2006 READERS POLL RESULTS
December 4, 2006 | Author: Australian Musician
MOST RESPECTED AUSTRALIAN MUSICIAN
1 Tommy Emmanuel
2 Paul Kelly
3 Angus Young
also polled well … Slim Dusty, John Butler, James Morrison
“I can’t believe it. I’m speechless, that’s amazing. I’m so moved I can’t tell you,” said Tommy Emmanuel of his win in this category.
Tommy also had some gracious words to say about runner up Paul Kelly “I love his song writing and his singing. He has been a great leader in the roots of Australian songwriting. Paul Kelly has shown so many others the way.”
MOST RESPECTED INTERNATIONAL MUSICIAN
1 Eric Clapton
2 Jimi Hendrix
3 Paul McCartney
also polled well .. Carlos Santana, Bono
Tommy Emmanuel had the pleasure of touring with Eric Clapton and had this to say about the rock music icon.
“I love not just his playing but his singing and songwriting and him as a man. He’s a great person and has lived an amazing life. He’s done it all in the spotlight, warts and all and you’ve got to admire a man who has come through it all with incredible dignity and the quality of person that he is. I toured with him in 1990. He was really nice to me.”
Interesting to note too that Paul McCartney’s reputation has not been affected by recent negative publicity surrounding his divorce. McCartney came in third place in this category.
ALBUM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
1 Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
2 Nevermind – Nirvana
3 White Album – Beatles
also polled well … Grace – Jeff Buckley, Led Zeppelin – 4, Blood, Sugar, Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Certainly it changed the 40 million people who have bought the Pink Floyd album since its release in 1973. They made it third best selling album of all time, kept it in the US charts for the longest time (741 weeks) and in 1990 voted it the album best to make love to in an Australian radio poll. It was a remarkable concept that looked at life and death — and all points in between including insanity and greed.
BEST ALBUM TITLE
1 Never Mind the Bollocks-Sex Pistols
2 Blood Sugar Sex Magik-Red Hot Chili Peppers
3 Dark Side of the Moon-Pink Floyd
also polled well.. Moo You Bloody Choir – Augie March, Melancholie and the Infinite Sadness – Smashing Pumpkins
Already the most controversial band to come out of Britain in the mid-1970s, the Sex Pistols made this, their milestone 1977 debut album, in trying circumstances. If they weren’t ducking beatings from angry monarchists for “God Save The Queen”, they were also ducking their no-talent bassist Sid Vicious who wanted to play on the record. Thankfully he contracted hepatitis and they used session players. They were tossing around album titles when guitarist Steve Jones groaned, “Oh never mind the bollocks of it all!” On its release in 1977, the police tried to convict a record store in Nottingham for obscenity. But a lawyer proved “bollocks” was an old English term, and could easily apply to “nonsense” as to testicles.
BEST COVER ART
1 Sgt Peppers – Beatles
2 Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
3 10,000 Days – Tool
also polled well … Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden, Nirvana – Nevermind
The Beatles were planning to use a psychedelic drawing . But a friend Robert Fraser, an art gallery owner, convinced them it would date. The first idea was for the Beatles dressed as Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band playing in a park.
That became a studio shot with cut-outs of 70 icons they liked, including Gandhi, Bob Dylan, Sigmund Freud, Aleister Crowley, Edgar Allan Poe, Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde and Marlon Brando. John Lennon wanted Hitler but was talked out of it. The number of mysterious objects included on the cover also created heaps of legends!
The album was designed by Robert Blake and won a Grammy. “Sgt. Pepper” was the first album to print its lyrics on the cover. It was among the first to use a gatefold, where you opened up to see another pic of the Beatles. The reason was that the Fab Four originally planned the record as a double album. They also wanted to include Sgt. Pepper goodies as pins and pencils but it became too expensive..
COOLEST PERSON N ROCK
1 Flea – Red Hot Chili Peppers
2 Dave Grohl – Foo Fighters
3 Keith Richards – Rolling Stones
also polled well.. Bono, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan
Ten reasons why Flea is cool:
1. Born in Australia (Burwood, Melbourne) and we’re the coolest.
2. He has 11 tattoos.
3. Wrote “Death of a Martian” (“Stadium Arcadium”) ‘bout his dog.
4. In 1993, encouraged an unknown songwriter called Jewel.
5. Dating model Frankie Rayder but still has a tatt of his ex-wife Loesha Zeaviar.
6. Didn’t allow a name like Michael Peter Balzary to put him off.
7. Good enough a trumpeter to be in the LA Junior Philharmonic.
8. Played trumpet on records by Mars Volta, Jane’s Addiction and Mike Watt, among others.
9. Has dyed his hair blue, green and yellow.
10. Got arrested at a show for bitch slapping a loudmouth.
HAPPIEST SONG EVER
1 Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
2 Shiny Happy People – REM
3 Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
also polled well.. Happy Birthday, Shake it Up – The Cars
It was only appropriate that someone like Grammy-winning R&B singer Bobby McFerrin who wrote and recorded the ultimate feel-good anthem in 1988 should tap on the dark side of life. Within five years, the story went around that he’d killed himself after a bout of depression. Turned out he’s still with us, appears on stage as a singer and conductor, and still singing that smiley ditty. ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ first appeared in the movie ‘Cocktail’ which starred Tom Cruise, and went to the top of the US charts. McFerrin has since collaborated with some of the world’s finest contemporary jazz artists including Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Yo Yo Ma and was last seen working with prominent American opera companies.
SADDEST SONG EVER
1 Tears in Heaven – Eric Clpaton
2 Everybody Hurts – REM
3 Needle and the Damage Done – Neil Young
also polled well … Yesterday, Candle in the Wind
It’s no secret Eric Clapton wrote “Tears In Heaven” for his son Conor. The four and a half year old lived in Italy with his mother, actress Lori Del Santo. They arrived in New York in March 1991 to catch up with Clapton who was playing shows. On March 19, Eric and Conor went to a circus together. The next day at 11 am, the housekeeper of the 53rd story apartment Lori was staying in, finished washing the windows, and kept them open to air the room. Conor ran past him, and fell out, landing on the roof of an adjacent four story-building. For nine months Clapton retreated in grief. When he returned, it was with a song co-written with Will Jenning where he poured out his grief. It remains popular at funerals especially for its line “will I know your name if I saw you in heaven.”
FAVOURITE GUITAR CHORD
1 E
2 G
3 Am
It’s no surprise that readers voted the E chord as their favourite. After all it has to be the chunkiest power chord of them all. AC/DC made a career out of it. Think “Jailbreak” or “Back in Black”, or classic rock tracks such as “Gloria” or The Angels’ “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” or The Troggs’ “Wild Thing” for perfect examples of the E chord at its best.
The G chord is perhaps favoured more by strummers. Cat Stevens opened the legendary “Father and Son” with G. Boston used the power chord version on “More Than A Feeling”. Elton John found fame with its use on “Crocodile Rock”.
The chord A minor is the one that gets a bad rap in music stores. It begins “Stairway to Heaven ” and “House of the Rising Sun”, two tunes music store staff have heard played badly more times than they care to remember. Aussies classics “Under The Milky Way” and “Solid Rock” use it too.
BEST SOLO ALBUM BY SOMEONE FROM A BAND
1 Imagine – John Lennon
2 Tea and Sympathy – Bernard Fanning
3 Eraser – Thom Yorke
also polled well … All Things Must Pass – George Harrison
The four Beatles never made music as potent as they did when they were together. But John Lennon’s “Imagine” is one of their best solo offerings. Lennon was going through a “people should get together” phase when he wrote this song about not having possessions — a bit rich coming from someone with so many clothes he and wife Yoko bought an entire floor of their New York apartment block to store them. His biggest regret was that he never shared the song’s writing credit with the avant garde artist Yoko, saying that all the ideas about “imagine” came from her book “Grapefruit”. In 2000, George Michael bought the white piano he wrote much of the album on for $2 million and donated it to the Beatles museum in Liverpool.
WORST SOLO ALBUM FROM SOMEONE FROM A BAND
1 Primitive Cool – Mick Jagger
2 She’s The Boss – Mick Jagger
3 Asshole – Gene Simmons
“Primitive Cool” was Mick Jagger’s second solo album, from 1987, after his first, “She’s The Boss” was a hit. An irate Keith Richards suggested the Stones go back on the road. Jagger replied some Stones members weren’t well enough to tour. The track “Shoot Off Your Mouth” is about Richards’ angry comments to him! Jagger used Jeff Beck as his guitarist and collaborated with the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. Despite a percussive first single, “Let’s Work”, the album stiffed. Jagger only toured Australia and Japan behind it. He had a falling out with Beck over control of the band, so his band included Joe Satriani and a Keith lookalike called Jimmy Riff who’s since disappeared.