Results: Wow – two very close match-ups in a row. Bowie jumped out to an early lead, only to see Janis Joplin close hard. In the end, though, the top seeds make it five in a row. The numbers: #3 David Bowie 48%; #8 Janis Joplin 45%; Creedence Clearwater Revival 7%.
Up next, our search for the greatest band of all time moves out to the Fillmore region, where the groundbreaking band that more or less invented atmosphere hosts a pod that looks like a mismatch on paper. But as they say, they don’t play ’em on paper.
We’ll leave the polls open until Monday.
<br /> <a href=”http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2159248/” mce_href=”http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2159248/”>Which band/artist deserves to advance in the Tournament of Rock: Legends?</a><span style=”font-size:9px;” mce_style=”font-size:9px;”>(<a href=”http://www.polldaddy.com” mce_href=”http://www.polldaddy.com”>survey software</a>)</span><br />
Categories: Music/Popular Culture, Tournament of Rock
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
OK, that was the easiest vote by far. Floyd beats Palmer by a mile and beats the Kinks by at least a couple dozen yards.
Brian said it perfectly.
I went with Floyd, but would like to note that i based my vote on nothing the band did after 1975…with the exception of “The Final Cut”, imo a better display of the motifs heard in The Wall with less whining about how hard it is to be a rock star.
Though it’s the least critically acclaimed, “Obscured by Clouds” is my favorite. “More” has some stellar tracks, including one of my favs “The Nile Song”. And i’m partial to the heavy, psychedelic instrumentals of the early years.
Now i’m going to put on “Several Species of Small Furry Critters Gathered Together in a Cave and Groovin’ with a Pict” at window rattling volume and watch the cat freak out….
For the person who voted for Palmer, know that he’s indirectly responsible for this.
“and watch the cat freak out…”
So the cat can calm down, I’ll smoke a bowl of ‘nip with him as we listen to “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.”
The cat is fine. I forgot that the camera was attached to the computer. I didn’t feel like moving the whole thing to the real stereo, and the computer speakers only made him sit and do the ear dance. But he’d appreciate the offer, Mike, that’s more his style.
Funny, I’d just listened to the classic album by Power Station earlier tonight, which Robert Palmer fronted. I have to go with Pink Floyd, though. I bought their first album when it came out in the U.S.
Perhaps my favorite album of theirs is one Lex mentioned, The Final Cut, about the British invasion of the Falklands.
Oh yeah, and I was a big Syd fan. Had his solo albums.
Nothing against Ray Davies. Loved much of his work, such as Village Green Preservation Society.
I voted for The Kinks. Ray Davies is a great, great songwriter. Heard “Well Respected Man” just yesterday. Knocked me out – as it has each time I’ve heard it. And “Village Green Preservation Society” is as significant as “Pet Sounds” or “Sgt. Pepper.” While “Muswell Hillbillies” is an under appreciated masterpiece.
I fucking hate Pink Floyd. There – I’ve said it and I feel better already.
The Syd Barrett period stuff is pretty good for its time, but PF’s reputation is based all too much on all that bilious crap like “Dark Side of the Moon,” “Animals,” and “The Wall.” Roger Waters’ half assed songs given atmosphere by Alan Parsons’ clever production.
I’ve heard these works dozens (some hundreds) of times. They bore me to tears.
Yes, I’m misanthropic perhaps. Perhaps Pink Floyd is as great as everybody yammers that they are.
But perhaps the emperor had no clothes.
One other note: Robert Palmer – great voice, some nice work. But not significant enough.
Jim: On Floyd, you can hate all you like, but they exerted an insane amount of influence.
And Alan Parsons had nothing to do with their greatest atmospheric moments.
I went with the Kinks too, for much the same reason. If anything, I would rate Muswell Hillbillies higher than VGPS.
And I like Pink Floyd in moderation, but, really, there’s such a thing as having too much influence. I think the influence argument needs a lot more qualifiction than it’s been getting, personally. Spawning lots of imitators is worthless if the music is still derivative and empty. I’m not thinking of PF here necessarily. The Eagles were hugely influential, and the result is a lot of just bad, boring music.
But wuf, Floyd’s influence was FAR from “spawning lots of imitators.” If you look at so much of what’s interesting about music today, you see PF influence everywhere. Post-punk seems to have lifted a clue about atmosphere, for instance, and the whole indie nu-wave (Killers, Editors, Interpol, and their ilk) derive from that. It’s also hard to imagine shoegaze and dreampop without Floyd, and again, we’re talking about some of the most vibrant contemporary bands out there. Then there’s space rock (and I’m not a huge fan here, but still).
Very few of these bands are open to the charge of imitation. The one band I can think of that really does (or did, I should say) travel that imitator path was Porcupine Tree, but even they’ve moved on.
Oh – you also had an obvious debt to Floyd with lots of metal bands, most notably your favorite, Queensyche (think about OPERATION MINDCRIME and THE WALL).
I think you’ve just made my case for me.
This is real easy, Floyd all the way. They are simply too influential.