EWB's Favourite Bands 2010: The Results

[METALMAN]

You better not be insulting Status Quo.

[Skummy]

True story - I once had to stop watching TV at work, because Status Quo were being too loud down the road.

[DFF]

I really don't get the "Motorhead only have one song" argument - it's not like they're AC/DC or Status Quo; yeah, they don't deviate too much, but they've got some interesting stuff in there...some damn good acoustic and blues stuff (Lemmy harmonica FTW), and a couple of tracks with - shock horror - no guitar. Even from their more conventional "metal" stuff, just take a listen to Bomber, Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Chase Is Better Than The Catch....hell, practically anything they did before or around the same time of Ace Of Spades, and hardly any of it is anything like "that song", and barely anything since has been after.

Status Quo > Motorhead; I'll give you AC/DC though.

I think the problem with Motorhead is that a heck of a lot of their tracks don't deviate at all, so whilst they may try something different (like you mentioned above) they'll still get pigeon-holed. Having seen them live a couple of times now, I'd argue that a lot of the stick might come from Lemmy's delivery (live at least), especially these days when his voice doesn't carry too well - from the vocal stand point there's not much going on.

[Skummy]

Yeah, unfortunately they're not the live band they once were. You pretty much need to see them in a small club or something, at festivals they just don't work.

[fr34k]

True, the one time I saw them at a festival I was not impressed. I mean, it was cool to see them live, because they're fucking Motörhead but it was not what I hoped it would be.

On topic of the list, nothing really exciting yet. I really like Tenacious D, they are not the best band ever or anything, but I'm a sucker for Jack Black.Brand New's first two albums were good as well, but anything else by them totally sucks. Rest of the list doesn't interest me that much.

[GA!]

Florence + The Machine: Utterly pretentious like Lady Gaga + vacuous music and shrill vocals. From what I can gather, anyway.

Tenacious D: Dear Jack Black, adding "you motherfucker" to the end of every lyric doesn't constitute comedy. Pack it in!

Mumford and Sons: Fucking hippies.

Motorhead: Amazing. Been listening to Motorizer recently, 'Runaround Man' is one of their best songs. I disagree they only have one song. Like any band, they have three or four songs, it's just their biggest ones are based on Ace of Spades.

Brand New: One of those bands I should've checked out in 2003/4 along with Glassjaw, but I have no interest in now. I liked Sic Transit Gloria as a teenager, but was never grumpy or self-obsessed enough to really get into emo/screamo.

Everyone else I'm not familiar with to have an opinion on.

[YI]

90. NOFX (46pts - 2 votes)

COUNTRY: United States

PLACE LAST YEAR: n/a

STUDIO ALBUMS: 11

IF FAT MIKE ISN'T DRESSED LIKE A CLOWN MAKING PEOPLE DRINK HIS PISS: Then I'm just not interested

89. THE LUCKSMITHS (46pts - 2 votes)

COUNTRY: Australia

PLACE LAST YEAR: 73

STUDIO ALBUMS: 11

WHAT SORRY SIGHTS WE SOMETIMES ARE: These same shit nights, in the saddest bars

88. MEW (46pts - 2 votes)

COUNTRY: Denmark

PLACE LAST YEAR: n/a

STUDIO ALBUMS: 5

STUDIO ALBUMS FEATURING "SHE CAME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS" (THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SONG EVER ABOUT CHILD ABUSE): 3

87. NEW ORDER (46pts - 2 votes)

COUNTRY: England

PLACE LAST YEAR: n/a

STUDIO ALBUMS: 8

NOT BAD FOR A BAND WHO RIPPED EVERYONE OFF: ...in honesty I looooooove them

86. TOM WAITS (48pts - 2 votes)

COUNTRY: United States

PLACE LAST YEAR: 10

STUDIO ALBUMS: 20

TICK FOLLOWED TOCK FOLLOWED: Tick followed tock followed tick

[DFF]

Colour me whelmed.

[ROC]

It's like "HERE'S A LOT OF SHIT, AND THEN MOTORHEAD AND TOM WAITS", but your picks are fine-ish.

Except for the Stone Temple Pilots. I didn't know people even supported them. I don't subscribe to the "they ripped off better bands!" argument, because that's how music is. But after like the second play of "Plush", they get grating. And I like Filter, which is the same sort of deal in their later stuff. And they were somehow better.

[NobBe Nobbs]

Florence is a fitty, third only to Kate Nash and KT Tunstall in the list.

Motorhead are the shit

Coheed are godly.

[Jimmy]

Florence either looks quite good or completley mong. It's odd. There doesn't seem to be middle ground.

[fr34k]

Tom Waits should be WAY higher. Why haven't I voted for him instead of German bands that had no chance of getting in in the first place

[VerbalPuke]

Motorhead have many incredible songs other than Ace of Spades. They have an extensive library of bad ass shit. I don't see a lot of people praise their work prior to Ace of Spades, but I can say that it is great. Not quite as heavy hitting as the later work but songs like On Parole and City Kids are still fantastic.

Motorhead doesn't exist to get too artsy fartsy with their music. They exist primarily to play heavy hitting rock and roll. I would be disappointed if they deviated from that sound, though I will say that Whore House Blues was one of their best live songs.

[Kaney]

Coheed and Cambria are fucking terrible. Motorhead is awesome.

The rest are meh

[METALMAN]

NOFX is horrible. I should add that I have never consciously listened to them. But that's because I know they will be horrible.

The Lucksmiths are amazing. I was so close to voting for them myself. I like them all but Green Bicycle Case is my favourite by a long way. It was my walking to uni in the morning album for a large part of the last year.

I've actually seen Mew live because my flatmates friend had a spare ticket and I went because I'd heard of them. I don't remember a great deal of it and I don't really know any of their songs. I imagine I'd like them though.

I used to like New Order but I find it quite difficult to stomach anything outside their Greatest Hits nowadays, and at least half of it is bullshit too. I'd love to say that 1963 and Love Vigilantes make amends for all this. But they don't. Not quite.

I like Heart of Saturday Night and Rain Dogs by Tommy Waits. I imagine I'd like the rest.

This is probably the best set so far. How depressing.

[Damian WayLNKe]

Brand New's Devil & God album is pretty good but rely's too much on the "really mellow then SHOUTYNESS". Deja Intendu is OK too, as is Daisy, but it drags a little. Didn't know they had a fourth album.

Your Favorite Weapon, their debut album, is their only pop-punk album. It's really different from all of the others, but I still recommend it.

[Cactus Drags]

Re: Motorhead. There's not deviating from a particular sound, then there's fuck me did they not just play this one five minutes ago?

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Like AC/DC? Motorhead are samey, but aren't THAT samey.

[livid]

Yeah, there are plenty of bands out there like that. And it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad, either.

[YI]

Stone Temple Pilots - Eugh

Judas Priest - No opinion on really.

Florence & The Machine - Album grew on MASSIVELY after seeing her live. One of my favourites (well top 25-30 or so) from last year.

A Perfect Circle - Again no real opinion.

Coheed & Cambria - I like a few songs, but really struggle to get into them despite trying. Their wanky songs annoy me, and their early stuff has a tendency to sound incredibly thin.

Lamb Of God - Eugh

Tenacious D - Utter wank.

Mumford & Sons - A really nice album. Nothing groundbreaking or outstanding, but very, very nice. Some top quality tunes on there.

Motorhead - Bucking the trend of the thread. I don't know a lot of Motorhead...but what I know, I really like.

Brand New - Outstanding band. All their albums are great in different ways, newest one is possibly the weakest but still has some utter gems on it, and following on from the last 2 would be so hard. "Devil & God" is my favourite. Absolutely unreal live, busting out pretty much all of "Deja..." I think, when I saw them. Beautiful.

NOFX - This might be a shock to some people. But by god I fucking hate NOFX...besides "The Decline", "The Decline" is awesome, if not purely for the hilarious key change. They just have this utter unlistenable quality to them. Take "Linoleum", 'classic song'...I basically love 90% of the covers I've heard of it, cannot stand listening to the NOFX version. I will get behind Fat Mike as a clown, telling stories of rape and making people drink his piss, though...that's top notch.

The Lucksmiths - I've had a bunch of their releases over the years, but lost as computers failed and harddrives died. Gorgeous band. Been meaning to get more stuff after last years list, but still only currently have "Naturaliste", which is quality.

Mew - Fantastic band. Loved since Bluey sent me "Apocalypso" and "Special", got hold of some stuff and then I picked "...And The Glass Handed Kites" in HMV because it was cheap. "Frengers" is such an unreal album. Some of the stuff pre-that sounds a bit rough, but there's still some outstanding tracks. The most recent one was stunning too, despite the ridiculous name and shitty cover art.

New Order - I adore New Order far too much, easily one of my favourite ever bands. I hate Joy Division though. But New Order just click. The singles were massive, but the albums have some forgotten gems on them. Could sit and listen to their discography all day.

Tom Waits - Someone I've never really checked out. He's adored, but the little I have heard never just hasn't really clicked with me.