The 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters

[tapintoamerica]

Minutes To Memories is the best Mellencamp song that never went anywhere on radio. Check It Out is the only one that tops it for me.

Great tune.

 

[Songbird]

Kevin Griffin could/should be on the list.

Just one of his many great songs. He’s written many for others too.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Kevin Griffin could/should be on the list.

Just one of his many great songs. He’s written many for others too.

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT!!!!

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Here’s the top 100 as voted on by NYT readers.

Times Readers Pick the 100 Greatest Living American Songwriters

 

[DanOregon]

At first I thought it was snark when they noted who else people who supported one artist also tended to support. James Taylor fans also supported Kenny Loggins.

 

[Chet Lemon]

That list is better than the other one.

 

[Alma]

A top 30 with only one rapper? How dare they?

Eminem is the No. 2 rapper on the list, at least.

 

[Chet Lemon]

A top 30 with only one rapper? How dare they?

Eminem is the No. 2 rapper on the list, at least.

The NYT thinks it’s readers listen to Young Thug, but it turns out we listen to Wilco.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I love The Replacements, but Paul Westerberg at No. 48?

C’mon, man.

 

[Songbird]

And where the **** is Jeffrey Gaines?

 

[Alma]

The NYT thinks it’s readers listen to Young Thug, but it turns out we listen to Wilco.

Oh, the NYT knows that.

It's what, I'm sure, most of the people making the rankings listen to most of the time.

Music reviewers have been performatively ****ting on rock/folk and putting rap/hip-hop on a pedestal for the balance of the 21st Century. I suspect the tide will turn a little over the next 10-15 years now that Gen X and millennial critics realize all that performance didn't get them much of anywhere and the algorithms have turned rock into, unbeliebvably, an underdog.

Or maybe not. The Woke is strong with these ones. You might have to pry critical theory from their hands like a firearm from Charlton Heston.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

The Woke is strong with these ones.

Alma Alma-ed. DRINK!

 

[No Phonies]

My goodness, why can't these lists be fun? They're for entertainment purposes. It's cool they had readers do a top 100, it's fun that the critics did 30. Why on earth does it have to be more that that? People get so weird over the littlest things.

 

[Chet Lemon]

My goodness, why can't these lists be fun? They're for entertainment purposes. It's cool they had readers do a top 100, it's fun that the critics did 30. Why on earth does it have to be more that that? People get so weird over the littlest things.

To me, it’s kind of like comparing the Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience scores.

 

[DanOregon]

All I ask of critics is to explain the why and understand their thinking. Also, why do there seem to be so few women movie and music critics?

 

[Alma]

To me, it’s kind of like comparing the Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience scores.

I'd say more Metacritic.

Some Rotten Tomatoes critics are sheer movie industry boosters.

Here's a critic review of Grogu.

"Granted, the rotten tomato meter hasn’t yet dipped below fresh YET, but it’s damned close. Take it from me. YOU WILL LOVE THIS FILM."

 

[Alma]

My goodness, why can't these lists be fun? They're for entertainment purposes. It's cool they had readers do a top 100, it's fun that the critics did 30. Why on earth does it have to be more that that? People get so weird over the littlest things.

Because the critic list is dishonest and woke.

Most of them are now.

In 2022, for example, Sight and Sound came out with its list of best films ever made. It comes out every 10 years and there had been some durability to the rankings over time. Citizen Kane, Tokyo Story, Rules of the Game, etc.

In 2022, tho, the top movie is suddenly a Belgian movie that hadn't been in the top 25 before - hadn't been in the top 100 before 2012 - from...1975. 3 hours long.

Now, I have seen this movie. I have an appreciation for it. Almost no one has seen this movie, or ever will, and it is a test of any regular moviegoer's patience. Even a seasoned moviegoer's patience. It's a lesser, stripped down version of Cleo from 5 to 7 or Belle Du Jour, a portrait of quiet desperation, etc. etc. And it's the No. 1 movie of all time, the pinnacle of film art, all of the sudden, because it's a feminist parable of a certain kind and it is, for almost its entire length, crushingly slow.

But it does not reflect the joy or beauty or possibility of film. I would take any movie that Sofia Coppola or Kelly Reichardt or Lynne Ramsey or Jane Campion has made over this movie, if we want to highlight women filmmakers, and so would just about anyone. Except the Sight and Sound critics. (And the directors who went from not ranking the movie in their top 100 in 2012 to suddenly No. 4 in 2022.)

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

DISHONEST AND WOKE!!!!!!

 

[Inky_Wretch]

DISHONEST AND WOKE!!!!!!

He's a parody of himself at this point.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

My goodness, why can't these lists be fun? They're for entertainment purposes. It's cool they had readers do a top 100, it's fun that the critics did 30. Why on earth does it have to be more that that? People get so weird over the littlest things.

Because the critic list is dishonest and woke.

AND ... SCENE!