Hideously White Seventies Album Poll - All The Results!

[Ghost of Harry Smith]

Doesn't matter what we say Kath. There's a core of people who believe whatever they want to believe. And all prog-lovers are evil, yet, in lists like these there's more of us than ever. So bleh!

There was a period of time when one would open the Yakety-Yak forum and 50% or more of the thread titles would include the word "Prog" or "Prog Poll". If you want to exercise a selective memory about it, go right ahead, but it went on for several months and generated a lot of... discussion. Kath may not have been a board member at that time.

This accurately represents my perception of things too. I think that maybe things get a little inflated on both sides when the 'P' word gets bandied about? So the Pro camp gets mighty vociferous about their love of certain (often niche) records, while the Anti camp matches this with loud naysaying. Depending on which camp you're in, you might get a skewed sense of how Prog is being represented here.

But I'm being all objective again so I'll try better to get my rant on and up the diss factor in my posts!!!!

[Guy E]

Doesn't matter what we say Kath. There's a core of people who believe whatever they want to believe. And all prog-lovers are evil, yet, in lists like these there's more of us than ever. So bleh!

There was a period of time when one would open the Yakety-Yak forum and 50% or more of the thread titles would include the word "Prog" or "Prog Poll". If you want to exercise a selective memory about it, go right ahead, but it went on for several months and generated a lot of... discussion. Kath may not have been a board member at that time.

This accurately represents my perception of things too. I think that maybe things get a little inflated on both sides when the 'P' word gets bandied about? So the Pro camp gets mighty vociferous about their love of certain (often niche) records, while the Anti camp matches this with loud naysaying. Depending on which camp you're in, you might get a skewed sense of how Prog is being represented here.

But I'm being all objective again so I'll try better to get my rant on and up the diss factor in my posts!!!!

Thank you Aaron. Everyone else is being far too diplomatic to comment.

There aren't a whole lot of rules around here, but the powers-that-be engaged in some serious back-room negotiations that ultimately yielded "Prog Corner." I always thought that was far more ghettoized than necessary, but of course the ghettoization became a badge of honor. And a source of ongoing resentment.

How many years ago was that anyway?

[kath]

Doesn't matter what we say Kath. There's a core of people who believe whatever they want to believe. And all prog-lovers are evil, yet, in lists like these there's more of us than ever. So bleh!

There was a period of time when one would open the Yakety-Yak forum and 50% or more of the thread titles would include the word "Prog" or "Prog Poll". If you want to exercise a selective memory about it, go right ahead, but it went on for several months and generated a lot of... discussion. Kath may not have been a board member at that time.

hmm. i think i might've missed the first prog canon vote polls but i caught the second round of em? it's something like that.

ya know, i've been on this board for six years now. i may joke about it all the time, but my memory isn't all that bad. yet i am struggling to remember just how many times prog threads even came close to outnumbering other threads. i do know there have been a few spurts related to the canon polls or something similar. i'm thinking maybe 4... or 5 times, max? (i'm not just underplaying or trying to be rhetorical to make a point or anything. straight up.) even if i round up a lil to try to give the benefit of the doubt... what are we lookin at? let's call it 6 times... in 6 years.

i simply do not see this choking prog thread proliferation that you see, even when i take those relatively rare spurty events in mind. i just don't.

i suggest without a trace of sarcasm or snarky tone or whatnot that, becuz you loathe prog, you may see the presence and amount of prog threads as being much worse than they really are. i have been reading the same board as you have, for the last six years anyway, and i don't think the prog presence has represented anything more than a minority of the overall YY threads, on average probably somewhere around a 4-7 threads on the front page daily. even with the occasional spurty exceptions~~again, i'm having a hard time coming up with a substantial amount of those~~that average is hardly some kinda hostile takeover.

keep in mind that i truly do love many different kinds of music... meaning i am just as likely to notice or open or respond to a prog thread as i am a beatles thread or a monkees thread or a rem thread or a bowie thread, etc. in other words, i don't think i am so rabidly pro-prog to throw my memory out of whack.

you'll probably disagree. mwhaha. that's okay, too. i started out wanting more people to mingle musically, and now i'm gettin into board history statistics. i should know better than to think i can make a buyable, clear point. i just seem to get myself deeper in trouble. at times like these, it is best to deliberately throw my memory out of whack with ... aids. salut.

[Bungo the Mungo]

There was a period of time when one would open the Yakety-Yak forum and 50% or more of the thread titles would include the word "Prog" or "Prog Poll". If you want to exercise a selective memory about it, go right ahead, but it went on for several months and generated a lot of... discussion. Kath may not have been a board member at that time.

This accurately represents my perception of things too. I think that maybe things get a little inflated on both sides when the 'P' word gets bandied about? So the Pro camp gets mighty vociferous about their love of certain (often niche) records, while the Anti camp matches this with loud naysaying. Depending on which camp you're in, you might get a skewed sense of how Prog is being represented here.

But I'm being all objective again so I'll try better to get my rant on and up the diss factor in my posts!!!!

Thank you Aaron. Everyone else is being far too diplomatic to comment.

No, not that.

One thing about this place - if you speak up about something, you're pretty much on your own. It's like shouting into an empty room. Either that, or people will call you a 'bully' or something similarly OTT.

Jimjim took Carlsson to task for filling YY with prog-related threads not too long ago, and everybody sided with C, eventually causing J to leave.

Why bother?

[Guy E]

i simply do not see this choking prog thread proliferation that you see, even when i take those relatively rare spurty events in mind. i just don't.

I don't either because it damned near ended this forum and the two or three people who were proliferating those threads backed-off. From what Coan says (and I don't pay close attention to these things) JimJim took C or others to task in recent times and "flounced" in frustration. That's probably informed Solarskope's attitude in recent months. I definitely get the impression that C is constantly testing the limits of just how much the board will tolerate, but then tempers it with threads about music that isn't in the genre. Different people play different games on Internet forums... it's all part of the "fun."

The funny thing is, I never thought of C as the King of Prog until it hit controversial mass. I just thought he was a guy who belonged to 137 Record Clubs between the years 1969 and 1974 and completely stopped buying records after that.

In any event, this 100 Best Poll has a handful of the most universally-acclaimed million-selling albums that are labeled Prog. Jacob's Ladder Day Saints are nowhere in sight.

[kath]

One thing about this place - if you speak up about something, you're pretty much on your own. It's like shouting into an empty room. Either that, or people will call you a 'bully' or something similarly OTT.

Jimjim took Carlsson to task for filling YY with prog-related threads not too long ago, and everybody sided with C, eventually causing J to leave.

Why bother?

wait. i'm confused. if you speak up about something, people will call you a bully for it. right? so in the jimjim-carlsson example, who was rightly speaking up and who was the bully? i don't get it. i thought the two were the same thing, but i think when you moved from the first part to the second, they changed somehow.

[Quaco]

Besides the fact that I never saw what was quite so amazing about that Television record, it looks like a fine list of albums to me.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Where's the country music!?
Not enough honkies, if you ask me.

[Guy E]

Where's the country music!?
Not enough cowboy hats, if you ask me.

[Bungo the Mungo]

One thing about this place - if you speak up about something, you're pretty much on your own. It's like shouting into an empty room. Either that, or people will call you a 'bully' or something similarly OTT.

Jimjim took Carlsson to task for filling YY with prog-related threads not too long ago, and everybody sided with C, eventually causing J to leave.

Why bother?

wait. i'm confused. if you speak up about something, people will call you a bully for it. right? so in the jimjim-carlsson example, who was rightly speaking up and who was the bully? i don't get it. i thought the two were the same thing, but i think when you moved from the first part to the second, they changed somehow.

If you voice up about something that someone is directly responsible for, here (eg. Carlsson starting up a load of prog threads) then people will call you a bully. Or tell you to quieten down, or ease off.

In this particular instance who's 'right' is a matter of perception. Jimjim was rude in my opinion but his annoyance was justified - I'm with Guy.

But it's the more general point I'm interested in making.

[kath]

i simply do not see this choking prog thread proliferation that you see, even when i take those relatively rare spurty events in mind. i just don't.

I don't either because it damned near ended this forum and the two or three people who were proliferating those threads backed-off. From what Coan says (and I don't pay close attention to these things) JimJim took C or others to task in recent times and "flounced" in frustration. I definitely get the impression that C is constantly testing the limits of just how much the board will tolerate, but then tempers it with threads about music that isn't in the genre. Different people play different games on Internet forums... it's all part of the "fun."

The funny thing is, I never thought of C as the King of Prog until it hit controversial mass. I just thought he was a guy who belonged to 137 Record Clubs between the years 1969 and 1974 and completely stopped buying records after that.

In any event, this 100 Best Poll has a handful of the most universally-acclaimed million-selling albums that are labeled Prog. Jacob's Ladder Day Saints are nowhere in sight.

yep indeed on the internet games. i tend to have a hard time distinguishing between gamers. i also sometimes have a hard time distinguishing between gamer and gamee. mwhaha.

i didn't realize jimjim had flounced. he hated prog, but he was great at trivia.

p.s. jacob's ladder day saints.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. there's a title.

[Guy E]

Besides the fact that I never saw what was quite so amazing about that Television record, it looks like a fine list of albums to me.

It amazes me that the album is lauded as much as it is. Without the experience of seeing them live in 1976 I don't think I'd have been anywhere near as zealous about Television.

[kath]

If you voice up about something that someone is directly responsible for, here (eg. Carlsson starting up a load of prog threads) then people will call you a bully. Or tell you to quieten down, or ease off.

In this particular instance who's 'right' is a matter of perception. Jimjim was rude in my opinion but his annoyance was justified - I'm with Guy.

But it's the more general point I'm interested in making.

i get it now. ya.

[Guy E]

jacob's ladder day saints.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Their keyboard player was a major influence on Keith Emerson and their trio format predated Nice. I'm convinced they would have been bigger than ELP if they hadn't gotten on that ill-fated flight.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

I think that blaming prog threads for anti-prog sentiment misses the point.

My anti-prog sentiment is down to the music..

[GoogaMooga]

It's no surprise that Television made it to no.1, the fewer albums in your catalog, the less chance of vote splitting, hence we had Forever Changes as no.1 in the 60s poll. Shame about the total absence of Beach Boys, who recorded at least four albums in the 70s on the level of what made the poll list, but other than that, I think the list accurately reflects white rock in the 70s. Certainly a few from the list that I ought to give a try.

[The Modernist]

Doesn't matter what we say Kath. There's a core of people who believe whatever they want to believe. And all prog-lovers are evil, yet, in lists like these there's more of us than ever. So bleh!

The paranoia is astounding. If anything prog now enjoys some kind of protected status on BCB. Certainly I'm always reluctant to say anything negative for fear of a backlash. The result of this is a band like Genesis receive very little critical scrutiny at all on here. Just compare how they are discussed compared to say The Jam or REM.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Genesis receive very little critical scrutiny at all on here.

A terrible band.
Just awful.

[The Write Profile]

Not sure why people are frikkin out about how "white" these results are, there are more black artists here than would appear in the poll results of many websites and mags. Sure, there are lots of worthy contenders missing like Al Green, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, The Congos, The Abysinnians, Keith Huson, Augustus Pablo etc but I'm sure you'll find them bubbling around on individual lists.

Yeah, that and the fact you had "only" 20 picks- most of us would've had a shortlist of at least 50 or so albums making up the 20, and even then there would've been ones we may have forgotten for whatever reason.

As for Marquee Moon, I really like the record (even if I didn't vote for it), but it's not surprising it topped the poll. Unlike many of the artists featured, it's generally agreed Television had one defining record, so unlike, say, Bowie, or Stevie Wonder or Can (or whoever), the vote wasn't "split". Regardless, great effort moleskin, whatever the results, these lists are always fun to talk about. Like others have suggested, would it be possible to put up a summary of all the records voted for?

Anyway, here was my hastily put-together top 20.


1-4:10 points
DAVID BOWIE- Low
CAN- Ege Bamyasi
BRIAN ENO- Another Green World
AL GREEN- Call Me
5-8:5 points
LEE PERRY & The UPSETTERS- Super Ape
SLY & THE FAMILY STONE- There's A Riot Goin' On...
THE CLASH- London Calling
ROXY MUSIC- Stranded
9-12:4 points
ROD STEWART- Gasoline Alley
KRAFTWERK- Trans-Europe Express
THE STOOGES- Fun House
WIRE- Pink Flag
13-20: 3 points
NEU!- NEU 75
CURTIS MAYFIELD- Curtis
THE MODERN LOVERS- S/T
PERE UBU- The Modern Dance
BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS- Live!
AUGUSTUS PABLO/KING TUBBY- Meets Rockers Uptown
THE RAMONES- Rocket to Russia
NEIL YOUNG- After the Goldrush

I will say that for someone like me who was born in 1984 (!), as much as I love all of these records above, there's a sense that I'm coming to these records after the fact. There's not the feeling of "immediacy" that I got with some of my choices for the 90s/00s list, where I actually remember where I was when they were released. Personal attachment can really skew one's perception of a record, and there's nothing wrong with that at all.

Also: if I were allowed to vote for compilations/best-ofs, that above list would've looked a lot different.

[Moleskin]

Besides the fact that I never saw what was quite so amazing about that Television record, it looks like a fine list of albums to me.

It amazes me that the album is lauded as much as it is. Without the experience of seeing them live in 1976 I don't think I'd have been anywhere near as zealous about Television.

3. Television

I bought Marquee Moon around the same time as I got into the VU. The point is I was single again, back in the parental home and spending my money on music and beer. Musically I was a magpie, reading up on stuff and taking chances. Much that I bought I had heard of, but never heard. Television were like that. Oh, I had Bowie's cover of Verlaine's solo tune, 'Kingdom Come', but otherwise -

So, this album was revelatory. I fell in love with it so hard I even shelled out for an import of Adventure, which wasn't available in the UK at that time. Coming to them both so close together, I found things to love on each of the albums; even so it was clear that the second was a lesser record. It was shinier, the edges rubbed off, the vocals less snotty; an altogether more conventional record.

My dream band for the 80s, had I been able to assemble it, would have combined the influences of Television, the Stooges, and the VU, with perhaps a soupcon of CSN around the vocals. Lord knows what it would have sounded like! [In fact I got nil response to my ad in Melody Maker along those lines.]

Dave & I were down the front when the reunion tour hit Kentish Town. Close enough to look up Tom's nose. It was a great gig, the culmination of something. The third album which they were promoting was good, too, I thought. A different beast again, not as smooth as Adventure, not quite so dry as Marquee Moon. The songs were more conventional, or maybe the rest of the art music world had caught up.

Three albums, all cherishable if you ask me.