Word: popularization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Pitchfork has been publishing "best-of" lists for years (their annual singles and album wrap-ups are especially popular) so it seems natural that they'd turn their penchant for classifying and cataloging music into a book. The Pitchfork 500 uses 42 critics to cover 30 years of music, from 1977 punk to 2006 crunk, and all the starry-eyed, acoustic acts in between...
Highlight Reel 1. Journey: "Don't Stop Believing," 1981 "You can tell something about a person's relationship to popular music as a whole by how they feel about this song. Generally, people fall into two camps. If they have at one time considered it a "guilty pleasure," a dim-witted power ballad made by guys with bad haircuts to be enjoyed despite its inherent cheesiness, they probably identify most with indie music of some stripe. If they just plain like it and always have, then they've probably spent their lives enjoying whatever was on the radio...
...Lowdown Pitchfork 500's reviews have been pleasantly stripped of their supercilious phrases (well, for the most part - one critic sounds like a high school student thumbing through a thesaurus when he deems the 1983 hit "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood "Fellini-esque") and its tributes to popular songs are exquisite. The review of Brian Eno's "1/1," tells how the bedridden singer's inability to reach the volume knob on his stereo led to the creation of an entire genre of "ambient music," and provides eager but inexpert music fans with a greater understanding of pop music...
...movie is driven by conviction. We can, if we wish, sit back and smugly identify Australia's sources, which range from Giant to Red River. Or we can grant these characters their innocence, their implicit belief that all their undertakings are without precedence in this history of popular storytelling...
...grin that remained on her face throughout her speech. She told the story of Maria Carrasco, a Lynn, Mass. school committee member who was inspired to enter public service after attending one of ¿Oiste?’s courses on politics and leadership. After invoking the popular Spanish anthem “Sí, se puede,” (“Yes we can.”), Negretti challenged the crowd to consider a new motto—“¿Què haremos?” (“What will...