Inspired by this thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152728 and more specifically, this post: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3667047&postcount=21 Let's compile a list of BigSoccer's Top 40 American bands. We can do Top 40 bands from any country somewhere down the line. You rank you top 10 CURRENT American bands 1-10. The #1 on your list gets 10 points and your #10 gets 1 point. I'll be happy to do the math. How long do we want to keep this open? Remember this has to do with NOW, not a band's entire career.
When I was just a young lad putting around the barren wasteland that is Billings, a shrub said to me, "One day you will help create a cool thread on bigsoccer", and lo and behold that day has arrived. Yay unto me did an angel appear with a flash of white light and a clarion call, "If those on the internet believe they are so smart why the hell don't they make their own god damn list? It will require you to stay up very late on a Sunday and skip Spanish 101 in the morning". So I am here and I have no idea what my top ten will be. This thread should stay open for a week or 100 top tens, which ever comes first.
Does it have to be the proper definition of "band" because I would like to list Brittney Spears and Backstreet Boys.
1) Wilco 2) Lucinda Williams 3) Los Lonely Boys I can't think of any more in-their-prime American acts I listen to.
I don't like Rap, I don't like R&B, I don't like lo-fi American Indie, I don't like Metal so I can't think of one present American band/artist that I would currently rate. Sorry if I wasted your time.
OK, I'll be the first to actually try to do this, based strictly on 2004 work (either releases or live performances). 1. Wilco 2. Guided By Voices 3. Of Montreal 4. Pixies 5. Ambulance Ltd. 6. Ted Leo / Pharmacists 7. Killers 8. Interpol 9. Secret Machines 10. Radio 4 You know, even I don't really like this list. Wilco is #1 to be sure, and Satanic Panic is at worst the 3rd-best album of the year, but #2 and #4 are both more lifetime achievement awards than anything about '04 work. (Yeah, I know this breaks the rules, but Pixies have been the top story in American music this year, and Half Smiles Of The Decomposed is a damn fine album.) And I've only been listening to Ambulance for the past three weeks or so, so that may a short-term obsession. But what the hell, somebody has to stick their neck out and be first, so fire away.
I suppose since I started the thread, I should post in it: 01) My Morning Jacket 02) Iron & Wine 03) North Mississippi All Stars 04) Medeski, Martin & Wood 05) Sound Tribe Sector 9 06) Woven Hand 07) Devendra Banhart 08) Calexico 09) Old Crow Medicine Show 10) Neko Case All but one of them put an album out in 2004. I saw four of them in concert this year and that also massively contributed to the rankings.
I thought she was Canadian -- or did I just get that impression because of her work with New Pornographers?
I used the following criteria: - They couldn't be broken-up, retired, dead, etc. [This eliminated Pavement, Beulah and others] - They had to have at least three releases [This eliminated Iron & Wine, Ambulance and Old Crow Medicine Show] - I weighted their more recent releases more heavily than their earlier releases. [This caused REM to slide off the list] With that criteria in mind, here's the list: 1) Dylan 2) Yo La Tengo 3) Calexico 4) Lambchop 5) Beck 6) The Pixies 7) Magnetic Fields 8) Smog 9) Wilco 10) Will Oldham/Palace/Bonnie Prince Billy/The Anomoanon/Whatever He's Calling Himself These Days
Born in Virginia, lives in Washington state. I think she did live in Canada for a bit, but since she was born here and currently resides here, I think she qualifies.
Iron & Wine has three releases. Granted one of them is a 5 song EP, but it's still a release. Our Endless Numbered Days (2004) Sea & the Rhythm (2003) The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002)
1. Modest Mouse 2. The Shins 3. Cursive 4. Flaming Lips 5. Of Montreal 6. Iron and Wine 7. Mos Def 8. Pinback 9. Will Oldham
I didn't know about Sea & Rhythm. I'll have to add it to my buy list but since I'm unfamliar with it, I'll leave my top 10 as it is. Thanks for the tip.
Forcing me to pick American is like forcing me to buy a Chevy instead of a Toyota, but alas--them's the rules. 1. The Shins 2. Wilco 3. Loretta Lynn (not technically a band I suppose) 4. The Killers 5. The White Stripes 6. Modest Mouse 7. Outkast 8. Interpol 9. REM 10. Destiny's Child (hey I'm forced to pick American)
1 The Shins 2 Iron & Wine 3 Flaming Lips 4 Beck 5 Yo La Tengo 6 Decemberists 7 Ted Leo 8 Magnetic Fields 9 New Pornographers 10 Interpol damn this sheet was hard. there were several bands i thought of, but had broken up (Dismemberment Plan, Microphones) in the last year or two.
according to www.allmusic.com , Meloy, the main songwriter/singer, is from Missoula, Montana of all places.
The Decemberists are American? Also: are we limiting ourselves to rock bands, or can we list any performer as long as they're from the US? (Essentially, are, say, the Roots or Kanye West fair game?)
1. Magnetic Fields 2. Wilco 3. Kanye West 4. Ted Leo/RX 5. The Pixies 6. Brian Wilson 7. The Flaming Lips 8. Outkast 9. Interpol 10. Fountains of Wayne
Shortlist in no order: 1. Luicinda Williams 2. Wilco 3. Superchunk (if they are still together, just because, if not they should let me know) 4. Shins 5. My Morning Jacket 6. Modest Mouse 7. Dylan 8. Magnetic Fields 9. Over The Rhine 10. Explosions in the Sky