why don't you poll me I feel like flying to... the UNDERWORLD Poll Results thread -- produced by Smith & Hyde for ILM Artist Poll #102

CAN YOU FEEL IT?

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WHO IS READY FOR

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THE! TOP! TEN!

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meeee

yeah I'm very curious

yeah

great

I'm ready (for the alkaline)

I also need to fix a few of the more recent images above but can't do it tonight. Imgur set tomorrow though hopefully.

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u010-916151.png

10. Dark Train
1338 points, 22 votes
1994 remix / rewrite / single / b-side / whatever

video by Graham Wood and John Hollis
official live video Glastonbury 1998

Hmmmm they played Dark Train last time and it was pretty amazing.

― Ronan, Saturday, September 21, 2002 7:51 PM

they never played Dark Train or Dark & Long the times i saw them - bastads

― blueski, Saturday, September 21, 2002 11:05 PM

live audio (instrumental) 2000
live audio (Nu Train) 2006

- I cannot remember the date, or time, or place, but it was in a field in the south of England in the early 90s. The blood was rushing through my veins, the lasers were pointing to a distant place, the strobes and lights enveloped me, the bass was agitating every ounce of my soul, i remember every molecule of my body entering into hyperspace and being mixed with the love of the universe. This tune takes me back there everytime, it makes me cry with joy. WOW!!! <3

-- I was born in 96, I wish I was there with ya bro.

fan cover
piano cover

"Dark and Long (Dark Train)" > "Born Slippy (NUXX)"

― DJP, Tuesday, June 23, 2020 1:37 AM

I didn’t vote because there’s way too much I haven’t heard but I feel it’s safe to say I would have #1’d dark train

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, June 23, 2020 1:50 AM

https://i.imgur.com/CwIUWp2.jpg

Immense tune and sounds amazing in a club.

Wonder if this is one of their most played out tracks as it seemed to be absolutely everywhere in the mid 90s, from the likes of Sasha's progressive house sets to Sven Vath/Billy Nasty techno ones

I first got Dark Train on the Tribal Gathering 95 comp and put it on a tape to listen to when I took the train to Southend for a college application interview. On the journey back it came on but my Walkman was slowly dying so played it at what sounded like a good 15 bpm or so slower. THAT WERE GOOD.

^ slow the train

https://media.giphy.com/media/lrP0eP4EG1ywQPO9Gh/giphy.gif

xxppys I was the "Banstyle" #1. Love all of those opening 32 minutes of course, but track 2 13:30 was always the moment I waited for most.

On purely standalone votes, Cowgirl would have placed at 8 with 1362 points. 3 of its 22 voters also voted for the Irish Pub In Kyoto mix, which would have pushed it to 1475 points.

Was Dark Hard ever on vinyl or exclusively the long CD? Not quite as monolithic as Dark Train but an excellent slice of urgent tribal trance nonetheless.

Only on the Scandinavian CD, apparently.

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u009-929473.png

9. Two Months Off
1371 points, 23 votes
2002 lead single from A Hundred Days Off

video
Big Day Out live video 2003

i listened to everything everything while i was running today and i felt like a fucking god

can't wait to try it w/ the live Tokyo set, i might combust when "Two Months Off" comes on

― Stevie D, Tuesday, September 20, 2016 11:25 PM

audience audio 2008 (14 mins)
KCRW session video 2011 (link to 32:55)

Comment from the Big Day Out video:

I’ll never forget this night. My first real music festival coming from NQ (2,000km - ed.). I’d never seen bands of this caliber before and underworld were the perfect end to the night. Everybody piled into their set as they were pretty much the last band on for the night. There felt like 20,000 people jam packed into an area built to hold 500! That green strobe coming down from the ceiling onto that many people looked incredible. A seriously great night

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2002/09/underworld/

upon second listen: it's underworld's star guitar. it's fast, summery and kind of boring in a good way - expertly calculated bliss-inducing exercise.

― minna, Saturday, June 15, 2002 10:00 AM

nope. don't like it much. nowhere near as good as 'funny break' or 'star guitar'. who said it sounds like french house ? it sounds just like underworld. dead disappointed i am, but then 'king of snake' wasn't up to much anyway so let's not judge an album on a single.

what's odd is that everyone else seems to love it.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, June 18, 2002 10:00 AM

It does sound like French House, it's about a beat away from being the traditional Stardust thing. The only difference is it's big Underworld synths doing it.

― Ronan, Tuesday, June 18, 2002 10:00 AM

I think it's an excellent track. Not a departure for Underworld, but who says that everything has to be groundbreaking? I have to say this, though, I don't see ANY similarity between this song and French house, and I don't really think I could take a French-housey track from Underworld seriously. Peas, Ronny

― Ronny Louvre, Thursday, August 1, 2002 10:00 AM

It does not sound like french house, because it sounds *exactly* like "Big Love" by Pete Heller with some monologue from a Human Traffic type movie playing over it. I really like it anyway.

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, August 1, 2002 10:00 AM

official live video Glastonbury 2016

https://i.imgur.com/rZH2WjU.jpg

PS - as a huge Underworld i dont actually rate 'Two Months Off' as much as most of their other singles...tho it did make me grin like a thousand cheshire cats on first hearing

― blueski, Wednesday, September 25, 2002 3:02 AM

Hmm. I don't know what to make of this because I think "Two Months Off" may very well be the best single Underworld has ever released.

― DJP, Monday, July 1, 2002 10:00 AM

I'm irrationally angry that Cowgirl and Rez are not being considered distinct tracks because 1) they are and 2) a cowgirl/rez Frankenstein's monster is going to deprive Juanita of its rightful number one

the golden sunlight orrr sooooomethiiiiiing

French house wars vs deep house wars: fite

8. Cups
1388 points, 23 votes, 2 #2s
1999 album track from Beaucoup Fish

audio
VHS promo

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u008-006910.png

Plus, you're missing out on "Cups" (deep house par excellence)

― Tim, Tuesday, October 17, 2000 11:00 AM

I'm referring to the _Everything, Everything_ version, of course; brutal synth-stomps over a relentless jackhammer beat and a queasy bass line for three exquisitely punishing minutes. I'm sitting here at work with my headphones on and I want to leap on the desk and kick in my monitor. This beat DEMANDS moshing, IMO, and they do the amazing trick of using the propulsion to improve "Push Upstairs" to the point where I want to listen to it. (I can even deal with "Push Upstairs" on its own now thanks to the "Cups" association.)

Is there a longer version of this full-on assault version somewhere? The album version is pretty and all, but if I want to hear deep house I'll turn to someone besides Underworld, thanks.

― DJP, Friday, May 2, 2003 6:33 AM

live audio 1998
audience video 2017

"Cups" in and of itself outepics everything on STITI and the album's structure has pretty much perfect build and release.

― DJP, Thursday, February 21, 2008 6:15 AM

listening to 'cups' ((((d-_-b)))) this group am i right

― deej, Sunday, May 16, 2010 5:11 AM

tbh if i could have picked it, the last 2/3s of "cups" would have taken my vote. i don't think i've ever heard a synth "riff" that epic. i pretty much love all of 'beaucoup fish.' then i listened to dubnobasswithmyheadman, then other stuff, so what do i know

― Matt P, Monday, December 15, 2008 10:47 PM

piano cover

my #1. what a song.

Meh, Underwhelming more like.

somehow all of these songs are too low

it's been said that the origin of numbers is a questionable hypothesis

my #1.

oops!

when i first moved to new york for a while i would listen to "dark train" every time i got on the... train

I love "Two Months Off", but it beating out "Dark Train" aka the best dance track of all time is crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy

"rowla" & "cherry pie" placing above "banstyle/sappy's curry" is absurd

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u007-577386.png

7. Mmm...Skyscraper I Love You
1393 combined points, 27 total votes
1993 12"

audio
live video 1994

The A-side would have placed at #12, with 1130 points from 21 votes.

this is also too low

Surprised to see "Cups" so high, though I'm not complaining. I'm not exactly sure why these two distinct halves of a song go together but hey it works

btw the answer to this is still "Dirty Epic"

― DJP, Thursday, September 27, 2012 1:00 AM

no it's "Mmm Skyscraper... I Love You"

― Stevie D, Thursday, September 27, 2012 1:02 AM

I admit that is a compelling argument

― DJP, Thursday, September 27, 2012 1:04 AM

live audio 1998

https://i.imgur.com/ghbnXAl.jpg

the Tokyo 05 date is great but the constant edging of "Mmm Skyscraper" with no drop or climax or anything is so odd!

― Stevie D, Saturday, September 24, 2016 11:04 AM

piano cover

https://i.imgur.com/qg9uVEk.jpg

I was the other one who had Cups as my #1. The one track of theirs that, to me, sounds like they are just showing off with all the moods, styles and sounds they can cover within one song. Goes from groovy acid jazz to balls-out jungle-inflected techno (three quarters of the way through of course) like it's no biggie. I find the vocals on this incredibly soothing as well. And love the William Orbit-style epic string intro that just gets discarded after 30 seconds.

Absolutely loving this roll out by the way, have discovered so many quality tunes previously unknown to me. If I redid my ballot now there would be a lot of new additions from the one I submitted.

I should've voted for "Skyscraper" but it still reminds me of a terrible dance performance I saw in college. The program didn't even credit the music!

lol!

should we wrap up today

or

spend TWENTY FOUR HOURS WITH THE

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6. King Of Snake
1551 points, 25 total votes
1999 single from Beaucoup Fish


1997 demo audio
1998 live 17-minute version (mp3 download)
Barking Mix promo by Tomato
Shudder/KOS VHS promo (VPN to UK)

(Votes include 2 for Barking, 1 for Straight (Mate), and four for other versions / three incorporating Shudder. position would be unchanged counting one vote for the Everything Everything live version)

too low

The dave clarke remix is the shit btw

Fatboy Slim remix is surprisingly good too

ILx "first mentions"

I've always been under the impression that, a few slammin' singles aside, Underworld was the epitome of style over substance. However, hearing "King Of Snake" for the first time and going gaga over their live album is forcing me to reevaluate.

Therefore, I turn to my peers. What say you - is Underworld fab or foul? Beauty or booty? Wonderful or worthless?

― DJP, Tuesday, October 17, 2000 11:00 AM

live Glastonbury video 1999

now, on to my anecdote, which is about how the promo vinyl we got for 'King of Snake' was a 12" and I put it on at 33 and it was SUPER FUNKY like WOW until Karl's vox came in and it sounded like he was a dying robot from planet Opium. So I put it on 45 and it turned into house music, which while quite good was not nearly as enjoyable as the 33 version.

― TOMBOT, Sunday, January 19, 2003 4:50 AM

live Big Day Out video 2003

twenty four hours its the k-k-k-ing o' snake

― Thee Macallan 18 Year, Wednesday, July 6, 2011 11:25 PM

audience video 2009

mongoose and...

― DJP, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:23 AM

i picked ( at midnight everybody dancing on the street here ) but am immediately regretting not picking ( strong food and strong drink at midnight )

― Will M., Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:27 AM

snake fighting IS very scary so i voted for that one

― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:29 AM

STRONG FOOD AND STRONG DRINK

― elmo argonaut, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:34 AM

Coachella live promo 2016 (laz0rs pew pew)

SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE

― elmo argonaut, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:35 AM

Explode mystic dove, explode

― Duane Barry, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 9:54 PM

official live single-cam video Bucharest 2009 (not great tbh)

https://i.imgur.com/iV4fKou.jpg

god damn i was pretty disconnected / unaware of a lot of the rave-ier end of dance when it was actually happening here but nothing makes me want to do strange drugs and get fucked up in a warehouse with flashing lights and lots of other fucked up ppl like underworld.

― deej, Monday, December 15, 2008 10:52 PM

http://www.zshare.net/audio/52776832b72c9d61/

trick daddy - shut up (underworld mix)

― and what, Tuesday, December 16, 2008 3:33 AM

snake!!

oh-h-h-h-h-h-h!!!!