Poll: Best Song From The Survivor Poll Winners

[Dr. Medulla]

Still you have to admit that it was a very fine house.

Side note: when Madness was on MTV with that song, 7-year-old me thought they meant the house was literally in the middle of the street. Like on a traffic island or something.

Was One Step Beyond ever a thing? Looks like it didn’t chart in the US, but I know it got a lot of play on KROQ in the mid to late 90s and I remember local bands in high school playing it at county fairs and stuff. Not sure if that was solely because of the ska revival at the time.

Regular, mainstream radio and stuff? Nope. But I knew it from a cousin who had left-of-centre tastes in the early 80s.

Looking at the UK charts to the US charts over this period the UK was blessed with some great music. That I expect US fans got a lot latter. I know some of the best US bands from this period were not to be found in the Billboard.

I don't put much stock in the charts over here. I mean certain artists could take a shit and it would chart well just because. There's people who passively listen to music and those who actively listen to music they seek it out.

Charts are of very limited value other than to demonstrate what got airplay. But they don't show why a song got airplay. If a record company doesn't invest in a song—i.e., grease the right palms—it doesn't get played on the radio, which means very few people are going to hear of it. So all the charts show us is what songs appealed from the small pool of songs that record companies decided to promote. The charts never represent a true free market of what songs are available to the general public.

[Marky Dread]

Still you have to admit that it was a very fine house.

Side note: when Madness was on MTV with that song, 7-year-old me thought they meant the house was literally in the middle of the street. Like on a traffic island or something.

Was One Step Beyond ever a thing? Looks like it didn’t chart in the US, but I know it got a lot of play on KROQ in the mid to late 90s and I remember local bands in high school playing it at county fairs and stuff. Not sure if that was solely because of the ska revival at the time.

Regular, mainstream radio and stuff? Nope. But I knew it from a cousin who had left-of-centre tastes in the early 80s.

Looking at the UK charts to the US charts over this period the UK was blessed with some great music. That I expect US fans got a lot latter. I know some of the best US bands from this period were not to be found in the Billboard.

I don't put much stock in the charts over here. I mean certain artists could take a shit and it would chart well just because. There's people who passively listen to music and those who actively listen to music they seek it out.

The CMJ charts are the closest you would find to what was cutting edge and non-mainstrem music in the US. The college station I worked at had a policy that you couldn't play artists who charted on billboard in the US. I had some issues with that but our mission and passion was not to be like all the commercial stations and it was staffed by DJs who loved music it was their passion and they had no issues with finding good music to play.

But yeah if you want to see Madness and various other artists mentioned on this board in the US charts look at the CMJ charts at that time.

Yeah I guess my point being that some of the artists you had on the College Radio we
had in our national charts. I think the UK was more acceptable to eclectic sounds. As a comparison to what you were getting on College Radio we would have the more left field stuff in the Indie charts. These artist would break into the National chart regularly. Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

[Dr. Medulla]

Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

More, I think, that the dominant broadcaster, esp. in the early 80s, was govt controlled (i.e., not private, maximizing profit). In the US, it was almost exclusively for-profit, private companies. And while you'd think competition for listeners would mean more diverse sounds, in practice it's quite conservative in appealing to the same mythical wide mainstream, being averse to deviation. Unfortunately, structures really do steer the results more than individuality and talent and all that.

[revbob]

Was One Step Beyond ever a thing? Looks like it didn’t chart in the US, but I know it got a lot of play on KROQ in the mid to late 90s and I remember local bands in high school playing it at county fairs and stuff. Not sure if that was solely because of the ska revival at the time.

Regular, mainstream radio and stuff? Nope. But I knew it from a cousin who had left-of-centre tastes in the early 80s.

Looking at the UK charts to the US charts over this period the UK was blessed with some great music. That I expect US fans got a lot latter. I know some of the best US bands from this period were not to be found in the Billboard.

I don't put much stock in the charts over here. I mean certain artists could take a shit and it would chart well just because. There's people who passively listen to music and those who actively listen to music they seek it out.

The CMJ charts are the closest you would find to what was cutting edge and non-mainstrem music in the US. The college station I worked at had a policy that you couldn't play artists who charted on billboard in the US. I had some issues with that but our mission and passion was not to be like all the commercial stations and it was staffed by DJs who loved music it was their passion and they had no issues with finding good music to play.

But yeah if you want to see Madness and various other artists mentioned on this board in the US charts look at the CMJ charts at that time.

Yeah I guess my point being that some of the artists you had on the College Radio we
had in our national charts. I think the UK was more acceptable to eclectic sounds. As a comparison to what you were getting on College Radio we would have the more left field stuff in the Indie charts. These artist would break into the National chart regularly. Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

Yeah its really hard to do an apples to apples comparison. If you look at the CMJ stuff you will see plenty of artists that also moved on to the big time, the Police, U2 etc but also plenty that didn't at least in this country.

[revbob]

Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

More, I think, that the dominant broadcaster, esp. in the early 80s, was govt controlled (i.e., not private, maximizing profit). In the US, it was almost exclusively for-profit, private companies. And while you'd think competition for listeners would mean more diverse sounds, in practice it's quite conservative in appealing to the same mythical wide mainstream, being averse to deviation. Unfortunately, structures really do steer the results more than individuality and talent and all that.

Yes its the McDonaldsization of music. No McDonalds doesn't sell the best food but they sell a shit ton of it and most music in the charts here or that gets maximum exposure is McDonalds music.

[Wolter]

Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

More, I think, that the dominant broadcaster, esp. in the early 80s, was govt controlled (i.e., not private, maximizing profit). In the US, it was almost exclusively for-profit, private companies. And while you'd think competition for listeners would mean more diverse sounds, in practice it's quite conservative in appealing to the same mythical wide mainstream, being averse to deviation. Unfortunately, structures really do steer the results more than individuality and talent and all that.

Yes its the McDonaldsization of music. No McDonalds doesn't sell the best food but they sell a shit ton of it and most music in the charts here or that gets maximum exposure is McDonalds music.

I mean, the Clash debut was one of the best selling import albums of all time, but it still took two years and a reorganized compilation version with later, slicker songs to get mass US release because it didn’t sound safe enough (which is wild in hindsight. The damn thing isn’t exactly experimental noise music)

[revbob]

Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

More, I think, that the dominant broadcaster, esp. in the early 80s, was govt controlled (i.e., not private, maximizing profit). In the US, it was almost exclusively for-profit, private companies. And while you'd think competition for listeners would mean more diverse sounds, in practice it's quite conservative in appealing to the same mythical wide mainstream, being averse to deviation. Unfortunately, structures really do steer the results more than individuality and talent and all that.

Yes its the McDonaldsization of music. No McDonalds doesn't sell the best food but they sell a shit ton of it and most music in the charts here or that gets maximum exposure is McDonalds music.

I mean, the Clash debut was one of the best selling import albums of all time, but it still took two years and a reorganized compilation version with later, slicker songs to get mass US release because it didn’t sound safe enough (which is wild in hindsight. The damn thing isn’t exactly experimental noise music)

Leave Doc's music collection out of this.

[Marky Dread]

Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

More, I think, that the dominant broadcaster, esp. in the early 80s, was govt controlled (i.e., not private, maximizing profit). In the US, it was almost exclusively for-profit, private companies. And while you'd think competition for listeners would mean more diverse sounds, in practice it's quite conservative in appealing to the same mythical wide mainstream, being averse to deviation. Unfortunately, structures really do steer the results more than individuality and talent and all that.

Yes its the McDonaldsization of music. No McDonalds doesn't sell the best food but they sell a shit ton of it and most music in the charts here or that gets maximum exposure is McDonalds music.

I mean, the Clash debut was one of the best selling import albums of all time, but it still took two years and a reorganized compilation version with later, slicker songs to get mass US release because it didn’t sound safe enough (which is wild in hindsight. The damn thing isn’t exactly experimental noise music)

Leave Doc's music collection out of this.

[Dr. Medulla]

Of course the overriding factor here has to be the UK is like a minnow compared to the Shark that is the US.

More, I think, that the dominant broadcaster, esp. in the early 80s, was govt controlled (i.e., not private, maximizing profit). In the US, it was almost exclusively for-profit, private companies. And while you'd think competition for listeners would mean more diverse sounds, in practice it's quite conservative in appealing to the same mythical wide mainstream, being averse to deviation. Unfortunately, structures really do steer the results more than individuality and talent and all that.

Yes its the McDonaldsization of music. No McDonalds doesn't sell the best food but they sell a shit ton of it and most music in the charts here or that gets maximum exposure is McDonalds music.

I mean, the Clash debut was one of the best selling import albums of all time, but it still took two years and a reorganized compilation version with later, slicker songs to get mass US release because it didn’t sound safe enough (which is wild in hindsight. The damn thing isn’t exactly experimental noise music)

Leave Doc's music collection out of this.

A world where HesTom would be scared to turn on the radio is worth considering!

[gkbill]

Hello,

This is a race for second place.

I seldom listen to radio (why let someone else choose the music I listen to?). College radio was great - WUSB (Albany State/the University at Albany), WSPN (Skidmore College), and a few others. I still listen to WNAA, NC A&T's radio station if I listen to any radio these days. I want to hear new music - and quality if I can get it. Commercial radio doesn't provide this.

[revbob]

Hello,

This is a race for second place.

I seldom listen to radio (why let someone else choose the music I listen to?). College radio was great - WUSB (Albany State/the University at Albany), WSPN (Skidmore College), and a few others. I still listen to WNAA, NC A&T's radio station if I listen to any radio these days. I want to hear new music - and quality if I can get it. Commercial radio doesn't provide this.

Radio has the capability of being magical in the right conditions. There's a reason I often listen to my collection on shuffle. You add a person who is passionate about the music and explores, procures and incorporates new music into their show or who has a good knowledge of music history is an absolute joy to listen to. There's people on here who I wish did a radio show that I could tune into on a regular basis.

[Low Down Low]

I suppose it's just personal preference. I listen to the radio throughout the day, though a lot of the time it's little more than a backing track to whatever other task I'm performing. Yrs, male multi tasking does actually exist, if only on a passive level! But i would agree with the sense of their being something magical about it. One of the things i remember about first moving to the city was the availability of pirate stations and the literally hours of fascination turning and twisting the dial. Maybe pirate stations here were the equivalent of college radio in the us, in terms of output anyway? Before that it was tuning into Radio Luxembourg and the revelation that there was another world out there beyond my own provincial backwater. Great memories.

[revbob]

I suppose it's just personal preference. I listen to the radio throughout the day, though a lot of the time it's little more than a backing track to whatever other task I'm performing. Yrs, male multi tasking does actually exist, if only on a passive level! But i would agree with the sense of their being something magical about it. One of the things i remember about first moving to the city was the availability of pirate stations and the literally hours of fascination turning and twisting the dial. Maybe pirate stations here were the equivalent of college radio in the us, in terms of output anyway? Before that it was tuning into Radio Luxembourg and the revelation that there was another world out there beyond my own provincial backwater. Great memories.

Yeah college radio and community radio were instrumental in exposing me and countless others to the musical possibilities beyond the rigid bounds of commercial radio. I grew up in an area where I could pull in signals from NY, NJ. CT metro area and beyond and my radio dial pretty much stayed in the 88Mhz to 92Mhz range where these stations lived. Most of the rest of the spectrum was reserved for commercial radio.

[Dr. Medulla]

I suppose it's just personal preference. I listen to the radio throughout the day, though a lot of the time it's little more than a backing track to whatever other task I'm performing. Yrs, male multi tasking does actually exist, if only on a passive level! But i would agree with the sense of their being something magical about it. One of the things i remember about first moving to the city was the availability of pirate stations and the literally hours of fascination turning and twisting the dial. Maybe pirate stations here were the equivalent of college radio in the us, in terms of output anyway? Before that it was tuning into Radio Luxembourg and the revelation that there was another world out there beyond my own provincial backwater. Great memories.

Yeah college radio and community radio were instrumental in exposing me and countless others to the musical possibilities beyond the rigid bounds of commercial radio. I grew up in an area where I could pull in signals from NY, NJ. CT metro area and beyond and my radio dial pretty much stayed in the 88Mhz to 92Mhz range where these stations lived. Most of the rest of the spectrum was reserved for commercial radio.

CBC-FM, late night on the weekend, had a show called Night Lines hosted by David Wisdom, who was the closest thing Canada had to Peel. Immense variety of non-mainstream music played—oldie garage rock and r & b, obscure punk, house music, reggae, shit was all over the place. Discovered a number of bands that way, but the two that stand out in my memory are Lush and The Orb.

[revbob]

I suppose it's just personal preference. I listen to the radio throughout the day, though a lot of the time it's little more than a backing track to whatever other task I'm performing. Yrs, male multi tasking does actually exist, if only on a passive level! But i would agree with the sense of their being something magical about it. One of the things i remember about first moving to the city was the availability of pirate stations and the literally hours of fascination turning and twisting the dial. Maybe pirate stations here were the equivalent of college radio in the us, in terms of output anyway? Before that it was tuning into Radio Luxembourg and the revelation that there was another world out there beyond my own provincial backwater. Great memories.

Yeah college radio and community radio were instrumental in exposing me and countless others to the musical possibilities beyond the rigid bounds of commercial radio. I grew up in an area where I could pull in signals from NY, NJ. CT metro area and beyond and my radio dial pretty much stayed in the 88Mhz to 92Mhz range where these stations lived. Most of the rest of the spectrum was reserved for commercial radio.

CBC-FM, late night on the weekend, had a show called Night Lines hosted by David Wisdom, who was the closest thing Canada had to Peel. Immense variety of non-mainstream music played—oldie garage rock and r & b, obscure punk, house music, reggae, shit was all over the place. Discovered a number of bands that way, but the two that stand out in my memory are Lush and The Orb.

Oh so ultimately not very good then