It's HOA election time for 2004. I know Harold Wexler and Moonbeam are bouncing around the AM Forum in 2004...anyone else been here that long? (Besides Henrik, of course)

Submit a ranked list of your ten most deserving artists. You may want to check out the top 100 eligible candidates. For a reminder of who's already been inducted, see the results thread.

For your top FIVE artists (at least), you must explain why they deserve to be in the HOA. You may recycle your comments from past elections if you wish, but I want us to have a context for WHY we're selecting these artists. Ballots without comments for the top five will NOT be counted!

In addition, you have the option to nominate up to three people for the Backstage Wing. This isn't required.

Deadline for ballots is Sunday, August 2, at 6:00 pm US Central time (midnight GMT).

Voting is now open. Have at it!

1. New York Dolls – As 1950s comedian Eddie Lawrence’s “Old Philosopher” character would say, “You’ll never give up, never give up – THAT SHIP!”.

2. Sleater-Kinney – Dazzling vocal and guitar interplay between singer-songwriters Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein, backed by the mighty noise of Janet Weiss, one of the most powerful drummers – of any gender – rock has ever known.

3. Ornette Coleman – A true visionary who, unlike far too many of his contemporaries, lasted long enough to become a living legend. Long overdue for induction!

4. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – What I said in my earlier top 5 entry about T.P. and company – they’ve lasted this long for a reason. And, again, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench transcended sideman status a long time ago.

5. Warren Zevon – A bit of a sentimental vote, to be sure, but an earned one, I think – for his erratic but invaluable talent, for the grace and equanimity with which he accepted his fate and conducted himself in his last year, and for the amazing music he rallied himself to make under the most trying of circumstances.

6. Nine Inch Nails
7. Lynyrd Skynyrd
8. Belle and Sebastian
9. Lucinda Williams
10. Sonny Rollins

BACKSTAGE WING
1. Dave Fridmann
2. Greil Marcus
3. Martin Scorsese

1. Dinosaur Jr.: one of the best examples of 80s alternative/independent music.

2. Buzzcocks: see last week

3. The Jesus & Mary Chain: Nice pop melodies buried in feedback.

4. Sleater-Kinney: Dual guitar female punk trio that got better with each release.

5. Nine Inch Nails: Created very unique atmospheric songs throughout the 90's.

6. Fugazi
7. MC5
8. The Streets
9. Erik B. & Rakim
10. Tom Petty

01. Red Hot Chili Peppers : BSSM is my "madeleine de Proust" and the summit of a very decent discography
02. IAM : best band in French hip-hop history (and probably best French band ever)
03. Rage Against the Machine : come oooooooon, here is the only real guitar hero of the 90s with very solid song and awesome bass lines
04. Built to Spill : Perfect from now on is the most incredible discover I have made this year, the five first tracks are, well, perfect, which an intensity I have very rarely heard, goes right to my guts.
05. Millencolin : I should have voted for them since 2001. I guess punk-rock or any music related to skateboard is kinda disregarded here, however Millencolin has quite an interesting discography, starting with ska-punk albums, discovering a more poppy songwriting on Four Monkeys, becoming much straightforward with great riffs on their best album Pennybridge's Pioneers (2000) and releasing a more rock less punk album in 2002 : Home From Home
favourite album : Pennybridge Pioneers (2000) favourite songs : No Cigar (2000), Happiness for Dogs (2002), Twenty Two (1997)
06. Dizzee Rascal : kind of a lost cause I guess, nobody will follow me on this one. However Dizzee, and especially Boy In Da Corner, was the best thing to come from the UK this decade. His crude but meaningful lyrics, his innovative asymetrical beats, his sense of rythm... and he was only 18 ! Just listen to Jezebel, Jus' a Rascal or Jezebel, they are purely mindblowing.
(P.S. : this is also some lobbying in (lot of) advance for the 2003 poll, I'm pretty sure this will be the highest rank (and the best) album to miss the cut during the future 00s poll.
07. Foo Fighters
08. Kyuss
09. System of a Down
10. Muse (just at their peak)

I forgot :

Backstage Wing :
1) Stéphane Saunier : I guess he won't be inducted but I have to thank him in the name of every French music fan. This guy was responsible for the musical programmation of the French TV Show "Nulle Part Ailleurs" from 1987 to 2001 and well... almost every great artists of that period came to that show which had the reputation to be the best place to play on TV in Europe among the international scene (so much that for instance it is the only show where AC/DC and Metallica played). And well, not many shows, even in the US, have had so many great musical moments in every musical genre : french songs, metal, hip-hop, rock, pop, reggea, electro... It made a thousands of french people discover lot of great band, famous or not, hype or not... Such a good place that Nirvana, Bjork, Blur, Oasis, Radiohead and lots of others came several times.

A few example among too many to list them : (just type Nulle Part Ailleurs (or NPA) live on youtube and you'll see)

Jeff Buckley. I still remember when I first see that one on the show, totally fascinating


Radiohead (the video of My Iron Lung is totally amazing too)


Bjork (there is also an old video of Violently Happy)


PJ Harvey


and Grandaddy (I had recorded a best of of the show few years ago, around 2002 I guess... I have watched this one song non stop during a month)



It's a shame some others are not on Youtube, such as the first appearance in Europe of Queens of the Stone Age, a miraculous performance of Nirvana playing Drain You or some tearjerking songs by Alain Bashung

1. Warren Zevon - if you haven't heard it, make sure you listen to his "debut" album for next month's '76 poll!
2. Daft Punk - Discovery is a track-for-track masterpiece, on or off the dancefloor
3. Drive-By Truckers - best band of the decade (and best live act)
4. The Magnetic Fields - best songwriter of the '90s
5. Ryan Adams - best songwriter of the decade
6. Lynyrd Skynyrd
7. Richard & Linda Thompson
8. The Blue Nile
9. Jackson Browne
10. Dwight Yoakam

backstage

1. Jay Dee (J Dilla)
2. Daniel Lanois
3. Mutt Lange

1. NINE INCH NAILS. Trent Reznor might be an ideal “Six Degrees of…” figure for pop/rock. He’s associated with just the right number of huge names—not too many (like Bowie) and not too few.
2. JESUS AND MARY CHAIN. No offense to anyone, but how did we let Coldplay in and not these guys?
3. PRIMAL SCREAM. Scotpop.
4. RICHARD AND LINDA THOMPSON. If you thought the interrelationship tension on Rumours was edgy, listen to the sonic record of this couple’s divorce on Shoot Out the Lights.
5. BUZZCOCKS. Not many greatest hits collections can stand with Singles Going Steady.
6. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
7. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
8. WARREN ZEVON. There you go.
9. LUCINDA WILLIAMS
10. THE SHINS. This slot almost went to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but the Shins have released two great albums to the YYYs’ one.

01. BELLE & SEBASTIAN: more than eight years (and six albums) from their debut and they are (almost) as fresh as the first minute, releasing in the way an influential legacy.
My favourite album: If You're Feeling Sinister (1996).
My Top 5 Songs: Like Dylan in the Movies (1996), Dirty Dream #2 (1998), Step into My Office Baby (2003), The State I Am In (1996), Lazy Line Painter Jane (1997).

02. THE POSTAL SERVICE: not a real band but a side project of Jimmy Tamborello (from electronica band Dntel) and Ben Gibbard (from indie band Death Cab for Cutie) for an only album. But, oh boys, what an album!
My favourite album: Give Up (2003).
My favourite song: Such Great Heights (2003), We Will Become Silhouettes (2003), The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (2003).

03. THE SHINS: 00s indie rock? Timeless pop I would say instead.
My favourite album: Chutes Too Narrow (2003).
My favourite song: Saint Simon (2003), New Slang (2001), Kissing the Lipless (2003).

04. DOMINIQUE A: the French scene of today is renewing the “chanson” style with influences of indie rock but with reverence to the big names of French tradition. Yann Tiersen, Benjamin Biolay, Françoiz Breut, Vincent Delerm, Keren Ann and my favourite, the indie-chansonnier Dominique A.
My favourite album: Auguri (2001).
My favourite song: Pour la peau (2001) (awesome!), Le Twenty-Two Bar (1995), Je t’ai toujours aimé (2001).

05. CALEXICO: the sound of the frontier, very few times this eclectic collision of styles has rendered such brilliant results.
My favourite album: The Black Light (1998).
My favourite song: Stray (1998), Quattro (World Drifts In) (2003), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (2000).

06. FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE.
07. NINE INCH NAILS.
08. LUCINDA WILLIAMS.
09. ROBERT WYATT.
10. SUPER FURRY ANIMALS.

And at the backstage:
01. DAVE FRIDMANN.
02. JIM O’ROURKE.
03. ANTON CORBJIN.

1. MISSY ELLIOTT - Without a doubt the greatest female rapper of all time, and, regardless of gender, certainly among the most creative.
2. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - The center of Haight-Ashbury.
3. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - One of the leading bands of the last three decades, with an attractive blend of funk and punk.
4. THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - Shouldn't the Reid brothers have been inducted ages ago? Angst-ridden beauty that became a blueprint for all your favorite indie groups.
5. PRIMAL SCREAM - Welcome to part two of my Glaswegian block. And even though Bobby Gillespie was originally the drummer for J&MC, his own band was the exact opposite. Freewheeling indie/house fusion with an edge.
6. BELLE & SEBASTIAN - And here's pt. 3. Delicate '60s style pop that's just irresistible.
7. NINE INCH NAILS
8. DAFT PUNK
9. FOO FIGHTERS
10. LYNYRD SKYNYRD

Backstage:
1. BOOKER T. & THE MG's - Stax is one of the greatest record labels of all time, but we have only celebrated it with the induction of Otis Redding. No Isaac Hayes, no Albert King, no Eddie Floyd. But who to induct? Booker T. & The MG's could also get in through the front door, but as the house studio band, they collectively are probably more responsible for the Stax sound than any other person.
2. GERRY GOFFIN & CAROLE KING
3. ANTON CORBIJN

Whoops. Looks like it's time to extend another election; only seven votes so far for 2004. Voting will hereby remain open until Sunday, August 9.

I have spoken.

sorry, I forgot. There's just so many games my little brain can handle.

Mmm, this decision breaks my (little) plans, I wrote yet my votes for 2005 and had in mind a special for 2006 coinciding with… Well, it’s OK anyway, I can change my plans, no problem.

1. Daft Punk - These guys define their genre completely. They were also the only artist played at the first high school party I ever went to, and as such hold a special place in my heart.

2. The Verve - I'm actually going to give up on these guys in a few weeks.

3. Primal Scream - I feel as though they're good enough to make the hall. Especially in this field.

4. Belle and Sebastien - I suppose it's only a matter of time before these guys get in, although I'm not incredible fans of them.

5. The Shins - They just released their best album, and between their first two I think they have enough strength to make the hall.

6. Sleater-Kinney
7. Interpol
8. Dinosaur Jr.
9. The Streets
10. The postal Service

Sorry, I'm just copying and pasting my votes and comments from last week, removing Coldplay and adding Dimmu Borgir. I'm at work now, and will be for most of tomorrow, so I'm not sure I'd find the time to do this the proper way.

1. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS - There's only two songs in them, but they just wrote the third. Don't know where they got the inspiration or how they wrote the words. They've spent their whole lives just digging up their music's shallow grave, for the two songs in them and the third one they just made.

2. HANDSOME FAMILY - "This is why people OD on pills, and jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. Anything to feel weightless again." Never mind Bob Dylan, Rennie Sparks should get the Nobel Literature Prize.

3. MANIC STREET PREACHERS - My love alone is not enough, not enough, not enough. I need somebody's help here.

4. JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - Please, please listen to them. It's taken so long to come true, and it's all for you. All for you.

5. A-HA - Couldn't bother looking up suitable lyrics, but they are perheps the best (and definitely most successful) band to come out of Norway ever. Forget Take On Me, that's mediocre 80s stuff, but check out the amazing amount of killer tracks hidden on their albums. I've Been Losing You is one of the best songs ever made.

6. 22-PISTEPIRKKO
7. DAFT PUNK
8. RICHARD AND LINDA THOMPSON
9. MANSUN
10. DIMMU BORGIR

I hate that I have to rush this in, but I must!

1. Siouxsie and the Banshees

2. Kylie Minogue

3. Janet Jackson

4. Grace Jones

5. Missy Elliott

6. Aaliyah

7. Donna Summer

8. Annie Lennox

9. Joan Jett

10. Kim Wilde

1. DAFT PUNK - They became the pinnacle fusion of dance electronica and listening electronica. ROBOTS BABY!

2. ORNETTE COLEMAN - Sickening sick sick sick sick musician. So good he makes me vomit in my mouth.

3. PRIMAL SCREAM - Not only classic albums that defined an era - but they progressed and evolved - making them vital listening.

4. JESUS AND MARY CHAIN - WHy they aren't in is a mystery.

5. JANE'S ADDICTION - Those two albums affected so much. Psychedelia, Lolla, Nirvana - the 90's would've been so diff without them.

6. HERBIE HANCOCK - He'll get y big pimp next week.

7. Eric B and Rakim

8. Iggy Pop

9. Grateful Dead

10. FUGAZI

1. Ornette Coleman - For his innovation and vision.

2. Lucinda Williams - For being so earnest.

3. Herbie Hancock - For being a jazz legend.

4. Lynyrd Skynyrd - For Sweet Home Alabama. Turn it up.

5. Buzzcocks - For Singles Going Steady.

6. Townes Van Zandt
7. Fugazi
8. Warren Zevon
9. Grateful Dead
10. Eric B. & Rakim