Steve's Favorite Band: The Extensive (And Very Ridiculous) iPod Study
Not long ago, Leigh asked me who my favorite band was, and I, not really sure anymore, said, "I always used to say The Stereo and Tool, but these days I don't feel so confident in saying that." Well, that thought stuck with me for a while and I decided since iTunes does a wonderful job keeping track of the amount of times I play songs on my iPod and in iTunes, how I rate them and various other things, this would be an excellent opportunity to go all Rob Neyer on yo'ass and use statistics to determine my current favorite band. (Yeah, I bet one or two of you got that reference...)
Anyway, I figured we had to set up a system that accounted for both quality and quantity (With a slight edge in the quality department, really). To do this I decided to rank all bands that qualified (We'll get to that in a second) in five separate categories and then give them points based on their rankings in those categories. And then all the points acquired in those categories would be 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 bonus point on their total score for every song they had in my Top 25 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; seconds 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 53 bands qualified:
3 Doors Down, A Perfect Circle, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, Alkaline Trio, Alter Bridge, Ambulance LTD, Badly Drawn Boy, Blink-182, Bright Eyes, Bush, Coheed & Cambria, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, Creed, The Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, Finger Eleven, Foo Fighters, Fuel, Get Up Kids, Godsmack, Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, Jimmy Eat World, Kid Rock, Lifehouse, Metallica, New Found Glory, Nickelback, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, The Offspring, Our Lady Peace, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Pete Yorn, The Postal Service, Queen, R.E.M., Saves the Day, Snot, So Close, Soundgarden, Staind, The Stereo, Stone Temple Pilots, Tool, U2, Weezer
Beyond these 53 bands, I felt there were six other bands in my library that I enjoy so much, that I would give them special exemptions even though they did not have the minimum five songs to qualify (Most likely because of my own laziness and/or procrastination). Those six bands are:
Audioslave, Live, Local H, The Nixons, The Mars Volta, Radiohead
Now, because they were given special exemptions, I felt they should be penalized for not having the minimum amount of songs they were meant to, to qualify. Audioslave, Live, The Nixons, and Radiohead would all be penalized three points because they only have four songs each in my music library and Local H and The Mars Volta would be penalized four points because they only have three songs each in my music library.
And with 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. 114 plays, The Stereo 10 points
2. 108 plays, Saves the Day 9 points
3. 100 plays, Bright Eyes 8 points
4. 84 plays, Tool 7 points
5. 82 plays, Our Lady Peace 6 points
6. 65 plays, The Mars Volta 5 points
7. 57 plays, Pearl Jam 4 points
8. 55 plays, Radiohead 3 points
9. 52 plays, Ozzy Osbourne 2 points
t-10. 50 plays, Jimmy Eat World 0.5 points
t-10. 50 plays, Nine Inch Nails 0.5 points
The Stereo got off to a strong start here leading the way with 114 plays. There was one tie for tenth place between Jimmy Eat World and Nine Inch Nails. Since they were the 10th and 11th bands listed, they divided up the point for tenth place between themselves. Bright Eyes may be the biggest surprise on this list because I don't have a lot of their songs in comparison to the others, but they are pulled ahead by my overplaying of their songs "No Lies, Just Love" and "A Perfect Sonnet," which are two of my top three most played songs.
Average Plays: The average plays per song by a particular band.
1. 21.67 plays, The Mars Volta 10 points
2. 14.29 plays, Bright Eyes 9 points
3. 13.75 plays, Radiohead 8 points
4. 13.33 plays, Local H 7 points
5. 10.25 plays, Audioslave 6 points
6. 8.75 plays, The Nixons 5 points
7. 8.40 plays, Coheed & Cambria 4 points
8. 8.31 plays, Saves the Day 3 points
9. 7.40 plays, Blink-182 2 points
10. 7.00 plays, Live 1 point
You'll notice that all six exemption bands made this list (Led by The Mars Volta and their 21.67 plays per song) and that speaks to why I felt they deserved to be included. Bright Eyes is again propped up by my recent overplaying of "No Lies, Just Love," and "A Perfect Sonnet," while Coheed & Cambria, Saves the Day and Blink-182 make cases for consistency.
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. 14 stars, Alice in Chains 8 points
4. 11 stars, Nine Inch Nails 7 points
5. 10 stars, Saves the Day 6 points
t-6. 9 stars, A Perfect Circle 4.5 points
t-6. 9 stars, Queen 4.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, The Offspring 1.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, Pearl Jam 1.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, Soundgarden 1.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, Stone Temple Pilots 1.5 points
My two previous (And perhaps current?) favorite bands, Tool and The Stereo, lead the way here with 16 stars above three in this category. Some of my favorite rock bands of the 90's make strong showings as well (Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails, The Offspring, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots) with many getting their first points of the day.
Total Stars The total number of stars from all the songs by a particular band.
1. 79 stars, Tool 10 points
2. 76 stars, The Stereo 9 points
3. 59 stars, Pearl Jam 8 points
t-4. 56 stars, Creed 6.5 points
t-4. 56 stars, Staind 6.5 points
t-6. 52 stars, Alice in Chains 4.5 points
t-6. 52 stars, Nickelback 4.5 points
8. 50 stars, Our Lady Peace 3 points
9. 49 stars, Saves the Day 2 points
t-10. 47 stars, Aerosmith 0.5 points
t-10. 47 stars, Ozzy Osbourne 0.5 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 (Like Alice in Chains) 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 (Like Creed) would go down the list a bit. Anyway, it made for fairer rating. And again Tool and The Stereo make strong showings.
Average Rating The average rating per song based on the five star rating system.
1. 4.50 stars, Radiohead 10 points
2. 4.29 stars, Queen 9 points
3. 4.25 stars, Live 8 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Aerosmith 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Alice in Chains 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Audioslave 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Foo Fighters 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Local H 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, The Mars Volta 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Metallica 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, R.E.M 3.5 points
Five out of the six exemption bands make this list with Radiohead topping them all. Queen also has an expected strong showing, but perhaps most surprising is how highly I've rated Live's songs. Who knew I liked their work so much? Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, and R.E.M. being rated at an average of four stars also was slightly surprising.
Bonus Points! ...and Deductions.
The following bands received bonus points for having songs on my Top 25 Most Played Songs list:
Bright Eyes +2
Audioslave +1
Coheed & Cambria +1
Local H +1
The Nixons +1
The Mars Volta +1
The Postal Service +1
Radiohead +1
Saves the Day +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
Our Lady Peace +3
Snot +3
Tool +3
And finally the following bands lost points for not having the minimum of five songs in my music library.
Audioslave -3
Live -3
The Nixons -3
Radiohead -3
Local H -4
The Mars Volta -4
And without further ado...
Steve's Top 10 Favorite Bands (Statistically-speaking, anyway)
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, Alkaline Trio, Ambulance LTD, Badly Drawn Boy, Bush, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, The Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, Finger Eleven, Fuel, Get Up Kids, Godsmack, Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, Kid Rock, Lifehouse, New Found Glory, Nirvana, Pete Yorn, So Close, U2, Weezer
Thanks for playing guys. And while I like you all in your own special way, none of you are my favorite band.
Next, let's give credit to those who did score some points, but didn't make the Top 10. In order from most points to least:
Audioslave (7.5 points), Local H (7.5 points), Nine Inch Nails (7.5 points), Creed (6.5 points), Staind (6.5 points), Live (6 points), Coheed & Cambria (5 points), A Perfect Circle (4.5 points), Nickelback (4.5 points), Aerosmith (4 points), Foo Fighters (3.5 points), Jimmy Eat World (3.5 points), Metallica (3.5 points), R.E.M. (3.5 points), Alter Bridge (3 points), Snot (3 points), The Nixons (3 points), Ozzy Osbourne (2.5 points), Blink-182 (2 points), The Offspring (1.5 points), Soundgarden (1.5 points), Stone Temple Pilots (1.5 points), The Postal Service (1 point)
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). Audioslave and Local H have reason to be excited as they will probably move right up the ranks as soon as I download more of their songs. Nine Inch Nails should also be proud of their showing as they are not too far away.
10. Our Lady Peace - 12 Total Points - The Canadian rock band whose "Clumsy" album I loaned to Megan Gwynn in high school and she never returned. Perhaps that's why I went ahead and downloaded the whole thing. The three bonus points for that were superficial though, as they would have finished in 10th place regardless.
8. (tie) Queen & Pearl Jam - 13.5 Total Points - Queen is probably my favorite "classic rock" band. Wayne's World brought them prominently to my attention, but I knew I remembered them from somewhere else, that somewhere else being The Highlander. Also, while everyone always talks about Sir-Mix-Alot's "Baby Got Back," no one ever mentions that Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" predated it by nearly 15 years.
Pearl Jam was a favorite of mine throughout the 90's with songs like "Alive" and "Jeremy." But perhaps my favorite of all their songs is the grossly underrated "Do the Evolution" which also has a gnarly video courtesy of Todd MacFarlane.
7. The Mars Volta - 15.5 Total Points - My brother first introduced me At The Drive In years ago and I dug the furiousness of their music, but when they evolved into The Mars Volta is when I really began to like them. The eerie sensations of songs like "Inertiatic ESP" and "Televators" are an experience to hear and their latest release "The Widow" is fantastic as well. The truth is, I need to download more. And soon.
6. Alice in Chains- 16 Total Points - Since my brother demanded I listen to "Man in the Box" back in the early 90's I've been a big fan of Alice in Chains. In high school, Mike Simone and I even made an Alice in Chains fan website for a computer class. My favorites include "Heaven Beside You," "Whale & Wasp" and "Don't Follow."
4. (tie) Bright Eyes & Radiohead - 19 Total Points - I've only recently really given Bright Eyes a chance. I don't know a whole lot of what they have to offer, but have been pretty well taken by "No Lies, Just Love" and "A Perfect Sonnet." Those two songs alone pretty much propelled them all the way up to #4 on this list. Leigh should be proud for tricking me into liking them.
I've enjoyed "classic" Radiohead for a good while now. And though I'm not the biggest fan of some of their newer releases, "Karma Police," "Creep," and "Paranoid Android" never seem to get old. And somehow they ended up having the highest song rating average out of everybody in this whole contest. Who knew?
3. Saves the Day - 21 Total Points - I've never really disliked any song of theirs. And some I just never seem to get sick of. It's never a bad time for "Freakish," "At Your Funeral" or "Rocks Tonic Juice Magic" on my iPod.
2. The Stereo - 28.5 Total Points - Can you believe it? Still in the top two. They're no longer a band and I feel less interested in them now than I did a few years ago, but according to the statistics they're still my second favorite band. Paul first introduced me to them a few years ago on the way to the airport for one of my Florida trips. Seeing them in concert was one of my favorite concert experiences ever as I got to see Jamie show off his ridiculously good voice. I suppose it's about time to check out his new band, but I'll never forget The Stereo.
1. Tool - 29.5 Total Points - Surprise, surprise. My top two favorite bands came out the same way I'd always claimed them to be. More proof that I am never wrong, even when it comes to predicting my own personal preferences. (I guess this whole thing was a waste of time. Oh well.) While I freely admit I was turned off by their last album, the songs from "Aenima," "Undertow," and "Opiate" sustain them. Who wouldn't love a band that writes a song called "Prison Sex"?
And shut up! You're the nerd! I'm cool. Or something.
Anyway, I figured we had to set up a system that accounted for both quality and quantity (With a slight edge in the quality department, really). To do this I decided to rank all bands that qualified (We'll get to that in a second) in five separate categories and then give them points based on their rankings in those categories. And then all the points acquired in those categories would be 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 bonus point on their total score for every song they had in my Top 25 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; seconds 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 53 bands qualified:
3 Doors Down, A Perfect Circle, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, Alkaline Trio, Alter Bridge, Ambulance LTD, Badly Drawn Boy, Blink-182, Bright Eyes, Bush, Coheed & Cambria, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, Creed, The Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, Finger Eleven, Foo Fighters, Fuel, Get Up Kids, Godsmack, Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, Jimmy Eat World, Kid Rock, Lifehouse, Metallica, New Found Glory, Nickelback, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, The Offspring, Our Lady Peace, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Pete Yorn, The Postal Service, Queen, R.E.M., Saves the Day, Snot, So Close, Soundgarden, Staind, The Stereo, Stone Temple Pilots, Tool, U2, Weezer
Beyond these 53 bands, I felt there were six other bands in my library that I enjoy so much, that I would give them special exemptions even though they did not have the minimum five songs to qualify (Most likely because of my own laziness and/or procrastination). Those six bands are:
Audioslave, Live, Local H, The Nixons, The Mars Volta, Radiohead
Now, because they were given special exemptions, I felt they should be penalized for not having the minimum amount of songs they were meant to, to qualify. Audioslave, Live, The Nixons, and Radiohead would all be penalized three points because they only have four songs each in my music library and Local H and The Mars Volta would be penalized four points because they only have three songs each in my music library.
And with 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. 114 plays, The Stereo 10 points
2. 108 plays, Saves the Day 9 points
3. 100 plays, Bright Eyes 8 points
4. 84 plays, Tool 7 points
5. 82 plays, Our Lady Peace 6 points
6. 65 plays, The Mars Volta 5 points
7. 57 plays, Pearl Jam 4 points
8. 55 plays, Radiohead 3 points
9. 52 plays, Ozzy Osbourne 2 points
t-10. 50 plays, Jimmy Eat World 0.5 points
t-10. 50 plays, Nine Inch Nails 0.5 points
The Stereo got off to a strong start here leading the way with 114 plays. There was one tie for tenth place between Jimmy Eat World and Nine Inch Nails. Since they were the 10th and 11th bands listed, they divided up the point for tenth place between themselves. Bright Eyes may be the biggest surprise on this list because I don't have a lot of their songs in comparison to the others, but they are pulled ahead by my overplaying of their songs "No Lies, Just Love" and "A Perfect Sonnet," which are two of my top three most played songs.
Average Plays: The average plays per song by a particular band.
1. 21.67 plays, The Mars Volta 10 points
2. 14.29 plays, Bright Eyes 9 points
3. 13.75 plays, Radiohead 8 points
4. 13.33 plays, Local H 7 points
5. 10.25 plays, Audioslave 6 points
6. 8.75 plays, The Nixons 5 points
7. 8.40 plays, Coheed & Cambria 4 points
8. 8.31 plays, Saves the Day 3 points
9. 7.40 plays, Blink-182 2 points
10. 7.00 plays, Live 1 point
You'll notice that all six exemption bands made this list (Led by The Mars Volta and their 21.67 plays per song) and that speaks to why I felt they deserved to be included. Bright Eyes is again propped up by my recent overplaying of "No Lies, Just Love," and "A Perfect Sonnet," while Coheed & Cambria, Saves the Day and Blink-182 make cases for consistency.
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. 14 stars, Alice in Chains 8 points
4. 11 stars, Nine Inch Nails 7 points
5. 10 stars, Saves the Day 6 points
t-6. 9 stars, A Perfect Circle 4.5 points
t-6. 9 stars, Queen 4.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, The Offspring 1.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, Pearl Jam 1.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, Soundgarden 1.5 points
t-8. 8 stars, Stone Temple Pilots 1.5 points
My two previous (And perhaps current?) favorite bands, Tool and The Stereo, lead the way here with 16 stars above three in this category. Some of my favorite rock bands of the 90's make strong showings as well (Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails, The Offspring, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots) with many getting their first points of the day.
Total Stars The total number of stars from all the songs by a particular band.
1. 79 stars, Tool 10 points
2. 76 stars, The Stereo 9 points
3. 59 stars, Pearl Jam 8 points
t-4. 56 stars, Creed 6.5 points
t-4. 56 stars, Staind 6.5 points
t-6. 52 stars, Alice in Chains 4.5 points
t-6. 52 stars, Nickelback 4.5 points
8. 50 stars, Our Lady Peace 3 points
9. 49 stars, Saves the Day 2 points
t-10. 47 stars, Aerosmith 0.5 points
t-10. 47 stars, Ozzy Osbourne 0.5 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 (Like Alice in Chains) 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 (Like Creed) would go down the list a bit. Anyway, it made for fairer rating. And again Tool and The Stereo make strong showings.
Average Rating The average rating per song based on the five star rating system.
1. 4.50 stars, Radiohead 10 points
2. 4.29 stars, Queen 9 points
3. 4.25 stars, Live 8 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Aerosmith 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Alice in Chains 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Audioslave 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Foo Fighters 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Local H 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, The Mars Volta 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, Metallica 3.5 points
t-4. 4.00 stars, R.E.M 3.5 points
Five out of the six exemption bands make this list with Radiohead topping them all. Queen also has an expected strong showing, but perhaps most surprising is how highly I've rated Live's songs. Who knew I liked their work so much? Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, and R.E.M. being rated at an average of four stars also was slightly surprising.
Bonus Points! ...and Deductions.
The following bands received bonus points for having songs on my Top 25 Most Played Songs list:
Bright Eyes +2
Audioslave +1
Coheed & Cambria +1
Local H +1
The Nixons +1
The Mars Volta +1
The Postal Service +1
Radiohead +1
Saves the Day +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
Our Lady Peace +3
Snot +3
Tool +3
And finally the following bands lost points for not having the minimum of five songs in my music library.
Audioslave -3
Live -3
The Nixons -3
Radiohead -3
Local H -4
The Mars Volta -4
And without further ado...
Steve's Top 10 Favorite Bands (Statistically-speaking, anyway)
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, Alkaline Trio, Ambulance LTD, Badly Drawn Boy, Bush, Cold, Coldplay, Collective Soul, The Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, Finger Eleven, Fuel, Get Up Kids, Godsmack, Goo Goo Dolls, Guns N Roses, Incubus, Jeremiah Freed, Kid Rock, Lifehouse, New Found Glory, Nirvana, Pete Yorn, So Close, U2, Weezer
Thanks for playing guys. And while I like you all in your own special way, none of you are my favorite band.
Next, let's give credit to those who did score some points, but didn't make the Top 10. In order from most points to least:
Audioslave (7.5 points), Local H (7.5 points), Nine Inch Nails (7.5 points), Creed (6.5 points), Staind (6.5 points), Live (6 points), Coheed & Cambria (5 points), A Perfect Circle (4.5 points), Nickelback (4.5 points), Aerosmith (4 points), Foo Fighters (3.5 points), Jimmy Eat World (3.5 points), Metallica (3.5 points), R.E.M. (3.5 points), Alter Bridge (3 points), Snot (3 points), The Nixons (3 points), Ozzy Osbourne (2.5 points), Blink-182 (2 points), The Offspring (1.5 points), Soundgarden (1.5 points), Stone Temple Pilots (1.5 points), The Postal Service (1 point)
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). Audioslave and Local H have reason to be excited as they will probably move right up the ranks as soon as I download more of their songs. Nine Inch Nails should also be proud of their showing as they are not too far away.
10. Our Lady Peace - 12 Total Points - The Canadian rock band whose "Clumsy" album I loaned to Megan Gwynn in high school and she never returned. Perhaps that's why I went ahead and downloaded the whole thing. The three bonus points for that were superficial though, as they would have finished in 10th place regardless.
8. (tie) Queen & Pearl Jam - 13.5 Total Points - Queen is probably my favorite "classic rock" band. Wayne's World brought them prominently to my attention, but I knew I remembered them from somewhere else, that somewhere else being The Highlander. Also, while everyone always talks about Sir-Mix-Alot's "Baby Got Back," no one ever mentions that Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" predated it by nearly 15 years.
Pearl Jam was a favorite of mine throughout the 90's with songs like "Alive" and "Jeremy." But perhaps my favorite of all their songs is the grossly underrated "Do the Evolution" which also has a gnarly video courtesy of Todd MacFarlane.
7. The Mars Volta - 15.5 Total Points - My brother first introduced me At The Drive In years ago and I dug the furiousness of their music, but when they evolved into The Mars Volta is when I really began to like them. The eerie sensations of songs like "Inertiatic ESP" and "Televators" are an experience to hear and their latest release "The Widow" is fantastic as well. The truth is, I need to download more. And soon.
6. Alice in Chains- 16 Total Points - Since my brother demanded I listen to "Man in the Box" back in the early 90's I've been a big fan of Alice in Chains. In high school, Mike Simone and I even made an Alice in Chains fan website for a computer class. My favorites include "Heaven Beside You," "Whale & Wasp" and "Don't Follow."
4. (tie) Bright Eyes & Radiohead - 19 Total Points - I've only recently really given Bright Eyes a chance. I don't know a whole lot of what they have to offer, but have been pretty well taken by "No Lies, Just Love" and "A Perfect Sonnet." Those two songs alone pretty much propelled them all the way up to #4 on this list. Leigh should be proud for tricking me into liking them.
I've enjoyed "classic" Radiohead for a good while now. And though I'm not the biggest fan of some of their newer releases, "Karma Police," "Creep," and "Paranoid Android" never seem to get old. And somehow they ended up having the highest song rating average out of everybody in this whole contest. Who knew?
3. Saves the Day - 21 Total Points - I've never really disliked any song of theirs. And some I just never seem to get sick of. It's never a bad time for "Freakish," "At Your Funeral" or "Rocks Tonic Juice Magic" on my iPod.
2. The Stereo - 28.5 Total Points - Can you believe it? Still in the top two. They're no longer a band and I feel less interested in them now than I did a few years ago, but according to the statistics they're still my second favorite band. Paul first introduced me to them a few years ago on the way to the airport for one of my Florida trips. Seeing them in concert was one of my favorite concert experiences ever as I got to see Jamie show off his ridiculously good voice. I suppose it's about time to check out his new band, but I'll never forget The Stereo.
1. Tool - 29.5 Total Points - Surprise, surprise. My top two favorite bands came out the same way I'd always claimed them to be. More proof that I am never wrong, even when it comes to predicting my own personal preferences. (I guess this whole thing was a waste of time. Oh well.) While I freely admit I was turned off by their last album, the songs from "Aenima," "Undertow," and "Opiate" sustain them. Who wouldn't love a band that writes a song called "Prison Sex"?
And shut up! You're the nerd! I'm cool. Or something.