The Old Acclaimed Music Forum
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Vote for your winners, results posted on Monday:
#1 Prince vs. #9 Electric Light Orchestra
#5 Tom Waits vs. #4 Billy Joel
#3 Steely Dan vs. #6 The Human League
#7 Cheap Trick vs. #2 John Lennon
#1 Talking Heads vs. #8 Thin Lizzy
#5 Earth, Wind & Fire vs. #4 Van Halen
#3 Roxy Music vs. #6 Wire
#7 Barry White vs. #2 Black Sabbath
Prince ~~~ I would probably take ELO to win 3 other matchups today, in this one they have no chance. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Prince win this whole thing...
Billy Joel ~~~ I hate Tom Waits, even a cheesy Billy song like "Uptown Girl" is better than anything Tom Waits has ever done...
The Human League ~~~
Cheap Trick ~~~
Talking Heads ~~~ So many great songs, I've been listening to "Memories can't Wait" and "There Must be A Place" alot lately...
Van Halen ~~~ I like me some EW&F, but grew up a big VH fan and that hasn't diminished much.
PASS ~~~ Honestly, I do not care for either and do not care who wins this matchup...
Sabbath ~~~
#1 Prince
#5 Tom Waits
#3 Steely Dan
#7 Cheap Trick (I'm a little tired of solo Lennon)
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#3 Roxy Music (Well, that was nearly impossible, really really hard to not vote for Wire, but Roxy's fantastic first 4 beats Wire's equally great first 3. Came down to quantity where peak quality is about the same.)
#2 Black Sabbath
I can't believe I voted for 2 metal bands over 2 soul groups, usually I favor soul. But early Sabbath and early VH are so great, just can't vote by genre.
pass
#5 Tom Waits
#3 Steely Dan
#2 John Lennon
pass
pass
pass
#7 Barry White
#1 Prince
#5 Tom Waits
#3 Steely Dan
#2 John Lennon
#1 Talking Heads
#5 Earth, Wind & Fire
#6 Wire
#2 Black Sabbath
#1 Prince by far
#5 Tom Waits
#6 The Human League
Pass
#1 Talking Heads
#5 Earth, Wind & Fire
#6 Wire
#2 Black Sabbath
#9 Electric Light Orchestra
#5 Tom Waits
#3 Steely Dan
#2 John Lennon
#8 Thin Lizzy
#4 Van Halen
#6 Wire
#2 Black Sabbath
Thanks!
Prince
Tom Waits (Tied for easiest matchup of the day. Waits has become about a top 25 artist for me. Now, I’m not Moonbeam, so I don’t have a “bottom 25,” but Billy J. would be a contender for it if I did.)
The Human League (Pity Donald Fagen. If Steely Dan had formed 20 years later, they would have been embraced by the lounge revivalists who worshipped Juan Esquivel. Instead, since nobody knew how to classify them in the 70s, they got lumped into AOR, which has not helped their case with posterity.)
Cheap Trick (I will admit this was a close call. But I maintain that solo John Lennon was a burnt-out shell of the artist who had once given us four or five of the 20 best songs of the 1960s.)
Talking Heads (Tied for easiest matchup of the day. One of my top ten acts of all time. Probably top five, in fact.)
Van Halen
Wire (Very, very close on this one, and I have to say it comes down to genre here – I like both spiky art-punk and louche glam…but I prefer the former.)
Black Sabbath (Now, heavy metal is not a genre I particularly care for. But Sabbath is at its fountainhead. They are dark, vulgar and mighty.)
Prince
Billy Joel
Steely Dan
John Lennon
Talking Heads (though Thin Lizzy would win against twelve of the fifteen others here)
Van Halen
Wire (yes, really. One of my favorites vs. Someone I just like)
Black Sabbath
Prince
Tom Waits
pass
pass
Talking Heads
Van Halen
Wire (tough call)
Black Sabbath
Prince
Joel
Dan
Cheap Trick (My John Lennon hate rolls on.)
Heads
Van Halen
Pass
Sabbath
#1 Prince
#4 Billy Joel
#3 Steely Dan
#2 John Lennon
#1 Talking Heads
#5 Earth, Wind & Fire
#6 Wire
#2 Black Sabbath
Prince
Tom Waits
Steely Dan
Cheap Trick
Thin Lizzy
Van Halen
Roxy Music
Black Sabbath
#9 Electric Light Orchestra
#4 Billy Joel
#3 Steely Dan
#2 John Lennon
#8 Thin Lizzy
tie
#3 Roxy Music
tie
#1 Prince
#4 Billy Joel - Sorry Waits fans. Still haven't gotten in to him, whereas my daughters have been bringing me back into Joel recently. They love "My Life."
#3 Steely Dan
#2 John Lennon - Actually been enjoying the album Imagine lately. Still like Cheap Trick, but Lennon has the slight edge this month.
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#6 Wire
#7 Barry White
Prince
Tom Waits
Steely Dan
John Lennon
Talking Heads
Earth Wind & Fire
Roxy Music
Black Sabbath
#1 Prince
#5 Tom Waits (Honestly Slick, you have a pretty narrow comfort zone sometimes. Waits is a legend.)
#3 Steely Dan
#7 Cheap Trick
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#3 Roxy Music
#2 Black Sabbath
#1 Prince
#5 Tom Waits
#6 The Human League
#2 John Lennon
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#3 Roxy Music
The only difficult vote of the day.
#7 Barry White
#5 Tom Waits (Honestly Slick, you have a pretty narrow comfort zone sometimes. Waits is a legend.)
#3 Steely Dan
#7 Cheap Trick
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#3 Roxy Music
#2 Black Sabbath
You could be right, but about 6/7 years ago, I found a copy of Rain Dogs for $4.00 so I snagged it up. I listened to it and did not care for it at all, so I figured this might be an album that catches you the second or third time. That was not the case and from that point forward I completely wrote off Tom Waits.
How about "Tom Traubert's Blues", one of the all-time great ballads, or "Nighthawks At The Diner" for some jazzy Waits with his trademark storytelling as an added bonus. VH1 Storytellers, particularly the bootleg, is fantastic too.
#1 Prince
#4 Billy Joel
#3 Steely Dan
#2 John Lennon
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#3 Roxy Music
#2 Black Sabbath
Lots of favorites today!
#1 Prince: No contest.
#5 Tom Waits: No contest.
#6 The Human League: No contest.
#7 Cheap Trick: No contest.
#1 Talking Heads: No contest.
#5 Earth, Wind & Fire: No contest.
#3 Roxy Music: I like Wire, but no contest. I see the lukewarm AM reception to Roxy continues! I honestly believe them to be the very pinnacle of glam.
#7 Barry White: Tough call here, but I went with my gut.
#5 Tom Waits (Honestly Slick, you have a pretty narrow comfort zone sometimes. Waits is a legend.)
#3 Steely Dan
#7 Cheap Trick
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#3 Roxy Music
#2 Black Sabbath
You could be right, but about 6/7 years ago, I found a copy of Rain Dogs for $4.00 so I snagged it up. I listened to it and did not care for it at all, so I figured this might be an album that catches you the second or third time. That was not the case and from that point forward I completely wrote off Tom Waits.
I wrote off Tom Waits six or seven years ago too. Now he's two of my top thirty albums.
I like Tom Waits more as an actor. I also like Tom Waits songs a lot more when other people sing them.
What Waits album should I go for after Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones? Note that I like Rain Dogs quite a bit more.
That's a tough one, because after those two, people's opinions get far less consistent. He's like Nick Cave, he's all over the place, he's always doing his own thing, and he's so consistent. The only album of his I've heard and don't like is Alice.
I'd say, go with his 90's albums next. His 00's stuff is more about 'Atmosphere + voice as instrument' and less about songs.
Here's my ranking of Waits albums:
#16: Swordfishtrombones
#19: Rain Dogs
#92: Real Gone
#200: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards (Triple album)
#309: Bone Machine
#336: Blue Valentine
#365: Mule Variations
Prince
Tom Waits
Steely Dan
John Lennon
Talking Heads
Van Halen
Roxy Music
Black Sabbath
#1 Prince
#5 Tom Waits
#6 The Human League
#2 John Lennon
#1 Talking Heads
#5 Earth, Wind & Fire
#3 Roxy Music
#7 Barry White
#1 Prince
#4 Billy Joel
#6 The Human League
#2 John Lennon
#1 Talking Heads
#4 Van Halen
#6 Wire
#2 Black Sabbath
RESULTS:
Prince 88.2% / ELO 11.8%
Billy Joel 58.8% / Tom Waits 41.2%
Steely Dan 58.8% / The Human League 41.2%
John Lennon 60.6% / Cheap Trick 39.4%
Talking Heads 82.3% / Thin Lizzy 17.7%
Van Halen 63.6% / Earth, Wind & Fire 36.4%
Roxy Music 62.1% / Wire 37.9%
Black Sabbath 76.5% / Barry White 23.5%
So Billy Joel beats Waits...
Waits won 14-8 on AM / Joel won 12-0 on e-mail
Waits won 14-8 on AM / Joel won 12-0 on e-mail
Who ARE these e-mail people?
Waits won 14-8 on AM / Joel won 12-0 on e-mail
Who ARE these e-mail people?
The other 20 or so voters that participate in this tournament. The non-AMers.
Waits won 14-8 on AM / Joel won 12-0 on e-mail
Who ARE these e-mail people?
12 people who have probably never heard a single thing by Waits. Oh well...
Waits won 14-8 on AM / Joel won 12-0 on e-mail
Who ARE these e-mail people?
The other 20 or so voters that participate in this tournament. The non-AMers.
It was a rhetorical question...I just can't believe all 12 of them voted for Billy Joel. I find that sort of disturbing.
Anyway, in my consternation over the winner of this, I got to thinking about how similar Joel and Waits actually were at the beginning of their careers (they even started out at about the same time), and how their careers took such drastically different turns over time.