2008-11-08 Yet more tripe from those who do it best

As if those terrible Best of Decade lists weren't innacurate enough, RichDork now decide that it's time for the world to know what they say are the best songs from the past 30 years or so. In book form.

I don't think I'd have had as big a problem with this had they just published it on their site. I don't own it -- it's easily viewable on the net -- but I'm well aware that there are hipsters out there gullible enough to buy what is essentially nothing more than one great big mass self-indulgent by a group of obsessive rock and pop fans with severe ego problems.

The one thing that earns this its one star is its eclectism. Talk Talk, The Pop Group, Dizzee Rascal and Autechre each make appearances on here, among many others. However, the list is formulaic to the point that I could have guessed at least 10% of their picks before reading, had I the thought or effort to do so. What's worse is that the list is primarily made up of artists who made it onto the 70s/80/90s decade lists previously. This means that not only are the lists obnoxious on Pitchfork's part, but any use that they may have served ignorant music fans looking to delve a bit further into rock music is eliminated.

Not recommended by any means, but the sites worth checking out if you're tired of the current British mainstream, choc-full indie-pop, post-punk rehash guitar bands; dull, disco-never-died rn'b and whoever it is that won X Factor -- or whatever it's called as of your reading this -- most recently. Compared to that, this is a damn masterwork.