Best Song of 2002: Heat #1

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It's a new year, it's time for some...

...NEW VOTING RULES!

• To make things a bit more interesting, there is now a maximum of SIX TICKS over the three bits of the poll. That's right - six.


• The top five will still go through to the next stage, but now it's going to be that little bit tougher to get there. If your favourite song isn't doing so well then try and convince people in the comments as to why it's so good!


• As I'm sure you all know by now, the rules are always subject to change thx to my ongoing struggle for perfection, so if this year proves agonising for one and all we can rethink it for 2003. Also please bear in mind that I'm the one having to type all these bloody songs out and therefore I can do what I like, mwahahahah.


• If you want to change your vote (or tick too many by mistake), you can edit your votes by clicking on 'Poll #12345' then 'Fill Out Poll'.


• You have until Friday lunchtime to vote.

So let's get on with it!


[Poll #1457810]


Q for the comments box: What's the best song up there that you hadn't heard before today?

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

IMHO this is probably a weak enough heat that six is plenty...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Except I should probably give my YYY tick to Abs, because I'd rather hear 'Back To The Limbo' right now than 'Bang'.

[martinv.livejournal.com]

Choosing six is much harder, but I reckon this is a good call overall. I found this heat quite tricky but then obviously I'm 50%+ indie so yeah.

[cis.livejournal.com]

NOOOOOO this is an awesome heat for rnb and i've had to cut down from twelve and i am NOT IMPRESSED WITH THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I suspect that when people have more spare/uncertain ticks, they're more likely to go looking for stuff they don't know. As a specific example, I had to throw away Missy, Robyn, and Elves to get it down to six, and I'm TBH unlikely to shift one of those for an unknown. But if I had ten, then there'd be a spare spot...

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

That was the original plan in the other heats - unfortunately this tended to make people use up their ten ticks on songs they knew already and liked but didn't absolutely love, which meant wall-to-wall Destiny's Child. Hence putting in the question at the end for hearing new stuff (which is still a big part of this entire exercise for me), but I imagine that dudes who are going to go and seek out new stuff would probably do that anyway - at least I would if the people who nominated the obscurer ones spoke up for them...

[cis.livejournal.com]

(haha i read like i'm in the running for 'replacement lex')

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

if the number of ticks changes for every year that's gonna be harsh on a lot of songs. as it stands there will be much more from 2000 than 2001.

happy for it to be 6 for all remaining years tho if that makes things easier for you - fewer songs going thru means a quicker conclusion (theoretically)...

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

I think six was plenty for this heat... Puretone, Christina Milian, Foo Fighters and Shimon/Andy C were insta-ticks, but then I really struggled to find two more I liked enough to warrant a tick... ended up plumping for Missy and Idlewild.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

The same number of songs will go through!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

ah sorry...if ranking songs based on votes tho 00 will have stronger overall showing tho (less important)?

The Delgados - All Rise

is this meant to be Blue not Delgados? i've ticked it on that basis!

more love -> Shakedown

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

He's so contagious: he turns my pages

[cis.livejournal.com]

Let's be real here: this song is pretty much the most classic of all 2002's desi-sampling rnb jamz.

Body Rock

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

as great as 'Dooms Night' imo. CLOWNSTEP PRESSURES.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Wasn't really intending on ranking them cross-year at any point (although I'm keeping a record of the vote tally for within-year sorting). May end up working out a complex formula if we require seeding etc at the end but tbh I am leaving all that until December when I will have enough time off work to think about this properly :)

Blame skillextric for the Delgados surfeit - it's not Blue's version at any rate, that was last year.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't speak for everyone obv, but I agree with Andrew. By the time the OMG-must-ticks are ticked, where's my incentive to listen to new things?

That said, I will be checking out the Lex's nominees here, and will no doubt want to tick some of them. This may involve discarding tracks that are already certain to qualify (e.g. Puretone in this round, by the looks of the early form).

One likely side effect is likely to be more run-offs between two or more 5th placers...

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I am disappointed, if unsurprised, that Bushwacka's beautiful Billie Jean remix isn't getting any support. One of my top five favourite remixes ever.

Blown It Again

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Probably not an official vid (I haven't looked), so I'll just do a link rather than an embed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gyo0UIbooM

This was the song that made me fall in love with Bedingfield; it's the opening cut on his first album. From the first few seconds you just know the whole LP is going to be an awesome pop record.

[koganbot]

And I agree with Andrew and Jeff. The new rule cuts out one of our incentives to listen to stuff we hadn't heard before.

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

should've remembered Blue was last year (i kept thinking this was 2001 too wtf), idiot me move along etc.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Will fill out poll later but feel the need to inform you all of AVRIL LAVIGNE PERFUME. I will do science on it in my lunchbreak.

Re: He's so contagious: he turns my pages

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

best track of the heat if not year

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I notice no-one has answered my supplementary question yet! :)

Blow my mind

[koganbot]

Robyn, being disconcertingly Too Cute, as usual, while the music threatens to envelop her in its mysterious dust storm.

[koganbot]

Well, the answer for many days is likely to be "One of the ones I still haven't heard," though the one and only new one I've listened to so far (Shakedown's "At Night") might have an outside shot at my Top Six.

Sorry, but another thing I dislike about the new rules is that it makes it less likely that anyone other than me, Chuck, Greg, and Dave will tick any of the country songs we nominate, so there's more likely to be a Lex feeling of "What's the use?" when we see the results. I just think you're cutting out voter feedback and incentives in regard to the more obscure stuff, and only so that we can have somewhat tighter races for our high vote getters. Seems to me that's what the playoffs are for, to really assess the popular tracks, whereas this is our only chance to take stock of the obscurities.