EWB's Top 104 Artists 2013 - Results

[apsham]

...Brand New made it onto the list this day and age? Interesting is all I can say about that.

Although I still put on Jesus every once in a while and pretend that I'm deep.

I find Rammstein unbearably dull.

Hear ye, hear ye.

[GoGo Yubari]

Jesus, it has to have been like six or seven years since the last time the pillows made this list. Celebration!

I can confirm that The Hives are fucking wonderful live. When I saw them, for their encore they brought the saxophonist of The Sonics onstage and did "Have Love, Will Travel."

[Colly]

I saw them at two festivals in 2002, first time they were amazing, second time rubbish. Polarising.

[METALMAN]

Pillows are good. I've still got a selection of their songs that GoGo put together and I listen to them every so often. Might delve deeper one day.

Guernica by Brand New is okay. Everything else I've heard by them is dull. That album with the astronaut has a cool cover though.

The Hives are good fun. A bit samey in places, so I wouldn't really listen to an album or anything, but they have a good sound.

I've never bothered with Rammstein.

[KONGO]

Out of those, I've only heard the Hives and Rammstein. Hives are alright, Rammstein are terrible. They are what your grandma thinks metal sounds like.

[SRN]

I don't know the pillows at all. Not heard a single song, but it will not surprise me if they are some sort of indie band. I never cared for Brand New; I heard The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me ages ago and thought it was immensely overrated so I never bothered to check them out again. I've heard a few of The Hives more known songs; again, a band that never got to me at all. Rammstein are alright, though. I saw them live two years ago; one hell of a stage presence and performance, although I don't listen to them regularly anymore at all. I am sure that I will enjoy both Mutter and Sehnsucht still but they have had an extremely boring output after those album, outside of a few key songs.

[gunnar hendershow]

I guess by Japanese standards the pillows are not an indie group given their popularity, but by their sound, experimentation, and image they very much fit the bill of an indie group.

[Jimmy]

The Pillows are nice, though I haven't listened to them in years. I remember discovering them along with a whole bunch of other stuff a long time ago, and liking them, but never really bothering to look any further, as I was preoccupied with the other bits I found. If it weren't for the fact that they pop up on EWB from time to time, I'd not have thought about them in years, though.

I think Brand New are shit.

The Hives are nice enough. I'd like to see them live. I was a bit indifferent to them when they were all hyped up, because there were a lot of similar bands around, and I wasn't really that into a lot of them. I think now I appreciate them more, though I've never really gone out of my way to listen to them. I imagine they'd be a ton of fun live.

I find Rammstein unbearably dull.

They are. One of my highlights of Reading last year. They sound great and the singer is a wonderful front man who really knows how to play up to a crowd, I'd recommend it.

[OctoberRaven]

I like Rammstein. I had considered going to one of their live shows but didn't have the money for it at the time. Most of Rammstein's "hits" are IMO some of their least interesting songs. (Well, I like Engel) Reise, Reise and Mutter are pretty solid albums though, and contain two of my favorites from them (Los in Reise, Spieluhr in Mutter)

[Skummy]

As far as Rammstein go, I like Sonne. It has a kind of moody atmosphere that's lacking from anything else I've heard from them. My mother likes one of their albums - Mutter, I think - so I've heard a lot of that, and as I DJ heavy metal nights I've heard, and get asked for, a lot of their other stuff, but I mostly find it phenomenally boring. "Industrial" music for people who listen to boring heavy metal and want people to think they listen to industrial music, I suppose.

I have been known to play "Engel" but, frankly, it's only because of the whistling intro that's fun to mix into, and the CHIKARA connection, making it more interesting than playing fucking Du Hast or whatever.

[GoGo Yubari]

I guess by Japanese standards the pillows are not an indie group given their popularity, but by their sound, experimentation, and image they very much fit the bill of an indie group.

Eh, the pillows are basically the godfathers of Japanese indie rock. I believe they run their own music label, too.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I do not care about Brand New at all. If I'm going to listen to emo I'm not going to listen to super boring emo.

I know fuck all about the pillows except for GoGo's love of them, but from the couple songs I've heard they seem alright.

The Hives are alright, never really been my bag. Some catchy songs though.

Rammstein's one of those bands that when I was 16 I was all YEAH WOO BUDDY RAMMSTEIN DU HAST YEEEEEEEEEAH but ten years on and I can't really bring myself to sit through a song because just ugh.

[VerbalPuke]

Pretty much the same thing for me Cloudy, regarding Rammstein. As a teenager, they were bad ass, but now I like a few things from Sehnsucht and that's about it. I also agree with Skummy regarding the whole "Industrial for people who like shit industrial". Industrial is weird for me though, some of it is absolutely awesome, and then there is some that is just the most insipid, boring shit I've ever heard. Front 242 and Throbbing Gristle are awesome, but stuff like Skinny Puppy sort of bores me. I feel like a lot of like it is "Hey, let's make some dark sounding synthesizer stuff but let's make it slow and plodding, and never ever let it get interesting."

[=BK=]

The Pillows are the band that did the song at the end of FLCL,right?

[MalaCloudy Black]

They did all the music for FLCL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zm3eAWU6gE

[SeanDMan]

I quite like Rammstein, though I didn't vote for them; they were one of two concerts I managed to make it to last year so I'd say they're easily in my top ten. I get the "they're [this]-genre for pussies" because they're not the hardest of the metal or the dirtiest of the industrial, but personally I don't really give a shit about uberhardness or anything like that; I like that if you throw on a Rammstein album there's a variance to the sound. Some songs are hard rock, some are more based on synth and electronic harmonies, some have forceful lyrics, some are almost ballads... it's much better than buying a record that has ten songs that sound exactly the same. Not to say they're without flaws (still dunno why they thought "Pussy" was a good idea) but I generally enjoy them. And, afterall, my opinion is the most important.

Skummy: If you like Sonne, you should check out Ohne Dich. It's my favourite track of theirs and is somewhat similar to Sonne in parts of it's composition.

Also, in an era where a lot of people are putting zero effort into music videos, Rammstein still make pretty good ones:

[VerbalPuke]

I will totally agree that Rammstein does make great videos, and always have done so. Du Hast and Engel, when I first saw those videos when they came out, they were about the coolest things I had seen up to that point. I've seen a bit more of their output in recent years and it's always cool as shit.

I'd go see them live just for the stage show, if nothing else.

[SeanDMan]

Their pyro work is pretty insane and especially when you consider how much of it they do themselves. I remember watching Daily Planet (it's a Canadian show I think, sort of like an hour of 4 minute Discovery Channel spots) and they were showing prep work for some IDM/rave concert in Toronto and how the stunt men wore these pyro suits that were basically a wire mesh between them and the fireworks they shot out, and I thought, "Well yeah, that guys fucking nuts, but he's not in the middle of his chorus when those fireworks are going off is he!"

Rammstein: creating unrealistic pyrotechnic expectations since that year they lit their keyboard player on fire during a Korn concert.

[gunnar hendershow]

I guess by Japanese standards the pillows are not an indie group given their popularity, but by their sound, experimentation, and image they very much fit the bill of an indie group.

Eh, the pillows are basically the godfathers of Japanese indie rock. I believe they run their own music label, too.

I don't think they run their own label. If they do they don't self-release their stuff at least. But you're right they're very much the godfathers to the crop of 90's indie groups that showed up like NUMBER GIRL.

I know their recent releases have been on Avex Trax (same label as Gackt), not sure about before that.

[METALMAN]

76. The Germs

Number of votes: 2

Highest position: 6th

Does my dad like them? He thinks they are okay

75. Beastie Boys

Number of votes: 3

Highest position: 7th

Does my dad like them? He thinks they are okay