EWB's Top 100 Artists of 2012

[VerbalPuke]

Sister Ray is amazing, damn it! I don't think there's a Velvets song I don't like - except anything on "Squeeze". They're incredible, and well ahead of their time. I think it was Julian Cope who said that they were tearing up the rulebook before The Beatles had finished writing it, which is a great quote.

The Stones are brilliant too - mostly they're a "singles" band; I know they have great albums, but I wouldn't necessarily sit down and listen to one, whereas they have a whole bunch of brilliant one-off songs. One of those rare bands where, for the most part, their most well-known songs are, in my eyes, genuinely the best.

I don't like Biffy Clyro, and I'm baffled by their popularity. They're not terrible, just decidedly average.

I don't know Frank Turner all that much, but I love what I've heard. Not enough to call myself a big fan or anything like that, but he's done some great cover versions of some great songs, and when he's good he's great. Has a nice turn of phrase now and then.

I don't know The Mountain Goats that well, but I like what I've heard. The kind of stuff I'd have listened to endlessly about four or five years ago.

This is a great assessment of the Rolling Stones, I feel exactly the same way. Definitely agree that their singles, hits, and what not are generally their best songs, the most fun to listen to. They have some good stuff under the radar, Jumping Jack Flash and Satisfaction are great songs, hell I even enjoy Start Me Up even though they started to decline a bit in the 80s.

Isn't Satisfaction their most famous song? It's definitely the only one I can talk to people about, as most have never heard anything else they've done.

As far as I'm aware, Kanye West is a egotistical prick. So that's what my opinion is based on. And just because I've said that most people have a certain approach to some of the bands I listed doesn't mean it can be applied to all of them. I know that Papa Roach and 3DG are relatively mainstream, my point wasn't referring to them in any way. Heck, Three Days Grace haven't even been mentioned until now, and I doubt they would be if you hadn't brought that up.

I definitely worded that wrong, I meant that they have good under the radar stuff but listed their hits as my favorites.

Dude, everyone in music is an egotistical prick. EVERYONE.

[Skummy]

Don't like The Offspring, never did beyond "Come Out And Play" - that's probably biased because I loved it as Raven's theme in ECW, and I forever associate it with a bad-ass video package from one of the first ECW shows I ever saw, but it's got an awesome riff. Everything else I don't like.

The Clash are cool, one of the first bands I absolutely fell in love with, and some absolute classic songs. Barely listen to them now, but always pleasant when they come on shuffle or whatever.

Not a huge Los Campesinos! fan, but they're a lot of fun, and "Knee Deep At ATP" is a brilliant track.

The Smiths are one of the best bands ever. Great music and amazing lyrics perfectly blended, and a great mix of heartfelt sentiment and humour; because being miserable all the time is a little ridiculous, and there's nothing wrong with lampshading that. It only serves to make the words seem more honest.

I don't actually know that much Wu-Tang, but they're fantastic.

And Naitch, in regards to your list, whatever, I wasn't aware of your list, nor does it really change my opinion - the fact is that you're posting in a thread about favourite artists to say that you've "never heard of" or know "very little of" The Beach Boys, The Kinks, Leonard Cohen, Rush, Nick Cave, Fleetwood Mac, Arcade Fire, Neil Young, The Pogues, Smashing Pumpkins, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, They Might Be Giants, Pearl Jam, Anthrax, Devin Townsend, David Bowie, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones and Frank Turner, plus a whole bunch of other stuff that's been voted for. That's got nothing to do with your taste not being "in line with EWB", that's a pretty comprehensive selection of music you know nothing about - it's not that unusual that people have picked up on this.

[Your Mom]

....Oh and

16. Pink.

[Sousa]

...okay, the Offspring at number ten actually makes no sense to me.

[Your Mom]

Someone do the genre thing on mine. I want to see if I'm diverse!

[deli]

Am I the only one here who isn't really that big on The Smiths?

[KONGO]

Smiths are okay. Only one from that group that I really dig are the Wu-Tang but they make up for the rest.

And Srar, your taste is bad and you should feel bad!

Quick scan over my list shows a bunch of bands that are diverse to me but probably not to anybody who isn't familiar with those genres. Still, a pretty good splash all around.

[METALMAN]

Offspring are okay I guess. Come Out And Play is a good song, as Skummy said. I think I liked Americana at the time but I've no idea how it would hold up now. That's about it. I'm baffled they placed so highly though.

There's so much you can say about the Clash. I find most of the revel posturing and so on a bit annoying and juvenile, and it is silly how people have retroactively decided that they were really menaingful or important. But you've got to separate that from the music, don't you? Their first three albums are pretty good. London Calling is one of those heavily flawed double albums that it is actually made better by the flaws. I'm the opposite of Hamster with regards to their singles through. I generally thing Clash singles were pretty weak. Obviously there were some real crackers like White Man and I Fought The Law, but largely I thin, they saved their best stuff for their albums, which was a bit of an anomaly for that era. Straight To Hell is maybe my favourite song of theirs, though I don't think much of the album it came from.

Los Campesinos are okay, though I kind of think they outlived their usefulness after two albums. Since then, it's more like "Another Los Campesinos album? Already?". They should have just quit after their first EP. Then I could happily think of them as a brilliant band.

The Smiths are incredible. So many amazing songs. Very few poor ones.

I like Wu Tang. I like their solo projects too.

[=BK=]

Sister Ray is amazing, damn it! I don't think there's a Velvets song I don't like - except anything on "Squeeze". They're incredible, and well ahead of their time. I think it was Julian Cope who said that they were tearing up the rulebook before The Beatles had finished writing it, which is a great quote.

The Stones are brilliant too - mostly they're a "singles" band; I know they have great albums, but I wouldn't necessarily sit down and listen to one, whereas they have a whole bunch of brilliant one-off songs. One of those rare bands where, for the most part, their most well-known songs are, in my eyes, genuinely the best.

I don't like Biffy Clyro, and I'm baffled by their popularity. They're not terrible, just decidedly average.

I don't know Frank Turner all that much, but I love what I've heard. Not enough to call myself a big fan or anything like that, but he's done some great cover versions of some great songs, and when he's good he's great. Has a nice turn of phrase now and then.

I don't know The Mountain Goats that well, but I like what I've heard. The kind of stuff I'd have listened to endlessly about four or five years ago.

This is a great assessment of the Rolling Stones, I feel exactly the same way. Definitely agree that their singles, hits, and what not are generally their best songs, the most fun to listen to. They have some good stuff under the radar, Jumping Jack Flash and Satisfaction are great songs, hell I even enjoy Start Me Up even though they started to decline a bit in the 80s.

Isn't Satisfaction their most famous song? It's definitely the only one I can talk to people about, as most have never heard anything else they've done.

As far as I'm aware, Kanye West is a egotistical prick. So that's what my opinion is based on. And just because I've said that most people have a certain approach to some of the bands I listed doesn't mean it can be applied to all of them. I know that Papa Roach and 3DG are relatively mainstream, my point wasn't referring to them in any way. Heck, Three Days Grace haven't even been mentioned until now, and I doubt they would be if you hadn't brought that up.

Dude, everyone in music is an egotistical prick. EVERYONE.

I would think most people know "Sympathy For The Devil" best.

[MalaCloudy Black]

The only band on the current grouping I have no feelings towards are Los Campesinos. Tried it, didn't care for it. It was perfectly okay, I just.. not my thing, I guess. I like everyone else, though. Smash and Americana are both good albums, but yeah, kinda weird to see The Offspring place so high. Wu-Tang Clan is awesome, The Smiths are too, and so are The Clash! Hooray.

[Josh]

The Offspring - What the . . . ? F'real, this one stumps me. Is there honestly a big EWB following for these guys? It's not that they've never had a good song, as I liked a handful of their songs in the 90s. But that was the 90s. And it was a handful. Since then, they've taken a catastrophic nosedive in quality (and they weren't exactly the pinnacle of art to begin with, just a decent band with a few memorable songs) and their 90s hits don't strike me as a reason to have them so high on a list made in 2012 (unlike, for example, The Rolling Stones.)

The Clash - Everything I've heard, I've liked or loved. Plus, I know they influenced a ton of other artists. One day I might look further into their stuff.

Los Campesinos - I know absolutely nothing about them.

The Smiths - Not my cup of tea, but I get why why people dig them.

Wu-Tang Clan - See above. Sort of. I think I might like more of their stuff if I spent more time with it.

Given how that group shook out, I'm really curious to see the Top 5.

[LittleDaniel]

I once knew someone who was really into whatever The Offspring put out like, three years ago? Maybe there are more people like that and they are on EWB!

[METALMAN]

I think they might have had an album this year actually. I don't think it was held in great esteem though.

[gunnar hendershow]

For those wondering, three people had The Offpsring in the top 5 of their respective lists. Two others had them towards the bottom. So I'd say it might have reached more of a "one of my all-time favorites" level for them with a lot of their fans.

[Jimmy]

The Offspring have like two fun songs, but I wouldn't wanna listen to an album or anything.

I love the few Clash songs I've heard, so it's probably time for me to really given their albums a proper go. I think I'd like them a lot. I just really never have the time to lisen to an album all the way through and do it justice. Usually have music on in the background, or if I'm walking somewhere. Going to check em out more though.

Los Camps are like my favourite band. Think I voted for them 2nd on this list because I was just huge on The Courteeners at the time, but I think they're fucking incredible. I've seen them live three times and I think they put on a cracking show and The Sea Is A Good Place To Think About The Future is easily one of my favourite songs of all time. Even with the following on EWB I'm surprised they're this high, they probably should be lower, and I can understand how people don't love them, but I'm happy to see them this high. I love their new album too, though it's definitely nowhere near as fun, but after a few listens it really won me over -- also seeing them perform some of the songs, like 'To Tundra' totally got me into it.

I think The Smiths are fantastic. Morrisey's an utter twat, but he's fucking talented. Definitely deserve their placing, I'd say.

Don't know enoguh Wu-Tang and I intend to lisen to more.

Probably my favourite five yet. I don't know enough about genre, but I know my list would be a lot of indie.

[GoGo Yubari]

I would think most people know "Sympathy For The Devil" best.

I'm preeeeeeeeetty sure you'd be wrong.

[SeanDMan]

I'd think they're about equal, myself. Start Me Up probably is their most famous song thanks to it being used in so many commercials, and then Satisfaction/Sympathy/Gimme Shelter are also in every commercial for everything ever.

[METALMAN]

Paint It Black you devils!

[Rafael]

I like Offspring. Gotta say, their recent album is not that good, but they have a bunch of good songs.

I should listen to The Clash more often. I've heard a couple of their songs and it's great stuff.

Not much into indie, so I don't know The Campesinos.

One of my teachers told me to listen to The Smiths and I listened to a couple of songs, found them cool, but never really got into that band.

Since I know a lot of people that like rap, I've listened to several Wu-Tang Clan songs. They're good.

Edited November 12, 2012 by RafaelFms

[gunnar hendershow]

I think there's a whole subsection of people who only know "Gimme Shelter" because of The Departed. Most famous Stones song is up to debate in most part because of how big they are and how their music has crossed into various age groups and subsections of people.

But I wouldn't say "Sympathy For the Devil" fits as the most popular among any group. My mom and dad associate them with "Satisfaction" more than any other song. I think of "Gimme Shelter" first when I think of The Stones. "Start Me Up" is so commercialized a ton of people recognize that too.