Oh, make me over: Ranking Pazz & Jop’s 1998 singles

Pazz and Jop voters had the dreamer’s disease in 1998 — one hundred-four singles! This signals a new development, perhaps related to a steadily expanding membership into the next decade. Fine by me. This consequence produced the awesome miscellany below. Garbage realized their promise at last, then slinked away (Version 2.0 remains my favorite album of the year). Monster Magnet’s “Space Lord,” the first video aired on MTV’s Total Request Live. Batshit-awesome run-offs like Propellerheads’ Shirley Bassy collaboration, Air’s retro-future synth-lounge homoerotic jam, and Fatboy Slim looped a chorus to wring every variation on ecstasy.

The Hague

Semisonic – Closing Time
Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
Will Smith – Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It

Meh

R.E.M. – Daysleeper
Barenaked Ladies – One Week
Pras – Ghetto Supastar
Jay-Z – Hard Knock Life
Shawn Mullins – Lullaby
Beck – Tropicalia
Marilyn Manson – The Dope Show
Monster Magnet – Space Lord
Alanis Morissette – Thank U

Sound, Solid

Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta
Shania Twain – You’re Still the One
Madonna – Ray of Light
Fastball – The Way
Beenie Man – Who Am I
Propellerheads featuring Shirley Bassy – History Repeating
Wyclef Jean ft Refugee All Stars – Gone Till November
Hole – Malibu
Madonna – Frozen
Green Day – Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

Good to Great

Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
OutKast – Rosa Parks
Stardust – Music Sounds Better With You
Hole – Celebrity Skin
Lauryn Hill – Lost Ones
Jermaine Dupri Featuring Jay – Money Ain’t a Thang
Fatboy Slim – The Rockafeller Skank
Aaliyah – Are You That Somebody
Public Enemy – He Got Game
Aretha Franklin – A Rose Is Still a Rose
Big Pun ft. Joe – Still Not a Player
Garbage – Push It
Jay-Z – Can I Get a…
Brandy and Monica – The Boy Is Mine
New Radicals – You Get What You Give
Black Star – Definition
Rufus Wainwright – April Fools
Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop (That Thing)
Sheryl Crow – My Favorite Mistake
Air – Sexy Boy
Beastie Boys – Intergalactic