Pollin' Tracks Spo-Dee-O-Dee! ILM does the 1950s—THE TOP 101 RESULTS THREAD

i'd like to fap with the other three. it's worth a night out.

I know the jukebox!

tough on morale, being ringmaster for that 60s poll

I think the results of another 60s trax poll would be sorta different now, but I may not be in a position much longer to run big polls. (possible job, yay! no time for poll running, boo!)

I have to wonder what the hell else was occupying my time in the summer of 2006 that prevented me from voting in/participating in the 60s poll. I should've been all over it!

congrats on possible job!

redoing 60s would make my head essplode. did the albums poll ever happen?

huh, that 2006 60s poll is odd. much more rolling stone/mojo rock & pop traditionalist than this one. no jazz, early electronics, avant-garde weirdness, soundtrack stuff, forgotten oddities, or world music, and almost no reggae. was it deliberately constructed that way?

like, were there open nominations?

I like seeing Frank Kogan quoted so much (just quoted...he didn't seem to be a voter.)

ashamed to say, as a 50s lover, i'd never heard 'sea of love' before. my life has not changed one iota since hearing it.

― whatever, Thursday, 14 July 2011 20:40 (1 hour ago) Permalink

Sorry to hear that. "Sea Of Love" is one of the earliest songs I can remember hearing on my parents' radio, a weird example of regional Gulf Coast swamp pop making it onto the airwaves in Minnesota. (I wouldn't hear Earl King's "Those Lonely Lonely Nights" or anything by Cookie and The Cupcakes until YEARS later.) I saw Phil Phillips at Jazzfest in New Orleans in a small interview situation a few years ago, and when he sang the song I bawled like a baby; there's something about his voice and that chord progression that triggers my goosebump reaction every time. Love the song so much my wife and I included it in our wedding ceremony.

why wasn't "the thing" included on this list? not nominated?

Only thing I know of that I missed in the noms thread was "Nat King Cole - Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" (wonder how many votes it would've received).

I would have nominated Bo Diddley s/t

The consensus that Professor Longhair belongs in the upper echelons of all things self-evidently awesome, with Chuck Berry or Elvis: not as strong as I'd thought.

― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, July 14, 2011 1:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

problem w fess is that much of his 50s stuff, however brilliant, wasn't all that well recorded (*contentious*) and was almost unknown outside the LA area until his revival/reappearance in the 70s. he's still something of a cult figure, though unfairly so. bummed by the fact that "tipitina" didn't make the hot 100, but then i had it near the bottom of my own top 20...

<3 Johnny & Seandalai <3

Just browsing through the final countdown and results and aftermath. Obviously very glad 'Sea of Love' made the top ten!

Well done guys, excellent job

I think the late-'50s 'Fess stuff sounds great, but agree with the cult aspect--no oldies play, no movie placement, no biopic, no rap samples, nothing really except being inescapable to anyone who ever went to Mardi Gras. And that Rhino collection is like 18 years old. Didn't even know about this until checking a date for this poll.

aw, jeez, want that tipitina collection so damn bad now

I think the reason this decade poll is more varied genre-wise is that fewer people participated in it than for other decades (is this true?) and there happened to be a couple groups of people pushing genre agendas away from the norm.

it's the late 40s/early 50s fess that's a bit sketchy soundwise

xpost

also massive thanks and praise to seandalai! (feel i've slighted you in expressing appreciation coz johnny as presenter is more visible.)

I think the reason this decade poll is more varied genre-wise is that fewer people participated in it than for other decades (is this true?) and there happened to be a couple groups of people pushing genre agendas away from the norm.

― _Rudipherous_, Thursday, July 14, 2011 5:21 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

i dunno. doesn't look like that sixties poll had many more participants. maybe 50? agree that a small electronic/avant-garde bloc exerted a strong influence here, but come on, this is ILM, you'd expect some of that, right? plus some ardent world music, jazz and reggae support. plus a healthy smidge of good, old-fashioned rockist contrarianism (the lifeblood of this place).

Yeah I think the results are a fair reflection of what the 50s mean for ILM. The avant block probably also benefitted from the small number of experimental tracks nominated, compared to genres like rock/roll and doo-wop.

I didn't get a whiff of much rockist contrarianism in this poll, tbh. I mean, things like Johnny B. Goode and Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On placing lower than they would in, say, a Rolling Stone countdown is just due to the fact that we're doing this for our own enjoyment and not to sell magazines. We agree they're worthy tracks, but definitely have opinions about our own favorites.

i just like to use "rockist" as a catch-all

because i am a contrarian

who likes the same stuff as everyone else (apparently)

agree that a small electronic/avant-garde bloc exerted a strong influence here, but come on, this is ILM, you'd expect some of that, right?

To be clear, I was not complaining; but I still think it hasn't been so evident in at least some other decade polls.

this list -- plus a few current acts with a certain vibe (e.g., dirty beaches; shannon and the clams) -- has changed my views about 50s music.

thanks for this list.

I love Shannon and the Clams!

My first introduction to "I Put A Spell on You":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaoNnQfVJ-g

My ballot (unless I changed one or two things at the last minute without saving it to my word document):

Oum Kalthoum – Ya Zalemni
Nat King Cole – Unforgettable
Billie Holiday - Easy to Love
Billie Holiday – What’s New?
Joao Gilberto - A Felicidade
Joao Gilberto – Chego de Saudade
Joao Gilberto – Desafinado
Benny More – Como Fue
Hank Williams – Settin’ the Woods on Fire
Cortijo y su Combo - Negro Bembon
Lucho Gatica – Historia de un Amor
Connie Francis – Who’s Sorry Now?
Stelios Kazantzidis – Zigkouala
Mukesh – Awara Hoon
Santo & Johnny – Sleepwalk
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – I Put a Spell on You
Johnny Mathis – Misty
Luiz Bonfa – Manha de Carnaval
Benny More y Pedro Vargas – Obsesion
Oum Kalthoum – Sahran Lewahdi
Oum Kalthoum – Zekrayat
Farid el Atrache - Ana Wel Bahebou
Farid el Atrache - Wehyat Eineiki
Hank Williams – Hey Good Lookin’
Tito Puente – Hong Kong Mambo
Tito Rodriguez – Sabroso Mambo
Tito Rodriguez – Tremendo Cumban
Sun Ra – Kingdom of Not
Jimmy Reed - Honest I Do
Ella Fitzgerald - Anything Goes
Hibari Misora – Kuramaya-san
Abdel Halim Hafez – Awwel Marrah
Fayza Ahmad - Sit El Habayib
Abbey Lincoln - Afro Blue
La Niña de los Peines (Pastora Pavón) - A la Sierra de Armenia
Peruchin – Rumba Callejera

Celia Cruz – Mi Sonsito
Peggy Lee – Fever
Gene Kelly - Singin' in the Rain
LaVern Baker - Soul on Fire
Louis & Bebe Barron - Battle with the Invisible Monster
Judy Garland – The Man That Got Away
Shirley & Lee - Let The Good Times Roll
The Storey Sisters - Bad Motorcycle
The Platters - Only You
Johnny Cash – I Walk the Line
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim – Tonight (West Side Story)
Rodgers & Hammerstein – My Favourite Things
Hank Williams – I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive
Frank Sinatra – I’ve Got You Under My Skin

With minimal exposure to "Who's Sorry Now?," somewhere along the line I got to like it quite a bit, but I don't think I quite realized that until I voted in this pole.

I didn't know what "Sea of Love" was and if I had listened, I probably would have voted for it (but didn't have patience to listen to every single track nominated).

My list:

1. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gesang der Jünglinge
2. Charles Mingus - Better Git It In Your Soul
3. Raymond Scott - Cindy Electronium
4. György Ligeti - Artikulation
5. Jacques Brel – Ne Me Quitte Pas
6. Nervous Norvous - Transfusion
7. Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train
8, Edgard Varèse - Poème électronique
9. Otto Luening - Fantasy in Space
10. Edd 'Kookie' Byrnes & Connie Stevens - Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)
11. Hank Williams - Ramblin' Man
12. The Five Blobs - The Blob
13. Bob McFadden & Dor - I'm a Mummy
14. Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan - Song of the 2nd Moon
15. The Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him
16. The Chips - Rubber Biscuit
17. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
18. Link Wray & His Ray Men - Rumble
19. Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace
20. Yma Sumac - Taki Rari
21. Shirley Collins - The Cherry Tree Carol
22. Sandy Nelson - Teen Beat
23. Serge Gainsbourg - Le femme des uns sous le corps des autres
24. Georges Brassens - Le Gorille
25.Moondog – All Is Loneliness
Ken Nordine - Flibberty Jib
Johnny & The Hurricanes - Red River Rock
Cecil Taylor - Excursion on a Wobbly Rail
The Storey Sisters - Bad Motorcycle
Louis & Bebe Barron - Battle with the Invisible Monster
Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares for Me
John Cage - 4'33"
Bobby Please & The Pleasers - The Monster
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
Edith Piaf – Milord
Charles Trenet - La Mer
Cannonball Adderley – Autumn Leaves
The Champs - Tequila
Charles Mingus - Haitian Fight Song
Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept A-Rollin'
Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis
John Fahey – Sligo River Blues
Lonnie Donegan - Cumberland Gap
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Etude
Johnny Guitar Watson - Space Guitar

Pleased with the strong showings for especially Raymond Scott.

I guess I love music from the 50s. The R&B released by Atlantic records in that era alone might be my favourite music, if push and shove actually happened. This poll was great, though, in showing how much other amazing music was happening at the same time, so thanks to everyone for suggesting things to listen to. My list could've been very long, but I ended up picking one tune per artist, and also left out a lot that I like, but don't feel all essential about.

Ray Charles - What'd I Say
Ivory Joe Hunter - Since I Met You Baby

Big Joe Turner – Shake, Rattle & Roll
Bo Diddley - Say Man
Buddy Holly - Words Of Love
Chuck Berry - Brown Eyed Handsome Man
Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues
Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train
Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
Fats Domino - I'm Walkin'
Frank Sinatra - I've Got You Under My Skin
Hank Williams - Settin' the Woods on Fire
Harry Belafonte - Day-O
Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning
Joao Gilberto - Desafinado
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin'
Jim Reeves - He'll Have to Go
Jimmy Reed - Baby, What You Want Me To Do
Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept A-Rollin'
Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line
LaVern Baker - Jim Dandy
Link Wray & His Ray Men - Rumble
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
Lord Kitchener - London Is The Place For Me
Lotte Lenya – Pirate Jenny
Miriam Makeba – Pata Pata
Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares for Me
Mickey and Sylvia - Love Is Strange
Patsy Cline - Walkin' After Midnight
Peggy Lee — Fever
Professor Longhair - Mardi Gras In New Orleans
Sam Cooke - You Send Me
Screamin' Jay Hawkins — I Put a Spell on You
The Shirelles - I Met Him on Sunday
The Coasters - Searchin'
The Dominoes - Sixty Minute Man
The Weavers - Goodnight, Irene
Wanda Jackson - Fujiyama Mama
Wilbert Harrison - Kansas City

mine, unranked

Abbey Lincoln - Afro Blue
Barret Strong - Money
Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love?
Bobby Freeman - Do You Want to Dance
Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue
Buddy Holly – Rave On
Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes
Chuck Berry - Brown Eyed Handsome Man
Chuck Berry - Memphis Tennessee
Clarence 'Frogman' Henry - Ain't Got No Home
Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters - Money Honey
Dale Hawkins - Suzie Q
Dion & the Belmonts - I Wonder Why
Doris Day - Que sera, sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
Eddie Cochran - Somethin' Else
Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train
Elmore James - Dust My Broom
Elvis Presley - Mystery Train
Frankie Ford - Sea Cruise
Gene Vincent - Be-Bop-A-Lula
Hank Williams - Hey, Good Lookin'
Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning
Huey 'Piano' Smith - Don't You Just Know It?
Jackie Wilson - Lonely Teardrops
Joao Gilberto - Chega de Saudade
John Lee Hooker - Dimples
Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept A-Rollin'
Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
Little Richard - Lucille
Lotte Lenya – Pirate Jenny
Luiz Bonfá – Manha De Carnaval (Theme from Black Orpheus)
Marty Robbins – Big Iron
Mickey and Sylvia - Love Is Strange
Ray Charles - What'd I Say
Ray Price - Crazy Arms
Ricky Nelson – Travelin' Man
Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers - Touch the Hem of His Garment
Santo & Johnny - Sleep Walk
The Bobbettes – Mr. Lee
The Cadets - Stranded in the Jungle
The Cadillacs - Gloria
The Chords - Sh-Boom
The Coasters - Poison Ivy
The Edsels - Rama Lama Ding Dong
The Everly Brothers - ('Til) I Kissed You
The Everly Brothers - All I Have to Do Is Dream
The Louvin Brothers - Knoxville Girl
The Olympics - Western Movies
The Skyliners - Since I Don't Have You
The Students - So Young

Did anybody do that Spotify playlist?

http://open.spotify.com/user/nstewart/playlist/4IKcWqGQQ5cN1QTT0ya7xo

Great list. Well done 40 ILMers.

Looks like I'm not as hivemindy as I thought - certainly felt like I was winning the poll, but I guess that's more that I was so pleased to see the avant-garde/electronic stuff place. I do wish more of the novelty tracks had made it in, even just towards the bottom, but 'Transfusion' placing so high sort of makes up for that.

My ballot:

1. Raymond Scott - Cindy Electronium
2. Nervous Norvous - Transfusion
3. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gesang der Jünglinge
4. Bob McFadden & Dor - I'm a Mummy
5. Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan - Song of the 2nd Moon
6. The Five Blobs - The Blob
7. Edgard Varèse - Poème électronique
8. Jacques Brel – Ne Me Quitte Pas
9. György Ligeti - Artikulation
10. Charles Mingus - Haitian Fight Song
11. The Storey Sisters - Bad Motorcycle
12. Edd 'Kookie' Byrnes & Connie Stevens - Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)
13. The Three Cats - Yellow Cherries
14. Pierre Schaeffer - Erotic
15. John Cage - Williams Mix
16. Louis & Bebe Barron - Battle with the Invisible Monster
17. Moondog – All Is Loneliness
18. Andre Williams - Greasy Chicken
19. Ken Nordine - Flibberty Jib
20. Yma Sumac - Virgin of the Sun God (Taita Inty)
21. Sparkle Moore - Killer
22. Carole Bennett - Haunted Lover
23. Clarence 'Frogman' Henry - Ain't Got No Home
24. John Cage - 4'33"
25. Buchanan and Goodman - The Flying Saucer
26. Joao Gilberto - A Felicidade
27. Cecil Taylor - Excursion on a Wobbly Rail
28. The Bosstones - Mope-Itty-Mope
29. Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis
30. The Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him
31. Fayza Ahmad - Sit El Habayib
32. Martin Denny - Quiet Village
33. Sun Ra – Kingdom of Not
34. Edith Piaf – Milord
35. Shirley Collins - The Cherry Tree Carol
36. Gene Vincent - Cat Man
37. Marie Bryant - Tomato
38. The Cadets - Stranded in the Jungle
39. The Shirelles - I Met Him on Sunday
40. Bo Diddley - Diddy Wah Diddy
41. Oum Kalthoum - Ya Zalemni
42. The Bobbettes – Mr. Lee
43. Serge Gainsbourg - Le femme des uns sous le corps des autres
44. Mighty Sparrow — Jean and Dinah
45. Johnny Cash - Five Feet High and Rising
46. Jody Reynolds - Endless Sleep
47. Slim Whitman - Indian Love Call
48. The Blenders - Don't Fuck Around With Love
49. Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons
50. Bobby Please & The Pleasers - The Monster

My ballot, ranked:

1. Phil Phillips - Sea of Love
2. Edgard Varèse - Poème électronique
3. John Cage - 4'33"
4. Yma Sumac - Virgin of the Sun God (Taita Inty)
5. Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman
6. Pierre Schaeffer - Erotic
7. Jacques Brel – Ne Me Quitte Pas
8. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gesang der Jünglinge
9. Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis
10. Frank Sinatra - I've Got You Under My Skin
11. Olivier Messian - Catalogue d'oiseaux - Livre I - II. Le Loriot
12. Ornette Coleman - Congeniality
13. Louis & Bebe Barron - Battle with the Invisible Monster
14. Serge Gainsbourg - L'Alcool
15. Raymond Scott - Cindy Electronium
16. György Ligeti - Artikulation
17. Yves Montand - Rue St Vincent
18. John Cage and David Tudor - Indeterminacy Part 1
19. Karlheinz Stockhausen - Etude
20. Billie Holiday - I'm a Fool to Want You
21. Charles Mingus - Better Git It In Your Soul
22. Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches
23. Sun Ra and the Cosmic Rays – Dreaming
24. Yma Sumac - Taki Rari
25. Frank Sinatra - I Get Along Without You Very Well
26. Miles Davis – Gone, Gone, Gone
27. Serge Gainsbourg - Le femme des uns sous le corps des autres
28. Sun Ra – Kingdom of Not
29. Frank Sinatra - Night And Day
30. Miles Davis – So What
31. John Cage - Williams Mix
32. Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares for Me
33. Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - Nica's Dream
34. Edith Piaf – Milord
35. Hank Williams - I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive
36. The Platters - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
37. Moondog – All Is Loneliness
38. Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
39. Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk - In Walked Bud
40. Bernard Herrman - "Vertigo" Theme
41. Bill Evans - Peace Piece
42. Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - Mood Indigo (1951)
43. Edith Piaf - Padam... padam...
44. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
45. Lerner & Loewe - On the Street Where You Live
46. The Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him
47. Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues
48. John Coltrane – Blue Train
49. Joao Gilberto - Chega de Saudade
50. Julie London – Cry Me A River

Oh, forgot to say thanks to Johnny Fever and seandalai for running this thing. It's been incredibly fun, one of the best polls ILM has had.

strong nervous norvus/stockhausen correlation.

Haha, yes, they are very similar artistes. Was going to attempt to write a very long post about the similarities between novelty and the avant-garde, based along the lines of 'experimentation' and 'dicking around' being not that different from each other in my view, but I am way too hung over to actually make it work.

^^ solitary posts that effortlessly sum up the spirit of ILX ;)

gamalielR said something nice upthread about the norvus/stockhausen, let me see:

Was listening to it the other day. not really that different from Transfusion in some ways, the same sense of a different audio landscape at work, interrupted communications above the hum of mechanical and electronic interference.

Oh, I like that. Really good way of putting it.

My (unranked) ballot:

Abbey Lincoln - Afro Blue
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - My Baby Left Me
Atahualpa Yupanqui - Punay (La Pastorcita Perdida)
Bill Evans - Peace Piece
Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love?
Buddy Holly – Not Fade Away
Buddy Holly - Words Of Love
Carl Perkins – That's Right
Charles Mingus – Fables of Faubus
Charlie Feathers - Can't Hardly Stand It
Chuck Berry – Maybelline
Chuck Berry - Memphis Tennessee
Dale Hawkins - La-Do-Dada
Del Close & John Brent - Cool
Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train
Elvis Presley - Mystery Train
Hank Williams - Long Gone Lonesome Blues
Howlin' Wolf – The Natchez Burnin'
John Coltrane – Blue Train
John Fahey – Sligo River Blues
Johnny Ace – Pledging My Love
Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept A-Rollin'
Johnny Cash - Five Feet High and Rising
Johnny Dollar - Action Packed
Johnny Guitar Watson - Space Guitar
Les Paul & Mary Ford - How High the Moon
Link Wray & His Ray Men - Rumble
Marty Robbins – Big Iron
Miles Davis – Gone, Gone, Gone
Miles Davis – So What
Moondog – All Is Loneliness
Mukesh - Awara Hoon
Nolan Strong & The Diablos - The Wind
Ornette Coleman - Lonely Woman
Patsy Cline - Walkin' After Midnight
Ray Charles – Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin'
Raymond Scott - Cindy Electronium
Sam Cooke - You Send Me
Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers - Touch the Hem of His Garment
Sandy Nelson - Teen Beat
Santo & Johnny - Sleep Walk
Sonny Knight - But, Officer!
The Chordettes – Soft Sands
The Everly Brothers - Claudette
The Flamingos – Golden Teardrops
The Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes for You
The Harptones – Sunday Kind of Love
The Viscounts – Harlem Nocturne
Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan - Song of the 2nd Moon
Woody Guthrie - Why, Oh Why

is Craigo Boingo mr. emil.y?

yup.

Was traveling most of yesterday, so didn't get to enjoy the top twenty, but just wanted to say a big THANKS to JF and seandalai and second everyone who said what an enjoyable poll it's been. I was sorry not to see my personal favourites esp. Lee Andrews - Girl Around the Corner, Gene Vincent - The Night is so Lonely, and Art Blakey/Thelonius Monk - In Walked Bud. More than made up for by the new stuff I heard. Because I ended up doing my poll drunk I missed off some stuff I really shouldn't have - I would have repped heavily for Elmore James had I remembered, and somehow forgot to include Professor Longhair as well, despite having listened the hell out of Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand for the last week or so (that and Sea Cruise). So yeah, great list of music. Feel for _Rudipherous_ cos I enjoyed listening to the noms, but just didn't really feel quite able to rank or quantify it into the other stuff I was more familiar with, v pleased it was there though.

Elmore James, Professor Longhair and Sonny Boy Williamson need more exposure here (and there and everywhere)

ILX less blues-friendly than I would have thought.