Band Face Off - Round 16

[trackaghost]

I'm doing this early, cos I'm out later, but somehow I don't think the results for Round 15 are gonna change too drastically.

The Thin White Duke completely and utterly slaughtered the competition last round winning by an amazing 31 votes, leaving his old mates Lou and Iggy more miserable than Reed's Berlin album.

The next round was suggested by DavidMn and sees two artists who inspired Lindsey's change of direction on the Tusk album up against each other. Yep, it's Brits vs Yanks. You can already guess how I'll be voting...

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 24
Round 13: Dolly Parton defeats Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt - 19 to 17/9
Round 14: Marvin Gaye defeats Aretha Franklin/Stevie Wonder/Diana Ross - 14 to 11/9/2
Round 15: David Bowie defeats Lou Reed/Iggy Pop - 31 to 3/2

The polls are still open, vote now!

[markolas]

Talking Heads. I actually like them a little!

[Jyqm]

Now this is interesting. Contemporaries and Lindsey inspirers though they both may be, they're two very different bands. I've got to give it to the Clash, though, for proving to the world that punk music didn't have to be about being as stupid, simplistic and loud as you could. Plus, I suspect they may need the support on this board...

And when are we doing my suggestions! Don't make me pout!

[dissention]

Talking Heads

Forgetting their Naked record, they have always kicked ass. Every album is wonderful. I love The Clash, but when I think of Talking Heads, so many incredible, innovative songs come to mind that I'm overwhelmed. Along with Tango In the Night and a Bette Midler record, Fear of Music was one of only three albums I owned to play on my Fisher Price record player as a kid.

David Byrne epitomized cool to me when I was kid getting into music for the first time. That thin yet forceful voice has an incredible herky-jerky quality to it; oh so nerdy, utterly unique, and with the ability to kick your ass three times over in one song ("Once In A Lifetime"). The creativity in that band knew no bounds, either. They were inspired by everything from gospel preachers on the radio to Hugo Ball sound poems. The lyrics they wrote were incendiary, humorous, and poignant all at once. They're one of the greatest.

And who wants to buy this for me? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...music&n=507846

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by dissention

Talking Heads

Forgetting their Naked record, they have always kicked ass. Every album is wonderful. I love The Clash, but when I think of Talking Heads, so many incredible, innovative songs come to mind that I'm overwhelmed. Along with Tango In the Night and a Bette Midler record, Fear of Music was one of only three albums I owned to play on my Fisher Price record player as a kid.

David Byrne epitomized cool to me when I was kid getting into music for the first time. That thin yet forceful voice has an incredible herky-jerky quality to it; oh so nerdy, utterly unique, and with the ability to kick your ass three times over in one song ("Once In A Lifetime"). The creativity in that band knew no bounds, either. They were inspired by everything from gospel preachers on the radio to Hugo Ball sound poems. The lyrics they wrote were incendiary, humorous, and poignant all at once. They're one of the greatest.

And who wants to buy this for me? http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...music&n=507846

I always thought The Clash were not that great, though I liked their stuff. But, the TH swere just soooooo original in thought, word, and deed.

[face of glass]

No doubt the Clash are great, they were capable of expanding the vocabulary of punk (even though they weren't the only band to do that) when it was so desperately needed. London Calling and Sandinista! are both enormous musical jungles that are very interesting to explore and go through. Although they did drag on longer than they should have. Does anyone here like Cut The Crap, I wonder?

Picked Talking Heads though. David Byrne comes from the David Bowie school of thought, he's a mystificator and he can have a very impersonal side to his music-making and lyricism but in it's own way it can be very moving. The paranoia of Fear Of Music and Remain In Light have gotten lots of plays on my stereo, I still get a huge kick out of all those Byrne rants in "Born Under Punches" and the chilling arrangement of "The Listening Wind" is absolute perfection. And the band as players were great too, incredibly tight. Plus they expanded themselves at the right time and began to explore interesting things through that, the Remain In Light and Speaking In Tongues tours were both great parties. Just watch Stop Making Sense, people!

[mylittledemon]

Oooh...this is a tough one. I have to go with The Clash on this one...although the more i think about it, I lean towards the Heads....damnit!

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

What were yours again? I must admit I've forgotten.
David PMed me The Clash/Talking Heads suggestion last night.
I still have great suggestions from Gerald and Gaius too that I will eventually get round to.

Well, one of mine was a battle of the Davids, Bowie vs. Byrne, but those two have already been incorporated in the last two rounds. (Though I have a hunch we might have seen much less of a blow-out this way...)

My other two suggestions were The Smiths vs. The Cure (because who doesn't love rehashing old '80s rivalries), and Elvis Costello v. Tom Waits (though I absolutely dread it and almost regret suggesting it).

[shackin'up]

well heck. The complete and undiscussable impact that the Clash had on popmusic is amazing. The thing is, I suspect they need the vote with all these yanks on the site voting. The bigger thing is, I like the Talking heads better musically. Once in a lifetime is still a cracker on my carstereo. I belt that one out regularly, especially because the next song on that tape is dEUS' Suds and Soda. For a weird reason those songs will always have someting in common for me.

so I'll have to follow my heart and vote for the Heads. Although my loved one will punish me tonight when I tell her: she's so Clashy.

[face of glass]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

My other two suggestions were The Smiths vs. The Cure (because who doesn't love rehashing old '80s rivalries)

Was there really a rivalry between those bands in the States? I wouldn't know. In the UK there probably was some rivalry between New Order and The Smiths, I know of that one. Hmm, New Order vs. The Smiths vs. The Cure vs. Depeche Mode. Might be interesting.

...and Elvis Costello v. Tom Waits (though I absolutely dread it and almost regret suggesting it).

I can't think of a proper opponent for Tom Waits really, the man is absolutely in his own league. Maybe Nick Cave, although I guess he's even more obscure than Tom is.

[ryan8472]

Talking Heads, by a mile or 10. One of the most original and creative bands to ever come out of the U.S. And not to mention, my favorite band ever.

[mylittledemon]

Originally Posted by ryan8472

Talking Heads, by a mile or 10. One of the most original and creative bands to ever come out of the U.S. And not to mention, my favorite band ever.

Listen here you hot little duck, your favorite band is The Mac! Now apologize to the everyone for scaring them like that.

[Mari]

Originally Posted by face of glass

Was there really a rivalry between those bands in the States? I wouldn't know. In the UK there probably was some rivalry between New Order and The Smiths, I know of that one. Hmm, New Order vs. The Smiths vs. The Cure vs. Depeche Mode. Might be interesting.

No, you wouldn't want New Order to lose, would you

But that combination would be great. Been in my head more or less too.

[face of glass]

Originally Posted by Mari

No, you wouldn't want New Order to lose, would you

I'd just like to see them against anyone anyway.

But I guess they do have less songs out of all these bands that most Americans would recognize; "Blue Monday", "Bizarre Love Triangle", "True Faith" and maybe "Regret", that's about it.

Got A Collection and NewOrderStory yet? They were in the store already yesterday but I promised to a record seller in Lahti that I'd buy them from him for a cheaper price and I've been a loyal customer of his for years. Of course next time I'll get to go to Lahti is at the end of next week, grmbl.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by face of glass

Was there really a rivalry between those bands in the States?

It wasn't really a rivalry in the States, per se, as much as it was a rivalry between Morrissey and Robert Smith themselves. Each had some nasty things to say about the other from time to time.

I can't think of a proper opponent for Tom Waits really, the man is absolutely in his own league. Maybe Nick Cave, although I guess he's even more obscure than Tom is.

I'm not sure why, but I always pair up Costello and Waits in my mind. Perhaps because they're both singer-songwriters who focus so much on language itself and make so much use of word play and cultural references, or perhaps because they've both followed some rather schizophrenic career paths.