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AM Survivor: Week 3

Another week, and four more artists are bobbing out to sea. They are:

97. Run-D.M.C. (26)
96. Depeche Mode (18)
95. Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention (18)
94. Oasis (16)

Artists still around, but with their lifejackets on: Metallica (15), Elliott Smith (13), the Band (12), Eminem (11) and the Jam (11).

That’s right—for the second week in a row, Metallica is the last act to make the cut, as the four evictees roared past ‘em.

I am sure we’re going to have some appreciative obituaries on Henrik's thread this week (I may write one myself for Daryl & Rev. Run).

93 artists remain:

The Band, The Beach Boys, Beastie Boys, The Beatles, Beck, Chuck Berry, Björk, Blondie, Blur, David Bowie, James Brown, The Byrds, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Ray Charles, The Clash, Leonard Cohen, John Coltrane, Elvis Costello, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Cure, Miles Davis, The Doors, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, Eminem, Brian Eno, The Flaming Lips, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, PJ Harvey, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Michael Jackson, The Jam, Elton John, Joy Division, The Kinks, Kraftwerk, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, Little Richard, Madonna, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Massive Attack, Curtis Mayfield, Metallica, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, New Order, Nirvana, OutKast, Parliament/Funkadelic, Pavement, Pink Floyd, Pixies, The Police, Elvis Presley, Prince, Public Enemy, Pulp, Radiohead, Ramones, Otis Redding, Lou Reed, R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Sex Pistols, Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Sly and the Family Stone, Elliott Smith, Patti Smith, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, The Stooges, Talking Heads, T. Rex, U2, The Velvet Underground, Tom Waits, The White Stripes, The Who, Wilco, Hank Williams, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young.

Week 3 is now underway. Let’s see whatcha got.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1) Beck
2) Public Enemy
3) Nirvana
4) Metallica - I was holding out on them, because I felt like I had to listen to a few of their records. I did, and now they really have to go.
5) Parliament/Funkadelic - Funky, yes, I suppose. Good, no. Their songs all bore me to death.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1) Madonna - I stick to what I said before
2) Blondie - One good song (Heart of glass) isn't enough
3) Elliott Smith - Except a few songs on XO, I get bored listening to this guy. He's responsible for all that watered folk-rock that has got nothing to do with real folk
4) The Talking Heads - I've been listening to "remain in Light", I admit they are excellent musicians and artists, but I just can't. Some songs have a good rhythm but to me it's not enough. Al apologies to my friends Schleuse and Dr Dre
5) Pavement : Well, some of you revere them. I just can't understand. Good guitar work, OK, but this brand of rock/pop is definitely not my cup of tea

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1) Paul Simon
2) Fleetwood Mac
3) Steely Dan
4) The Band

and..

5) Al Green. Will probably prove an unpopular choice. Let's Stay Together has never been a favourite of mine, and there is music from each of the other artists left that I prefer - it's really that simple.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

well, reading my post, I'm a little harsh on Elliott Smith
He's not really responsible for the false folk
Producers and reocrd label managers are

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1. The Band
2. Ramones
3. Buddy Holly/The Crickets
4. The Jam

5. Patti Smith - It hurts to vote out one of the few females, but Patti has never been special too me. She's not essential for the PJ generation.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Man you guys need some serious love for the Band. Those guys are great.

1. Buddy Holly & the Crickets
2. Frank Zappa
3. Patti Smith
4. Roxy Music
5. The Jam - I have to admit I don't know most of their stuff but what I've heard so far tells me they don't belong in the top 100.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

My mistake, forgot that Frank Zappa got the boot.

1. Buddy Holly & the Crickets
2. Patti Smith
3. Roxy Music
4. The Jam - I have to admit I don't know most of their stuff but what I've heard so far tells me they don't belong in the top 100.
5. Pulp - They stumbled upon one great song. They're not top 100.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Returning:
1. FLEETWOOD MAC (among the remaining artists, stands out like the sorest of thumbs)
2. METALLICA
3. PAUL SIMON

Newbies:
4. THE DOORS. In lieu of a comment, I offer you this short film by Bruce McCulloch, based on his Kids in the Hall sketch.
5. KRAFTWERK. Earlier this summer, a poster on this forum visited Germany and learned that Kraftwerk’s not very popular in their own country (sorry I can’t remember—was it Honorio?). That was a red flag that perhaps they’re a kind of German minstrel show…or maybe a better comparison is Jerry Lewis (a joke here in the US but critically acclaimed elsewhere). Anyway, having listened to them and thought about it, I’ve decided that their presence in the top 100 is entirely down to their influence…nothing wrong with that, but I would never listen to them for pleasure, as I would with most of the remaining artists.

As I suggested last week, I’m pulling back Roxy Music for now (Moonbeam, I hope this will console you for my decision to vote out the Doors).

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1. Creedence Clearwater Revival
2. Pavement
3. Elliott Smith
4. Madonna
5. Michael Jackson

One through four I've explained, and with Depeche Mode out I nominate Mr. Michael Jackson. Now - I know you're all a bunch of Jacko nuts who voted "Billie Jean" to the top of that bracketology tree; but seriously: fuck Michael Jackson.

A mere handful of good tunes and a sackload of bad ones, and when I say "good tunes" I'm not talking "Paranoid Android" - I just mean fairly basicaully funky if you have a couple of drinks in you.

Say it with me, kids: fuck Michael Jackson.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

"Kids: fuck Michael Jackson"? That was just wrong..

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

OMG

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Oh my Twister. I think if I made a top 10 of what I've been listening to the past 6 months every one of those would be on the list.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

All of my originals are still here. Time to refresh my comments.

1. Tom Waits- Tom Waits could be here awhile but I stand by it. I haven't heard one song by him that wasn't terrible.
2. The Band- I can't say their musicianship is bad. It's just the songs that are bad.
3. Blur- This has to be a Brit thing. It just has to. I don't see the big deal.
4. Nick Cave- I can appreciate his music but I just don't like it. He seems like a really cool guy and his music is different.. it's just not my style. I almost feel bad having him on here, but if I don't like it, I don't like it.
5. Steely Dan- On the other hand Donald Fagen and Walter Becker do not seem like cool guys at all. I imagine reading an interview with them would be as boring as listening to their albums. The technical aspects of music rarely interest me.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

again: 1. - Eminem
2. - Madonna
3. - Little Richard
new: 4. - Metallica - Top 100 is probably right for one of the better metal bands but I don't like metal so I'll give them my vote.
5. - Ray Charles - Never could appreciate his music.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Previous vote-getters:

1. The Cure (5 pts)
2. Kraftwerk (4 pts)
3. The Doors (3 pts)
4. Metallica (2 pts)

New vote

5. Roxy Music (1 pt) -- Okay I'll start by saying I love "Virginia Plain." And the early mixture of Eno's experimentalism and Ferry's crooning adoration of American R&B and Tin Pan Alley is interesting (at least intellectually). But Ferry's crooning frequently overpowers the recordings -- and he is just not that great a crooner. What I think he intends to come off as an updated gloss on the music he loves usually just descends into an unfortunate approximation of lounge-lizard karaoke.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Twister - you look like you may have had a couple of drinks into you at the time of writing...

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

John:

Blur always did wear their Britishness like a badge, and that did prevent them from really taking off in the US. But that shouldn't detract from Albarn's songwriting. Because they've been a very chameleonlike band, it took me a couple of albums to really get them (I started with The Great Escape, which was a mistake).

More than any of their contemporaries, they are (were?) a band who can do anything. On the first five songs of s/t alone, they reflect Oasis, Nirvana, countrified lo-fi, mid-70s Bowie, and hip-hop (in that order). Four of their albums are masterpieces, and their best song ("Popscene," imo) isn't on any of them. No, I wouldn't want to be stuck on an elevator with Damon, but that's irrelevant.

Anyway, I'm an American and I like Blur. They make my top ten.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Well said, Schluese. I'm another American that loves Blur. I think a lot of great musicians create a sense of place much like a great author, so Blur's Britain has never bothered me much. Honestly, where would Tom Waits be without his carnival that exists on the backstreets of some forgotten New York burrough under a current of streetlights perpetually held by a ceaseless fog (or at least that's how I picture it)?

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Beautiful, Slush, but Tom Waits is West Coast.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Yeah, I know. I just can't picture L.A. when I think of Tom Waits. It's probably because every time I've been in L.A. it has been sunny and every time I've been in New York it has looked like a Tom Waits song.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I heard a Tom Waits song on the radio today and I just had to laugh. I don't know what the song is called but it's talking about Hamas and Jerusalem. Either way, it confirmed that I really hate his music. The lyrics don't fit with the song most of the time. I might have a different opinion if he was a spoken word artist but I don't hold him in the high regard everybody else does as a songwriter.

As for Blur, I started with Parklife and Blur and then quickly brought any further listening to a grinding halt. If those are the most acclaimed, I don't want anything to do with the rest of the catalog!

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1)Elliott Smith
2)Beastie Boys
3)Creedence Clearwater Revival
4)Brian Eno:Tried hard but couldn't get into his stuff
5)Metallica:Maybe one or two good albums but generally their songs bore the hell out of me...

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

As per last week:
1 The Police
2 The Doors
3 The Clash
4 John Lennon
5 Fleetwood Mac

I will continue to plough a lonely furrow by voting for The Police, whose music delivers all the pleasure of a sandpaper loofah.
Also, what's not to like about Creedence? The four album run from Bayou Country to Cosmo's Factory rivals mid-60s Dylan in terms of prolific and consistently brilliant output.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1. The Jam
2. Patti Smith
3. Paul Simon
4. The Byrds
5. Nick Cave

thanks to everyone for the Cure suggestions, I think I'll give them a pass based on what I heard. I also listened to the Smith's Queen is Dead last week (I was underwhelmed), and I think I might reverse my comments from Week 2. Listening to the Cure's stuff beyond their singles I might argue that Morrissey is now a more mopey Robert Smith without eyeliner! There's too many good Smiths songs to vote them out just yet though.

Now I face the wrath of Byrds fans. For a while I thought they were like the Kinks for me. a sixties band that I just to hear more stuff from. But as more artists go away, I keep thinking of the horribly dated hippie anthem Mr. Tambourine Man and have to let them go based on that and not recalling any other worthwhile songs.

As for Nick Cave, I don't think I can give him a pass any longer. Never crossed my ears and something epic or meaningful to me.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Hmmm, none of mine got voted off last week. Guess I'll have to try harder.

Two of mine got voted off (hooray!)
1) T. Rex - Too mediocre to be in the top 100. Go Bang a Gong somewhere else. Still on the island? How?
2) Kraftwerk - Beep Beep Boop Whirrr Buzzz Bleep Bloop Beep Bop Whirr Buzz Buzz Beep Boop. I have a heart and a soul not a hard drive and processors, so this doesn't appeal to me. I'm sure 3CPO and R2D2 love the shit out of these guys, though.
3) The Cure - A few good songs, but would you like some cheese with that whine? And dude, you're like 40-something now, enough with the ridiculous makeup and hair.
4) The Jam - The band that stuck out the most as not belonging with the others. Pretty good, but not great.
5) Nick Cave - Because of a recommendation from someone I checked him out more. Was going to give him a pass this week and vote off Depeche Mode. Well, they're gone now, so he's back on the list.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1) Metallica. Used to be impressed by the virtuoso stuff, but it's all a bit stomach wrenching for me.
2) Sex Pistols. Listen to anything by the Clash or Wire and tell me these guys' one album is actually a classic.
3) The Police. Template-rockers. Okay for a sappy nostalgia trip or two.
4) Eminem. Always just seemed too utterly aware of what a sham he was, and when he didn't it was strangely more obvious.
5) Michael Jackson. Sorry, sorry everyone. Yes, I've heard him. Fun enough, for sure. Good dancer. But in terms of influence, he really gave music a strong tug in a direction that's a bit ugly to me these days.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1. The White Stripes (5 pts)
2. The Beastie Boys
3. Patti Smith
4. John Coltrane
5. T. Rex (1 pt.)

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Still in the queue:
5 points - Metallica
4 points - The Band
3 points - Eminem

New kids on the beach:
2 points - Frank Sinatra - A great performing artist, a legend, I can listen to a song or two, but a whole album never makes it to the end. Can't really relax to this kind of easy listening.

1 point - Fleetwood Mac - They made some great albums (I do like Rumours), but it is not sufficient enough to qualify for the top 50.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

3 things...

Thing 1: I'd been wondering when we'd get the chairman of the board.

Thing 2: Greg, I need comments on artists if you haven't voted on 'em before. Thanks.

Thing 3: We had really strong agreement in the first couple of rounds--there were a handful of artists getting a LOT of votes--but now it looks like more people's lists feature their personal non-favorites. As a result, point totals seem a little lower this week...and there's a FIVE-way tie for third place right now, which means that, this week, we might be kicking off an extra artist or two. Or three.

That also means that there's still time between now and Sunday for more votes to tip the balance. Still haven't heard from...let's see...LonesomePanda, AJackson, Anthony, Moonbeam, Loophole, BGs, Slush, Mo, Honorio, Sal, and Harold Wexler. (New voters are welcome, too, of course.)

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I'm not into his music that much either, but I just can't vote The Greatest Entertainer of the 20th century off.. I just can't.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1. The White Stripes - Total gimmick - no bass, they only wear 3 colors, a semi-cute drummer w/ big tits (anyone seen the sex tape?), and the whole ambiguous relationship b/w meg and jack...who concocted this brilliant marketing ploy? Not much bad music comes out of Detroit, but this is a glaring exception.
2. The Beastie Boys - Could never stand their whiny voices or sample-spastic production.
3. Patti Smith - Most things John Cale touches turn to gold, but even he couldn't salvage her debut album from those painfully contrived lyrics - beat "poetry" at least 10 years after everything remotely "beat" had ceased to be interesting.
4. John Coltrane - Not a big fan of jazz, especially free jazz, with which Coltrane experimented liberally.
5. T. Rex - I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which is the epicenter of the hipster universe. One thing this means, aside from the fact that the local record store is too cool to stock Springsteen albums, is that I hear "Jeepster" or "Metal Guru" almost every time I walk into a bar or restaurant. I love most things glam, but Bolan's hooks never really grabbed me.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I don't think you can call The White Stripes the one exception to the city that gave us Kid Rock.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

good point! forgot about that clown

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1. The Jam
2. T. Rex
3. Massive Attack
4. Blur - Maybe you have to be British. Good band with some interesting ideas, but a top 100 artist? I don't think so.
5. Metallica - If they had stopped recording after 1991, maybe their body of work up to that point would justify remaining here. But on they slog.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

BTW has anybody seen or heard about Loophole
Looks like he gave his name to the preliminary round of this game and then vanished...
Hope he's just in vacation or something
He was nice and backed me sometimes when I tried to defend country or 50 's music

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Maybe Loophole is very busy with his brilliant musical blog Setting the Woods on Fire, that I check often (and I recommend to all of you). Particularly that Beach Boys "SMiLE" reconstruction...

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Ok, I'll start from 0 for this week's vote.

5)The Flaming Lips - Pretentious and pointless to me ! I have gave them a new chance but listening to the Soft Bulletin, and I did not find much interest in it.
4)Bjork - As I have already said, it sounds too artificial and complicated to me !
3) Pulp - Well, maybe the lyrics are really witty, but Jarvis would have probably made a better writter than a singer
2)Kraftwerk - Definitely a markland in the history of music, the have created a new way to make music... but does anyone still listen to their albums ?
1) The Smiths - I don't really see why they are considered as the greatest band of the 80's (well, maybe because the other band are either uninteresting or did not do much albums)... even their songs that I like kinda bear me, How soon is me is too long, This charming man seems incomplete... I don't like Morissey's voice neither

Well... looks like my favourite artist and one of my favourite band are going to leave the album this week...

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Hey, Lonesome--just to be clear, are you giving 5 points to the Smiths and 1 point to the Flaming Lips, or the other way around?

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Steely Dan keeps getting a bye cause I'm still waiting for their album from the library. Oh well.

This weeks top 5:

5 points: Eminem - Nope, still don't like him

4 points: Kraftwerk - Same as last week. I've heard better electronica since.

3 points: John Lennon - Just like last week, I think that he's dull and pretentious.

2 points: Metallica - I kind of like their music in small doses, but there isn't really a whole lot of variety unless it's boring, slow ballad, but then it's a boring, slow ballad.

1 point: Joni Mitchel - This is mostly a vote out of my ignorance. I know I heard Blue a long time ago and I thought it was okay, but nothing extraordinary. I just know that my one point vote won't kick off Joni and that I'll listen to some of her stuff in the next week and be able to make a more educated decision.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Hey everybody,

Sorry to disappear like that! Honorio is correct. I have been spending all of my free computer time (and then some) on the blog. I'll still check in here from time to time, but haven't posted in awhile.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

OK. This game is tough for me because I like something about all of the remaining artists. Here goes:

1. U2 - Although I like some stuff from their first three albums, and the song "One," I really can't stand Bono as a rock star. If all rock music was as establishment and self-important as U2, then somebody would have to invent a new rebellious music for young people to replace it. (Maybe that's what Hip Hop is?)

2. Brian Eno - Not really my style. Probably unfair to vote him off on that basis.

3. The Cure - Again, some really good songs, but I don't see them as top 93 material.

4. The Police - Same reasoning as the Cure. And I'm punishing them for Sting, whose even worse than Bono.

5. Beastie Boys - Frat boy fans can be annoying. At least they were in the 1980s.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I'm really sad to see Kraftwerk being targeted. I, for one, still listen to their albums, and think their run from 1974-1981 is priceless. I defy anyone who classifies music with synthesizers as less meritorious and less emotional to listen to a song like "Computer Love" and maintain that opinion.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Shaking things up a bit this week- this time targeting the bland/undeserving:

1. Eminem- I don't have a scathing hatred for him like a few other artists, but I really don't think he belongs, and I certainly wouldn't miss him on the island.

2. Elton John- I pretty much dislike his entire catalogue, but his repeated Disney regurgitations are just incendiary.

3. The Band- Yawn-a-roonie. Folk/Americana/roots/country is never my idea of a good time.

4. Bob Marley- repeat vote. Frat boys can drunkenly shuffle themselves off the island with him.

5. The Who- Not as offensive to me as the Beatles, but a hell of a lot more boring.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

"Boring?" "The Who?" Any band that can present something as diverse in lyrics and energy as the excellent Who Sell Out (1967) and The Who By Numbers (1975) is hard to think of as more boring that the Beatles. Especially because, while every song the Beatles have ever done is canonized, there's still a little bit of hidden gems in lesser known Who albums to discover. The extra tracks on the reissued versions of albums sometimes have incredibly energetic covers of standard R+B tracks. Keith Moon alone should prevent 'boring' from ever being used to describe this band.

Of course, the idea of the 'rock opera' might induce yawns. Tommy does get boring occasionally, but Quadrophenia a few years later made up for it.

I can understand people just voting them out at this stage, but I have trouble understanding the reason of boredom as the excuse. Sorry.

So, Moonbeam, I'm not a Beatles bully, but what would you call a overzealous Who defender?

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

There's no harm in defending The Who, and I imagine you aren't alone, Jonah! They just bore me to tears. Admittedly, I've only heard about 15-20 songs of theirs, but none of them have been remotely exciting to me.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I don't know if you've ever picked up The Who By Numbers, Moonbeam, but lyrically I think it was the first thing that came to mind when I started thinking about the lyrical themes of Sound of Silver that I was picking up when I listened to that record and which you expressed in your review. As a 'looking back after youthful indiscretions' record, it's pretty phenomenal. Just ignore the single Squeeze Box, and you'll be fine.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I gave 5 points to the Flaming Lips

And I hopelessly foresee Beastie Boys and Elliott Smith leaving the island

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

#1 Marvin Gaye (5p) - I frankly find his songs boring. I've never understood what's so great.

#2 Madonna (4p) - This goes with every artist or band here, I've never understood what so great. Madonna is nothing special, her songs are not good.

#3 James Brown (3p) - I can't understand the words that are coming out of his mouth!

#4 Chuck Berry (2p) - I find his music dated.

#5 Creedence Clearwater Revival (1p) Possibly the most boring band on earth.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

1. Beastie Boys
2. Metallica
3. Elliott Smith
4. Ramones
5. Frank Sinatra (*new entry*): During the rare times that I'm not listening to my iPod, I'll turn on the radio in my car to the best (read: only) modern rock station Edmonton has to offer. (Call it a self-imposed torture - - every now and then I get curious as to what kind of filth CanCon is spoonfeeding to the masses.) Now, it doesn't take long before I'm changing the station, but if it's not the homogenous modern rock that motivates me to start pushing buttons (or to put the earbuds back in,) it's something called "The Furious Frank at Five."

As the cutesy title sort of suggests, every weekday at 5:00pm this particular station plays a Frank Sinatra tune; a different one each day. Now, the obvious question is, why? Well, as the station claims, "cuz nobody's more 'indy' than Frank." Well, that's certainly debatable. To me, and I'm sure the majority of the 25-34 demographic that's heading into rush hour traffic during that time, a modern rock station that plays music normally reserved for knitting classes and dinner parties, is a ridiculous (and pathetic) attempt to play into the "Napoleon Dynamite" aesthetic - something so completely uncool becomes cool. Not to mention, I'm not sure how many people my age, when going home from a long day at work really want to hear Sinatra's silky croon (while heading straight into gridlock.) Even Elvis would be tolerable, but not Frank.

Now, I always kinda disliked Sinatra - a non-artist who really couldn't offer much besides a good voice and good looks, but it ironically took a modern rock station for my disgust to really begin to take shape. Yes, he's an icon, and "In the Wee Small Hours" is not a complete waste of time, but by and large Sinatra has annoyed the shit outta me long before this station labeled him "furious." His songs are the worst kind of Vegas-lounge drivel and hopefully Ol' Blue Eyes will soon be on the next boat out of here.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I disagree, Anthony; for me, Frank is the BEST kind of Vegas-lounge drivel.

With Sinatra, I have the same problem I had with Captain Beefheart (though for a very different reason)--I have no idea how to compare him to anyone else on the list.

He makes the top 100 entirely because he released several of the earliest "theme" albums in the 1950s, but putting his renditions of standards alongside the Who and the Clash and Pavement is jarring. (And, anyway, if you want to hear the standards, you really ought to avoid the Vegas-type stuff anyway and check out Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbook" albums).

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Cole Porter & Rodgers/Hart is not "drivel" of any sort. Sinatra sang well-crafted popular music standards.

And he did more than simply sing standards with a good voice. His phrasing off the beat was ahead of its time and laid a lot of the groundwork for modern popular music.

When you compare Frank Sinatra to his true contemporaries his stuff stands out as being special.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Note to self: fewer comments results in fewer retorts.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

If you call anything in the AM top 100 "drivel" by a "non-artist" there is bound to be somebody out there who takes exception. 50,000 Frank Sinatra fans can't be wrong--at least not all of them.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Actually Schleuse Joy Division took major inspiration from Sinatra. I know what you're saying though. It's a lot easier to judge how effectively an artist/group achieves their goals than to judge the goals themselves (unless it's pop trash). Sure, Sinatra was the top crooner, but how does that compare to the top punk? Or the top glam-rocker? (Answer: punk wins. Glam is stupid.)

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

A few times a year at around 3 in the morning I get in my car and put on In the Wee Small Hours and drive around New York - over the Brooklyn Bridge, up the FDR, through Times Square, down to the Village (or something like that) - and it magically restores some of the romanticism that my fair city has sadly lost.

Sometimes a place can really draw something out of the music, and vice-versa. I've had similar experiences driving across Texas listening to Waylon and walking around South Central listening to Ice Cube.

It's not that the music can't transcend where/when it comes from or what it's about, but sometimes it's just about finding a different way to contextualize it - like reading a biography about the musician, or watching a movie from the period (The Voice is a great actor too!)- I dunno, something like that, something that slightly alters the way you hear (see) the music.

Anthony, I'm not suggesting it's some deficiency on you part or that you should make a greater effort to like Sinatra. Everyone has a few "great" artists they just can't get down to. I'm just kind of thinking out loud about some of my own experiences.

Anyway, I know not everyone can readily do this "drive around New York" thing - but I have several spare beds if you'd like to try sometime!

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Don't fret Anthony- Sinatra is going to get some points from me soon, too.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Funny you should mention that, Greg--about twelve years ago, I had a morning commute on the Long Island Expressway into Manhattan three times a week. As soon as I left Nassau County, I'd pop in VU & Nico and by the time I got down to my destination in Soho, I'd feel ready to deal with NYC.

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

Mmm, Anthony, maybe Sinatra is going to feature in many all time lists (he's on mine anyway). I’m saying so because I think that probably my campaign against Pavement paradoxically helped to have them at higher places on the 90s lists that previously expected (Crooked at #18, Slanted at #21 and Wowee at #57).

Re: AM Survivor: Week 3

I know what you mean in general Honorio. Every time I mentioned my dislike of Oasis, I was worried that I was inspiring the list-makers to place them higher than they normally would.

I don't want to psychoanalyze this whole collective forum here, but I think any criticism of an artist or album before a list is made at least makes people more aware of that music and will make them think more closely about the effects of putting someone high or low.

I know that I actually forget about some of the older music that I have until I read an article about that music, hear a song on the radio, or read about it on a forum like this. I can say that I demoted Trout Mask Replica quite a bit on my all time album list because of the thoughts on an earlier thread. While I still like that record, after hearing the discussion I realized I really never deliberately listened to that whole album in years, and appreciated it more as a concept.

This is getting long... my point is that collective list-making is not going to be a pure objective experience, and I'll try my best to refrain from any comments that might galvanize undue support towards any given album, one way or another.