Rolling Stones top 20 songs of 2007

[Deejay]

Nas is the greatest hip hop lyricist ever. The man is a poet.

I'll take Sage Francis as my greatest hip hop lyricist ever, but Nas is good too.

Nas is easily the best story-teller but theres a lot of things that go into being the best ever. BIG could lyrically rap with the best of them while 2pac has thousands upon thousands of poetry that he's written beyond his music. Theres a lot of technical lyricists that could never be replicated like Bone Thugz or Papoose. It's just as hard to label a "best rapper of all time" as it is to label "the best guitarist of all time." Theres a lot more that goes into it than people think. A lot of things most rappers say go over people's heads so they automatically don't like them. I've listened to songs by Joe Budden 100 times and on the 101'st I'd understand one of the rhymes he's saying, and laugh at myself.

If you're listening to a rap song and hear a word that you don't understand, urban dictionary is your friend.

[Beckwin]

I think it's important to state that "top" doesn't mean "best" or "most artistically merited". A lot of stuff on there was for popularity/impact moreso than being better than every song below it on the list.

[Seditedi]

:<

[archibaldcrane]

I've listened to songs by Joe Budden 100 times and on the 101'st I'd understand one of the rhymes he's saying, and laugh at myself.

I'm the same way with Sage Francis - I've heard "Personal Journals" hundreds of times now, but every once in a while a new little meaning or interpretation would pop into my mind and just be shocked I didn't realize it before. I just think Sage has a more complete and clever grasp of the english language than any other MC - there are others that tell better stories, or have better flow, but lyrically I think Sage is it.

[Intense]

2 bands I like made the list (Justice and M.I.A.), whether those particular songs belong in the top 20? I dont think so. Im pretty out of the loop, but I didnt know many people even knew of the aforementioned groups.

[Yensho]

I saw quite a few bands I agreed with, including:

Of Montreal ( the Song maybe long, but It's good. Trust me.)
The Fratellis (I just started to listen to them, but They have a really nice sound, and the song that got put up there is a really good one.)
The Shins (Unfortunately, I've never heard that song before, but The Shins are good, nice to see them there.)
Foo Fighters (same with them. Never heard it, but nice to see it.)
Spoon (God I love Spoon. This one was a really good one, too. Got to see it in concert too)
Radiohead (I like their new Cd, but really, I prefer Jigsaws falling into place.)
Dr. Dog (This band isn't to well-known, but that doesn't stop them from being good. Seriously, go listen to them.)
New Pornographers (These guys are just nice to listen too. Not my favorite band, but nice all-around.)


While I'm not really surprised by My Chemical Romance, the song that got them on the list, I think, is really not their best. Not sure how it got there. And the rest of the list I've pretty much never heard, or just abhor.

[Starless]

Regardless of why the list sucks...

...the list still sucks.

[Ivve]

Yeah, I don't understand how people can listen to that trash and actually feel musically satisfied from it.
The mainstream even as short as 10 years ago was pretty good compared to what its changed into nowadays. :(

Am I the only person in this thread who was alive 10 years ago? Mainstream music about 10 years ago was dominated by bands like N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, Christina Aguilera, and Britney Spears. Does anyone remember the thong song? Yeah, that shit happened almost 10 years ago now. Music was exactly the same then as it is now: some songs and performers are completely ridiculous, and some are really groundbreaking. Rolling Stone has always included little bits and pieces from the mainstream in addition to their other picks that have more substance. This is nothing new. Don't glorify the past just because you don't remember it well enough to remember the shitty stuff about it.

Some of the picks on the list I think are absolute garbage, but them some of them I really respect. I'm glad Feist got some recognition by RS, even if it was for the one song everyone's heard in that iPod commercial. Hopefully it'll pique some curiosity.

Oops, guess more like 15 lol.

15 years ago the mainstream still included gems like Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Billy Ray Cyrus, Paula Abdul, and Kriss Kross. All artistic legends, I'm sure. (If you're going to start in on the whole grunge thing, just don't. Seriously, it's been done to death by every possible music-related magazine, and I think if I hear one more quivering-lipped, misty-eyed homage to Kurt Cobain, I'll vomit.) My point is that there have always been and will probably always be really popular songs that have almost no redeeming "artistic" qualities at all. I think that people who turn their nose up at everything that ever gets radio play are a little snobby and narrow-minded, though. Maybe Britney Spears is a ridiculous person, but she has an amazing production team and people working behind her to put together a decent club track. Maybe the lyrics are terrible and it's obvious that she's got very little vocal talent, but people can appreciate the beat because it's fun to remix or dance to in certain environments. Just because you don't enjoy that environment or those activities does not mean it doesn't deserve to exist. I don't like pancakes, but I don't feel the need to assert that not only is french toast better, but people who eat pancakes clearly have inferior culinary expertise. Not everything has to push the boundaries of music as we know it to have value.

Anyway, Rolling Stone is a pop culture magazine that exists to sell itself, and so it only makes sense that they would include things to appeal to a wide audience. That means a list with vapid, ridiculous choices on it in addition to some meatier picks that really have some artistic merit. That way it gets some support from people who don't care about anything but the top 10 in addition to support from people who haven't been aware of the top 10 since they were 15 years old. I don't know why some people would have gotten their hopes up enough for this list to actually feel disappointment that a lot of the shit on it sucks. It seems like that should be expected.

[Stolin]

I don't think anyone takes this seriously-even RS. Everyone has a different taste in music. Any list RS puts out is inane bullshit. I wish they'd just have titled this "Rollingstone's favorite songs of 2007."

[Elesirdur]

(If you're going to start in on the whole grunge thing, just don't. Seriously, it's been done to death by every possible music-related magazine, and I think if I hear one more quivering-lipped, misty-eyed homage to Kurt Cobain, I'll vomit.)

Hahaha I got a good laugh out of that. I fucking hate Nirvana. A big part of me wishes Kurt Kobain was still alive so his career would have fucking tanked right around 1998 and he would have the modern popularity of Matchbox 20.

[Kyreth]

Seriously, wtf has happened to Pop Culture nowadays.

Ipods killed the video star.

[Bweigelt]

Crank that at number 21 pretty much says it all...

[Lavik]

You guys just need to open up to all the poor acts that don't get played on the radio 6 times an hour.

of montreal
spoon
radiohead
feist
lcd soundsystem
rilo kiley
Qotsa
yeah yeah yeahs
devendra
wilco
new pornographers
iron and wine
band of horses
clap your hands say yeah

a lot of interesting work from these guys, and there were others on the list too.
whats disgusting is not that linkin park, nickelback, etc were later on in the list, but that they were in the list period.

also as ignorant as it sounds
fuck radio rap
"nigga nigga nigg, drugs are good; nigga nigga nigg, got shot up in da hood" which is most of the songs, dont deny it has no talent whatsoever
the new saul williams album was tight, where is he? because he doesn't rap about having sex with 13 girls and blowing his load in their ear while he shoots a guy and smokes a blunt he doesn't get airtime? whats the deal
it has nothing going for it at all
pop musicians/r&b half the time don't even write their own lyrics (i saw lily allen on that list, and while i havent heard anything other than a couple singles i did find her to be interesting-also she is pretty good-looking imo)
but you know what?
fuck 99% of radio rock too; as well as most non-radio rock that kids i know listen to (things like you'd see on warped tour for example)
4 power chords and a shitty breakdown isnt music
learn to play your fucking module scales, then you can start to write some music and play for people. I think bands like circle takes the square, the fall of troy, the sound of animals fighting etc can play but no one else can and 3 bands cant save the genre
this can include metal as well.
most metal is 4 chords only tuned to drop D with some more shitty lyrics
although a lot of times metal will quickly throw in a br00tal solo to attempt to make up for it, which i guess is better than most scremo types
but the metal you hear on the radio fails too; that whole Nu-metal genre was a horrible pimple on the back of music history
but again, some are unique and i enjoy them a lot; i just went to the number twelve looks like you dvd shoot on saturday, and it was pwn, i think kayo dot is cool, the dillinger escape plan is always interesting, sunn 0))) can be cool if you want to freak yourself out etc

open yourselves up to all the wonderful music in the world
you're missing out on quite a bit

[Zylo]

You guys just need to open up to all the poor acts that don't get played on the radio 6 times an hour.

of montreal
spoon
radiohead
feist
lcd soundsystem
rilo kiley
Qotsa
yeah yeah yeahs
devendra
wilco
new pornographers
iron and wine
band of horses
clap your hands say yeah

a lot of interesting work from these guys, and there were others on the list too.
whats disgusting is not that linkin park, nickelback, etc were later on in the list, but that they were in the list period.

also as ignorant as it sounds
fuck radio rap
"nigga nigga nigg, drugs are good; nigga nigga nigg, got shot up in da hood" which is most of the songs, dont deny it has no talent whatsoever
the new saul williams album was tight, where is he? because he doesn't rap about having sex with 13 girls and blowing his load in their ear while he shoots a guy and smokes a blunt he doesn't get airtime? whats the deal
it has nothing going for it at all
pop musicians/r&b half the time don't even write their own lyrics (i saw lily allen on that list, and while i havent heard anything other than a couple singles i did find her to be interesting-also she is pretty good-looking imo)
but you know what?
fuck 99% of radio rock too; as well as most non-radio rock that kids i know listen to (things like you'd see on warped tour for example)
4 power chords and a shitty breakdown isnt music
learn to play your fucking module scales, then you can start to write some music and play for people. I think bands like circle takes the square, the fall of troy, the sound of animals fighting etc can play but no one else can and 3 bands cant save the genre
this can include metal as well.
most metal is 4 chords only tuned to drop D with some more shitty lyrics
although a lot of times metal will quickly throw in a br00tal solo to attempt to make up for it, which i guess is better than most scremo types
but the metal you hear on the radio fails too; that whole Nu-metal genre was a horrible pimple on the back of music history
but again, some are unique and i enjoy them a lot; i just went to the number twelve looks like you dvd shoot on saturday, and it was pwn, i think kayo dot is cool, the dillinger escape plan is always interesting, sunn 0))) can be cool if you want to freak yourself out etc

open yourselves up to all the wonderful music in the world
you're missing out on quite a bit

What kind of metal are you listening to? I'm rather curious

Edit: Also, as to the no good rap besides Nas argument (Nas is fucking great, by the way), I must once again ask what kind of rap you're listening to. All of the members of Wu-Tang (other than ODB, obviously), Papoose, MF Doom, Immortal Technique, Kurious (new album next year <3), KRS-One (a great from back in the day), Lil Wayne (I know that everyone is going to say that my mentioning him voids anything I have to say, but, as Deejay has also realized, once you really start listening to his shit, he has some pretty fucking good lyrics), Aesop Rock, etc, etc, etc are still around and putting out new material; if you really think Nas is the only good rapper left, check out some of the dudes listed above.

[Lavik]

sorry i shouldn't have just labeled it metal like that; i meant it to cover too many genres (which are different after all; i meant to include stupid hardcore acts as well, these are generally the shitty 4 chords over some annoying chant, like i said a lot of metal bands can indeed play and will kick your ass with a good solo at some point in the song)
personally, i like blues types of solos on guitar, but its definatly cool to hear great shredding.
i was really only referring to the stupid crap everyone else i know listens to, which is imo really bad.
there is plenty of awesome metal, and i respect it a lot; but that doesn't make it popular-when do you hear a band like opeth on the radio? i never do


and an edit for your edit:
i hated rap for a long time, my roommate introduced me to a lot of really cool rap and i don't hate the genre anymore, MF Doom for example i found to be really cool. Again to bitch about what is popular to an average american, I never hear rap like that on the radio; but you hear a song about jizzing on a girls back and sticking sheets to it 47 times a day? its a shame so many good acts go unnoticed; and that applies for almost all genres of music

[Intense]

Listen to more Common!

[Zylo]

sorry i shouldn't have just labeled it metal like that; i meant it to cover too many genres (which are different after all; i meant to include stupid hardcore acts as well, these are generally the shitty 4 chords over some annoying chant, like i said a lot of metal bands can indeed play and will kick your ass with a good solo at some point in the song)
personally, i like blues types of solos on guitar, but its definatly cool to hear great shredding.
i was really only referring to the stupid crap everyone else i know listens to, which is imo really bad.
there is plenty of awesome metal, and i respect it a lot; but that doesn't make it popular-when do you hear a band like opeth on the radio? i never do


and an edit for your edit:
i hated rap for a long time, my roommate introduced me to a lot of really cool rap and i don't hate the genre anymore, MF Doom for example i found to be really cool. Again to bitch about what is popular to an average american, I never hear rap like that on the radio; but you hear a song about jizzing on a girls back and sticking sheets to it 47 times a day? its a shame so many good acts go unnoticed; and that applies for almost all genres of music

Haha, it's all good man =). I agree completely with what you're saying.

[Lavik]

word :D

[Lavik]

to go with my posting in the 2007 thread here is pitchforks top 100 of the year:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/f ... ks-of-2007

[Deelo]

Ill summarize the complaints in this thread:

"This list sucks. I hate rap, I dont even need to hear the song I just know I hate it and this list sucks for having any of it up there. There needs to be more bands because I like bands. I do not like this music, thus this list is garbage and not credible at all."

dead on.