EWB's Top 104 Artists 2013 - Results

[Skummy]

Ha. Mansun.

[METALMAN]

10. Nine Inch Nails

Number of votes: 7

Highest position: 1st

9. Kendrick Lamar

Number of votes: 6

Highest position: 1st

[Sousa]

I always thought nine inches was too long for nails tbh.

[METALMAN]

It explains why they all make such funny noises when they try and play their guitars.

[Colly]

If I had actually voted Mansun would've been in there.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Surprised to see Kendrick Lamar that high. I really need to listen to more of him, I like what I've heard and downloaded the Overly Dedicated mixtape, just haven't given it a proper listen yet.

At one point in time NIN was my favorite band ever. I've since fallen out of that, but I still really enjoy going back and listening to old albums. The newest one was pretty good too!

[SRN]

Never listened to Nine Inch Nails, honestly. Maybe I should, industrial music is an interesting genre. I just never got around to it, I guess.

Way back when, I listened to Section.80, from Lamar, which was a good if not great, debut album from him. I never got around to checking out the follow-up though, even though it was huge everywhere. Actually, I do have a few things lying around from Black Hippy so I guess in 2014 I'll look up some more Lamar, Schoolboy Q and those two other guys.

[METALMAN]

The Smiths are one of my favourite bands ever. The Queen Is Dead is one of my favourite ever albums. I can't think of a band that had such a run of great singles, nor can I think of one that quit when they were so unimpeachably at the top of their game. Morrissey was my first ever gig and I still love the daft old coot. I was always more drawn to Johnny Marr though. I taught myself guitar by playing his stuff. It was a pleasure to meet him last year.

Queens of the Stone Age are decent. In The Fade and Go With The Flow are excellent songs. I enjoy their first two albums and I think I'd quite like their newest if I listened to it a bit more.

Kendrick Lamar is pretty good. Section 80 was an enjoyable mixtape and last year's albums was among my favourites of 2012/

I never really got into Nine Inch Nails. Piggy is a good song, but Trent Reznor et al seem to have got very far and been very successful without that many good ideas.

[VerbalPuke]

Never listened to Nine Inch Nails, honestly. Maybe I should, industrial music is an interesting genre. I just never got around to it, I guess.

Way back when, I listened to Section.80, from Lamar, which was a good if not great, debut album from him. I never got around to checking out the follow-up though, even though it was huge everywhere. Actually, I do have a few things lying around from Black Hippy so I guess in 2014 I'll look up some more Lamar, Schoolboy Q and those two other guys.

Industrial can be awesome or really boring. I like Nine Inch Nais these, there is some really good stuff on the Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine.

I like Front 242,Throbbing Gristle, KMFDM, Clock DVA, My Life With The Thrill Kult, Cabaret Voltaire, Lard, and Ministry. Lard is probably my favorite, its basically Ministry with Jello Biafra. There is a ton out there, problem is a lot of it gets monotonous, it seems like people making plodding electronic sounds for the sake of it.

[gunnar hendershow]

Throbbing Gristle, KMFDM, and Cabaret Voltaire are the only industrial groups that still really hold my attention. I listened to far too much NIN when I was younger.

[SRN]

Never listened to Nine Inch Nails, honestly. Maybe I should, industrial music is an interesting genre. I just never got around to it, I guess.

Way back when, I listened to Section.80, from Lamar, which was a good if not great, debut album from him. I never got around to checking out the follow-up though, even though it was huge everywhere. Actually, I do have a few things lying around from Black Hippy so I guess in 2014 I'll look up some more Lamar, Schoolboy Q and those two other guys.

Industrial can be awesome or really boring. I like Nine Inch Nais these, there is some really good stuff on the Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine.

I like Front 242,Throbbing Gristle, KMFDM, Clock DVA, My Life With The Thrill Kult, Cabaret Voltaire, Lard, and Ministry. Lard is probably my favorite, its basically Ministry with Jello Biafra. There is a ton out there, problem is a lot of it gets monotonous, it seems like people making plodding electronic sounds for the sake of it.

Throbbing Gristle are great, as are Ministry. Well, at least Land of Rape and Honey and The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste is. I like HALO as well. I guess Swans also count for an industrial band, at least with some of their releases like Children of God. I do like some of the more electronic and experimental groups and artists out there as well; Nurse With Wound, Vatican Shadow and November Novëlet, although I guess some of that also borders on power electronics and dark ambient. But still!

But I will definitely check out those two NIN records when I got the time, especially with a recommendation from you, VP.

[Sousa]

The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

No joke on nothing that's a great title.

[MalaCloudy Black]

That was in a game or a movie at one point too, wasn't it? Or is that song just ingrained in my brain from listening to it so much in high school?

[SRN]

All I know is that "Bloodlines" was on the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines soundtrack. No idea if it was ever on an album of theirs, or if it even is a full-fledged Ministry track or just Al Jourgensen.

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

[MalaCloudy Black]

I also listened to a ton of this album, chiefly because of NWO, Just One Fix and Jesus Built My Hotrod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm7bnSCU09o

[Skummy]

Nine Inch Nails were actually one of the first "proper" bands I ever saw live, on the "With Teeth" tour, supported by Saul Williams, at Brixton Academy. So, even though I hardly ever listen to them any more, and haven't been keen on their last two albums, they'll always hold a somewhat special place for me, as that gig was fucking fantastic. They have some great tunes, but but seem to take themselves all rather too seriously for me. Stuff like "they recorded a song in the house where the Manson murders happened!" just makes me think they should probably grow up. Get a real job, Reznor.

I don't know who Kendrick Lamar is. Lamar is good, though.

[=BK=]

NIN isn't a them, it's a him. It's all Reznor(except drums) if you're listening to albums. The people on tour with him and the people that play drums on the albums are completely interchangeable and change every tour or album. They're just there live to play his music because he can't do everything at once.

[Matt]

I think everyone knows that, it's just a bit jarring to refer to a band as a singular person, same applies (or at least did, i think he now might have a couple of permanent members) to City and Colour

[METALMAN]

8. Biffy Clyro

Number of votes: 5

Highest position: 1st

7. Foo Fighters

Number of votes: 6

Highest position: 1st

[Skummy]

Christ.

I had a conversation with my brother and my father last week about who the most consistently mediocre band in the world is. To qualify, you had to be successful and consistently popular, without having produced anything of any real quality. Just a lot of stuff that's, you know, okay.

The Foo Fighters came very close to winning, until we conceded that the first album was good, and they've had one or two good singles since then. But, really, I can't think of a band that excites me less while not actually inciting any real negative response. They're just extraordinarily average. It's almost an art-form in itself. The last what seems like a hundred singles have sounded nigh-on identical, and there's just nothing to them.

For a long time, I said that if Dave Grohl wasn't such a nice guy, I'd probably hate the Foo Fighters. I thought that was the only thing that stopped me thinking they were just shit. But now, there's this apparent quote from Grohl going around Facebook about X-Factor and American Idol and so on, that actually does make me actively dislike him, because it's the sort of opinion that teenage skateboarders hold, not middle-aged parents. So I'm left with the realisation that the only reason I don't actively hate the Foo Fighters is because they've never done anything that's actually that bad. Which isn't the best thing you can say about a band, really.

"Big Me" was lovely, though.

Also, Biffy Clyro are shit.

Also, for the record, the answer to our discussion was "Paul Weller's solo career".