Results: Order is restored, at least for the moment. After a run of three straight upsets, Jimi Hendrix struck a decisive blow for the top seeds, handily defeating a pod headed by The Pretenders. The numbers: #5 Jimi Hendrix 44%; The Pretenders 30%; Foo Fighters 9%; The Eagles 7%; Joy Division 5%; Journey 5%. Jimi moves on the the Great 48.
Our search for the greatest band of all time now slides over to the Hollywood Bowl region and a pod where we frankly have no idea what’s going to happen. It’s headed by #11 seed Oasis, one of the greatest bands of Britpop, but they face a very stiff pool of challengers.
I never dug the Grunge thing much, but a Brit friend in Korea once asked me an interesting question, “Why do all those grunge singers sound the same?” He then did the funniest Vetter impersonation you’ve ever heard. I’d never noticed, but to this day i can’t hear that generation of rock without having to mangle the lyrics in my best impersonation of Alan impersonating Vetter.
I’m going with ZZ Top ’cause they’ve been doing it forever and i love me some dirty blues-rock-funk. If you do too, check out Honky. Them’s some wild boys. I met ‘em years ago when they played NYE at the bar i was managing. One of the best times i’ve ever had (the perspective of providing the aluminum foil for the loin cloth and pouring the shots of whiskey might have had something to do with it).
Goddammit, Sam. You had to put Oasis and Pearl Jam in the same pod? It’s got to be Pearl Jam for me, but any other time and I’d go with Liam’s dulcet tones.
If nothing else, the ToR is proving that I know how to piss people off – even when I’m not trying.
wufnik,
September 5, 2009 at 12:38 pm :
Liam just walked out again, by the way.
Darrell,
September 5, 2009 at 1:58 pm :
It’s fitting that after the Hendrix pod there’s a few guitar players in this pod who were obviously inspired by him. Had to go with PJ here, so many bands try and sound like them.
Genesis and ZZ both great and unique bands, and maybe they would get my vote if they were in a different pod.
I think Oasis crowned them selves the greatest band ever, and people fell for it. I never really got why they are so big across the pond. In fact whenever I say “I don’t like them” someone always tells me “you don’t get it”, which carefully deciphered means they blow. All personal hatred aside, Oasis simply didn’t do anything new.
Garbage doesn’t have the catalog, although Butch Vig individually may actually be more important then this band.
Crow has some good tunes, but her music didn’t really break any new ground either.
First, I’d like to say I’m glad Jimi advanced. After some of the upsets lately, I was beginning to think everything I knew was wrong.
Now to this pod:
I like Sheryl Crow, but more for wrong reasons than right ones. Fine songwriter early on, but has gotten really self-conscious since she went the “pop tart” route. Almost a female Rod Stewart….
Garbage has done some interesting work – just not enough of it for me….
Genesis – they’re sort of PG period and post-PG period – and the problem for me is that I like the PG period better….
ZZ Top – They may be the greatest bar band of all time…and I mean that as a compliment….But that’s not where it’s at for me….
That leaves Pearl Jam and Oasis – while neither has been able to sustain its artistic quality as evenly as one would hope, Oasis has the better career overall.
And I could never vote for Pearl Jam after their cover of the execrable “Last Kiss” which smacked of desperation for a “hit record.”
Darrell and Jim: It doesn’t sound like you’ve heard the last couple Garbage records. Given the state of the music industry, I doubt you even know they’re DONE anything in the last ten years. But they’re really, REALLY good.
I love ZZ Top, Garbage, and Genesis. Never really liked Oasis. I think I like maybe 2 Pearl Jam songs but I like that they went up against ticketmaster. Went with Sheryl. She makes me smile.
Darrell,
September 5, 2009 at 8:09 pm :
Sam: I’m sure it’s good, but it hasn’t really been on anyone’s radar, you’re the first person I’ve heard promote them. I just haven’t heard of enough musicians that would say that they are an inspiration. Nothing against them, but I think they may not be “Big” enough here. I have tons of respect for Butch, he’s got a great ear for pop music, and like I said, he may be the most important guy in the band.
cwmackowski,
September 5, 2009 at 8:43 pm :
I just read in Entertainment Weekly that Oasis just broke up because the two brothers got into a fight before a recent show.
Russ Wellen,
September 5, 2009 at 9:20 pm :
Good timing on Oasis this week, Dr. S. From a Guardian article that came out moments ago:
Some might say the writing was on the wall all summer what with Liam Gallagher critiquing his brother’s dress sense (“He’s got an old man vibe going on, our kid, big woolly jumpers and shit like that and cardigans … Terry Wogan, Val Doonican shit”) and apparently worse; others that the split could have happened at any point over the past 15 years. In the end it was on 28 August, 2009, that Noel announced that he was leaving Oasis for good. The reason? “I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”
Never heard or heard of them. Meanwhile, Sheryl Crow is underrated. But went with Genesis, a band which has given me much enjoyment over the years in both its incarnations.
D: It’s not their fault they aren’t on anybody’s radar, and I have a hard time holding that against them. All they’ve done is continue doing work that’s every bit as good as their first CD.
Are they “big” enough to win? It doesn’t look like anybody thinks so.But they’re plenty big enough to deserve their spot in the ToR, and it’s such a damned shame that SO MANY of the votes we’re seeing throughout this tournament are a result not of the quality of a band’s work, but of the fact that some marketing suits working at a consultancy somewhere decided that we’d all really rather hear some goddamned disposable flavor-of-the-minute put-up job.
Oh, you’re a brilliant artist? Fuck off. Get back to me when you get a fashion line we can sell to A+F….
ZZ Top don’t get my vote for the same reason KISS didn’t. I kinda like ‘em, but they’re gimmicky.
Oasis I just plain didn’t like. I’ll never know why, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t like them.
Sheryl had a lot of good songs, but nothing spectacular.
Genesis gave me nightmares as a child with the creepy-ass puppet video for Land of Confusion even if it was an awesome song/video. They also lose points for “I Can’t Dance”.
Garbage has put out consistently good albums. I can’t think of a single album I didn’t like by them.
So between Garbage and Genesis, I have to go with Garbage.
There are a whole lot of bands in the tournament who haven’t/don’t get their due. Chances are that none of them will win the whole shebang. (The Beatles probably will…one sentence rant deleted.) But one of the fringe benefits of this tournament is how many bands Sam and Jim have brought to our collective attention that we might never have heard of or forgot about and can now add to our libraries.
[sigh] Happy Birthday, Freddie. Queen were my Beatles, and the world of music hasn’t been quite right since he died.
And by the way, Brian May is one of the five greatest guitarists who ever lived….
Jim Booth,
September 6, 2009 at 11:25 am :
Sam makes an interesting point – pehaps partly accidentally (and he notes the issue in a later comment):
Sam notes that Darrell and I have “missed” the latest Garbage albums – and thus don’t know how much better they are than Oasis (a point I’d argue)….
The devolution of the radio industry has taken away the main medium by which we all found out about great music. With that gone, we all trundle off down our own little paths based on our music preferences – Sam has an active interest in electronica while I’m a fan of guitar pop in general and Brit Pop in particular in this instance with only a casual interest in electronica – so Sam has kept up with Garbage’s new releases while I’ve kept up with those by Oasis. I think Oasis has generally done the best work of this pod while Sam thinks Garbage has surpassed the others in this group.
And Lex’s note about how Sam and I have introduced readers to new bands speaks to this directly.
One other note – Sam, as usual, rhapsodizes a little about Queen guitarist Brian May. Top five guitarists of all time? No. Top Ten? Yes…. In fact, here are 10 all time greats:
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Jeff Beck
3. Eric Clapton
4. Jimmy Page
5. Richard Thompson
6. Robert Fripp
7. Eddie Van Halen
8. Brian May
9. Leo Kottke
10. Stevie Ray Vaughn
I almost asked about Yngwe, but his singing annoys me.
wufnik,
September 7, 2009 at 3:46 am :
I assume the wording was specific here–”ten all time greats”, as opposed to “the ten all time greats.” Clever.
Jim Booth,
September 7, 2009 at 6:02 am :
Ah, Wufnik, you perspicacious reader, you….
Exactly. Was tossing that fly in front of the group to see who rose to the bait. Brian didn’t fail to take the fly on first cast…. Of course, Carlos Santana should be in any “all time greats” list – question is, where…?
Darrell,
September 7, 2009 at 8:33 am :
Lately I’ve been jamming to Dimbag Darrell, and John Frusciante, and some old school Prince, all pretty talented dudes.
wufnik,
September 7, 2009 at 9:13 am :
OK, I’ll bite. Here’s another list of “10 all time greats,” with no overlap.
Duane Allman
Jan Akkerman
Carlos Santana
Dave Navarro
Jerry Garcia
Pete Townshend
Ry Cooder
Peter Green
John Cippolina
Mick Rogers
Kottke belongs on some list, but not this one. The one with John Fahey and Bert Jansch on it. And Chet Atkins goes on some list, too, but again, not this one.
Actually, I originally had a list with some overlap, but there were only four names. This was more fun.
My favorite guitarists, but this list changes from time to time, and I haven’t heard everybody yet…
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Steve Howe
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Alex Lifeson
Ty Tabor
Frank Zappa
Jim Matheos
David Gilmour
Pat Metheny
Eddie Van Halen
Eric Clapton
Yngwie Malmsteen
George Benson
Randy Rhoads
Carlos Santana
Kim Thayil
Al DiMeola
Chris DeGarmo
Vernon Reid
John Petrucci
Eric Johnson
Allan Holdsworth
Larry Carlton
Kerry Livgren
Peter Frampton
Stanley Jordan
Lindsey Buckingham
Rosetta Tharpe
Don Felder
Yeah. He’s damned good. If you like him, you probably like Strunz & Farah, too.
Howie Felch,
September 10, 2009 at 7:16 am :
Mike! Sister Rosetta rules. Oh geebus, is she great. You can youtube her. He performances are like a bomb going off. Truly magical. If you are gonna mention her, though, you should have to throw in Blind Blake and Tampa Red. I would. But I also would have to put Stevie Vai right up there. Bottom line is there are too many truly great guitarists in the gospel to blues to rock and pop lineage to make a comprehensive list of the best without inevitably leaving somebody great out.
Howie: That’s exactly right. I left out Vai, B.B. King, Jake E. Lee, Zakk Wylde, Mike Rutherford, Chet Atkins and many other worthies. Basically, I like it all, some more than others. And yes, Sister Rosetta was a guitar goddess.
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I never dug the Grunge thing much, but a Brit friend in Korea once asked me an interesting question, “Why do all those grunge singers sound the same?” He then did the funniest Vetter impersonation you’ve ever heard. I’d never noticed, but to this day i can’t hear that generation of rock without having to mangle the lyrics in my best impersonation of Alan impersonating Vetter.
I’m going with ZZ Top ’cause they’ve been doing it forever and i love me some dirty blues-rock-funk. If you do too, check out Honky. Them’s some wild boys. I met ‘em years ago when they played NYE at the bar i was managing. One of the best times i’ve ever had (the perspective of providing the aluminum foil for the loin cloth and pouring the shots of whiskey might have had something to do with it).
http://www.myspace.com/honky
Goddammit, Sam. You had to put Oasis and Pearl Jam in the same pod? It’s got to be Pearl Jam for me, but any other time and I’d go with Liam’s dulcet tones.
If nothing else, the ToR is proving that I know how to piss people off – even when I’m not trying.
Liam just walked out again, by the way.
It’s fitting that after the Hendrix pod there’s a few guitar players in this pod who were obviously inspired by him. Had to go with PJ here, so many bands try and sound like them.
Genesis and ZZ both great and unique bands, and maybe they would get my vote if they were in a different pod.
I think Oasis crowned them selves the greatest band ever, and people fell for it. I never really got why they are so big across the pond. In fact whenever I say “I don’t like them” someone always tells me “you don’t get it”, which carefully deciphered means they blow. All personal hatred aside, Oasis simply didn’t do anything new.
Garbage doesn’t have the catalog, although Butch Vig individually may actually be more important then this band.
Crow has some good tunes, but her music didn’t really break any new ground either.
Z Z TOP! They were just so cool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLiC5hf-DJc
As for Oasis…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8OipmKFDeM
Brilliant track.
ZZ top gets my vote.
First, I’d like to say I’m glad Jimi advanced. After some of the upsets lately, I was beginning to think everything I knew was wrong.
Now to this pod:
I like Sheryl Crow, but more for wrong reasons than right ones.
Fine songwriter early on, but has gotten really self-conscious since she went the “pop tart” route. Almost a female Rod Stewart….
Garbage has done some interesting work – just not enough of it for me….
Genesis – they’re sort of PG period and post-PG period – and the problem for me is that I like the PG period better….
ZZ Top – They may be the greatest bar band of all time…and I mean that as a compliment….But that’s not where it’s at for me….
That leaves Pearl Jam and Oasis – while neither has been able to sustain its artistic quality as evenly as one would hope, Oasis has the better career overall.
And I could never vote for Pearl Jam after their cover of the execrable “Last Kiss” which smacked of desperation for a “hit record.”
I voted for Oasis….
Darrell and Jim: It doesn’t sound like you’ve heard the last couple Garbage records. Given the state of the music industry, I doubt you even know they’re DONE anything in the last ten years. But they’re really, REALLY good.
I love ZZ Top, Garbage, and Genesis. Never really liked Oasis. I think I like maybe 2 Pearl Jam songs but I like that they went up against ticketmaster. Went with Sheryl. She makes me smile.
Sam: I’m sure it’s good, but it hasn’t really been on anyone’s radar, you’re the first person I’ve heard promote them. I just haven’t heard of enough musicians that would say that they are an inspiration. Nothing against them, but I think they may not be “Big” enough here. I have tons of respect for Butch, he’s got a great ear for pop music, and like I said, he may be the most important guy in the band.
I just read in Entertainment Weekly that Oasis just broke up because the two brothers got into a fight before a recent show.
Good timing on Oasis this week, Dr. S. From a Guardian article that came out moments ago:
Never heard or heard of them. Meanwhile, Sheryl Crow is underrated. But went with Genesis, a band which has given me much enjoyment over the years in both its incarnations.
I thought they got into a fight before EVERY show.
D: It’s not their fault they aren’t on anybody’s radar, and I have a hard time holding that against them. All they’ve done is continue doing work that’s every bit as good as their first CD.
Are they “big” enough to win? It doesn’t look like anybody thinks so.But they’re plenty big enough to deserve their spot in the ToR, and it’s such a damned shame that SO MANY of the votes we’re seeing throughout this tournament are a result not of the quality of a band’s work, but of the fact that some marketing suits working at a consultancy somewhere decided that we’d all really rather hear some goddamned disposable flavor-of-the-minute put-up job.
Oh, you’re a brilliant artist? Fuck off. Get back to me when you get a fashion line we can sell to A+F….
I know this is the wrong pod, but I had to do it anyway. It’s Freddie’s birthday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EvL7-9RVGE&feature=related
ZZ Top don’t get my vote for the same reason KISS didn’t. I kinda like ‘em, but they’re gimmicky.
Oasis I just plain didn’t like. I’ll never know why, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t like them.
Sheryl had a lot of good songs, but nothing spectacular.
Genesis gave me nightmares as a child with the creepy-ass puppet video for Land of Confusion even if it was an awesome song/video. They also lose points for “I Can’t Dance”.
Garbage has put out consistently good albums. I can’t think of a single album I didn’t like by them.
So between Garbage and Genesis, I have to go with Garbage.
Yes, Queen! R.I.P. Freddie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58CJih1iYC0
Always amazes me, the never ending capacity of humans to fall in love with bands…
…and yesterday was a treat of a night on BBC:
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/11240
There are a whole lot of bands in the tournament who haven’t/don’t get their due. Chances are that none of them will win the whole shebang. (The Beatles probably will…one sentence rant deleted.) But one of the fringe benefits of this tournament is how many bands Sam and Jim have brought to our collective attention that we might never have heard of or forgot about and can now add to our libraries.
[sigh] Happy Birthday, Freddie. Queen were my Beatles, and the world of music hasn’t been quite right since he died.
And by the way, Brian May is one of the five greatest guitarists who ever lived….
Sam makes an interesting point – pehaps partly accidentally (and he notes the issue in a later comment):
Sam notes that Darrell and I have “missed” the latest Garbage albums – and thus don’t know how much better they are than Oasis (a point I’d argue)….
The devolution of the radio industry has taken away the main medium by which we all found out about great music. With that gone, we all trundle off down our own little paths based on our music preferences – Sam has an active interest in electronica while I’m a fan of guitar pop in general and Brit Pop in particular in this instance with only a casual interest in electronica – so Sam has kept up with Garbage’s new releases while I’ve kept up with those by Oasis. I think Oasis has generally done the best work of this pod while Sam thinks Garbage has surpassed the others in this group.
And Lex’s note about how Sam and I have introduced readers to new bands speaks to this directly.
One other note – Sam, as usual, rhapsodizes a little about Queen guitarist Brian May. Top five guitarists of all time? No. Top Ten? Yes…. In fact, here are 10 all time greats:
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Jeff Beck
3. Eric Clapton
4. Jimmy Page
5. Richard Thompson
6. Robert Fripp
7. Eddie Van Halen
8. Brian May
9. Leo Kottke
10. Stevie Ray Vaughn
Let the arguing begin….
No Carlos Santana? I feel robbed! Robbed, I tell you!
Seriously, though, why no Santana? How about Ottmar Liebert?
1: I shan’t be sucked into your trolling on greatest guitarists. I mean, where’s Yngwe?
2: I didn’t necessarily say Garbage was the best band in the pod. I wholeheartedly assert their right to be here, but do they get my vote? Not sure.
I assume you are just talking about rock guitarists. Where does Satriani fit into your list? Or John Petrucci? DiMeola is probably too Jazz.
I almost asked about Yngwe, but his singing annoys me.
I assume the wording was specific here–”ten all time greats”, as opposed to “the ten all time greats.” Clever.
Ah, Wufnik, you perspicacious reader, you….
Exactly. Was tossing that fly in front of the group to see who rose to the bait. Brian didn’t fail to take the fly on first cast…. Of course, Carlos Santana should be in any “all time greats” list – question is, where…?
Lately I’ve been jamming to Dimbag Darrell, and John Frusciante, and some old school Prince, all pretty talented dudes.
OK, I’ll bite. Here’s another list of “10 all time greats,” with no overlap.
Duane Allman
Jan Akkerman
Carlos Santana
Dave Navarro
Jerry Garcia
Pete Townshend
Ry Cooder
Peter Green
John Cippolina
Mick Rogers
Kottke belongs on some list, but not this one. The one with John Fahey and Bert Jansch on it. And Chet Atkins goes on some list, too, but again, not this one.
Actually, I originally had a list with some overlap, but there were only four names. This was more fun.
My favorite guitarists, but this list changes from time to time, and I haven’t heard everybody yet…
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Steve Howe
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Alex Lifeson
Ty Tabor
Frank Zappa
Jim Matheos
David Gilmour
Pat Metheny
Eddie Van Halen
Eric Clapton
Yngwie Malmsteen
George Benson
Randy Rhoads
Carlos Santana
Kim Thayil
Al DiMeola
Chris DeGarmo
Vernon Reid
John Petrucci
Eric Johnson
Allan Holdsworth
Larry Carlton
Kerry Livgren
Peter Frampton
Stanley Jordan
Lindsey Buckingham
Rosetta Tharpe
Don Felder
Along the same lines, this is kinda fun…
http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_newguitar.html
This particular trout saw the hook but chose to pretend it wasn’t there anyway.
Ottmar Liebert is a great guitarist, but maybe not rock. Great list, though.
Yeah. He’s damned good. If you like him, you probably like Strunz & Farah, too.
Mike! Sister Rosetta rules. Oh geebus, is she great. You can youtube her. He performances are like a bomb going off. Truly magical. If you are gonna mention her, though, you should have to throw in Blind Blake and Tampa Red. I would. But I also would have to put Stevie Vai right up there. Bottom line is there are too many truly great guitarists in the gospel to blues to rock and pop lineage to make a comprehensive list of the best without inevitably leaving somebody great out.
Howie: That’s exactly right. I left out Vai, B.B. King, Jake E. Lee, Zakk Wylde, Mike Rutherford, Chet Atkins and many other worthies. Basically, I like it all, some more than others. And yes, Sister Rosetta was a guitar goddess.