Preliminary Discussion for namkcuR's next Best Song Survivor

[corianderstem]

Yeah. I like the Gin Blossoms and all, but you've gotta be kidding.

I think other than you and maybe 2 or 3 more people, no one here knows anything other than their small handful of big hits.

A very small handful.

 

[LemonMelon]

I bet most here would struggle to name more than 6 or 7 LedZep songs.

Give this guy a medal for being so hilarious.

 

[Lila64]

and I couldn't name one Gin Blossoms

 

[Axver]

and I couldn't name one Gin Blossoms

Yeah, the name's vaguely familiar but I don't recognise any of the song titles anybody's mentioned.

In contrast, I don't give a shit about Zep and don't think they should be considered a classic band at all, but I could probably name at least an album's worth of their songs.

 

[intedomine]

I'm not saying do a Gin Blossoms survivor at all, I'm just sticking up for a filthy good band.

And regarding Led Zep, I merely feel that there are quite a few other bands out there (REM, Radiohead, Queen, Pearl Jam, RHCP) who could draw a better voting turn-out than Led Zep

 

[Axver]

And regarding Led Zep, I merely feel that there are quite a few other bands out there (REM, Radiohead, Queen, Pearl Jam, RHCP) who could draw a better voting turn-out than Led Zep

Apart from RHCP, I agree with this.

I'll still stand behind an REM Survivor, but a Queen one would be great too.

 

[corianderstem]

I'm not saying do a Gin Blossoms survivor at all, I'm just sticking up for a filthy good band.

Oh, okay good. I'll back you up on saying they were an underrated band, but I have to admit relief that you weren't actually pushing for a survivor contest for them.

 

[LemonMelon]

And regarding Led Zep, I merely feel that there are quite a few other bands out there (REM, Radiohead, Queen, Pearl Jam, RHCP) who could draw a better voting turn-out than Led Zep

On this forum, Radiohead would probably draw as many votes as Zep would, but, honestly, who here actually owns Queen's Hot Space or REM's Fables Of The Reconstruction? For every busy draw, there would be one with just a handful of votes.

 

[corianderstem]

You could probably say the same thing about the Beatles contest. How many people voting own all the albums, or were familiar with all the songs, particularly in the early rounds?

 

[LemonMelon]

Probably most everybody. The Beatles are on a different level entirely, to the point that almost everything they recorded has been overplayed.

At least Zeppelin and Radiohead have comparatively few albums, all of them being roughly as well received and popular as the one that preceded it.

 

[FitzChivalry]

On this forum, Radiohead would probably draw as many votes as Zep would, but, honestly, who here actually owns Queen's Hot Space or REM's Fables Of The Reconstruction? For every busy draw, there would be one with just a handful of votes.

I personally own every Zeppelin album and every Radiohead album. So I would definitely be able to vote on every album of theirs.

R.E.M. I could do okay on. I own most of their, but not all. I actually do own "Fables of the Reconstruction", but I haven't ever really listened to it in depth. I also don't own the last two "Reveal", "Around the Sun", or the first one "Murmur" and whatever else the early stuff is ("Dead Letter Office"?).

I could care less about RHCP as I really don't like them apart from the early stuff, up through "BSSM".

And I don't own a single Queen album, and only know their top few biggest hits.

So Zep, RH or R.E.M. . . . . yeah! Let's do it!

 

[corianderstem]

And hey, if namkcuR doesn't want to do an REM survivor, there's no reason someone else can't run it.

 

[lazarus]

The only problem with doing an R.E.M. Survivor is that in the final round, songs from Reveal and Around the Sun would actually be listed on the same page with great songs from albums that aren't crap.

And that would be painful to witness.

 

[lazarus]

To clairify and make that above sound less bitchy, with The Beatles, there's an opportunity for any of the big albums to contain the winner. Let It Be had the title track and Across the Universe. Abbey Road. Magical Mystery Tour. Sgt. Pepper's. Revolver. Rubber Soul.

With R.E.M., there's just no way in hell anything after Automatic is going to come close to winning the thing. It makes it a little less exciting.

 

[corianderstem]

I don't see the big deal. It makes the final round maybe a little less exciting by 3 or 4 songs, but they have loads of albums to select the winner from.

The predictable moaning about the last 2 or 3 albums makes me not want to consider running an REM contest myself.

I shouldn't, really. I take this shit way too personally and get cranky.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

With R.E.M., there's just no way in hell anything after Automatic is going to come close to winning the thing. It makes it a little less exciting.

While this is true it's pretty much the same as the Beatles when you think about it. It really was only a question of 2 or 3 songs that we're going to win...

Part of the fun I had was seeing how the songs were rated per album and not so much the final draws because I found them pretty predictable...

 

[namkcuR]

Personally, I've always seen R.E.M. as more of a singles band anyway, as opposed to an 'albums' band. I think, generally speaking, a lot of Interference is far more familiar with certain REM songs than they are with actual albums.

Radiohead is leading 16-12 now.

I feel comfortable in saying that it's going to be Radiohead this time out.

I'd also like to mention that I heard the commentary during the Beatles Survivor about great songs from great records getting the shaft while lesser songs from Beatles For Sale(for example) make it to the final draw. I've come up with a modified system...a 'weighting' system, if you will - that attempts to at least somewhat remedy this. I will explain it in detail later, but the gist of it is basically this:

We first run a one-draw survivor on a draw with all 7 LPs in it to establish Interference's consensus ranking of the LPs. Based on this ranking, the top 3 LPs will get 3 representatives each in the final draw, the next 3 LPs will get 2 representatives each in the final draw, and the 7th LP(which as sure as the sky is blue will be Pablo Honey) will get one representative in the final draw. This way, Interference's favorite RH LPs will be more heavily represented in the final draw than RH's least favorite RH LP. I would hope this would make for more accurate results in the end. The b-sides will also be part of the weighting system, but I'll explain that later, as it's a tad more complex. I'll explain all of it in more detail when I make the intro thread(don't know when that will be exactly).

 

[lazarus]

While this is true it's pretty much the same as the Beatles when you think about it. It really was only a question of 2 or 3 songs that we're going to win...

Part of the fun I had was seeing how the songs were rated per album and not so much the final draws because I found them pretty predictable...

This is exactly the opposite of the point I was trying to make. It was NOT obvious. If I had to guess from the outset what would have won it would have been Hey Jude. Or Yesterday. Or Let It Be. Neither of those three were even the second runner-up. I also would not have predicted Here Comes the Sun finishing in the Top 3.

What I was saying is that a fairly maligned album like Let It Be still had two solid contenders on it. Revolver is considered one of the greatest albums ever and has many weapons. Rubber Soul has a few pretty esteemed tracks on it. Abbey Road is another one with a few songs that could contend in any competition. Past Master has Jude and Revolution. And of course MMT and Sgt. Pepper's contributed the two finalists, and had several others on each album that could have made a run at it.

That's 7 albums that the winner could have come from. The reason I'd suggest doing a Radiohead Survivor over R.E.M. is that at least 5 of their 7 albums could contain the winner (forget about Pablo, and Rainbows might be too new to contend). With R.E.M., you're basically looking at a winner coming from Document, Out of Time, or Automatic (I'd put money on this), and because of this I don't see it as being as much fun. There will be too many casual R.E.M. fans that will dilute the point of the whole thing by only voting for the radio songs, and your winner will either be Losing My Religion or Everybody Hurts. By contrast, the Radiohead poll will be more pure, as most of the fans are BIG fans and know all, or most of, the material.

 

[corianderstem]

There will be too many casual R.E.M. fans that will dilute the point of the whole thing by only voting for the radio songs, and your winner will either be Losing My Religion or Everybody Hurts.

That's a good point. I'd rather shoot myself in the kneecap than see Everybody Hurts win.

 

[Axver]

On this forum, Radiohead would probably draw as many votes as Zep would, but, honestly, who here actually owns Queen's Hot Space or REM's Fables Of The Reconstruction? For every busy draw, there would be one with just a handful of votes.

I'm surprised you mention Fables, as I think that's quite clearly the best album REM ever released (out of those I've heard, anyway) and I'm surprised it's apparently not well-known. It's the only REM album I ever listen to in full. Otherwise, I agree they're generally better for singles than albums.

I'd definitely enjoy an REM Survivor though, as it would give me a good reason to check out the albums I don't know. I currently only have about half, maybe two thirds of their discography.

 

[Lancemc]

Life's Rich Pageant FTMFW.

 

[Zoots]

Life's Rich Pageant FTMFW.

I'm surprised you didn't say Up.

But anyway LRP is consistently excellent from beginning to end!

 

[corianderstem]

I'm surprised you mention Fables, as I think that's quite clearly the best album REM ever released (out of those I've heard, anyway) and I'm surprised it's apparently not well-known.

It's well-known among REM fans (at least those who are fans of REM beyond the obvious big hits), but that's about it.

There were no big hits off it ... which isn't surprising, since it came out in 1985, well before they had any real radio play outside of college radio. I think "Can't Get There From Here" was the only single released, at least the only one that had a proper video. And a weird one at that.

 

[phanan]

I think Driver 8 was a single as well, but yeah, one of their least recognized albums.

 

[corianderstem]

Oh duh, Driver 8! I'm so embarrassed I forgot one of the best songs on the album.

 

[DaveC]

Tragically Hip Survivor

 

[Zoots]

Tragically Who?



I do know the name.

 

[corianderstem]

So ... we'd have a couple of Canadians participating.

 

[phanan]

Oh duh, Driver 8! I'm so embarrassed I forgot one of the best songs on the album.

And you call yourself an R.E.M. fan...

 

[lazarus]

It's well-known among REM fans (at least those who are fans of REM beyond the obvious big hits), but that's about it.

There were no big hits off it ... which isn't surprising, since it came out in 1985, well before they had any real radio play outside of college radio. I think "Can't Get There From Here" was the only single released, at least the only one that had a proper video. And a weird one at that.

I love the first seven songs of Fables. A lot. But every time I try to listen to the whole thing, I get stuck somewhere around Auctioneer or Good Advices. I can't even tell you how those last three songs go, and I know every other R.E.M. track practically by heart through Up.

This is not a good thing.

Also, apparently Driver 8 was also released as a single, and in the UK, so was Wendell Gee, a fact I'm trying really hard to get my brain to process.