Agreed. Only going back to it months later did I realize its genius.

It's hardly the best pop song this year Undo, don't worry about it. Hell, it's not even as good as S.O.S.

yea me too! that lower ranked rihanna song about driving >>>>>> the one about umbrellas.

Let's face it, Rihanna's ranked as high as she is because these poindexters want to dump their baby-batter in her. Really, her stuff is pretty indistinguishable from a lot of popular music; what makes her stand out is her hot-piece-of-ass-ness.

I didn't even like the song but comment is beyond ridiculous

Oh please. That's not a criticism, for the record. Denying it makes you sound silly.

wtf

Methinks the queen doth protest too much.

all i have to say:
ella ella ella ey ey

you have 80 posts and that's fine, but this is one of them?

I have a similar theory about why LCD ran away with it this year.

one of my biggest guilty pleasures this year was Chris Brown

now i didnt vote for him but i was kinda hoping for "Kiss Kiss" or "Wall to Wall" to show up on the Top 100 so i could d/l them.... can anyone help me out?

Went out for dinner tonight, sat in the lounge, and it was like someone had taken my 2007 ballot and played songs off it at random: 'Give It To Me; 'Bed'; 'Ayo Technology'; 'Misery Business'. It served to remind me what a fabulous year it was in pop music.


Zzzz. Standard/lazy chauvinistic comment. Always comes up for pretty female pop singers, yet never for male pop stars.

Glad I wasn't around to witness or participate in the personal attacks here a few pages back. Congrats [youknowwhoyouare], new low. Xmas brings out the worst in people.

I thought I was the new low?

Wonder what the proportion of men to women is on this board? 10:1?

Embrace your inner frotteurist.

Come on--my comment may be nothing new, but your response is the one that's disingenuous; I'd rather be repetitive than dishonest. I mean, if a crusty ass 65 year old Diana Ross had performed this song, do you think anyone would have even heard of it or listened to it, much less ranked it #2 on the singles list? That is, unless, the video featured Jay-Z banging Ms. Ross in the sphincter.

The question was raised or intimated as to why the song "Umbrella" had ranked so high--I offered perhaps a trite, but solidly Ockham's Razor suggestion as to why.

holy shit

Well if we are going to be all entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem about this then why doesn't a board mainly consisting of young males vote for more songs by pretty ladies?

Yeah...where's Fergie


oh yeah, that's crap. and she's gonna be a fat in a year or two

Honestly, there are so few hot pieces of ass in contemporary music, the pickins are slim. Unless you want to expand the pool of contestants to contemporary country, and even you gents don't want to trammel those weeds.

sorely overlooked in the results and a fine country gal

Wouldn't the Occam's Razor solution be that the song is awesome? That people said "Umbrella" was the best because they thought it was the best is much simpler than them subconsciously liking it because Rihanna gives them a boner. Occam's Razor is the simplest solution, not the basest.

Well, the question was posed by some folks as to why the song had been ranked as high as it was--my solution was--outside the notion that there was some overarching artistic merit to the song--that it probably falls to her looks.

Do you think record companies would pimp her stuff as hard as they do if she looked like Eddie Van Halen? With pop fluff the look is ALWAYS coeval with the performance. The New Kids on the Block weren't signed because of their talent, but for their ability to encourage young girls (and guys) to discover the freedom of the first orgasm.

Your argument seems to be a better one for why they gave Rihanna the song rather than why we like it. Pop stars are always supposed to be attractive. They're going to give the songs they think would succeed to the hot ones. I honestly think it would have been equally loved by the SOMB had it been by someone totally uggers. The only reason it wouldn't have would be that it didn't have the initial popularity on radio, mtv, etc.

Oh, and counter-argument to NKOTB

Ignorant message board posters: it was NYNUK who stole the show.

And I think that's bunk.

I'm not sure why, though, there seems to be a universal defensiveness to this position. Who cares? If I had voted in the singles thread, I would have voted for Rihanna early and often. I should wear diapers when I look at pictures of her.

I don't think that Rihanna is particularly attractive, no. And I'm not even some Damo Suzuki "I hate all black girls" dude.

Since when are songs like "Umbrella" sung by singers who are exceptionally unattractive, anyway? Dancey mainstream pop crap isn't exactly the type of music that the labels and producers distribute through enormous fugly bitches.

Look everyone, this guy is a public school teacher and knows the reasons why kids listen to music better than we ever could hope to.




REAL TALK

On the moneyyyyyyyyyy

I mean, yeah, I'd blast a load on her face, no question:



But she is pretty weird looking. The enormous forehead and scrunched up face... bleh. A bit too chihuahua-ish for my liking.


Ha, I hope he heard Wilco and Menomena "via the computer lab," too.

She's this weird really made-up Afro-Caribbean hybrid forehead monster. She looks more attractive depending what picture we're talking about, and we're definitely in "I'd hit it" territory, but it's definitely not worth getting worked up about or liking Umbrella for.

There was a lot of that going on--probably for the best you weren't here.

Some trenchant wit here. Someone's been reading his Juvenal.

Back to my strokebooks. Ta.

I see you came straight from your conference on eugenics.

I see you came straight from your conference on faggotry.

This is a music discussion board. You're basically question people's integrity with that kind of comment.

This was my number one because it was my favorite song all year. Fell in love with it way before I saw the first minute of the video that one time and then got up to do something else (not that it matters). The vocals are great, has a dark yet bittersweet theme, and that chorus just sticks with you. I don't think about the girl's ass when I hear it, I think of a couple clinging to each other in hard times, if I'm not simply thinking "ella ella ella ey." If you don't like it, fine, but just because she's a beautiful woman doesn't mean that's all that she is. It is a great song.

for my money, the first five seconds of "Umbrella" are best

Anyone have a nice fat zip file of all the singles that placed for the johnny-cum-latelys like me?

Can't argue with that. The drum programmer deserves a grammy.

I regret not putting this in my #1 spot. You should regret not putting it on your lists at all.

Only in the same way I regret not listening to the Disney channel on XM 24/7.

Get your ears out of your ass.

I didn't like it in 1984, and I don't like it now.

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1983, actually

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regardless of the year, that song sucks a good deal of dicks

Not sure if you're referring to "Modern Love" or "Fascination," but in either case, you're an absolute fool.

Fascination...it's a bad song.

Just because Popjustice likes it doesn't mean that it's, ya know, good

Definitely. I dislike Dragonette, Siobhan Donaghy, Shiny Toy Guns, Maroon 5, Robbie Williams, Mark Ronson...

However, they probably rec more good bands than bad.