Okay, so here's what is up. At the end of 2005, many people were posting their lists of their favorite singles of the year. All these different peoples' opinions led me to wondering, "what would a composite of their lists look like?" Using Stylus Magazine's method of compiling their year-end top 50, I did the same for us. (Long story short: They took every writer's top 20 songs and counted them up. Each person's number 1 was give 20 points, their #20 given 1 point and so on and thereforth.) Now, I know all the complaints I might hear for this:
- How can it be truly representative of everyone's tastes if only those who posted year-end charts are represented?
Well, a truly representative list is almost impossible. Most people who are registered to this site rarely, if ever, post? So I couldn't get those people anyway. In a weird way, it makes sense to listen to the people who took the effort to share their thoughts and tastes with the rest of us.
- Why only look at everyone's top 20? Why not count a person's entire chart?
a) Way too time-consuming.
b)Some people only posted a top 20, while some people posted a top 200. To count all of THOSE songs would've given those who posted more an unfair advantage. This way, everyone is equal.
c) It makes to count a person's top 20 only, because those are the songs they loved the most. I'm looking to reflect peoples' true passions, which leads me into my next thingie.
- Why weren't we told before we posted our lists?
Because that would've inspired groupthink. If people were told, they would've (consciously or subconsciously) ranked songs not according to how they liked them, but according to how they think everyone else would like them. People would've put songs down just to see the make the chart - even if they had songs they liked more but knew would have no chance of making it. (In retrospect, I am a little guilty of that.)
I really think the way I did it was the best way. It's still a very diverse chart that reflects our tastes as a community. No one genre is too present.
The final chart will be posted on Sunday. Y'all can use this thread to guess who'll make it!
Also, I might need people to post 3-4 sentence descriptions of the song, explaining why everyone would like them.
Do you guys think we should have graphics too? Because if y'all do, I'll need people to make them.
One last thing - Mazen, you were going to be a part of this list, but you've taken so damn long to post your top 20 (still isn't posted) and I didn't want to keep everyone else waiting. Sorry!