Blur tracks poll - the RESULTS thread

Here we go...

26 ballots in the end and 120 different songs were voted for

Woo hoo...I'm looking forward to this.

Really excited to see this roll out, but I knew I should have checked back in on that other thread because I thought we had until the end of May to vote. Ah well.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/53/156542461_b078864ef3.jpg

Ah, and here we all are!

Well, I am anyway.

It's difficult to pick the right place to start the countdown from. A top 50 would be tidier than a top 60, but that would chop out some good songs that got four separate votes, so I'll go for a messy top 60...

This is a... high

I'll go for a messy top 60...

Too old for your orgies, tbh

http://friendsofhowardpark.co.uk/Bowl/Howard%20Garden%20Bowls%20Club%20Sept2007%20017.jpg
=60. Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club
(2 votes, 51 points)

http://www.grayflannelsuit.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/intermission.gif
=60. Intermission
(3 votes, 51 points)

An inauspicious start, I'm not really a fan of either of those.

starting to fear for Yuko & Hiro now

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fastshow/characters/images/colin_hunt.jpg
http://www.findwatches.co.uk/images/casio-casual-digital-watch-i_z_F-91W-1XY.jpg

=60. Colin Zeal
(4 votes, 51 points)

Gah! Scrub that - those three tracks are all equal 59th place (i.e. positions 59-61).

An inauspicious start

They each have 51 points, but the tie is (or should be) broken by # of ballots. i.e. Moroccan would be 61, Intermission 60, and so on.

=57. One Born Every Minute
(2 votes, 52 points)

=57. When The Cows Come Home
(3 votes, 52 points)

Surprised that Moroccan is so low btw. I guess my vote and the vote of the other person who mentioned it in the orig thread were its only supporters.

girl in front of me at the Hyde Park gig 2 years back had a neat sign saying COLIN ZEAL. i still love that one.

<3 <3 <3 Intermission

Oh dammit need to go to sleep but yeahy for Bowling Club and Colin Zeal! Wish they had broken into the top 50 but oh well.

Right one more, then that's it for tonight...

...actually two more because it's another messy tie...

So far, there haven't been any ties...except you made them ties. Your poll, though. :D

When The Cows Come Home

Rather like this actually

=55. Coping
=55. Magic America
(both 3 votes and 53 points)

Wouldn't wear it as a tie, though

(xp) I hear what you're saying, and from now on will aply the Fever Rule of Tie Avoidance

I learned it by watching ILM polls over the years. I'm just spreading the good word!

The Gospel according to JF

"the emphasis is on coping", love the way damon delivers this line!

could i be dreaming!

Of these, Magic America is my favourite, closely followed by Colin Zeal.

Moroccan is my favorite so far, and I'm just glad it got included. Following traditional poll rollout protocol would've chopped it off.

Glad "When the Cows Come Home" made it even though I didn't vote for it. Pops into my head pretty frequently (usually when taking vitamins).

Magic America. It's so very accurate (the Brit who obsesses about the US) and so very Ray Davies. imo this is the peak of that album's eulogy.

"Magic America" is the only one I've voted for so far. Can't deny they're doing some snide "lol America" bollocks here but like all of the character songs there's a sense of hopeless escape fucking things up. By the time the chorus is done hammering away it sounds more desperate than piss-takey, probly cos Magic America is the limit of Bill's surroundings and imagination, unsatisfactory as it is. Songs that sound like nervous breakdowns are usually a win in my book.

Can't deny they're doing some snide "lol America" bollocks here

Most of it is not that at all, it's mainly about the warped perception of America by the sort of person who takes all their cultural cues from Hollywood etc. I know loads and loads of people like that – they go round being all American and talking like Americans and spelling like Americans based on the idealised portrait they pick up off the telly. In this case he actually goes to America (whether in reality or in his head) and eats and shops, so really it's a slur on Bill rather than America.

Hello. I'm in Barcelona right now. Bit of a shame I won't be experiencing this run down. Think I voted for when the cows and one born every minute - two fab b sides. Wasn't coping regarded as a terrible tune? Not a fan.

54. Globe Alone
(2 votes, 58 points)

This was described as their 'heavy metal' track in a Select preview feature of the time. Great Escape really is one of the most peak-and-troth albums I can think of and sadly this lands in the latter bracket.

the troth bracket?

To whom did he pledge it?

53. Inertia
(2 votes, 62 points)

^^^ great song. I probably should have voted for it, but I never had much of an emotional connection to early Blur, with the exception of about two or three songs.

'Globe Alone', is the first of my votes to show up and I placed it very highly. Albarn's evisceration of the everyman is pretty mean spirited, who's not keen on Sharon Stone after all, but the sheer ferociousness of the delivery pulls it off.

most of the Blur songs i love the most are the mean-spirited rejections of human lol culture but i don't think "Globe Alone" made my cut. it's good tho.

http://static.freewebphoto.com/food/free-photo/AAAAAA-K2N5GF-FDM89F-GBDAQ8-A55L97-H7HBDK-D6RLG6/jelly-beans.jpg
http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1895/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1895-46282.jpg

=51. Miss America
(4 votes, 69 points)

I love the guitar sound on Miss America, there's a strange kind of sprawling morose quality, and I don't think anyone else has managed to sound so desperate while singing 'do-do-do-do-dooo'.

Love the story about how they Discovered Graham drunk in the studio kicking a chair leg (audible throughout the track). Graham's greeting of "Michael!" was shouted as they opened the door.

Do like this song a lot.

That's one of my least favourite songs on MLIR. That's always been their most undefinable album for me -- the good stuff is really good (but doesn't hit the highest highs that they're capable of) and the bad stuff is only tolerable in the context of the album. I was surprised that there were more songs on my list from MLIR than any other Blur album.

http://davideasson.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/blur-country-house.jpg
=51. Country House
(4 votes, 69 points)

"Blow me out" is quite a good bit but the rest of it? Really?? It probly wasn't annoying the first couple of listens.

I don't even like the 'blow me out' bit, tbh

#51 seems about right for this, plenty of interesting things going on it but overall it's a lot less than the sum of it's parts.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9jJ5xT0aRSA/SUb1FnEVo_I/AAAAAAAAAWk/NlEW4CfQzJ4/s320/Blur+-+Parklife+%5Bsingle%5D.jpg
50. Parklife
(5 votes, 75 points)

'Country House' really works well live imo tho I can't really listen to it on record. Didn't vote for it however. 'Inertia' was my #2 I think. Perfect.

Guy I worked with at Virgin looked a little bit like Damon and one Saturday when the shop was absolutely rammed this group of maybe 10 or 11 year olds followed him round the Singles Dept screaming "PARKLIFE!" at him for about 20 mins. Kinda realisation, on my part, that Blur big-time now.

Like "Country House", people who think "Parklife" was worth a vote get something completely different from Blur than I do. Probly wasn't annoying the first couple of listens.

http://991.com/gallery_180x180/Blur-Charmless-Man-86912-991.jpg
49. Charmless Man
(4 votes, 77 points)

ok i take back what i said about the last 2

Kind of excited to see three of their most well-known singles in a row ranking at the bottom of the poll... parklife should have fared better tho...

It got beaten by "Charmless Man" !

I've always held a place in my heart for Great Escape, because that seemed to be the first to really a get a big push in America prior to its release.

Charmless Man is my least favourite Blur single - grotesque self-parody.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01413/Ambulance_1413374c.jpg

48. Ambulance
(4 votes, 84 points)

At least 'Parklife' made the top 50 but really, that's robbery. Nothing not to like about that track.

... except the fact it's not "Country House"

love Miss America. easily in my top few Blur cuts. it's Alex James' fave Blur song!
i was pretty taken aback when i heard Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs for the first time though.

When it came to compiling my list I didn't end up putting in many of their biggest hits so I'm quite glad three have of them have are already out of the way. Parklife is one of my favourite albums of all time but I really don't ever need to hear the title track again.

Ambulence was in my top five, it's such an amazing opening track.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/27/article-0-03B0B12F000005DC-730_468x312.jpg

47. 1992
(four votes, 87 points)

FWIW I liked Parklife when it came out. I can remember hearing it for either the first or second time on the radio one morning and thinking "it's just some bloke talking about pigeons - this is brilliant", then they suddenly cut into the song to announce that John Smith had died, which took the edge off it a bit. As with 'Girls & Boys' I just feel I've heard it far, far, far too many times to want to listen to it again now. As for 'Charmless Man', while it's far from being my favourite I don't really get the intense hatred it seems to inspire in some people. '1992' on other hand, is a little bit boring and self-pitying (and I say that as a fan of most of the desolate introspection numbers).

46. Essex Dogs
(four votes, 97 points)

If "Blur" hadn't had that tracck, the album would still have been way long enough, so it always seemed like a bonus track.

And all the better for it...

hurray. 1992 is the first of mine to make it.

51. Country House

TOO FUCKING LOW!!!

Globe Alone's music is a brilliant representation of the madness going on in the head of the subject of the song. Ugh, crap sentence. Anyway. Love the shit out of it.

Charmless Man is mainly a great tune, really, but to its benefit/detriment (take yer pick) it continues that album's theme of characters that Damon hates/pities (including himself obv). In retrospect it's not that surprising that he effectively disowned the album – it's sooo negative, and not in the dull-fondness way that makes Parklife so appealing.

'er indoors LOVES Ambulance. I don't mind it but I have enormous prejudice against everything off Think Tank because I do not like Think Tank.

btw I don't recall voting for many tracks off 13 but it's my favourite Blur album by some distance.

You people are savages. Country house below 1992 and charmless man, I mean...?!?

Yes I'm talking about the 'blow blow me out' bit which is pop genius as opposed to drivel like 1992 and embarrassing nonsense like charmless man. A pox on ya!

Woo-hoo!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6PbDrJkTF_w/TL10xnKfWQI/AAAAAAAAACs/YPqPCJ16g9k/s1600/blur_song2.jpg
45. Song 2
(5 votes, 98 points)

Woo-hoo!

Song 2: A song largley unknown outside of Britain - rejected in American for being "too darn rock". Most Americans, when asked about Blur, give a blank look - but if you play them the chorus of 'Yuko & Hiro' they immediately recognise it as the soundtrack to countless games of Ice Hockey, Baseball and 'Football'.

heh

Not to mention Soccer.

It was huge here.

oddly enough i have felt Heavy Metal on many occasions but none of them induced by Blur.

http://www.allgigs.co.uk/images/object/artist/62317/PJ_Proby-1-200-200-85-crop.jpg

44. Country Sad Ballad Man
(6 votes, 99 points)

ha i was trying to work out what the picture was signifying

I love that one.

dammit should have voted for CSBM, I could have sent it a few places up.

Yeah this is a good one. Glad to see it scrape past song 2. Shoulda been a single instead of mor

mor is such a single, CSBM is not.

MOR is like "on top of old smokey" played fast.

That's a good thing, btw.

MOR is eugh

it's like the whole album just stops being interesting for four minutes

I can't even remember how mor goes but csbm is an earworm. Sorry to disagree

Autumn otm. In a strange way it could be seen as a very clever self-fulfilling parody.

It really is! CSBM otoh is epic.

M.O.R. and For Tomorrow are the two Blur singles which always remind me of Bowie (the former based on Berlin, the later on Ziggy Stardust) and they always make me wish I was listening to him instead. They both sound to me a bit parodic (then again, most of their singles seem to share this quality). CSBM might not be single material but it's more interesting and unique.

Yeah, Blur are the ultimate 90s parodists in a sea of parodists. Damon's wanted to be Syd Barrett, Ray Davies, Terry Hall, Stephen Malkmus, and a whole host of other figureheads throughout his career. Don't really see it as a problem though because I knew Blur before I knew their influences and worked back.

Let's not forget Jilted John as well.

xpost: Well, huge credit to him for emulating all of his influences with various degrees of success. Blur were always a very open eveything-goes sort of band that still managed to have a very unique, trademark sound. That's no easy feat.

I'm giving most of the uniqueness credit to Graham Coxon, btw as his guitar playing feels like the unifying, unmistakable force to their music.

Yeah, and also why Think Tank doesn't sound like a Blur album.

43. No Distance Left To Run
(5 votes, 100 points)

Ah, I thought that pic was a comment on AAlmanac's winning argument!

I think I pulled this from my ballot late on, but it's kind of lovely. Probably just a bit too slight and passive to be worth my vote, I think I decided.

I find it slightly annoying.

I should explain what I mean by that, but I don't think I can without sounding mean-spirited. I just find it borders a bit on smugness in a 'look - I'm heartbroken, but see how reasonable I'm being about all this' kind of way. I imagine it irritates Justine, but I could be wrong.

And sonically it's not as interesting as most other tracks on 13.

Well, it won't be irritating Justine that much, as:

1) she's left the country, or
2) it doesn't get that much radio play anymore, or
3) both

unless she's moved to a town where the locals endlessly play it on the jukebox whenever they see her

Damon Albarn once mentioned that people kept putting 'Roll With It' on the jukebox every time he walked into a pub. He said he expected people put 'Country House' on whenever the Gallaghers went in one, but I doubt it.

I think they put on Ocean Colour Scene on.

http://images.paraorkut.com/img/clipart/images/s/smiling_star-846.gif

42. Strange News From Another Star
(6 votes, 111 points)

my favourite damon vocal performance...maybe.

Think I put Strange News From Another Star in my top 10. I remember when John Peel died Radio 1 did a tribute show and Damon came in and did a solo version of it that was just stunning.

Strange News is great - really makes me think of Bowie actually. No Distance is wallowsome self pity of the worst kind ahhh poor Damon boohoo. Meh.

It's very "cross between Prettiest Star and Starman" yes.

No Distance is wallowsome self pity of the worst kind ahhh poor Damon boohoo. Meh.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I feel about it and 1992, but I was trying to express it a bit more tactfully.

41. Starshaped
(5 votes, 112 points)

love this song. beautiful oboe solo.

This thread is the first thing I look at every morning. I'm so very grateful.

Starshaped is almost anthemic. It's certainly bursting with colour. It's also one of the songs XTC nutters mention when they insist Albarn weaved references into his lyrics ("I've been making plans...").

http://images.dailyexpress.co.uk/img/dynamic/20/285x214/8478_1.jpg

40. All Your Life
(5 votes, 114 points)

I also love you putting the pic and song in separate posts because on first glance it looks like the pic is a response to the previous post.

All Your Life was one of my last-minute "oh I need 22 songs??" entries. Probably my favourite B side.

I'm having to restrain myself from just posting all of the tracks one after the other in about ten minutes.

ahahaha I can imagine

I always get confused between this and Til The Cows Come Home. As such I can't remember how this one goes.

A brief interlude:
I'd just like to mention two high-placed songs on my ballot that have missed the cut (I don't think this is really much of a spoiler as nobody would have expected them to feature especially highly):
Mellow Song
and
Caravan
Why no love, ILX?

Mellow Song? Is that the one with the pretty piano chords and starts "what am I to do..?" if so I thought I did vote for it.

Here's a roundup

61. Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club
60. Intermission
59. Colin Zeal
57. One Born Every Minute
57. When The Cows Come Home
55. Coping
55. Magic America
54. Globe Alone
53. Inertia
51. Miss America
51. Country House
50. Parklife
49. Charmless Man
48. Ambulance
47. 1992
46. Essex Dogs
45. Song 2
44. Country Sad Ballad Man
43. No Distance Left To Run
42. Strange News From Another Star
41. Starshaped
40. All Your Life

Mellow Song? Is that the one with the pretty piano chords and starts "what am I to do..?"

No, that's Sweet Song. Mellow Song is the one on 13 which goes "is this where I'm going to? we'll see" (except it sounds more like "we're sea").

On 13? I can't picture it but I know it's on the decent stretch of the album where I don't skip any tracks

"I lift my string on the guillotine, pulling away in my machine,
forget where I've been, I for - get you"
(or something like that)
Ring any bells?

http://www.johnnyikon.com/data/articles/2009/04/3063/Picture7.png

39. She's So High
(7 votes, 115 points)

iirc 'I Know' was on the flip of this. Prefer 'I Know' ever so slightly but love both really.

All Your Life is great. "on the way to heaven in a comedy car, the new stars of melancholia"

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/05/07/article-0-096CDAA0000005DC-340_306x521.jpg

38. Entertain Me
(6 votes, 117 points)

One of the best Blur basslines

Love love love "Entertain Me", one of Damon's sharpest dissections of the end of civilization riding this beautiful Berlin-era-Iggy droney New Wave anti-riff. The weekend's here, hip. hip. hooray.

of all the pictures xp

I should have had Entertain Me on my list, love that bass line.

http://www.imagesfromhere.com/archives/Grate%20Work%206794.jpg

=36. You're So Great
(6 votes, 120 points)

Ugh, I hate that.

ahahahaha brilliant. So glad this song got a few votes. The last 30 seconds is sublime.

You're so great I'm indifferent to, but yeah I like the little guitar solo towards the end. Other than that it represents a filler triumvirate (theme from retro/ysg/death of a party) towards the middle of the album where songwriting dips. Not that these are necessarily bad songs but taken together they make the album flabby, especially compared to the first few tracks on the record.

I might have to relisten to Entertain Me again. At the time I remember thinking it was a poor man's Girls an Boys and the Live It! Remix sounded like Take That, which was just about the worst thing imaginable in my book at the time

Always liked "Entertain Me", and I'm really glad to see it here - never knew anyone else rated the track.

I disagree about "Death of a Party" being part of any weak triumvirate - it's one the strongest Blur ST tracks in my book

http://iamzac.com/images/bugman_small.jpg

36. Bugman
(5 votes, 120 points)

I love this one. It shatters any illusions you might have had coming into 13 for the first time - Tender was the single ahead of the album and then the first track on it, this could scarcely be more different, right from the off with the jarringly unusual chords.

Bugman!

http://iceyboard.no-ip.org/images/whitenoise.gif

35. Me, White Noise
(5 votes, 121 points)

YAY

(of course, if this is #35, I should give up on seeing "Don't Bomb When You're the Bomb" probably.)

Ah, just realised this is the first track with a first place vote, so that should have read:
(5 votes, 1 first place, 121 points)

(of course, if this is #35, I should give up on seeing "Don't Bomb When You're the Bomb" probably.)

― Johnny Fever

Pretty sure I only heard this the one time but remember thinking it was terrible, that was a long time ago though.

It's more of a chant with a beat than an actual song, but I love it anyway (enough to place it #2 on my own ballot).

I just listened to it again on Youtube, I don't love it but it's no way near as bad as I remember. It's a very odd song, it sounds more like a Gorillaz track really.

"Country House" woz robbed (and my ballot I think never made it for some reason. Dunno, but I got a mail failure notice)

(My ballot did of course have "Country House" on top - one of the best songs ever made by anyone)

Is The Great Escape your favourite Blur album Geir?

I consider that "The Great Escape" and "Parklife" rather equal in quality.

I do have a lot of time for The Great Escape but there's too much filler on there.

Looking at the track listing for The Great Escape if you took out Charmless Man, Top Man, Mr Robinson's Quango, Ernold Same and Dan Abnormal you would have a pretty great 10 track album. The only thing I would really change about Parklife is to have not heard the title track so many times so I could still bear to hear it.

X-Post: The filler is the main problem about "The Great Escape", but the highlights are fantastic. And, as for the worst tracks, "Globe Alone" > "Bank Holiday". Although by a narrow margin (and "Chinese Bombs" is worse than both)

http://companiesresources.com/images/Thomas-Cook.gif

34. Advert
(7 votes, 122 points)

That's the sixth song from MLIR, and we're not even in the top 30 yet. Surprising?

Food processors are great!

Will you post all scores once this is all done? I want to see if I was indeed the only person to vote Dizzy. :)

I love the teasers pictures, thanks for doing this!

Also way xp - I also have a lot of love for entertain me and the live it remix too. A car! A house! Both in! A street!

Advert is making me think fuzzy half formed theories about how MLIR and Siamese Dream are bizarro versions of each other.

Flying back from Barcelona tomorrow btw :-( might not bother

Will you post all scores once this is all done? I want to see if I was indeed the only person to vote Dizzy. :)

Yes, I will and I'm afraid yes, you were. Just for you:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1991/images/reevesmortimer173.jpg
=74. Dizzy
(1 votes, 1 first place, 40 points)

http://kingdomofstyle.typepad.co.uk/.a/6a00d8341c2f0953ef0112796b8cc828a4-500wi

33. Caramel
(5 votes, 123 points)

Caramel is such an amazing song, easily my favourite song on 13. I'm fairly sure I remember reading at the time Damon was pushing for it to be the second single after Tender which would have been brilliant.

I like it, but I can't really imagine it as a single.

Even a teaser picture? You're too good to me :)

http://www.pluspets.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Cutest-Puppies1.jpg

32. Young & Lovely
(6 votes, 1 first place, 134 points)

I can't even find evidence that that song exists.

so far, I'm finding that my taste in blur tracks differs wildly from these results.

i didn't vote. meant to. did not. sry.

So far, Inertia is a pleasant surprise. And Colin Zeal is awesome. Maybe Country House on occasion.

AA: Young & Lovely was a b-side, from an early-middle career single (can't recall off the top of my head).

B-side to Chemical World and the bonus track on the Japanese version of the album.

Thank you!

I can't even find evidence that that song exists

http://blursongs.wordpress.com/2007/06/27/young-lovely/

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gbdx_2ft4ww/TaRhfSSjU6I/AAAAAAAAAIQ/SEANL5619lo/s1600/believe.jpg

Arse. I've done it again. Young & Lovely is joint 31st, not 32nd. So many ties...

=31. Sweet Song
(6 votes, 134 points)

This has been a great run, love Sweet Song so much.

Food processors are great!

― spellcheck is really advanced these days (cajunsunday), Sunday, May 29, 2011 6:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Blue Jeans hasn't appeared yet because it is being saved for the top 10, right?

I thought I was pretty well versed in the Blur catalogue but I barely recognize or remember most of the songs in this last run.

http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk/images/battle02.jpg

30. Battle
(7 votes, 144 points)

The next one's a bit of a surprise (well, to me anyway)...

These poll results are awakening me to the fact I was never really serious about liking Blur.

29. Theme From An Imaginary Film
(6 votes, 1 first place, 148 points)

xp - well, we're still only at the 6 or 7 voters per song stage (so only about a quarter of the voters) - there's far more of a consensus as we get towards the top

nah i have a totally limited liking for Blur and obv a different perspective to all you b-side loving nerdlingers

I only knew about three of the b-sides before this poll and I've never been a fan of Leisure so I don't really know most of the songs on that.

Inertia is the best one that I'd never heard before.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/02/05/article-1248873-0061191700000258-297_468x329.jpg

no way

=28. Resigned
(8 votes, 149 points)

lol okay thought it were gonna be Dr Mango's Quango Bingo for a minute

That's not what I thought you thought - I thought you thought it was Don't Bomb When You're The Bomb, that's what I was thinking you'd though

thought that'd been up already for some reason

Battle is sick.

Theme From An Imaginary Film.. yay!!

Resigned is unusual in that the emotion is all in the music - the vocals are quite flat.

http://astrobob.areavoices.com/astrobob/images/thumbnail/DIFFRACTONOIL.jpg

Erm....so, er, that =28 up there should obviously be an =27...

=27. Oily Water
(7 votes, 149 points)

Cheers for the Young & Lovely tips, everyone. Looking forward to hearing it (and yes, simultaneously in despair that there's so much Blur I've never heard). Stoked that so many of these results are from the MLIR era.

Imaginary Film was my top pick, although I'm still not quite sure why. It thoroughly deserves its placement, though.

Oily Water is a jam.

its pretty much consensus among blur fans about young and lovely being best bside, I'd probably put all your life above it, but yeah, its a good'un.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBOZTz51V8

was reading this article which gives a blurb on every single blur song up until the last parklife single and it struck me how many of these are non-album tracks, like 50% almost. http://www.vblurpage.com/articles/print/stories/select_95.htm

shocking fact = I am now listening to this song for the first time ever. it is very nice!

(xp) That article is the basis of the Select article from 95 that Dog Latin was talking about (maybe on the voting thread instead of the results thread), which in itself is massively expanded in this book from 1999.

A Mr J4gger, once of these parts, has drawn my attention another small error: earlier I said that 'Me, White Noise' was the first track in the top 60 to have been given a number one vote. It was actually 'Essex Dogs' (no prizes for guessing whose number one vote that was). The only first-placed vote outside of the top 60 was for 'Dizzy'.

He lives!

http://www.howtomobile.com/images/razr2-battery-life.jpg

HA

hmm, leg involved?

26. Battery In Your Leg
(7 votes, 152 points)

I dunno, I still wonder what song they were working on before Graham quit and they (presumably) changed the lyrics to suit the occasion.

http://static.zoovy.com/img/kraftyatkrafts/-/I/ink_97233_dancing_skeletons.jpg

25. Death of a Party
(8 votes, 168 points)

Definitely not filler, imo. One of the better tracks on the album and I love the eerie organ.

Yeah (oops missed it off my vote)

I realized only now that "Death of a Party" was named as one of the unfinished songs at the end of the "Compleat Blur" article in Select. None of the other eight unfinished songs appeared on "The Great Escape" either.

Every song from MLIR is going to make this list besides "Villa Rosie", "Commercial Break", and "Turn It Up"?

slight diversion then:

88-96. Blur have recorded nine songs – to various stages of completion – that’ve never been released. ‘I Love Her’ (Seymour-era, recorded at Diorama in Great Portland Street in 1991); ‘Close’ (produced by Stephen Street for the ‘Leisure’ sessions in 1991); ‘Seven Days’ (produced by Andy Partridge for the aborted ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ sessions – see 44); ‘Death Of A Party’; ‘Singular Charm’; ‘Pleasant Education’; ‘Bleached Whale’; ‘Pap Pop’; and ‘One Born Every Minute’ (see 52). ‘Seven Days’ was recorded for a Mark Goodier Radio One session on April 11, 1992, engineered by Martin Colley and broadcasted on May 5, 1992.

"I love her" was released on a fan-club CD, and as such was eligible for this poll.

"One Born Every Minute" was a Country House b-side
"Close" was also a fan-club CD, I haven't heard it.

The rest? I assume some got titles changed..

"Pap Pop" sounds like it was no great loss.

Death of a Party was by far their best dalliance w/ trip-hop imo

Interesting that Death of a Party was written so early, considering it's regarded as their classic Britpop's-last-rites song.

yeah Death Of A Party was very much written in the era when Suede were getting big and Blur were being written off. it's brilliantly miserable. the 7" remix by Adrian Sherwood is a blinder. you could only get it as a kind of official promotional CD single and it cost me a fortune back in the day. loved the sleeve too
http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-677551-1301119559.jpeg

it was great to see it revived as a band favourite 2 years back, appearing not only on the MidLife compilation but also rather amazingly and incongruously bang in the middle of the encore at Hyde Park, right after Song 2 and just before
For Tomorrow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu6EomubqN8

Great Specials influence on that one. The spooky organ + the morose, Terry Hall-esque vocal.

Yes, I was going to say it reminds me a lot of Ghost Town, then I thought about the total lack of brass and thought better of it.

http://primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/top-of-the-pops.jpg

24. Popscene
(8 votes, 177 points)

"Popscene" is a shade over-rated imo compared to maybe some other singles of the era which will be coming up shortly.

Love 'Popscene'. Probably has added appeal to me cos it was a stand alone single not on any album which shouldn't really make any difference but somehow kinda does. My favourite of the shouty blur ones.

See, when "The Celtic Soul Brothers" failed to be a hit, Kevin Rowland did give pause, but carried on with "Come on Eileen" and all went well. Whereas Blur went "oh" and packed it.

which is why we're having this poll now rather than 3 people bigging up their only album and "Popscene".

"Popscene" is undoubtedly over-rated, but its' still great! It has such a great back-story: songwriting breakthrough -> failed single -> left off album -> live favourite. The article from Select lays it out really well. Thanks a mill for linking that btw cajunsunday; brought back happy memories of poring over it and discussing at length with my mates in secondary school. A genius bit of mythmaking.

(xposts)

well....

Had they then released "Never Clever", then carried on with "For Tomorrow", etc, things would have been only slightly different.

xp Seven Days came out somewhere too... Music is my Radar bside maybe? I know I say it on something.. though very possibly a live version

I got that remix single of Death of a Party from a record fair in my completist days. I love popscene, I had it at 3 on my list. Was really gutted when they didn't put it on the best of.

http://www.vblurpage.com/info/songlist/all.htm

No sign of "Seven Days" on here.

The story > the song. I love how Blur and Radiohead almost moved in parallel - a weak debut with big enough hits to put them in the charts while also creating a press backlash, followed by a period of misery and resentment, then the point-to-prove interim single (Popscene, My Iron Lung EP) and the brilliant second record. Both had clever, thorny frontmen who felt they'd been misunderstood and therefore had an "I'll show those fuckers" agenda. It's like a recipe for how to make a classic second record.

yeah Seven Days (BBC session version, 1992) was on Music Is My Radar CD2 . great it is too.
most comprehensive discography is, as always, hither: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Blur

ah, I see what they did!

7 Days (Live on Mark Goodier's Evening Session)
Music Is My Radar b-side

yeah. although Radiohead's interim single was 'Pop Is Dead' mind.

Goodier show was a bloody goldmine back in the day. was also the first place anyone heard recorded versions of Parklife and Bank Holiday, the following Summer in 93.

Sorry, yes, you're right. Not very good but even more of a parallel with Popscene. Good B-side though - Banana Co.

so random question: do Blur fans not rate/dig "This Is A Low"?

or is it one of those things like Cure fans ignoring "Just Like Heaven" because it's too easy to pick

It's my bet for #1.

xp yeah 'Banana Co' was great, better than the A side.

I really like This Is A Low, (esp ~pretty En-ger-lund and me..~) but I was definitely more of a Blur fan for the poppy bits. And Dizzy stole my heart, can't explain that one. I'm in Canada so I had to do some serious mixtape trading when I first got online to add more to my collection! Also bought more $20-30 CD singles than I care to admit to.. not to mention the Japanese imports!

Yeah I love This is a Low (I'm actually a Cure fan who loves Just Like Heaven too) I too wouldn't be surprised if that was number one, that or For Tomorrow.

There were some very fulsome "multiple volume" "deluxe" "versions" of the Blur Albums floating around.

The one for the "Blur" album was five CDs worth, alone.

The story > the song. I love how Blur and Radiohead almost moved in parallel - a weak debut with big enough hits to put them in the charts while also creating a press backlash, followed by a period of misery and resentment, then the point-to-prove interim single (Popscene, My Iron Lung EP) and the brilliant second record. Both had clever, thorny frontmen who felt they'd been misunderstood and therefore had an "I'll show those fuckers" agenda. It's like a recipe for how to make a classic second record.

― We need to talk about Bevan (DL), Tuesday, May 31, 2011 1:48 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

I've always remembered MLIR as being badly received, at least commercially speaking, compared to Leisure. Have I been wrong all these years? On the MLIR tour I saw them at Sussex Uni, pretty small venue, and it felt like they were no longer gonna be the next big thing. Felt like Parklife success came out of nowhere. I've probably remembered it all wrong tbh.

re: 'interim' non album singles in that era; you had Pop Is Dead, Popscene and also
Who Wants To Be The Disco King? by The Wonder Stuff a couple of years previously; all 3 seem to be have lyrical similarities and a non specific beef with some aspect of the industry. weird.

xp yeah the unoffical deluxe albums are all still available from the guys on the official forum. i wish the band would do proper deluxe versions though like the current Suede ones. i'm still dying to see 'B Roads' the follow up to the 'Star Shaped' film was was supposedly *even more* debauched.

yeah critics wise MLIR was pretty much a smash. good-to-great reviews everywhere. Dave Cavanagh at Select did a great full page piece about it and the Melody Maker gave them their first front cover in 12-18 months around the time of Sunday Sunday and also sponsored the Sugary Tea tour that followed. NME naturally enough was miles behind and didn't give em a cover again until Parklife.

your actual turning point was Reading 1993. there's a great blog here that has a copy. it's fantastic. http://blurliveaudioarchiveproject.blogspot.com/2009/10/show-reading-festival-august-1993.html

Many thx for that link to the Select piece, I'd entirely forgotten 'I'm All Over'!!!

I think I was at that Reading Festival. Did Blur play middle of the afternoon on the Saturday and Damon kept disappearing to throw up? Or perhaps that was an earlier Reading appearance?

A friend of mine got so drunk at Reading 92 that he jumped on stage and stole Damon's sunglasses and got chased around for a bit. Blur always describe that gig as their nadir so I like to think my idiot friend played a part in their creative rebirth by making a bad situation even worse.

nah Reading 93 was the following year; a headline slot in the evening where they packed out the small tent, The The were playing the Main stage at the same time. it's recounted as a turning point by the band in the official biog; Stephen Street talks of his shock at hearing the whole crowd doing the "..and then he.." bits in Colin Zeal, which are clearly audible on that bootleg recording above.

God I forgot 'Into Another' as well. Their B sides were just sooo good.

xp yeah the unoffical deluxe albums are all still available from the guys on the official forum.

Could someone clue me into the MLIR one?

yeah it's amazing they pulled it around in 6 months. come Summer 93 they were freaking incendiary even when supporting Duran Duran to a static crowd:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXN_9Uhiu80&feature=related

:-)

I really wanna watch Showtime again. Not seen it since I was about 16.

Apologies for the delay in the countdown. Real life intruding into poll time. Normal service will be resumed shortly...

http://computersafetytips.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/cars.jpg

okay i'm glad i'm not the only one who loves this :D

23. He Thought Of Cars
(10 votes, 181 points)

I own at least 3 Blur albums (the 'important' ones) and still feel like I hardly know any of the songs from the list. Where are all these coming from?

Really surprised and happy to see this so high. My second favourite song on The Great Escape.

apparently my 2nd favourite Great Escape song too

Somebody was raving about it a while back in a book. It might have been John Harris in this.

oh god me and John Harris sitting in a tree

anyway, on a sad bitter album its melancholy is at least a little less tinged with contempt, replaced with resignation and a clever unwinding vocal line in the verses. "The Universal" just tries too hard to wear its hope on its sleeve, whereas this one wants to drive off up the coast somewhere and disappear. also "Lottery winner buys the moon" :)

http://www.great-seo.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/1way.jpg

lol

22. There's No Other Way
(12 votes, 189 points)

yeah if they'd only become a footnote after this it would've been a good footnote. better than the Stone Roses' entire career, fact fans.

The one 'baggy' moment where you felt the guitarist had listened to Dee-lite...

So the story goes that the whole group took E before performing this track for the first time on Top of the Pops. I think I saw a repeat of it on TOTP2 a few years ago, but couldn't see any telltale saucer eyes or gurning (though, iirc he was hitting himself on the head with a tambourine - not strictly a sign of anything in particular).

it's so snotty and bratty and pre-teen rather than the studied cool of the bulk of the Baggy bands, musically too it's like being jumped up and down on by a 12 year-old who's been drinking Relentless all day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyUYCjN2Tng

"High Quality" hahaha...

http://www.dispatch.com/wwwexportcontent/sites/dispatch/business/stories/2010/06/16/china-wednesday-art-gg08sl60-13-china-labor-woes---xeh802---large.jpg

21. Yuko & Hiro
(9 votes, 1 first place, 190 points)

Lovely.

I don't think I voted for this. Probably a mistake.

Don't tell Noodle Vague, he'll hunt you down.

nah i'll let you off.

this song never ever fails to make me cry. it may have been called "Japanese Workers" but really it's the global experience of dying under capitalism in 5 minutes. and it's got those synth gongs.

and obv i was that 1 first place. robbed.

Not robbed.

That one person that had their number one choice not even in the chart was robbed.

the song was robbed, not me

Me again. First time I heard this song I thought it was a joke – "lol blur has done an end-of-album lolz" type thing. How wrong I was. This song blossoms over time like nothing else on the album.

On the vinyl pressing of TGE, the solitary gong at the end of the song flows straight into the run-out groove, rather than going on for about 30 seconds. Consequently the Ernold Same carousel reprise is cut completely.

btw I really want to do exactly what Mr Brutish-Short has done here (right down to an image preceding each result) but with XTC songs. Has it been done? I couldn't find anything.

Yup, Dizzy was robbed! I named my cats Yuko & Hiro in high school, so I'm happy to see this one get a first place vote! Anyone have any idea what is sung at the end? Is that Japanese? French? It's so indistinct..

btw I really want to do exactly what Mr Brutish-Short has done here (right down to an image preceding each result) but with XTC songs.

I had the same though, except it was about Pavement, but then I realized I'm a big enough Pavement fan to care. I'd vote if someone else ran it, though.

I realized I'm a big enough Pavement fan to care.

idgi, wouldn't that make you the ideal person to run it?

Oops, I left out a very important "not" in there.

ahh righto

Daavid - Blur are well known among fans for their bsides. I treated their singles as mini events as a kid. They were the kind of band, like the Boo Radleys who I love for similar reasons, who used bsides to let off creative steam by experimenting, and a lot of fucking around and being silly. This let me into their world, their mindsets as much as big hits and albums. They were also highly prolific; often being forced to leave perfectly great songs off of albums to make room for slightly less good songs. God knows why something like young and lovely might be left off modern life.

Oh that was a response I started writing hours ago btw stupid iphone

often being forced to leave perfectly great songs off of albums to make room for slightly less good songs. God knows why something like young and lovely might be left off modern life.

I get why that happens. If it interrupts the flow of the album, or in some cases merely the narrative, it's out. For the life of me I can't think where Young & Lovely (cheers to the people who posted links & the youtube upthread btw) could be slotted into MLIR without buggering it up.

An album like Think Tank, on the other hand, is such a random munge of styles and themes that you could stick anything anywhere and nobody would notice.

http://thewholesalesupply.com/images/LCWM.jpg

20. Trouble In The Message Centre
(8 votes, 1 first place, 193 points)

one for the 'great demos' thread this one; the demo wipes the floor with the finished version.

Blur need to release a rarities anthology stat.

I wasn't a fan of Trouble In The Message Centre at the time - it sounded too eighties and new wave. Now I love it for this exact reason. Must've been a bit of a risk doing eighties pastiche so close after the fact.

Great song, although it didn't make my 22 - not sure how that happened!

and obv i was that 1 first place. robbed.

I checked my ballot and voted Yuko & Hiro number one as well, so either one of our votes wasn't counted or the points posted should say two number ones.

Delighted to see Trouble in the top twenty, it was my number one.

xp: Yes, you're right - and don't worry your vote has been counted.

Correction: Yuko & Hiro (2 first places)

http://www.wildflowersofstrathclydepark.org.uk/Largepictures/clover_white.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/06/10/article-1025065-0309CCF60000044D-4_468x298.jpg

aaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha

19. Clover Over Dover
(7 votes, 2 first places, 196 points)

A truly gorgeous song.

Of the songs that got three or more votes, Clover Over Dover got the highest average score per voter. Those that like it, really like it.

I've only ever been to Dover twice (ferries) but this song still invokes very strong memories of Dover. The whole album is weirdly evocative like that.

Wow yeah, I do love it. I didn't think I loved it as much as I do 'til I put it on after I'd voted, while reminiscing about something else, and the combination was so overwhelming that I had to back and amend my ballot. So one of those #1s is mine.

http://drinkhealthydrinks.com/images/sweet-tea-sugar.jpg

YES

18. Chemical World
(9 votes, 205 points)

oh

(sugary tea, you see?)

Ah, see I thought it was <REDACTED>

I love Chemical World. Hope I voted for it - can't remember!

http://www.currybet.net/images/blog2008/08/20080831_present-day-lcd1.jpg

xp I was trying to think of what will probably end up #1 on this board and I assumed it would be Chemical World! Can't wait to see the rest!

17. Best Days
(10 votes, 216 points)

Quite surprised by how much of 'Great Escape' has made it. 'Best Days' is ace especially when damon slightly speeds up as we get into the chorus.

I think this is my favourite on Great Escape. Such a sad and delicate melody, even for Blur. Didn't Graham write or sing this one?

Yes, this is the best thing on The Great Escape.

Always disappointed with Great Escape but forgot that it's not a middling album but rather half genius and half nonsense.

Yes, it's absolutely that - massive highs, huge lows.

TGE was really the first album to make any kind of impression in Aus. Obv the self-titled album (specifically Song 2) was the breakthrough, but Parklife did so poorly here that I found it in a cut-out bin for $10 right as it was smashing up the British music press.

http://www.80scasualclassics.co.uk/images/www.80scasualclassics.co.uk/large/th41275401873Adidas%20Trimm%20Trabb%20-%20Navy.jpg

16. Trimm Trabb
(13 votes, 220 points)

Love a bit of Trimm Trabb. It was going to be a single, but I doubt it would have worked. Couldn't have been made in any other era than post-Blur LP.

When listening to '13' I tend to skip from the end of 'Battle' thru to 'Trimm Trabb'. Love that one.

That's the bit I skip TO!

# "Battle" – 7:43
# "Mellow Song" – 3:56
# "Trailerpark" – 4:26
# "Caramel" – 7:38
# "Trimm Trabb" – 5:37

Trailerpark aside, this is the best run on the album.

Trimm Trabb always reminded me of the Shake-n-Vac advert.

Highlight of 13 imo - well, after Coffee & TV but that always seems like an outlier on the album whereas Trimm Trabb nails what they were trying to do sonically.

I think this poll highlights that the best songs on The Great Escape really were the ballads. Hoping that the very best one will make the top ten.

Oh hell Mark G never going to be able to hear it without that in my head now!

i don't hear it.

Writing a Gil Scott-Heron obit recently, I said that GSH was one of the few songwriters who could do satire and empathy equally well. Damon was far better at the latter and that pretty much explains the quality chasm down the middle of The Great Escape. The satire was too flip and flimsy and directed at mediocre targets.

http://www.bradford-theatres.co.uk/events_images/366/-/bd1livegoeschoralwiththelondoncommunitygospelchoir.jpg

15. Tender
(10 votes, 231 points)

WAAAAAAY too high.

Cornelius remix is pretty spectacular though

That's what I voted for. One of my favourite remixes ever - gets all the beauty out of the song and leaves the lumpenness behind.

I like that it's long.

I'm still hoping for http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/images/2/h/Swallows_c__Gloucestershire_CCtn.jpg in the http://cdn.7static.com/static/img/sleeveart/00/002/876/0000287642_50.jpg but hey.

awww <3 love that song. I voted for it! But didn't rate it super high because.. so much goodness.

I remember trimm trabb being a highlight when I saw them at the astoria in 2003. Simon Tong was there instead of Graham, but that song was really good.

Yes, the Think Tank tour really sold me on Trimm Trabb. It had a filth and ferocity that the Think Tank material, much though I like it, lacked.

Picture too big to insert

14. To The End
(11 votes, 1 first place, 238 points)

The French version is so good.

Plus I think this was the one that kind of pushed me over the brink of tears when I saw their reunion tour.

Someone said here or on the other thread that Damon can't do sincerity & this one proves it for me. 'End of a Century' has a layer of irony and is lovely and quite affecting cos, I don't know, the real feeling of ennui is something shared with the characters in it. This one's striving for real feeling unfiltered and I just don't buy it, it seems like an exercise.

I dunno, it's been claimed to be about him and Justine, and I don't think he's sharing it with the characters in the song as much as he *is* one of them...

Ah forget about the sentiment and listen to the lovely arrangements, particularly in the final verse/chorus and coda.

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p401288-Varanasi-A_sadhuh_or_Hindu_holy_man_standing_in_the_Ganges.jpg

13. On Your Own
(11 votes, 251 points)

the sound of magic music in his ears
particularly love the first 35 secs of this

Like this one a lot. I'm rarely taken with Coxon tbh but there's some great guitar here. It wasn't as I remembered it either - a lot more chanty.

I was also always fond of the video, some very nice half-assed b-boy action there as I recall.

So only 12 to go. Stuff that I voted for that won't appear now i shouldn't think - mr briggs, luminous, i know, tame, uncle love, and no monster in me.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1136/1171230996_4b283de1b4.jpg

12. Coffee & TV
(10 votes, 1 first place, 255 points)

Great, great, great song. I very nearly made it my number one.

I'll call it now:

1. This is a low
2. Beetlebum
3. For Tomorrow

I'm kind of getting nervous about Blue Jeans not making it at all. It's my number one pick but I don't know how much love it actually gets over here.

I'm sure Blue Jeans will place. I'm surprised that Out of Time is either (a) Top 10 or (b) not in it at all.

I mean, I love it, but I wasn't sure how many other people did.

I didn't vote because I'm not *that* into Blur, but if I had, I'd have put "Out of Time" top 5.

Low, For Tomorrow, G&B imo - no idea what #4 might be

I only voted for one of them but I'm pretty sure both Blue Jeans and Out of Time will be in the top ten. Also Sing - that hasn't shown up yet right?

yeah i assume 'sing' will make it also

If I had voted "Don't Bomb..." and "Money Makes Me Crazy" would have been near the top of my list. Would love to see 'em here but I'd be surprised to say the least.

If I had voted, "Music Is My Radar" would have been near the top of my list

I gave it some but not enough I fear

"Music Is My Radar" is tops too. I shoulda got off my ass to vote in this.

Yay On Your Own! Yay Coffee & TV!

Pleased people are voting On Your Own - that was, like, the fifth single off the album, no? It's really good - possibly my favourite track on Blur(?)

Coffee & TV - This was my number 1. I have some very particular memories of the summer before I left for university absolutely loving this track and the video too. Loved Graham's too-quietly-mixed vocals (which he also used on The Sky Is Too High). It seemed so strange and fresh at the time, but these days is almost par for the course.

Also, while Coffee & TV is about alcoholism, it could easily be attributed to comedowns and worked very well in the context of me seeing them at Glasto.

Shit - does this mean Peach won't place?

blue jeans is my number 1 too. i'm sure it will make it.

Well if it's your number 1 too then it will definitely place. I knew you guys wouldn't let me down.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Reggie_Perrin_1st_series.jpg

Tracy Jacks?

11. Tracy Jacks
(11 votes, 264 points)

Never got the popularity of this one. I mean, it's nice enough, but people utterly adored it bitd.

Debating whether to save the top ten for tomorrow or to the rest of the chart later this evening...

^or to *do* the rest....

This was never a favourite, but for some reason I really like it now. It's placed very high all the same. Maybe it's the quintessential Parklife track?

Reminds me of that thread (which I can't find now) about isolating the quintessence of an album - not the best song but the most representative. TJ fits the bill on Parklife.

The thread was something about 'pure essence' rather than 'quintessence' - iirc it got stuck after I removed 'Over & Over' from Tusk, which I hugely regret now.

the pure essence of an album

I'm with you on Tracy Jacks.... it encapsulates the sound Parklife and at that a huge chunk of the mid-90s rock scene rather well. Also it's one of the few songs in their catalogue where the peppiness doesn't sound too cynical or self-concious.

Re: my earlier point, it's a song where satire and empathy coexist. He's creating a cartoonish character but he cares about him too. Hard to do.

Save it for tomorrow imo - I'm planning an early night tonight, would be nice to actually succeed for once.

Actually, I'm pretty busy tomorrow, so maybe I'll just go for it...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/14/article-1094635-0136C8BC00000578-46_468x232.jpg

10. The Universal
(10 votes, 1 first place, 264 points)

Oh noes! That's another tie. Strict application of the Johnny Fever principle would have Tracy Jacks above The Universal with 11 votes as opposed to 10. But if I invoke the just invented Face Saving principle, The Universal nicks it because it has a first place vote.

That's the way I've done it on my polls fwiw

top tune

http://www.londonmarkets.co.uk/London%20Markets%20Portobello%20Road_files/image003.jpg

?

London loves?

Air-cushioned soles, I got them on the Portobello Road on a Saturday...

I should get the Blur best-of, I think

9. Blue Jeans
(10 votes, 2 first places, 274 points)

considering that this poll has made me realize I only know like 5 of their songs

The newish Midlife one is very good - nice mix of hits and beloved album tracks. The late 90s single-disc one not so much.

http://www.baxterboo.com/images/storefront/large/denim-blue-jean-dog-shorts-1.jpg

the Midlife one doesn't have "Music Is My Radar" tho

Midlife is the better compilation. Also the Observer Ep has pretty much all the highlights from their different eras.

http://www.vblurpage.com/gigography/1996/1205_matrix.htm
Stumbled across this website this afternoon, just watched this performance of Country Sad Ballad Man

And yay for blue jeans and sing breaking into the top 10.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Lt6Yc4rAb6w/SnmCDm7YMNI/AAAAAAAADxI/a_U26byX29M/s400/boys_and_girls.jpg

I know this one.

8. Chinese Bombs

(not really)

8. Girls & Boys
(14 votes, 296 points)

Gah, had this for top 3. Brilliant song. The shock at seeing this go top five, I was aware they had a single out and that it was alright, but no idea there was a phenomenon in the offing.

Wow okay. Okay. This is good. Stoked about Trimm Trabb in particular.

Yeah, I can't really listen to Girls & Boys now due to massive overexposure, but at the time it really was a BIG THING.

Also, this was a very unusual track for its place and era. Of 90s UK indie, only Pulp I think ever got onto similar-sounding territory, and they had none of the funk that this does.

Yep, unique really. And nothing else on Parklife sounds like it either.

This song makes me want to stab people but I can understand its appeal.

And nothing else on Parklife sounds like it either.

Nothing on Parklife sounds like anything else on Parklife. That's why I love Parklife \(O_º)/

http://www.stellarcookware.co.uk/images/sites/stellar/ranges/stellar-kitchen/products/egg-timer.jpg

!!!!!

Triumph imo (unlike the rest of that fetid album)

7. Out Of Time
(12 votes, 1 first place, 303 points)

Triumph imo (unlike the rest of that fetid album)

Harsh. I think 'Caravan' is up there with anything else. 'On The Way To The Club' is pretty good. 'Jets' and 'Sweet Song' too.

Ha, I was just about to post "Looks as if my top five might be the top five" but not quite.

I love Think Tank, but mine is a marginal opinion and has been since 2003.

Think Tank is a like a B sides collection, except that most of the songs should have been B sides.

I'll hear any song off it and think "hey that's not a bad demo", and that's all. It doesn't hold together as an album at all for me.

http://www.tntmagazine.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.SiteFiles/TNT+TODAY+BLOG.1396/hungover.jpg

Think Tank's great. Screw the haters.

6. Badhead
(14 votes, 2 first places, 340 points)

Badhead? Barely remembered it 'til this poll got me listening again. Very sweet & gentle, and nice sequencing after 'Bank Holiday'.

This was my number one.

For the purposes of this poll I listened to 'Think Tank' for the first time in 4 or 5 years. Still meh for me, doesn't hold my interest at all.
MLIR > Blur > Parklife > Leisure/Escape > 13 > > TT
xp

xxp yeah, I'm doubting half my votes now. Badhead is incredible.

OK, so Low, Tomorrow, Century, Beetlebum, Sing?

Okay, I know four of the top five, so there's one surprise left for me now. Didn't expect Badhead so high.

Was forgetting about Century.

That top 5 seems about right.

Think Tank is my third favourite Blur album behind Parklife and Modern Life is Rubbish. It could lose We've got a file on you, Brothers & Sisters and Crazy Beat but the rest of it is solid. Along with the songs that have made this list Good Song and Gene by Gene are really great too.

Pouring one out for Music Is My Radar

Crazy Beat is real "what the fuck were they thinking?" territory. But it's my fourth favourite behind Parklife, MLIB and Blur. Never got on with 13 beyond about 4 tracks - that's the one where I think, "Yeah, great, you're experimenting - now come back when the experiment's finished and you know what you're doing."

http://www.supercoloring.com/wp-content/thumbnail/2008_12/sing-a-song-together-coloring-page.gif

5. Sing
(16 votes, 3 first places, 357 points)

Is that the first one to have 3 first place votes?

(xp) Having re-listened to everything repeatedly over the last two or three weeks, I'm surprised to find that 13 is actually one of my favourites. MLIR sounds a bit dated in places.

Feels totally different to anything else on 'Leisure'

Is that the first one to have 3 first place votes?

Yes

DL: I disagree completely about 13. It sounds very deliberate and is a complete and convincing album. Think Tank sounds like a band in its death throes.

I think you'll find more people who'll agree with you than I will tbh, especially outside the UK - Think Tank was well-reviewed here but murdered in the US.

The piece on 'Sing' in that Select link hotheads is interesting - it's what they sounded like left to themselves in the early days basically. I think it's the only one off Leisure that was self-produced.

Just listened to Sing for possibly the third time ever. Wow. I don't bother with Leisure but that one is spine-tingling stuff.

I gave it good points in the showcase poll

shoegaze, damn you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjyBVkpubsU

haha nice

Dirty little monsters! Ahahahaha

4. End of a Century
(16 votes, 370 points)

cracker

I thought they were in the cupboard eating morsels but carpet is just as plausible.

Why do I have a bad memory of Squeeze covering this?

No first-places yet still outscored 'Sing'. How many ballots were there in total?

Oh I love this song, somehow ignored it thinking about "to the end".... forgot to vote for it.

Makes sense it not getting any #1s, because it's like a mini 'This Is A Low'

Have to go to bed now. Thanks for doing this NBS. Love the results and agree with the top 20 as it is. Will make myself a decent blur compilation with this one.

Not particularly relevant at this stage of the results, but I've just found this video of Bugman using Gorillaz bits and pieces:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3FOnSyv8BU&feature=related

How many ballots were there in total?

I refer the right honourable gentleman to the second post in the thread.

I see

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.parentdish.com/media/2009/07/thumb-suck-425bs071509.jpg

(xp: cheers, Moka)

So the same amount of people voted for 'sing' as 'century', 'sing' had 3 first place votes to none for ' century' yet ended up with less points. 'Century' must have got a fair few top 5's.

The top three are well, well clear of the rest:

3. Beetlebum
(19 votes, 469 points)

When I first heard 'beetlebum' on the radio i was really disappointed, of course turns out they'd faded it out after 3 mins. The last 2 mins of it are so so great!!

It's a faultless record. It's also the least-successful #1 of all time. Fact.

When I first heard it I was astounded. I think it's the only Blur single I bought. I just played it over and over until the album came out.

The video is so beautiful as well.

So glad to see Beetlebum get recognition. For years I thought it was just me. Was it that people expected template britpop and didn't get it?

Anyway, such a sublime piece of songwriting.

Oh YES! The video!

Beetlebum is one of the greatest number one singles I can think of, it deserves to be this high.

Hope that For Tomorrow is number one.

This was the actually the first Blur song I ever heard (caught the video late one night on MTV), and I worked my way back from there. Huge turning point in the course of my musical tastes.

The first time I heard (of) it, I wondered if it was a Spike Jones reference...

(I was going to post a youtube of the video I have on VHS, but it seems not to be on!)

Not this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAXnqjUfal4

No, Spike Jones'"WilliamTell", it goes into a horse race commentary, and the knackered old nag that eventually wins is called Beetlebum (or Feedlebaum, or some such)

http://www.ballardian.com/images/drew_westway.jpg
http://nwsix.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/primrose-hill2.jpg

2. For Tomorrow
(18 votes, 2 first places, 490 points)

http://www.fatbadgers.co.uk/Maps/seaareas.gif

A top 3 of 2 opening tracks and a closing track. Beetlebum & For Tomorrow are both a hell of a way to start an album for sure.

1. This Is A Low
(21 votes, 3 first places, 585 points)

I love 'For Tomorrow', and it captured a moment quite unexpectedly when it looked like they were all washed up. It's a lovely record all through. The incredible, unexpected high bits (what are they? strings? backing vocals?) earlier on are so thrilling, but the extended oompah section brings it down a tiny bit.

This Is A Low was my #1. Feels so canonical to place it such, but really it still has the power to choke me up from time to time. Not quite sure what it stirs in me cos i'm not at all patriotic and don't consciously spend time thinking about England or its place in the world etc For all that this song just hits me and i found myself embarrassingly emotional when they played it at Hyde Park. A fitting #1.
Thanks to NBS for doing this and everyone who voted and came along for the ride.

No arguments from me about the no.1 - astounding song.

Great job, and thanks to those who, unlike me, got around to voting.

Yes - fabulous idea nbs, and great fun. Many, many thanks!

Yes, thanks NBS.

tbh I never realized before the other poll so many people loved "This Is a Low" besides me. Seems obvious now, though. It's great.

thanks a ton NBS

Cheers all.

Time for bed now, but I'll post the full results tomorrow and maybe analyse it to see which album got the most votes.

Definitely going to make a mix of these songs and place you on my crush shortlist for your effort, NBS! cheers!

I've played and loved For Tomorrow so many times that I know and can recite all the drowned-out words in that last bit. So, great song, great playing, incredible production and a prime example of music as portraiture – like so much Blur of this era, it feels like the place it portrays. In my head I can see all of it actually playing out in west London.

Cheers, NBS. A thoroughly enjoyable poll.

Oh and yes, This is a Low, not one of my favourites but still glorious.

xps 'Clover Over Dover' does that more for me, pandemic, so it got my vote instead - but This Is A Low is definitely of the same cloth. I don't know, there's a shared, understated common experience that it taps into and that's what does it I think. There's also a touch of the divine in its sense of scale, using the weather to be both epic and intimate simultaneously, that is very touching. Kate Bush's 'Hello Earth' is an even more astonishing example of the effect, I could maybe bracket the two together a little.

It doesn't do to analyse these things too deeply, probably, but they were definitely onto something there.

I didn't have the slightest doubt that that would be the 1 and 2 btw, it's just somehow obvious that those are where they were really tapping the vein.

This has been a great poll, I'm going to be listening to nothing but Blur for the next few weeks. Thanks for putting it together NBS.

I found the "deluxe" editions on the blur official blog, although the Think Tank and 13 ones are gorn.

I always meant to get around to adding the later singles to my blur singles boxbag

Testament to Blur's greatness that I didn't even vote for This Is a Low but still think it's majorly worthy of being #1.

Great poll! I'd love to see the XTC one happen too...

Had no idea "Beetlebum" was so loved.

This was a AWESOME poll, btw. One ILM's all-time finest. Cheers to all involved.

*One of

It's so wonderful to see probably moer than half of MLIR in this poll. That vindicates the album as a brilliant collection of songs as well as being a sterling work in its own right. I have run out of superlatives.

That's the bit I skip TO!

# "Battle" – 7:43
# "Mellow Song" – 3:56
# "Trailerpark" – 4:26
# "Caramel" – 7:38
# "Trimm Trabb" – 5:37

Trailerpark aside, this is the best run on the album.

wtf I like trailerpark.. besides that, otm.. i've always loved the middle section of 13

Brilliant poll. Like other people have said, will be listening to a lot of Blur over the next while!

Really demonstrates how many good songs they have - at first I thought I wouldn't be able to come up with 22 for my ballot, but there are plenty in this list that I wished I'd included...

Would appreciate further nerdery, including album-by-album breakdown. Suspect Parklife wins on points?

cheers NBS, great poll. Can't muck with the results too much, although it must contain some major omissions.

just realised I didn't say thanks to NBS. Thanks NBS!

My only picks that didn't place were two Parklife album tracks, Far Out and The Debt Collector. God I love that album.

Thanks NBS for organizing the poll!

I'm not surprised that Beetlebum finished as high as it did. Perhaps more than any other Blur song, it's gotten a lot better with age.

I didn't realize so many people really liked For Tomorrow though.

My non-charting pics, and where I placed them:

5	Bustin' + Dronin'
12	Swallows In The Heatwave
15	M.O.R.
18	Music Is My Radar
22	Day Upon Day (Live)

11 Charmless Man
12 Music Is My Radar
15 Lot 105
20 London Loves

This poll just makes me realise that despite being a rabid Blur fan for many years, I don't actually like the side of this band that most fans seem to love.

But that said, I didn't get the time to vote so I can't complain.

which side is the one 'most fans seem to love' ?

Funny how two of the highest non-album tracks (Blue Jeans and Badhead) sound like two sides of the same coin somehow.

It strikes me that Badhead sounds really old fashioned and charming these days - the last song of its kind in a way. Just something about it screams eighties twee pop like St Etienne or Young Marble Giants or someone like that (not too up on this era of indie tbh).

Sad that "Swallows", "Polished Stone" and "Peach" didn't make it, but these are b-sides and you can't have everything in life.

My list of non-charting picks is fairly simple:

14. Stereotypes

My top five was

Sing
End of a Century
The Universal
Girls and Boys
Chemical World

There have been a lot of comments like "Girls and Boys is great, but not as great after having heard it a million times" and I basically settled on my top two because that sentiment *doesn't* apply to them. I honestly had never given any thought to ranking my favourite Blur songs before this poll.

no Fade Away :(

Only three of my picks didn't place afaics:

Polished Stone
Peach
Supa Shoppa

Fade Away - I do like this one but I didn't vote for two reasons. First, it's almost too unabashed in its parroting of the Specials' second album. Secondly, it's yet another song about disillusioned couples sitting steely-eyed drinking tea in a kitchen, and so it's self-parody as well.

This is sending me on a B-sides binge.

I'd like to know where Polished Stone placed. Definitely a latter-career b-side highlight for me. Almost tempted to say it could have been a single had it not been so soporific and downtrodden.

this was really fun. its been so long since i've even thought about blur.

"He thought of Blur"

Apologies for the formatting of this list, here's the top 60 (actually 61), as sorted by excel so any ties are not shown as such:

1 This Is A Low 585
2 For Tomorrow 490
3 Beetlebum 469
4 End Of A Century 370
5 Sing 357
6 Badhead 340
7 Out Of Time 303
8 Girls & Boys 296
9 Blue Jeans 274
10 The Universal 264
11 Tracy Jacks 264
12 Coffee & TV 255
13 On Your Own 251
14 To The End 238
15 Tender 231
16 Trimm Trabb 220
17 Best Days 216
18 Chemical World 205
19 Clover Over Dover 196
20 Trouble in the Message Centre 193
21 Yuko & Hiro 190
22 There's No Other Way 189
23 He Thought Of Cars 181
24 Popscene 177
25 Death of a Party 168
26 Battery In Your Leg 152
27 Oily Water 149
28 Resigned 149
29 Theme From An Imaginary Film 148
30 Battle 144
31 Sweet Song 134
32 Young & Lovely 134
33 Caramel 123
34 Advert 122
35 Me, White Noise 121
36 Bugman 120
37 You're So Great 120
38 Entertain Me 117
39 She's So High 115
40 All Your Life 114
41 Starshaped 112
42 Strange News From Another Star 111
43 No Distance Left To Run 100
44 Country Sad Ballad Man 99
45 Song 2 98
46 Essex Dogs 97
47 1992 87
48 Ambulance 84
49 Charmless Man 77
50 Parklife 75
51 Country House 69
52 Miss America 69
53 Inertia 62
54 Globe Alone 58
55 Coping 53
56 Magic America 53
57 One Born Every Minute 52
58 When The Cows Come Home 52
59 Colin Zeal 51
60 Intermission 51
61 Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club 51

and here are the ones that didn't make it:

62 Stereotypes 50
63 Sunday Sunday 48
64 Fade Away 47
65 Headist/Into Another 47
66 We've Got A File On You 47
67 Far Out 46
68 London Loves 46
69 Music Is My Radar 46
70 Polished Stone 42
71 Swallows in the Heatwave 41
72 Trailer Park 41
73 Dan Abnormal 40
74 Dizzy 40
75 Bustin' and Dronin' 38
76 Caravan 38
77 Swamp Song 38
78 Don't Bomb When You're The Bomb 36
79 Long Legged 36
80 Uncle Love 36
81 Pressure On Julian 35
82 Mixed Up 33
83 It Could Be You 32
84 Lot 105 31
85 Tame 31
86 Never Clever 30
87 No Monsters In Me 30
88 Repetition 30
89 On The Way To The Club 29
90 I'm Just A Killer For Your Love 28
91 Mellow Song 28
92 Red Necks 28
93 The Debt Collector 28
94 Mr Briggs 25
95 Bang 24
96 Berserk 24
97 Fool's Day 24
98 Jets 24
99 Slow Down 23
100 I Know 22
101 Look Inside America 21
102 My Ark 21
103 Explain 20
104 Ultranol 19
105 Luminous 17
106 M.O.R. 17
107 Fool 15
108 Good Song 15
109 Peach 15
110 Bank Holiday 13
111 I'm Fine 13
112 Bone Bag 13
113 Jubilee 12
114 Supa Shoppa 12
115 Theme From Retro 12
116 So You 12
117 BLUREMI 10
118 Day Upon Day 10
119 Tell Me Tell Me 10
120 Trade Stylee 10

Good to see every album being represented in the Top 10.

... except 13, strangely.

Theme From An Imaginary Film is the top b-side. I love that track, but I'm surprised it did that well.

1. Parklife (2,786)
2. Modern Life Is Rubbish (1,808)
3. Non-album tracks (1,535)
4. Blur (1,491)
5. Great Escape (1,341)
6. Thinktank (1,221)
7. Thirteen (1,174)
8. Leisure (738)

Think Tank above 13. Very weird.

Yeah, wtf??

Are all those points from Out of Time I wonder? I remember when I worked in a warehouse in 2003 I overhead some of the lads talking about it saying "I like this one - it's a proper song!" and I guess I kind of knew what they meant.

Actually 13 is far more than the sum of its parts, so really it's not that surprising.

I guess. There are very few consensus highlights on 13 - it's more of a "I like this one, but you like that one" kind of thing. Still, given how few really great songs are on Think Tank (plus a lack of big hits) it's still surprising it won out.

This thread has convinced me to definitely try and catch them next time they play live. Any idea what they're up to at the moment? Are they recording anything or planning any kind of tour, or is that it?

Nothing announced.

Planning, thesedays, = "keeping it very secret, denying everything, until the day of announcement"
i.e. Album release, tour, etc.

So, who knows.

i can imagine them doing a radiohead, yeah. I wonder if, saying they do make a new album, whether it'll be any cop at all. I did like Fool's Day, but there's no way of telling if it would work in an album context.

The problem with any new Blur album would be making it sound democratic and giving Graham as much clout as Damon. I like Think Tank but I mentally file it alongside Gorillaz or The Good, the Bad and the Queen rather than other Blur records. I wonder if Damon could let go of the creative reins sufficiently to allow the old Blur chemistry to work again.

My biggest shock.. No one pushing for Tell Me Tell Me or Long Legged out there?

I posted before I saw the list :( at least Mixed Up got love but TMTM only voted for by me I assume. Pity! Love those Seymour songs!

Well, one thing that this thread has shown is that they did a heck of a lot of work over their active years.

And, the work they would do in the future, potentially, is of the same ilk as before (recording, touring, media, etc)

Whereas a bunch of re-unioned bands would have a couple of members who virtually dropped out/retired, and one who carried on majorly (e.g. the VU).

Again, the world is much the same in 2011 as it was in 2003.

Ah, Pressure on Julian didn't make the top 60, so that's two songs from my list that didn't make it.

113 Jubilee 12

This is a surprise. Also Peach at #109.

A little surprised that M.O.R. didn't feature much higher up the chart, Albarn's best Bowie knockoff. Didn't make it into my 22 but would've made my 30.

Does anyone rate "All We Want", the Tender b-side? Always liked that, though not quite enough to include in my list.

@MarkG I know I'm a weird atypical Blur fan for a start, because my favourite albums are Leisure and 13 and my least favourite is probably Parklife (only because I don't even consider Think Tank a Blur album really) but I've always been a weird atypical Blur fan, even at the height of my participation in Blur fandom (online or otherwise).

Duane: it's pretty great! I haven't heard that in a long time. I was much more about All Your Life in terms of their three-letter titles starting with All though..

dammit I should have voted

It only would have been for 4 songs but it would have pushed "Music Is My Radar" into the countdown

Beetlbum is as an amazing song. I remember someone at the time saying how amazing it was that a song which is half instrumental could get to number one.

lol I was finding "Beetlebum" incredibly boring until the singing stopped

half instrumental? I have to listen to it again now.

Missed the poll. Would've voted for "Popscene" just because it reveals something important about Damon Albarn (that he's a spastic smartarse). Top songs would've been from 13 though... I love that album. Tender goes on a long time and is kind of obvious (big gospel chorus etc.), but I like to imagine the catharsis of having 10,000 fans in an arena singing "get through it" with you. "Coffee and TV" is an introvert anthem but (maybe appropriately) really hard to sing along with.

Let me rephrase. My favourite Blur albums are Leisure and side 2 of 13. If the whole of 13 were like the second half of it, it would be my favourite, but because it isn't, Leisure is.

Also Modern Life Is Rubbish >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Parklife but mainly because of the super aggro bass sound on MLIR, like I swear Alexander the James' music man actually grew TEETH on some of those songs.

Parklife is a nimbler, more streamlined version of MLIR really. It repeats a lot of tricks, but somehow I still prefer Parklife because it's absolutely all killer whereas there are tracks like Turn It Up and Coping, plus a few dull hoary moments towards the beginning which aren't bad in themselves, but kind of weigh MLIR down.

Man you are so wrong. Coping and Turn It Up are gr8! Turn It Up especially just has the most amazing little melodic hook and of course one of Alex's trademark "I'm supposed to playing root note & kick on this one-chord bit, but instead I'm going to wander about the fretboard like a ferret in a cage" riffs.

The only songs I skip on MLIR are Blue Jeans and Miss America. (Both of which placed, which is mad crazy talk to me.)

I listened to "Blue Jeans" yesterday for the first time and thought it was really, really boring.

they're due some remasters but i guess we're getting them at their 20 year anniversary point like Suede's/ Manics' / Primals etc maybe not Leisure though..

yeah I never got the Blue Jeans love. baffles me to this day.

But but I rlly rlly want a remaster of the Japanese version of Leisure...

"She's So High"
"There's No Other Way"
"Bang"
"I Know"
"Slow Down"
"Repetition"
"Bad Day"
"Sing"
"High Cool"
"Come Together"
"Inertia"
"Mr. Briggs"
"Fool"
"Birthday"
"Wear Me Down"

(the only way I get to not have to choose between Sing and I Know. I fucking love I Know (it's that damn bassline) but it's a crime that Sing was left off the US release for it.)

Blue Jeans isn't bad, but it's not THAT good, and that's another prob I have with MLIR is that some songs are duplicated on the album (Blue Jeans/Resigned very similar in feel), whereas no two songs on Parklife sound the same at all.

Do not actually take issue with MLIR btw, just saying why Parklife edges out.

and here are the ones that didn't make it:

63 Sunday Sunday 48

I made a youtube playlist of the top 60 (61) songs:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL6B4E0C64EF241DEF&feature=mh_lolz

I made that CD of the "MLIR" draft 1 tracks.

Will play it later and report back...

I'm sad this poll is over now... did someone say they were thinking of doing the same with Pavement tracks?

iirc Johnny Fever said he wants one but doesn't feel up to running it. I'll start an XTC one in a couple of weeks.

That means I'm gonna have to get some XTC albums outside the greatest hits comp (which I love, but have never considered exploring outside of).

ha!

You just couldn't do a poll like this with Oasis tracks:

1) Not many 'undiscovered' gems
2) A heck of a lot of songs that are "ok I suppose, ho hum"
3) never really 'tried something new which didn't quite work'

The closest parallell is "This is a low" to "Champagne Supernova". Beyond that, there's not much that matches up. Oh, "She's so high" is a bit like Oasis, that's it...

Yeah that's what I kept thinking while this was running. There's just nothing going on below the surface with Oasis, you know? There's nothing hidden in the arrangements, they're not conjuring images with any resonance beyond their immediate context, and other than the first-to-second-album jump there's no progression in their career. You get a visceral thrill, which can be pretty good and has its place, but tbh I don't know how you'd have the attention span to run a poll.

I'd do a Boo Radleys one, but I don't think I'd get enough votes to make it interesting.. Plus I don't have the requisite database skills.

Ha, we should do a quick poll to see how many'd vote!

I'd vote in a Boo Radleys poll. In an XTC poll I would only be able to vote 'Making Plans For Nigel' as number one and the one that goes "Sergeant Rock is going to help me - make the girl mine..." as number two and then my knowledge would be exhausted. Since that shoegazing tracks poll last autumn I've been intending to do a shoegazing albums/EPs poll, but the scale of it keeps putting me off. I might get round to it in September.

(xp) Thanks for that youtube playlist, btw

Ha, we should do a quick poll to see how many'd vote!

Am taking this temperature now.

Okay, I might do a Boos poll, but I'm not a very good statistician. Maybe it's time to learn.

I can tell you what I did, if that helps

I don't think I've ever heard any Boos or Pavement ever. Not sure how that happened tbh.

xp oooh yes please

AA - Blur are basically a convergence of these two bands. You need both of them in your life.

I thought I knew Blur well and ended up realizing I wasn't as familiar with them (at least by song titles alone) as I thought I was. A Boo Radleys poll might as well be conducted in Arabic, because I won't know ANYTHING (even though there was a time I listened to them semi-regularly). XTC or Pavement (or maybe even The Cure) would be good general interest options, but I'm about to be occupied with the 50s Tracks poll and I need to let my brains rest up.

AA - Blur are basically a convergence of these two bands. You need both of them in your life.

?!!!!!! Onto it.