Steve's Favorite Band: The Extensive (And Very Ridiculous) iPod Study -- 2006
Last year, after Leigh asked me who my favorite band was, I took to finding out via my iPod/iTunes statistics. The result was the greatest completely unnecessary and needlessly complicated statistical study in the history of determining music preferences. I called it " Steve's Favorite Band: The Extensive (And Very Ridiculous) iPod Study." The result turned out to be what I had always suspected (making the study all the more pointless): that my two favorite bands were The Stereo and Tool. I meant to come back to this every March 19th (because that was the date of the original as well as the birthday of 
Lauren who led me to my first free iPod) to determine my current favorite bands, but I got a little busy, so this is four weeks late. So, anyway, a lot has changed in the year plus since and I have some incredible news: I have a new favorite band. Read along or skip to the end to find out who it is.
Here are the rules of the game. I set up a system that accounted for both quality and quantity (with a slight edge in the quality department, really). To do this I ranked all bands that qualified (we'll get to that in a second) in five separate categories and then gave them points based on their rankings in those categories. And then all the points acquired in those categories are added together to determine a final score and rank.
Those categories are:
Most Played: The total number of plays of all songs by a particular band.
Average Plays: The average plays per song by a particular band.
Top Rated: The number of stars above three stars in the iTunes rating system.
Total Stars: The total number of stars from all the songs by a particular band.
Average Rating: The average rating per song based on the five star rating system.
Also, I decided as a bonus, each band would receive one extra point on their total score for every song they had in my Top 99 (up from 25 last year) Most Played Songs section. And a band would receive a three point bonus if I had consciously made an effort to download a complete album of theirs.
Bands were ranked in each of these categories. Each band in the Top 10 of those categories received points in reverse order. For instance, someone who is ranked first received 10 points; second place, nine points and so on. In the event of a tie, the points received for placing were averaged. For instance, if two bands tied for the most in a category, they would each take an average of the first and second place points, which in this case would be 9.5 points each.
And finally, as a requirement for this, I decided that to qualify for this a band must have at least five songs in my music library. Based on that, the following 75 bands and artists qualified:
3 Doors Down, A Perfect Circle, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, The Alkaline Trio, Alter Bridge, Ambulance LTD, The Arctic Monkeys, Audioslave, Badly Drawn Boy, Blink-182, Bright Eyes, Bush, Cake, Chris Cornell, Coheed & Cambria, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, Creed, The Cure, Damien Rice, David Bowie, Death Cab for Cutie, Elliott Smith, Faith No More, Finger Eleven, Fiona Apple, The Flaming Lips, The Foo Fighters, Fuel, The Get Up Kids, Godsmack, The Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N' Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, Jimmy Eat World, The Juliana Theory, Kid Rock, The Killers, Lifehouse, Live, Local H, Metallica, New Found Glory, Nickelback, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, The Nixons, The Offspring, Our Lady Peace, Ozzy Osbourne, Panic! At the Disco, Pearl Jam, Pete Yorn, Pixies, The Postal Service, Queen, R.E.M., Radiohead, Saves the Day, The Smiths, Snot, So Close, Soundgarden, Staind, The Stereo, Stone Temple Pilots, Sublime, Taxpayer, Tool, U2, Weezer, The White Stripes
And with those bands and those rules, we were ready to go. Feel free to make bets on the outcome.
Most Played: The total number of plays of all songs by a particular band.
1. 531 plays, Bright Eyes 10 points
2. 480 plays, Panic! At the Disco 9 points
3. 249 plays, Saves the Day 8 points
4. 223 plays, The Killers 7 points
5. 221 plays, Elliott Smith 6 points
6. 220 plays, The Stereo 5 points
7. 191 plays, Chris Cornell 4 points
8. 159 plays, Our Lady Peace 3 points
9. 146 plays, Radiohead 2 points
10. 140 plays, Queen 1 point
Bright Eyes and Panic! At the Disco set the tone early with huge leads in total play count. Leigh got me hooked on Bright Eyes just before the study last year and they have sustained my interest ever since. Panic! At the Disco and the Killers do well due to their most recent albums and Elliott Smith makes a strong showing considering my infatuation with his music only started this past Fall.
Average Plays: The average plays per song by a particular band.
1. 34.29 plays, Panic! At the Disco 10 points
2. 24.14 plays, Bright Eyes 9 points
3. 20.86 plays, Radiohead 8 points
4. 20.27 plays, The Killers 7 points
5. 18.42 plays, Elliott Smith 6 points
6. 18.00 plays, Fiona Apple 5 points
7. 17.43 plays, Local H 4 points
8. 16.80 plays, David Bowie 3 points
9. 16.75 plays, Cake 2 points
10. 16.60 plays, Saves the Day 1 point
Panic! At the Disco's album "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" is as strong an album as I can recall. It's fun, spirited, and fast-paced. And while the lyrics can try to be more meaningful than they need to be, overall they're good. This is the first album I've really had a love affair with on my iPod, so of course I overplayed it to the point of torture. That's just how I do. I just keep stumbling onto Bright Eyes' songs I like and won't stop playing. Elliott Smith is here mostly due to Waltz #2 which is the most-played song on my iPod (and the only song with triple digit plays). And a lot of Fiona Apple playing because I'm 37% fag.
Top Rated: The number of stars above three stars in the iTunes rating system. (Which allows a maximum of a five star rating.) So a four star rating is worth one point and a five star song is worth two.
t-1. 16 stars, The Stereo 9.5 points
t-1. 16 stars, Tool 9.5 points
3. 15 stars, Bright Eyes 8 points
4. 14 stars, Alice in Chains 7 points
t-5. 11 stars, Chris Cornell 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Nine Inch Nails 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Queen 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Panic! At the Disco 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Saves the Day 4 points
10. 10 stars, Elliott Smith 1 point
These stayed pretty close to last year. My two previous favorite bands, Tool and The Stereo, lead the way here with 16 stars above three in this category. Alice in Chains and Nine Inch Nails are the only of my favorite 90's rock bands to survive this year, while newcomers Panic! At the Disco, Bright Eyes, and Elliott Smith fill in the rest.
Total Stars The total number of stars from all the songs by a particular band.
1. 81 stars, Bright Eyes 10 points
2. 79 stars, Tool 9 points
3. 76 stars, The Stereo 8 points
4. 60 stars, Pearl Jam 7 points
t-5. 56 stars, Creed 5 points
t-5. 56 stars, Saves the Day 5 points
t-5. 56 stars, Staind 5 points
8. 54 stars, Aerosmith 3 points
t-9. 52 stars, Alice in Chains 1.5 points
t-9. 52 stars, Nickelback 1.5 points
Originally this category was going to be "Total Songs" and simply had everyone ranked according to how many total songs of theirs I had. But what I found was that there were a lot of bands who had huge amounts of songs listed because of the way I downloaded songs at UNH (Just put in a band name and download everything that came up). By basing it on how many total stars a band has if you have slightly less total songs, but songs that are all highly rated you may move ahead of where you'd have been otherwise. While someone who has lots of total songs that are rated a bit lower would go down the list a bit. Anyway, it made for fairer rating. Most of the same ones as last year, except Bright Eyes came in and topped the list, and Aerosmith actually managed to move up a few spots. Good for them.
Average Rating The average rating per song based on the five star rating system.
1. 4.14 stars, Radiohead 10 points
t-2. 4.13 stars, Cake 8.5 points
t-2. 4.13 stars, Live 8.5 points
4. 4.1 stars, Queen 7 points
t-5. 4.00 stars, Alice in Chains 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, A Perfect Circle 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Faith No More 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Fiona Apple 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, The Foo Fighters 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Metallica 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, R.E.M 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Sublime 2.625 points
This is sort of an interesting category, 'cause usually if you rate very high this way I'll download more of your songs, and then rate them lower and bring down your average, so it becomes a tricky line to walk in the quality rating vs quantity of songs department. Radiohead tops the list for the second year in a row, and Cake makes a really strong showing.
Bonus Points!
The following bands received bonus points for having songs on my Top 99 Most Played Songs list:
Bright Eyes +9
Panic! At the Disco +9
The Killers +4
Chris Cornell +3
Saves the Day +3
Cake +2
Death Cab for Cutie +2
Fiona Apple +2
Local H +2
Our Lady Peace +2
Queen +2
Radiohead +2
The Stereo +2
The Arctic Monkeys +1
Audioslave +1
Badly Drawn Boy +1
David Bowie +1
The Flaming Lips +1
Nine Inch Nails +1
The Nixons +1
Pearl Jam +1
Pixies +1
Taxpayer +1
The White Stripes +1
The following bands received three bonus points each because I went out of my way to download their entire albums:
Alter Bridge +3
Jimmy Eat World +3
The Killers +3
Our Lady Peace +3
Panic! At the Disco +3
Snot +3
Taxpayer +3
Tool +3
And this one gets 1.5 because it was an EP, and because it's So Close and I like making up excuses to give them free points (and yet still gyp them at the same time):
So Close +1.5
Close, But No Cigar
First of all, let's give a round of applause for all those who were nominated. It's not easy to be liked by Steve, so they should all be proud. Here are all the bands that did not score any points:
3 Doors Down, The Alkaline Trio, Ambulance LTD, Blink-182, Bush, Coheed & Cambria, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, The Cure, Damien Rice, Finger Eleven, Fuel, The Get Up Kids, Godsmack, The Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N' Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, The Juliana Theory, Kid Rock, Lifehouse, New Found Glory, Nirvana, The Offspring, Ozzy Osbourne, Pete Yorn, The Postal Service, The Smiths, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, U2, Weezer
Thanks for playing guys. And while I like you all in your own special way, none of you are my favorite band. Although you could say that they are all technically tied as my 43rd favorite band.
Next, let's give credit to those who did score some points, but didn't make the Top 10. In descending order:
t-36. The Arctic Monkeys 1 Total Point
t-36. Audioslave 1 Total Point
t-36. Badly Drawn Boy 1 Total Point
t-36. The Flaming Lips 1 Total Point
t-36. The Nixons 1 Total Point
t-36. Pixies 1 Total Point
t-36. The White Stripes 1 Total Point
t-34. Nickelback 1.5 Total Points
t-34. So Close 1.5 Total Points
33. Death Cab for Cutie 2 Total Points
t-27. A Perfect Circle 2.625 Total Points
t-27. Faith No More 2.625 Total Points
t-27. Metallica 2.625 Total Points
t-27. R.E.M. 2.625 Total Points
t-27. Sublime 2.625 Total Points
t-27. The Foo Fighters 2.625 Total Points
t-23. Aerosmith 3 Total Points
t-23. Alter Bridge 3 Total Points
t-23. Jimmy Eat World 3 Total Points
t-23. Snot 3 Total Points
t-21. David Bowie 4 Total Points
t-21. Taxpayer 4 Total Points
t-18. Creed 5 Total Points
t-18. Nine Inch Nails 5 Total Points
t-18. Staind 5 Total Points
17. Local H 6 Total Points
t-15. Our Lady Peace 8 Total Points
t-15. Pearl Jam 8 Total Points
14. Live 8.5 Total Points
13. Fiona Apple 9.625 Total Points
12. Chris Cornell 11 Total Points
11. Alice in Chains 11.125 Total Points
Good work bands. I like you all a bit more than the bands listed above you (Well, except Alter Bridge and Snot who are just here because I downloaded their entire albums to check them out and never deleted those songs). Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam are on their way down, but I think Chris Cornell and Fiona Apple have a decent chance of cracking the Top 10 next year. So that could be exciting. Any of these bands would be reasonably good choices for you if you wanted to buy me tickets to a concert.
And without further ado...
Steve's Top 10 Favorite Bands (Statistically-speaking, anyway)
10. Cake - 12.5 Total Points - I had sort of forgotten about Cake until I went to their free concert in Boston in the Fall with
Kara and Joey. They were fantastic live, and reminded me of a lot of their songs I had forgotten about. Plus they were political and funny. But from "Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go To Hell" to "No Phone" to "Mexico," it's all good. Cake or death? I'll take Cake, please.
9. Elliott Smith - 13 Total Points - Such wonderfully depressing music. He even won was nominated for an Oscar for "Miss Misery." I've only recently really gone on my Elliott Smith binge, but it's going well so far and I don't feel any more suicidal than normal. I desperately want to ballroom dance to "Waltz #2." Preferably in a plain white room, with a plain white girl.
8. Queen - 14 Total Points - Still my favorite "classic rock" band it seems. (Perhaps you could have guessed after my keeping a running diary of American Idol's Queen-Themed Show.) I think my favorites over the past year were probably "Somebody to Love" and "Killer Queen."
6. (tie) The Killers & Saves the Day - 21 Total Points - Here are two bands going in opposite directions. Just about everyone I knew loved the "Hot Fuss" album. I liked "Somebody Told Me" but thought it was probably too gimmicky for the band to survive. Who knew they were saving songs like "All These Things That I've Done"? I hope the follow-up does as well.
Saves the Day however, while still being in the Top 10, are on the decline. Chris has been saying that their new album is great, but I haven't heard any of it. I still like a lot of this older stuff, and it makes for good driving music, but none of it is as regularly played as it was a year ago. Times, they are a-changing.
5. Tool- 21.5 Total Points - Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Last year's number one band is now down to number five. After their last album failed to impress me, I knew they were in for some trouble. There's a new one coming out on May 2nd, and T and my bro are already prepping for it as if it'll be the reinvention of music, but we'll see. Sometimes Maynard gets too advanced for his own good.
4. Radiohead - 22 Total Points - Radiohead maintains its fourth place spot from last year. They're still averaging the highest band rating on my list, despite having added a few more songs to my collection. I still have the "classics" ("Karma Police," "Creep," and "Paranoid Android") but am starting to extend into other areas for songs from "Just" to "Black Star" to "How to Disappear Completely."
3. The Stereo - 24.5 Total Points - No longer a top two band says the stats. Maybe I'm starting to outgrow them. Sometimes it's hard to rely on a band's old catalogue after they break up. I never even checked out Jamie's new band. Haha, oh well.
2. Panic! At the Disco - 35 Total Points - Boy did they come out of nowhere. The whole album is just so good that I played it and played it and played it. Oh, and then I played it. Plus I saw them in concert with Taryn and Jill. The titles to their songs are fun in a ridiculous way. I thought "There's a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet " was going to be my favorite song from their album, but late-comer "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks" has taken over there. I'm a little burnt out on the album now because I overplayed it so much, but I still can understand that I like it. I just need to stop playing it constantly.
That said, I'm so glad that my love affair with them didn't propel them all the way to number one. It's too soon for that. And besides, the real number one band has earned its place.
1. Bright Eyes - 46 Total Points - Just blew away the competition. 11 more points than second place, 21.5 points more ahead of the next closest after that. Last year I was just getting into Bright Eyes' with their songs "No Lies, Just Love" and "A Perfect Sonnet." But the hits just kept coming after that. From "Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh," to "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" to "Lua" to "Gold Mine Gutted." It's all good.
I tried to trick people into going to one of their shows with me this fall, but everyone I asked declined. And when I play their music while driving, some passengers have been known to say things like, "Know what I hate? Bright Eyes." But I think that may make them all the more perfect in my eyes. Nothing like having a favorite band that everyone else hates.
And just because I'm super cool, I put the Excel chart I used to calculate all this online for you to see/download so that you can marvel at my excellence/geekiness/excellent geekiness or have a template to do your own ridiculous study (like anyone else would): itunes.xls
(Note: If you highlight a column in Excel and click the AZ/ZA buttons
you can see how each band ranks in each of the various categories.)
Lauren who led me to my first free iPod) to determine my current favorite bands, but I got a little busy, so this is four weeks late. So, anyway, a lot has changed in the year plus since and I have some incredible news: I have a new favorite band. Read along or skip to the end to find out who it is.
Here are the rules of the game. I set up a system that accounted for both quality and quantity (with a slight edge in the quality department, really). To do this I ranked all bands that qualified (we'll get to that in a second) in five separate categories and then gave them points based on their rankings in those categories. And then all the points acquired in those categories are added together to determine a final score and rank.
Those categories are:
Most Played: The total number of plays of all songs by a particular band.
Average Plays: The average plays per song by a particular band.
Top Rated: The number of stars above three stars in the iTunes rating system.
Total Stars: The total number of stars from all the songs by a particular band.
Average Rating: The average rating per song based on the five star rating system.
Also, I decided as a bonus, each band would receive one extra point on their total score for every song they had in my Top 99 (up from 25 last year) Most Played Songs section. And a band would receive a three point bonus if I had consciously made an effort to download a complete album of theirs.
Bands were ranked in each of these categories. Each band in the Top 10 of those categories received points in reverse order. For instance, someone who is ranked first received 10 points; second place, nine points and so on. In the event of a tie, the points received for placing were averaged. For instance, if two bands tied for the most in a category, they would each take an average of the first and second place points, which in this case would be 9.5 points each.
And finally, as a requirement for this, I decided that to qualify for this a band must have at least five songs in my music library. Based on that, the following 75 bands and artists qualified:
3 Doors Down, A Perfect Circle, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, The Alkaline Trio, Alter Bridge, Ambulance LTD, The Arctic Monkeys, Audioslave, Badly Drawn Boy, Blink-182, Bright Eyes, Bush, Cake, Chris Cornell, Coheed & Cambria, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, Creed, The Cure, Damien Rice, David Bowie, Death Cab for Cutie, Elliott Smith, Faith No More, Finger Eleven, Fiona Apple, The Flaming Lips, The Foo Fighters, Fuel, The Get Up Kids, Godsmack, The Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N' Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, Jimmy Eat World, The Juliana Theory, Kid Rock, The Killers, Lifehouse, Live, Local H, Metallica, New Found Glory, Nickelback, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, The Nixons, The Offspring, Our Lady Peace, Ozzy Osbourne, Panic! At the Disco, Pearl Jam, Pete Yorn, Pixies, The Postal Service, Queen, R.E.M., Radiohead, Saves the Day, The Smiths, Snot, So Close, Soundgarden, Staind, The Stereo, Stone Temple Pilots, Sublime, Taxpayer, Tool, U2, Weezer, The White Stripes
And with those bands and those rules, we were ready to go. Feel free to make bets on the outcome.
Most Played: The total number of plays of all songs by a particular band.
1. 531 plays, Bright Eyes 10 points
2. 480 plays, Panic! At the Disco 9 points
3. 249 plays, Saves the Day 8 points
4. 223 plays, The Killers 7 points
5. 221 plays, Elliott Smith 6 points
6. 220 plays, The Stereo 5 points
7. 191 plays, Chris Cornell 4 points
8. 159 plays, Our Lady Peace 3 points
9. 146 plays, Radiohead 2 points
10. 140 plays, Queen 1 point
Bright Eyes and Panic! At the Disco set the tone early with huge leads in total play count. Leigh got me hooked on Bright Eyes just before the study last year and they have sustained my interest ever since. Panic! At the Disco and the Killers do well due to their most recent albums and Elliott Smith makes a strong showing considering my infatuation with his music only started this past Fall.
Average Plays: The average plays per song by a particular band.
1. 34.29 plays, Panic! At the Disco 10 points
2. 24.14 plays, Bright Eyes 9 points
3. 20.86 plays, Radiohead 8 points
4. 20.27 plays, The Killers 7 points
5. 18.42 plays, Elliott Smith 6 points
6. 18.00 plays, Fiona Apple 5 points
7. 17.43 plays, Local H 4 points
8. 16.80 plays, David Bowie 3 points
9. 16.75 plays, Cake 2 points
10. 16.60 plays, Saves the Day 1 point
Panic! At the Disco's album "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" is as strong an album as I can recall. It's fun, spirited, and fast-paced. And while the lyrics can try to be more meaningful than they need to be, overall they're good. This is the first album I've really had a love affair with on my iPod, so of course I overplayed it to the point of torture. That's just how I do. I just keep stumbling onto Bright Eyes' songs I like and won't stop playing. Elliott Smith is here mostly due to Waltz #2 which is the most-played song on my iPod (and the only song with triple digit plays). And a lot of Fiona Apple playing because I'm 37% fag.
Top Rated: The number of stars above three stars in the iTunes rating system. (Which allows a maximum of a five star rating.) So a four star rating is worth one point and a five star song is worth two.
t-1. 16 stars, The Stereo 9.5 points
t-1. 16 stars, Tool 9.5 points
3. 15 stars, Bright Eyes 8 points
4. 14 stars, Alice in Chains 7 points
t-5. 11 stars, Chris Cornell 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Nine Inch Nails 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Queen 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Panic! At the Disco 4 points
t-5. 11 stars, Saves the Day 4 points
10. 10 stars, Elliott Smith 1 point
These stayed pretty close to last year. My two previous favorite bands, Tool and The Stereo, lead the way here with 16 stars above three in this category. Alice in Chains and Nine Inch Nails are the only of my favorite 90's rock bands to survive this year, while newcomers Panic! At the Disco, Bright Eyes, and Elliott Smith fill in the rest.
Total Stars The total number of stars from all the songs by a particular band.
1. 81 stars, Bright Eyes 10 points
2. 79 stars, Tool 9 points
3. 76 stars, The Stereo 8 points
4. 60 stars, Pearl Jam 7 points
t-5. 56 stars, Creed 5 points
t-5. 56 stars, Saves the Day 5 points
t-5. 56 stars, Staind 5 points
8. 54 stars, Aerosmith 3 points
t-9. 52 stars, Alice in Chains 1.5 points
t-9. 52 stars, Nickelback 1.5 points
Originally this category was going to be "Total Songs" and simply had everyone ranked according to how many total songs of theirs I had. But what I found was that there were a lot of bands who had huge amounts of songs listed because of the way I downloaded songs at UNH (Just put in a band name and download everything that came up). By basing it on how many total stars a band has if you have slightly less total songs, but songs that are all highly rated you may move ahead of where you'd have been otherwise. While someone who has lots of total songs that are rated a bit lower would go down the list a bit. Anyway, it made for fairer rating. Most of the same ones as last year, except Bright Eyes came in and topped the list, and Aerosmith actually managed to move up a few spots. Good for them.
Average Rating The average rating per song based on the five star rating system.
1. 4.14 stars, Radiohead 10 points
t-2. 4.13 stars, Cake 8.5 points
t-2. 4.13 stars, Live 8.5 points
4. 4.1 stars, Queen 7 points
t-5. 4.00 stars, Alice in Chains 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, A Perfect Circle 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Faith No More 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Fiona Apple 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, The Foo Fighters 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Metallica 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, R.E.M 2.625 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Sublime 2.625 points
This is sort of an interesting category, 'cause usually if you rate very high this way I'll download more of your songs, and then rate them lower and bring down your average, so it becomes a tricky line to walk in the quality rating vs quantity of songs department. Radiohead tops the list for the second year in a row, and Cake makes a really strong showing.
Bonus Points!
The following bands received bonus points for having songs on my Top 99 Most Played Songs list:
Bright Eyes +9
Panic! At the Disco +9
The Killers +4
Chris Cornell +3
Saves the Day +3
Cake +2
Death Cab for Cutie +2
Fiona Apple +2
Local H +2
Our Lady Peace +2
Queen +2
Radiohead +2
The Stereo +2
The Arctic Monkeys +1
Audioslave +1
Badly Drawn Boy +1
David Bowie +1
The Flaming Lips +1
Nine Inch Nails +1
The Nixons +1
Pearl Jam +1
Pixies +1
Taxpayer +1
The White Stripes +1
The following bands received three bonus points each because I went out of my way to download their entire albums:
Alter Bridge +3
Jimmy Eat World +3
The Killers +3
Our Lady Peace +3
Panic! At the Disco +3
Snot +3
Taxpayer +3
Tool +3
And this one gets 1.5 because it was an EP, and because it's So Close and I like making up excuses to give them free points (and yet still gyp them at the same time):
So Close +1.5
Close, But No Cigar
First of all, let's give a round of applause for all those who were nominated. It's not easy to be liked by Steve, so they should all be proud. Here are all the bands that did not score any points:
3 Doors Down, The Alkaline Trio, Ambulance LTD, Blink-182, Bush, Coheed & Cambria, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, The Cure, Damien Rice, Finger Eleven, Fuel, The Get Up Kids, Godsmack, The Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N' Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, The Juliana Theory, Kid Rock, Lifehouse, New Found Glory, Nirvana, The Offspring, Ozzy Osbourne, Pete Yorn, The Postal Service, The Smiths, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, U2, Weezer
Thanks for playing guys. And while I like you all in your own special way, none of you are my favorite band. Although you could say that they are all technically tied as my 43rd favorite band.
Next, let's give credit to those who did score some points, but didn't make the Top 10. In descending order:
t-36. The Arctic Monkeys 1 Total Point
t-36. Audioslave 1 Total Point
t-36. Badly Drawn Boy 1 Total Point
t-36. The Flaming Lips 1 Total Point
t-36. The Nixons 1 Total Point
t-36. Pixies 1 Total Point
t-36. The White Stripes 1 Total Point
t-34. Nickelback 1.5 Total Points
t-34. So Close 1.5 Total Points
33. Death Cab for Cutie 2 Total Points
t-27. A Perfect Circle 2.625 Total Points
t-27. Faith No More 2.625 Total Points
t-27. Metallica 2.625 Total Points
t-27. R.E.M. 2.625 Total Points
t-27. Sublime 2.625 Total Points
t-27. The Foo Fighters 2.625 Total Points
t-23. Aerosmith 3 Total Points
t-23. Alter Bridge 3 Total Points
t-23. Jimmy Eat World 3 Total Points
t-23. Snot 3 Total Points
t-21. David Bowie 4 Total Points
t-21. Taxpayer 4 Total Points
t-18. Creed 5 Total Points
t-18. Nine Inch Nails 5 Total Points
t-18. Staind 5 Total Points
17. Local H 6 Total Points
t-15. Our Lady Peace 8 Total Points
t-15. Pearl Jam 8 Total Points
14. Live 8.5 Total Points
13. Fiona Apple 9.625 Total Points
12. Chris Cornell 11 Total Points
11. Alice in Chains 11.125 Total Points
Good work bands. I like you all a bit more than the bands listed above you (Well, except Alter Bridge and Snot who are just here because I downloaded their entire albums to check them out and never deleted those songs). Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam are on their way down, but I think Chris Cornell and Fiona Apple have a decent chance of cracking the Top 10 next year. So that could be exciting. Any of these bands would be reasonably good choices for you if you wanted to buy me tickets to a concert.
And without further ado...
Steve's Top 10 Favorite Bands (Statistically-speaking, anyway)
10. Cake - 12.5 Total Points - I had sort of forgotten about Cake until I went to their free concert in Boston in the Fall with
Kara and Joey. They were fantastic live, and reminded me of a lot of their songs I had forgotten about. Plus they were political and funny. But from "Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go To Hell" to "No Phone" to "Mexico," it's all good. Cake or death? I'll take Cake, please.
9. Elliott Smith - 13 Total Points - Such wonderfully depressing music. He even won was nominated for an Oscar for "Miss Misery." I've only recently really gone on my Elliott Smith binge, but it's going well so far and I don't feel any more suicidal than normal. I desperately want to ballroom dance to "Waltz #2." Preferably in a plain white room, with a plain white girl.
8. Queen - 14 Total Points - Still my favorite "classic rock" band it seems. (Perhaps you could have guessed after my keeping a running diary of American Idol's Queen-Themed Show.) I think my favorites over the past year were probably "Somebody to Love" and "Killer Queen."
6. (tie) The Killers & Saves the Day - 21 Total Points - Here are two bands going in opposite directions. Just about everyone I knew loved the "Hot Fuss" album. I liked "Somebody Told Me" but thought it was probably too gimmicky for the band to survive. Who knew they were saving songs like "All These Things That I've Done"? I hope the follow-up does as well.
Saves the Day however, while still being in the Top 10, are on the decline. Chris has been saying that their new album is great, but I haven't heard any of it. I still like a lot of this older stuff, and it makes for good driving music, but none of it is as regularly played as it was a year ago. Times, they are a-changing.
5. Tool- 21.5 Total Points - Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Last year's number one band is now down to number five. After their last album failed to impress me, I knew they were in for some trouble. There's a new one coming out on May 2nd, and T and my bro are already prepping for it as if it'll be the reinvention of music, but we'll see. Sometimes Maynard gets too advanced for his own good.
4. Radiohead - 22 Total Points - Radiohead maintains its fourth place spot from last year. They're still averaging the highest band rating on my list, despite having added a few more songs to my collection. I still have the "classics" ("Karma Police," "Creep," and "Paranoid Android") but am starting to extend into other areas for songs from "Just" to "Black Star" to "How to Disappear Completely."
3. The Stereo - 24.5 Total Points - No longer a top two band says the stats. Maybe I'm starting to outgrow them. Sometimes it's hard to rely on a band's old catalogue after they break up. I never even checked out Jamie's new band. Haha, oh well.
2. Panic! At the Disco - 35 Total Points - Boy did they come out of nowhere. The whole album is just so good that I played it and played it and played it. Oh, and then I played it. Plus I saw them in concert with Taryn and Jill. The titles to their songs are fun in a ridiculous way. I thought "There's a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet " was going to be my favorite song from their album, but late-comer "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks" has taken over there. I'm a little burnt out on the album now because I overplayed it so much, but I still can understand that I like it. I just need to stop playing it constantly.
That said, I'm so glad that my love affair with them didn't propel them all the way to number one. It's too soon for that. And besides, the real number one band has earned its place.
1. Bright Eyes - 46 Total Points - Just blew away the competition. 11 more points than second place, 21.5 points more ahead of the next closest after that. Last year I was just getting into Bright Eyes' with their songs "No Lies, Just Love" and "A Perfect Sonnet." But the hits just kept coming after that. From "Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh," to "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" to "Lua" to "Gold Mine Gutted." It's all good.
I tried to trick people into going to one of their shows with me this fall, but everyone I asked declined. And when I play their music while driving, some passengers have been known to say things like, "Know what I hate? Bright Eyes." But I think that may make them all the more perfect in my eyes. Nothing like having a favorite band that everyone else hates.
And just because I'm super cool, I put the Excel chart I used to calculate all this online for you to see/download so that you can marvel at my excellence/geekiness/excellent geekiness or have a template to do your own ridiculous study (like anyone else would): itunes.xls
(Note: If you highlight a column in Excel and click the AZ/ZA buttons
you can see how each band ranks in each of the various categories.)