This is happening! Everything released under the XTC moniker is eligible, as is the Dukes of Stratosphear and the entirety of Fuzzy Warbles. I will weight the votes depending on the lengths of ballots, and since this catalog is so huge I will not place a limit on how many tracks you can have on your ballot. E-mail your ballots to:
audiobot at yahoo dotcom
by 5pm EST FRIDAY OCTOBER 10th
off we go!
― Οὖτις, Monday, 29 September 2014 22:42 (nine years ago) link
onetwo threefour five
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 September 2014 22:44 (nine years ago) link
"Good Night ... Sucker!"
― Mark G, Monday, 29 September 2014 23:06 (nine years ago) link
their finest video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6b3EphV0EI
― Οὖτις, Monday, 29 September 2014 23:11 (nine years ago) link
Waxworks/Beeswax was such massive jolt to my system in 1983.
― it's taco science, but it works like taco magic (WilliamC), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:13 (nine years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvOgX5ip738
― Οὖτις, Monday, 29 September 2014 23:14 (nine years ago) link
will be disappointed if Do The Dwarf doesn't make the top ten, don't let me down ilx
― Angel Brain (soref), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:21 (nine years ago) link
Oh Lord, you're trying to fry my brain... I'll make a list of all the obscure B- sides and demos. No, that won't do. Deep album cuts only? But the singles, oh the singles... Gah!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 29 September 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link
man they were ugly men
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:30 (nine years ago) link
shit I'm actually going to have to do this one too aren't I
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:31 (nine years ago) link
def torn from the pages of the Big Book of British Smiles
xp
― Οὖτις, Monday, 29 September 2014 23:32 (nine years ago) link
http://rokpool.com/files/artist/xtc_1978_300.jpg?0
I think they all look quite handsome here
― Angel Brain (soref), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:35 (nine years ago) link
http://pulmyears.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/marylouandycolin.jpg
Partridge has a kind of Thom Yorke thing going on in this photo
― Angel Brain (soref), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:37 (nine years ago) link
that's a compliment?
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:37 (nine years ago) link
'quite handsome' + 'Thom Yorke thing' were not meant to follow on from one another to be clear, I just saw the second photo immediately after the first
― Angel Brain (soref), Monday, 29 September 2014 23:39 (nine years ago) link
all time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDtVWyxCMAU
― piscesx, Monday, 29 September 2014 23:56 (nine years ago) link
Jeez, no limit on # of tracks? I think I can reasonably whittle it down to a top 50 but am not making any promises.
― chris_coolidge, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 03:22 (nine years ago) link
I will weight the votes depending on the lengths of ballots
Could you UNvague this a bit?
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 03:57 (nine years ago) link
In the book XTC - Song Stories, Andy describes Colin circa Drums and Wires as looking like a cross between Chrissie Hynde and Nureyev.
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 03:58 (nine years ago) link
Will probably sit this one out due to busy-with-school-ness, but I would probably only be able to contribute a relatively short, mostly hits-filled ballot anyway.
― MaudAddam (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 04:07 (nine years ago) link
Οὖτις, are you doing graphics?
You could create hundreds of Dukes of Stratosphear album covers from sites like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliodyssey/sets/ and this: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:PD_Brockhaus%26Efron
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 04:23 (nine years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b32_812-1.jpg/640px-Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b32_812-1.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b31_217-0.png/378px-Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b31_217-0.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b25_380-0.jpg/548px-Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b25_380-0.jpg
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 04:34 (nine years ago) link
sure. For example currently my default scoring is for a 50-song ballot (from 50 points for no. 1 to 1 point for no. 50). But say someone submits a 100 song ballot, or a 75 song ballot. Then I would adjust the weighting so that it was 75 points for no. 1 and 1 point for no. 75, etc. So the points are going to be dictated, essentially, by whoever sends the longest ballot.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 15:21 (nine years ago) link
re: graphics - I don't have anywhere to host a bunch of images but if someone wants to help out on that end I would say sure
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 15:22 (nine years ago) link
uh that weighting I mean
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 15:23 (nine years ago) link
you just want us to rank the whole discography you total sadist
haha na I expect the majority of ballots will be in the 10-25 range as with any other poll, but if someone submits a long ballot I'm not gonna just chop it down
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 15:27 (nine years ago) link
but that weighs the balance of polling power with those who've bunged more tracks on for no other reason anyway none of this matters
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 15:31 (nine years ago) link
hmmm love XTC but not sure I can vote as I'm only really familiar with their Fossil Fuels collection and quite biased to the later material on there too. I like 'Poor Skeleton Steps Out' as well though.
― Non-Stop Hongrotic Cabaret (dog latin), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 15:36 (nine years ago) link
yeah i'm a v casual fan, mostly the singles and Skylarking, Black Sea, English Settlement, but I'll spotify the week away & put something together. I like these sort of polls, pretext to direct your listening towards someone you forget to visit much.
― woof, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
it probably does a little bit in that they'll have voted for more songs and thus allocated more points, but for a ballot that has 10 tracks the number one spot will still get 50 points, just like the number one spot for the ballot that has 50 tracks. does that make sense?
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
2 ballots in already!
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 17:17 (nine years ago) link
i listened to a lotta XTC, but really can't do this given baseball
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 17:19 (nine years ago) link
I can't think of many other bands where the last song on the last album they officially released could reasonably be argued to be the best thing they ever did
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuk8Ie8i3Pw
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 22:55 (nine years ago) link
^^^absolute stunner yeah
not many bands with 20-year careers where this could be argued, indeed
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 22:58 (nine years ago) link
but then you could reasonably poll just xtc's closing tracks and we'd have a helluva time
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 23:00 (nine years ago) link
Jesus christ, I'm going to find this one incredibly difficult. Even if I did a Top 100 there'd be some painful omissions!
― Welcome To (Turrican), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 23:35 (nine years ago) link
Was delighted all over again by how equally crude and clever "Pink Thing" is this afternoon.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 30 September 2014 23:41 (nine years ago) link
Hahahahaha yeah, "spit in my eye, I'll love you for it"... and then that guitar solo!
― Welcome To (Turrican), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 01:45 (nine years ago) link
So excited for this
― Vinnie, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 02:12 (nine years ago) link
hmmm love XTC but not sure I can vote as I'm only really familiar with their Fossil Fuels collection and quite biased to the later material on there too. I like 'Poor Skeleton Steps Out' as well though.― Non-Stop Hongrotic Cabaret (dog latin)
― Non-Stop Hongrotic Cabaret (dog latin)
That's what threads like this are for. Get yer listenin' hat on!
― hardcore dilettante, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 02:39 (nine years ago) link
Excited for this. XTC are one of the few bands with a decent-sized discography about whom I can say I've listened to most of it lots and all of it at least a little, with repeated listenings over a period of many years. Although their quirks have become less charming and more irksome to my ears over time, they'll always be one of the greats as far as I'm concerned.
I might just try to rank the whole discography...
― hardcore dilettante, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 02:43 (nine years ago) link
I just made a starter list and I'm already at 45 titles. I'll try to stop at 50.
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 03:59 (nine years ago) link
Οὖτις, is there any chance you would accept an unweighted ballot from me (e.g. in a ballot of 21 tracks each vote would get 40 points and so forth)? I can just about manage to make a list of favourites but trying to rank them is making me sad. If this will screw up the system I'll try and work something out.
― Angel Brain (soref), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 09:49 (nine years ago) link
My first pass was exactly 50 songs. I think its a sign.
― Vinnie, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 10:38 (nine years ago) link
I pretty much used my iTunes "most played" list and then shuffled some things around
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 12:12 (nine years ago) link
is there any chance you would accept an unweighted ballot from me (e.g. in a ballot of 21 tracks each vote would get 40 points and so forth)?
I think in that case I would add up what the max available amount of points for the ballot would be (for example, a 50 song ballot with the number one song getting 50 points and the number 50 song getting 1 point would have a total point count of 1,275) and then divide that evenly across how ever many tracks were submitted. In the 50 ballot example that would mean each song would get 25.5 points. Where this gets messy is where there's fractions/decimals left over cuz I'm not going to get into that hairsplitting level of detail on the results, so I'd have to do some rounding.
I dunno - it would be sort of annoying but not impossible.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 15:46 (nine years ago) link
oh no, that's why I picked 21- because it would be 840 points altogether, divided by 21 for 40 per song, unless I've screwed up the maths. If it's any trouble just allocate points based on the order they're listed since it will be as good as any other ordering. I'm excited about the poll!
― Angel Brain (soref), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 16:22 (nine years ago) link
well that will all work out then
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 16:23 (nine years ago) link
I am really finding it difficult to predict what tracks will show up in the results with the exception of one or two things, I kind of get the impression that there is going to be less overlap on people's choices than most ilm polls? I guess it depends as well on the extent to which people who take part favour the earlier or later incarnation of the band, Fuzzy Warbles are another wildcard.
― Angel Brain (soref), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
Euler if you send me yr ballot before tomorrow morning I will count it
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 12 October 2014 17:39 (nine years ago) link
I wanted to try and represent every record but in the end I had to cut my favorites from White Music and Go2 because I couldn't justify keeping them over my 4th or 5th faves from some of the later albums.
― ColinO, Sunday, 12 October 2014 18:06 (nine years ago) link
^and you had to limit the size of your ballot why?
― hardcore dilettante, Sunday, 12 October 2014 20:37 (nine years ago) link
Guess I didn't have to but 40 was hard enough for me...
― ColinO, Sunday, 12 October 2014 23:02 (nine years ago) link
OK! 33 ballots in, votes have been tabulated, just have to get the images together and then we will roll out the results
― Οὖτις, Monday, 13 October 2014 15:43 (nine years ago) link
232(!) songs received votes
― Οὖτις, Monday, 13 October 2014 15:45 (nine years ago) link
I take that back, 196 songs received votes (stupid text formatting)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 13 October 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
what with the absence of a limit on how many songs you could vote for I was trying to work out how many songs were eligible, I gave up, but it's a lot:
http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/i_song.html
slightly disappointed there wasn't at least one indomitable voter who ranked every song on that list
― soref, Monday, 13 October 2014 16:07 (nine years ago) link
there were a couple 100 entry ballots, most hovered around the 20-40 range
― Οὖτις, Monday, 13 October 2014 16:16 (nine years ago) link
Didn't vote because my favorites are all the obvious songs, but looking forward to the rollout
― The Velvet Fog called me a motherfucker (Sandy), Monday, 13 October 2014 16:33 (nine years ago) link
yeah, me too
― sleeve, Monday, 13 October 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
I was tempted to do a 50 track + monsterballot, but I found it too hard so I decided to just pick 20 songs I liked and not make any attempt to be comprehensive, aside from the top 3 or 4 there's probably another 16 songs I could have substituted and been equally happy/unhappy with
― soref, Monday, 13 October 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
I cut my ballot off at 100 songs because I was under the gun. Had about 115-120 songs on the list. Ranked them from 0-5 stars while listening on iTunes. Then was ranking from within the star ratings on the fly as I typed up the ballot.
― hardcore dilettante, Monday, 13 October 2014 18:23 (nine years ago) link
Damn forgot to vote in this. Looking forward to the rollout. My ballot would have been boring and had Nigel at number one anyway.
― voodoo chili, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 04:20 (nine years ago) link
My ballot would have been the Dukes tracks, with some singles and various Go2/plus/"Take-away" tracks.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 06:31 (nine years ago) link
'Commerci-alli-TAY!"
― Mark G, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 06:32 (nine years ago) link
ok Hideous Lump is gettin the graphics together, should start the roll out either later today or tomorrow, depending
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:30 (nine years ago) link
now taking suggestions for results thread titles
'The Wheel and the MayPOLL''Meccanik Dancing (Oh We POLL!)'
― soref, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:38 (nine years ago) link
why bless my POLL I'm already there
― soref, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:40 (nine years ago) link
even I never know where I POLL when my eyes are closed
(I'll stop now)
― soref, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:42 (nine years ago) link
Making plans for My Poll
― Mark G, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:44 (nine years ago) link
This is Poll? The Last Polloon Ten Feet Poll
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:44 (nine years ago) link
Poll Me My Daddy Summer's Polldron
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:47 (nine years ago) link
Tissue Voters (The Arguers)
― warning, #4 can't be unseen (WilliamC), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:50 (nine years ago) link
ApPOLL Venus, vol 1: the songs
― Dominique, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:51 (nine years ago) link
When You Poll Me I Have Difficulty.
― campreverb, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:53 (nine years ago) link
Also Featuring The Songwriting Talents Of POLLin POLLding
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
Bless you, Bless You, All of the Pretty POLLS
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 16:00 (nine years ago) link
and just to end the list, everything that could exist, needs the POLLing
― soref, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 16:05 (nine years ago) link
^also suggestion for new ilm mission statement
― soref, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
― Mark G, Tuesday, October 14, 2014 4:44 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
^i vote this one
― nxd, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
haha 'Summer's Polldron' is good too KP
― nxd, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 16:07 (nine years ago) link
Life Begins at the Poll
― voodoo chili, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 18:11 (nine years ago) link
I'm a thirty year old puppy doing what I'm Polled
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 19:02 (nine years ago) link
Last one from me that I just thought of when I was out walking.
Mayor of Simpollton.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 19:05 (nine years ago) link
oh yeah, that too
― Mark G, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link
^^^ I like it, simpoll and direct.
Train Running Low on Poll Coal.
― Dick Clownload (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 19:12 (nine years ago) link
"WAIIIIT TILL YOUR POLL GOES DOWWWWWNNNN!"
― Mark G, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 19:49 (nine years ago) link
That is an obsceeeeene abomination of a poll.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:10 (nine years ago) link
AND ALL THE KIDS ARE COMPLAINING THAT THE SONGS ARE TO POLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
― soref, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:30 (nine years ago) link
The Man who sailed around his POLL?
― glumdalclitch, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:50 (nine years ago) link
Fuzzy warPOLLs
^should actually do a Warbles poll.
― hardcore dilettante, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:52 (nine years ago) link
hopefully this is not too much of a spoiler but it is pretty clear most voters didn't bother much w Fuzzy Warbles
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 20:59 (nine years ago) link
:(
― Dominique, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 21:01 (nine years ago) link
my thoughts exactly
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 14 October 2014 21:04 (nine years ago) link
AND ALL THE POLLS ARE FOOTBALL SHAPED
― The Velvet Fog called me a motherfucker (Sandy), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 21:39 (nine years ago) link
I think the best one was the first one, myself... 'The Wheel and The MayPOLL'
― Welcome To (Turrican), Tuesday, 14 October 2014 23:06 (nine years ago) link
Sorry I couldn't get it together for an entry. I would've rep'd for a mess of Fuzzy Warbles.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 15 October 2014 01:10 (nine years ago) link
Graphics are ready, let the Funk Pop a Rollout begin! (Well, in about 12 hours or so, seeing as you sensible people are all asleep right now.)
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 15 October 2014 05:01 (nine years ago) link