The Wheel and the MayPOLL: The XTC Poll Results Thread

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.

i am going to prepare an extra long senses writeup just for u kitchen person

senses
street
earn
life begins from the ministry

4. Life Begins at the Hop (1688 points, 19 votes, 2 No. 1 votes))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/04-LifeBeginsAtTheHop.jpg

delicious luncheon beef

http://talprid.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/mole-dead-1.jpg

Hurray! Wonderful song.

never knew there was a video for this one too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vq1U8BKsEw

which is actually p amusing

3. Earn Enough For Us (1798 points, 20 votes, 2 No. 1 votes))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/03-EarnEnoughForUs.jpg

This is a brilliant top 10 so far.

again, didn't vote for this but it's quite obviously a great song

the order of the last two is important though

Mole first then Street?

ban

2. Respectable Street (1870 points, 22 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/02-RespectableStreet.jpg

this song was in the top 10 from the get-go and hovered very close to the top the entire time, despite not receiving any no. 1 votes. but it was on over 2/3rds of the ballots and that added up.

1! 2! 3! 4! 5!

why delay the inevitable any longer

1. Senses Working Overtime (2295 points, 25 votes, 3 No. 1 votes))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/01-SensesWorkingOvertime.jpg

this was no.1 from the beginning and never budged.

whoa, landslide

That vegetable man is giving me the creeps.

thanks for the poll and rollout!

right, so

senses working overtime. it's their biggest hit, their best song. how often does that happen? wasn't quite sure where to put it on my ballot (had it at #3 originally) but on listening to it i couldn't do anything other than promote it all the way. it's everything andy partridge has striven for in a smidge under five minutes. his raison d'etre, his apotheosis. his perfect synthesis of raucous post-punk and exquisite pastoral englishness. a song of absurd & multiplying riches, a song of mounting glories that get better even when you think they surely cannot. it's got the uncertain, coy opening, the awesome-stupid surreal lyrics, the shimmering, luminous musicianship, the ensemble ingenuity, the astonishing, rollicking middle-eight, the bird field recordings (for what are xtc other than interpreted english birdsong?), the miraculous bridge and above all that goddamned chorus, which i could hear forever - it's an elemental piece of english/british music, a monument of pop and of course one of the greatest songs ever written. the public had taste, once ;)

Nice writeup. Still think there's at least 80 better XTC songs.

some other quick details:

- 174(!) songs received votes
- 11 of these were from Fuzzy Warbles, which was decidedly underrepresented in the ballots, for whatever reason (I suspect most fans have not slogged through all 9 volumes, but there really are a lot of gems there, including):
126. Wonder Annual (166 points, 2 votes)
127. Ship Trapped in the Ice (164 points, 2 votes)
142. When We Get to England (99 points, 2 votes)
143. Young Cleopatra (96 points, 1 votes)
150. Born Out Of Your Mouth (85 points, 1 votes)
153. The Bland Leading The Bland (82 points, 1 votes)
TIE 156. Young Marrieds (76 points, 1 votes)
158. I'm Unbecome (73 points, 1 votes)
TIE 161. Tiny Circus Of Life (70 points, 1 votes)
169. Spiral (24 points, 1 votes)
172. Dame Fortune (16 points, 1 votes)