The Wheel and the MayPOLL: The XTC Poll Results Thread

Vanishing Girl...It's one of the catchiest choruses of all time.

when i first heard av vol 1 aged, what, 12 or 13, this was the mindblower. i played it to all my classmates. they were all 'ew wtf chocolate nipple brown'. but it was such a song! having the guitar solo after the first chorus and getting all *intense* after the second was kinda genius

Easter Theatre is such an incredible and beautiful song. Very happy to see it so high.

tbf of Apple Venus' big orchestral blowouts I slightly favour Greenman but fully understand why Easter Theatre is 'the one'

Vanishing Girl...It's one of the catchiest choruses of all time.

Yeah, I'd say so. I haven't heard it since 1988, and I can still remember how it goes.

8. The Mayor of Simpleton (1448 points, 17 votes, 2 No. 1 votes))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/08-MayorOfSimpleton.jpg

listening to this right now. it's pretty but wayyy too slick. or is that its appeal? will i yield in 15 listens' time

Sigh...

second listen and yeah that bassline is doing strange things to me

Had no idea this was so popular.

I batted around Street and Towers and Nigel as #1's for a minute, and then I realized 'oh wait, it's Simpleton'.

certs:

senses
nigel
lungs
street
majors
earn

surely, BUT...maybe not somehow?:

mole

WYAGM Albert Brown

What this is?

So many great songs that aren't even going to place!

That is how great they are

But yet so many marginal songs that did place...

it's all fairly uncontroversial bangerz from here on out tbf

x-post

yeah! I guess we should cover the also rans on the ILXTC song compilation

Didn't they release a single under the name The Fairly Uncontroversial Bangerz?

lol @ everyone who's surprised by this placing, even in the top 10. Mayor of Simpleton is one of the tentpoles of the XTC discog.

7. No Language in Our Lungs (1456 points, 17 votes, 1 No. 1 vote))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/07-NoLanguageInOurLungs.jpg

Photos have been brilliant throughout the countdown, but that one is absolutely killer.

^^

my #5

it's just... fucking enormous

I love everything about No Language in Our Lungs, and think it says as much about this subject as anyone has ever said -- which is saying something!

in fact, this being #7 means I'll probably have major problems with the top 5

will forever associate this song with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8htYS8mf8iY

voice as instrument
guitar as voice
ineloquence as eloquence
eloquence as blunt instrument
all as nothing

This was also my number 5. I thought this might have a good shot at winning. One of my favourite guitar solos ever.

haha i'd forgotten that kooky keyboard bit just before the middle eight :D

will forever associate this song with:

I saw this when it aired and fell off the couch in shock. It's XTC! On a US network TV show!

xpost Poor Bill!

as a guy who was perennially picked last for any sports team AND an XTC fan that scene really hits home

Seriously.

6. Generals and Majors (1477 points, 18 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/06-GeneralsAndMajors.jpg

sliiiightly regret putting this behind Travels In Nihilon on my ballot now, but I had to really

oh shit a new song! yeah this one's rly good as well, voted. language is BETTER but this was the single so fair enough

kinda wanna read Kriegstein's Sgt. Rock story tbh

xp

So, my brother and I have both always thought that Suede totally stole the bridge from Generals and Majors for the chorus of Moving. Never really seen anyone else comment on it. Is it just us?

listening to G&M just now I did the 'Hey!' and timed it perfectly :D

these are the songs of my childhood. like, this is a big deal

this song is good n catchy and polemical in the right way. at the same time it is oddly simple for an XTC song - like, upon giving it a try, I figured out how to play it almost immediately.

it's not oddly simple for a colin moulding song imo - he always played it way straighter. not that that's a bad thing with the playing talent at his disposal

5. Making Plans for Nigel (1650 points, 19 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/05-MakingPlansForNigel.jpg

lol @ everyone thinking this would win

only slightly disappointed that song image does not involve Nigel Tufnel

anyway, seeya colin, u were a good songwriter

Is Life Begins at the Hop really going to miss out?

oh shit maybe not

welcome back colin

but then how is mole going to miss out? guess it's too silly/obv beatles pastiche for ilx ;)

i did not feel the need to vote for making plans for nigel, but it is undeniably a 'glorious slice of catchy post-punk' or whatever u call it nowadays

Apart from Respectable Street I'm not sure what else is going to make it. I guess Senses is going to place, I'm just not a massive fan so wouldn't mind if it missed out.

I thought Paper and Iron would definitely make the list but can't really see it being this high.