ILM just had a doozy of a '90s "singles" poll (hearty props to Gear for tabulating everything) and, even if it was predictable which genres got more focus (though american rock was REALLY underrepresented), I'm impressed with the consistency of song quality. Everyone was allowed to nominate two songs, and out of what was nominated, this was my ballot (of course, my noms were my top two picks).

1) Prince - "Gett Off"
2) Sugar Ray - "Someday"
3) Cypress Hill - "Hand on the Pump"
4) Bikini Kill – “Rebel Girl”
5) Ol' Dirty Bastard - "Got Your Money" (#29 on ILM poll)
6) Pulp - "Common People" (#1 on ILM poll)
7) Eminem - "My Name Is" (#77 on ILM poll)
8) Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the Silence" (#24 on ILM poll)
9) Mark Morrison - "Return of the Mack"
10) Beck - "Loser" (#14 on ILM poll)
11) Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance (#81 on ILM poll)
12) Guided by Voices - "Game of Pricks"
13) LL Cool J - "Mama Said Knock You Out" (#63 on ILM poll)
14) B-52s – “Roam”
15) Warren G feat. Nate Dogg - "Regulate" (#7 on ILM poll)
16) The Breeders - "Cannonball" (#3 on ILM poll)
17) Guided By Voices - "Echos Myron"
18) Blink 182 - “Dammit”
19) Blackstreet - "No Diggity" (#11 on ILM poll)
20) Archers of Loaf - "Web In Front”
21) My Bloody Valentine "When You Sleep" (#72 on ILM poll)
22) Quad City DJs - "C'Mon Ride It (The Train)"
23) Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
24) Hanson - “Mmmbop”
25) Christina Aguilera - "Genie in a Bottle"
26) Folk Implosion - "Natural One"
27) The Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
28) Montell Jordan - "This is How We Do It"
29) Gin Blossoms – “Hey Jealousy”
30) Pulp - "Babies" (#38 on ILM poll)

There's a few of these songs that I don't have access to right now. I should do something about that. I'm nowhere as happy with my album ballot. It's much easier to realize the glory of a hit you dismissed in high school than a full-length (that costs money). Had to pick too many albums whose appeal might be based mainly on familiarity.

I need to start reading more, watching movies again and experiencing non-musical art. Too much of what I hear is pleasant but uninspiring. I need a narrative or unique statement to react to. So much feels like background music or filler.

Of course, the second I say something like "I'm tired of ____," _____ goes and slaps me upside the head. Right when I wonder if I need to give mp3 blogs a rest (it starts to feel like a friend playing you bits of 30 songs in a half hour - btw somebody let me know when an article about M.I.A. comes out so I can get a better sense of why everybody's creaming), a song like "Girl And The Sea" by the Presets grabs me from the get-go. I give up on the new UNKLE album five songs in and when I put the album back on I have a hard time believing "Reign," "What You Are To Me?" and "Invasion" from the same album that had me yawning a few hours earlier. The generic cock-rock I listened to inbetween probably increased my willingness to dig spacy Brit-pop symphonies.