Consigned to outer darkness:

14. Stevie Wonder (49)
13. The Kinks (44)

Haven’t walked into the light yet: R.E.M. (42), Prince (41), Jimi Hendrix (38), Neil Young (28), Radiohead (27).

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Starting next week, we’ll be down to our top ten. NO new voters will be counted during this final phase of Survivor. So if you haven’t voted before this week, and you want to be in on the action at the end, make sure you cast a ballot this week!

Also, after this week’s voting, we’ll be eliminating only one artist per week.

One dozen artists remain:

The Beach Boys, The Beatles, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Radiohead, R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, Neil Young.

Week 26 starts…now.

1. Bob Dylan
2. R.E.M.
3. The Beach Boys
4. Radiohead
5. Prince - His music is amazing, but as I have to give a reason, I choose the whole "squiggle formerly known as Victor" nonsense

1. (5p) Jimi Hendrix - The only surviving (at least in this game) artist here I never listen to.

2. (4p) Radiohead - They've had a couple of good songs, but mostly they're just making annoying sounds.

3. (3p) Neil Young - He's got a squeeky voice, but his songs aren't all bad.

4. (2p) Prince - I like a lot of Prince songs, but he's lost it.

5. (1p) R.E.M. - Seriously good band sometimes. At other times they're pale versions of themselves, but never crap.

Sittin' on the dock:

1) Jimi Hendrix
2) Radiohead
3) The Beatles

On their way through the bay:

4) David Bowie - Uhh.. the title of his best album is too long and makes the album column in Excel really wide. That’s about all negativity you’re going to get on Bowie from me. (My #16)
5) Prince - He's made it longer than I expected, but I reckon just outside of the top 10 is exactly where he belongs. He's not quite in the league of the extraordinary gentlemen left on the island. (My #13)

1 REM 5 pts : This week I'm listening to "Monster", great sound
2 Radiohead
3 Velvet Underground
4 Beach Boys
5 Prince From here, we enter a new category : artists I really love. Prince is a genius. Why him out ? I just prefer the others, first. And then his best was in the the'80s, and I don't like the average '80s sound;

1. The Beatles
2. Radiohead
3. The Velvet Underground

New

4. Bob Dylan - Everyone has a favorite Dylan - mine is the one from the late '60s - John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline - when he started writing smart, simple love songs and stories. This is the closest he came to poetry, in my opinion. Despite the awesomely loose, bluesy sound he pioneered on Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde, all those lyrics always struck me as silly, reaching an indulgent peak in "Desolation Row" (sorry schleuse) - which is part of the point, I realize, and I suppose it's not his fault that everyone took him so seriously - except that he was obviously striving for some kind of profundity, and the fact that he seemed to be taking himself very seriously (I'm thinking of Don't Look Back here).

5. The Who - I'm actually surprised they've made it so far. Two incredible albums (The Who Sell Out and Who's Next), two good/great albums (My Generation and Quadrophenia) and then Tommy, which I think is just atrocious. They have arguably rock's greatest drummer, arguably rock's greatest bassist, arguably rock's greatest rhythm guitarist (though I cringe every time he solos) and a great singer. It doesn't hurt that they pretty much invented arena rock with 1 chord - the first of Baba O'Riley.

Ok, I think I will change a little bit the orders of my votes and I have to make two new selections:

5 pts - Prince
4 pts - Neil Young
3 pts - Rolling Stones

New:

2 pts - The Beach Boys: One good classic album, and a couple of great songs but that’s about it. And, as someone said before, it mainly seemed more like one man’s effort.

1 pts – The Who: Now we are entering in my currently personal top 15 (#14). They have one killer album (Who’s Next), but the rest is not as great. Therefore I prefer the other guys left.

1. RADIOHEAD
2. THE BEACH BOYS
3. THE WHO
4. JIMI HENDRIX
5. PRINCE. I won’t hear a word against him. I don’t think he’s had his A game in the last two decades (although I did like Diamonds and Pearls), but anyone who can create a trifecta like 1999, Purple Rain, and Sign O the Times has nothing left to prove. And if he wasn’t as powerful as Hendrix, he covered a lot more ground—he tried more genres than any other eighties artist, and almost always succeeded. Prince is vast, he contains multitudes.

I hate having to vote for him now, since there’s a good chance that both Moonbeam and I are both going to lose our favorites this week, and I seriously considered holding off on Prince for a week out of solidarity with Mr. Beam. The next artist I have bubbling under is Neil Young, and I thought of putting him here instead—after all, how do you choose between protean geniuses?—but it wouldn’t have been honest. I have Prince as the eighth-best remaining artist; I think that’s fair.

****

Speaking of losing our favorites, I’ve tried to rein myself in on the subject of a certain band from Georgia lately, but this week looks like might be my last chance to defend ‘em. So: Most of the reasons voters have given for putting R.E.M. on their ballots are valid, even if I don’t agree with them, but I do want to respond to mismaiome…is that pronounced “miss, my, oh, me?” I like that—sounds like the lyrics to a zydeco song.

Anyhoo, I’ve been arguing for a long time that silliness is right and proper and good in rock music, so I did want to disagree with the “kinda silly too often” thing. After all, besides Radiohead (as far as I know), there’s not an artist left who didn’t record silly songs sometimes.

The 2 I wanted gone are now, well....GONE!

5p - fick I hate prince, what a waste of space

4p -The Who - Are the better then Led Zeppelin? Nope, but they do have some good stuff

3p - Jimi Hendrix - Like him alot, but he never completed an entire album that screams masterpiece to me. Me he died to young

THIS IS WHERE IT GETS ROUGH

2p - David Bowie - Just not as good as the rest

1p - The Beach Boys - Love em. This was a hard thing to do.

2p

2p

5 pts - Radiohead
4 pts – Prince
3 pt. – David Bowie
2 pt. - Jimi Hendrix
1 pt. - The Velvet Underground – So much to love—just a little less than the other remaining contenders. (This is the first vote that hurts.)

I'm probably getting my first hurting vote next week.

1. The Who - The fact that they haven't even walked into the light yet: inconceivable!
2. R.E.M. (my #75)
3. The Beach Boys (my #51)
4. The Velvet Underground (my #38)

5. Jimi Hendrix (my #25) - If we were to rank the artist by "middle-favorite song", Hendrix would be in my personal top 10. Yes, he would be ahead of Bowie, Pink Floyd, Prince and Neil Young (my #7-#10 artists). But Hendrix does suffer from a limited career. I'd love to be able to place him higher, because I probably would have if he had lived longer. I have nothing negative to say about this extraordinary man. R.I.P.

Repeats:

1. Prince
2. Jimi Hendrix
3. David Bowie

New:

4. Neil Young - Does his genres well, but not great. He created and expanded on many ideas, but he just don't strike me as great sometimes. "After the Gold Rush" is great, but his other albums are simply good.
5. Bob Dylan - Some really brilliant stuff in the '60s and his later work, but he has too much garbage in between. Even with his good output, I can't say that there's one album that I truly love. His best to me is "Blood on the Tracks" where he feels the most heartfelt and honest. If he did more of that, I wouldn't he wouldn't be on this ballot now. His voice also gets old after a while.

5 points- Prince
4 points- The Who
3 points- Neil Young
2 point- Rolling Stones
1 point- Jimi Hendrix: I rarely listen to Jimi Hendrix but there's something about his songs that don't make you want to flip the station or hit next on the Ipod. There's only a couple hits I don't like. He's like CCR where the hits are golden and that's more than enough. But, unlike CCR he does have a couple great albums; I don't think he has a classic album but he does have two great ones that are a little flawed. It was a tough choice of who to slot here, REM or Hendrix and next week I could have a different opinion, but for now it's the one I listen to the least, but even I think that's a bad way to make the decision.

Repeats:
5 Points - The Beatles
4 Points - The Rolling Stones
3 Points - R.E.M.
New:
2 Points - Jimi Hendrix
1 Point - Prince

Jimi just had too short of a career for me to consider him greater then some of the others.

Prince was waaaaay too much of the hit-and-miss discography, stuff was either great or terrible

I voted for Stevie and it still hurts to have him off the island. Particularly since I just discovered I made a mistake, and my #5 artist this week should have been voted on before him. (The one point would not have made a difference either way, so at least my mistake did not affect the outcome.)

As for the Kinks, I've gone on about them enough. Farewell, Ray...

Already voted on:

1) R.E.M.
2) The Beach Boys
3) Jimi Hendrix
4) Neil Young

New this week:

5) The Velvet Underground - I am finding it hard to come up with the words to justify this vote, but it feels right at this stage. Through all of the conceptual and artistic pretensions -- both good (the "1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4" relentlessness of the rhythm section on "Waiting for the Man") and bad (the interminable "Sister Ray") -- Lou Reed never forgot about the bedrock values of quality rock music -- tuneful ballads and "cool" rockers. Plus a surprising number of their freak-out numbers work. But some percentage do not. And, on their debut, Nico took away a few more points then she added.

5 pts: R.E.M. (holdover)
4 pts: Neil Young (holdover)
4 pts: The Velvet Underground (holdover)
2 pts: Jimi Hendrix (holdover)
1 pt: David Bowie -- now it gets REALLY hard. Bowie released an unbelievable run of albums throughout the '70s, with scads of wonderful songs throughout them. And part of me feels this vote should go to The Who at this point, but my nostalgia for them will allow them to cling a final week. Anyway, many have used Stevie Wonder's poor '80s period against him; if that's fair play, by god Mr. Bowie had a worse run, starting with Tonight. Blech.


As for Stevie, a moment of silence...

Of course those 4 pts for the VU should be changed to 3. Itchy posting finger.

1)R.E.M:The only artist left not on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest artists. Enough said
2)The Velvet Underground
3)The Who
4)Neil Young:Don't mind him,he's had a great run of which I've only really heard the 70s stuff - but I don't listen to him very often so he's not a favourite
5)The Beatles

1. Prince
2. The Beach Boys
3. The Who
4. Radiohead - I think 'OK Computer' is one of the best ever but I believe their other acclaimed albums (The Bends, Kid A) are a little overrated. I have not yet listened to 'In Rainbows'.
5. David Bowie - I enjoy a few of his albums (Hunky Dory, Station to Station, Low) but the rest is hit and miss - no I don't think Ziggy Stardust is great (that might change, I doubt it though).

The day hath come:

5 points - Jimi Hendrix

4 points - Prince

3 points - Neil Young

2 points - David Bowie - David Bowie has failed to really make an album that has completely blown me away like most of the artists to come. Okay, Ziggy Stardust is pretty awesome and is now sitting near the bottom of my Top 100 because of Survivor, but other than that, I think of him as a singles artist. Bowie did a lot of interesting things, but that doesn't always lead to entertaining music. Once he got out of the early 70s, his albums are self-indulgent. However, nearly every album has produced a great song and because of that, Bowie has amassed an impressive catalog that few rival.

1 point - The Beatles - The day hath arrived where I get to vote for the Beatles. Now, I'm definitely not a Beatles hater; Rubber Soul is soundly in my Top 20 albums and Abbey Road is in the 70s. However, I can't help but feel that those placements are relics of the type of music to which I used to listen. I think the Beatles are an example of a band that I admire, but no longer listen to.

The Beatles were amongst one of the first bands I ever heard as I discovered classic rock. However, as my listening tastes expanded, I rarely returned to the Beatles. The Stones seemed more ballsy, the Velvet Underground were more experimental, the Who were more epic and Nick Drake was more beautiful. I think a lot of people admired their inability to be defined by a genre or type, but it's possible that by being the jacks of all trades, they were the best at nothing.

Certainly, the Beatles have tons of songs I love: "Dear Prudence," "In My Life," "Blackbird," "Here Comes the Sun," "Yesterday." However, the Beatles just don't interest me like they used to.

Top 10, or not top 10, that's the question:
5 pts - Jimi Hendrix
4 pts - The Who
3 pts - Prince
2 pts - The Velvet Underground (my #29 artist)

Brian's crying:
1 pt - The Beach Boys (#26)

My current artist ranking is still based on albums only. Pet Sounds is my #2 favorite all-time album, for the rest they made a few okay albums. This explains why Wilson and Co. are next on my list. Songs to be hopelessly devoted to: God Only Knows, Good Vibrations, Hang On To Your Ego.

5p The Who
4p The Beach Boys
3p Radiohead
2p Jimi Hendrix
1p The Velvet Underground

Same as past week :

5 points - Prince
4 points - R.E.M.
3 points - The Beach Boys
2 points - Bob Dylan
1 - Neil Young

5 points - Jimi Hendrix

Because the latest Hendrix release contains too little music and too much trauma.

4 points - David Bowie

He's great, but but. Too cheesy too often. That worked for me a few years ago, but then I suddenly lost my camp sensibility, so not anymore. Therefore, his greatness is theoretical, while most experiments produce bad results (although I still adore "Heroes", "Station To Station", "Ashes To Ashes", and can last through Ziggy if I know it bothers the neighbors).

Lotsa Bowie nostalgia all over the place, still.

3 points - Radiohead

Because of Kevin above. (He likes them a lot.)

2 points - Neil Young

Neil falls apart when you analyze him (that is, listen to him). I love Neil, though, but sometimes I can't help it either.

A few How to enjoy Neil guidelines:

- Don't you ever listen to the lyrics.

Why? Because you'll stumble on things like:

THIS IS THE STORY OF JOHNNY ROTTEN... THE KING IS GONE BUT HE'S NOT FORGOTTEN...

Or:

Well, I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming
Sayin' something about a queen
There were peasants singin' and drummers drumming
And the archer split the tree
There was a fanfare blowin' to the sun
That floated on the breeze
Look at mother nature on the run in the nineteen seventies
Look at mother nature on the run in the nineteen seventies

I was lyin' in a burned out basement
With a full moon in my eyes
I was hopin' for a replacement
When the sun burst through the skies
There was a band playin' in my head
And I felt like getting high
Thinkin' about what a friend had said,
I was hopin' it was a lie
Thinkin' about what a friend had said,
I was hopin' it was a lie

Well, I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun
There were children crying and colors flying
All around the chosen ones
All in a dream, all in a dream
The loading had begun
Flyin' mother nature's silver seed
To a new home in the sun
Flyin' mother nature's silver seed
To a new home in the sun

His "beautiful songs" are fairly nonsensical, see. Really badly so. Second Dylan, my hairy butt. Well. Not that bad. But you can do this stuff too, if you string random words together. Dylan had a dictionary, though, so he wins.

(Don't ask me about the other lyrics. I've never heard them. I don't try to. I know he has much worse ones, but I enjoy enjoying him, you know?)

- If there is no real tune to the song, imagine that there is, and Jesus will save you.

This happens a lot (noticing there is no tune). Don't let it happen to you. If you have to, make one up. Use John Cage's 4'33'' as inspiration, and understand that a fair world has Cage's masterpiece on Acclaimed Music (on #1536 for songs, which is pretty respectable for a classical composition!), and therefore this is a fair world, in which you live, and Neil's songs have tunes if you just squint your eyes and try.

- Don't listen to his "mediocre" albums.

You will regret it. People stronger than you have tried. Please no.

- Sign the petition for the "Time Fades Away" reissue.

If you get involved with Neil on such a personal level, you won't forget him that quick. It's the "I personally did a fanbase kinda thing, therefore I adopt Neil as anyone doing that kinda things would" phenomenon.

- I'm sure you can figure out some other tips yourselves.

This one is pretty straightforward.

1 point - R.E.M.

Just one point for them this week because I've realized I have a soft spot for schleuse (*wink wink*), even though I still haven't forgiven "Out Of Time" (it was years ago, even), the most hilariously acclaimed album that I can think of without remembering Frankie Goes To Hollywood.