!!THREE BAND SHOWDOWN II!!

[naughty boy]

I've had a couple of PMs

HEY JOHN! how about another of those super polls you do so well?

All the best,

your pal Ian

John lad, thanks for all your hard work on the boards. I'd love it if you did another three band poll! cheers, Flowers

how could I resist?

[clive gash]

MC5 for The Human Being Lawnmower alone.

Back in the USA, what a record that is.

[naughty boy]

It's good, but I prefer the follow-up.

The band get my vote, anyway.

[toomanyhatz]

In that group, the MC5. The other two can be annoying. I find the MC5 overrated in general, but they have some magic moments, and the worst they ever get is average. Higher genius ratio, smaller crap ratio. They're all bands I can largely live without, though.

[Bent Fabric]

Inspired trio of choices!

I voted MC5, not because they are my favorite band of all time, not because I even necessarily prefer them to the Cure (I may have a greater affection for the Cure, ultimately), but...because of their abundant and unmissable chemistry.

There are clips of them performing in their day that are just mind boggling in their...oomph, I guess. I'm certainly not gonna come along and vote against that.

That "Brother Wayne" has been dining out on the same handful of self-mythologizing anecdotes for nearly half a century now does not in any way diminish the "Fuck - this shit is explosive!" potency of their thing.

[clive gash]

It finally fell into place when I saw them moving (particularly the studio American Ruse/Looking at You clip).

Oh, ok...yeah...you look like that. I get it now!

Baldness seems a particularly cruel trick to play on someone as beautiful as Wayne Kramer.

[naughty boy]

Baldness seems a particularly cruel trick to play on someone as beautiful as Wayne Kramer.

He still looks good. Only Joe Boyd has hit his 70s looking younger.

There are clips of them performing in their day that are just mind boggling in their...oomph, I guess. I'm certainly not gonna come along and vote against that.

Hell yeah!

[naughty boy]

Oops - Wayne turns 70 this year

which means he was 18 when the band were formed..?

[bobzilla77]

What can you say, the MC5 were very special.

The Cure and the Police are both fine bands. But they weren't my MC5. They might have been somebody's MC5 - the Cure might have been Radiohead's MC5, and the Police might have been third-wave-ska's MC5. But I am the one answering the poill and I choose correctly.

[naughty boy]

Wow. I honestly thought the MC5 would trail behind the other two.

Matt Wilson hasn’t turned up yet, I suppose

[Rayge]

not very original, but fuck tha Police.
And despite Rob Tyner, the MC5 have Fat Bob and the boys beaten all ends up.

[fange]

The Police are waaay behind the other 2 for me, which are bands that, with some small reservations, i love quite a bit.
The Cure are one of the great singles bands of their era, and the 5 were one of the great rock and roll bands of their era. Perhaps because i lived through the former's rise in real time, today i'm giving this one to Smith & co.

[naughty boy]

this could be the best thing that any of them did:

[fange]

Yeah, i'll admit they did have a couple of cracking songs, 'Roxanne' first for me; but as a band they've always been a like rather than love proposition. In general i just don't like their records. The Synchronicity era really rubs me the wrong way, and may unfairly be colouring my judgement of some of the earlier stuff too.

[toomanyhatz]

I wouldn't go that far, but it's a good enough song that even Der Stingle's ridiculous Jamaican accent can't ruin it. It's certainly one of their finest moments, but I probably prefer "Can't Stand Losing You," ultimately.

[Charlie O.]

I’m surprised that there are so many of you who can’t admit how good Tha Police were. I know it hurts, but the truth often does.

Still, it’s the MC5.

[fange]

Hey, i admitted it! I don't doubt they were good at what they did, but their records as a whole just don't move me as much as others.

[Hightea]

All three are great.
The Cure over the MC5's and the Police they all have their good and bad points.

[The Modernist]

I'm going for The Cure purely for their output from 79 to late 81.

[Dayodead]

The Police are ok and the MC5 great, but The Cure all the way..