1691 replies to this topic

[Ned Braden]

Solid list. But can't we please bump Waits up about 32 spots?

[MattDrufke]

Not bad Matt.

Thanks, sir. Coming from the man who's written the best blurb so far, that is high praise indeed.

[Paul]

They Say I Got Brains
But They Ain't Doing Me No Good

#20.




The Beach Boys (1864 Points, 35 Votes)

Years Active: 1961-present

SOMB Says: I used to think the Beach Boys were lame. Ultra lame. As a pre-K'ster, I would catch bits and pieces of their songs on a few Time-Life compilation commercials, maybe even in a movie here or there and think to myself, "They're too grown-up to sound so darn cheery. And man, this is awfully corny. Beach Boys? What kind of a name is that? The Fat Boys are much better anyway." And the fact that Danny Tanner vouched for them did not make them any hipper. Aside from a few scenes in Look Who's Talking, my exposure to The Beach Boys' songs in their entirety was limited. I held the misconception that The Beach Boys were just another old corny band for the longest until I came across one of the greatest gateway drugs ever into music, a few notches below MTV, Napster and older siblings: the musical biopic. In this case it was a mini-series, ABC's The Beach Boys: An American Family, which aired in 2000. At this point, I had done enough reading of rock lists and books to know that Pet Sounds was a pretty big deal, and plus, I'd like to think that my taste had matured since I learned how to tie my shoelaces. I watched to find out more about that seminal album, but ended up being exposed to a catalogue of songs that were innocent, truthful, somber and above all, human. The chords to "In My Room" had to be some of the prettiest changes my ears had heard until that point in my life. The song itself crushed any misbelief I had previously had about the group. There were no odes to the beach or surfing, just a man wanting to stay holed up in his room, away from a world that didn't understand him, something that almost any adolescent can relate to. Given the chance to actually hear more than just a 15 second snippet, I was impressed with the craft of the songs, but it wasn't until I heard the opening seconds of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" that I was officially converted. The picking of those first notes followed quickly by that drum break floored me with a force that I couldn't even begin to explain. I wanted to smile. I wanted to put my hands up to my head to convey the beauty of it all. I wanted to roll my eyes back in ecstasy. I wanted more.

As I dug deeper, I found out that some of those old songs that I abhorred so much weren't so bad. Sure, the chorus to "Good Vibrations" is overused, but good grief, no one ever warned me about that gorgeous coda at the end. And where the hell did that theremin come from? I could have sworn I it wasn't there before. "California Girls" just wasn't the same anymore when you heard that majestic opening and the impact the drums have on that first chorus. I also quickly found out that there was more to these guys than just the brand of sunny pop songs that they were mostly associated with. Once the sun set, they could have doubts about their relationships ("Don't Worry Baby", "Please Let Me Wonder") or have doubts about making it on their own and growing up in general ("That's Not Me", "When I Grow Up To Be A Man"), all set to dreamy soundscapes filled with lush instrumentation, aching minor chords and harmonies that could draw tears from a statue.

That's probably why I find them so endearing. Not only is the music the apex of beauty when it comes to pop, the themes capture what it's like to be a young man unsure of the world, all in a simple yet profound way. If soul music didn't already capture a distinct sound, what The Beach Boys do could be titled soul music. It aims to connect emotionally with the ears and the heart, without the help of a killer rhythm section or gut-busting vocals, but the effect is all the same. You close your eyes or nod because the subject matter is so relatable. The music stirs something deep within and it's a feeling that only a great song can create. You listen to the song repeatedly over time, and when you memorize the lyrics and sing along, you've become Brian Wilson and every emotion he felt when penning that song. - Midnite_Vulture

Album Pick: Surf's Up

You'll hear for the rest of your life how amazing Pet Sounds is. And it is amazing. On any given day, it feels like my favorite album of all-time. You may have never heard a Beach Boys album in your entire life, but you probably know that Pet Sounds is very highly esteemed. So hey, I'm pretty sure you'll be pressured hard enough to get into it at another time in your life. For now, I think you should check out Surf's Up. It's by far their most mature album and it contains elements of all the various sounds of their career up until that point. It's a shockingly dark and eerie album coming from these guys and will probably suit those who are put off by songs like "Surfin' USA" and "Fun Fun Fun" since they're on the far opposite end of the spectrum. Even through the murkiness of it all, the band never loses its sense of melody and it contains probably their best back-to-back combo to close out an album, "'Til I Die" and "Surf's Up", which would have made my 3 songs list, but hey, I can plug it here as well.

Track Picks: "She Knows Me Too Well": I wanted to pick something pre-Pet Sounds that represented the era when they still dressed the same. I was conflicted with choosing one of their more "beachy" songs, but I think this is more surprising coming from that period and shows the expansion of their emotional palette. Brian Wilson's upper register sounds near heavenly on this track.


"Good Vibrations": I fought the temptation to not list this one seeing as its their most popular song, but once upon a time, I never heard this one from beginning to end either. My hope is that there is someone out there who has never given The Beach Boys a chance will give this song a shot and have their mind completely blown. Also, Carol Kaye lays down one of the greatest bass lines ever.


"That's Not Me": Dear me, how could I leave a song from Pet Sounds off of this list? It's just not right. So you're probably thinking, well, if I'm going the Pet Sounds route, why not "God Only Knows"? Or "I'm Waiting For The Day"? To be honest, the entire album is loaded with goodies and I could pretty much choose a song at random and be satisfied, but "That's Not Me" is worth getting the special treatment here, if only the first time those harmonies kick in with just percussion and the bass rumbling underneath. I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

Ranked Highest By: StigNasty, Pookie (#2)

Also Ranked By: Campaigner, avec (#4), cerebralcaustic, ghostfromthepast1 (#5)

[undo]

Didn't expect to see them until after #15 or so. Leaving for work but at least now I know what I'll listen to on the way.

[Paul]

We Are The Desperate Dan Appreciation Society
God Save Strawberry Jam And All The Different Varieties


#19.




The Kinks (1937 Points, 40 Votes)

Years Active: 1963-1996

SOMB Says: For those of you who don’t know the Kinks, they are one of the seminal bands in rock history. Back in the early 60’s, the brothers Davies got together and formed a band with a couple of other blokes. Ray, the big brother was the singer and the songwriter. Dave, the little brother was the lead guitarist. They began by putting out a couple of nondescript singles, then they happened upon a heavy guitar sound no one had heard before, supposedly from sticking a needle in their amp. The result, “You Really Got Me” – put the Kinks immediately on the map to stardom.

They put out a series of singles, some using a similar sound, others showing a surprising maturity in the melodicism and the lyrics of a young kid – Ray Davies. Sometimes he sang about days gone by as if he were an old fogey, but he had wit, he had sarcasm, and an incredible way with hooks and melodies.

I could go on and on about this, but you can go find better articles about the Kinks elsewhere. Heck, I even have a running Kinks thread you might find useful, if you really want to know about them. And come on, if you haven’t bothered to learn about the Kinks by now, you’re really not all that interested.

I guess, if I have to write more, I will give you a little bit of background on where the Kinks went after those early days. A series of major screwups kept setting them back from making it in America, much of it due to inept and/or corrupt management. And once they finally got here, they ended up getting banned for 4 years, apparently over a union dispute. These were the famous British Invasion years where nearly everything from the UK was becoming huge in the US, but the Kinks, stuck over in Europe, lost out, and by the time they returned, were already out of style.

It was during those days where they were stuck back in Europe that they produced some of their greatest albums – Village Green Preservation Society, Muswell Hillbillies, Arthur, Something Else, etc.

They were into big concepts, albums with themes and storylines, but the Who were able to win a big audience touring, had some hit singles in the US, and overshadowed the Kinks’ more refined and less bombastic conceptual works. And just when the Kinks began to rebuild their audience in the states with the “Lola” album and single, they retreated from the standard rock format into real story records with spoken words and a lot of weak songs (along with occasional good songs mixed in).

They had a rebirth in the late 70’s with albums like “Sleepwalker”, “Misfits” and “Low Budget”, which continued into the 80’s for several more solid records, but by then they were dinosaurs. They didn’t ever have the appeal of the Who, the Stones, etc. and were sort of second tier arena rockers during this stretch, despite being more prolific and arguably better than their British brethren, the Stones and the Who.

My Kinks obsession dates back many years to my high school days. Back then, I was just becoming interested in buying music and listening to music as a significant part of my life. I knew the Kinks a little, from the radio (mostly “You Really Got Me” and “Lola” and a couple of other songs), and I used to browse some of the books on music that were in the stores – there was one record with desert island discs, there was the first edition of the rolling stone record guide (a magazine I began subscribing to, during this era in the late 70’s), and the band seemed cool, so I grabbed an oddly titled album called “Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire.” I remember that I was initially blown away and I immediately began trying to convince my “punk rock friend” of the merits of the Kinks. I picked up their latest record at the time, “Low Budget” and my “punk rock friend” was surprised at how much a “dinosaur act” like the Kinks had in common with some of the new wave stuff he was into. Anyway, that record was fun, and the double live record that followed was also cool.

A buddy of mine and I began buying Kinks’ albums on a regular basis. I had a 10 song compilation that was awesome. Each new record was like a whole new discovery. Something Else, Lola, Village Green Preservation Society, Misfits, Sleepwalker, Schoolboys in Disgrace, Face to Face, Kinda Kinks, Kronikles and on and on. There seemed to be no end to the music that was out there by these guys. And it was all new to me. Sometimes, I was touched by the lyrics (Celluloid Heroes, Waterloo Sunset, Better Things, Oklahoma U.S.A., Get Back In Line), sometimes the tunes were just catchy as hell (Sunny Afternoon, Harry Rag, The Village Green Preservation Society, Shangri-La), sometimes the lyrics were sarcastic or funny (Well Respected Man, Young Conservatives, Alcohol, David Watts) and sometimes they hit you over the head with their power (You Really Got Me, I Need You, All Day and All of the Night, Come on Now).

Lots of artists are clearly influenced by the Kinks. From the Pretenders, the Jam and Van Halen, to Blur, Pulp and Oasis, to Yo La Tengo and Belle and Sebastian (my personal choice as the band that has most taken over the Kinks legacy), the pop/rock music legacy of the Kinks is incomparable. Andy Partridge of XTC has said that his entire career is based on an unsuccessful attempt to do what Davies did when he wrote the melody for “Autumn Almanac”.


So, with such a lengthy and diverse career, how am I to pick ONE album to focus on and ONLY 3 tracks. I mean, I made a 5 disc mix already and wish it could have been longer. There are half a dozen Kinks albums that have been my favorite of theirs over the course of my Kinks fandom. Face to Face, Muswell Hillbillies, Something Else, Arthur, Lola and Village Green are all nearly perfect and at any given moment worthy of the title of “my favorite Kinks album. The record that tends to go into the history books as the “classic” album by the Kinks is of course “The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society”. So, I’m not going there.
My choices, although somewhat arbitrary, are below. I intentionally picked stuff that the average sombie might not know. Check ‘em out. - elcorazon

Album Pick: Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire

Track Picks: "This is Where I Belong"
"Days"
"Look Through any Doorway"

Ranked Highest By: elcorazon, coolrock(#2)

Also Ranked By: Bobzilla, ghostfromthepast1 (#4), Freddie Freelance(#5)

[Midnite_Vulture]

So was Coldplay #255? Can't really see them being much higher than this.

[Paul]

But It Was Saturday Night
I Guess That Makes It All Right
And You Say What Have I Got To Lose?

#18.




Prince (1984 Points, 33 Votes, 1 #1 Vote)

Years Active: 1978-present

SOMB Says: Prince is short. Five feet two inches to be exact. That's in the bottom two percentile for men. Prince is funny looking. He has the facial hair of a 13-year-old Mexican kid and has had hair ranging from Pointer Sister jheri curl to soccer mom bowl-cut. Prince is fruity. He wears assless pants, speedos, Rhythm Nation military outfits. He squeals like a slutty cheerleader. His signature color is purple. Yet he has had more of an impact in music, cool, culture, and panty dropping in the past three decades than anybody else.

Prince's first two albums, though quality, were pedestrian. He gave a simple combination of pop, funk, and dance music not at all uncommon for the time. While his lyrics toyed with mild raciness, the restraint is obvious in hindsight. However, Prince's third album in as many years, Dirty Mind, presented a major departure for not only Prince, but for music in general. The music was an innovative pastiche, blurring the lines between black and white music. Songs were just as much influenced by new wave and synth pop as funk and soul. The lyrical content was just as unique. As the album title suggests, the content on some songs was FILTHY (though clever). Generally in 1980 you didn't find many pop songs about incest. But Prince managed subjects that explicit and sometimes even moreso with sincere abandon and the occasional glimpse of a demented sense of humor.

From there things only got better. 1999, bouyed by an amazing apocalyptic pop song, an ode to sex in cars, and the desire to sincerely fuck the taste out of a girl's mouth shoved the miniature Caligula into the mainstream. This was followed by what is more or less the biggest ego trip a pop musician can make: an album/movie. And you know what? The movie was ridiculously successful. Stupid? Yes. Unrealistic? No doubt. Worthless except electrifying musical performances? Most likely. But people sucked it down. It was a smash. And who really cares about a musician's shitty movie when there's a masterpiece of an album associated with it?

Purple Rain took Prince's music farther into pop territory, yet retained his unique musical and lyrical perspective (the latter to the point where it forced Tipper Gore to talk about "masturbating with a magazine"). Every damn song was amazing. Every damn song. Starting with one of Prince's then-trademark we're-gonna-die-but-let's-have-fun-til-then party jams and ending with one of the most memorable ballads of all time, Prince had cemented himself as something beyond the average rock star. Alongside those such as Wilson, Lennon, and Dylan, he had achieved the status of pop deity.

Prince continued churning out brilliance through the eighties. Even at times where the music wasn't mindblowing (Around the World in a Day), it was never boring. As the decade wore on, Prince worked on several failed projects, including the final Revolution album, an album as a female alter-ego, and the legendary Black Album. Out of the ashes of these rose Prince's final true masterpiece, the double album Sign "☮" the Times. Every style Prince had mastered was accounted for. Every subject he cared about, romantic, social or spiritual was addressed. This was the most Prince-y of Prince albums. If Purple Rain was for the masses, Sign was for him. It didn't achieve the same stratospheric success of his earlier albums, but would be regarded in the long-run as perhaps his best.

Sadly, from there, Prince began to fade. He continued with occasional great songs but only decent albums to the mid nineties, up to 1995s ambitious though inconsistent Gold Experience. From there, he seemed to lose the plot. He infamously changed his name to a symbol only to later change it back. He made ill-advised forays into facial scrawlings, internet labels and jazz. He litigated the fuck out of anyone who put anything involving him on the internet without his permission. He churned out mediocrities and travesties. He even went door-to-door for the Jehovahs. He seemed lost to the crazy-rich-person beast that had swallowed up other visionaries such as Michael Jackson and Phil Spector.

But recent years have shown glimmers of hope. 2006 saw a damn fine album that hearkened back to the better days of the New Power Generation and his lesser eighties work. He gave an already-legendary performance at the 2007 Super Bowl, even showing hints of his old sense of humor when he covered a song by the Foo Fighters, whom he had previously lashed out at for their "Darling Nikki" cover. But even if Prince slips back into the land of suing and scrawling, his previous masterworks more than counteract any silliness he could possibly perpetrate. - scarymuppet

Album Pick: I guess if you're only listening to one album, it should be Purple Rain.

Track Picks: It's impossible to nail Prince down to three songs, but here's three different sides of him
"Uptown"
"Let's Pretend We're Married"
"Nothing Compares 2 U (live)"

Ranked Highest By: scarymuppet (#1)

Also Ranked By: vurt, Slackmo (#2), stphone, attraversoargento, MrRichard, Ramona (#5)

[Paul]

So was Coldplay #255?

No.

[Paul]

Can You Tell A Green Field From A Cold Steel Rail?
A Smile From A Veil?
Do You Think You Can Tell?

#17.




Pink Floyd (2035 Points, 31 Votes, 2 #1 Votes)

Years Active: 1965-1994

SOMB Says: "Oh by the way, which one's Pink?"

Their name coined by their original front-man, the late Syd Barret; it combines two blues musicians 1st names.

The group I and many other fans of so-called progressive rock have been able to reference to describe some of our taste in music to a wider demographic. They are the progressive rock band that everybody knows.

They took chemical influenced music to new places, forming, and what might be a founding of and leading to other genres. Including the use of the studio and audio-samples as an instrument.

They are so much about THEMES. Mood, layers, dreams/dreaminess, textures, and being perceived or described as *epic* (and not necessarily having to do with length). Their sound, tone, themes, moods, rich, dreamy atmospheres are as distinct as any artist in the history of Rock music.

It's not to be overlooked how much of their work is bluesy, yet their psychedelic element often disguises that.

Their music is often described as "Trippy" and explored new ground sonically at the time. The idea of creating sound that might be reached from experience with the sun, moon, and outer space and often referred as "Space Rock." Before them, it wasn't really known if music could explore that.

David Gilmour is a virtuoso in many ways, without being thought of as a highly technical musician. His guitar work is *epic* without being excessive or drawn-out. So much rich emotion in his playing, especially in his guitar solos.

Syd Barrett's impact cannot be ignored, even though his destiny never seemed to be meant for where they would go. His original input and influence had as much importance to them, what they would later create, and influence others as anything. Their early work, with and soon after Syd left (PIPER through OBSCURED BY CLOUDS), but before they found large success (DARK SIDE..or even MEDDLE) is greatly appreciated by much of their fanbase. It is this material that many of the Floyd-connoisseurs hold in high regard, along with much of the live material from that period. Maybe best captured on the "Live at Pompeii" film.

They were down the hall at Abbey Road studios recording "Piper" at the same time The Beatles were recording "Sgt Peppers."

Often known for being surreal live, they are one of the most recorded and widely bootlegged groups in rock history. They also were one of the earliest groups to experiment with VISUAL ART live. Their concerts were often as much about a surreal visual experience, as they were an auditory event.

However dark their words were, they often were therapeutic at the same time. As the old adage goes, misery loves company. And often what comes out of that is beauty.

Questions:
Why the Gilmour-Floyd lacked ANIMALS material live. A Roger-thing?
Why was HEY YOU was not included in THE WALL the movie? 1 answer discovered is apparently it did not work well chronologically with the story. Which begs the question, how was that the case and not the case on the actual record.
Why no live album from their classic or peak period in the 70's? (save for the somewhat rare Dark Side Live record from '77)..Due to how much they were bootlegged?

A band not without their share of *deeper*, less-discussed,, commonly thought-of, or recognized songs and albums. Some examples I feel deserve appreciation I included on these mixes that include a selection from each primary studio recording and 1 early collection:

Mixes:

1:

Flaming
Remember A Day
Point Me at the Sky
Cymbaline
The Narrow Way Part 3
Summer'68
The Gold that's in The

2
Echoes
Time
Welcome to the Machine
Sheep
Goodbye Blue Sky
Your Possible Pasts
On the Turning Away
Lost For Words


2 of my favorite Pink Floyd tribute pieces. The 1st one especially I think if they have not, every fan of THE FLOYD should hear, if for no other reason, but the amount of thought that was put into it.

Shadow Gallery - Floydian Memories (25min)

"" Anyone who calls himself a Floyd fan and who hasn't heard it must listen to it ASAP!" (a user on another forum I'm on)

song quotes listing (it may be more enjoyable to listen to the medley 1st before reading that)

OSI - Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun

On a largely personal note, while I have always been a fan of THE FLOYD, I must say taking-in this much of their work over the past couple of weeks has made me appreciate them even more. Growing up I was into them, but they never really won me over quite of the likes of groups like Led Zeppelin and Rush. I think now, especially the Pre-MEDDLE material, I have found a deeper connection to them, than ever before, some 17 years after I 1st heard them for the 1st time. - Soundscape

All Music Album Picks: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, The Dark Side of the Moon

All Music Track Picks: "Comfortably Numb"
"Have A Cigar"
"See Emily Play"

Ranked Highest By: Montana, agrimorfee (#1)

Also Ranked By: nagode (#2), pong, Chronodiggity, john the cool kid (#3), Michele (#4), Mike Schank (#5)

[Paul]

But What Can A Poor Boy Do
Except To Sing For A Rock N' Roll Band

#16.




The Rolling Stones (2154 Points, 41 Votes, 1 #1 Vote)

Years Active: 1962-present

SOMB Says: It’s only fitting that while my list’s #10 entry, Pimp C, didn’t even come close to making the countdown, he at least delivered this gem of a line about the artist I was asked to step in to write a blurb for: “Now everybody wanna bite my swagger, I roll like a stone like my name Mick Jagger.” So, without further adieu, I’d like to present Jann Wenner to wax poetic on the genius of Mick Jagger’s solo career. Just kidding. I haven’t heard a lick of Mick’s solo work. Fine as it may be, why the fuck would you ever need to when you have a four LP stretch as flawless as Beggars Banquet->Let It Bleed->Sticky Fingers->Exile On Main Street?

I’ll admit two things: A ). I’m hardly the best person to write this blurb, and B ). of my 10 artist list, I can’t think of a single artist I had as hard of a time excluding as I did The Rolling Stones. Shit, I actually chose my #s 9 + 10 (The Black Lips and Pimp C) mainly for laughs, even though I love both of those artists. Anyhow, in a more just world, the Stones would absolutely have made the top 10 of Hans’ list. Hopefully these excuses buy me back a shred of cred: I’m only really familiar w/ their career up through Some Girls, and as much as I love the early stuff, I’ve always had a hard time following it (translation: being completist) as there are so many compilation albums, singles, etc. (I think…) We’re not worthy indeed.

However, I absolutely adore those four records. In fact I think there are few four album stretches (if any) by any group that beats it. It’s fucking brilliant, every goddamn note from “Sympathy” to “Soul Survivor.” I once saw Paves write that there is no better representation of what it means to be a rock band in music history than what’s on display over the course of those four records. This is a fact he probably realized at age 12, and although it took me until age 21 to fully understand this concept, we can all rest assured that if 12 year olds can still recognize the brilliance of The Rolling Stones, they’ll continually be held in the uppermost echelon of groups for the rest of time. And that is justice.

Frankly, I’m shocked 12 year olds can get the Stones at all. As far as the big groups of rock’s golden age go, the Stones were always the most adult. At age 12 I adored Led Zeppelin quite a bit more than I did the Rolling Stones. Zeppelin is still a band that I think is quite untouchable, but I think it’s harder for kids to “get” the Stones. Every single Stones song I’ve ever heard is about violence, despair, drugs, money or (mostly) sex. While Zeppelin wrote songs about these topics too, they also wrote equally as many songs with lyrics that wouldn’t be out of place in the fantasy aisle at your suburban Barnes And Noble, something at least 12 year old me related to a little bit more smoothly than the Stones’ favorite muses. But suddenly, at 21, broke, far from virginal, and with a quarter of the liver I had at age 12, the Stones started to make a lot more sense.

Much like our promethazine slugging hero Pimp C, the Stones are the epitome of hedonism in rock and roll, which I once heard was the founding tenement of this here music. For better or worse, rock and roll quickly grew to be so much more complex than simple cocky debauchery, but most of the time, the Stones could be found growing right alongside the genre.

And like Pimp C, the perennial second banana to his arguably more accessible and digestible partner Bun B, the Stones almost always finish 2nd to The Beatles in these sort of polls. Coming from someone who voted The Beatles #1 and didn’t vote for the Stones at all, that consistent 2nd still seems more than a bit wrong. - Hans Christian Anderson

Album Pick: Duh...

Track Picks: "Loving Cup"
"Gimmie Shelter"
"Dead Flowers"

Ranked Highest By: tager (#1)

Also Ranked By: StigNasty, ghostfromthepast1 (#3), Ramona (#4), JeffTweedysFatStomach (#5)

[theremin]

bout time pink floyd showed up. And the Beach Boys? Really? SOMB, I hardly knew you.

[Asher Ford]

That run from 20-16 is loaded. I can't believe who we're going to have ABOVE those.

[Duff.]

Couldn't be happier with Pink Floyd missing the top 10. Woulda liked more parallels between Rolling Stones and Pimp C, but as is that's pretty cool.

[Paul]

Oh, You've Got Green Eyes
Oh, You've Got Blue Eyes
Oh, You've Got Grey Eyes

#15.




New Order (2192 Points, 29 Votes, 3 #1 Votes)

Years Active: 1980-present

SOMB Says: New Order don't know what to do now that their lead singer's killed himself.

New Order said let's go out and have some fun.

New Order stopped sending each other Christmas cards in 1984.

New Order brought on a woman to play the synthesizers, despite their manager's warnings that she's missing two fingers and isn't much of a looker.

New Order want to be remembered more for their videos than for their music.

New Order were more excited for the 90s than anyone.

New Order don't play Twister together anymore after that one time.

New Order have never done drugs, except for those times that they did drugs.

New Order think that Trainspotting was kind of overrated.

New Order never face the audience when they play "Regret" live because they know they won't be able to stop crying.

New Order's got style, they've got class, but most of all, they've got love technique.

New Order often forget whether "True Faith" or "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" was the one that they wrote.

New Order don't go to bars together because they might look at each other and realize they were once in a band.

New Order aren't the kind that needs to tell me about the birds and the bees.

New Order wish they had written "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," though to be fair, Peter Buck once offered to trade it to them for "Bizarre Love Triangle"

New Order smiled at Orgy's success.

New Order just want to stay at home and watch Coupling re-runs.

New Order can't imagine why they're on this list, but since they are, they think they should be at least ten spots higher.

New Order couldn't be more thrilled that their lead singer's killed himself.

New Order belongs to everyone of us.

New Order belongs to everyone but us. - The Good Dr Bill

Album Pick: Power, Corruption & Lies

Track Picks: "Temptation"
"Bizarre Love Triangle"
"Regret"

Ranked Highest By: Pink, The Good Dr Bill, The Gram (#1)

Also Ranked By: Le Bunk (#2), RoBKoZ, weezerlover (#3), st. park, Sausage (#5)

[Mitchell]

Excellent photo choice Paul.

[BobtheSquid]

Excellent photo choice Paul.

lol

[Paul]

So Drunk In The August Sun
And You're The Kind Of Girl I Like
Because You're Empty And I'm Empty
And You Can Never Quarantine The Past

#14.




Pavement (2231 Points, 39 Votes)

Years Active: 1989-1999

SOMB Says: Heldsluckoneveryfingerappreciationof: PAVEMENT

Somb said:
“i'm sure most will vote for pavement” - LOL Alzado

"I really shouldn't give a shit what any one else thinks but from what I can tell, that's how most people feel. Kinda like how Blur fans feel about Beetlebum, for example.
Anyhow, ‘Type Slowly’ is easily one of this band's best songs" - Hans Christian Anderson

"pavement's dope" - Cerebralcaustic

Famous last words before it hit the fan:

"We still don't have that much pressure on us--we're not Beck or anything,"
Scott Kannberg in Feb 97’

The badass sound of youth is that noise that makes most grown people cringe but to all those in the know just start smiling more. This was- Pavement !!

Stockton, California’s home team grew from the guitar grade school pals of Stephen Malkmus & Scott Kannberg who would slowly evolve into a full time band by 1992.

WHO DO THEY SOUND LIKE>? {YOU might ASK } Well..
Pavement's most obvious influence during this time was English rock band The Fall, although Kannberg stated in a 1992 interview that he preferred The Replacements to The Fall. The Fall's primary member, Mark E. Smith, would often angrily claim through the years that Pavement was a "rip-off" of his band and that they didn't "have an original idea in their heads". However, some of the other members of The Fall actually enjoyed Pavement. ^ ruthlessly ripped from wikpedia! <

Outside of them you might hear other inspirations from old and new but whatever it is they did. I never stopped loving it. My summer of 93 only had one tape jammed into tape player on repeat. Slanted & Enchanted was on one side & Westing (By Musket & Sextant) was on the other. I highly recommend these two be heard in this fashion because whatever else you do, say, think of the rest of their catalogue will most likely be loss as its forbidden to ignore these sizzling soundzzzzzzz.

To be honest I’m biased to believe that none of their catalogue should ever be skipped, ignored or taken in vain but if forced to punch holes out of the masterworks. I’d strap you down and make you listen to the following. - held

All Music Album Pick: Slanted & Enchanted

Track Picks: -Tracks to follow-

Ranked Highest By: Stop Breathin’, weezerlover, Ennui (#2)

Also Ranked By: tager, The Luscious Phil (#3), 54cermak (#4), Melted Cheese (#5)

[MattDrufke]

Fantastic blurbing in the top 20. You guys are gonna make mine look like shit.

[Paul]

Excellent photo choice Paul.

lol

I was trying to find a picture where they didn't look like a bunch of old guys, so instead I got a picture that I'm assuming is from Control, correct?

[st. park]

heh i was just gonna post if you purposely chose a pic with ian.