Discorder's Top 50 Vancouver Band's of the 2000s →
I think the biggest reason for this was that the jury was mostly Discorder writers, who are mostly undergrads at UBC, which makes it an age thing. I really started getting into music when I was in jr. high, but I didn’t really get into local music until I got a driver’s license and scored a fake ID. Obviously, not everyone’s the same, but I think that’s a pretty standard thing in Vancouver, or more specifically the suburbs (although the all ages thing has been getting better lately, despite the Mesa Luna and Seylynn shutting down). I’m turning 28 this month and Radio Berlin formed when I was in grade 12, so if you’re 20, unless you were a really fucking cool 13 year old, they’re probably not on your radar. Plus, a good chunk of UBC students are from out of town.
The other thing is the way voting worked. They asked me for a top 10, and while some of my spots went to bands I didn’t think that many other people would have voted for, a lot of them inevitably ended up being taken by Black Mountain, Destroyer, etc. If they had asked me for a top 50 (or even a top 25), I’d probably include all those bands you mentioned.
The less celebrated bands that made the list probably mostly made it due to one or two people ranking them really highly (which is what’s always happened when I’ve run similar polls), which makes it sort of a crapshoot.
Sorry, this turned essay-length… but I like thinking about these bands and talking about this kind of thing. Also, in retrospect, I should have cheated and put Black Mountain/Pink Mountaintops/Jerk with a Bomb as one vote.
It’s pretty inconsequential. But the amount of bands omitted from that list that had a huge impact on the community is just glaring. Kind of a revisionist history, no? For instance, missing were: Book of Lists? Doers? The Winks? S.T.R.E.E.T.S.? Blood Meridian? Dandi Wind? Black Rice? Beans? The Metic, Daddys Hands, Jerk With A Bomb, Radio Berlin, The WPP, & Bakelite? I’m really surprised that not one of these made the top 50. I’d go out on a limb and say that Radio Berlin were way more influential/better than say a good 8 bands on that list.
And if we’re including old punk bands that still played in the 2000s like SNFU and the Smugglers why not No Means No as well? Seriously.
But still, good job Discorder for putting that together.
Extra! Extra! List compiled from 33 contributors tends towards a safe, recent, lowest common denominator, proves to be about as effective a taste discriminator as a reader poll.
Not that this list is particularly bad by any means, and really, this whole year-end lists period is probably more productive in terms of the discussion it promotes rather than the unquestionable quantification of truth and beauty they provide, but I really prefer to see lists done by individuals. At least then there’s a sense of personal responsibility about it, as well as the potential for some wackier/less universally popular picks.
