Open Thread...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
Okay, today’s open thread topic: which is the best band in the world ever: Agent Orange or Killing Joke? Seriously, though. I’m curious as to what makes a band someone’s favorite. I have probably a dozen artists that could interchangeably be my favorite band ever, depending on mood and context. The one thing all of the artists have in common is the fact that they have deep catalogs; otherwise, they couldn’t be more dissimilar. My list, for posterity, and in no particular order: Agent Orange, Killing Joke, Prince, Pink Floyd, Public Enemy, The Police, Tom Waits, Underworld, Otis Redding, Neubauten, and I think that’s about it right now.
Quite frankly, I think I’m about over Pink Floyd. I’ve listened to them too much. That happened to the Beatles as well, and they’re no longer my Favorite Band Ever either. And for the record, I CAN NOT STAND Synchronicity . I’m not one of those Johnny-Come-Lately Police fans that gets a hard-on from a Synclavier arpeggio.
40 comments
Minor Threat, and Suicidal b4 they sucked, they were my fav cause even though the music is pretty much trash it just sounded like fuel with a lighter to it!!!
I agree that Synchronicity wasn't their best, but I still think there were some good tunes on there.
It's like "Abby Road," you know? It's not a recording of a band at all. I don't care for it. If pressed, I would say that I can listen to "Murder By Numbers" and not get twitchy, but quite frankly, I'd be lying. Remember that I'm 38, so every song on that album was played to death on the radio when I was in high school.
-CR
The real question for me is which reunion do I see this summer: The Police or Van Halen.
It's a tough call actually. The Police were tepid at the grammys and as someone said...your seeing Sting singing songs he's never stopped singing.
Eddie Van Halen is the last of the guitar gods and they did rock mighty back in the day.
As far best band Rock n' Roll band goes: It has to be Led Zep - still underrated.
In the punk arena, Agent Orange and Suicidal before they went "Metal" take the cake for me.
But my all around fav is newOrder, and one of my biggest influences. I found out about Joy Division after the fact and dig the roots of what became newOrder.
I dont know if anyone here has heard of 'em, but I like a lot of the "Italo disco" bands from the mid 80s from Europe ( not the flaming ones, the good synthpop ones ) Sandra's my fav for kick back relax ( she was the voice of Enigma FYI )
Peace :P
I've always had a soft spot for Nitzer Ebb.
One of those things that will always stand the test of time.
But perhaps for the category of best best band band ever ever, maybe we have to give it up for Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Y'know. Cause that's the way it is.
I don't have reasons for the music I like, only the music I don't like. Anyway: Wire, Kraftwerk, Gang of Four, Smiths, Basic Channel, Brian Eno, Velvet Underground, David Bowie, The Fall, your mom.
Re: Van Halen/Police reunion: Why can't anyone be happy with their memories? It will be funny/embarrassing to watch these band piss away what's left of their brand.
I agree with that last statement. Especially Van Heflen. Gag. I'd rather get an unanesthetised root canal than sit through that unlistenable bullshit. I have a hard time deciding whether Sammy Hagar or David Lee Roth is more annoying, for what it's worth. I'm leaning towards the latter.
I've seen every band I've ever wanted to see live except the Police and the Clash. Obviously the latter is out of the question, so all that remains is the former. I'm quite worried at how ludicrously pompous the show is most definitely going to be, and after I see it, they'll probably drop off my Favorite Bands list. But if you're going to make a list of the 10 best rock musicians in the world, at least two, and possibly all three, of the members of that band are on it, so it's probably worth seeing regardless.
(I'm just trying to justify it, of course. I'll go. I'll be mad. That'll be that.)
-CR
Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, The Cure, Sepultura, Autechre, Kraftwerk, Brood and his Wild Romance.
Those stand out right now, but there's many others... and there's
always some form of shift going on. My list of favourite albums is
probably a bit more stable...
yeah for underworld.
what about for radiohead, soul coughing?
-aK
i don't have favorites, i have 'tops'. you know, like, top three, top five, top ten - but never in any particular order. i guess my top three would be nin, stereolab, and pink floyd. but that is guaranteed to change at some point in the future.
i guess what unites those bands is a unique artistic vision that unfolds across individual albums and multiple albums. i like that 'dots and loops' sounds nothing like 'peng', 'piper at the gates of dawn' sounds nothing like 'animals', 'the fragile' sounds nothing like 'pretty hate machine', etc etc etc. so, there's that.
or did you mean what makes *any* band someone's favorite? that, i think, is a more philosophical question! or are you asking how someone can have just one, single, most favoritest band? like those dudes that can listen to 'master of puppets' every single day of their lives and never get sick of it, ever. yeah, i don't know anything about that.
I just looked at my MP3 player and in the "Most Popular" list it features
a scottish band called Runrig,
a south african band called Jaluka/Savuka/Johnny Clegg (same guy different lineups,
an irish band called Afrocelt,
a woman called Thea Gilmore (she's English)
and Al DiMeola
I'm actually a bit suprised at Thea Gilmore and Al being there, weird what you find in the "Most Popular" section
I just went and looked in the CD player, Runrig / Shane Howard / Savuka / Loreena McKennit / a "mix tape".
So Runrig or Savuka are my favourite band. This was fun. Suprising but fun. Thanks
>I've seen every band I've ever wanted to see live except the Police and the Clash
Well then, you missed nothing and something. Saw the Police twice, once in a 1200 person venue and once at an ice rink. The first one was pretty darn good, the second one, i slept (and yes, the Thompson Twins would have contributed to my drowsiness). The Clash I saw 9 times, many venues (from 900 capacity to sandwiched between T-Bone Burnett and the Who) and every era, just after first album North America-side to the Cut the Crap tour. With the POSSIBLE exception of the last date, all memorable. Saw Strummer front the Pogues and that too was super swell.
For top artists long-term: Eno, David Sylvian, Rober Wyatt, Current 93, Al Green, Tiger Lillies, Bjork, This Heat, Peter Hammill/Van Der Graaf Generator
++ to David Sylvian. In all honesty, I find his solo meanderings to be a bit tedious, but I loves me some Japan. Oil On Canvas is one of my all-time favorite live(ish) albums. I did like the stint with Fripp, and that particular live iteration of Ghosts is quite cool.
In fact, I'm gonna put that record on right now.
-CR
radiohead. done.
why? because. that is why.
Skinny Puppy for me. The entire DRG era is just astounding to me. Such a mixture of elements and styles.
hmm...most of the bands I instantly think of as faves DONT have deep catalogues, Dexy's(3 albums), Joy Division(2), LLloyd Cole & The Commotions(2), Wire(3 - well from the early-real-band). Of course The Smiths, The Clash and David Sylvian break that rule too...so maybe that bit's aribtary. Suffice to say if you can do 2 great albums, check out and dont come-van halen-ing back then you've a good chance of being on someones list...
Here's an interesting way of thinking about it: if you could go to a gig with just one band from your list who would it be? For me Joy Divison just wins out over Dexy's...
That's hard to say. I'd love to see Otis Redding live, but since you brought it up, I wouldn't mind going to a Joy Division show either.
-CR
I gotta say Japan is the shiz-nit. One overlooked solo gem might be the Sylvian/Sakamoto "Forbidden Colours" EP. Attention Japan heads! Get this on 3" CD if you can.
I'll have to add Kool Keith in there next to Public Enemy. Kraftwerk is a gimme. Art of Noise (FGTH, Propaganda, Act, etc.) is a requirement when hanging out on a desert island for a season or more. Gang of Four and early XTC fill out the post-punk area. A crate of mid-eighties Prince 12 inches is always a sign of good musical taste. In the future, Leftfield, LFO and Orbital may begin to get some of the accolades that Aphex Twin and Autechre currently receive. I hope so, 'cause BT is not cutting it.
I know I'm going to take heat for this but I don't care about the Police or VH reunions anymore. The overlooked re-group this year has been Genesis. That's right, bitches! I'll cop to it. Genesis '72–'84 is some of my favorite music ever. I'm sort of including Peter Gabriel '82–'89 in that too.
+1 for skinny puppy! another band for which every record is different, and, with the possible exception of greater wrong of the right, every record rocks the fuck out....i just got mythmaker and i've been jamming it all day!
just gotta throw out a vote for
THE BAND.
Early XTC
Kraftwerk
The Flaming Lips
and the big one many people overlook and leave out of lists like this:
Los Lobos. Incredible live band and great in the studio.
Not rock, but my favorite band is Ivo Papasov and his orchestra. Completely fucking unbelievable.
Blues Traveler....Fuk All Da H8RZ
my first post how pathetic
Sonic Youth, hands down. They've had their good and bad spells, but for me, they're the absolute tops. Why? Their music just resonates in a deep way with me; it did since I heard them as a wee lad.
3 for me:
1) CAN (pre and post)
2) simple minds (pre-midi and pre chrissy be/hynde)
3) autechre (pre-elektron machinedrum)
I'm all for hyped mental+physical shit.
king crimson, meshuggah, can, hancock's headhunters.
Ohh, SOOO much to comment on here...I'm almost having a seizure from the thoughts flying around my head...
Re The Police: like any reunion, I will avoid this like the plague. It's sort of like drunken sex: at the time it's exciting and seems like a good idea, but later on you realize that it wasn't that good, and probably was a bad idea in the first place. I prefer to remember them all coked-up ca. 1981. (Of course, I was 5 at the time, so that has something to do with it.) No wonder they played Shea Stadium and the like; all three egos couldn't fit in a basketball arena at the same time. And, for the record, Ghost In The Machine is (IMO) their best.
Re Pink Floyd: I guess this is one of my heard-it-too-much-in-high-school things. I absolutely cannot listen to anything after Meddle anymore, except for Animals (occasionally). I'd rather drive a nail into my ear than have to sit through any portion of The Wall again. Ditto Dark Side. Live at Pompeii is fun, though, for the weird freakouts and all...particularly if you're in a room with a blue cloud hanging over it...
Re Genesis: my not-so-secret guilty pleasure. I was a Yes fan from teenage years on (and still listen to some here and there), but I didn't get into Genesis until the last few years...my computer here at work now has all their output 1971-77. If I'm gonna prog-rock out these days, it's either Crimson or Genesis. And while I love mid-70's improv Crimson, it doesn't have bitchin Tony Banks synth solos! ("Riding The Scree", anyone???)
My faves: Crimson and Genesis (duh), Can (1970-74), Tortoise (even though that boat sailed almost 10 years ago and I didn't buy their last disc), Fennesz, This Heat (you got your punk in my prog! you got your prog in my punk!) and most anything on Kranky records, though the last one is directly proportional to the amount of substances I have available. I've also been way into early electronic music of late (Xenakis, Cage, Mimaroglu, etc.) but it's something I listen to more for inspiration than enjoyment...
"Posted by famss"
3) autechre (pre-elektron machinedrum)
Love the pre-machinedrum comment, feel exactly the same way!
Yep, Genesis was good up until Hackett left.
I guess if I go for longevity then I've listened to Rush longer than any band... Maybe because they were my first real musical 'passion' (~14yo), I've listened to plenty of radically different music since but still pull out their records now and then... scare myself by how well I know their records, I can yak on now about how Low or whoever are the greatest group ever but I'll struggle to remember a fraction of their lyrics, shit, even the track listings of their albums. Not with Rush, can yodel along to Red Barchetta without a worry... "I think I'm going bald"?, side one of Caress of Steel of course. :)
Of course, Rush kinda sounded like the Police at one point...
But, gun against my head, I'd say best band ever: Husker Du.
Sort of life changing for me; made me realise bands didn't have to be 'rock' at all, while rocking harder than anything i'd ever heard before. Y'know? no affectations, dodgy sunglasses, posy leather jackets, crap haircuts (80s...),stupid videos... just tunes and noise and words that tore your head off and ripped your heart out and.... other stuff.
.wq
The top of my pile would definitely be Underworld, but other than them, it really is just a big pile. Bjork, J.S. Bach, Tom Waits, Death in Vegas, Aphex Twin, Peter Gabriel, Nina Simone. Really, there's just to much to narrow it down.
Can't say The Police left much of an impression on me at the time though, hearing their early stuff on the radio now, I appreciate it more. Not enough to go see them if their reunion tour comes this way though.
Since we're making lists, here's mine - in no particular order: Can (OK, first by a mile), Cocteau Twins (come back Liz, all is forgiven), Cluster/Harmonia, Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder (well that got the C's out the way), Rezillos (best basslines ever committed to tape), Tortoise (the Can of the 90's), Stereolab, David Torn, Bill Frisell, Richard Thompson (OK, so I play guitar), Aphex Twin, Eno (sorry this is getting predictable), Kraftwerk (as much the pre-Autobahn stuff as the later electropop), and being a child of the John Peel generation The 'mighty' Fall must take pride of place. Oh, and pretty much the whole Atlantic and Stax 60s catalogues ...
I saw The Clash on the London Calling tour. A fine gig (in the front row in gobbing distance of Joe Strummer). But it pales into insignificance compared to Joy Division supporting the Buzzcocks a few weeks earlier. Now that was a gig to remember!
wquoyle - I'm totally with you on the Rush thing. First show I ever saw (first two, actually), first band I ever REALLY got into. And, yes, I still know all the lyrics from Farewell to Kings through Signals. Scary.
I like to laugh about my pubescent Rush-love now because it's pretty damn embarrassing, but in reality they're the reason I don't listen to anything remotely mainstream (save for 70's prog, which was, at the time, mainstream). It opened my ears, ever-so-slightly, to sounds other than 4/4, verse-chorus-verse, 3-minute songs; as I got older (and began PLAYING, rather than just listening, to music) that little entree into opened me to things you don't hear above 91MHz in the USA.
My tastes can be categorized as such: electronic, drone, noise, free-improv, and prog; preferably a combination of some/all of those. (Trapist?)
I should have added to my original list: John Coltrane (especially Love Supreme and afterwards; Interstellar Space is still mind-blowing) and mid-to-late-60's Miles, all the way from his abstract-bop phase (Sorcerer and such) through the early fusion (Bitches Brew, bitch!).
my favorites, in terms of most-listened-to and biggest impact on how I relate to music:
Autechre, especially Lp5, Gantz Graf, Confield, Untilted, Draft 7.30, Peel Sessions 2, & Cichlisuite... those doubting the Machinedrum era should track down the 2005 Untilted tour Glasgow live set floating around the net. It's ridiculously good.
Tetsu Inoue, especially Waterloo Terminal, Active/Freeze (with Taylor Deupree), & Object and Organic Code.
Oval, especially Commers and Process.
Merzbow, especially Noisembryo, Pulse Demon, Metalvelodrome, Loop Panic Limited and Space Metalizer.
Sunn0))), for their incredible live performances.
Kazumoto Endo, for While You Were Out.
Disgorge (Mexico), for Necrholocaust. Straight up grotesque darkness.
Demilich, for blowing my mind with oddball time sigs and ultra complex yet insanely catchy riffs. Pity there was only one lp; pity most folks will hear the (admittedly ridiculous) vocals and cease listening to them.
Aphex Twin, for introducing me to ambient music and then for girl/boy song. then for windowlicker, then drukqs... a new album in the drukqs style would be appreciated.
Squarepusher, for doing everything humanly possible with the amen break.
Discordance Axis, for pushing the limits of human endurance and speed.
Regatta de Blanc was the first LP I ever bought and it's still one of my favourites. I'm with CR, I'm gonna have to go see 'em but I know in my heart it will suck.
Other long term favourites in no particular order: ELO, Kraftwerk (natch), J-M Jarre, the Cardigans, The Sundays, Faith No More, Primus, Miles Davis, Radiohead, Beastie Boys, Propellerheads (only one album, but what an album), Stone Roses, Living Colour...
The Sundays are the one I'm at a loss to explain. Most of the music I listen to is noisy, irritating, objectionable or preferable all three. The Sundays made the 3 most inoffensive albums ever, yet I consistently keep going back to them. It must be Harriet...
African Head Charge
Scientist
Can
Eno & Byrne
Tall Dwarfs
With all the talk about the Police, here's a New York Times article on their upcoming reunion tour:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/arts/music/18pare.html
My Faves:
Amon Tobin
Leftfield
Laurie Anderson
Infected Mushroom
Kinnie Starr
Hank Williams
Mark Deutsch
Mazzy Star
Smoker's Delight (Nightmares on Wax)
Nash the Slash ;-)
Bitshifter
Keith Jarret
Dear Ataru,
"those doubting the Machinedrum era should track down the 2005 Untilted tour Glasgow live set floating around the net. It's ridiculously good"
I was at the london date (SEOne, London Thursday 14 April 2005) and I swear - for a moment - I thought some guys from Elektron were demo-ing the new gear before the concert. I love Autechre but I think earlier stuff sounds/makes-me-feel better.
Best band in the world? Good question. Obviously there's not really a reason to make such a declaration other than that it's kinda fun.
Okay.
The Birthday Party.
Seems they always did it for the music; there's not much way one could construe any of their work as commercial. It's pretty visceral stuff.
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