’s also nice, though certainly less nice, that people of all ages like those Radiohead records so much. But jeez: For people under the age of 30, the oldest record not by either of those bands to make the top 20 is that one Sigur Ros record I’m not even going to attempt typing, and that thing is sung in a made-up language, so I don't even know if it counts! You guys, if you’re reading this, you should really listen to Belle and Sebastian. Also, and this is for everyone, even the olds: Have you ever heard Superchunk’s 1997 album Indoor Living? It is literally hit after hit after hit. -MC
Oh, And Along Those Same Lines, Apparently No One Cares About Those Last Two Pavement Records?
Now, fine: If you're not able to get down with Terror Twilight, I am perfectly willing to accept it as a mere generational difference. But Brighten the Corners, an album that opens with the unbelievable one-two punch of "Stereo" and "Shady Lane" and then goes on to include songs like "Blue Hawaiian" and "Starlings of the Slipstream"? That's just not really OK. -MC
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