The Smiths voted most influential artist at nme

[Legz_Akimbo]

The Smiths quite rightly at the top

This is from http://www.nme.com/news/101427.htm


The list takes into account: Appearances on front covers. Volume and significance of features. Dominance of end of year writers polls. The response from our readers in the weekly letters page. The presence of their name and influence in the paper (e.g. the number of acts referred to as the new them, the endless questioning of other artists for their opinions of them, the terrible pun headlines on their name or song titles...). And the speed with which they took over.

It was felt that The Smiths and then a solo Morrissey's all-encompassing spread through the 80s and early 90s allowed them to reign.

The top 10 is as follows:

1: The Smiths
2: The Beatles
3: Stone Roses
4: David Bowie
5: Sex Pistols
6: Oasis
7: Radiohead
8: Paul Weller/The Jam
9: U2
10: Public Enemy

[cdollaz]

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha !!!!!!!!!

[grunter]

"I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour . . . BUT heaven knows I'm miserable now . . ."

"I was looking for a job and then I found a job . . . BUT heaven knows I'm miserable now . . ."

"In. My. Life. Why do I give valuable time . . . to people who don't care if I live or die?"

Why - oh why did I not bring any Smiths CDs with me to work today?

[Legz_Akimbo]

in my life, why do I smile at people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?

[Meatpants]

I don't want to get into a thing here because we all know these lists are supposed to sucker us into a debate, but I must say Oasis being on a list of influential bands is patently ridiculous.

[zak52]

5 of the 10 bands I feel shouldn't really be on there.

All I can say about the Smith's is that Morrisey's voice just flat out sucked.
The only song I liked by them was an instrumental.

[cdollaz]

I actually like the Smiths, but to call them the most influential band is ridiculous. Influential to who? No one even gives a crap about them anymore. In the article, it mentioned that one of the ways this list was determined was by volume of magazine covers. Wha???? Well then, I guess Britney Spears should be president.

[benedict]

.... I do know that Public Enemy isn't British!

[slop101]

Originally posted by cdollaz
I actually like the Smiths, but to call them the most influential band is ridiculous. Influential to who? No one even gives a crap about them anymore. In the article, it mentioned that one of the ways this list was determined was by volume of magazine covers. Wha???? Well then, I guess Britney Spears should be president.

Exactly.

I mean, Johnny Mar did influence a lot of 80s and 90s guitar sounds - and he was arguably the most creative guitarist of his contemporaries, but to say that his band was more infulential than Hendrix or Led Zepplin is just insulting to any musician.

[monkey]

I see no one actually looked at this thread. Do any of you see how NME picked these bands?

"The list takes into account: Appearances on front covers. Volume and significance of features. Dominance of end of year writers polls. The response from our readers in the weekly letters page. The presence of their name and influence in the paper (e.g. the number of acts referred to as the new them, the endless questioning of other artists for their opinions of them, the terrible pun headlines on their name or song titles...). And the speed with which they took over."

This isn't some junk they just made up. And to say no one gives a crap about The Smiths anymore is ludicrous and offensive.

[tofu]

Originally posted by Meatpants
I don't want to get into a thing here because we all know these lists are supposed to sucker us into a debate, but I must say Oasis being on a list of influential bands is patently ridiculous.

and ahead of radiohead, u2 and public enemy no less

[mllefoo]

Originally posted by tofubomb

and ahead of radiohead, u2 and public enemy no less

Not to mention being ahead of Bowie on the list. Mr. Bowie is far more influential than every one of those bands with the exception of the Beatles.

[benedict]

Originally posted by monkey
I see no one actually looked at this thread. Do any of you see how NME picked these bands? [....]
This isn't some junk they just made up. And to say no one gives a crap about The Smiths anymore is ludicrous and offensive.

Well, I looked at it!

But although they didn't "make it up" they did heavily influence the result: successive NME editors would have decided what went on the front cover and the overall balance of articles.

And to a greater or lesser extent the content of the music magazine/paper will influence what appears in its letters pages.

Readers polls are another matter, of course. Sounds a contemporary of the NME moved away from its hard rock bias and proceeded to ignore successive readers' polls that showed where the sympathies of its readership lay until.... they lost that readership to the "metal" magazines; principally Kerrang. Sounds no longer exists at all.

The earlier remark on which you comment at the end needs to be taken in context and, IMO, the associated question addressed: "Influential to who(m)?"

I suspect that the Smiths don't feature highly in the consciousness of many music fans today. Of course, this was said to be a 50 year exercise.

To be frank, I doubt that the "survey" was conducted half as scientifically as they suggest: in my teenage years NME journos were never exactly reknowned for their objectivity....

.... but, as a counterpoint, I just looked at this list from Spin where they rank 21st in the top 50 of all time and are deemed to have influenced all the "emo" bands and "Radiohead; Moby; Belle and Sebastian".

[monkey]

What type of music fans are we talking about? That's such a subjective concept in itself. You needn't a rocket scientist to conclude that a large majority of music consumers are heavily influenced by the likes of Creed and J-Lo. Are they music fans, or simply mindless, MTV and media driven pop culture consumers? I can assure you many artists today were influenced a great deal by The Smiths, and even more music fans. And by "fan" I mean someone who listens to music they like, and that they make an effort to seek out, and not the mushy brained junk that's polluting the airwaves right now. There's no way The Smiths should be #1 on that list, I agree. I just don't see why we can't respond by questioning the methods the magazine used and seeing if we can arrive at some type of consensus in regards to the criteria used. It's rather tiring when everytime a list like this is posted, the immediate reaction among people is to spout off about how "The Smiths number one? They suck! Morrissey can't sing!" or "Radiohead! Kid A was garbage!" It's always fun to debate music, but when the scope is as limited as it is here, based on these remarks, there's absolutely no point in it.

P.S. I have nothing against Creed and J-Lo, and would never make a statement like "Creed sucks! Scott Stapp sucks!" without providing sufficient evidence to back my opinion. When we start acting like this, consumers of music like Creed and J-Lo (whom I choose not to deem "fans," but again, that's entirely a matter of opinion), have an upper hand on us, as we just make ourselves out to be elitist pricks.

End of rant.

[Legz_Akimbo]

Originally posted by benedict
Well, I looked at it!


The earlier remark on which you comment at the end needs to be taken in context and, IMO, the associated question addressed: "Influential to who(m)?"

I suspect that the Smiths don't feature highly in the consciousness of many music fans today. Of course, this was said to be a 50 year exercise.

the biggest groups of the 90s (Blur, Oasis, Radiohead) have all said that The Smiths and Morrissey were a major influence. Now think of all the soundalikes that copied them. The Smiths had a major and direct impact on British music.
They changed independent music to a point where it could compete with the major labels

[benedict]

Originally posted by Legz_Akimbo
the biggest groups of the 90s (Blur, Oasis, Radiohead) have all said that The Smiths and Morrissey were a major influence. Now think of all the soundalikes that copied them. The Smiths had a major and direct impact on British music.

Of course, I've no reason to (agree or) disagree with any of this, not least because I mentioned and linked to another such survey where Smith-influenced bands were cited....

A part of my comment referred to fans, because of the section of the article mentioning how the results were collated, "The response from our readers in the weekly letters page."

I also wrote about the survey's methodology: the top ten artistes were, to a greater or lesser extent, determined by the earlier editorial policies of the paper and also how scrupulous current researchers were in adding up all those covers and column inches from the past fifty years....

* * *

To declare a personal (dis)interest: during my teenage years I read NME probably no more than ten times. I found it less than relevant to my musical tastes and was somewhat annoyed when Sounds began to follow its lead and in so doing slowly but surely lost its own readership. Many of the Sounds rock and punk writers laters moved on to Kerrang which, ironically, now seems to be outselling NME....

[raithen]

How the hell did Joy Division and Depeche Mode get overlooked? And while I can't stand their music, where is The Velvet Underground?

These "top 10" lists are phenomenally ridiculous.

-matt

[isamu]

Guys...how can any of you argue with the band on the top of the list?

The Smths were the absolute greatest rock and roll band EVER created!!! Johnny Marr and Morrissey were a match made in heaven...like cereal and milk, cookies and cream, bread and butter. How Soon is Now is a song that just screams classic!! Not to mention their other infamous tracks...That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore(probably my favorite song of all time from any band), Still I'll, Headmasters Ritual, I Know it's Over, Ruffholm and Ruffians, This Charming Man...Oh God I could go on and on and on!

Bands I would call my favorite of all time have certainly changed over the last few years. At first it was Simple Minds, then it was, The Cure, then New Order, then Depeche Mode, then theThe. But The Smiths are the band I can safely say has the honor of being my favorite of all time and will most likely remain that way forever.

I discovered them back in 1989, right around my freshman year at highschool. I used to hear them play How Soon is Now on K.R.O.Q. and instantly said to my buddy "Holy ****!! That's the narliest, grooviest, most bitchin tune I've ever heard!!! Who is that!" Then he just laughed at me saying he's never heard a black guy say "Narly" or "Bitchin" before..(HEY DON'T LAUGH...I was going through my skateboarding phase back then ) He said "They're called The Smiths"....and it was over...I know it's over, still I cling, I don't know where else I can go...oh...errm, sorry bout that

Anyway, I slowly collected their cds over the years, as it took some time for me to get into ALL their music. I used to only enjoy "How Soon is Now" and a couple other tunes off "Louder Than Bombs", but didn't really care for their other material. Now, as I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate how incredibly cool the rest of their tracks really are. Newbies to the Smiths I recommend you go out and get Meat is Murder ASAP! Listen to it a few times and let it grow on you. Then you'll be begging for more. Get their self titled album after that, and slowly but surely you'll realize why NME put them at very top of their list....where they BELONG!! LONG LIVE THE SMITHS!!!!!!

I came to wish you an unhappy birthday....
I came to wish you an unhappy birthday,
cuz you're evil, and you lie, and you should die,
I may feel slightly sad but I won't cry!

[Giantrobo]

With all due respect to all you Smith's/Groups with small fanbase, college band fans....


KISS has made more young men want to play guitar and be rock stars/musicians than most --not all-- of the groups on the list. Country stars , rock stars , and even some rap stars admit to liking KISS and wanting to do music because of them.

How many time have you heard the KISS: ALIVE! was the first album such and such artists bought?

Once some of these same boys grew up they even learned the business end from Paul and Gene. Many in the industry say that those two men know more about the the "the biz" than most acts. Although I like and respect U2 they never made doing music look cool or even fun for that matter.

You MAY hate KISS...hell I love 'em and they still piss me off. But to ignore them because you're some snob "music critic" or whatever is so dishonest.

[Legz_Akimbo]

Originally posted by Giantrobo
With all due respect to all you Smith's/Groups with small fanbase, college band fans....


KISS has made more young men want to play guitar and be rock stars/musicians than most --not all-- of the groups on the list. Country stars , rock stars , and even some rap stars admit to liking KISS and wanting to do music because of them.

I seriously doubt this is true in England. And this is an NME list don't forget.
If you ever read a copy in the late 80s there would be a Smiths reference/quote/pun on nearly every page. They even featured Morrissey on the cover of their 50th anniversary issue

[Daytripper]

Originally posted by raithen
How the hell did Joy Division and Depeche Mode get overlooked?

-matt

Agree! What's the tally on the Depeche Mode tribute and cover albums now? I've lost count.

[monkey]

Originally posted by raithen
How the hell did Joy Division and Depeche Mode get overlooked? And while I can't stand their music, where is The Velvet Underground?

These "top 10" lists are phenomenally ridiculous.

-matt

Good Lord, Joy Division was one of the greatest rock bands of all time, hands down. How did NME leave them off? They should've given them a spot out of pure respect.