American POLL Posse - ILM Artist Poll #91 - TORI AMOS - Results

https://i.imgur.com/YGWa5UG.jpg
12. Crucify
232 points, 6 votes, 2 #1 votes

the only track to get multiple #1 votes

Surprised by how low yes Anastasia and putting the damage charted

https://i.imgur.com/Ld5mjFM.jpg
11. Tear in Your Hand
242 points, 6 votes

High five fellow Crucify At Number 1 gang. Thought it’d be at least top 3 for sure!

“tear in your hand” was my no. 2

no hopes for my no. 1 placing at this point despite the low ballot count

Tear In Your Hand coming after Mother is such a fantastic moment on Little Earthquakes. it's such a generous song, it's overflowing with melodies

https://i.imgur.com/hFuX2RL.jpg
10. Spark
242 points, 9 votes

one on Choirgirl Hotel where she takes a song that could have easily been on one of her earlier albums as a mostly solo piano song and gives it a perfect full band arrangement that really elevates it to being the peak of that sort of song

https://i.imgur.com/YzSzNYE.jpg
9. Precious Things
258 points, 9 votes

https://i.imgur.com/WYUtb9f.jpg
8. Caught a Lite Sneeze
262 points, 10 votes

So far, top 11 is my-tastes-inclusive. Let's keep it going.

Caught a lite sneeze is such a perfect song

https://i.imgur.com/LkcrDQd.jpg
7. Liquid Diamonds
264 points, 8 votes, 1 #1 vote

Fuck yeah!

Everything about this song screams water
The drum beat is essential n this has some of my favourite jazzy Tori playing

one thing that's really missed from Scarlet's Walk onward is how unconventional her percussion sounds were, especially in Boys for Pele and Choirgirl Hotel. the last two songs really highlight this

lol yeah my no. 1 ain't placing

The drum beat is essential n this has some of my favourite jazzy Tori playing

― Ross, Friday, September 14, 2018 8:27 AM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agreed. i'm also a sucker for live drums over drum machine patterns

the percussion on Caught a Lite Sneeze reminds me a lot of Donkey Kong Country percussion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qp0_NE8M1c

https://i.imgur.com/yrkWB6U.jpg
6. Hey Jupiter
268 points, 11 votes

first tori song that made me cry lol

Hey Jupiter is nice and obviously the little Purple Rain reference rules but it feels relatively ordinary as far as Boys for Pele tracks go so I was a little surprised to see it so high. I'd assumed I'd vote for it but it didn't end up making my ballot

Dakota Version is so much better though and listening to it again now maybe I should have tried to squeeze it in after all

https://i.imgur.com/Nj6sRi7.jpg
5. Winter
270 points, 8 votes, 1 #1 vote

*pours one out for Take to the Sky*

og "hey jupiter" >>> dakota version but i know i'm pretty alone there. that opening chord is so tense and frail and the rest of the song's construction responds to that

shouts out to mick foley's favorite tori song ("winter")

https://i.imgur.com/8sNYPki.jpg
4. Mother
284 points, 8 votes

really happy to see this one so high, it's the heart of Little Earthquakes

https://i.imgur.com/FSFvv1k.jpg
3. Father Lucifer
292 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote

my #1

the bridge is her overlapping vocal lines at its very best and the way the first chord of the bridge hits is perfect

WHOA

my no. something but this song has the lightest possible touch for something so devastating

hey

https://i.imgur.com/GRhKhvh.jpg
2. Pretty Good Year
370 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://i.imgur.com/ypLyieG.jpg
1. Silent All These Years
404 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 vote

i didn't have much idea what would be #1 before doing the poll but Silent All These Years was my best guess and it's completely deserving. the song that got me into Tori, i was completely blown away the first time i heard it

years go by!

Pretty Good Year was my #1

Wonderful to see "Mother" so high

It's so weird to see Tori's catalogue ranked like this, I'm starting to think she's not a "singles" artist nor an "albums" artist but this kind of "zeitgeist" artist, it's more her entire existence and strategies toward music-making as a whole that I find so important

The first time I listened to "Little Earthquakes" my take-aways from "Crucify" were "the line about 'dirty sheets' is really good and might mean something to me when I'm not 14" and "that clave is really mixed loud" and "this song has one too many choruses". My take-aways from "Girl" were "this snare drum is really boring" and "those MIDI strings are frustrating" and "what do flying pigs dream about?" Then "Silent All These Years" came on for the first time and I just was floored, I don't think I'd ever been so immediately sure that a song was perfect upon first listen as I was when I heard that song.

"silent all these years" if anything is MORE powerful now than when i first heard it

which, i first heard it driving home from the airport with my mom, after visiting my (internet) girlfriend for the first time and it was a nice trip but it was full of the same tensions that would eventually cause me to run away from home at 15 to live with my girlfriend for 10 months and essentially trap myself in a very mentally abusive relationship. but before all that, it was just my mom driving us back home, it was 2001 and for some reason a radio station in las vegas was playing "silent all these years," who can say why, thank god they were though, bc it was the most beautiful song i'd ever heard and it still is

god that paragraph is a mess but y'all get it

"pretty good year" is apparently about a tori fan who was way too dramatic about his own life in his letters to her, but as a way-too-dramatic person it has been a personal anthem this year. which despite a lot of [redacted mental illness], still, pretty good

don't want to be a boy today

the dynamics on Pretty Good Year are so good and the way it drifts between beauty and darkness only to eventually explode is wonderful

anyway here are the full results, thank you to everyone for voting and for all the discussion this has generated. it's been great to poll one of my favourite artists ever

1	Silent All These Years		404	11	0
2	Pretty Good Year		370	12	0
3	Father Lucifer			292	10	0
4	Mother				284	8	0
5	Winter				270	8	0
6	Hey Jupiter			268	11	0
7	Liquid Diamonds			264	8	0
8	Caught A Lite Sneeze		262	10	0
9	Precious Things			258	9	0
10	Spark				242	9	0
11	Tear in Your Hand		242	6	0
12	Crucify				232	6	0
13	Hotel				230	8	0
14	Doughnut Song			218	8	0
15	Marianne			216	6	0
16	Cornflake Girl			208	10	0
17	Jackie's Strength		192	5	0
18	iieee				190	6	0
19	Icicle				176	5	0
20	Beauty Queen/Horses		160	6	0
21	Blood Roses			144	4	0
22	Playboy Mommy			142	4	0
23	Raspberry Swirl			140	6	0
24	Girl				122	3	0
25	Honey				120	5	0
26	In the Springtime of His Voodoo	118	5	0
27	Cooling				118	4	0
28	Putting the Damage On		114	4	0
29	Northern Lad			114	3	0
30	Bells for Her			96	3	0
31	Twinkle				96	4	0
32	Concertina			92	4	0
33	God				92	3	0
34	Cloud On My Tongue		90	6	0
36	Taxi Ride			88	4	0
36	Baker Baker			88	4	0
37	Space Dog			86	6	0
38	The Waitress			86	3	0
39	Little Earthquakes		86	2	0
40	Yes, Anastasia			84	2	0
41	China				70	3	0
43	Black-Dove (January)		68	2	0
43	Real Men			68	2	0
44	Dragon				66	3	0
46	Past the Mission		64	4	0
46	Bliss				64	4	0
47	Happy Phantom			62	2	0
48	Not the Red Baron		60	2	0
49	Datura				58	2	0
50	Leather				52	2	0
51	Take to the Sky			50	1	0
52	Cruel				46	2	0
53	Talula				44	2	0
54	A Sorta Fairytale		42	1	0
57	Carry				40	1	0
57	Wings				40	1	0
57	I'm on Fire			40	1	0
58	The Wrong Band			38	2	0
62	Upside Down			38	1	0
62	Alamo				38	1	0
62	Hungarian Wedding Song		38	1	0
62	I Can’t See New York		38	1	0
63	Gold Dust			34	2	0
65	1000 Oceans			34	1	0
65	Pandora's Aquarium		34	1	0
66	Purple People			32	2	0
70	Promise				32	1	0
70	Spring Haze			32	1	0
70	Night of Hunters		32	1	0
70	Cool on Your Island		32	1	0
71	Carbon				30	3	0
73	Bouncing Off Clouds		26	2	0
73	Mr. Zebra			26	2	0
75	Sugar				26	1	0
75	Cloud Riders			26	1	0
77	Wild Way			24	2	0
77	Here In My Head			24	2	0
80	Juarez				24	1	0
80	The Pool			24	1	0
80	Weatherman			24	1	0
81	Graveyard			22	1	0
84	Father’s Son			20	1	0
84	Your Cloud			20	1	0
84	Time				20	1	0
85	Me and a Gun			18	1	0
87	Pancake				16	1	0
87	Siren				16	1	0
88	Suede				16	2	0
90	Sister Janet			12	1	0
90	Josephine			12	1	0
91	Secret Spell			10	2	0
93	Toast				10	1	0
93	Snow Cherries From France	10	1	0
94	Frog On My Toe			8	1	0
95	Strange				6	1	0
99	Wednesday			4	1	0
99	Lust				4	1	0
99	Butterfly			4	1	0
99	Flying Dutchman			4	1	0
102	Rose Dover			2	1	0
102	16 Shades of Blue		2	1	0
102	Reindeer King			2	1	0

definitely a few I was surprised to not make it - Datura, Sugar, and Here In My Head are probably the main ones

49 Datura 58 2 0

motherfucker. my no. 1

psyched "dragon" made it to 44

oh whoops I didn't copy the #1s properly there lol

Father Lucifer was a shock. Surprised people don’t love Cornflake Girl more. Great poll all round. Does seem, as I thought, that everything after the ‘ .. Choir Girl’ era is much more of an acquired taste.

and fixed results:

1	Silent All These Years		404	11	1
2	Pretty Good Year		370	12	1
3	Father Lucifer			292	10	1
4	Mother				284	8	0
5	Winter				270	8	1
6	Hey Jupiter			268	11	0
7	Liquid Diamonds			264	8	1
8	Caught A Lite Sneeze		262	10	0
9	Precious Things			258	9	0
10	Spark				242	9	0
11	Tear in Your Hand		242	6	0
12	Crucify				232	6	2
13	Hotel				230	8	0
14	Doughnut Song			218	8	0
15	Marianne			216	6	0
16	Cornflake Girl			208	10	0
17	Jackie's Strength		192	5	0
18	iieee				190	6	0
19	Icicle				176	5	0
20	Beauty Queen/Horses		160	6	0
21	Blood Roses			144	4	0
22	Playboy Mommy			142	4	0
23	Raspberry Swirl			140	6	0
24	Girl				122	3	1
25	Honey				120	5	0
26	In the Springtime of His Voodoo	118	5	0
27	Cooling				118	4	0
28	Putting the Damage On		114	4	1
29	Northern Lad			114	3	1
30	Twinkle				96	4	1
31	Bells for Her			96	3	0
32	Concertina			92	4	0
33	God				92	3	0
34	Cloud On My Tongue		90	6	0
36	Taxi Ride			88	4	0
36	Baker Baker			88	4	0
37	Space Dog			86	6	0
38	The Waitress			86	3	0
39	Little Earthquakes		86	2	0
40	Yes, Anastasia			84	2	1
41	China				70	3	0
43	Black-Dove (January)		68	2	0
43	Real Men			68	2	0
44	Dragon				66	3	0
46	Past the Mission		64	4	0
46	Bliss				64	4	0
47	Happy Phantom			62	2	0
48	Not the Red Baron		60	2	0
49	Datura				58	2	1
50	Leather				52	2	0
51	Take to the Sky			50	1	1
52	Cruel				46	2	0
53	Talula				44	2	0
54	A Sorta Fairytale		42	1	0
57	Carry				40	1	0
57	Wings				40	1	0
57	I'm on Fire			40	1	0
58	The Wrong Band			38	2	0
62	Upside Down			38	1	0
62	Alamo				38	1	0
62	Hungarian Wedding Song		38	1	0
62	I Can’t See New York		38	1	0
63	Gold Dust			34	2	0
65	1000 Oceans			34	1	0
65	Pandora's Aquarium		34	1	0
66	Purple People			32	2	0
70	Promise				32	1	0
70	Spring Haze			32	1	0
70	Night of Hunters		32	1	0
70	Cool on Your Island		32	1	0
71	Carbon				30	3	0
73	Bouncing Off Clouds		26	2	0
73	Mr. Zebra			26	2	0
75	Sugar				26	1	0
75	Cloud Riders			26	1	0
77	Wild Way			24	2	0
77	Here In My Head			24	2	0
80	Juarez				24	1	0
80	The Pool			24	1	0
80	Weatherman			24	1	0
81	Graveyard			22	1	0
84	Father’s Son			20	1	0
84	Your Cloud			20	1	0
84	Time				20	1	0
85	Me and a Gun			18	1	0
87	Pancake				16	1	0
87	Siren				16	1	0
88	Suede				16	2	0
90	Sister Janet			12	1	0
90	Josephine			12	1	0
91	Secret Spell			10	2	0
93	Toast				10	1	0
93	Snow Cherries From France	10	1	0
94	Frog On My Toe			8	1	0
95	Strange				6	1	0
99	Wednesday			4	1	0
99	Lust				4	1	0
99	Butterfly			4	1	0
99	Flying Dutchman			4	1	0
102	Rose Dover			2	1	0
102	16 Shades of Blue		2	1	0
102	Reindeer King			2	1	0

the first four albums are the classics obviously but it's definitely worth digging into some of the later ones even if they aren't quite as special. Scarlet's Walk, American Doll Posse and To Venus And Back are all solid, and I like Native Invader a lot too