Bauhaus is the Best Band Ever (this is not a bauhaus thread)

i always get that feeling, when i'm listening to certain band x: 'music cannot get any better than that' and the same with band 'y' and so on it goes. I think there's abt, say, 15 bands, out of say, 200 that i've heard, counting radio and buying recs, that i feel that way (though i haven't listened to much radio for years).

''What artists have been the Greatest in the World for only a short period of time?''

Well that's up to you. I could name obscurities that have been more incredible than anything else that i would get to hear but it's up to you. You cite radiohead as an example where a lot of ppl thought they were 'best' but i think it's to do with marketing, age of person buying it but i wouldn't describe them as even a good band.

It's unfortunate that Mark S is the best poster on ILM and he much prefers posting about topics such as semantics & Why Julio Sucks to MUSIC.

It isn't criticism, and even though I am not an 'insider' I think what i have said above is prob. quite close to fact (do correct me if you wish).

''are actually only prepared to assign the power of art to advertising''

I never said that! Can you tell me how you came to that conclusion. You seem to be saying that radiohead is 'art'. I mean, i don't even know the definition of 'art'?! (or more precisely how it relates to music, I'm still figuring it out). You seem to also say that the reason Radiohead has sold millions of alb has to do w/ things other than marketing ('their art is so powerful that it compelled veryone to buy it). Such thing could not happen because marketing spreads the word.

''It's unfortunate that Mark S is the best poster on ILM and he much prefers posting about topics such as semantics & Why Julio Sucks to MUSIC''

''But what were the fifteen bands??''

You wouldn't want to know as you have said above.

Art = "the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects"... So, yeah, pretty much all music fits the definition. It's not right to discriminate.

This is why Radiohead = Britney Spears = Derek Bailey = ALL ART

yes i know ppl like radiohead but yr question was:

''What artists have been the Greatest in the World for only a short period of time?''

I think my previous post was a load of nonsense (yet again). But i think this question is a load of bollocks too. out of all the bands in the world does it have to be ONE that has to be great. That's why I went on abt marketing and the media because they like to list such shit.

The world= just the 'western world' OK.

''For example, when Kid A came out, half the music nerds, and half the college kids in the world were abuzz about Radiohead's greatness. If they were so important to so many people, and if everyone thought they had just put out the Best Album EVAH, why weren't the the BEST BAND EVAH for those few weeks?''

Do you actually have a chart that says 'greatest band this week'? You sound just like the nerd you are talking abt above?

I think when an alb by a multi-million selling band comes out there is obv. a certain amount of hype and expectation from the fans but also the media is more than happy to whip up the interest (it sells after all).

I don't assign the power of art only to advertising but in 'this age' advertising plays a part. And in radiohead's case a bigger part than some other 'artist/musician'.

See Subjective/Objective thread and shut up, I'm trying to watch Adult Swim. The thread was supposed to be about things like your "i always get that feeling..." comments, and Alex's response.

Parliament is the best band in the world tonite, by the way.

(i have never heard any full CD by radiohead so i have no ideas what i think of them art-wise: when they were on at glastonbury in 1997 i watched and disliked the sound of thom's voice, prolly one of those unfair kneejerk responses you can never quite get beyond; i haf never brought myself to pursue rh properly, because his voice gets in the way)

yes yes it was supposed to be...but only if you had actually worded yr second question properly.

But i did ans the original question (15 bands blah blah).

''See Subjective/Objective thread and shut up, I'm trying to watch Adult Swim.''

my eyes hurt whenever i try to read it.

Now I look at them and think they had silly hair, but fabulous basslines.

Music is about experience, it is about context, it is about subjective emotions. The Best Band In The World Ever is the one that manages most perfectly to capture those things. When I first discovered acid, the Best Band Ever was Spacemen3 (they still are, but that's another story.) When I was trapped in the middle of nowhere, wishing desperately that I could get in a car and drive away to civilisation, the Best Band Ever was Ride. When I finally escaped my sub-rural setting and encountered City Life for the first time as an adult, the Best Band Ever was Blur.

These bands WERE the best bands in my WORLD because they encapsulated my worlds so perfectly.

::OK, I'll get me coat::

My new theory: "The Best Band in the World EVAH = Your Favorite Band when you discovered acid. (it's true for me too kate -- TALKING HEADS 4-EVAH)

My point is that the premise for this thread (even though it might be entertaining) is flawed. nevermind really.

''I am such a slave to marketing.''

yeah melissa, you've got to free yourself from that prison. stop listening to radiohead. It will be OK, don't worry.

I've just listened to the last track of Fugazi's 'The Argument' with the boomp bommp-boomp riff.
So of course the best band in the world ever is Fugazi.

Quick! What's yours? Before you change your mind!

This is one of the best posts I've ever read although I think it errs: we kneejerking ppl who whine constantly about advertising are in fact ascribing the power of religion to marketing, not the power of art: what we are whining about is the voluntary debasing of spirituality I think

re. Alex in NYC, whenever I hear some early Jesus & Mary Chain, I don't understand why I haven't realised that they are/were indeed the best band EVAH, but then I forget abt it..

Is the 'power' we're talking about here the power to affect someone's opinions and feelings?