Don't Forget The AlcoPOLL (ooh baby! ooh baby!): ILM Artist Poll #109 - The Afghan Whigs - RESULTS

*by

ray donovan

i remember listening to this for the first time and thinking wahhhh this doesn't sound like the afghan whigs but it sounds rad???? still true

yeah it was a strange comeback single, not really being representative of the rest of the album, not the classic whigs sound, not quite its most accessible moment

but it's a solid song

re: discussion upthread, "john the baptist" is a classic, come on

https://i.imgur.com/sZVn5Ir.jpg
39. The Twilight Singers - Papillon
88 points, 3 votes
from Blackberry Belle

love this track

funnily enough, however, nothing from my ballot has showed up yet

the transition from country-tinged ballad to the blown out chorus with synth strings & electric piano is great, blackberry belle has such a cool sound overall

https://i.imgur.com/wm449LI.jpg
38. The Afghan Whigs - Crazy
88 points, 4 votes
from 1965

great pop song i wish i could have fit on my ballot

ugh the best song ever

algiers was one my last to be cut. castanets ftw.

"crazy" is the first thing from my ballot to place, contains both the perfect guitar tone and my favorite whigs lyric ever:

so what's gonna happen to you now?
therapy
the pharmacy

when i saw them in ~2018 i dont think they played anything from 1965. shame really.

https://i.imgur.com/2FGOCwx.jpg
37. The Afghan Whigs - Lost in the Woods
100 points, 3 votes, 1 #1 vote
from Do To The Beast

totally classic soaring chorus

I wish I had more to say than "unbelievable song"

unbelievable song

beautiful song, voted for it. the only afghan whigs song that reminds me of the wrens.

actually one of the new live songs the wrens did a while back was a dead ringer for a dulli number

i was the no. 1 vote btw :D

there's a lot of whigs songs that remind me of the wrens actually, they have a similar sort of soar to them. "crime scene part one" for instance has a pretty similar vibe as an opener as "happy". which was the new live wrens song that sounded like dulli?

https://i.imgur.com/rA0ke5k.jpg
36. The Afghan Whigs - Retarded
102 points, 4 votes
from Up In It

this is just like a fairly average alt-rock song without much of the charm of their later stuff and of course a straight up terrible lyric dulli should be ashamed of

hmm looks like "lost in the woods" is officially way too low

honestly love the groove of "r*******"

and the opening line

way worse song than "lost in the woods" though

https://i.imgur.com/TKSiCqp.jpg
35. The Afghan Whigs - 66
112 points, 4 votes
from 1965

another that's way too low, fantastic shimmering pop moment

the one weakness is lack of a strong bridge but they make up for that live by throwing "little red corvette" in there

https://i.imgur.com/XeCHdzF.jpg
34. The Afghan Whigs - Into the Floor
112 points, 5 votes
from In Spades

whoa

https://i.imgur.com/EDPeVQJ.jpg
33. The Afghan Whigs - I'm Her Slave
114 points, 5 votes
from Congregation

the first time the reunited whigs performed on… was it jimmy fallon? they played this song and the performance was so staggering that it was like hearing it anew. been one of my all-time faves ever since

the weird time signature is cool, it's like back and forth between bars of 3/4 & 7/8 or something?

https://i.imgur.com/1Tnxr4h.jpg
32. The Afghan Whigs - Step Into the Light
118 points, 4 votes, 1 #1 vote
from Black Love

oh damn spoilers...

https://i.imgur.com/89ll6p9.jpg

was gonna say that this seemed low for "honky's ladder"!

lol oops

“Step into the Light” was one of the few I reluctantly cut from Black Love to make room for other stuff.

step into the light got a number 1 vote, nice. i love their ballads

if i woulda ordered my ballot i woulda had into the floor in my top 5. the song is in a constant state of falling forward.

https://i.imgur.com/BDCfWHE.jpg
31. The Twilight Singers - Candy Cane Crawl
122 points, 5 votes
from Powder Burns

the studio version of this is alright but obviously when they turn it into an 8 minute epic live is the real deal

eh the studio cut has its own magic too, v gorgeous gentle ballad, appropriate it placed next to "step into the light"

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

here's a great live version

the studio version has a similar low-boil magic to "set the ray to jerry" imo

which was the new live wrens song that sounded like dulli?

I was thinking of "Get Out of this Hopeless Town" but "Well it's Right then it's Wrong" (both seen here) fits as well I think. There's some Dulli-esque intensity to "Boys You Won't" as well, so maybe it's Kevin-specific.

"boys you won't" even has the high "ooooh"s that are a dulli trademark