The The vs. The Smiths

one coin for The The.

make that two!

however will they overturn this deficit now

i choose A PIZZA

final tally:

The Smiths - 84
The The - 2

lol i was actually abt to make a post a bit like that one

actually, i am also voting for The The.

so, you know, 3 votes i guess

THREE-NIL
THREE-NIL

honestly, had I never heard Mind Bomb this might require more thought from me

(basically, thinking it's clever to use the word "n*gger" in the most hamfisted way possible = automatic loss for me; this is also known as Christian Death Syndrome)

The frustrating thing is that half of Mind Bomb is great, and half is :-/, and one line is ;________;

i have to approach it in an odd way, because most of my favorite bands have some pretty fucked up lyrical content - admittedly when Foetus rolls out some crazy "did he just say that!?" shit, there is a clear character/lyricist divide, whereas matt johnson doesnt really pull it off.

still i will rep all day long for dusk and (oh hey prob alone in this) hanky panky, in addition to the early stuff. mind bomb gets the least of my attention these days, but its been with me longest so

and obv that line suuuuucks

the way i see it is that the dude released his (imo) best album more than 20, even 25 years after he began recording, and all this after some seminal (infected, dusk) work. that's hella, hella classy

admittedly when Foetus rolls out some crazy "did he just say that!?" shit, there is a clear character/lyricist divide, whereas matt johnson doesnt really pull it off

Absolutely, which is why I used "hamfisted"; even things that cause eye-rolling and derision like the fascist freak-out section of The Wall are much better realized than whatever the hell Matt Johnson thought he was doing on "The Violence of Truth".

Then again Infected and Dusk are awesome.

oh whoa wait are you repping for NakedSelf then? LJ you never cease to amaze me xpost

i uh own that album but never quite actually listened to it

It's pretty good!

I voted The The because there was a joke about them once on City Lights.

it's *brilliant* and 'shrunkenman' is a song et demi...inside my decade top 10 for tracks

lj have you heard this? http://www.discogs.com/The-The-Interpretations-Issue-One-ShrunkenMan/release/315418

OMG!! Foetus covering ShrunkenMan = head explodes, ty for bringing it to my attention

anyway make it your task to listen to 'nakedself', much as it is my current task to listen to 'soul mining' and maybe maybe the smiths

every time i get involved in an ILM thread i realize that i really should go unbox my cds that have been living in a basement for a year and a half. i should have a copy of that, so if you are unable to find it let me know (assuming it is out of print)

But older than me now
More constant
More real
And the fur and the mouth and the innocence
Turned to hair and contentment
That hangs in abasement
A woman now standing where once
There was only a girl

... sorry, that's what comes to mind every time I see the phrase "a basement"

THE SMITHS 4EVAH

cool, shall do, but i think i should be able to find a copy :)

lol Dan otm

but then the cure have already been smiths-vanquished :(

(the other thing that comes to mind is a Skinny Puppy instrumental but listening to New Order pushed me Curewards)

I just voted for Soul Mining tbh.

xpost whereas ironically listening to New Order pushed the Cure EDIT

you know what poll might REALLY blow ilm's mind? talk talk vs the smiths

(please do not do this)

soul mining has been VERY good so far, can't believe i never listened to it all in one go before

i have never listened to talk talk AFAIK

How is this even a question?

The Smiths.

― Daniel, Esq., Thursday, September 10, 2009 2:44 PM (2 hours ago)

i have never listened to talk talk AFAIK

it's your life

I really haven't felt either of those last 2 Talk Talk albums when I've tried listening to them.

ok wait, does Talk Talk do the song "Talk Talk"? if so i guess i have heard them

It is really too bad that their first album isn't called Talk Talk.

The song should really have been titled "Talk Talk (Talk Talk)."

ok i just listened to its my life again and am i going to catch a beatdown if i say that they remind me of a boring version of erasure?

not at all, but you now have to hear 'spirit of eden' and then repeat that claim

They sound a lot different on, say, Laughing Stock.

(So, put differently, L0uis OTM).

you all realize we're half a step away from a "Material Issue vs. The Smiths" poll, right

i think we've covered most of the good stuff which came out of england in the late 80's, self excluded

I actually encourage a round robin with many big acts v. The Smiths, e.g.

• Led Zepplin v. The Smiths
• The Who v. The Smiths
• Radiohead v. The Smiths
• pick your favorite pop acts v. The Smiths

Material Issue vs. The Smiths

ok spirit of eden is total redemption now i am intrigued with your talk talk band

there's good stuff on the first two albums, but it really is all about colour of spring through laughing stock...brilliant, liberated music, maybe a bit diffident for some tastes (hai NV <3 but u and i !=1 on this) but imo totally engrossing and thrilling

every time you post something like:
...inside my decade top 10 for tracks

I have half a mind to search for all the times you do this ... that top 10 is probably somewhere in the thousands ... of course the other half of my mind reminds me there are far more productive and interesting things I could be doing.

lol actually i think you'll find i've been sparing as far as 'best of decade' is concerned...i could provide a list, if you like

please do!

it's basically something like

ulrich schnauss - on my own
cardiacs - ditzy scene
the the - shrunkenman
hood - the lost you
volcano! - palimpsests
oceansize - savant
ulver - christmas
foetus - kreibabe
kayo dot - ___on limpid form
thighpaulsandra - michel publicity window

...subject to daily changes of heart

bubbling in the 10-20 range are the likes of

deathspell omega - the repellent scars of abandon and election
chrome hoof - tonyte
the fiery furnaces - chris michaels
the chap - now woel
my computer - pulling myself together
shining - in the kingdom of kitsch you will be a monster

and some others i haven't worked out yet

subject to daily changes of heart

that's what I mean about numbering in the thousands ... the changes are so frequent it's almost absurd.

But back to the thread topic ... The Smiths were one of my favorite bands as a teenager (late 80s/early 90s) when I suffered the standard teenage issues. I don't think I've actually listened to them in years, honestly. It's possible I might like The The more now, but the things I like about The The, I find The Pop Group does more interestingly.

the changes are so frequent it's almost absurd.

only within the context of a loosely interchangeable top 20. every song i just listed is a lock for that list. would i like The Pop Group?

I'm prompted by this thread to have another go at finding the hooks in Spirit of Eden, then.

This poll actually requires some thought. So, let's see... The Smiths produced an almost immaculate body of work before dissolving, so that's 4 proper albums, an odds and sods collection and a live album, plus numerous singles.

Matt has produced 7 proper albums, almost all of which are great though not as untouchable as Morrissey & Co. I happen to love all of them except "Mind Bomb", which may not be it's fault as it came out when I was in college and got overplayed in my circle. I mean, he takes Hank Williams classic stuff and makes it into something new as opposed to so many other artists who just do a straight cover of the material. "Nakedself" was ahead of it's time, still a bloody great record. His non-lp material, especially in the early years, is particular strong and experimental.

So this is like in sports, trying to compare one athlete who had a short, exceptional career to someone who had a long, very good to excellent career. Are you judging peak performance or career performance? Peak goes to the Smiths, career goes to Matt.

No Beyonce, Louis?

I'm just giving you shit about it, because I'm averse to making lists of favorites delimited by quantity. I just have amorphous groups of "things I think are really great," "things I think are the best ever," etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0tYowbIxE

no beyonce, sorry, but it's the list that had to be made

'soul mining' is a really excellent record

delimiting by quantity is a challenge i relish, although obviously it disregards the temperamental nature of music appreciation

Don't like either of them that much, but I can't remember a single The The tune, so the Smiths win

xp - i think we've already discussed the connotations of you using words that also denote condiments on ILTMI.

No Beyonce, Louis?

Beyonce v. The Smiths.

I actually encourage a round robin with many big acts v. The Smiths, e.g.

* Led Zepplin v. The Smiths
* The Who v. The Smiths
* Radiohead v. The Smiths
* pick your favorite pop acts v. The Smiths

But Johnny Marr played with both of 'em, so this particular poll isn't arbritary

L0uis j@gger versus the Smiths

o god

to be followed by a Mr. Que vs Radiohead thread ...

Cardiacs v. the Smiths

^ Real David and Goliath stuff, 'cept this time David is pulped into pulpy mass of pulp

was there ever a Pulp vs Smiths poll?

Aha!

Aha! vs Smiths poll

every band including a member with the last name "Jones" vs The Smiths

I also feel that The The and The Smiths were often going for a kind of hard-hitting mid-late-80s social-realism-mixed-with-sophisticated-guitar-and-synth-pop thing that definitely brings the two bands together

if cardiacs vs the smiths happens i will probably shoot myself (that isn't a promise)

The Smiths rarely used synthesizers ...

maybe the the is then a synthier, more industrial form of 80's social commentary pop idk

as much as i like matt johnson and the the, the smiths play in a different league. one of the big champions league clubs versus a solid first league club which never wins anything.

the smiths - there are not very many bands who I'd vote ahead of the smiths, but the the + b&s aren't even in the same ballpark

haha xp

xp - almost a decade after The Pop Group did the same thing ...

Wayne Smith vs The Smiths

Winston Smith vs The Smiths

"There Is a Rat Gnawing My Face and It Never Goes Out"

Those who have studied Orthodox Carmodism will understand that "Panic" was the better and more effective attack from within through Pop in the middle Thatcher era than "Heartland"...

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s3757.jpg

The Smiths.
If only because the Britain Matt Johnson sang about at the same time - where it seemed to be always dark, apart from the explosisons caused by US bombers - didn't bear any resemblance to the one I was living in,

and some others i haven't worked out yet

lapsus linguae - the terse crimp
working for a nuclear free city - nancy adam susan
super furry animals - (drawing) rings around the world
spiritualized - won't get to heaven (the state i'm in)
califone - black metal valentine

that's 21. refuse to omit any of these songs.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

SILENT MAJORITY