I am fairly convinced there's no better grist for a music nut's proverbial mill than an all encompassing "greatest albums of all-time" poll/survey. We've seen a lot, and scoffed at probably a lot more, and now we have another one, thanks to our fine friends at WEXP Radio in Seattle, who presents us with the 903 greatest albums of all time. I have no issues at all with WEXP themselves, as other the years they've had some terrific sessions with a lot of my fave artists (Eels, Broadcast, The Twilight Sad, etc) . But judging by some of the selections, as well as the placements, you may scratch your head at the logic of some of their voting listeners. First, I guess I should see how my top 20 favorite artists stack up in the list, for morbid curiosity's sake.

19T. Neil Young - 7 albums, which seems pretty impressive except you have to factor in how many albums Mr. Young has released in his career. Bob Dylan also has 7 on the list, and you can use similar logic there, I suppose. (Eh, everyone seems to compare 'em...)

19T. Randy Newman - Goose eggs. No love from the short people of the Pacific Northwest, it seems.

18. Idlewild - 2 albums, and the correct ones (100 Broken Windows and The Remote Part to boot.)

17. The Smiths - 5 albums, including all the studio albums save Strangeways, Here We Come.

16. Beck - 7 albums, but what's surprising is the one that's missing. The fact that One Foot in the Grave and Mellow Gold slipped in isn't necessarily bad, but downright bizarre when you consider his best-selling and most critically lauded effort Odelay is nowhere to be found.

15. The Magnetic Fields - 2 albums, but considering one of them is 69 Love Songs, shouldn't that be 4?

14. Broadcast - 1. Hey, I'll take that.

13. PJ Harvey - 4 albums for who some consider the Patti Smith of this generation. Miss Smith herself got 1, and it's the one you'd expect.

12. Blur - 3 albums, one of whom is obvious (Parklife) and the other two seemingly picked out a hat by KEXP's anglophile contigent (their "hey, we can do Madchester too!" debut Leisure and their all-over-the-place-and-proud-of-it 13)

11. Pernice Brothers - Zero. But being overlooked and forsaken seems to help Joe's songcraft so maybe that's a good thing.

10. Morrissey - 3 and three good ones at that. Three of his first four. Moz fans will know which one got left in the cold.

9. American Music Club -- Let's face it, if you gotta pick one from their catalogue, at least they got the right one (Everclear)

8. Supergrass - None, which considering the Anglo bent of the chart elsewhere is quite baffling. I mean, Suede got in (and have as many entries as Oasis, which tickles me personally!) . Oh well, it looks like Gene, Kula Shaker, Gay Dad and These Animal Men were also shut out, too. Yeah, when the Brit press get it wrong, it's still kinda funny.

7. The Beach Boys - Guess which one.

6. Wilco - 5, as well as one of the Mermaid Ave albums. Mildly surprising that Am got in and A Ghost Is Born did not... or maybe I have more patience for a 15 minute drone/noise exericse than most do.

5. Radiohead - 6, with only Pablo Honey (rightly!) not in the mix.

4. XTC - An impressive 6 for our boys from Swindon, though 4 are in the last 105, and the highest ranked one is Apple Venus Vol One which has not aged fondly to these ears.

3. R.E.M. - 10, which I believe is the biggest talley of any single artist (oops, they're tied with Tom Waits, it appears!) Good to know people haven't forgotten about them (or have re-discovered them, as Accelerate made the list, and the last previous album in the list is 1994's Monster)

2. The Beatles - One of the few acts from the 60s to figure into the list with six(as for all the other usual suspects I didn't list, the The Rolling Stones got 4, The Who notched two, Led Zeppelin got 6, and The Kinks nabbed one.) And as per f^%king usual, their early stuff continues to get the shrift, except for the inclusion of A Hard Day's Night

1. Sloan - None. Same as Rush, Gordon Lightfoot and Barenaked Ladies. I'd offer a conspiracy theory about boycotting our neighbors up north except that The New Pornographers got in thrice and Broken Social Scene landed two.

OK, the other big gripe is that the selections veer towards very very recent. Vampire Weekend? Just missed the top 100. Santogold? Higher than perennial "best-of-all-time" album Forever Changes. Not only are The Arcade Fire, Interpol and Arctic Monkeys on the list, all the albums they made collectively rest witin the margins. I was going to make a mean comment about the fickleness of the populices' fascination with bands that don't maintain their blog buzz but that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah debut is still in the list (the top 200, even!) to my surprise. As are ALL THREE of The Strokes' LPs. Some beggar disbelief -- I can see the merits of Editors' debut The Back Room being on here, all things considered, but The End Has A Start wouldn't even find a spot on my top 900 albums of LAST YEAR.

Oh well. Let me open it up to the crowd...any surprises I hadn't mentioned? Anybody way too high on the list? Way too low? Don't be shy....

Step 1: Open up whatever you use to listen to music and add every song in your collection.
Step 2: Put it on random.
Step 3: Post the first line from the first 50 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 4: Post and let everyone guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 5: Bold the songs that someone guesses correctly.
Step 6: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

01. "As the gringos block the roads inside your head."
02. "We find the teeth among the keys and turn them into traffic."
03. "Our step mom, we did everything to hate her."
04. "Look who's pulling up outside, with a trunk full of fun and a European ride."
05. "She looked me over and I guess she thought I was all right."
06. "If you need some fun, some good stereo gum."
07. "Knocky Parker told Bowlegged Sal they all know how to kick it in Cal."
08. "I've been to Nagasaki, Hiroshima too."
09. "I'm driving north to Cheyenne."
10. "Long ago, Daisy, remember we read your name by the fire's embers."
11. "Stockholm night was leaking light when your father died."
12. "Come on baby, take it easy. Stop following me around."
13. "Hey, Bobby Malone, it's good to have you home."
14. "I went up on the mountain and I looked down on my life."
15. "Whisper in the dark - she's from the other side."
16. "I fell through channels, I broke my heart."
17. "Shut your eyes across the uneven road."
18. "You're such a strange girl, I think you come from another world."
19. "My god, this town needs a shakedown."
20. "The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom and the possibilities it seems to offer."
21. "I had a date with a pretty ballerina."
22. "With your E's and your ease and I do one more."
22. "Alcohol on my hands, I got plans to ditch myself and get outside."
23. "It's true that all the men you knew were dealers who said they were through with dealing, every time you gave them shelter."
24. "No, I couldn't tell you how the house burned down."
25. "I ain't afraid of your laughin', nor afraid of your fist."
26. "Here in line, where stupid shit collides with dying shooting stars."
27. "Gonna take a chance on her, one bullet in the cylinder."
28. "How can it feel so nice? Why does it feel so right?"
29. "Nothing can change without your say, and life can go on, no matter what they all say."
30. "Onward! And onward! And onward I go, where no man before could be bothered to go."
31. "Well, mark out the name of the girl that I love."
32. "Gettin' out of the house, I'm gonna go for a ride."
33. "I remember the year I went to camp, I heard about some lady named Selma and some blacks."
34. "Met a little gypsy in a fortune-tellin' place."
35. "I picked you out of the crowd and talked to you."
36. "Sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head."
37. "As I wait for sleep to drag me under, in the evening gloom, I sit and wonder."
38. "Pity, milky stone. Who knows such things about ghosts?"
39. "There once was a poodle who thought he was a cowboy."
40. "What the hell is wrong with you, tonight? I can't seem to say or do the right thing."
41. "Honey, I'm a roller concrete clover, Tadzio, Tadzio."
42. "Yes, I'm jealous, I'm jealous of everything that you've ever done."
43. "Who should I marry, daddy, who should I marry?"
44. "When I was just a little boy, I threw away all of my action toys."
45. "They asked me how I knew my true love was true."
46. "Way down in West Virginia, there's some people who are one of a kind."
47. "Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night - I remember Halloween."
48. "I swear it was the wendigo that drove me to the axe."
49. "I paint the fields that your mouth sent."
50. "There's a little black spot on the sun, today."

Featured artists:
16 Horsepower
Air
Andrew Bird
Beck
Beirut
Billy Bragg
Billy Joe Shaver
Blood or Whiskey
Bright Eyes
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Chris Letcher
Clairvoyants
Corb Lund
The Cure
Dan Sartain
David Bowie
DeVotchKa
Eels
Elliott Smith
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
The Handsome Family
Hank Williams III
Imogen Heap
Joe Jackson
Josh Lederman y Los Diablos
Knife in the Water
Leonard Cohen
Lonesome Wyatt and the Holy Spooks
Micah P. Hinson
Misfits
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Old 97's
Oh No! Oh My!
Paul Simon
Pine Hill Haints
The Platters
The Police
Ramones
Rufus Wainwright
Shivaree
Slim Cessna's Auto Club
The Smiths
Songs: Ohia
Sons of perdition
Sufjan Stevens
They Might Be Giants
Toadies
Tom Waits
Tori Amos
Wanda Jackson
The WIYOS

The list so far. The Artists are blue & albums underneath.

*NSYNC
Home for Christmas
3 Doors Down
Away from the Sun
The Better Life
Seventeen Days
12 Stones
12 Stones
Potter's Field
98 Degrees
This Christmas
AC/DC
Back in Black
Ballbreaker
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
High Voltage
Highway to Hell
Stiff Upper Lip
The Adverts
The Wonders Don't Care
Aerosmith
Chronicles
Nine Lives
O, Yeah! Ultimare Aerosmith Hits
Honkin' on Bobo
AFI
Decemberunderground
Against Me!
The Acoustic EP
Reinventing Axl Rose
Americans Abroad!!!Against Me!!!Live in London!!!
As the Eternal Cowboy
New Wave
Searching for a Former Clarity
Alanis Morissette
Jagged Little Pill
Alkaline Trio
Crimson
All Left Out
The Conquest
Anthrax
Madhouse: The Very Best of Anthrax
Anti-Flag
For Blood and Empire
A New Kind of Army
Antonio Vivaldi
Masters of Classical Music, Vol. 7: Vivaldi
Arctic Monkeys
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Army of Anyone
Army of Anyone
Aslyn
Lemon Love
Audioslave
Audioslave
Out of Exile
Revelations
Audiovent
Dirty Sexy Knights in Paris
Avenged Sevenfold
City of Evil
Babyshambles
B Sides
Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys [Bonus Tracks]
Backstreet's Back
Millennium
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked for the Holidays
The Beatles
The Beatles 1
Better Than Ezra
Deluxe
Billy Joel
The Essential Billy Joel
Black Flag
Damaged
Black Label Society
Kings of Damnation: Era 1998-2004
Mafia
Shot to Hell
Black Stone Cherry
Black Stone Cherry
Blondie
Forever Blondie
Blues Traveler
Four
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
Greatest Hits
Bon Jovi
Bounce
Cross Road
The Bouncing Souls
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Brain Failure
Turn on the Distortion
The Bravery
The Bravery
The Sun and the Moon
Breaking Point
Coming of Age
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
The Dirty Boogie
Guitar Slinger
Buckcherry
15
Buckcherry
Time Bomb
Buddy Holly
The Definitive Collection
The Calling
Camino Palmero
Carbon Leaf
5 Alive!
Echo Echo
Ether-Electrified Porch Music
Indian Summer
Love Loss Hope Repeat
Meander
Shadows in the Banquet Hall
Charles Manson
Charles Manson Sings
Cheap Trick
Greatest Hits
The Clash
Combat Rock
The Essential Clash
London Calling
Closure
Closure
Cold
A Different Kind of Pain
Year of the Spider
Collective Soul
Collective Soul
Disciplined Breakdown
Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid
Course of Nature
Superkala
Daughtry
Daughtry
Day Two
Never Come Home
Days of the New
Days of the New
Def Leppard
Euphoria
Hysteria
Pyromania
Default
The Fallout
One Thing Remains
Descendents
Cool to Be You
The Distillers
Coral Fang
Sing Sing Death House
Disturbed
Believe
Indestructible
The Sickness
Ten Thousand Fists
Don Henley
Building the Perfect Beast
DragonForce
Inhuman Rampage
Drowning Pool
Desensitized
Sinner
Edgewater
South of Sideways
Eminem
The Eminem Show
The Marshall Mathers LP
The Slim Shady LP
Evanescence
Fallen
Eve 6
Eve 6
Horrorscope
Everyday Tragedy
Lovesick, Heartbroken, or Somewhere in Between
Everything
Super Natural
The Fabulous Bel Airs
Get Ready
Faith No More
The Real Thing
Fall Out Boy
Take This to Your Grave
Fifth Season
Patiently Waiting
Finger Eleven
Finger Eleven
Them vs. You vs. Me
Flash Basket
Slink
Flogging Molly
Within a Mile of Home
The Flys
Holiday Man
Foghat
The Best of Foghat [1992]
Foo Fighters
The Colour and the Shape
Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace
In Your Honor
One by One
There Is Nothing Left to Lose
Foreigner
The Very Best...And Beyond
Forty Acres
Broken Promise
Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand
The Fratellis
Costello Music
Fuel
Natural Selection
Something Like Human
Sunburn
Gary Jules
Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets
George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock
Haircut
Gin Blossoms
Congratulations...I'm Sorry
New Miserable Experience
Godsmack
Awake
Faceless
Godsmack
Good Times, Bad Times: 10 Years of Godsmack
IV
Other Side
Goldfinger
The Best of Goldfinger
Disconnection Notice
Hello Destiny...
Stomping Ground
The Goo Goo Dolls
A Boy Named Goo
Dizzy up the Girl
Gutterflower
Good Charlotte
Good Charlotte
Young and the Hopeless
Green Day
1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours
American Idiot
Bullet in a Bible
Dookie
Insomniac
International Superhits!
Kerplunk
Nimrod
Shenanigans
Guns N' Roses
Appetite for Destruction
Hanson
Middle of Nowhere
Snowed In
Heart
Greatest Hits [1998]
Hinder
Extreme Behavior
HydraFX
Universal Harmony
Injected
Burn It Black
Iron Maiden
A Matter of Life and Death
Number of the Beast
Virtual XI
Jane's Addiction
Kettle Whistle
Jason Mraz
Mr. A-Z
Waiting for My Rocket to Come
We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things
Jepetto
12:33
Inkbox
Jet
Get Born
Jimmie's Chicken Shack
Bring Your Own Stereo
Fail on Cue
Giving Something Back (Live)
Pushing the Salmanilla Envelope
Re.present
Jimmy Eat World
Bleed American
Futures
Static Prevails
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
I Love Rock N' Roll [Bonus Tracks]
The John Butler Trio
Grand National
John Hiatt
Greatest Hits: The A&M Years '87-'94
Johnie 3
Johnie 3
Johnny Cash
The Legend of Johnny Cash
Jonny Lang
Lie to Me
Long Time Coming
Wander This World
Judas Priest
The Best of Judas Priest: Living After Midnight
The Killers
Hot Fuss
KISS
Smashes, Thrashes & Hits
KT Tunstall
Drastic Fantastic
Eye to the Telescope
Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards
Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards
Viking
The Lemonheads
Car Button Cloth
Lennex
For the Sake of Simplicity
Lennex
[aritst]Less Than Jake
Anthem
B is for B-Sides
Borders & Boundaries
GNV FLA
Hello Rockview
In with the Out Crowd
Losing Streak
Pezcore
Lifehouse
No Name Face
Limp Bizkit
Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water
Significant Other
Linkin Park
Hybrid Theory
Lit
Lit
A Place in the Sun
Live
Awake: The Best of Live
Secret Samadhi
Songs from Black Mountain
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Skynyrd's Innyrds
Marilyn Manson
Lest We Forget: The Best Of
Matchbox Twenty
Mad Season
Yourself of Someone Like You
Mest
Destination Unknown
Mest
Mo' Money, Mo' 40'z
Wasting Time
Metallica
...And Justice for All
Death Magnetic
Garage Inc.
Kill 'Em All
Load
Master of Puppets
Metallica
Reload
Ride the Lightning
S&M
St. Anger
Michael Jackson
Thriller
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Let's Face It
Morrissey
The Best of Morrissey
Mötley Crüe
Dr. Feelgood
MxPx
Before Everything & After
Let It Happen
The Renaissance EP
New Found Glory
Catalyst
Sticks and Stones
Nirvana
Nirvana
No Doubt
The Singles 1992-2003
NOFX
The Decline
Punk in Drublic
War on Errorism
Oasis
Definitely Maybe
Don't Believe the Truth
Live at the Metro
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
The Offspring
Americana
Conspiracy of One
Ignition
Ixnay on the Hombre
Smash
Splinter
Omnisoul
Happy Outside
Operation Ivy
Energy
Orgy
Candyass
Our Lady Peace
Gravity
Outreach
Torn Between Nowhere
Ozzy Osbourne
Blizzard of Ozz
Diary of a Madman
Down to Earth
The Ozzman Cometh: Greatest Hits
Papa Roach
Getting Away with Murder
Infest
The Paramour Sessions
Paul McCartney
Back in the U.S.
Poison
Poison's Greatest Hits 1986-1996
The Presidents of the United States of America
Presidents of the United States of America
Queen
Classic Queen
Greatest Hits: We Will Rock You Edition
Quiet Riot
The Greatest Hits
Rage Against the Machine
The Battle of Los Angeles
Rammstein
Sehnsucht
Ramones
!Adios Amigos!
Ramones Mania
Rancid
...And Out Come the Wolves
Indestructible
Let's Go
Life Won't Wait
Rancid [1993]
Rancid [2000]
Reel Big Fish
Cheer Up!
Everything Sucks
Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps for Free
Our Live Album is Better Than Your Live Album
Turn the Radio Off
We're Not Happy 'Til You're Not Happy
Why Do They Rock so Hard?
The Refreshments
Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy
Revis
Places for Breathing
Richard Hell and the Voidoids
Spurts: The Richard Hell Story
Rob Zombie
Educated Horses
Hellbilly Deluxe
The Sinister Urge
Robbie Williams
The Ego Has Landed
Roger Miret and the Disasters
1984
Roger Miret and the Disasters
Rush
2112
Hemispheres
Permanent Waves
Roll the Bones
Test for Echo
Ryan Shaw
This Is Ryan Shaw
Saliva
Back Into Your System
Blood Stained Love Story
Every Six Seconds
Survival of the Sickest
Sara Bareilles
Little Voice
Seether
Disclaimer II
Karma and Effect
Sepultura
Chaos A.D.
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Shinedown
Leave a Whisper
Us and Them
Silverchair
Frogstomp
Neon Ballroom
Silvertide
Show & Tell
Sister Hazel
Somewhere More Familiar
Skillet
Comatose
The Sleeping
Questions and Answers
Smile Empty Soul
Smile Empty Soul
The Smiths
Singles
Social Code
A Year at the Movies
Social Distortion
Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll
Social Distortion
Soundgarden
A-Sides
Spin Doctors
Pocket Full of Kryptonite
Turn it Upside Down
Splender
Halfway Down the Sky
SR-71
Now You See Inside
Tomorrow
Staind
14 Shades of Grey
Dysfunction
Stephen Lynch
Craig Machine
Stone Temple Pilots
Core
No. 4
Purple
Tiny Music...Songs from the Vacation Gift Shop
Stray Cats
Runaway Boys: A Retrospective '81-'92
Street Dogs
Back to the World
Streetlight Manifesto
Keasbey Nights
Sublime
Second Hand Smoke
Sugar Ray
Floored
Sugarcult
Lights Out
Start Static
Third Eye Blind
Blue
Out of the Vein
Third Eye Blind
Three Days Grace
One-X
Three Days Grace
Tim Armstrong
A Poet's Life
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Dulcinea
In Light Syrup
Tom Petty
Full Moon Fever
Wildflowers
The Tossers
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
Transition
Get There
Transplants
Transplants
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
The Christmas Attic
Christmas Eve and Other Stories
The Lost Christmas Ever
Trapt
Someone in Control
Trapt
TRUSTcompany
True Parallels
Twisted Sister
Big Hits and Nasty Cuts: The Best of Twisted Sister
The Unseen
State of Discontent
Unwritten Law
Elva
Van Halen
Van Halen
Velvet Revolver
Contraband
Lebertad
Violent Femmes
Add It Up (1981-1993)
The Wallflowers
Bringing Down the Horse
Weekend Excursion
Five from Six
Radioactive
Take Me Home
Weekend Excursion
White Zombie
Astro Creep: 2000 -- Songs of Love, Destruction
Wolfmother
Wolfmother
Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer/Reel Big Fish Split
Duet All Night - EP

Any Recommendations?

Mindless Self Indulgence
Never Wanted To Dance
Planet Of The Apes
Animal
Issues
Shut Me Up

Death Cab for Cutie
Transatlanticism
I Will Posess Your Heart
Grapevine Fires
Your New Twin Sized Bed
Brothers On A Hotel Bed

Fleetwood Mac
Big Love
Go Your Own Way
The Chain
Isn't It Midnight
Gold Dust Woman

Enter Shikari
Sorry You're Not A Winner
Kickin' Back On The Surface Of Your Cheek
Johnny Sniper
Return To Energiser
Anything Can Happen In The Next Half Hour

Placebo
The Bitter End
Protege Moi
Infra Red
Sleeping With Ghosts
Post Blue

Coheed and Cambria
Mother May I
Delerium Trigger
Welcome Home
No World For Tomorrow
Mother Superior

The Smiths
A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours
Ask
Hand In Glove
Bigmouth Strikes Again
How Soon Is Now

30 Seconds to Mars
Buddha For Mary
A Modern Myth
The Story
Was It A Dream?
Echelon

Pink Floyd
Welcome To The Machine
Dogs
Wish You Were Here
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Young Lust

Rammstein
Feuer Frei
Ich Will
Asche Zu Asche
Los
Du Hast

Pixies - Pixies at the BBC - Hey
Joy Division - Closer - Decades
Cocteau Twins - Treasure - Persephone
The Cure - Disintegration - Fascination Street
She Wants Revenge - This Is Forever - Written In Blood
Clan of Xymox - Medusa - Louise
Desireless - François - Voyage, Voyage
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead - Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
David Bowie - Heathen - Everyone Says Hi
David Bowie - Low - Warszawa
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures - She's Lost Control
Made In Poland - To Tylko Kobieta
1984 - Tu nie będzie rewolucji - Tu nie będzie rewolucji
1984 - Specjalny Rodzaj Kontrastu - Specjalny rodzaj kontrastu
Madame - Może właśnie Sybilla
Joanna Makabresku - Wakacje W Warszawie
Joanna Makabresku - Wymuszone Kobiety
Variété - I Znowu Ktoś Przestawił Kamienie
Death in June - The World That Summer - Come Before Christ and Murder Love
The Smiths - Meat Is Murder - I Want the One I Can't Have
Talking Heads - Talking Heads: 77 - Psycho Killer
Cocteau Twins - Treasure - Beatrix
Cocteau Twins - Treasure - Cicely
The Cure - Wish - To Wish Impossible Things

So since my overall chart isn't really a representation of my favourite bands, I'm going to write a little something about my top ten bands and why they are my favourites. Might add a favourite song or two in as well.

1. The Smiths
I don't think I could possibly put in to words how amazing this band is, or how much they mean to me. Morrissey's lyrics can just as easily make me laugh aloud as they can make me cry.
Favourite song There Is a Light That Never Goes Out ((Okay, so I'm cliché, so what!?))

2. Bright Eyes
Oh,Conor Oberst, how are you so utterly perfect?! This band has a very special place in my heart and will forever remain there. I am a sucker for acoustic folk-type music, and BE was the band to cement my obsession with indie folk music. Oberst's lyrics speak to my soul. I don't think there is a BE song that I don't like.
Favourite song The Calender Hung Itself... or No Lies, Just Love

3. Modest Mouse
I didn't like MM at first, yet I found Dashboard incredibly catchy last year when it was released, and I could not stop listening to Float On when I downloaded it. The love stemmed from there. Most of the bands I love now, I didn't particularly like when I first heard them, yet I end up adoring them. MM are no exception to this rule. I'm a lyrics gal, and that's what grabs me and holds me about MM. When I can hear a lyric and think that it is such a true, beautiful statement that I wish I had written it, I know that I will love the band for ever more. Isaac Brock is truly profound.
Favourite song Bukowski

4. Joni Mitchell
I have been listening to her probably since I was in the womb. She will always be my favourite female artist of all time. I admire her to no end, she is an exceptional musician and lyricist whose words and music I've grown up with. I'm incredibly protective when idiot music critics compare young "it" singers to her because frankly no-one could ever compare with her brilliance and they should just shut up and stop trying to sound clever by referencing her in their articles.
Favourite song Furry Sings the Blues ((and the rest of Hejira))

5. The Decemberists
I am a huge fan of songs that tell stories (rather than just the old 'oh woe is me, some chick broke my heart' tripe that most artists re-hash over and over.) so The Decemberists are my Mecca. Every song is thoroughly interesting to listen to, combined with a sense of humour about what they do and a great work ethic make this band totally admirable. Colin Meloy's grandiloquent lyric style is pure enjoyment incarnate.
Favourite song The Legionnaire's Lament

6.Interpol
The first time I heard Evil I fell in love. It was so different to anything I'd ever heard before (granted I was 14 or 15 at the time so I was a bit musically naive, but I stand by my love of this band wholeheartedly). My love for them was increased ten-fold by seeing them live at the start of the year, their understated performance style is mind-blowing.
Favourite song Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down or Leif Erikson

7. Brand New
I never would have really ever considered this band one of my favourites before recently but I realised that I own all their albums and love practically ever song so I would say that warrants a mention in my top ten. Deja Entendu has been my favourite record since I was fifteen and I still love it. I could listen to that record all the way through twenty times and not tire of it for a second.
Favourite song Jaws Theme Swimming

8. Nirvana
Being born a little too late for the early 90s grunge explosion, I only really discovered Nirvana properly a couple of years ago but something instantly connected. This was music I'd been searching for all of my teenage years, the angst practically drips from the speakers and I love every minute of it. Thinking about Kurt's tragic demise still makes me cry sometimes so it's hard to listen to them too often.
Favourite song Polly

9. Pulp
Oh, Jarvis Cocker, please marry me? I know I'm a dyke but ya know, I'd so go straight for you baby! It's a combination of Cocker's whispered vocals and his wonderful lyrics that just make me want to only listen to Pulp for the rest of my life. I just love it.
Favourite song This Is Hardcore

10. Matchbox Twenty
Before you start accosting me for such a dismal number ten, I can explain. This band was the first rock band I ever fell in love with, at the tender age of six. They have a sentimental value above all else, and I still adore them to this day.
Favourite song Busted or Kody

Honourable mentions: Ugly Casanova, The Cure, Björk, The Smashing Pumpkins, Steely Dan, Desaparecidos, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead

Thursday

Thursday are a band with a lot to answer for. Without lead singer Geoff Rickly's Eyeball Records, My Chemical Romance would not have found a deal for first album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, which as many may know, was brought out before the band went supernova. Some may thank them for this, others may choose to curse the circumstances. Either way, this is no reason to ignore the seminal New Jersey post-hardcore act.

Second record, Full Collapse, remains a firm fan favourite, cementing their place as a band present in this climate to influence rather than succeed, to lead rather than to follow. Like Deftones' Chino Moreno before him, vocalist Geoff Rickly does not possess a conventional singing voice, but what he does have is so raw and emotional, such trivial things cease to matter.

Understanding in a Car Crash both opens the album and becomes its highlight, The Smiths-aping chiming guitars underscoring a powerful and very quotable lyric. I Am the Killer sounds so much like a track from fellow NJ band Coheed and Cambria's first record, you have to wonder whether the band have been secretly sharing members. Standing on the Edge of Summer is also glorious perfection, adding to idea that the songs on this record sound so timeless, you can hardly believe they're 7 years old.

Follow-up War All the Time is a personal favourite record and few can resist the instant hit of juddering, lurching opener of For The Workforce, Drowning, and the album only goes from strength to strength from there. Division St. is an incredible song, the incredible power Rickly puts into THE "LIGHTS OUT, BLACK OUT" line will knock you for six. My personal introduction to the band, ]Signals Over The Air, may seem a little dull at first listen, but the lyrics will shine through upon closer inspection, a similar case to eponymous track War all the Time, which connects more universal themes with travails of those closest to home.

Also, the gorgeous This Song Is Brought To You By A Falling Bomb shows a softer side to the band, led by piano rather than guitar. Tomorrow I'll be You closes the album, and although I haven't included it as a download, its well worth checking out as a next step into the band simply because its my favourite song of theirs, without a doubt.

Most recent record A City by the Light Divided] is a very eclectic record, with a more progressive element introduced. The band seem to have a new-found urgency to them, and sound heavier than ever before, which can be seen on opener The Other Side Of The Crash/Over And Out Of (Control). Counting 5-4-3-2-1 disguises an extremely sad lyric about a young life ended by a train behind a massive sounding tune, this song was many's introduction to the new album, an album that has received unjust amounts of stick over the internet for those narrow minded fans who demand a return to the days of Full Collapse.

However, evolution can only be a good thing if it produces tunes the size of At This Velocity, sounding like The Mars Volta at their baroque best being thrown down the stairs by the manic energy of Converge. Running From The Rain is simply gorgeous, like an epic version of Full Collapse's Standing on the Edge of Summer.

Into The Blinding Light is another furious effort, the fire lit beneath the band still burning into the latter stages of the album. Even the Sand Is Made of Seashells is simply stunning, one could simply drift away on Geoff Rickly's hushed vocal.

Thursday's amazing back catalogue also includes Kill The House Lights, highly recommended especially for new track Ladies and Gentlemen, my brother the failure for the converted, but as an introduction, since most B-side tracks are patchy at best, and the live DVD secondary in nature to actually catching the band live.

You may well have heard Thursday's name before ("I hear it every week" puns are not welcome) but have ignored them - I urge you to amend this immediately, as you are missing out on one of post-hardcore's heroes and true underground legends.

For Fans Of: Thrice, Alexisonfire, My Chemical Romance, Glassjaw.

If You Like This, You'll Love:
The Second Stage Turbine Blade
Burn, Piano Island, Burn
Risk Revival
Wiretap Scars

1. How did you get into 29? (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
I haven't ever really "get into" them. I've just listened them occassionally for a quite long time but I'm not a fan or anything.

2. What was the first song you ever heard by 22? (The Strokes)
Probably New York City Cops.

3. What’s your favorite lyric by 33? (Radiohead)
I think this band is well known to have great lyrics in most of their songs. Maybe I say Karma Police this time. That's a song from them that I've listened most lately.

4. What is your favorite album by 46? (Jimmy Eat World)
I certainly don't know. I don't even know this band that well that I could name any of their albums.

5. How many albums by 13 do you own? (Coldplay)
None.

6. What is your favorite song by 50? (Cake)
Short Skirt/Long Jacket. And I love the video ! It reminds me of Cali and Venice beach and summer 2007.

7. Is there a song by 39 that makes you sad? (Muse)
mmh. No. More like nervous. Like "Time Is Running Out" is quite creepy...

8. What is your favorite album by 15? (Aerosmith)
I don't think about albums that much.. I just listen the songs.

9. What is your favorite song by 4? (The Cure)
High. It's dreamy and magical.

10. Is there a song by 6 that makes you happy? (Pixies)
Yeah. La La Love You and Here Comes Your Man.

11. What is your favorite album by 40? (Interpol)
I don't really have a choice.

12. What is your favorite song by 10? (The Verve)
Maybe The Drugs Don't Work. It's so sad, especially if you know the story behind it.

13. What is a good memory you have involving 30? (Spice Girls)
I have so good memories about this band... It just reminds me of 90's, and my childhood and everything. Life was so easy back then.

14. What is your favorite song by 38? (Kardinal Offishall)
Dangerous.

15. Is there a song by 19 that makes you happy? (The Beatles)
Sure, way too much songs.

16. How many times have you seen 25 live? (The White Stripes)
Unfortunately zero times.

17. What is the first song you ever heard by 23? (