E and Tall Josh (and a few of their co-workers, I'm sure) were discussing Top 5 Favourite Bands of All Time at work one day. (or so I hear) Which lead to a lot of "uhhhhh..... I'd need to think about that...." (insert perplexed face here) "Man, I have no idea..."
I am really no better at this than any of them. There are bands I would feel like I was lying if I didn't include them (Less Than Jake, Library Voices), even if they aren't my favourite band any more, and even if I am aware that one album release that I'm not fond of could change how I feel about them. But I would have to include them. Because it wouldn't really be my list if they weren't on it.
But the problems comes with who else would fit on it. Who else would make The Top 5? I don't really know. But my point, really, is that there are a number of bands that I like, really really really like, and sometimes even love, especially when I'm seeing them live, and they definitely have songs that I love, adore, etc., and yet, they would just never quite make The Top 5. They would most certainly make The Top 20, but who really cares about Top 20s?
The band I have in mind, specifically, is Said the Whale. Now, I adore Said the Whale. (and excellent shows in Mtl and Ottawa, I think E would agree.) They write adorable songs. With references to geography, possibly fictional children, local magicians, rules of hiking and Santa Claus. What's not to love? They have very danceable ditties and long, involved narratives (ok, so long is not often a word used to describe songs that average about 2 minutes, but a couple of the longer songs have narratives for sure) and self reference between albums. (Listen for "and the light is you" as a lyric.) But for some reason, I just don't feel Top 5 about them.
This isn't really a new feeling for me, either. When I jumped genres from ska-punk to indie-pop/ folk in undergrad, I had quite a few years between favourite bands. For a time, the bands I listened to the most were Death Cab and Stars. But neither one I considered a Top 5 favourite. Well, briefly Stars, but I felt like they were only there as a default. Like, I couldn't fill the Top 5, so they were substituting for some unknown band.
I don't know what makes a band Top 5 material. But I know its a certain something. Maybe its the feeling-crushed if I missed a show? The ordering of albums before their release date? The forgetting about them briefly only to realize that upon re-listening, I love them just as much as I always did, and that their music is in no-way disappointing however many years on?
Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin. They would make my Top 5.
-K
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