Band Face Off - Round 21

[trackaghost]

Declan MacManus gave Gordon Sumner a good old fashioned beating in the last round. Take that Mr Tantic-rain-forrest-saving-jazz man, who cares so much about the environment he does car commercials! And I bet George Jones wouldn't do a duet with him...


Round 21 is for Mari (I'll do The Cure and The Smiths in another Face Off). Yep, it's the electronic pop Face Off! (Well, kinda...)


The results so far...
Round 1: Petty defeats Springsteen - 36 to 19
Round 2: Led Zeppelin defeat The Who - 22 to 19
Round 3: Madonna defeats Sheryl Crow/Kate Bush - 24 to 13/10
Round 4: The Beatles defeat Rolling Stones/U2 - 23 to 16/14
Round 5: Guns N Roses defeat Bon Jovi/Metallica - 17 to 13/12
Round 6: Heart defeat Blondie/The Pretenders - 23 to 16/6
Round 7: The Beach Boys defeat The Kinks/The Byrds - 24 to 10/10
Round 8: Johnny Cash defeats Elvis Presley/Roy Orbison - 20 to 19/7
Round 9: Abba defeats The Carpenters - 25 to 15
Round 10: Prince defeats Jimi Hendrix/Lenny Kravitz - 24 to 15/3
Round 11: No Doubt defeat Garbage/Hole - 27 to 11/9
Round 12: Bob Dylan defeats Neil Young - 26 to 25
Round 13: Dolly Parton defeats Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt - 20 to 17/9
Round 14: Marvin Gaye defeats Aretha Franklin/Stevie Wonder/Diana Ross - 14 to 11/10/2
Round 15: David Bowie defeats Lou Reed/Iggy Pop - 35 to 5/2
Round 16: Talking Heads defeat The Clash - 20 to 19
Round 17: Billie Holiday defeats Ella Fitzgerald - 22 to 7
Round 18: The Eagles defeat Lynyrd Skynyrd - 26 to 16
Round 19: The Doors defeat Jefferson Airplane - 20 to 15
Round 20: Elvis Costello defeats Sting - 16 to 11

[Mari]

YAY!! Thank you!!
I was afraid you'd given up on them

Oh boy.. Gaius, come on with that essay then!

[Miss Vicky]

Who the hell is New Order?

Anyway... I voted for Eurythmics because I'm more familiar with their music than with Depeche Mode.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Eurythmics

I adore them and relate to their songs well.


17 Again....<33333333 that song.

[Mari]

well, if you give me some time to upload a couple of songs to yousendit, you'll know!
Anyway, everyone knows blue monday. But they did a lot more than that.

[amber]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

You are kidding right? They are the band that formed out of the ashes of Joy Division. They are massive in Europe at the very least.

I wasn't familiar with them, either, and I'm 10 years older than Vicky. I had heard of them, though, and when Gaius sent me a few songs, I was reasonably sure I'd heard things by them before.
My point is, I don't think they are as famous here. And I don't know Joy Division.

[Mari]

(I'm not trying to up my post count, honestly )

ANyway, Eurythmics were great, I can understand why a lot of you voted for them.. but.. where are they now? I know most of their stuff like the back of my head. There's about three or four of their albums that are great but the rest is just.. more of the same.

The Mode? I like them. More and more. Here's my 'but' for them: they certainly borrowed a thing or two from New Order.

I wonder how much success any of these bands would have had if not for New Order opening the doors.


'nother point for NO: all you fans of bands like Interpol, Bloc Party, Killers, Franz Ferdinand etc etc.. you HAVE to vote for NO. Because they wouldn't be here if not for Joy Division.

I'll let the more musically knowledged now kill me and my arguments while I upload some killer tracks from New Order

[Neal]

I do love me some New Order, but Depeche Mode wins this by a landslide! They rock, and every album is better than the last.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Mari

ANyway, Eurythmics were great, I can understand why a lot of you voted for them.. but.. where are they now? I know most of their stuff like the back of my head. There's about three or four of their albums that are great but the rest is just.. more of the same.

It doesn't really matter where they are now. What matters is the work they managed to produce, and I don't think one can listen to "In the Garden" and "Savage" next to each other and call it "more of the same." Annie Lennox's alto voice alone makes me vote for the Eurythmics. Her voice is so beautiful that she could get away with recording an acapella album. The Eurythmics were amazing, capable of creating songs that were sinister, touching, and intelligent all at once. "Savage" is one of my favorites; musically and lyrically.

[Mari]

I think they were great until Be Yourself Tonight, but after.. Revenge? mwah. Savage? nah.
Annie's voice is beautiful and unique, but that's not enough.

[Mari]

Ok, a couple of yousendit's and then I'll stop

Crystal Can't get more catching than this one.

True Faith live '98

Fine Time it's the birth of dance!!

[Jyqm]

I may have to sit this one out, simply because I'm not a big enough fan of any of these groups to have sought out any of their music beyond their hit singles. They show up on my 80s mix CDs, and that's about it. (As long as we're on 80s pop, though, I wonder who would triumph in a Tears for Fears v. Duran Duran face-off...)

EDIT: Actually, the hell with that, I know enough of their music to know that I want to pick New Order.

[face of glass]

Just listen to these yourselves:

http://rapidshare.de/files/6284629/The_Village.mp3.html

It's an uplifting sequencer-based tune with ironic love lyrics delivered with utmost sincerity and the most easily recognizable bass in the business! (You'll often hear Peter Hook playing LEAD bass whereas the other bass comes from the sequencers.)

http://rapidshare.de/files/6284835/B...angle.mp3.html

Something that ye Yanks ought to recognize, along with the opening bass drum beats of "Blue Monday" the opening sequencer salvo is tattooed into the consciousness of pop culture. Hell, it's like a modern soul song!

http://rapidshare.de/files/6285245/Regret.mp3.html

The intro is built on a single-chord guitar riff and yet it is the most memorable thing on earth! One of Sumner's most convincing vocal deliveries, and simply classic bass parts right up to the solo in the middle.

http://rapidshare.de/files/6285426/C...1986_.mp3.html

Their first single, something that always excites the fans live. Here we hear some wankful riffage at the beginning, proving that the Order do have a sense of humour. A song that is built on two-chord riffs, a complex drumbeat that demands A LOT from the drummer and enigmatic lyrics on top.

http://rapidshare.de/files/6285673/True_Faith.mp3.html (THE ORIGINAL, not the very different 1998 version that Mari posted).

Another one that Americans might recognize, the song that finally broke them through in the States. The production on this de-emphasises Peter Hook's bass which is a shame but otherwise the song itself is top notch, a synth-pop classic worthy of the finest Pet Shop Boys moments.

http://rapidshare.de/files/6287323/Temptation.mp3.html

And finally the single that eventually turned them around from the gloomy depression of Joy Division into ecstasy-filled combination of rock and dance music. Another two chord song, a primitive sequencer line and a moving delivery. A true anthem!

(But then PSB would never have done anything like "Ceremony" or "The Village" in the first place.)

What separates the Order from the Mode and Eurythmics is their combination of real rock band instrumentation with sequenced and synthesized elements, and often giving these both sides an equal share on their albums. The Mode may have had the biggest popularity in the States, but they have always been a gloomy band that got its influence from the Order's earlier incarnation, Joy Division. The Order, however, turned very early in their career into one ecstasy-filled uplifting band that managed to do the previously impossible: sell dance music to an indie rock crowd and therefore making it cool after the outburst of disco.

And one thing should be mentioned, they were all pretty limited players (except Steve Morris, who VERY rarely made a mistake behind his drumkit and who could give any professional drummer a run for his/her money). Most of the time you hear Gillian Gilbert, Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook playing simple riffs, two or three chords, and often using only one string on their instruments! (and in the case of Gilbert, only the white notes of the keyboard.) Sumner's voice is often shaky too. Yet it all works in a magical way, their limitations become their most obvious strengths. That is what makes New Order my favourite band, that is an element that many of my favourite bands share. None of them could ever work as proper studio musicians but they managed to find out their own sound through errors and mistakes. Through their positive outlook on life after a personal tragedy (Ian Curtis' suicide) they have deserved an eternal place on my record player.

And look! We almost didn't mention "Blue Monday" at all!

Note to Amber: Gwen Stefani is also a New Order fan and she has even worked with them for her solo album ("The Real Thing", which sounds like it borrows a thing or two from "Bizarre Love Triangle" anyway. Ok, that's enough of an attempt to get more voters. )

"NU ORDA! NU ORDA!" (- The Vikings)

[ryan8472]

I had to vote for The Eurythmics. I just dont listen to the others as much.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

(As long as we're on 80s pop, though, I wonder who would triumph in a Tears for Fears v. Duran Duran face-off...)

Tears For Fears, baby.

I wish Sharon would find a place for ABC. I love them.