Greatest Female Artist - FINAL - PJ Harvey vs Kate Bush

[Bjornebye]

I really can't decide. Hardest choice in any of the tournaments this. 

[Vincent Vega]

PJ Harvey has won the Mercury Music Prize twice, and been nominated another two times. I’d say that gives a better indication on the quality of her music than whether she writes pop singles that make the top 20. 

[ZonkoVille77]

Really can't decide. 

I'll have a peddle and crank and think it over. 

[TheHowieLama]

8 minutes ago, Vincent Vega said:

PJ Harvey has won the Mercury Music Prize twice, and been nominated another two times. I’d say that gives a better indication on the quality of her music than whether she writes pop singles that make the top 20. 

This must be the ultimate British hipster prize because not only have I never heard of it - previous to Kiwanuka never even heard of 90% of the folks that have. And of the few I have, one is Franz Ferdinand.

[an tha]

1 minute ago, TheHowieLama said:

This must be the ultimate British hipster prize because not only have I never heard of it - previous to Kiwanuka never even heard of 90% of the folks that have. And of the few I have, one is Franz Ferdinand.

Primal Scream

Suede

Portishead

Pulp

Dizzee Rascal

Arctic Monkeys

Klaxons

Elbow

Wolf Alice

 

All previous winners - hardly an obscure list of hipster artists.

 

[Mook]

4 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

This must be the ultimate British hipster prize because not only have I never heard of it - previous to Kiwanuka never even heard of 90% of the folks that have. And of the few I have, one is Franz Ferdinand.

It's the same as any other music 'award', absolutely meaningless.

[Vincent Vega]

6 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

This must be the ultimate British hipster prize because not only have I never heard of it - previous to Kiwanuka never even heard of 90% of the folks that have. And of the few I have, one is Franz Ferdinand.

 

2 minutes ago, an tha said:

Primal Scream

Suede

Portishead

Pulp

Dizzee Rascal

Arctic Monkeys

Klaxons

Elbow

Wolf Alice

 

All previous winners - hardly an obscure list of hipster artists.

 

And a quick look at the list of nominees shows a fair few household names as well as some more eclectic stuff.

 

5 nominations Radiohead (no wins, nominated 1997/2001/2003/2008/2016) 4 nominations Arctic Monkeys (1 win 2006, nominated 2006/2007/2013/2018) Laura Marling (no wins, nominated 2008/2010/2013/2020) PJ Harvey (2 wins 2001/2011, nominated 1993/1995/2001/2011) 3 nominations Anna Calvi (no wins, nominated 2011/2014/2019) Bat for Lashes (no wins, nominated 2007/2009/2016) David Bowie (no wins, nominated 2002/2013/2016) Coldplay (no wins, nominated 2000/2003/2005) Dizzee Rascal (1 win 2003, nominated 2003/2007/2010) Elbow (1 win 2008, nominated 2001/2008/2011) Florence and the Machine (no wins, nominated 2009/2015/2018) Foals (no wins, nominated 2010/2013/2019) Michael Kiwanuka (1 win 2020, nominated 2012/2016/2020) Primal Scream (1 win 1992, nominated 1992/1994/1997) Pulp (1 win 1996, nominated 1994/1996/1998)

2 nominations The 1975 (no wins, nominated 2016/2019) Adele (no wins, nominated 2008/2011) alt-J (1 win 2012, nominated 2012/2017) Guy Barker (no wins, nominated 1995/2002) Basement Jaxx (no wins, nominated 2001/2004) James Blake (1 win 2013, nominated 2011/2013) Blur (no wins, nominated 1994/1999) Eliza Carthy (no wins, nominated 1998/2003) The Chemical Brothers (no wins, nominated 1997/1999) Doves (no wins, nominated 2000/2002) Everything Everything (no wins, nominated 2011/2018) Ghostpoet (no wins, nominated 2011/2015) Richard Hawley (no wins, nominated 2006/2012) Jon Hopkins (no wins, nominated 2011/2013) Kano (no wins, nominated 2016/2020) Leftfield (no wins, nominated 1995/2000) Manic Street Preachers (no wins, nominated 1996/1999) Laura Mvula (no wins, nominated 2013/2016)

Oasis (no wins, nominated 1995/1996) Beth Orton (no wins, nominated 1997/1999) Polar Bear (no wins, nominated 2005/2014) The Prodigy (no wins, nominated 1994/1997) Savages (no wins, nominated 2013/2016) Stormzy (no wins, nominated 2017/2020) The Streets (no wins, nominated 2002/2004) Suede (1 win 1993, nominated 1993/1997) John Tavener (no wins, nominated 1992/1997) Kate Tempest (no wins, nominated 2014/2017) Underworld (no wins, nominated 1996/1999) Villagers (no wins, nominated 2010/2013) Paul Weller (no wins, nominated 1994/2010) Amy Winehouse (no wins, nominated 2004/2007) Wolf Alice (1 win 2018, nominated 2015/2018) The xx (1 win 2010, nominated 2010/2017)

[TheHowieLama]

Well there is the redeeming quality that neither Blur or Oasis have won it.

 

Antony and the Johnsons have though.

[an tha]

8 minutes ago, Mook said:

It's the same as any other music 'award', absolutely meaningless.

Its just another group of peoples opinion about art....carries no more or less weight than any other award, but plenty on here have this week used awards and others opinions as a barometer of supposed quality.

[cloggypop]

4 minutes ago, Mook said:

It's the same as any other music 'award', absolutely meaningless.

True of course but it's probably more relevant to a UK based website than the Grammys.

[an tha]

 

 

 

 

[johnsusername]

Some Kate Christmas spirit...

 

 

 

 

 

[Code]

Im out, just like I would have been if I got the choice between drinking cat piss or eating dog poo. 
 

If I had a top 1000 female artists Kate Bush might get in, PJ Harvey would get nowhere close.

 

 

[an tha]

3 minutes ago, Code said:

Im out, just like I would have been if I got the choice between drinking cat piss or eating dog poo. 
 

If I had a top 1000 female artists Kate Bush might get in, PJ Harvey would get nowhere close.

 

 

 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

3 hours ago, an tha said:

PJ Harvey is a sublime song writer IMO a song writer who has a breadth that is unparalleled...

 

How many artists have written songs ranging from being about pegging and violent hand jobs to infanticide to the Gallipoli campaign....

 

It is a song about the Gallipoli campaign i want to highlight as an example of her songcraft and writing ability.

 

I know a lot of people may be better read than i am about conflict/this conflict so apologies in advance if the commentary about the songs lyrics is not as informed as yours could be or comes across as stating the obvious, i just wnated to put it out there.

 

It is a song called "All and Everyone" from the album "Let England Shake"

 

PJ Harvey: "One of the conflicts that affected me a great deal was the Gallipoli campaign in the First World War. Something about the dreadful mismanagement and the shocking waste, needless waste, I thought about it a lot and it really affected me, because to me it had such resonance with the wars that are going on today."

This near six-minute track is one of three songs from the album Let England Shake that alludes to the 1915 battle for Gallipoli, a grotesquely bungled attempt to seize Constantinople, which wiped out much of the Australian and New Zealand Army.

Death was everywhere,
In the air
And in the sounds
Coming off the mounds
Of Bolton's Ridge.
Oh Death's anchorage.

Bolton’s Ridge was one of the ridges involved in the landing at Gallipoli, which she also references on the song “The Colour Of The Earth”.

Gallipoli was a brutal conflict. Lasting only eight months, it still saw over half a million deaths, averaging nearly one hundred per hour. Nearly half the Allied forces died, and the victorious Ottoman forces were even harder hit. Death was a constant reality.

When you rolled a smoke or told a joke
It was in the laughter and drinking water
It approached the beach as strings of cutters
Dropped into the sea and lay around us
Death was in the ancient fortress
Shelled by a million bullets
From gunners waiting in the copses
With hearts that threatened to pop their boxes
As we advanced into the sun
Death was all and everyone
Death was all and everyone

Half of the British military assigned on the campaign were lost.
10% of the men died at this failure of a campaign.
Many also were plagued by disease, with 90, 000 leaving sick.
It was at the time the single worst military campaign in British history.

As we advancing in the sun
As we advancing every man
As we advancing in the sun

Death hung in the smoke
And clung to 400 acres of useless beach front
A bank of red earth, dripping down
Death is now and now and now

The Allies never made it much past the beach.
The ground attack began on April 25, when Allied soldiers landed simultaneously at various points near the mouth of the Dardanelles. British troops carved out a foothold at Cape Helles, the southernmost point of the Gallipoli Peninsula, located on the European side of the strait, and were soon reinforced by the French. But despite several bloody battles, they never managed to advance more than a few miles inland.

Death was everywhere
In the air
And in the sounds
Coming off the mounds
Of Bolton's Ridge.
Death's anchorage.
Death was in the staring sun,
Fixing its eyes on everyone.
It rattled the bones of the Night Horsemen
Still lying out there in the open
As we, advancing in the sun
As we, advancing every man
As we, advancing in the sun
Sing "Death to all and everyone."

During the Battle of the Nek on 7 August 1915, two regiments of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade mounted a futile bayonet attack on the Ottoman trenches and suffered heavy casualties.


It's a beautiful song.....it is a perfect example for me of absolutely fantsastic song writing from in my book the greatest song writer of her generation.

Listen to the song here:

 

 

Superb that.

Shame I've spunked my repnuts flat. I owe you. 

[Bjornebye]

5 minutes ago, Code said:

Im out, just like I would have been if I got the choice between drinking cat piss or eating dog poo. 
 

If I had a top 1000 female artists Kate Bush might get in, PJ Harvey would get nowhere close.

 

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha 

[cloggypop]

6 minutes ago, Code said:

Im out, just like I would have been if I got the choice between drinking cat piss or eating dog poo. 
 

If I had a top 1000 female artists Kate Bush might get in, PJ Harvey would get nowhere close.

 

 

A higher recommendation than any Brit, Grammy or Mercury Award. 

[TheHowieLama]

40 minutes ago, an tha said:

Primal Scream

Suede

Portishead

Pulp

Dizzee Rascal

Arctic Monkeys

Klaxons

Elbow

Wolf Alice

 

All previous winners - hardly an obscure list of hipster artists.

 

This will probably not surprise you but I have heard of about half this mob.

Starting with the latest I have learned that Wolf Alice is a pleasant looking young lady who won the award with a record that sold sixty thousand copies. It is pretty tough to see how this isn't the ultimate hipster award.

[RJ Fan club]

1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

This must be the ultimate British hipster prize because not only have I never heard of it - previous to Kiwanuka never even heard of 90% of the folks that have. And of the few I have, one is Franz Ferdinand.

It’s not the arch-duke who was shot in Sarajevo. Just in case you’re thinking it’s him 

[John102]

All joking aside, far to much time is spent trying to discuss the legitimacy of these results.

 

Lets all just agree that the forum likes fairly bland, 70's/80's white pop and move along.

 

We only have a week to get through the forums favourite Christmas song.

[Evelyn Tentions]

1 minute ago, John102 said:

All joking aside, far to much time is spent trying to discuss the legitimacy of these results.

 

Lets all just agree that the forum likes fairly bland, 70's/80's white pop and move along.

 

We only have a week to get through the forums favourite Christmas song.

All I want for Xmas is my 2 front teeth

[an tha]

15 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

This will probably not surprise you but I have heard of about half this mob.

Starting with the latest I have learned that Wolf Alice is a pleasant looking young lady who won the award with a record that sold sixty thousand copies. It is pretty tough to see how this isn't the ultimate hipster award.

Wolf Alice are a band.

 

Young band 2 albums in - both for me very good.

 

My Love is Cool

Visions of a Life

 

As for sales - who cares, the shite that leads annual sales lists down the years includes....Robson and Jerome, Susan Boyle, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, One Direction, Jason Donovan and those beauts Oasis.

 

 

[Pidge]

I've just thought of these polls are interesting experiments where the final result is often steered by the early matchups. If Jackson didn't draw Elvis, he could well have won the whole thing, but that specific matchup saw him gone. Same with Joni, I'd vote for her ahead of both of these, but not ahead of Bjork.

 

Like a mad unpredictable top trumps of personal preference. There's no objective measure just conflicting opinions.

 

Well in, stig. 

[TheHowieLama]

1 minute ago, an tha said:

Wolf Alice are a band.

 

Young band 2 albums in - both for me very good.

 

My Love is Cool

Visions of a Life

 

As for sales - who cares, the shite that leads annual sales lists down the years includes....Robson and Jerome, Susan Boyle, Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, One Direction, Jason Donovan and those beauts Oasis.

 

 

I'm the last guy who listens to "popular" music but even I can admit a record that sells 60k and wins an award is really really hipster. Not sure why you would take offense to that label.

[an tha]

1 minute ago, TheHowieLama said:

I'm the last guy who listens to "popular" music but even I can admit a record that sells 60k and wins an award is really really hipster. Not sure why you would take offense to that label.

I don't take offence - i just don't see what relevance sales have to quality, or award legitimacy/style.

 

As you have been shown the award has been given to a load of really mainstream, well known big selling albums as well as lesser known, lesser selling ones.