Gotta Make Polls for the Polls I Make - ILM HUSKER DU POLL RESULTS

Guys? It wasn't even close.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/Husker%20Du%20Poll/8_miles_high700.jpg

1. “Eight Miles High” - 562 votes / (5 votes for first place)
• Live in Philadelphia, 1983
• Dutch festival, 1987
• Alternate non-single Byrds version
• Byrds isolated backing track
• Roxy Music cover, 1980
• Ventures cover
• Nineteen-minute version by Golden Earring

no "Erase Today" = big sadface smh

I will say this, the cover is downright definitive, and one of the few to match the iconic original.

Something hilarious about capturing the essence of Husker Du in their Byrds cover and their cover of the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme. In tandem, that's the band right there. Plus, of course, ample bllllaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh!

Yeah I got no problem with it, even tho it didn't make my top 10 (mostly because I couldn't put a cover above so many original songs that I love).

'84 Pazz & Jop:

1. Prince: "When Doves Cry"/"17 Days" (Warner Bros.) 111
2. Bruce Springsteen: "Dancing in the Dark"/"Pink Cadillac" (Columbia) 71
3. Tina Turner: "What's Love Got To Do With It" (Capitol) 61
4. Hüsker Dü: "Eight Miles High" (SST) 56
5. Van Halen: "Jump" (Warner Bros.) 52

#1, 2, 3, and 5 are all fine songs--great songs, if you like, I won't argue. But at the time, being 22 (and really caring about things like Pazz & Jop), seeing "Eight Miles High" right there in the middle of them felt really, really important.

Love how Mould changed the lyric to "not known for its sound". Also love everything about this record ever for all time.

Thanks for doing this poll, pp! Your graphics have set a new standard in results-rolling-outedness.

the 7" was probably the first I bought

This was good fun. Excellent graphics, pplains!

Here's mah ballot:
It's Not Peculiar - 40
Makes No Sense At All - 36
No Promise Have I Made - 33
Actual Condition - 30
Something I Learned Today - 28
Real World - 26
Hardly Getting Over It - 25
Chartered Trips - 24
The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill - 23
Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope - 22
Eight Miles High - 21
Pink Turns to Blue - 20
Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely - 19
Green Eyes - 18
Turn on the News - 17
If I Told You - 16
Sorry Somehow - 15
Dead Set on Destruction - 14
New Day Rising - 13
Never Talking to You Again - 12

Pink Turns to Blue
Makes No Sense at All
Books About UFOs
Flip Your Wig
Celebrated Summer
What's Going On
I Apologize
She's a Woman (and Now He Is a Man)
New Day Rising
Green Eyes
Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely
If I Told You
These Important Years
Hate Paper Doll
Sorry Somehow
Eight Miles High
Diane
Could You Be the One?
Back From Somewhere
Real World

Great job, pp. More music I love here than anything this side of the Beatles and Neil Young polls (Dylan and the Velvets, too, when we get around to those).

1. “Books About UFOs” (40)
2. “Divide and Conquer” (36)
3. “Newest Industry” (33)
4. “Makes No Sense at All” (30)
5. “Eight Miles High” (28)
6. “Real World” (26)
7. “Something I Learned Today” (25)
8. “Love Is All Around” (24)
9. “Everything Falls Apart” (23)
10. “Perfect Example” (22)
11. “Flip Your Wig” (21)
12. “You’re a Soldier” (20)
13. “It’s Not Funny Anymore” (19)
14. “All Work and No Play” (18)
15. “Hate Paper Doll” (17)
16. “I Apologize” (16)
17. “59 Times the Pain” (15)
18. “She’s a Woman (And Now He Is a Man)” (14)
19. “Dead Set on Destruction” (13)
20. “Friend, You’ve Got to Fall” (12)

This was fun. It was my pleasure. Thanks to all of you who voted and who participated here. Look forward to doing the Metallica list in 2014.

A few notes:

• The Spotify playlist.

• You can view the spreadsheets I used.

• Zen Arcade and New Day Rising both placed seven songs in the Top 30. Flip Your Wig a close second with six.

• The two albums that received a vote for every song were Zen Arcade, which surprised me because even the piano interludes received votes, and Candy Apple Grey, surprising since no one named it as a favorite album and it's traditionally been shunned by the HD crowd for the most part.

• Not one single vote for that MTM cover. Not a one!

It was #8 on mine!

FOUL!

Even if they're not my *favorite* band polled to date, this is probably my favorite poll so far. I only managed a top 10 and then gave up trying to rank things. Side 2 of Zen Arcade is now my favorite thing they did, which is a pretty big contrast w/1980's me.

1. What's Going On
2. Eight Miles High
3. Helter Skelter
4. Celebrated Summer
5. Whatever
6. She Floated Away
7. Eiffel Tower High
8. She's A Woman (And Now He Is A Man)
9. Somewhere
10. Masochism World

xpost

Are you sure all those Ohio precincts are in?

http://www.oocities.org/tbtho/images/ted200dr.jpg

Helter Skelter @ #3, dlp9001 I like yr style! Their version doesn't sound too far away from how You Can Live At Home with that big weird bassline going on.

My ballot:

New Day Rising
Eight Miles High
Something I Learned Today
Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely
The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
Whatever
Games
Every Everything
Private Plane
You Can Live At Home
Amusement
I'll Never Forget You
Books About UFOs
Divide And Conquer
Could You Be The One?
Bed Of Nails
The Biggest Lie
In A Free Land
Celebrated Summer
Flip Your Wig

Thanks so much for taking this on Mr Plains!

1. Eight Miles High
2. Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
3. Celebrated Summer
4. Dead Set On Destruction
5. Reoccurring Dreams
6. Turn On The News
7. Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely
8. Keep Hanging On
9. New Day Rising
10. It's Not Funny Anymore
11. Something I Learned Today
12. Terms of Psychic Warfare
13. Books About UFOs
14. She Floated Away (live)
15. Divide and Conquer
16. Makes No Sense At All
17. Flexible Flyer
18. Eiffel Tower High
19. She's A Woman (And Now He Is A Man)
20. Perfect Example

Only one I'm bummed didn't make it is "Dead Set."

Who else voted for "Reoccurring Dreams"? Always thought they could/should have done more sprawly stuff like that. It's like the furthest possible extension of turn it over-era Tony Williams' Lifetime.

I would've voted for Reoccurring Dreams, tarfumes

Great work on the poll and thank you. For what its worth, "Eight miles high" was the first Husker Du song I ever heard - I'd just started listening to John Peel's show in the summer of 84 and he played it and I was blown away. I knew and adored the Byrds' version but I'd not heard anything like this before, it was reverent but irreverent too, and the way Bob just seemed to lose it on the vocals and just SCREAM in such an incoherent but powerful way. It was a great record to hear when I was 15. A great introduction to a great band.

Ok I was in a meeting but wild applause and hugs for everyone.

My ballot is the best fyi

1 New Day Rising
2 Something I Learned Today
3 From the Gut
4 Chartered Trips
5 Eight Miles High
6 The Tooth Fairy and the Princess
7 Terms of Psychic Warfare
8 In a Free Land
9 Green Eyes
10 What Do I Want?
11 Back From Somewhere
12 Celebrated Summer
13 Statues
14 It's Not Funny Anymore
15 Turn on the News
16 I'll Never Forget You
17 I Apologize
18 Somewhere
19 She Floated Away
20 Sorry Somehow

Yeah, thanks for the poll work pp. And great graphics!

FWIW

thanks to pplains and all.

8 miles High was the first one I bought. Just before Zen was releases iirc? It changed my direction in music from shit brit post punk and twat like the Smiths ;-)

What a fucking great band they we're.Possibly my favourite ever.

I apologize for my Bobcentric picks

Chartered Trips
Celebrated Summer (the winner?)
8 Miles High
59 Times The Pain
Real World
Whatever
I'LL never forget you
Powerline
If I told you
In a Free land
These Important years
All this I've done for you
No reservations
Perfect example
Games
Private plane
Makes no Sense
Don't want to know if you are lonely
Don't know for Sure
Everything Falls Apart

^ copied from my e mail. I was almost bang on with Celebrated Summer?

For a v.long time Zen Arcade was all I knew; was hard to find HD stuff in NZ and it cost a bunch to import to NZ. I'd assumed "Pink Turns To Blue" would take #1 as it's the one I hear around & about the most, and it's twinned w/the Chills' "Pink Frost" in my mind. My future partner put "Green Eyes" on a mixtape for me, so a lot of sentimental attachment to it. I guess I had more time for the stuff which sounded like Alastair Galbraith/Xpressway over hardcore, heh.

01 The Tooth Fairy & the Princess
02 Green Eyes
03 Pink Turns To Blue
04 Recurring Dreams
05 Never Talking To You Again
06 The Baby Song
07 New Day Rising
08 Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely
09 Hare Krsna
10 Turn On The News
11 Makes No Sense At All
12 Chartered Trips
13 Games
14 Dreams Recurring
15 You Can Live At Home
16 Monday Will Never Be The Same
17 Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
18 One Step At A Time
19 Books About UFOs
20 Diane

I had Newest Industry in there. I dropped it for an unknown reason - don't know fer sure with no reservations

Clem has Books About UFOs as his No. 1. I don't have any #1s recorded for that song on my sheet. Therefore, I fear the worst!

I'm so sorry, clemenza. I even emailed you back and everything when I got your ballot. I don't know what happened.

And look, I had even made this, just knowing that ILX would be all apeshit about this song.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt203/pplains/love_is_all_around.jpg

Here's hoping the recount doesn't send the race to the Supreme Court.

Thanks for running this one! You and some other recent poll-runners have been setting new standards for graphics and video links in the rollouts that I'm not even going to try to match. I thought it was snazzy when I posted a few video links for Bowie's top 10.

my ballot

1. Eight Miles High
2. I'll Never Forget You
3. Masochism World
4. It's Not Funny Any More
5. Lifeline
6. Terms Of Psychic Warfare
7. Powerline
8. Celebrated Summer
9. 59 Times The Pain
10. The Biggest Lie
11. Chartered Trips
12. Gilligan's Island
13. I Apologize
14. Standing By The Sea
15. Somewhere
16. Games
17. Plans I Make
18. Newest Industry
19. Reocurring Dreams
20. Makes No Sense At All

That's funny--my P&J ballot wasn't tabulated last year either. Apparently I make a deep impression.

Anyway, all I would have done is barely move "Books" into the Top 10. I missed votes and had to fix the two polls I ran while I was counting down, so I realize it happens.

I checked back, and I did interview both Bob and Grant over the phone--the intro calls it a brief interview, so maybe that explains why I don't remember it at all. It was timed to the release of Warehouse, not Candy Apple Grey. Quotes are mixed in with an album-by-album rundown. Really odd: eight quotes from Bob, one from Grant. I started reading the album blurbs and stopped immediately--me at my most overwrought and pretentious.

I would've voted for Reoccurring Dreams, tarfumes

― Faster than food (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, November 28, 2012 4:37 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Right on. Always felt that side of the band never got enough love/wasn't explored enough.

It was more like a side of an album than a side of the band, but an alternative-universe Husker Du that kept on doing long psych-punk freakouts alongside the other stuff is nice to think about.

Amen!! I wish there had been more.

I think HD is just one of those bands that did everything right. I like every side of them: the hardcore stuff, the psych jams, the pop stuff, the scuzz, the fuzz, the polish. No real wrong turns and, best of all, as much as it's too bad the band broke up, I'm pretty satisfied with what it left behind.

I would've voted for Reoccurring Dreams, tarfumes

OTM

Actually, Sund4r, you might be the best person to ask about this - are there many other 80s US underground tracks similar to "Recurring Dreams"/"The Tooth Fairy & the Princess", Sonic Youth's "Providence", etc? I wouldn't mind putting together a comp/playlist but my knowledge of non-NZ stuff is pretty shallow.

I think HD is just one of those bands that did everything right. I like every side of them: the hardcore stuff, the psych jams, the pop stuff, the scuzz, the fuzz, the polish.

This is otm, and I think it's also why "Eight Miles High" was #1: it's the best of all of those.

my ballot

Eight Miles High
What's Going On
Diane
New Day Rising
I Apologize
Games
In A Free Land
Powerline
Divide And Conquer
These Important Years
Celebrated Summer
Crystal
You Can Live At Home
Bed Of Nails
Hardly Getting Over It
Something I Learned Today
It's Not Funny Anymore
Green Eyes
Standing In The Rain
Keep Hanging On

only one whose absence really surprises me now is "keep hanging on" since ilx seems pretty comfortable with hart-corn

Always thought of "Keep Hanging On" as one of Hart's best.

i LOVE that song but i couldn't keep everything
gotta make room for

what do i want?
what'll make me happy?
NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING

kind of the opposite idea, but the good news is that i will always have both songs to listen to whenever the mood strikes

1. Eight Miles High
2. Plans I Make
3. Diane
4. From the Gut
5. What's Going On
6. Something I Learned Today
7. Pride
8. Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
9. Turn On the News
10. Bricklayer
11. Real World
12. Don't Want to Know if You Are Lonely
13. First of the Last Calls
14. I'll Never Forget You
15. Books About UFOs
16. New Day Rising
17. Sorry Somehow
18. Powerline
19. Reoccurring Dreams
20. You Can Live at Home

Prolly woulda put Erase Today in there if I hadn't been using Spotify to makes decisions.

My picks that missed out:
Never Talking To You Again
Broken Home, Broken Heart
Private Plane
Up In The Air
Turn It Around

what about All This I've Done for You????

Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely
Pink Turns To Blue
Everytime - ranked a a bit high for the points
Powerline
Celebrated Summer
Everything Falls Apart - I was certain this one would make it. That wave of backwardsy guitar signaled that Husker Du was about to make a turn.
Sorry Somehow
Flexible Flyer
Could You Be The One
Statues - My favorite bass line
Eight Miles High
Broken Home, Broken Heart
Folk Lore - another one I thought would rank higher
You Can Live At Home
Whatever
Standing By the Sea - I kept taking this one off and then putting it back on the list.
Back From Somewhere - Like how the song changes time in the middle of the song for good. Also, I could've used some City Center pix.
Flip Your Wig
It’s Not Funny
Green Eyes

Great work pplains, love the graphics. About halfway through I realised I had no idea what the consensus picks would be beyond about four songs. Here's my ballot:

Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely
Games
Green Eyes
Could You Be The One?
Something I Learned Today
Flexible Flyer
Makes No Sense At All
Sorry Somehow
Hardly Getting Over It
Pink Turns To Blue
Somewhere
Ice Cold Ice
Private Plane
Broken Home, Broken Heart
59 Times The Pain
I Don't Know For Sure
The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill
In A Free Land
I Apologize
Bed Of Nails

One song I really regret not voting for: 'It's Not Peculiar'

Etc, I started a thread here: Noisy or Ambient 80s US Indie Tracks