Saturday, June 18, 2011

Favorite musicians?

So I was trying to come up with a new iPod playlist this week and I found it an interesting thought exercise. Basically, I already had a Green Day/AFI mix that I listen to a lot. They're two of my favorite bands (so I know the majority of each of their repertoires) and since they are both East Bay punk rock, they fit together well on a playlist. But I wanted something broader that incorporated more of my favorite artists. So I decided I'd put together a Top Ten artist list. The criteria would be the top ten bands whose work I know best.

But that ended up changing a bit. Obviously I know Elastica really well as the original line-up only released one (very brilliant) album. So I decided I should go with bands where I know tons of their songs. I modified the criteria to be any band where I knew three (or more) of their albums intimately. Side projects could be added to the mix, too.

Now, this would leave off someone like Poe, who only has two albums, and Bush, because I really only know "Sixteen Stone" and the "Science of Things" (although it makes me wonder if I should take another listen to "Razorblade Suitcase"). Ditto The Offspring - I know "Smash" and "Americana" pretty well, and I know a handful of songs off of "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace", "Conspiracy of One" and "Ixnay on the Hombre", but I can't claim to know three of their albums inside and out.

Furthermore, I'm going back and forth on including Tori Amos. She's definitely one of my all time favorites, but she doesn't mesh as well with some of the other artists. (And technically, if we are talking about album familiarity - then the San Francisco Girls Chorus should be on there, too. Although I suppose that is music from many different composers... otherwise the SF Symphony, would be on it too. And, I suppose, certain Broadway composers... okay - let's limit this to rock.)

So - which artists/albums fit the criteria?

Garbage
-Garbage (1995)
-Version 2.0 (1998)
-Beautiful Garbage (2001)
-Bleed Like Me (2005)
-B-Sides and leaked Shirley Manson demos
I put in the B-Sides because if Garbage has done it, I have and know it. (Witness to Your Love, #1 Crush, Tell Me Where it Hurts, Lick the Pavement, Pretty Horses, The World is Not Enough, Enough is Never Enough, I Just Wanna Have Something to Do (cover), or how about Girl Don't Come? I'm Really Into Techno? Alien Sex Fiend? *sigh* I love Garbage.)

Green Day
-Dookie (1994)
-American Idiot (2004)
-21st Century Breakdown (2009)
-Bullet in a Bible (2005)
-International Superhits (2001)
-Awesome as Fuck (2011)

AFI
-Sing the Sorrow (2003)
-Decemberunderground (2006)
-I Heard a Voice (2007)
-Crash Love (2009)
-Cex Cells (Blaqk Audio - 2007)
-leaks from Bright Black Heaven (Blaqk Audio - 2011)

Muse
-Origin of Symmetry (2001)
-Absolution (2003)
-Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
-H.A.A.R.P. (2008)
-The Resistance (2009)

Red Hot Chili Peppers
-Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
-Californication (1999)
-By The Way (2002)

Tori Amos
-Little Earthquakes (1992)
-Under the Pink (1994)
-From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
-To Venus and Back (1999)
-The Beekeeper (2005)
-Original Bootleg: BofA Pavilion (2005)

(Interestingly - I'm not including Boys for Pele (1996) on here, because I'd say I know about half of that album. Actually - yeah. 9/18 songs exactly. Also - make a channel on youtube already!)

The Cranberries
This one was funny - because I don't often listen to The Cranberries much anymore and I tend to forget about them when I'm rattling off favorite bands. But really - I still know their stuff backwards and forwards (seeing them last year at the Orpheum in Boston was a trip). Anywho:
-Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can't We? (1993)
-No Need to Argue (1994)
-To the Faithful Departed (1996)

Amanda Palmer
-Who Killed Amanda Palmer (2008)
-Evelyn Evelyn (Evelyn Evelyn - 2010)
-Yes, Virginia (Dresden Dolls - 2006)

Fiona Apple
-Tidal (1996)
-When the Pawn (1999)
-Extraordinary Machine (2005)
Okay - this one is a little bit of a stretch. I know just over half of Tidal really well. I need to listen to it more...

So there you have it - 9 artists whom I know three or more albums for.

Ok. Your turn.

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