The Syndicate

How the fuck did I leave Depeche Mode out of this?

It's tough because I want to fit 15+ bands into 10 spots, but having just marathoned Depeche Mode's discography, that was clearly a major oversight on my part when I updated this. I'd have to boot either Crowded House or The Jesus and Mary Chain for them, just not sure which.

Epignosis wrote:

Glorfindel wrote:Not a single person that has replied to this thread included Bon Jovi in their lists - one of the most successful bands of all time. I honestly don't know what is wrong with you people...

Get out.

Golden wrote:I'm gonna put Dream Theater in my top 10 now.

I understand the drop, though. They are inconsistent.

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. I still love a few of their albums, but I've drifted away on the rest of their stuff.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

thellama73 wrote:Maybe cut out Dream Theater like all the cool kids are doing. I have to look over mine as well.

Lol, I caught this in linki. I still love Dream Theater, but they've fallen pretty mightily. I'm pretty sure they'd not even make my top 20 or 25 these days. Guess that makes me a cool kid.

Somewhere in the world, JaggedJimmyJay smiles to himself as he adds a cube of sugar to his coffee. And he mutters to no one in particular, "All I can do is set it right."

Golden wrote:Oh, now MP is into NZ music as well.

Crowded House is amazing, what can I say.

thellama73 wrote:

thellama73 wrote:1. Jethro Tull
2. Queen
3. Rush
4. King Crimson
5. The Kinks
6. Be Bop Deluxe/Bill Nelson
7. Oingo Boingo
8. The Beach Boys
9. Captain Beefheart
10. Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler

I would add Brian Eno, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds to the above list, and combine Be Bop Deluxe and Dire Straights with their frontman's solo works, if that's allowed.

Honorable mention to Comus, Coil, and anything ever written by Jim Steinman.

The order has changed a lot too. I don't listen to Tull nearly as much these days.

Yeah, I don't even know how to rank mine other than #1 Rush. Not sure how I managed to rank mine four years ago.

thellama73 wrote:Maybe cut out Dream Theater like all the cool kids are doing. I have to look over mine as well.

Lol, I caught this in linki. I still love Dream Theater, but they've fallen pretty mightily. I'm pretty sure they'd not even make my top 20 or 25 these days. Guess that makes me a cool kid.

My new list:

Rush
Talking Heads
Brian Eno
David Bowie
Talk Talk
Sigur Ros
A Tribe Called Quest
Crowded House
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Fishmans

Henry Cow
Kraftwerk
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Dream Theater
Animal Collective
Boards of Canada
King Crimson
Ozric Tentacles
The Mars Volta
Frank Zappa

It's a bit weird since I didn't give a firm top 10 last time (instead a four-way tie for #10), so I included all 13 in my analysis. Talk Talk and Sigur Ros only "stayed" because they were previously part of the #10 tie, other than that, it pretty much is only Rush that's stayed constant.

I'd still likely include a portion of these knockout dead reds in my top 20, but it's clear that my tastes have shifted at least somewhat in the past 4 years.

MovingPictures07 wrote:Holy crap, this is tough. And subject to change. But let me try...

1. Rush
2. Henry Cow
3. Kraftwerk
4. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
5. Dream Theater
6. Animal Collective
7. Boards of Canada
8. King Crimson
9. The Mars Volta
10. Ozric Tentacles / Sigur Ros / Talk Talk / Frank Zappa...


For some reason, it becomes MUCH tougher right around #10. I really can't narrow that one down.

Wow, this was almost exactly 4 years ago now. I will have to mull over this and see what I would say now.

Vompatti wrote:CMX
Einstürzende Neubauten
King Crimson
The Smiths
Tangerine Dream
Swans
Van der Graaf Generator
Nadja
Dead Can Dance
Tool

Wow, this list is incredibly awesome.

Nice commentaries, FWH. I'll have to perhaps do that for mine as well.

Indeed Velvet Underground ftmfw. And YES, Can, for sure. Fantastic example.

S~V~S wrote:I dunno, I think favorite bands is about how the music makes YOU as an individual feel, not about the overall greatness of the band in question. My number 4 band is Placebo~ and there are likely over a hundred bands that are "greater" legacy wise, or influence wise. But I LOVE Placebo, I love the way they sound, and how i feel when i listen to their albums. So for ME they are a Top Five band, although they will never probably be "great" like the Beatles, Floyd or other legendary bands.

This.

Also, there are and will always be plenty of bands who never made the limelight, yet their influence on music will always be felt. 13th Floor Elevators, The Velvet Underground, Meshuggah, many come to mind. And there's those who make it even less. It doesn't make them any less great.

bea wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:
There's no denying the excellence and historical importance of the string from Sgt. Pepper's through Abbey Road, but in terms of my favorite artists/bands ever, they wouldn't crack the top 50 and probably not the top 100.

And no there isn't! That's what makes it so fascinating, I suppose.

@ Rox - I know sweets.

@ sockface. If the beatles wouldn't crack your top 100, then you are already loosing your roots. NOt one of them? you admit that these albums in this string are historically important - but you can't like one of them? In 100 albums? and you date the girl you date? really? if that is true - you have far larger problems than I can muster up on an internet forum

and to those of you who would discount say rox or my choices - what choices do you have to bring that are better?

And why do you feel they are better? I look at the why more than anything.

Losing what roots? The Beatles were never one of my favorite bands. For a while during my brother's Beatles obsessive mode and before that, I thought I really hated The Beatles because 99% of the time all I ever heard was the early stuff. Since then my taste has expanded immensely, but I still don't care much for that era of albums pre-Rubber Soul; I never listen to them. I'll be the first person to admit how amazing Sgt. Pepper's, White Album, and Abbey Road are, but I have many other artists I personally enjoy more. It's all subjectivity, and I was never even close to being a huge Beatles fan, and never will be.

That doesn't mean I don't like them -- in fact, I absolutely LOVE The White Album and very much enjoy Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper's and do enjoy Rubber Soul and Revolver to a lesser degree but still enjoy them. There are just many other bands whose overall discography I enjoy more, and keep in mind just how much music is actually out there from all of the different historical periods and genres. Can, Kansas, The Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear, Beastie Boys, Pixies, Meshuggah, John Coltrane, Devin Townsend, Radiohead, David Bowie, Ozric Tentacles, Swans, Yes, Jethro Tull, Jaga Jazzist, My Bloody Valentine, Dave Brubeck, Coil, and so many more, I just enjoy their output much more than I do The Beatles. Those are just the first to come off the top of my head that weren't ones I listed in my list. I wouldn't say any of them are objectively "better", but they are better than The Beatles overall in that they are more enjoyable for me. In the whole grand scheme of music, again, it's not that I doubt their historical importance or don't enjoy them, there's just so much music I like more and means more to me.

Roxy wrote:Bea your list is full of win!
Fedora, Sockear and Porcu - not so much - jk but srsly stf are the Beatles on your list??????????? There is no accounting for taste is there Mr CPA lol

1 Beatles ofc!
2 Pink Floyd
3 Frank Zappa
4 Cream
5 Bob Marley
6 BB King
7 Frank Sinatra/ Rat Pack
8 Led Zeppelin
9 Jimi Hendrix
10 4-way tie lmao!
Rage Against the Machine/ Robin Trower/ Paul Butterfield Blues Band/ Ten Years After

There's no denying the excellence and historical importance of the string from Sgt. Pepper's through Abbey Road, but in terms of my favorite artists/bands ever, they wouldn't crack the top 50 and probably not the top 100.

And no there isn't! That's what makes it so fascinating, I suppose.

Fedora With Hat wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

For some reason, it becomes MUCH tougher right around #10. I really can't narrow that one down.

It does indeed! I am fairly to very confident in my top 7...but the last three could easily be three different bands. Probably because by the time you get down to spot 10 you still have a handful of bands that 'must be included by any and all means' on the list. :P

That's exactly it. I have like 20 bands that all need to be in my top 10 by any means, lol.

Holy crap, this is tough. And subject to change. But let me try...

1. Rush
2. Henry Cow
3. Kraftwerk
4. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
5. Dream Theater
6. Animal Collective
7. Boards of Canada
8. King Crimson
9. The Mars Volta
10. Ozric Tentacles / Sigur Ros / Talk Talk / Frank Zappa...


For some reason, it becomes MUCH tougher right around #10. I really can't narrow that one down.