I still am surprised that Lily Allen did crack that Singles Top 50, even if it was only #45.
I honestly can’t predict anybody’s No. 1 single this year not even Stylus’ or Pitchfork’s. Mostly down to ’06 being a crummy year for music overall with only a few really good singles brightening things up.
Ah, I see what you did there.
Link?
Erm...
06 was a great year! if you think it was a crummy year it’s your fault that your ears were in the wrong places
06 was a great year! if you think it was a crummy year it’s your fault that your ears were in the wrong places
Quite possibly. I think 06 was a better year Singles-wise (but in quality of the few singles that really shone rather than quantity of decent singles) than the past few years but overall, I wasn’t really feeling it this year.
Ah right, more laterzz..
I dunno, it seems there is no place where you get to hear a general issue of singles anymore.
In years past, I got round this by buying loads of singles.
I should mention that the OMM Top 20 lists were depressingly predictable and awful.
this moan comes up every year. here’s a thought, maybe it’s just the lists themselves which are awful and not the music
I thought I was complaining about the lists!
i voted in this, but i only ever count stuff I heard on the radio or video channels as ‘singles’ and have never heard half of the songs on Stylus’s list (I guess a fair amount of that charted in the U.K. or somewhere, though). i know what the top 10 is and i’m guessing that the #1 is one of those things i’ve never heard.
Bring back Rosko’s Round Table I say.
Yesterday’s OMM was depressingly predictable and awful full stop.
Yeah!
Malcolm Laycock used to have a show like this also, on BBC Radio London.
(I only remember his name as I was on the show once)
Did ‘Cobrastyle’ also make Stylus ’04 list?
Great year for singles definitely. Poor year for albums. Reminds me a bit of 2002.
Malcolm Laycock, currently presenter of the dance band/big band show on Radio 2 which Alan Dell used to do.
06 was a great year!
yes.
I say quite a poor year personally, both for single and albums. I’ve just not been excited or impressed enough by what I’ve heard (there’s still a lot I haven’t heard tho), for which I/my ears accept only half the blame.
I still am surprised that Lily Allen did crack that Singles Top 50, even if it was only #45.
I don’t get what is surprising about it given her general popularity and esp. the general popularity of that song.
I see her latest b-side is “Everybody Changes” as per Keane.
I didn’t think the Stylus Brainstrust was going to rank Lily Allen at all in the year-end list, tbqh. I’m wondering if Dom remembered to post in his vote.
Promise at 47, Way Out at 46 = don’t have high hopes for Lexpop here.
Anyway, my tips would be Over And Over or Promiscuous. Maybe Standing In The Way Of Control but I doubt it.
Over And Over for Jan ’07 reissue and Olive-style number one second time around: discuss.
it’s already been re-released or re-entered the chart once a fe weeks back. i just didn’t think that many people actually watched The Culture Show.
is the stylus list tracks that were actually released as singles or single tracks?
oh god it’s the same every year... no-ones ears were in the same place, nobody heard it all out of everything out there, lots of stuff overpromoted, overhyped, plenty more underrated & underexposed, people like different things and it’s all subjective in the end, always someone complaining about someone else having an ultimately meaningless opinion about it.
my 2 euro—not the greatest year I can remember for singles or albums OF THOSE I’VE HEARD (opinion subject to change upon retrospective purchaes).
Yeah, I’d be surprised if those two don’t make it, they were pretty inescapable in the clubs this year.
like you of all people would know
The basis of these end-of-year list threads are always horribly flawed but it produces good and interesting discussion, and I’m willing to pay that price!
If not for the whole Dubstep breakout thing I’d be far more down on the year all told.
like you of all people would know
— lexpretend (lexusjee...), December 11th, 2006.
A catgirl is a woman or girl with cat ears, a cat tail, or other feline accoutrements on an otherwise human-shaped body; they are found semi-commonly in anime and manga either as a form of cosplay or actual body parts, as well as in a few video games (Dark Cloud, for example). Catgirls wishing to look especially cute will wear over-sized mittens and shoes that look like paws. “Catgirl” can sometimes be modified to refer to other woman/animal combinations that are sometimes found, usually mammals like bunnygirls, foxgirls and (more rarely) doggirls; see kemonomimi.
Eastern catgirls are usually depicted as having minimal feline characteristics, such as eyes with vertical pupils, tails, and ears (with different color ear-fur than their hair). Western catgirls are more often portrayed as more animal-like in appearance, with full body fur and claws being their most prominent aspects. Of course, this is only a very general rule of thumb and not true for all cases. For instance, some Japanese examples of catgirls include characters such as Escaflowne’s Merle, the Puma Twins from Dominion: Tank Police, or Aisha Clan-Clan from Outlaw Star, who are more feline in mannerisms than they initially appear to be. In some shonen series, however, a (usually villainous) catgirl may be portrayed as the leader of a band of anthropomorphic animals.
Ordinary humans, such as Hikaru Shidou from Magic Knight Rayearth, will sometimes sprout cat ears or a tail in order to illustrate their excitable personalities. This is similar to the phenomenon of becoming chibi and is mostly a stylistic quirk from manga artists. In Japanese, catgirls are usually called nekomimi (猫耳) — literally, “cat ears” — rather than the literal term nekomusume (猫娘). Sometimes characters do not actually feature cat-like ears or such an accessory but their hair sticks out and resembles cat ears.
Characters in anime and manga may momentarily develop a catlike mouth. This is usually used to emphasize mischievous thoughts or comments by a character. Rebellious boys are more often compared to dogs (InuYasha being a popular example) or wolves. The “lone-wolf” characterization is very common for brooding, aggressive, socially isolated males, while comparisons to dogs usually refer to adorably rebellious but ultimately harmless boys. However, in certain anime and manga series, such as Loveless, a boy may be compared to a cat in a similar way catgirls are. In those occasions, they are sometimes referred to as catboys. Understandably, bishōnen catboys are typically associated with shōjo manga and yaoi.
is the stylus list tracks that were actually released as singles or single tracks?
Released as singles in at least some part of the world.
is this thread about dubstep?
Dubstep and catgirls, yeah.
feel free to post about anything except music released during the year yep
in a respectful fashion i.e. the first post of the thread.
i don’t love—or even really like—any of the songs on the stylus list so far—very british! even the stuff that isn’t!—but i do LOVE the links to youtube for everything. man, life before youtube, i’m glad i can’t remember what it was like. it must have been AWFUL.
Rolling 2006 Singles Thread
Lallen and Momus are the only two Brit acts on the top 10! And I’m pretty sure someone’s trying to revoke Mommy’s citizenship somewhere.
(until March 21st, 2006 5:29 AM.) :/
Brit acts on the “bottom” 10. I can exclusively reveal than “Smile” and “Another Momus Single” aren’t in our top 10.
No darkwave in the Stylus list!
They are CLUELESS
Solution: disemploy all Stylus staff—send them back to 1988 where they belong.
Employ diverse spectrum of contemporary writers interested in:
Japstep, Scilly Isles IDM, Drum ’N’ Bass.
Nick Luscombe gets sacked from XFM and Lily Allen gets deified!
Wake up Stylus!
‘Over and Over’ will be not even in the Top 5, they are white, male and British, not a winner combination at Stylus these days.
In the Top 5 there will be mainly R@B and hiphop based tracks (Promiscuous, My Love, Hurt, but NOT “Crazy”!), or perhaps something from My Chemical Romance or The Knife.
FAKE GEIR
What is this “Over and Over”?
Hot Chip.
ft. Nelly and Tim McGraw.
Who are Hot Chip? I’ve heard the name floated around, I guess. Are they dahnce music? It sounds like a dahncey name to me.
Looking at the comments, which inevitably start with someone bitching about the top 40 r&b and mainstream rock content, I predict my ballot will be responsible for the death of at least 1x indie kid.
ft. Ciara and Momus.
Hot Chip = electro-pop on the DFA label = pasty white guys bouncing around behind keyboard = sometimes a lot of fun, though too often unfocused
Oh, I like DFA, (or at least the 1st LCD+singles, the two remix albums & HOJL, as that’s all I’ve really heard) so that might be something I could get into. I guess I’ll downsteal “Over & Over” & give it an ear.
Pasty white guys with keyboards are okay as long as they bounce behind them. It’s the ones that stand still that I worry about.
“Over and Over” is probably the most overtly DFA-ish thing they’ve done. If you don’t hate it, I’d also check out “Boy from School.”
That was okay. The mumbly accents kind of grate, though.
(that second sentence is meant to be taken literally, I just realised it could pass for snark)
“Over and Over” is the only decent song of the Hot Chip album.
I like “Boy From School” better, but ditto my first comment. Indie people learn to sing confidently, dammit!
Oh wow, the harp bridge = just got way better.
‘Just Like We’ needs more love. never mind the DFA remix.
hot chip are pretty good. hot chip remixes are HOT. erol alkan rmx of ‘boy from school’ needs love.
“Fizheuer Zieheuer” is about 34 or 35 places too low.
‘mr me too’ is like the only track on the clipse album which isn’t great! was this even a single? hrrrm.
‘unfaithful’ had better be higher than ‘sos’!
Wow, Panic! In The Disco and My Chemical Romance just in the top 40? Then which emo band will be in the Top 5? Fallout Boy?
funny that the first thing people can think of to describe Hot Chip is ‘pasty white guys’
Actually, if 10cc had been going in about 1969, they would have looked exactly like Hot Chip.
not much sun in the studio
I said 1969, not 1979! (absence of Godley and Creme dates it)
Let’s get some emo up in this area, son.
I never thought I’d say this but S.O.S. is too low.
like the photo of Morningwood
altho i always enjoyed the ‘slow release’ of old ilx poll results i find it a bit annoying when music websites do it with the EOYs. just put it and people out of their misery already.
Thatcherkids need to learn the virtue of patience.
Stalinists need to stop trolling.
If Buttez was a Stalinist, I’m Vice-President of UKIP.
Man, there are some terrible songs on this list.
2006 was the worst fucking year for music ever.
yes, no
it certainly seems to be the year of the really shithouse publicity photo
LILY ALLEN, TYPICAL BRITISH GAP YEAR STUDENT IN OZ??
Well, she’s not been raped, murdered, and buried behind a water tanker so probably not.
YET ANOTHER WONDERFUL RAPE FANTASY BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE P-MAN
The DP man.
BOTH P-MEN
I gotta admit that putting “S.O.S.” between “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” and “Welcome To The Black Parade” bucks critical stereotypes, if also taste.
Here’s the complte version of the Rolling 2006 Singles Thread (mentioned upthread).
Shame we could only muster up 291 entries (an ilx rolling singles thread all-time low :( ). The one for 2004 had like 600!
Well, she’s not been raped, murdered, and buried behind a water tanker so probably not.
Maybe if she tried hitchhiking to Adelaide...
Maneater only at #26? wtf?
Kick, Push only at #24? WTF?
Over and Over only at #23? WTF?
ha, no nelly furtado single will make any top 10 anywhere, the votes are irrevocably split between ‘maneater’, ‘promiscuous’ and ‘no hay igual’ (and even ‘all good things (come to an end)’, conceivably). that’s what you get for putting out three top-drawer singles off one album, nelly!
like, obviously i love ‘maneater’ but my vote goes to ‘no hay igual’
Didn’t make my top 10, so that’s your theorem disproved.
yeah but marcello your thing this year is pretending that real music >>>> sexpop so i am not surprised!
it didn’t make my top 10 either, actually, though
i don’t have to pretend, lex, unlike yourself.
colin crompton in the lavvy was sexier than sexpop
Get a room, you two.
*Coming soon!*
Junior Boys—In the Morning
see what happens when you let the popisms vote
It’s going to be Crazy, isn’t it? Broing.
But treu.
Hang on a minute!
SURPRISE STYLUS NUMBER ONE—“The Rose” by Westlife.
it always amazes me when half of these lists are stuff I’ve never heard and people still cry ‘popism’
ilm popism = stuff actual people have never heard
wouldn’t a disparate ILM list be more interesting than a hivemind one?
What’s the difference between a disparate ILM list and individual ILMers just doing their own lists (which most of us are doing anyway)?
and if I’d bothered to google first I’d know Billy Dods deserves the credit, close but... wrong.
ack. my bad for not remembering that at all.
I’d rather have a year end list on the best and worst music writing than the best and worst music, tbh.
We really don’t need that excuse for the usual ILx flame wars to ignite again.
Yay, a circle jerk!
sp
err, “xp”
We did a poll last year, but not the year before. Steve organized a singles poll in 2003.
Oh wait, never mind: Good Dr. Bill did the ILM poll in 2004. Whatever.
Knobheads.
Talulah get off ILM!
I suppose ILM EOY poll concept has always been dogged by the fact that half the board are already engaged in EOY polls for the publications and websites they write for (inc. their own blog) so it all gets a bit too much, plus P&J/JP and whatnot.
Looking at last year’s ILM album list tho, I personally like how much more pop-orientated it looks compared to recognised website and magazine lists posted on ILM. Really tho all I would like to see is a fine balance without blandness. I’d suggest ILM is, or was—at least theoretically and given its traffic even today, better placed to achieve that than anywhere concerned about sales, demographics etc. but I guess it’s been said before and will be again.
I’d rather have a year end list on the best and worst music writing than the best and worst music, tbh.
Congratulations on THE WORST IDEA IN THE HISTORY OF ILX, Dom.
You’re selling Grout short there, Matt.
I think Steve has a point in that there’s a seeming lack of consensus this year, but it’s possible that reflects the current state of music rather than the state of ILM.
There hasn’t been much consensus on music full stop—there certainly hasn’t been a Work It/Crazy In Love/Hey Ya/Toxic/1 Thing ULTIMATE POP DESTROYER. There’s been maybe Crazy, and SexyBack and the two Nelly F singles at a push, but it’s not quite the same.
It’s curious that ILM has been generally lukewarm about Crazy, which in the Actual World Out There has been every bit as much an “ultimate pop destroyer” as any of the records mentioned above, though out of that list only “Hey Ya” would qualify as a genuine crossover, i.e. the rare pop record everyone from Lou Reed to Linda Robson can agree on.
also, anyone who ever liked pop music on ilm has either a) left or b) turned into a pop-hating grumpy grandad
(apart from me)
I like good pop, of which there was very little in 2006.
So, not much surprises on the top, business as usual Stylus. I think ‘Sexyback’ is much better than ‘My Love’, also ‘Maneater’ kicks the shit out of the namby-pamby ‘Promiscuous’. Good to see ‘Valentine’ in the Top 5 though.
Very surprised by lack of “Ain’t No Other Man”. I thought it was a given.
It’s hard for guys to sing the chorus of a girl’s song.
is this really true??????
omg if it is you str8 men are even more lame than i’d previously thought!
also the ‘irreplaceable’ blurb implies that ‘upgrade u’ was a single as well? really? i thought ‘irreplaceable’ was the 3rd single in the states and 2nd over here.
“Upgrade U” wasn’t properly a single, but got radio play in some places. And, yeah it is true, although singing “Promiscuous Girl” around girls is a great thing.
the thing about ‘promiscuous’ is that i don’t think ‘promiscuous’ is even the word they’re looking for, it’s not about promiscuity in any way and yet they pluck that word out of nowhere as some bizarro compliment to each other. i like to sing both nelly and tim’s parts on it.
we’re getting ‘ring the alarm’ in the new year, i assume ‘upgrade u’ will be the proper 4th single though, which is great because it is great.
Doesn’t do much for me, I’m afraid. I’m holding out hope for “Get Me Bodied”.
Hearing “Pull Shapes” for the first time, it’s a great song, but what does the titular phrase have to do with anything. It seems like they just picked two words at random.
So what if they did?
I think the ‘so what’ is in how it’s noticeable, and doesn’t really do anything for the song other than fill a gap... they may as well have chirped “pop scene!” or “chorus here” and it would be no less banal.
Enough good singles in that list, very few GREAT ones. I don’t like ‘Crazy’ either, horribly ambitious-yet-mediocre dull sounding production, overrated song.
i don’t mind it in itself but that Research song seems ridiculously high.
I’m not sure why I disliked the Nelly Furtado single so much earlier this year. I was very wrong.
also, anyone who ever liked pop music on ilm has either a) left or b) turned into a pop-hating grumpy grandad
(apart from me)
— lexpretend (lexusjee...), December 15th, 2006.
otm
“Crazy” was predictable as the No. 1 but probably the right choice. Def. in my Top Three, anyway.
BTW, today’s review of that Youth Group album has restored my faith in Stylus.
“swastika-shaped peter crouch”!!
http://www.thefootballforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=88836
but there is a much better ‘swastika’ photo of him that i posted on olde-ILX a few months back
ahh right, i was thinking of the original robot silhouette.
yeah I hear “Upgrade U” on the radio at least as much as any of Beyonce’s proper singles, it’s currently #11 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop chart.
I totally forgot about the T.I. track after caning it during the first half of 2006 but it really does deserve its top three placing.
It’s hard for guys to sing the chorus of a girl’s song.
is this really true??????
omg if it is you str8 men are even more lame than i’d previously thought!
— lexpretend (lexusjee...), December 15th, 2006.
Alex don’t make me bring up the time you tried to do Madonna karaoke again.
I really dislike Crazy, it totally baffles me in that I can’t see WHY people like it so much. I can see what its trying to do, but, like, where are the dynamics?
Also Dangermouse is a really dull producer.
i prefer ‘Smiley Faces’ as stated before.
where are the dynamics?
Cee-Lo’s vocal? the choir/strings?
when it came out i thought it wouldn’t actually work very well on a dancefloor compared to say Mr Scruff’s ‘Get A Move On’ but that may just be because it’s got this big epic sentimentality behind it rather than ‘just dance, idiot’
GB performing ‘Crazy’ as a ballad/slow torch song live instead suggesting there may be something in that.
that’s what you get for putting out three top-drawer singles off one album, nelly!
Four!
Five!
i meant three top-drawer monster singles; five is right though and it could easily be seven. loose should work better as an album but is hampered by all the songs which aren’t awesome being appalling.
it’s really obvious why ‘crazy’ was the massive hit it was; this doesn’t change the fact that dangermouse’s production plods like a very plodding plodder thing.
jaymc = my closest a-alike. I am quite obviously bored.
Whales and bulldozers do not need to be nimble or funky or clever and neither does “What You Know.”
i appreciate the #2 placing, which is where i put it too (behind “pull shapes”), but this description is 180 degrees wrong. in what way is “what you know” not nimble, funky or clever? those seem to me to be its primary attributes. (maybe these are english definitions of “nimble,” “funky” and “clever” that i don’t understand.)
(also, the problem with “crazy” — which is almost-great — is that IT’S TOO FAST.)
“Crazy” is the only song this year that’s lost status with me because of radio play. I’ve heard it so many times that it sounds dull. But I think this says something about the song’s quality, though, because the equally successful (well, at least locally) “Me and U” still sounds fresh with every listen.
Oh, and why is “Shooter” not getting votes? Is it not as good as I think it is, or are people considering it a 2005 song?
in what way is “what you know” not nimble, funky or clever? those seem to me to be its primary attributes. (maybe these are english definitions of “nimble,” “funky” and “clever” that i don’t understand.)
I don’t know? What definitions of ‘nimble’ and ‘funky’ are you working from? Because What You Know is patently neither nimble nor funky to me. Clever I’ll get back to you on.
It doesn’t try to be nimble. It STRIDES. You can’t stride in a nimble way, it’s impossible. It isn’t funky because it’s STATELY. It’s stately because he is THE KING. You can’t be stately and funky at the same time, one detracts from the other.
I’m surprised at the high placing of Pull Shapes. I think its a cracking record but so many people seem to have viewed it with such suspicion that I never expected it to even feature in any list.
If there’s a problem with “Crazy,” it’s definitly not that it’s too fast. I’ve heard some of those slow live versions and they are awful.
“Pull Shapes” is fucking awful.
COSIGN
god yeah it is. are they talking about a remix we’re not privy to?
You can’t stride in a nimble way, it’s impossible.
matt THIS IS HOW I MOVE. AT ALL TIIIIIIMES.
‘pull shapes’ is funny. it’s not v good but it amuses me when sundry rape fantasists are all like IT’S AWFUL cos they have issues with girls in pretty vintage dresses turning them down being nazis wvs.
i’m mostly surprised that non-uk people heard it to vote for it in the first place; all that proves is that it is too easy these days for americans to hear crap british indie.
‘what you know’ is so fucking good though.
When did Lex become my own personal Stan? Did I miss a meeting?
who is stan?
nice one on the inclusion of sasse’s “loosing touch”!! i played the dub of that one like crazy this year.
awesome gnarls photo at the bottom/top there...
who is stan?
Stan Boardman, Liverpool comedian.
Not too plzed about the ‘sundry’ there.
Hearing “Pull Shapes” for the first time, it’s a great song, but what does the titular phrase have to do with anything. It seems like they just picked two words at random.
To pull shapes is a horrible (70s? earlier?) expression meaning to dance.
i’d like to see the Pipettes in ‘hip hop’ clobber
Haven’t the pippettes stopped yet? FFS . . .
You can’t stride in a nimble way, it’s impossible.
matt THIS IS HOW I MOVE. AT ALL TIIIIIIMES.
“Well you can tell by the way I use my walk...”
stride nimbly? stagger drunkenly more like
matt was otm, nimble is like, nimble fingers, or walking along ledges type shit.
i totally stride nimbly!
sometimes at the same time as staggering drunkenly
You can’t be stately and funky at the same time, one detracts from the other.
:-O
P.Funk has disproven your theory.
And King Gustav.
the thing about ‘promiscuous’ is that i don’t think ‘promiscuous’ is even the word they’re looking for, it’s not about promiscuity in any way and yet they pluck that word out of nowhere as some bizarro compliment to each other.
I figured that was the whole point ... she’s doing this cocktease charade while he tries to act all smooth about it, but they both realize that they’re only playing characters in a courtship sequence that is well-known to both of them. Where it’s all leading isn’t in doubt from the very start.
Before anyone asks, I’m not mentioning the Pitchfork list. To the devil you go, Timberlake.
In Amy Diamond, the racist creeps at Stylus finally found their wettest dream—a fourteen-year-old Norwegian girl squeaking out agonizingly precise pop music about subjects she probably has no real concept of.
smirk
what’s nimble about “what you know” is the vocal. t.i.‘s way more playful than he is declarative. he dances around the beat, and he has a lot of room because of the song’s slow glide. and you can definitely be stately and funky — second-line rhythms, e.g. the production is big, but it rolls more than it thuds. the description in the write-up makes the song sound like some kind of show of brute force, which is not how i hear it at all.
Surprised that Final Fantasy is so low. If I’d been allowed to vote for albums (not just singles), it probably would’ve been higher: it’s my #3.
Who are the gents in the cover/header between Kyp Malone & Ghostface?
The one on the left is John Darnielle.
And the one on the right is probably Craig Finn (Hold Steady)...?
Judge for yourself:
I can’t believe Sasse’s Loosing Touch is as high as it is. The vocal sounds like something lifted from Udo Kier’s character in My Own Private Idaho.
So Stylus got rid of comments?
i hope for good!
Me too. RIP The Dis-Exists, meatbreak, cwperry, JessGraves, raskolnikov, Zarklephaser, and the rest.
Nope, I think that’s all of them. I hope they swapped email addresses :(
We’re in ur comments box, mistaking it for a
chat room.
Kindly stuff at $5 bill in Jess Graves’ cup on your way out, please.
at least a couple of those are also ilm-ers aren’t they?
well, they certainly all seemed like the same person with viewpoints cleverly contrived to make as much noise as possible. as the joker says in the original batman after electrocuting the guy with the hand-buzzer, “you are a vicious bastard, rotelli, and i’m glad you’re dead.”
and re: nimble v. funky, i do think that funky and stately aren’t diametrically opposed, but i also agree with matt upthread that “what you know” banks more on its HUGEITUDE than its bounce. hugeitude isn’t exclusive to the aforementioned ‘roll,’ but come on, it’s not ‘rubber band man’ and it’s definitely not ‘bring ’em out.’
Zarklephaser posts to ILX as Stephen Bush or something to that effect.
I would assume a Stylus list wouldn’t this fucking indie, but Jesus Fucking Christmas.
GHOSTFACE
KILLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, NEVA COULD BE ILLA!!!!
(well actually could, this is like his fourth-best album)
If you mean Supreme Clientele > Ironman >= Cuban Linx* > Fishscale I won’t hate on that.
Rather: Supreme > Toney > Ironman > Fishscale
I wasn’t taking OB4CL into concideration, but the point stands either way.
This is kinda like giving the Cy Young to Trevor Hoffman this season.
best bulletproof wallets tracks > best fishscale tracks
this is a pretty good list though.
Toney’s better than Clientele.