EWB's Top 100 Artists of 2012

[Matt]

At Download there were a bunch of young lads in a tent near us with South-West accents singing Last Resort by Papa Roach, this caused me and my mate to then start taking the piss and singing (/speaking the lyrics of) loads of songs in pirate voices. I think my favourite was Losing My Religion by REM...

That's all I have to say about that update really.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Talking Heads are so utterly magnificent that it's not even funny.

At their best Pink Floyd are nearly as wonderful.

Blink 182's Enema of the State album is the best album of it's genre ever (but that was their peak)

Miles David is probably brilliant but I don't know the genre enough to comment with any weight whatsoever.

The Killers create a very "full" sound, but whether I like it or not is another matter.

People voted for Pap Roach in 2012?! Did they do that "Last Resort" song? That's the last I head of them.

[Skummy]

Papa Roach is yet another "what, really? In 2012?" choice for me. They just pop up and now then, tagging along to whatever the new teenage metal trend is, or so it seems to me. They're shit.

I find most of Pink Floyd's stuff pretentious, middle class art school wankery, and it's utterly, utterly tiresome. Syd Barrett was a genius, and responsible for some of the best of English pop music, but almost everything after that is self-indulgent. "Wish You Were Here" is nice, though.

The Killers are fucking awful and I hate them so, so much.

Talking Heads are amazing, and I really need to listen to them more. David Byrne is a genius, and it's criminal that I've never listened to much more than the "hits".

Blink 182 are awful. It's just a whole scene I never got into, but it's horribly whiny vocals against boy band faux-"punk" guitars, and juvenile humour. Literally nothing enjoyable about them for me, and it amazes me that they're as big as they are, that people still give a shit, and that I know grown fucking adults who still adore them. I just can't imagine them appealing to anyone over the age of 15, and I don't see what makes them any different to the likes of Busted and McFly.

My jazz knowledge is patchy, but Miles Davis has recorded some of the most beautiful music ever, and that counts for something. Absolute bonafide legend.

[Jimmy]

Last Resort is fun and another one to have a laugh with and sing along to. Can't say I've ever liked anything else, very surprised to see 'em on the list. Need to listen to more Floyd and Talking Heads -- this list is just turning into people I could do with giving more of a shot. What's a good album to start with for both?

I love Hot Fuss and a few songs off other albums like Uncle Johnny, Sam's Town, Spaceman and When You Were Young but The Killers really haven't lived up to the promise of that incredible first album which is a real shame.

Oh and Blink are awesome in that 14 year old way. Can always stick on a number of their songs and enjoy/sing along.

[Matt]

Remind me to never go to the club Skummy DJs in, I'm pretty sure they play no music all night.

And you'd be amazed how many people like Papa Roach, I have no idea why they're still really popular amongst people who think they like heavy metal.

Edit: Split, I'd say just get Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd... but if you want an album, the obvious choice is Dark Side of the Moon.

[deli]

Love Miles Davis and Pink Floyd (Art School Wankery?). Haven't really listened to Talking Heads. Hate the rest.

[Your Mom]

Papa Roach: I liked Last Resort when it came out and I guess their Raw theme was ok. Thats about it.

Pink Floyd: Never got into them. Always seemed too artsy I guess if that makes sense.

The Killers: I know the name but I cant think of any of their songs.

Talking Heads: Love "Once in a Lifetime" and probably some of their other songs but I cant think of them.

Blink 182: I liked Enema of the State, but I think at the time I was still in their target audience. Are they still a band?

Miles Davis: Know the name dont know anything he did.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

A couple of months ago, I was sitting in my local bar (owned by a Japanese guy who loves his music, has a great speaker set up and plays CDs and old records of jazz, old rock n roll, 60s....really great stuff).

Anyway it was about 1.30am and just a few of us regulars. All a bit drunk and he puts Dark Side of the Moon on and plays it straight through.

About four hours later the hairs on the back of my neck eased themselves back down again. I couldn't listen to that album all the time (or much of the time really) but sometimes, SOMETIMES, Maaaaaaaan. It's perfect.

[GoGo Yubari]

Papa Roach have no business being on this list. Every other band on it thusfar is better than them. I'm sure I could go back and find the worst artist on this list prior to this and I'd have something positive to say about them that I couldn't say about Papa Roach.

I like Pink Floyd alright! I haven't put enough of a concentrated effort into listening to them, but I also don't think they're a band I'm really that into in general. But they have good songs and their ambition is respectable. I'm listening to "Astronomy Domine" right now, in fact.

The Killers are a good band if you like your rock to be boring.

Talking Heads are a good band if you like your rock to be good, albeit weird and sometimes a little too weird for me. They're still great.

Blink 182 was fun for a minute when I was eleven.

Miles Davis was a fucking genius and his music was so good and everyone should own a copy of Kind of Blue. It's a milestone record, maybe my favorite of all time. I'm glad he finished this high and only wish he'd finished higher.

[apsham]

Papa Roach is the drizzling shits - blah.

Pink Floyd I know that I would like if I took the time to get into them, they've always been one of those "I'll get to it" groups for me that I just never seem to get to.

The Killers are so generic it hurts.

Talking Heads I quite enjoy, and I think they have a huge library haven't really looked into yet.

blink-182 has been something that I have consistently listened to since I first heard them - they along with groups like New Found Glory hit at just the right time and I was able to pretty much grow up with their music. I still listen to it every now and then - the new album was pretty darn good.

Miles Davis, see Pink Floyd

[=BK=]

Yay, Papa Roach! My favorite band!Still need to pick up the new album then I'll have them all.

[Hobo]

Hbob plays catch-up!

Michael Jackson

-Eh, I never really liked Michael Jackson. Nor did I hate him. Black or White was a big hit when I was very young and I look back on it fondly.

Scott Walker

- Don't know who he is.

Fiona Apple

- Only ever heard of her through that one time she recorded with Johnny Cash.

Alestorm

- Don't know who they are.

Bob Dylan

- I like-to-love Bob Dylan, less now than I did, say ten years ago. But I like him. I find sometimes he tends to drag a song out to five to seven minutes when it didn't need to be, at least in the last 20 years or so. His two early 90s folk-blues albums Good as I Been To You and World Gone Wrong are FANTASTIC. I think it's the last time he ever went fully back down to just a guitar and harmonica. They're kind of other wordly just because of how Dylan sounded at that time.

Hop Along

- No idea.

Carly Rae Jensen

- Is she here cause of that one song?

The Specials

- I assume they have more to them than Ghost Town.

Four Year Strong

- No idea.

The Beach Boys

- Very little knowledge of The Beach Boys outside of the big ones. I like to break out into Kokamo sometimes.

Evanesence

- Hey it's that band that did the No Way Out 2003 or something theme!

Lady Gaga

- I like her. If you stripped off the artifice you'd have a pretty decent, but not great, girl at piano singer-songwriter.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

- I never really was drawn to Hendrix.

Sevendust

- No idea.

Maroon 5

- Ick.

Iced Earth

- Huh?

Fun

- Hmm?

Jonathon Coulton

- I know him mostly from his association with John Hodgman, 'My Monkey' and 'Mr Fancy Pants' are fun songs. 'My Monkey' is very sweet.

Owl City

- A city of owls, you say?

Eminem

- He's 40 now!

System of a Down

- Not my thing.

The Kinks

- Pretty songs, but I only know the bigguns.

A Day To Remember

- Don't know who you are!

Alkaline Trio

- Know the name, not the face.

Frank Sinatra

- I wouldn't sit and listen to Sinatra but I don't object to him.

Typo 0 Negative

- Dunno who they be.

AJJ

- Wonderful! Wonderful! I genuinely love Andrew Jackson Jihad. Great music for lifting my mood. They do a great Ziggy Stardust.

Electric Wizard

- Don't know what this is.

Radiohead

- I'd probably like if I actually could be bothered to listen to them.

Brand New

- Know the name, but that's it.

Arctic Monkeys

- Eh, I know that one song of theirs and think it's kinda meh.

Alexisonfire

- Then put Alex out!

Panic at the Disco

- I know the name but not the music.

Delian

- No idea.

Regina Spektor

- Nice music, but I never got that into her.

Leonard Cohen

- Fantastic. Probably aged better than any of the folky singer songwriter types of the 1960s. Aside from Dear Heather, I can't think of a bad Leonard Cohen album (Death of a Ladies Man isn't great but it has a song called Don't Go Home With Your Hard On)

Reel Big Fish

- Know the name only.

Against Me

- Don't know.

Rubin

- Don't know.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

- Not ever gotten madly into Nick Cave, I should, I like my music lyrics, but I find Nick Cave's songs a bit too meandering sometimes.

Coldplay

- Meh.

Arcade Fire

- I know one song or maybe two. I liked them. But never bothered checking out more.

Enter Shakiri

- Don't know.

RCHP

- Meh.

Das Racist

- Dunno who this is.

Fleetwood Mac

- I like the little bit I've heard.

Neil Young

- I like, have some albums, but he never gets into my regular rotation.

Smashing Pumpkins

- Smiling politely.

Black Sabbath

- Don't know enough to comment.

Rise Against

- Know the name only.

The Pogues

- I know a couple of songs, they're okay.

Pink

- Meh.

Papa Roach

- Don't think I've heard anything of theirs/his/whatevers.

Pink Floyd

- I go through phases of liking Pink Floyd.

Blink 182

- Only know the name.

The Killers

- Not my thing.

Talking Heads

- LOVE but need hear more.

Miles Davis

- I find it hard to listen to instrumental music, I've tried to listen to Kind of Blue but I could not last.

[Josh]

Papa Roach - They just wanna be, wanna be luh-uh-ugh.

Pink Floyd - I've got a weird soft spot for Wish You Were Here, as it featured prominently in the Finnish play I did this Summer. What I know of the rest of their catalogue is good, but not always my taste. Respect though.

The Killers - Their recent performance on Colbert of their new single sounded like the least interesting version of every hit they've had so far. I DO like some of their hits, but when Colbert brought up that they're Mormon, I was like "Ohhhhh, that's why they're often so bland, samey, and overbearing."

Blink 182 - My friends started a pop punk band in college (a Christian one, so extra ugh in retrospect) and they loooooved Blink. Had they not had the hard-ons for Blink that they did, I probably would have found Blink okay at the time. Instead, I was tired of them before the trend had passed. I get why people like them, but no thanks, nuh-uh, not for me, not ever.

Miles Davis - I really should take a closer look at this genre, as I have no doubt there's damn good reason for him to be here and perhaps even higher.

Motherfucking Talking Heads - YesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesYES. This whole list will be more than valid if all it does is lead more people to check out Talking Heads. They should be, like, Top 10, but I'll totally take this.

Need to listen to more Floyd and Talking Heads -- this list is just turning into people I could do with giving more of a shot. What's a good album to start with for both?

I can't help you with Pink Floyd, but I got into Talking Heads just by listening to Stop Making Sense, the concert album they did. In fact, if you feel like watching video as well, watching the actual concert film (directed by Jonathan Demme) may be the best way to start. Their sensibility is on full display, a lot of their hits are in there with some deeper cuts, it shows off why David Byrne was the genius behind it, and it's a just plain fun watch.

Here it is, in full.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJJ9u4yrjvY

[Matt]

Alexisonfire

- Then put Alex out!

It's Alexis-on-fire.

[Hobo]

Seeing as I've never heard of them, I guess what it might be.

[GoGo Yubari]

If you're wanting to get into Miles Davis.

Step One: Kind of Blue

Step Two: Birth of the Cool

And then pretty much it depends on how experimental you like your jazz. If very, mid-'60s onwards. If not so much, his '50s stuff.

[SRN]

Kind of Blue is pretty much the ultimate stepping stone into modal jazz (and jazz in general), so get that if you want a sneak peak of that genre. That or Milestones.

[gunnar hendershow]

After you listen to your fair share of Miles Davis take a look at the people in his band over their existence, look at the material under their name (especially Bill Evans and John Coltrane), and continue with their respective bands. Also, you can go backwards from Miles Davis and listen to Charlie Parker and continue from that point. It's how I got into Jazz and really explored, and continue exploring, the artform.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah. I can't find the entirety of Milestones on YouTube but here's the title track. Another one where I can't find the album but can find the great title track is Seven Steps to Heaven.

[Josh]

May use some of this Miles Davis material for line-memorizing atmosphere tonight. Appreciated.