[potsie]

One look at these songs from 1989-1998 shows that the eventual failure of M@W was inevitable for the Hip (and I mean "failure" in a very benign and relative manner... I wouldn't want a Hip catalogue without the weirdness of M@W). By the time 2000 rolled around they were too big and too good not to fail. These are representative of an unbelievably good run. There are very few bands that have a ten year (nearly) unblemished run like that. It is almost hard to fathom that they sustained such a creative peak for that many years. I certainly took it for granted at the time. Every show, every album at that time had a damn good chance to be the best ever.

I had a listen to all these songs tonight to help with my voting. They all contain "quintessential" Hip moments. The suspended pauses of Blow (after "Yeah I can get behind anything") and Little Bones (after "It's just a little tired") which create heightened tension in the songs. The breakdown of Gord faux-rapping "If I die of vanity..." in Hundredth. The iconic opening drum beat of Grace, the beautiful windy swirl of Escape. In the end I went with Hundredth. No reason. Same as it will be for every vote from here on in.