The List top 50 Scottish Bands

[Alan Cynic]

...and I had lunch with them, the day before. Wish I'd stayed on, but lack of talent meant I had to retire gracefully!!

But I have other Belle & Sebastian links....we both appear in the "Lets Go" tour guides to the UK, believe it or not, as representatives of Scottish music. How that happened I'll never know! And in a Record Collector article on B & S you can spot my son and me in the background of one of the photos, taken in the Glasgow Botanical Gardens.

Weird.

[Skull Commander]

The fact of the matter is, as someone else has said, bands fan's were more than likely told to go and vote via well organised email campaigns.

i don't consider myself to be out of touch with muisc, but I cannot see how belle and sebastian warrant a place at the top. They have not been the highest profile band around, and I suspect that it is their fanatical fan base that has earned them the top spot.

[Guest Zeenat Aman]

...and I had lunch with them' date=' the day before. Wish I'd stayed on, but lack of talent meant I had to retire gracefully!!

But I have other Belle & Sebastian links....we both appear in the "Lets Go" tour guides to the UK, believe it or not, as representatives of Scottish music. How that happened I'll never know! And in a Record Collector article on B & S you can spot my son and me in the background of one of the photos, taken in the Glasgow Botanical Gardens.

Weird.[/quote']

I get the feeling that my flute playing wont get used though... still, was nice to drink some whiskey with em!

So the list should maybe look like this:

1) The Incredible String Band

2) Bert Jansch(he is scottish right?)

3) Donovan

4) The Kitchen Cynics

5) John Martyn

... etc

Then there's the Shulman brothers from Gentle Giant, well Phil Shulman for definite, a gorbils loon i think. Jamie Muir of King Crimson 1972-73 era too.

I think that The Incredible String Band should be top.

[Mr. Tristen]

Headline News!

All 50 bands named in the article are to play a massive gig in March, headlined by Starfall (all profits to the Dave Bradley Benevolant Fund)...

[Alan Cynic]

So the list should maybe look like this:

1) The Incredible String Band

2) Bert Jansch(he is scottish right?)

3) Donovan

4) The Kitchen Cynics

5) John Martyn

... etc

I think that The Incredible String Band should be top.

No way!!

Even I don't think much of the Kitchen Cynics!! (I like the KC Orchestra!!)

Here's an 'automatic translation' of a lukewarm/poor review I just got in a French mag called "Derives"...It's a right good laugh..........

A glance with the small pocket, a tracklisting of twenty titles and a rapid listen in accelerated and it is the verdict which falls: a disc of pure lo-fi. But not the lo-fi noisy, folk or indie, usual, not, rather of the songwriting minimalist to the influences which would go until plunging as regards Robin Hitchcock, Syd Barret or Tom Rapp. There not really the attitude or sonorities of says indie nineties of Lou Barlow, not, nothing of that.

Secret Eye still went us dgoter an unknown hermit to the battalion for me until there, certain Alan Davidson, Ecossais of its state and apparently credit since about fifteen years under the nickname of Kitchen Cynics, subscriber with the four tracks, even, great luxury, with the eight tracks (even if I do not think that it uses them all). Sometimes that sounds enough psych-folk almost in Alasdair Roberts/Tom Rapp, and that did not plait me rather badly, at other times one synth unloads and there I hang definitely less.

Each one of these songs is more one postcard that a panorama, a drawing quickly outlined on the corner of a paper napkin rather than a patiently studied watercolour. Not unpleasant as a whole, relatively hooker on certain titles, Kitchen Cynics do not manage however to capture my attention durably, because that sounds with my ears like too old and too lo-fi and a whole side of these references seventies escape to me completely.

Didier

[chilli]

Then there's the Shulman brothers from Gentle Giant' date=' well Phil Shulman for definite, [/quote']

Don't you mean Simon Dupree & the Big Sound...........

[Hog]

Top 50 my arse, for a start Lester Burnham and the berets are not on the list. Im appauled!!!!!

[qzdiablo]

am i mad or was fish in an episode of the bill in the late nineties?

[jester1470]

am i mad or was fish in an episode of the bill in the late nineties?

He was indeed' date=' he got killed. He's done a fair bit if acting :

[url']http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0279258/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9ZmlzaHxodG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=16;ft=26;fm=1

He's even in the new George Clooney film cameoing with Keira Knightley... and would he get me the phone number... bugger

Cheers

Stuart

[delboy]

am i mad or was fish in an episode of the bill in the late nineties?

he sure was, in 1998 to be pickey

[Larsen B]

i guess it's not really a question of outrage' date=' more exasperation. i'm certainly not outraged by the p and j i just felt that they're a bit out of touch and could at least try and understand what was happening in scotland rather than complaining about it. nothing wrong with jimmy shand but it was a poll of the public and i guess that shows his current cultural impact if he's not in there. there's a lot of pish in it but there's some good stuff too and just the fact that mogwai and [b']arab strap are in a list of top 50 bands ever as voted for by the general public is quite superb seeing as neither are particularly top 40 hitmakers.

Funny you mention Arab Strap cos you really remind me of Aidan Moffat.

[Michael MacLennan]

Headline News!

All 50 bands named in the article are to play a massive gig in March' date=' headlined by Starfall (all profits to the Dave Bradley Benevolant Fund)...[/quote']

I think that's the best thing I've read in this entire thread.

Why the hell do people always get annoyed by such polls? Of course it's not going to be entirely representative, of certain bands will be able to organise more votes, and others will have fans not in the demographic that would read The List or vote in its polls, so why get so bothered...

But hey! Every time somebody expresses an opinion that doesn't pay sufficient regard to the 'classics', there's Stuart to express some righteous indignation! Usually in a mind-numbing way that's akin to being pummelled in the head by Dave Lee Travis for half-an-hour. While he states the bleeding obvious.

Never mind me though, I'm sure no-one would EVER have believed the poll from a small monthly magazine (mainly bought by younger people in Glasgow and Edinburgh) wasn't representative of each and every person in Scotland! Thanks for showing us the light! Whoop! Thanks for letting us little people in on the tawdry truth!

[jester1470]

I think that's the best thing I've read in this entire thread.

Why the hell do people always get annoyed by such polls? Of course it's not going to be entirely representative' date=' of certain bands will be able to organise more votes, and others will have fans not in the demographic that would read The List or vote in its polls, so why get so bothered...

But hey! Every time somebody expresses an opinion that doesn't pay sufficient regard to the 'classics', there's Stuart to express some righteous indignation! Usually in a mind-numbing way that's akin to being pummelled in the head by Dave Lee Travis for half-an-hour. While he states the bleeding obvious.

Never mind me though, I'm sure no-one would EVER have believed the poll from a small monthly magazine (mainly bought by younger people in Glasgow and Edinburgh) wasn't representative of each and every person in Scotland! Thanks for showing us the light! Whoop! Thanks for letting us little people in on the tawdry truth![/quote']

I apologise for thinking that the people who go out and achieve something deserve a little bit of respect. You don;t have to like anything about me or the music i like but hey I do think that people should be respected for what they achieve. The only reason I posted this was because it was not just in some little listing magazine in case you didn't notice it was in every national newspaper. The bit I copied was from the Scotsman online.

It's ok for everyone else to comment on where they think people should be on the list but not me, any reason for that ? I always try to justify my comments and i'm sorry if you dont like what I say or the way I say it, but it doesn't bother me, I think certain people should be respected for what they've achieved whether you like them or not.

There are plenty of musicians musically I don't like but i respect because they've achieved good things and they're good at what they do, you don't have to agree with this way of looking at things but I do tend to find that it helps for arranging gigs etc to show people respect whether you like them or not, there are some peopel I respect more than others but in general anyone who manages to get out there and make a career on their own in music deserves some kind of respect,

Cheers

Stuart

[Hog]

I think that's the best thing I've read in this entire thread.

Why the hell do people always get annoyed by such polls? Of course it's not going to be entirely representative' date=' of certain bands will be able to organise more votes, and others will have fans not in the demographic that would read The List or vote in its polls, so why get so bothered...

But hey! Every time somebody expresses an opinion that doesn't pay sufficient regard to the 'classics', there's Stuart to express some righteous indignation! Usually in a mind-numbing way that's akin to being pummelled in the head by Dave Lee Travis for half-an-hour. While he states the bleeding obvious.

Never mind me though, I'm sure no-one would EVER have believed the poll from a small monthly magazine (mainly bought by younger people in Glasgow and Edinburgh) wasn't representative of each and every person in Scotland! Thanks for showing us the light! Whoop! Thanks for letting us little people in on the tawdry truth![/quote']

As I actually know Jester pretty well, hes not that fussed about the outcome of this poll. He did wonder why Midge Ure wasnt in the top 50, seems like a reasonable point. Just an opinion Tacto, no need to have a fucking baby over it!

[framheim]

jesus, it's just a fucking poll. i mean i was a little annoyed by the approach the p and j took with commenting on it but there's no need for everyone to start sniping at each other about it. i'm sure if fucking wet wet wet can get in the top ten then midge ure should feel aggreived to not be in it. as for no john martyn, well sometimes there really is no justice.

as someone said though it's a poll by the list magazine which is mainly sold in the central belt to an audience ranging from about 16 to 35 i'd imagine, so perhaps it's no surprise less hip people like midge weren't included(personally i wouldn't include him in anything but there ya go, and band aid sucks) but that doesn't mean it's not a valid opinion.

the thing that i guess gets to people like chris is the fact that stuart seems to constantly bang on about midge and marillion and almost to a shameless namedropping degree and i guess it's just cause most people here don't really care about midge or fish or anything like that to the extent stuart does. no harm to stuart or anything, but i guess people just get fed up reading every week about how much albums fish has sold and which venues he's sold out this tour and stuff. like i say, fairplay and all that but enough already, and really that goes for everyone having wee snipes about it. it's a poll. it's not definitive and it's not fact, it's only 12, 000 slimy weedgies and their mates tastes. no ones ever going to agree and basically everyone has good points so lets leave it at that eh?

i didn't mean to single anyone out and i think stuart's probably gotten a hard time over this anyway, but i can see where folks are coming from and perhaps it's just best left at this and we can all get on with talking about why the delgado's weren't in the top 5.

ps how do i remind you of aiden moffat? i'm far too cheery for that!

[Chris]

Basically dave just summed up what I feel about certain people's reaction to this poll. all I'm going to say is i think some people on here are letting their own personal opinions get in the way of an objective viewpoint on what this poll was; a snapshot of who readers of the List thought were the most important and influential scottish artists today. which is why midge fucking ure didn't feature and why fish wasn't in the top 10. Simple fact is they're not relevent in any way whatsoever to the scottish record buying public today, or more importantly (as far as this poll is concerned) to the readers of the List magazine.

[framheim]

yea but i was also having a go at you for being too harsh on midge ure and stuart, cause there's no need really.

[Jammer]

2) Bert Jansch(he is scottish right?)

Yup he is but he's lost his accent after being down south so long..

[Michael MacLennan]

As I actually know Jester pretty well' date=' hes not that fussed about the outcome of this poll. He did wonder why Midge Ure wasnt in the top 50, seems like a reasonable point. Just an opinion Tacto, no need to have a fucking baby over it![/quote']

I didn't have a baby over it, strangely enough. Thought the idea that people 'deserve' respect is a strange thing, because it suggests others have a duty to vote for certain artists. It's a poll, people are going to vote for who they like, it's that simple, certain artists probably won't get the recognition they deserve...

It's not as though I'm annoyed at Stuart, it's just when I see his anal expositions of why the artists he has time for deserve more praise, I feel slightly sorry, because he's wasting so much time on a (basically meaningless) message board trying to convince people he's right. It just all seems so pointless, and I'm sure from what I've heard, he could spend that time better on his own musical projects...

[psydoll]

Belle and Sebastian deserve it. What other band could have bagpipes in a song without it being cringe-inducing?

AC/DC or Korn perhaps?

I'm intrigued that Goodbye Mr.Mackenzie got into the list.

[Guest neil ex]

Guts piss all over Midge Ure and we didn't feature in the list (obviously we weren't going to). When we saw the list, we just said fuck it and went back into the studio, except for Stuart, of course, who was so infuriated that Joy Division weren't included, spent valuable studio time writing a letter, in disgust, to the P&J.

[jester1470]

I didn't have a baby over it' date=' strangely enough. Thought the idea that people 'deserve' respect is a strange thing, because it suggests others have a duty to vote for certain artists. It's a poll, people are going to vote for who they like, it's that simple, certain artists probably won't get the recognition they deserve...

It's not as though I'm annoyed at Stuart, it's just when I see his anal expositions of why the artists he has time for deserve more praise, I feel slightly sorry, because he's wasting so much time on a (basically meaningless) message board trying to convince people he's right. It just all seems so pointless, and I'm sure from what I've heard, he could spend that time better on his own musical projects...[/quote']

And this time you're missing my point, this isn't about who i like and who i don't I just think artists that work hard and achieve something should be respected for it, I mentioned John Martyn who I don't like, nor know much about, but he's undeniably deserving of a place on such a list, my arguement aren't based on anything, other than I can back up the artists I know about by facts. For what it's worth I actually think any poll that puts Fish above many of the artists he was above was stupid. I am a huge fan of his music but I certainly have no qualms about the effect he's had on music in Scotland which is, apart from running his studio. next to nothing, and certainly nowhere near acts like the Eurythmics. It's strange how other people on here are allowed to say what they think and I'm not.

If I had went onto a thread saying that MMw were the worst band ever, I'd have a lot of people come onto defend them and explain why they're not if I went on and said that they deserved no respect for what they'd achieved I'd get the same, why is it any different because the people I'm defending happen to be successfull ? People should be respected for what they achieve regardless of who they are if they've done something worthy of respect. You'tr right I do spend too much time on a pointless messageboard but I have to be at the computer all day so its something to relieve the boredom.

Musically I'm talentless - I keep away from musical projects per say, I am a good manager tho, and thats something that , generally, requires me to be at the computer all day. You're ok my musical projects won't suffer from me going onto noticeboards and chatting, in fact everything I'm involved with is doing rather well at the moment, maybe all this arguing makes me in a better mood for management And if yo ever need a manager you know if you come to me I'll be stuck at my computer all day working hard

Cheers

Stuart

[Guest Zeenat Aman]

Come on chaps, ease up with the arguing eh!!!

What I wonder is, what makes the bands that have members from different countries Scottish?

[jester1470]

Come on chaps' date=' ease up with the arguing eh!!!

What I wonder is, what makes the bands that have members from different countries Scottish?[/quote']

It is a difficult one as to what would make Snow Patrol Scottish but not AC/DC or the Eurythmics and not Talking Heads. I'd take a guess it's not that closely checked and is just a list of anyone with vaguely scottish connections.

Cheers

Stuart

[framheim]

i guess it's something to do with forming in scotland as well. snow patrol formed in dundee and have always been based in scotland. talking heads formed in new york and were never based in scotland. same goes for AC\DC. i'd say it's more tenuous to claim them as 'Scottish' rather than snow patrol, who obviously aren't born scottish but formed scottish. following? i know what i mean anyway.