I believe we can all agree that the 2008 Acclaimed Music Songs Poll was great!

So let's do an UNacclaimed Music Songs Poll too, while we're still in the mood!

All the songs in the Acclaimed Music Poll were really good, but some songs that we adore were not there at all. So let's take this opportunity to show them some love.

There are, I think, the following possible reasons for the absence of songs that we adore:

- They are a bit obscure!
or
- People know them, but they just don't notice them!
or
- They simply had too much competition!
or
- They aren't all that good, but we love them because we're weird!
or
- We didn't vote for them because they're "guilty pleasures" and we wanted to try to be more serious!
or
- We were trying to not to have too many songs by the same artist.

Whatever the reason was, let's each do a Top 50 of the best songs that weren't in the Top 200 of the 2008 Acclaimed Music Songs Poll!

Of course, you could say: "but why not look at 492-201 of the Acclaimed Music Songs Poll instead of making a new poll?".

Well, the answer is: because it's not so fun! Also, because 492-201 are songs that were competing for the distinction of "Best Songs!" instead of "Best Songs That Weren't!".

Basically, 492-201 are the songs that "lost."

Whereas the UNacclaimed Music Songs Poll wants to focus on a sort of alternate reality where there are other winners!

It's a... small but important distinction.

I'm not sure if that makes a lot of sense. But trust me, this poll is going to be cool!

So yeah. Here's what we'll do.

Instructions for Part 1

Make a Top 50 of the best songs that weren't in the Top 200 (of course it can include songs that were in 492-201) and send it to my e-mail address:

sindervelvin@gmail.com

If you want, write a comment for each song, telling us why it's so special to you. The more comments, the merrier!

Why a Top 50, you ask? Because this is supposed to be a slightly smaller project, that is in addition to the Acclaimed Music Songs Poll.

Also, like I said, people were afraid to vote for some songs in the Acclaimed Music Songs Poll because they figured that no one knows them or loves them, and that the songs would therefore not make it far.

The UNacclaimed Music Songs Poll is here to smack that problem.

Instructions for Part 2

After I receive your lists of Top 50's, I will e-mail each of you back and ask you if you know the other participants' most favorite songs.

More precisely, I'll send you a list containing all the songs from everyone else's Top 10's.

If you don't know them, I'll provide links to them and ask you to please listen to them, just in case listening to them makes you change your own Top 50's.

This is so that obscure gems (even weird B-sides and outtakes!) can have a good chance.

Please participate, and let's see how this goes!

Clarification for Part 2

When I e-mail you back, I won't let you know who voted for what, and what ranks they gave.

And, of course, if more than one person happens to vote something obscure, yet it is not in either person's Top 10, I will still mention it to you.

First, let's see how Part 1 unfolds. Will a lot of people vote for similar things, or will everyone vote for obscure stuff? Or will it be somewhere in-between?

Whatever it is, I'll make sure that everything obscure gets a good chance.

For posterity and the Removal of the Need to Open Another Page, these are the victorious songs you aren't allowed to vote for:


200. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
199. Kylie Minogue - Can’t Get You Out of My Head
198. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message
197. Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up
196. Police, The - Every Breath You Take
195. Björk - Isobel
194. Smashing Pumpkins, The - Today
193. Beatles, The - And Your Bird Can Sing
192. Clash, The - Spanish Bombs
191. Björk - Bachelorette
190. Miles Davis - So What
189. Doors, The - The End
188. Thunderclap Newman - Something in the Air
187. Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland
186. Deee-Lite - Groove Is in the Heart
185. Flaming Lips, The - Race for the Prize
184. Human League - Don't You Want Me
183. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
182. Jam, The - Going Underground
181. New Order - Ceremony
180. Beatles, The - Revolution
179. Joy Division - Disorder
178. Byrds, The - Eight Miles High
177. Band, The - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
176. Johnny Cash - Hurt
175. Beatles, The - Happiness is a Warm Gun
174. Coldplay - Yellow
173. Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat
172. R.E.M. - Drive
171. Mamas and the Papas - California Dreamin'
170. Blur - This Is A Low
169. Prince - Sign o' The Times
168. Who, The - My Generation
167. Kinks, The - You Really Got Me
166. Prince - Kiss
165. Replacements, The - Unsatisfied
164. Bob Marley and the Wailers - No Woman No Cry
163. Smiths, The - Bigmouth Strikes Again
162. Notorious B.I.G. - Juicy
161. Prince - Little Red Corvette
160. Smashing Pumpkins, The - Tonight, Tonight
159. Flaming Lips, The - Do You Realize?
158. Blur - Song 2
157. Mercury Rev - Godess On A Hi-Way
156. David Bowie - Space Oddity
155. Pixies - Gigantic
154. Simon and Garfunkel - America
153. Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
152. Del Shannon - Runaway
151. R.E.M. - It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
150. Stone Roses, The - I Am the Resurrection
149. Otis Redding - Try a Little Tenderness
148. Neil Young - Cortez the Killer
147. New Radicals - You Get What You Give
146. Knife, The - Heartbeats
145. R.E.M. - World Leader Pretend
144. Breeders, The - Cannonball
143. Zombies, The - Hung Up on a Dream
142. White Stripes, The - Fell in Love with a Girl
141. Radiohead - Pyramid Song
140. David Bowie - Station to Station
139. Beck - Loser
138. New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
137. Prince - Let's Go Crazy
136. Iggy Pop - The Passenger
135. New Order - Temptation
134. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
133. Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
132. David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes
131. Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
130. Arcade Fire, The - Wake Up
129. James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine
128. Radiohead - Idioteque
127. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
126. Lou Reed - Perfect Day
125. Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep, Mountain High
124. Specials, The - Ghost Town
123. R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
122. Animals, The - House of the Rising Sun
121. Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
120. Stan Getz with Joao and Astrud Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema
119. Portishead - Glory Box
118. Arcade Fire, The - Rebellion (Lies)
117. Strokes, The - Last Nite
116. Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
115. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
114. Beastie Boys - Sabotage
113. Al Green - Let's Stay Together
112. Ben E. King - Stand By Me
111. Beatles, The - Blackbird
110. Beatles, The - Yesterday
109. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
108. Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
107. OutKast - B.O.B. (bombs over baghdad)
106. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
105. U2 - With Or without You
104. Pulp - This Is Hardcore
103. Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World
102. Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
101. Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye
100. Smashing Pumpkins, The - 1979
099. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
098. Beach Boys, The - Don't Worry Baby
097. Who, The - I Can See for Miles
096. Bruce Springsteen - The River
095. Cure, The - In Between Days
094. Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je t’aime… moi non plus
093. Simon and Garfunkel - The Sounds of Silence
092. Arcade Fire, The - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
091. Beach Boys, The - Til I Die
090. Massive Attack - Teardrop
089. Bob Dylan - Desolation Row
088. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
087. Velvet Underground, The - Heroin
086. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
085. Beatles, The - Eleanor Rigby
084. Pink Floyd - Echoes
083. Oasis - Live Forever
082. Oasis - Wonderwall
081. Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely
080. R.E.M. - Fall On Me
079. Nick Drake - River Man
078. Sly and the Family Stone - Family Affair
077. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
076. Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come
075. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles - The Tracks of My Tears
074. Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
073. Robert Wyatt - Sea Song
072. Eminem feat. Dido - Stan
071. Tom Waits - Downtown Train
070. Roy Orbison - In Dreams
069. Prince - 1999
068. Beatles, The - I Am the Walrus
067. Undertones - Teenage Kicks
066. Four Tops - Reach Out (I'll Be There)
065. Who, The - Won't Get Fooled Again
064. Big Star - Thirteen
063. Verve, The - Bittersweet Symphony
062. Neil Young - After The Goldrush
061. Smiths, The - How Soon is Now?
060. Eagles, The - Hotel California
059. Radiohead - No Surprises
058. Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
057. Velvet Underground, The - Sunday Morning
056. Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the U.K.
055. Elliott Smith - Waltz #2
054. Rolling Stones, The - Paint It, Black
053. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
052. Rolling Stones, The - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
051. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues
050. The Jackson 5 - I Want You Back
049. Prince and the Revolution- When Doves Cry
048. Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
047. New Order - Blue Monday
046. The Beta Band - Dry the Rain
045. Derek and the Dominos - Layla
044. The Velvet Underground & Nico - Venus in Furs
043. Sonic Youth- Teenage Riot
042. David Bowie - Life on Mars?
041. U2 - One
040. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
039. The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
038. The Who- Baba O'Riley
037. Radiohead - Let Down
036. Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman
035. Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
034. The La's - There She Goes
033. OutKast - Hey Ya!
032. Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
031. John Lennon - Imagine
030. Big Star - September Gurls
029. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along the Watchtower
028. Stevie Wonder - Superstition
027. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
026. R.E.M.- Losing My Religion
025. Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
024. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
023. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
022. Love - Alone Again Or
021. The Clash - London Calling
020. Pixies - Debaser
019. Bob Dylan- Tangled Up in Blue
018. Otis Redding - (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay
017. Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit
016. David Bowie - "Heroes"
015. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
014. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
013. Television - Marquee Moon
012. The Ronettes - Be My Baby
011. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
010. The Smiths - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
009. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
008. The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
007. The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
006. The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
005. Pulp - Common People
004. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
003. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
002. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
001. The Beatles - A Day in the Life


Everything else is ok.

But if you do accidentally vote for something that was in the Top 200, I'll let you know, so don't worry.

Sounds good- kinda like an "occult" AM 50. I think my list will differ from the mere top 50 songs that didn't make it into the Songs poll, so this will take some time. Do you have an idea of a deadline?

Why do we have to email them? Pretty soon our individual lists will be up so it will be no secret what our top 50 songs are. I suppose putting them in an Excel format will make it easier for you.

I think the caveat in the original post helps to distinguish it from a mere regurgitation of the top 50 songs that didn't make the cut. It seems to me (correct me if I'm wrong, Sister Velvin) that our task is to nominate 50 songs we love but are obscure or overlooked for some reason. That distinction will cause me to rework my list. Sure, several of my top 50 that didn't make the cut will probably make this list, but there will be some others that I think will better warrant inclusion.

Yes. Exactly, Moonbeam.

As for the deadline, let's go with the... 15th of March. I'll choose a later date, though, if it's necessary.

OK, that's alright with me
I'll probably send my list next week, though, because I'll have little more spare time (wife and kids away)

Looking forward to it.

Well, if we all choose songs obscure and overlooked, the winning songs will be the few ones, if there are some, who get more than 1 voice !

If I get around to submitting a list, I'll add these criteria to it. No artists from the AM top 50, no songs from albums in the AM top 500, and no songs from the AM top 1000. That way it will truly be more obscure personal favorites.

Those are some good criteria. It'd be best if they were all unknowns!

i like the idea of having some official set of criteria, and i think rocky's is a good guideline. some thoughts:

"no artists from the AM top 50" - maybe, although even great artists, especially those with HUGE catalogues, have some gems that are overlooked, and sometimes it just takes someone's mention to call one (back) into the light. so maybe no restriction on artists?

"no albums from the AM top 500" - maybe use the forum poll instead? no albums from the top 100 in our forum poll? just because 500 is a lot and there are plenty of "discoveries" still to be made in the AM top 500 - how many people have heard isaac hayes' hot buttered soul all the way through and recently, for instance?

"no songs from the AM top 1000" - this one's good, but maybe top 500 is enough? not sure.

what does everyone think?

(good thinkin', rocky)

I agree with everything Greg said.

We could limit the number of times an artist can appear on an individual list as well. That way we're not just getting deep cuts from the top 20 artists. Maybe limit it to 2 songs per artist?

Just so we have it all in one place, here's the album's list from the forum:

1. Radiohead - Ok Computer
2. The Beatles - Revolver
3. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
4. The Beatles - The Beatles
5. The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground and Nico
6. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
7. The Clash - London Calling
8. The Beatles - Abbey Road
9. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
10. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
11. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
12. The Pixies - Doolittle
13. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
14. Radiohead - Kid A
15. Nirvana - Nevermind
16. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
17. Love - Forever Changes
18. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
19. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
20. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
21. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
22. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
23. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
24. Television - Marquee Moon
25. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
26. The Who - Who's Next
27. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
28. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
29. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
30. Bob Dylan - Bringing it All Back Home
31. Beck - Odelay
32. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
33. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
34. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
35. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
36. The Talking Heads - Remain in Light
37. U2 - Achtung Baby
38. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
39. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
40. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
41. The Rolling Stones - Beggar's Banquet
42. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea
43. Radiohead - The Bends
44. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
45. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
46. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
47. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
48. R.E.M. - Murmur
49. Jeff Buckley - Grace
50. The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
51. The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
52. David Bowie - Low
53. Joni Mitchell - Blue (tie)
53. New Kids on the Block - Step by Step (tie)
54. The Strokes - Is This It
55. U2 - The Joshua Tree
56. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
57. Oasis - Definitely Maybe
58. Joy Division - Closer
59. Portishead - Dummy
60. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
61. PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
62. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
63. Paul Simon - Graceland
64. The Doors - The Doors
65. The Kinks - The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society
66. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
67. Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
68. Prince - Sign O' The Times
69. Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
70. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
71. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
72. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
73. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
74. Pulp - Different Class
75. Van Morrison - Moondance
76. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
77. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
78. The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
79. Michael Jackson - Thriller
80. The Band - The Band
81. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
82. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
83. The White Stripes - Elephant
84. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
85. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
86. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
87. Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul
88. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
89. Blur - Parklife
90. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
91. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
92. Lou Reed - Transformer
93. The Replacements - Let it Be
94. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
95. Bjork - Homogenic
96. Nirvana - Unplugged in New York
97. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
98. Pearl Jam - Ten
99. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
100. Patti Smith - Horses

I have already sent my list but it does not respect those rules.
I have forced myself not to put any artist more than 2 times, but I have a few songs coming from the top 100 poll (4 or 5 I think), because even if your explanation seems reasonable, I have noticed that an important part of the people who participated in the song poll did not know John Wayne Gacy Jr, which comes from Illinois which is in our top 100 albums !

Anyway, if I had to make another list it won't be a problem but I will be sad to leave Casimir Pulaski Day and Grace (I even made an effort to make a comment for almost all my songs ! )

Please let's have "no songs from the forum's Top 200 songs" as the only restriction.

There are plenty of overlooked gems on famous albums. Let's give them a chance too.

I thought about this a little bit:

If we restrict too much we're going to have a whole bunch of ties and it really will probably turn into a list of our top 5 songs with not many songs on mulitple ballots. I don't think that would be very interesting. It sounds like a good idea in principle but unless we have hundreds of people voting it's not going to be very community driven.

My suggestion: Don't restrict albums or artists at all and restrict songs that were on the AM songs poll including bubbling unders and the top 500 songs on the actual AM songs list. Maximum two songs per artist.

Well, if we all choose songs obscure and overlooked, the winning songs will be the few ones, if there are some, who get more than 1 voice !

And no, I'll make sure it doesn't come to that.

If everyone chooses something different from everyone else, I'll ask everyone to give a score to every song, and the winners will be the songs with the highest score.

But please, let "no songs from the forum's Top 200 Songs" be the only guideline. It will make more sense in the end, trust me.

Just trust me. I know what I'm doing. I guarantee it won't turn into something pointless.

And you can be sure that, if everyone votes for something different, I will not ask you to listen to hundreds of songs to score them and sort them out.

I'll ask you to listen to a few dozen, maximum, if I have to. Hopefully, you won't mind.

I've been gone for a few days, and boy do I have a lot to catch up on.

This comment is somewhat related to this thread but also an observation on the AM songs poll in general.

I picked up one volume of Phil Spector's Back to Mono from the library, and I'm puzzled about why Be My Baby by the Ronettes is the only Wall of Sound song to not only appear high on the AM list but also on the poll. Every one I hear is nearly timeless and exciting. Why do people converge around that one tune?

Yeah IMO You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling is as good,if not better - for some reason,people don't seem to rate here...

He's a Rebel is my Wall of Sound favorite.

Why do people converge around that one tune?

I love that song, but it's a good question. My hypotheses:

- It was a HUGE hit
- That iconic drumbeat has been lifted on many songs (e.g. "Just Like Honey")
- It's Brian Wilson's favorite song ever, and he's not afraid to say it
- Given it's fame, it's often thought of first when checking off the girl-group box while making a list
- Given the above, people that want to see a girl-group song in the list voted for it, knowing others likely would
- Did I forget that it's a great song, regardless of the above?

Back to this poll, I think I’m going to do something different than just choose the top 50 of my countdown that didn’t make the cut of 200.

Some of my favorite songs, including my number 1, are what I consider to be very idiosyncratic favorites based on my adoration for an artist or a particular album. My #1 song of all time, Frank Zappa’s “Yo’ Mama”, is not in the same company of my #2, Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”, because God Only Knows is a perfect song while Yo’ Mama is the perfect representation, in song form, of why I admire Zappa’s work so much.

While I would love to have my quirky favorites be universally liked (and I hope you all get to listen to Yo’ Mama as you make your way through the top 500 list), I think a more useful top 50 would be the stand-alone songs that inexplicably got overlooked in the top 200.

Can any of you see the difference I’m describing? Or would it be better if I still recognize all the weird songs that were scattered at the top of my original list?

What do you mean by "the stand-alone songs that inexplicably got overlooked in the top 200"?

I knew I would confuse people as soon as I submitted.

I’m saying that my list of 50 will be what I think are 50 good songs that didn’t get enough votes to make the top 200. But my rules for this list have changed from my original top songs submission. Now rather than “here are my favorite songs” I’m going to construct my list thinking “here are 50 songs that ought to have been liked by enough people to put the tune in the top 200”. It’s a subtle difference, and I’m not sure if I can figure out what I’m trying to say, yet.

Have the rules changed? 50 songs that are not in the top 200, right?

Well.

Here's the thing.

The Top 200 Songs was, by itself, flawed.

Top 200 what? Was it a Top 200 of our favorites? Or was it a Top 200 of what we regard as the best?

Because what we think is good, and what we personally like, are very different.

Are you sure it was a Top 200 of our favorites?

Because my poll here was supposed to be a Top 50 of our favorites, really.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have added the "obscure stuff is so very welcome" clause to it.

"I picked up one volume of Phil Spector's Back to Mono from the library, and I'm puzzled about why Be My Baby by the Ronettes is the only Wall of Sound song to not only appear high on the AM list but also on the poll."

I keep trying to give River Deep Mountain High some love but it doesn't seem to be catching on around here.