ILM Ballot Polls for 2014 and beyond -- order, timing, "I would have voted if I'd known about it," etc

i thought it was weird that it was all voted for on one ballot and then split into different countdowns. prefer a solo track subpoll as a distinct thing all the way, like w/ Steely Dan.

in the past i might've advocated for polling everything include side projects for some bands, but more and more subpolls seem like the way to go. especially since it's hard even for a song or two from after the act's 'classic era' to place in the countdown, what hope do songs from solo albums have.

Thanks C G/M for stepping up to do SK. For planning purposes -- and to give everyone ample warning! -- I will plan to start the Dylan nominate/discuss thread immediately after SK wraps. UNLESS Some Dude wants to do the classic rock one then. Or that one could probably run alongside Dylan, since they're different enough, as long as the result rollouts were staggered.

So, whatever people want to do is OK by me. Just saying, start thinking about Dylan. It may be a slow train, but it's coming.

Can we vote for the Traveling Wilburys? The Masked Marauders? National Lampoon? (Not a serious question.)

Paul Simon was also an interesting test for this - huge catalog, arguably equally famous solo and band, one ballot, one rollout. I thought it produced an inarguably excellent top-tier Simon tracklist - maybe not as many funky surprises as you'd get if the ballot was only solo stuff - but a totally reasonable mixtape or 'best of' that I've handed off to people unfamiliar with Simon. And the rollout was super fun, so there's no point wondering if it would have been more 'interesting' if it was only solo. And if we'd had to produce two separate ballots, it's possible I might not have gotten around to voting (though in this case I doubt it).

(not THAT huge of a catalog mind you - he's not Dylan - but distinct from VU or the Police or somebody where winnowing it down to twenty songs on a ballot isn't quite so daunting.)

yeah Paul with and without Art is a rare example where 2 distinct acts/eras are remotely equivalent. Even The Police/Sting, which are pretty well matched commercially, would come out really lopsided in an ilx poll.

i thought it was weird that it was all voted for on one ballot and then split into different countdowns.

had to subvert popular will somehow

Lou woulda been proud, boy

since it's hard even for a song or two from after the act's 'classic era' to place in the countdown, what hope do songs from solo albums have.

No hope if they're not liked enough--I just don't see that as a problem. Unless you feel that once you open up a poll to solo stuff, it follows that solo stuff must therefore place. Don't mean to harp on this. I just see it as a non-problem that resolves itself.

Have we hit peak sub poll burnout yet? In the Pink Floyd poll, I only received two ballots for the non-Syd solo sub poll.

How big is the non-SK catalog? And are we going to count Lora M's band, or are we keeping it to Corin/Carrie/Janet? I might scrape together 10 songs from:

Heavens to Betsy
Excuse 17
Quasi
Cadallaca
The Spells
The Corin Tucker Band
Wild Flag

And hah we might as well count anything from the self-titled debut as non-SK.

since it's hard even for a song or two from after the act's 'classic era' to place in the countdown, what hope do songs from solo albums have.

No hope if they're not liked enough--I just don't see that as a problem. Unless you feel that once you open up a poll to solo stuff, it follows that solo stuff must therefore place. Don't mean to harp on this. I just see it as a non-problem that resolves itself.

― clemenza, Monday, April 7, 2014 7:43 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's not a 'problem,' it's just a matter of, like, it was fun to count down the top ten Walter Becker/Donald Fagen solo tracks as an appetizer for the Steely Dan poll, but if it'd all been thrown in the same pot, there would've been at most maybe one Fagen track in the list. so by putting the solo stuff on an equal playing field, you're actually marginalizing it further instead of giving it its own space to evaluate and enjoy it.

xpost to Leee: I'll include Janet and Lora's stuff in the solo/side poll as well (just checked, Lora's band ninetynine has done EIGHT albums).

don't think quasi really should be in there

Have we hit peak sub poll burnout yet? In the Pink Floyd poll, I only received two ballots for the non-Syd solo sub poll.

i don't think so there were only a few ballots for the Steely Dan solo stuff but i got enough to make it interesting. plus the albums subpoll got 40 ballots for it, which is a huge number.

what abt portlandia xpost

like bee ok would admit to any sort of poll burnout

let's do loose fur next

I usually don't vote in any of the side polls unless I know the discography backwards and frontwards. Lately, the polls have been learning expeditions for me (Roxy, Dan). If there's a Dylan albums side-poll I'll definitely vote in that. I think the only Eno side poll is going to be Fave Production Job unless there's a clamor for Albums.

XPs Well, some Portlandia music featuring Carrie has been issued (digitally only IIRC), so if someone wants to vote for that stuff, they can. And as for Quasi, I debated keeping the solo/side poll to just Tucker & Brownstein, but in the name of completeness (and to make voting even more interesting) I've decided to let them in along with ninteynine.

lol at mookieproof, i'm very burned out right now. also, a very big fan of albums side polls.

If there's a Dylan albums side-poll I'll definitely vote in that

I don't even think of album polls as side polls, really. For artists with large enough catalogs, the albums are their own category. But there will be a Dylan albums poll for sure, along with a few other side polls.

"Are you hungry? Did you eat before the POLL?"_ILM Artist Poll #51_SLEATER-KINNEY

yeahhhh!

oooo getting closer to Autechre. very much excited about that one.

my cipater is getting eidetic just thinking about it

I don't know if The Reverend checks this thread -- I just sent him an ILXmail to give us a yea/nay on Outkast. Leee's pretty active on this thread so I assume if there was a problem with Autechre he'd have let us know about it. That'll get us through the next couple of months at least.

Do we really need another Autechre poll?

wait, waht?

There were a bunch of automated Autechre poll threads at one point iirc. But obviously if that precluded doing a ballot poll, most of them would not exist.

Yeah, there were a bunch. Whoever started all of them should be nutpunched.

lol

hey William, can you update my two mistakes when you update this the next time. somehow i dropped the names when i moved things around, so all you need to do is add these names.

45B. Velvet Underground + solo careers - Shakey Mo Collier (finished)

104. Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Post-rock (Albums and EPs) - Bee OK

is there really no Sabbath on that list? geez louise

xp - will do

I saw some "gauging interest" ideas thrown out there since the last full list, but I think the only one that needs to be added is my poll of Beatles solo careers.

I do hope somebody will sign on for a Devo poll.

also is there an update here?

81. Sightings - Raymond Cummings

or: "The Most Dangerous Band In America" - The SIGHTINGS tracks poll chatter, cajoling, and bar snacks thread

I hadn't even noticed Raymond started that poll.

I heard back from the Rev -- he hasn't been following the ballot polls closely and said that if anyone would like to take the reins on Outkast, it'd be cool with him.

I'll do the Outkast poll.

Cool, thanks!

I'd like to run an Erykah Badu poll.

You're on the list, Eric.

Raymond, do you want me to drop Sightings? I just don't think the support is there for a ballot poll.

Wait, did I miss the Bob Dylan poll?

No, it or the classic rock poll is coming next. I HOPE.

Can I get a mod to add "VOTING ENDS Tuesday April 22nd at Midnight CST" to the S-K thread?

Ghost Mod has acted.

Thanks!

Dylan next? Any objections to opening voting during the Sleater-Kinney rollout?