I read something this effect while browsing the interweb lately:

"The Cure, The Smiths, R.E.M, U2 - four greatest bands ever."

Maybe not. Someone just really loves their 80s music. But how do you rank them?

1. U2
2. R.E.M.
3. The Smiths
4. The Cure

is my list.

Clearly written by someone who loves 80s alternative music. I like the 4 of those bands a decent amount, but I don't really think The Smiths and The Cure are really in the same league as R.E.M and U2.

1. U2
2. R.E.M
3. The Smiths
4. The Cure

I don't understand why The Smiths are so acclaimed. They're not a bad band by any means, and you can see in them a precursor for Brit-Pop, but there work just doesn't seem that impressive to me. The Cure is good, but they're a little gothy for me. And this is coming from someone who would put Joy Division above all those 4 except for maybe U2.

1. U2
2. The Smiths
3. R.E.M.
4. The Cure

The Smiths
R.E.M.
U2
The Cure

I mean, I love all four of these bands, but The Smiths are my obvious choice for number one.

1. R.E.M.
2. The Smiths
3. U2
4. The Cure

Really I'd like to have Depeche Mode at #2.

Seems to be a consensus that the Cure are fourth. I'm a fan, and they have some great singles, but I'm not sure they ever put together a great album.

1. REM
2. The Smiths
3. The Cure
4. U2

1)The Smiths
2)U2
3)R.E.M.
4)The Cure

I've heard many bands,but for me personally,no band has or probably ever will come close to the Smiths.

1. THE CURE!!!
.
.
.
2. U2
3. The Smiths
4. R.E.M.

You all are seriously underrating The Cure! I would say that they're the best band ever, so nyah! Seriously, though, they have a lot more variety and texture than most people realize, as they are too often categorized as a mopey goth band. One listen to the kaleidoscope that is The Head on the Door should convince any listener that they have many, many facets.

1. The Cure (#2 artist of all-time)
2. The Smiths (#15 artist of all-time)
3. U2 (#40 artist of all-time)
4. R.E.M. (nowhere near my top 100)

I love them all. They are all in my personal top 30. If I had to rank them, it would probably look something like this.

1. R.E.M.
2. The Smiths
3. U2
4. The Cure

1. R.E.M.
2. The Smiths
3. The Cure
4. U2

1. R.E.M.
2. U2
3. The Smiths
4. The Cure

The top slot is easy (ahem); number 2 and number 3 are very, very close. Just to make some numbers up, let's say that these four are my personal #1, #46, #47 and #80.

1. U2
2. The Smiths
3. R.E.M.
4. The Cure

They're probably all in my top 50. I know that U2 is #3, but the rest I don't have a definite number. The Smiths slightly over R.E.M. because of the brilliance of "There Is a Light that Never Goes Out"

1. REM is probably the best American band that made it big in the 80s, and U2 the best Irish one. Totally different music from one another; can't rank 'em.

3. The Smiths made two great albums, but that's all.

4. The only thing from Cure I can really stand from beginning to end is their Standing on a Beach compilation. I like to pretend it's their masterpiece.

(On a side note, does anyone else do that with great compilations from artists who didn't make great albums? I also do it with Green Day. I'm not crazy about their studio discography so far, so I just pretend like International Superhits is a punk classic.)

1. The Smiths
2. The Cure
3. R.E.M.
4. U2

1. R.E.M. (they created alternative rock as we know it and influenced some of the greatest 90s bands - nirvana, pavement, and radiohead. Their latter day staleness since Berry left is unfortunate).

2. The Cure (in the 80s they were pretty unstoppable, but afterwards...uh...yeah...).

3. The Smiths (a long streak of awesome singles, but the albums suffered a bit from lack of variety).

4. U2 (The only band of the four that actually bothers me. Their highs were as low as their lows, even at their peak. They could be fantastic but they could be equally awful).

Oops, I meant to say that U2's highs were as high as their lows were low. :/

I recently came across my top 100 artist list, and after some revisions, here's what I can up with.

1. The Smiths (all time rank- #11)
2. R.E.M. (all time rank- #14)
3. U2 (all time rank #19)
4. The Cure (all time rank #67)

I know I already posted my ranking of the four, but I just wanted to show how they rank overall.

1. The Smiths (#2)
2. The Cure (#6)
3. R.E.M. (#19)
4. U2 (#96)

1. U2
2. The Smiths
3. R.E.M.
4. The Cure

I envy, and wonder about, those of you who have comprehensive personal ranks for artists and albums. I could never even begin to rank those things and definitively say "artist x is this number to me, while artist y is that number to me." There's just music i like and don't like. Amazing how systematic people can be about their tastes.

Sean - I think it's an affliction.

1. REM
2. The Cure
3. u2
4563. The Smiths

1)R.E.M.
2)The Smiths
3)U2
4)The Cure

#1 and #2 are very close but today my list is :

1. The Smiths
2. R.E.M.
3. U2
4. The Cure

1) R.E.M.
2) U2
3) The Cure
4) The Smiths

I love my favorite U2 albums more than my favorite R.E.M. albums but I think R.E.M. is more consistently "good" on an album basis. (Didn't much care for POP and so far haven't been able to get into BOY or OCTOBER [you may commence firing]. Have yet to hear NO LINE ON THE HORIZON.)

As far as the Cure, I think DISINTEGRATION is their masterpiece and they've done a ton of great singles/album cuts outside of that. Very nearly everything on GALORE is great and a sizable chunk of STARING AT THE BEACH as well.

At this point I've yet to hear a Smiths album I've really liked AS an album..just certain tracks have resonated with me. ("There is a Light That Never Goes Out","How Soon is Now?","Bigmouth Strikes Again"). Maybe I just haven't listened enough to them yet.

Judging by the response, is there anyone who wants to make a game out of this? I could post a thread once a week with artists (maybe albums/songs later) to rank and tabulate the results from the previous week. A scoring system would be like:
First place: 4 pts
Second place: 2 pts
Third place: 1 pt
Last place: 0 pts

I will try to find artists who have similar styles and AM ranks, and it would work just like this thread.

1. Curtis Mayfield
2. Stevie Wonder
3. Sly Stone
4. Marvin Gaye
5. Talking Heads
...
..
.

and now some Moonbeam enhancements -
what_ if the watchmen furthermore did these..?

1. Eurythmics
2. Siouxsie Sioux/The Banshees
3. Grace Jones
4. The Gap Band

let me answer that for you, notjade..

1. Curtis Mayfield
2. Stevie Wonder
3. Sly Stone
4. Marvin Gaye
5. Talking Heads
6. Grace Jones
7. Siouxsie Sioux/The Banshees
8. Eurythmics
9. The Gap Band
...
..
.

. Sex Pistolas

1. Eurythmics
2. Siouxsie and the Banshees
3. Stevie Wonder
4. Grace Jones
5. Gap Band (all of these are top 30, jade. You know hot to work that sheee-it!)
6. Talking Heads (love them too)
7. Marvin Gaye
8. Curtis Mayfield
9. Sly Stone

10. Sex Pistols

1. The Smiths
2. The Cure
3. U2
4. REM

1. The Smiths
2. R.E.M.
3. U2
4. The Cure

1. The Smiths (#9)
2. R.E.M. (#17)
3. The Cure (#18)
4. U2 (#42)

U2
R.E.M.
The Smiths
The Cure

1. The Smiths
2. R.E.M.
3. The Cure
4. U2

Are you going to tally the results?

Results

1.- The Smiths 82
2.- R.E.M. 78
3.- U2 63
4.- The Cure 47

Massive fail! The Cure totally got the shaft.

1-R.E.M.
2-U2
3-The Smiths


(#4 & Unranked : The Cure)

REM
Smiths
U2
Cure

Wow, this is just another testament to the fact that I disagree with almost every general consensus on this site.

I'm flabbergasted at how low The Cure is thought of on this site. Really, you guys are missing out if you can't see anything in Boys Don't Cry, Seventeen Seconds, Faith, Pornography, Head on the Door, Kiss Me (3x), Disintegration, Wish, and Bloodflowers. Really unbelievable. They covered more ground, more emotions, more range than any of these other three bands COMBINED, and did it all to near perfection if you ask me. There's more to them than "Just Like Heaven" and "Friday I'm in Love." It really makes me sad that such a groundbreaking and consistent artist is getting so looked over. Not because they need more fans, but because you guys are missing out on some truly awesome music.

/rant.

My order:

The Cure
The Smiths
REM
U2