Aphex Twin

Rd 6: Nas - Illmatic

The Bus

Week 6: Draft Report (UPDATED)

Top Draft (# of picks):

Beatles (9) ........
Led Zeppelin (5) ...
Rolling Stones (4) .
Radiohead (4) ......
Miles Davis (4) ....
Pink Floyd (4) ....


Just missed the cut: Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, Prince, Queen, The Velvet Underground, U2, The Who.


Stud Rosters: (Have many Top Picks and/or Just Missed)

jimdrix, cleaver, deadlax, cdollaz, whaat, Apex Twin, Hollowgen, Lokimok, maxfisher, ADD for DVD, mano365

auto

Nice.

The Bus, you are now officially in charge of Draft Reports.

@ stud rosters.

Hiro11

Hold up, I'm intentionally trying to pick bands that other people don't have on their roster in hopes of differentiating myself from other by picking slightly less obvious stuff than choices like "Rubber Soul" (no dis on Rubber Soul, but it is an easy choice.)

Is this a flawed strategy? Heavens to Mergatroid! Egads, even!

auto

We'll see.

Strategy is a big part of this game. For me, the balance is finding a roster that you are happy with and people will vote for.

ChrisKnudsen

Round 6:
Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologist

cdollaz

For me, the first rule is that it has to be an album that I have and love. It would be easy for me to pick some others like The Beatles, Dylan, Nirvana, etc., but I'm just not a big enough fan to have any of their material (I do respect these bands work, however, they are just not my taste). I'm just picking from a pool of my favorite artists, and then trying to pick albums which are considered great, actually are great, and have held up/will hold up over time. I guess I am trying to find the right balance.

Hiro11

Werd to Herb, Kilogram.

ryuryu2949

I would rather have definitive albums by Weezer, Wilco, and Beck than the 4th best album from the Rolling Stones. In my book, the best work by a very good band is better than an average album from an awesome band (note that the Beatles are an exception to this, but since I have EVERY one of their albums in my box set, I need not concern myself with Beatles attacks.

Mano

My only strategy has been to pick my favorite albums by my favorite bands. Other than that I've intentionally picked all rock bands to start as I think those choices will play better to the voters. I will be diversifying my choices by genre in the rounds to come.

BDB

Joy Division - Substance

The Bus

Great picks in this round. Not a single bad one.

I'm doing the "Draft Reports" as a joke mostly and because I like man-handling data. But I think they may serve some insight. (The highest scorers, jimdrix and cleaver, are also my estimated "favorites").

I'd summarize strategy as the following:

You want to pick a great album by a great band that cannot be easily replicated by another pick. For example, IMO these are great picks:

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Gang of Four - Entertainment
Television - Marquee Moon

Because it's tough to replicate that type of album, it makes these potent picks. Picking a Rolling Stones album, or a Led Zep album, or a Beatles album pales to that, because you and four or five other people could pick the album. It's also the reason I will probably keep some of my picks until last because some artists (Beck, Tom Waits, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) have a lot of awesome albums. There's almost no need to pick a specific one.

Also, I think the people picking "Personal Favorites" (as discussed before) need to keep in mind that unless your taste is dead-center with the rest of DVD Talk's* they are not going to pick what you like. Guess what? I love Manu Chao and I think Proxima Estación: Esperanza is an awesome album. It's one of my all-time favorites. I don't think I'm going to draft it because who's going to know it? Or like it so much? (Another example: The Hour of the Bewilderbeast, by Badlly Drawn Boy which neither I nor BadlyDrawnBoy have picked, despite our obvious liking of this album).

Also, some artists have a giant catalogue (Miles Davis) but you're only going to see a few albums resonate with voters (hence, no one has picked Filles de Kilimanjaro eventhough it's pretty monumental).

I do think it's interesting that albums from the past 4 years aren't really on the list (Killers, Arcade Fire to note some exceptions).




* (mostly classic bands from the 60s onward, more concentrated in the 80s and 90s, not always radio friendly, with a smattering of near-underground hip-hop and classic hard rock / metal)

Sweet Baby James

Ditto. I am also trying to pick artists that nobody else has chosen so far and to stay away from greatest hit albums(I thought about picking Substance as my New Order pick, but I decided to only choose original material albums).

maxfisher

Woohoo! I made the stud rosters list! Seriously, I've never understood how so many of my friends get addicted to fantasy-baseball, -football or -basketball, but this game has given me a little insight into how obsessive some of them get.

I am having a bitch of a time deciding what to do with the rest of my picks. I'm torn between going with the albums that would truly be at/near the top of my all time favorites list or picking ones that would be a little further down, but might do better at drawing votes. Decisions, decisions...

Hiro11

My thoughts exactly.

Here's my strategy, I'm trying to pick albums that:

1. I have a deep and lasting love for
2. Many people have heard and appreciate, but are more "cult classics" than canonic classics. Everyone is going to pick the Beatles, I want albums that (like Lester Bangs said about Velvet Underground and Nico) made people start bands.
3. Have a unique and easily identifiable sound that makes them stand out.
4. Not boxsets. IMO picking a boxset is a cop-out.

I want my lineup to be:
1. Balanced between different styles (it's a little white-boy/alt-rocker right now, but that will soon change)
2. Representative of many decades

It's tricky and more than a little High Fidelity/comic book store guy-ish, but fun.

Hollowgen

6. Japan - Tin Drum (Remastered)

cleaver

w00t I'm a favorite!

I'm drafting what I consider the greatest albums, although not necessarily in order but the latest I think I can get them. Enter the 36 Chambers would have been my #1 pick. I get into trouble when I try to cover every genre or pick things I think other people like.

Mordred

I'm just hoping people who aren't playing the game are going to be voting. If that's the case, I'll probably do okay, otherwise it's gonna be a first round exit judging from the picks so far.

Numanoid

Excellent.

orangecrush

I think that a lot of this will come down to how the brackets are drawn. Most peoples lists are pretty unique and it will all come down to who they are up against. So far I don't see one list that would beat every other list.

illennium

Just for fun, my 5 favorite lists right now:

illennium ( )
Hiro11
ChrisKnudsen
Fandango
auto

I'm favoring auto for the win. There's something about draft moderators winning these things...

auto

Hollowgen

i think i'd like to have some music recommendations from you...

Flynn

Round Six: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Giles

guess no one really cared or noticed my non-presence:

round 5: Pet Shop Boys - Actually
round 6: Morcheeba - Big Calm