what artist, if any, is worth doing an ILM tracks poll?

i have a decent familiarity with Pavement's catalog (heard all the proper albums before i realized i dislike them more often than i like them) and the results of that poll didn't look at all unpredictable to me tbh.

Just because "Summer Babe" won and "Gold Soundz" placed high, didn't mean the rest of the poll was predictable. There were lots of non-album tracks and rarities, very cool to see which ones were the most loved.

― the fey bloggers are onto the zagat tweets (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, June 16, 2011 10:59 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

eh most the b-sides i haven't heard, i'd seen the titles enough to know they were gonna do well

I think the point here is that the winner is never the most interesting part of these polls; it's watching the roll-out and debating the songs as they appear.

^^^^ otm qft omg itt

DAN OTM

Like, in the Blur poll, ppl were so enthusiastic about this entire swath of Blur that I never bothered with that I began to think that I actually might like the band outside of a few random songs; as it turned out when I started digging that wasn't really the case, but reading people's discussion of stuff was really fun.

Also, silly me thought that no one was mentioning "This Is A Low" because no one liked it, not because it was a predestined #1, lol.

yeah, the top 10 is almost always predictable, it's what comes before that which is interesting

I would also happily participate in a Belle & Sebastian one, loads of songs in that catalogue. I am another person who didn't vote in the hip hop albums because it would've been, you know, Jay-z, Wu Tang, Rob Base and Positive K. Figured it was better to leave for people who *know* hip hop well. I *know* Blur well so included myself in that poll!

Joni is a good choice. Beach Boys, Bjork, Bowie, Jay-z, Pixies.. I voted Radiohead as that's another catalogue I know really well (lol 15 year old in 1997).

some dude: I will rep for weird Pulp shit any day of the week! O.U. (Gone Gone)? Ansaphone? SRBSKI JEB? We can do this.

Madonna and Prince would be the two I would feel least qualified to vote in but most interested in following.

Yeah, it's basically just a great chance to discuss artist X in real depth. Nothing to hate here, if it's not for you it's immediately obvious that it's not one to click on.

AND the poll roll-out gives a structure and rhythm to the discussion, perhaps artificially extending the amount of time the participants in the results thread spend talking about and listening to the artist(s) in question.

OK, I had such fun doing the spreadsheet on the Aphex POIII that I bagsy the Aphex POLLL when it comes round.

(I'll even allow the 40,000 side projects so you're in luck, Soit P-P fans!)

Madonna and Prince would be the two I would feel least qualified to vote in but most interested in following.

Suggest Ban Permalink
― Mr. Patrick Batman (WmC), Thursday, June 16, 2011 3:08 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark

this, also! Bookmarked the hip hop one to find out what good stuff I've been missing!

Argh xp, Positive K *really* needed that single extra vote to make the 100

As far as I can see there's been about seven threads devoted to single artist write in polls over the past month. It's hardly overloading the board, there's usually about half a dozen 'radio button' polls finishing each day.

What was the structure of the Pavement poll? 3 days to vote, 3 days' reveal? I think a 2-day reveal would be fine for all these, whether it's a top-50 or top-60.

I do think nominations are a little silly for single artist polls; check a discography for yr eligible tracks.

There are also bands I want to do (or see) completely skewed, counter-intuitive polls to force critical re-evaluation on segments of material, like a post-1990 Depeche Mode poll or a no singles Orbital poll (obv not with a top 50, lol)

Ismael: damnit!!!! Honestly though I wouldn't be able to do 50 songs without adding 10 Jay-z, the Busta remix of Fantasy, etc. Woulda been laughed out of the thread.

Eh, I ran out of time (lol work) but my ballot basically would have been "every song by my favorite x artists plus like 5 classics"

@DJP - New Order post-Technique poll? ::shudders::

Yeah, the initial threads for the Traxpoll aren't so much a "nom" as a "bigup" for certain tracks.

KDT: Yes, exactly! Obv getting people to opt in would be difficult but I think there's some value in exploring/re-evaluating a band when they fall out of their "unadulterated genius" period

hey before the flood can we make a rule that only one of these can go on at once

clicked "like" button on this one

Yo La Tengo (27-year-discography, wide-ranging opinions about recent work) would be an interesting poll for a year or so down the line.

Nick Cave

Voted Bowie, but could've easily gone for other (Tom Waits)

predictably, I voted for Zeppelin

people find the results roll-out process so seductive (increasingly so in presentation terms too e.g. v positive reaction to video screen grabs with text on them for tracks ) that i do think most polls are created more for this (intensified communal) experience than a genuine curiosity about and value of the results (in most cases). so yeah journey > destination, that's more an observation than a criticism (i was and still am pretty into the presentation aspect like a maniac - been working on a site to display list/poll results in cool ways for ages but never finished because actual important stuff gets in the way).

an artist-specific poll could be good for someone who wants a quick easy guide to that artist but not necessarily more than a S/D, C/D, POX or just general discussion thread about them.

"one at a time" partisans, can we at least agree that once the reveal starts for X, the voting can start for Y?

this seems like a good schedule

how much time per results thread?

I'll do a Beach Boys poll but will probably wait a bit

too late bro I claimed the boys

omg I can't wait for the multiple threads of trying to coordinate this "one poll at a time idea"

yeah I don't see why there has to be a schedule? if I don't want to see a thread I just don't click that link?

Thread for coordinating the order and timing of ILM ballot polls

too late bro I claimed the boys

― iatee,

*hats off*

yeah I don't see why there has to be a schedule? if I don't want to see a thread I just don't click that link?

this seems to be a really hard concept for people to grasp

Is that coördinating thread just for single artists, or for all polls. Because I quite fancy trying a disco one.

Yeah but a load of polls on the front page at once makes it harder to see the rest, and causes niche interest threads to drop off New Answers more quickly. Also, the more polls there are going on at once the less likely they are to get wide participation and comment.

Kinda amazed the first post on that thread wasn't someone immediately going I CLAIM INSANE CLOWN POSSE.

no way am I running one of these polls

xpost
I guess we were waiting for Dan to step up to the plate.

"one at a time" partisans, can we at least agree that once the reveal starts for X, the voting can start for Y?

Well, there is that point where the voting date End has passed.

Do not be beholdern on the results thread starting, as it could happen that the results never happen! (remember that 80s poll?)

Things these polls do:
1. Take two threads each, one for announcing the voting itself and another for the results.
2. Spur discussion about a band some people love, some people like, and some people are simply curious about. As noted upthread, the scheduled rollout may artificially prolong the discussion, but it's prolonged nonetheless.
3. Crown a winner! Yippee! But as also noted upthread, finding out what wins isn't the fun part. The journey is.

Things these polls DON'T do:
1. Clutter up the board if done one at a time. See previous item #1.
2. Force anyone to participate.
3. Proclaim superiority of one style over another. For example, just because I organized a poll for "Pavement" doesn't mean you can't organize a poll for "Destiny's Child/members thereof". I'll be interested in that one even if you aren't interested in mine.

Tbh, I can't believe how concerned people are about "cluttering up the board". We already have so many damned threads, its hardly to make THAT big of a difference.

I might end up turning my 1970 Album Openers thread into a poll...

I'm livid about this one topping SNA tbh

sorry

predictably, I voted for Zeppelin

― censored my own brad whitford joke (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, June 16, 2011 11:28 AM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark

same

some dude, did you put the ramones on this as a joke

I voted for this poll. pretty unnecessary.

ha Ramones was just thrown in there at the last minute as a "hmmm who is beloved on ILM that had a lengthy career" but yeah i guess it's not a very realistic one

LCD Soundsystem

imho you gotta get the fanboys/girls out in #s otherwise it's just another boring low-participation poll.

what ilm really needs is a PAVEMENT vs SONIC YOUTH ilx system-run poll

the loser gets their name autoreplaced with whogivesashit.jpg from now until the sun burns out