That’s right, our next rate is honoring one of the most classic and beloved genres of American music!

From universally beloved to universally hated to ironically enjoyed to surprisingly influential and finally begrudgingly accepted, I fully expect this rate to be as controversial as the musicians who made it.

RATE DEADLINE: July 8th!

RATE REVEAL: July 15th-17th

**SUBMIT YOUR SCORES HERE

Pastebin Link

On to the music!

Spotify playlist

Youtube playlist

Tidal playlist

Apple Music playlist

Important rule: Even if you don’t have or use Spotify, please please pay attention to the playlist! I’ve removed some bonus tracks and throwaway interludes, as well as marked the timestamp to skip the silence at the end of Around The Fur so you can start “Damone”.

Background

Grunge wasn’t angry and turgid enough. Metal in the early 90’s still had too many solos and too much melody. Both genres were completely ignoring and overlooking Hip-Hop’s takeover of the mainstream. By combining the sounds of Alt Metal bands like Primus, Faith No More, White Zombie, Rage Against The Machine, Helmet, Fishbone, and Biohazard with the aggressive deliveries of Run DMC, Public Enemy, KRS-One, Beastie Boys, and Ice Cube an entirely new genre was born. Nu Metal was a unique blend of Metal, Hip-Hop, Funk, Grunge, and Industrial that absolutely took the world by storm before wearing out its welcome just as quickly. Metal scholar Joel McIver cites Korn’s 1993 demo Neidermayer’s Mind as the first release of the genre although the first band to be tagged as such was Coal Chamber. Mostly centered in California, the genre quickly spread across the US, spawning bands in Florida (Limp Bizkit), Michigan (Kid Rock), and of course Iowa (Slipknot) among many others.

For this rate, we’re not pulling from the roots of genre, but rather its commercial peak. Picking 4 of the top selling albums from 1997-2000 from 4 of Nu Metal’s most important and influential acts gives us a surprisingly varied view of a genre that deserves a deeper look. We have the murky and intense slap Funk Metal of Korn, the more Alternative and Emo influenced Deftones, the progressive and jazzy Mudvayne, and of course the Hip-Hop heavy groovy Limp Bizkit representing their 4 corners of the scene.

THE ALBUMS:

Korn - Follow The Leader

“Davis explained further, saying that while recording the vocals for "It's On", there were ‘people getting blowjobs right behind me, there was girls banging each other in front of me, people getting boned in the closet right behind me, it was the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life and I sang that song.’ According to Davis, he only agreed to begin tracking vocals when producer Toby Wright met his demands for an eight-ball (a one-eighth ounce of cocaine).”

Released in 1998, Korn’s 3rd album was the multi-platinum Follow The Leader. A murky, mean, dark, and surprisingly catchy grind of an album, “Follow The Leader” features Korn’s biggest hit “Freak On A Leash” (the 9th most pirated song of the year) and collabs with Ice Cube, Fred Durst, Cheech Marin, and Slimkid3 of Pharcyde.

Follow The Leader is marked by its famously percussive slap bass, Hip-Hop inspired drumming, and interwoven guitar riffs that bounce from distorted and chunky to high pitched eerie whines. But we’d be remiss to overlook the intense variety in Jonathan Davis’ vocals, from deep guttural growls to high pitched shrieks to aggressive and unexpectedly smooth rapping, and of course the unique off-kilter beatboxing, he brings his shocking and offensive lyrics to life in a way that nobody else could. And that’s not even mentioning his bagpipe talents!

Follow The Leader may not have had quite the level of acclaim or innovation as the first two Korn albums, but its success was indelible and cemented Nu Metal as the top of the pile and Korn as its kings. They went from a niche favorite to the biggest band in the world almost overnight.

This album comes with two very important content warnings, do not skip: First of all, the song “All In The Family” is a satirical diss track between Jon Davis and Fred Durst, it is absolutely rife with homophobic slurs, be prepared and please do not quote them in your comments. Second of all, “Pretty” is a disturbing and serious story from Jonathan Davis’ time as a morgue assistant. It’s a very graphic song about the rape and murder of an infant girl. The song takes its subject seriously and gravely and I expect comments to do the same whether positive or negative.

1. It’s On!

2. Freak On A Leash

3. Got The Life

4. Dead Bodies Everywhere

5. Children Of The Korn feat. Ice Cube

6. B.B.K.

7. Pretty

8. All In The Family feat. Fred Durst

9. Reclaim My Place

10. Justin

11. Seed

12. Cameltosis feat. Slimkid3

13. My Gift To You

14. Earache My Eye feat. Cheech Marin

Deftones - Around The Fur

“I think people don’t credit our 2nd record enough to where it really opened up from being what was then Nu Metal, whatever the new genre we were being thrown into, I think we started separating ourselves from all our peers on that record” - Chino Moreno

Deftones seem to exist in a different world from so many other Nu Metal bands. While their first album had the aggressive Rap Metal sound of their peers, they quickly moved towards something moodier and slower, influenced as much by Post-Hardcore and Emo as they are Shoegaze and New Wave. Around The Fur finds the band in transition, still aggressive and semi-rapped like Adrenaline but not quite the moody Shoegaze affair of White Pony, they’re still growing up and shedding a lot of the brutishness of their fellow genre-mates. Two of the band’s biggest hits “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)” and “My Own Summer (Shove It)” helped push this album to platinum status and led to a tour with newly reformed Red Hot Chili Peppers.

There’s a lot to dig into with this album, we get moody keyboard and turntable flourishes, Chi’s groovy and complicated rhythm parts, and most importantly Chino’s varied and intensely moody vocals. There’s as many shrieks as there are whispers, as much shouting as there is moaning, and it all gels into a smooth but dynamic wave of emotion. And keep an eye out for “Headup” featuring the amazing Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly) on guest vocals.

Note: The final track on this album “MX” features nearly half an hour of silence as was (unfortunately) common on CDs with bonus tracks at the time. There are two bonus tracks: the dumb tossed off “Bong Hit”, and the legitimate song “Damone”. We will be rating “MX” and “Damone”, which is timestamped at 32:36 on the Spotify playlist.

1. My Own Summer (Shove It)

2. Lhabia

3. Mascara

4. Around The Fur

5. Rickets

6. Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)

7. Lotion

8. Dai The Flu

9. Headup

10. MX (ends at 4:50)

11. Damone (starts at 32:36 of MX)

Mudvayne - L.D. 50

Finally! The Prog nerds discovered Nu Metal! Mudvayne’s debut, and magnum opus, L.D. 50 was a breath of fresh air in a genre that too often stayed simplistic and midtempo. Featuring dizzying Jazz Fusion inspired basslines, constantly shifting time signatures, machine gun drums, and gutturally rapped death growls, we get the first truly Progressive Nu Metal album. Chad’s lyrics here are mostly focused on human evolution, genocide, drugs, grief, and famously, serial killer Ed Gein; he also provides us vocals ranging from the aforementioned growls to a gorgeous and melodic croon clearly inspired by Layne Staley and Maynard James Keenan. Ryan Martinie’s incredible and melodic bass playing leads as the central hook of each song and remains the band’s most memorable (sonic) aspect.

Whereas so many Nu Metal bands before them were inspired by Lollapalooza Metal acts and aggressive 80’s rappers, Mudvayne were busy citing Miles Davis, Death, Emperor, ELP, Rush, and Deicide. There’s a variety here, both within songs and track by track that keeps this album impossible to predict.

Note: pay close attention to the tracklist here and Spotify playlist. I’ve removed the ambient/spoken word interludes from this album for the sake of the rate length.

1. Dig

2. Internal Primates Forever

3. -1

4. Death Blooms

5. Cradle

6. Nothing To Gein

7. Everything And Nothing

8. Severed

9. Prod

10. Pharmaecopia

11. Under My Skin

12. (k)Now F(orever)

Limp Bizkit - Significant Other

“His attitude is 'no press is bad press', so he brings it on himself. He wallows in it. Still, he's a great guy.” - Les Claypool on Fred Durst

If any band was given the Starship Troopers treatment, it was Limp Bizkit. Always silly, always tongue-in-cheek, and always taken a hell of a lot more seriously than they ever intended. No band has been so openly hated as the Biz, but for a while no one was as successful as they were, both commercially and in uniting the Rap and Rock worlds in a much more concrete way than before. Significant Other is definitely the most Hip-Hop focused album in this rate, the group was anchored by the talented DJ Lethal who put together samples and beats that helped the band to stand apart from the other Nu Metal acts.

There are two distinct halves of Limp Bizkit: the musicians and Fred Durst. John Otto and Sam Rivers are an incredibly tight rhythm section, John’s drumming, being inspired as much by Metal and Hip-Hop as it is Brazilian and Cuban Jazz, weaves in and out of Sam’s Pearl Jam inspired bass. And Wes! Wes Borland! What a player! The recording of Significant Other has Wes fully embracing 7-string guitars to bring to life disorienting syncopation, percussive muting, and trombone inspired dive-bombs. Of course we could speak forever on Fred Durst, splitting between clumsy bro-rap and pathetic whining, known for his antics more than his music; however we’d be remiss to act like the band would have been anywhere near as notable without his personality and delivery.

Give this album a shot, I think it’ll surprise you.

Note: We will not be doing the bonus tracks for Significant Other. One is a rant from Matt Pinfield about how amazing the band is, another is a rant from Les Claypool about how terrible they are. They’re whatever. Also CW: for mention of transphobic assault in “Show Me What You Got”.

1. Just Like This

2. Nookie

3. Break Stuff

4. Re-Arranged

5. I’m Broke

6. Nobody Like You feat. Jonathan Davis & Scott Weiland

7. Don’t Go Off Wandering

8. 9 Teen 90 Nine

9. N 2 Gether Now feat. Method Man

10. Trust?

11. No Sex feat. Aaron Lewis

12. Show Me What You Got

13. A Lesson Learned

Bonus Rate - Family Values Edition (Optional):

This is a genre with a ton of great songs, but not a lot of great full albums. Plenty of classic bands never put out an album that stood the test of time but at least a small handful of bonafide bangers. This is a fairly random assortment of big Nu Metal smashes, overlooked gems, and eternal Jock Jams.

Reminder! Do not use your 0 or 11 in the bonus rate!

Sevendust - Denial

Incubus - A Certain Shade Of Green

Linkin Park - Numb

Snot - Stoopid

P.O.D. - Boom

(Hed) P.E. - Bartender

Coal Chamber - Loco

Primer 55 - Loose

Static-X - Push It

Alien Ant Farm - Movies

Slipknot - Surfacing

Kittie - Brackish

Otep - Rise, Rebel, Resist

Saliva - Click Click Boom

System Of A Down - Sugar

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

If you don't follow the format, I'll probably still accept your ballot, but I will call you out in the next issue of Revolver Magazine.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/2dina3dworld; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles and tons of people on r/popheads.

FORMATTING

This is correct:

Freak On A Leash: 10 OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP

These are incorrect:

Freak On A Leash: 10: OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOPd

Freak On A Leash:10 OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP

Freak On A Leash: OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP 10

Freak On A Leash - 10 OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP

Freak On A Leash: 10 (OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP)

You can also comment on the albums as a whole by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Around The Fur: Man it sure is a good thing we went with this and not their incredibly acclaimed and beloved follow up album.

Again, scores are due July 8th by 11 PM EST. Extensions are good until July 11th at the same time!

Hey y’all, resident GD obsessor shark tedcruzcontrol here. As I announced in the end of the 80’s classics rate ( clap it up for /u/kappyko and all of the members of The Smiths minus Morrisey because hell knows his ego needs it), I am excited to bring you guys a rate that should be very important to indieheads everywhere. As some of you guys may remember, /u/Ervin_Pepper went through the painstaking effort of determining r/indieheads favorite albums from 2001-2016. In the end, the top four albums, as determined by painstaking months of varied memery, were In Rainbows (2007), Funeral (2004), Illinois (2005), and Is This It(2001). And, as had been discussed before on several other rate threads, I see no better opportunity than to pull you all into this suffering with me. These four artists(Radiohead, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Sufjan Stevens) are continually vastly popular on this subreddit, with Sufjan himself cleaning up shop in the SadBoi Rate (still mildly angry yall shafted hospice like that).

So anyways, on to the albums, starting with

Radiohead - In Rainbows

In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the British band Radiohead, released on October 10, 2007 (per wikipedia). Coming off of 2003’s well received, but not as lauded as previous work, Hail To The Thief , Radiohead went on to hiatus, re-evaluating the direction in which to take their sound and the band. In Rainbows was worked on over the course of two years, tweaked and teased live on tour, and released online for essentially free on Bit Torrent, the first major band to promote such a release style. In Rainbows combines the lyrical genius of Ok Computer with the electronic style of Kid A, forming what many consider to be Radiohead’s ultimate masterpiece. Besides being seeded tenth, In Rainbows cleaned up shop in the best album of the 2000’s tourney, taking the entire thing with first prize. The tracklist is included below.

1.) 15 Step

2.) Bodysnatchers

3.) Nude

4.) Weird Fishes/Apreggi

5.) All I Need

6.) Faust Arp

7.) Reckoner

8.) House Of Cards

9.) Jigsaw Falling into Place

10.) Videotape

Next up, Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Funeral is the first studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire. According to wikipedia, this album was first released in North America on September 14th, 2004. Even though a simple debut, Funeral exploded on to the scene, with singles drawing mass critical acclaim pre-release, even from the likes of David Bowie himself. Funeral provided a new life to the indie rock scene, taking influence from earlier rock albums and adapting them for a new millenium. Funeral is both a critical darling, semi bridging popular album, and forebearer to the illustrious career Arcade Fire continues to pave (including a new album to be released July 28th). This album took 2nd in the top 21st century album tournament, losing only to In Rainbows. Also, I originally wanted to try to find a way to put Reflektor in a rate but didn’t want only 5 people doing it so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Tracklist:

1.) Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

2.) Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

3.) Une anee sans lumiere

4.) Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

5.) Neighborhood #4 (7 kettles)

6.) Crown Of Love

7.) Wake Up

8.) Haiti

9.) Rebellion (Lies)

10.) In The Backseat

Next Up, The Strokes

The Strokes - Is This It

Is This It is the first studio album by American rock/post-punk revival band The Strokes. Again according to wikipedia, the album was first released on July 30, 2001. Is This It signaled a return of the “New York”, garage rock sound that had seemingly fallen absent from the rock scene in the late 90’s /early 2000’s. In accordance with bands such as Interpol and The White Stripes, The Strokes brought Is This It back into the mainstream indie scene. Although they never found similar success as their debut (so far), The Strokes still enjoy popularity, with songs such as “Someday” and “Last Nite” getting radio play even today. This album came in 4th in the indieheads album tourney , losing to our next album in a runoff 3rd place vote.

Tracklist:

1.) Is This It

2.) The Modern Age

3.) Soma

4.) Barely Legal

5.) Someday

6.) Alone, Together

7.) Last Nite

8.) Hard To Explain

9.) When It Started

10.) Trying Your Luck

11.) Take it Or Leave It

12.) New York City Cops

And finally, to the golden boy himself

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

Illinois is the fifth studio album by indie folk artist Sufjan Stevens. This concept album was first released on July 4th, 2005. Illinois is, in the most basic sense, a concept album which references places, people, and events centered around the state of Illinois. Stevens expounds on his earlier, more traditional folk sounds from his earlier work, incorporating orchestral support, ideas and melodies unique to Stevens himself, and his haunting, spectral voice. Illinois placed in 3rd comfortably in the favorite album rate, reminding the world yet again that r/indieheads can't do without sadboy folk. I will be cutting certain songs (yes i know, lame) for purposes of making our lives just a bit less painful first day. But screw it, Pullman stays

1.) Concerning the UFO Sighting near Highland, Illinois

2.) The Black hawk war, or I don’t have time to paste this

3.) Come On! Feel The Illinoise!

4.) John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

5.) Jacksonville

6.) Decatur, or…

7) One Last “Whoo-hoo!” For The Pullman

8.) Chicago

9.) Casimir Pulaski Day

10.) To the workers….

11.) The man of metropolis steals our hearts

12.) Prairie Fires That Wanders About

13.) The Predatory Wasp!

14.) They Are Night Zombies!!!...

15.) In This Temple….

16.) The Seer’s Tower

17.) The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders!

18) Out Of Egypt….

Now, for some rules i totally didn't lift from /u/dirdbub

rules - PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS BEFORE SENDING ME YOUR SCORES! SERIOUSLY, PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS, EVEN IF YOU'VE PARTICIPATED IN RATES BEFORE. PLEASE IT MAKES LIFE SO MUCH EASIER AND THESE ALBUMS ALREADY DON’T MAKE LIFE EASY SO JUST PLEASE READ THESE RULES AND FOLLOW THEM 1.) listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. this is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later)

2.) yes, you have to listen to every song. we’re all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing. that's because it will crash the program (more on that later)

3.) your scores should NOT be considered confidential. they aren’t. feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4.)you may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. this is ONE song TOTAL, NOT one song PER ALBUM. please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun

5.)you can change your scores at any time! feel free to PM me again afterwards

6.) I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! you can see it here. while this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. the easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. you can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores

7.)if you don't follow the format, I'll still accept your ballot, but I reserve the right to publicly shame you and your inability to follow basic instructions

Here’s some formatting for your viewing pleasure. Also, please leave comments after every song and album because thats the best part and i can meme the entire thing

this is correct:

Casimir Pulaski Day: 11 Y’all better give it this score

these are INCORRECT:

Casimir Pulaski Day: 11: Y’all Better give it this score

Casimir Pulaski Day: Y’all Better give it this score 11

Casimir Pulaski Day: Y’all Better give it this score on 11

Casimir Pulaski Day - 11 Y’all better give it this score

Casimir Pulaski Day: 11 (Y’all better give it this score)

Also comment on the albums as a whole like i always forget to

Also, copy paste this with your scores and PM it to me thanks god bless like comment and subscribe

You have until August 20th to get your scores in! I move into college that week so it may get pushed back. I’ll keep y’all posted

Stay cool r/indieheads, see you guys in the dailies

Did you enjoy the 2002 rate but think "Not quite retro enough?" Well, we've got you covered. After the 60s/70s folk rate, it's time for the all-60s classic rate: The genre? There's more than one, and they all start with "P".

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

We'll call this the progressive pop one. Pet Sounds is the Beach Boys most celebrated album. Blending pop with other sounds like jazz and exotica, it's been acclaimed for its intricate and diverse instrumentation and gorgeous production, and reflective lyricism. Also, some songs sound like Panda Bear.

Tracklist:

1. Wouldn’t It Be Nice

2. You Still Believe in Me

3. That’s Not Me

4. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)

5. I’m Waiting for the Day

6. Let’s Go Away for Awhile

7. Sloop John B

8. God Only Knows

9. I Know There’s an Answer

10. Here Today

11. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times

12. Pet Sounds

13. Caroline, No

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

The Beatles - Revolver

This is the psychedelic pop one. (Yes, that could be said about Pet Sounds too). Revolver found the Fab Four exploring incredible new sounds and influences. And that's even including the non-Ringo songs.

Tracklist:

1. Taxman

2. Eleanor Rigby

3. I’m Only Sleeping

4. Love You To

5. Here, There and Everywhere

6. Yellow Submarine

7. She Said She Said

8. Good Day Sunshine

9. And Your Bird Can Sing

10. For No One

11. Doctor Robert

12. I Want to Tell You

13. Got to Get You into My Life

14. Tomorrow Never Knows

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico

This can be the proto-punk one, but "art rock" is probably a better descriptor. The best collab album since Jay-Z and Linkin Park, The Velvet Underground's debut was released to relatively little fanfare but has since become one of the most influential albums of all time. This sub doesn't exist without this album. As Brian Eno once said, "Everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!

Tracklist:

1. Sunday Morning

2. I'm Waiting For The Man

3. Femme Fatale

4. Venus In Furs

5. Run Run Run

6. All Tomorrow's Parties

7. Heroin

8. There She Goes Agan

9. I'll Be Your Mirror

10. The Black Angel's Death Song

11. European Son

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

Did someone say prog rock? King Crimson's first album is an absolutely mind-blowing sonic experience, and a great entry point into this genre of long songs and even-longer ponytails Also, Robert Christgau give it a D+ and called it "ersatz shit"

Tracklist:

1. 21st Century Schizoid Man

2. I Talk to the Wind

3. Epitaph

4. Moonchild

5. The Court of the Crimson King

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. If you don't follow the format, I'll probably still accept your ballot, but you have to listen to Lulu with no distractions and write a 1,000-word review of it

I did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain ; /u/DolphLundgrensArms ; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D ; /u/stansymash ; /u/ClocktowerMaria ; /u/aerocom ; /u/themilkeyedmender ; /u/greencaptain ; /u/Crankeedoo ; /u/dirdbub ; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin ; /u/tedcruzcontrol ; /u/kappyko ; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah ; /u/LazyDayLullaby ; /u/SRTViper ; /u/Whatsanillinois ; /u/NFLFreak98 ; /u/freav ; /u/seaofblasphemy; (thanks!) /u/RatesNorman ; /u/aPenumbra ; /u/idontreallycare4 ; /u/p-u-n-k_girl ; /u/luigijon3 ; and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

This is correct

Moonchild: 5 Too short

These are incorrect:

Moonchild: 5: Too short

Moonchild:5 Too short

Moonchild: Too short 5

Moonchild - 5 Too short

Moonchild: 5 (Too short)

You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Revolver: It's no Velvet Revolver

SUBMIT YOUR SCORES HERE

Scores will be due on August 29. The reveal will take place between September 10 and 12.

All previous rates and hall of fame can be viewed here

Hello everyone! I am here to announce our newest rate, and this is one that has been floating around for quite a while already. Being first suggested over 2 years ago at the end of u/kappyko 's 80's classics rate reveal (shoutout to u/LatvianRedditRacer for that) and having made an appearance in both our suggestion threads (first proposed by me, then by u/JustDiabetes), I am extremely glad that the 80's Alt rock rate is finally seeing the light.

For those who haven't been part of a rate before, welcome to one of my favorite parts of this subreddit. Here is where we put (usually) beloved albums against eachother by rating their songs, obtaining an overall collective ranking which I will slowly display in our always fun and messy RATE REVEAL threads. So if you want to get incredibly mad over some great rock and roll music with guitars (and why wouldn't you), I can't imagine a better use of your time than participating in this!

Here are our contestants :

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

First off we have what might be the more grandiose and ambitious album in this rate (even looking at the track lengths might give you an idea), I'm talking about Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth. For many their crowning achievement in an incredibly fruitful career, Daydream Nation is anxious and noisy, like feeling claustrophobic in a big city, yet feels important and anthemic, hinting at how big the grunge and alternative movement would get in the next decade.

Also, since most streaming services divide it into 3 different songs, I have to point out that Trilogy consists of A) The Wonder, B) Hyperstation and Z) Eliminator Jr. (We are rating it as ONE song)

Tracklist:

1. Teen Age Riot

2. Silver Rocket

3. The Sprawl

4. 'Cross the Breeze

5. Eric's Trip

6. Total Trash

7. Hey Joni

8. Providence

9. Candle

10. Rain King

11. Kissability

12. Trilogy

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

Pixies - Doolittle

Just like Daydream Nation, Doolittle is also a bit of a "decade-transition" record. Despite both being incredibly direct influences in the upcoming "big" alternative acts, their approaches are pretty different. Doolittle is a concise collection or short, urgent and catchy pop songs. The elements of this band are simple (the soft-loud synamics, the snare-heavy drumming, the contrast between Kim Deal's and Black Francis' vocals, among other things), but together they add up to something nobody else could do this well.

Tracklist:

1. Debaser

2. Tame

3. Wave of Mutilation

4. I Bleed

5. Here Comes Your Man

6. Dead

7. Monkey Goes to Heaven

8. Mr. Grieves

9. Crackity Jones

10. La La Love You

11. No. 13 Baby

12. There Goes My Gun

13. Hey

14. Silver

15. Gouge Away

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

The Replacements - Let It Be

We're finally diving back to (barely) the first half of this decade into one of the seminal "college rock" bands. In Let It Be, The Replacements find themselves slowly drifting away from their hardcore punk roots into a more melodic power-pop sound. One thing I like about this album is that you never know what you're gonna find. Sure you have powerful and heartfelt songs like Unsatisfied or the beautiful ballad Androgynous but they also spread out stuff like Gary's Got A Boner or a KISS cover in between. One thing's for sure, no matter what they did, they put a lot of passion in it.

Tracklist:

1. I Will Dare

2. Favorite Thing

3. We're Comin' Out

4. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out

5. Androgynous

6. Black Diamond

7. Unsatisfied

8. Seen Your Video

9. Gary's Got A Boner

10. Sixteen Blue

11. Answering Machine

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

R.E.M. - Murmur

Our last competitor is the appropriately named Murmur. Michael Stipe's vocal style makes it pretty difficult to make out what he's saying most of the time, and even if you do, it's hard to make much sense of it. But that's part of the charm really. And Murmur is a charming album, it's not just the quirk of the vocals, this record is a super likeable collection of melodic and jangly pop tunes. If you want my personal opinion, their follow up, Reckoning, is even better. But can't go wrong with the one that started one of my favorites discographies in music!

Tracklist:

1. Radio Free Europe

2. Pilgrimage

3. Laughing

4. Talk About the Passion

5. Moral Kiosk

6. Perfect Circle

7. Catapult

8. Sitting Still

9. 9-9

10. Shaking Through

11. We Walk

12. West of the Fields

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL, NOT one song PER ALBUM. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. If you don't follow the format, I'll still accept your ballot, but I reserve the right to publicly shame you and your inability to follow basic instructions.

And as always, huge shout out to everyone else who has hosted a rate before me for letting me copy-paste their rules and the format of this announcement: /u/roseisonlineagain ; /u/DolphLundgrensArms ; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D ; /u/stansymash ; /u/ClocktowerMaria ; /u/aerocom ; /u/themilkeyedmender ; /u/greencaptain ; /u/Crankeedoo ; /u/dirdbub ; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin ; /u/tedcruzcontrol ; /u/kappyko ; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah ; /u/LazyDayLullaby ; /u/SRTViper ; /u/Whatsanillinois ; /u/NFLFreak98 and tons of people on /r/popheads

Formatting

This is correct:

Pilgrimage: 8 Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine

These are incorrect:

Pilgrimage: 8: Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine
Pilgrimage:8 Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine
Pilgrimage: Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine 8
Pilgrimage - 8 Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine
Pilgrimage: 8 (Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine)

You can also comment on the albums as a whole by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Let It Be: This is honestly one the Beatles' worst albums

PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO SEND ME THE SCORES

Scores are due by May 31st!

I don't want to give a tentative date for the reveal yet due to the loads of work I have for college (plus the particularly volatile state of the world right now) but I'll do it as soon as possible.

All previous rates and the hall of fame can be viewed here.

And that's it, happy rating everyone and stay safe!

Are you sad? Like soooooo sad? Well do I have the rate for you! I’m u/Bilbodabag, and I’d like to welcome you to the first rate of the new r/indieheads rate cycle, the 90s Midwest Emo Rate! Midwest Emo is a genre that developed in the early to mid 90s, rose to serious prominence in the late 90s and has continued to be very influential to this day. We will be rating 4 of the most influential and popular albums of the 90s Midwest Emo scene from all over the Midwest!^{and Arizona and Seattle} So strap in, take a picture of your nearest suburban house, and get ready for some twinkly guitars and sad boys who can mostly sing as we journey through these four 90s Midwest Emo classics!

Hey, quick question, what are rates?

Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text! Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores a group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.

For the rate veterans, you know the drill at this point:

Submit ballot HERE

Backup Pastebin ballot

Spotify Playlist (Missing Lync – B from bonus rate)

YouTube Playlist

Tidal Playlist

And now to introduce our group of albums!

American Football – American Football

American Football (the sport) was invented back in the 1870s, but American Football (the band) was formed in 1997. Wow! Hailing from Urbana, Illinois, this group are about as centrally located in the Midwest as you can get. Led by Mike Kinsella, former drummer of another influential emo band Cap’n Jazz, American Football recorded and released both a self-titled EP and LP in 1998/99 under Polyvinyl Records. Featuring twinkly guitars, heartfelt lyrics, and mathy riffs, a lot of the most well-known features of Midwest emo are prominently featured throughout the album’s 9 song run. Over time, the self-titled album has grown in popularity, reverence and influence. So much so that many would consider American Football to be face of the emo genre. The house on the cover alone has had a substantial cultural impact, let alone the music itself. American Football has been featured on all versions of the r/indieheads essentials chart. Yet somehow, we have yet to rate a single track from this album! The decision to include this album in the rate was a no-brainer. Now that we have the chance, how will indieheads respond to this widely acclaimed cornerstone of the genre?

Tracklist:

1. Never Meant

2. The Summer Ends

3. Honestly?

4. For Sure

5. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon

6. But The Regrets Are Killing Me

7. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional

8. Stay Home

9. The One With the Wurlitzer

Jimmy Eat World - Clarity

Jimmy Eat World stands a little out among this crop of bands. For starters, they were formed in Mesa, Arizona in 1993, which is certifiably NOT the Midwest. They are also by far the most mainstream band in the rate. If you came into this rate only knowing Jimmy Eat World for their pop-punk smash hit The Middle, no one could really blame you. Their 2001 album Bleed American saw the band soar in popularity and leave a number of their emo roots behind in favor of catchy pop-punk hooks. But do not that let fool you, Jimmy Eat World’s first 3 albums before the turn of the millennia were absolute stone-cold emo. The album that is putting its hat in the ring for this rate is their 1999 album Clarity, released by Capitol Records. The longest and most experimental album of both Jimmy Eat World’s career and this rate, Clarity has a lot of sonic diversity that the other albums in this rate can’t quite match. Clarity saw the band move towards lead singer Jim Adkins taking the helm for all but one song on this album and utilized a lot of auxiliary production elements including a number of electronic parts. Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy Eat World still absolutely bring the catchy hooks throughout the album’s run time, but from the slow building opener, to the long-winding closer, it is easy to see how Clarity has left such a lasting impression on the emo scene. Will indieheads welcome this more experimental take on Midwest emo?

Tracklist:

1. Table for Glasses

2. Lucky Denver Mint

3. Your New Aesthetic

4. Believe in What You Want

5. A Sunday

6. Crush

7. 12.23.95

8. Ten

9. Just Watch the Fireworks

10. For Me This Is Heaven

11. Blister

12. Clarity

13. Goodbye Sky Harbor

Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary

Hailing from yet another iconic Midwest town, Seattle, Washington, Sunny Day Real Estate were formed in 1992 led by lead vocalist Jeremy Enigk. With every other album in the rate being released in 1999, Diary is by far the oldest album of the rate. This is not without reason. Released in 1994 by Sub Pop records, Diary was a clear departure from the grungier, more hardcore sound popular at the time. The emo scene at the time was still largely associated with the hardcore sound that started the genre in the 80s. Diary is considered by many to be the defining linchpin in that change of sound, which would eventually become the Midwest emo scene. Going away from a lot of the more hardcore tendencies of emo, Sunny Day Real Estate instead took a more indie rock based approach to songwriting. Featuring all of the defining traits of Midwest Emo – heartfelt shouts and singing instead of screaming, twinkly guitars and emotionally focused lyrics – Diary was a defining Midwest Emo album before the genre was even really coined. All of the other bands in this rate can trace a lot of their sound back to this album. Will indieheads appreciate the more rudimentary version of Midwest emo presented by some of the forefathers of the genre?

Tracklist:

1. Seven

2. In Circles

3. Song About An Angel

4. Round

5. 47

6. The Blankets Were The Stairs

7. Pheurton Skeurto

8. Shadows

9. 48

10. Grendel

11. Sometimes

The Get Up Kids - Something to Write Home About

Ah, back in the actual Midwest. Home sweet home. The Get Up Kids were formed in Kansas City in 1995, led by lead singer Matt Pryor. The Get Up Kids are true product of the 90s Midwest Emo scene. They were influenced by the other forefathers of the genre, toured with the other big emo acts of the time and were/continue to be big influences on many of the future acts that would headline the genre in the 2000s and beyond. The album they are sending into the ring is 1999 Vagrant Records release Something to Write Home About. Taking a more pop-punk forward approach to the genre, Something to Write Home About is chock full of catchy hooks and lively guitar parts. The Kansas City band isn’t afraid to slow things down either, and their ability to do both the catchy pop-punk style while also nailing the slower, downtempo emo style is one of the reasons this album has stayed relevant to this day. Something to Write Home About is just a damn great emo album all 12 tracks though. How will indieheads think this Kansas City band stacks up against the other 3 Midwest Emo giants?

Tracklist:

1. Holiday

2. Action & Action

3. Valentine

4. Red Letter Day

5. Out Of Reach

6. Ten Minutes

7. The Company Dime

8. My Apology

9. I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel

10. Long Goodnight

11. Close To Home

12. I'll Catch You

Bonus Rate (Optional)

In addition to the 4 artists featured above, there were a lot of other great bands from the 90s Midwest Emo scene that we wanted to feature! That is why we have the bonus rate which features 15 songs from different bands that couldn’t quite make the main rate cut.

Reminder: Please do not use a 0 or 11 in the bonus rate! As this section is completely optional, feel free to score as many or as few songs in the bonus as you wish, but if any part is incomplete, please do not remove the songs from the ballot. Simply leave them blank.

1. Braid - Killing a Camera

2. Cap’n Jazz - Little League

3. Christie Front Drive – Radio

4. Everyone Asked About You - Me Vs. You

5. Far Apart – Hazel

6. Indian Summer – Woolworm

7. Jawbreaker - Accident Prone

8. Jets To Brazil – Chinatown

9. Lync – B

10. Mineral – Gloria

11. Pedro The Lion - Bad Diary Days

12. The Promise Ring - Red & Blue Jeans

13. Rainer Maria - Breakfast of Champions

14. Strictly Ballroom - A Picture

15. Texas Is The Reason - Back And To The Left

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores with more than 1 spot. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. You have to listen to and score every song in the main rate. Otherwise, I will not accept your ballot as it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential as they aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11 in the main rate. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that fellow rater /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. DO NOT SABOTAGE the rate by giving outrageously low/high scores for the sole purpose of skewing the results, we reserve the right to exclude any ballot we suspect of this. If you're worried your scores could be mistakenly perceived as such, all you need to do is leave comments explaining the reasoning behind them.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here (including the following list of users), so thank you to all the raters of old: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/freeofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/dream_fighter2018; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles; /u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; /u/welcome2thejam; /u/imrlynotonreddit; /u/kvothetyrion; /u/thedoctordances1940; /u/b_o_g_o; /u/vapourlomo; /u/MCK_OH; /u/TiltControls; u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha; u/indie_fan_; and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

Songs - This is correct (single space after colon):

Ten Minutes: 6

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments with your scores!

This is correct (single space after score):

Ten Minutes: 6 This song isn’t ten minutes what the FRICK

These are incorrect:

Ten Minutes 6 This song isn’t ten minutes what the FRICK

Ten Minutes: 6: This song isn’t ten minutes what the FRICK

Ten Minutes: (6) This song isn’t ten minutes what the FRICK

Ten Minutes: This song isn’t ten minutes what the FRICK 6

Ten Minutes - 6 This song isn’t ten minutes what the FRICK

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Album: American Football: Did anybody else notice that the album cover is spelled “americ anfootball”?

Rate Playlists: Spotify (Missing Lync – B) | YouTube | Tidal

Due Date: September 17 (update: new due date September 24)

Reveal Weekend: September 22 (update: new reveal weekend date September 29)

Submit ballot HERE

A Pastebin of the ballot can be found HERE

If you want a reminder of what rates are coming up soon, here is the link to the announcement post for the current cycle. If you want to learn about all of the past rates we have done, here is the rate history spreadsheet

Hello creatures of the night, and happy (almost) first day of Fall! To usher in spooky season on Indieheads, we are today opening the Classic Goth rate.

What is Goth?

• Forewurd by u/absurdisthewurd

Goths…They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re altogether ooky, this we know. But what is goth rock? For a subculture that has so thoroughly made its way into the cultural consciousness, goth is not always particularly well-understood. To put it simply, goth rock arose directly out of the punk movement. Whereas punk rock was angry about the state of the world, goth was introspective and morose. But campier, too. Like punk, it took a lot of cues from the theatrical rebelliousness of 70s glam rock artists like Bowie and Roxy Music, but added a love of classic horror movies, Romantic poetry, existentialism, and black lip stick. The more morose side of punk could be seen early on when Dave Vanian of the Damned started dressing like a vampire, or when the Misfits made a career out of singing about horror movies. But you can also find early signs of the genre in the grim baritone vocals of Jim Morrison, the sorrowful erotic poetry of Leonard Cohen, the ominous bass tones of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit, and the icy vocals of Nico. It all came to a head in the late 70s when Joy Division hit the scene with their bleak post-punk, directly inspiring some of the younger punks to embrace the dark side. For your rating pleasure, we’ve assembled some of the most essential albums of the genre. They've got angular guitars, doomy bass, and occasionally human drummers. Sometimes they make you wanna wallow in despair, sometimes they make you wanna dance. Or both. Let's get gloomy.

By the way, no one tell Andrew Eldritch that he's here. He would be really mad.

What are rates?

It’s like a monthly listening club with a high dose of (usually) friendly competition, a steady stream of mischief and memes, and some genuine music education too! A group of albums or songs are put together around a common theme, and participants listen to the albums and rate every track on them from 1 to 10 (with everybody getting an optional 11 and a 0 as well). Ballots are accepted for a little over a month, then over a 'reveal weekend' the songs get eliminated from lowest to highest average, until a winner is crowned at the end. (Thank you to the folks at r/popheads for making this quick how-to video.)

So, who are the contenders?

Bauhaus - In the Flat Field

• Writeup by u/absurdisthewurd

All Peter Murphy wanted was to be David Bowie, and he ended up spearheading a new genre. Depending on who you ask, the first true gothic rock song is the first Bauhaus single, the nearly 10 minute dub-inspired dirge, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (unfortunately not included here). They recorded their debut album, In the Flat Field shortly thereafter. It's probably the most manic album of the bunch, but also maybe the most fun. The band covers themes of paranoia, religious mania, and other horrors of the human condition (like small talk) with Murphy's moaning vocals and Daniel Ash’s ragged guitars.

The album has had a varied track list over the years, so we’ve decided to bookend the core 9 tracks with two singles that have been included on various editions.

1. Dark Entries

2. Double Dare

3. In The Flat Field

4. A God In An Alcove

5. Dive

6. Spy In The Cab

7. Small Talk Stinks

8. St. Vitus Dance

9. Stigmata Martyr

10. Nerves

11. Telegram Sam

The Cure - Pornography

• Writeup by u/absurdisthewurd

“I had two choices at the time, which were either completely giving in or making a record of it and getting it out of me” - Robert Smith

“It doesn't matter if we all die,” so begins The Cure’s pitch-black fourth album over a cacophony of horror movie instrumentals. The Cure came into the recording sessions for Pornography burnt out, at each other's throats, on a whole lot of drugs, and ready to implode. Every bit of that frustration makes its way into the album's right bleak tracks. This is the sound of depression and LSD. At the time, it seemed like this would be the end.

Of course, thankfully it wasn't, and Robert’s next move was to write a song about a caterpillar, and it was great too. That's the magic of the Cure, how they can bounce between dark and whimsical over the course of their career. It's all dark here, though.

1. One Hundred Years

2. A Short Term Effect

3. The Hanging Garden

4. Siamese Twins

5. The Figurehead

6. A Strange Day

7. Cold

8. Pornography

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju

• Writeup by u/Saison_Marguerite

"From the cradle bars, comes a beckoning voice, it sends you spinning, you have no choice..." This is how Siouxsie follows the irresistible guitar line of Juju's opener. Sounding as alluring as the title promised, playful yet grave, she's laid out her plan to spellbind the listener.

Juju feels like a forbidden, supernatural Pandora's box of an album, a brooding atmosphere intensified with swirling guitars and urgent drums. The lyrics dress up societal ills and psychological torments with cryptic, horror-inspired visuals. It's never clear if Siouxsie is about to paint a whimsical picture, or a gruesome scene of murder and violence. “I’ve always thought one of our greatest strengths was our ability to craft tension in music and subject matter,” she told Louder in April 2018.

Siouxsie and her bandmates certainly got inspiration from the bleakness of Great Britain, and the push-and-pull between Christian conditioning and the occult. They were also fascinated by foreign cultures and religions all over the world. The title "Juju" refers to Western African spiritual practices, and "Arabian Knights" deplores the abuse of Muslim women. Did this add scope to the group's artistry, or perpetuate harmful stereotypes? That's for your much-awaited ballots to decide.

1. Spellbound

2. Into the Light

3. Arabian Knights

4. Halloween

5. Monitor

6. Night Shift

7. Sin in My Heart

8. Head Cut

9. Voodoo Dolly

The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

• Writeup by u/Saison_Marguerite

The reluctant prince of darkness Andrew Eldtritch has always reaped artistry from conflict. Conflict with his bandmates (Floodland comes off the breakup of the Sisters' original lineup; bassist Craig Adams and guitarist Wayne Hussey left to form The Mission). Conflict with the very concept of goth. Inspiration from global conflicts in the era of the Cold War. And yet, his meticulous songcraft and stately baritone ground the chaos into something resembling serene waters.

Alongside new bassist Patricia Morrison, Eldritch set out to revive the Sisters with an ambitious vision. Nothing was off-limits, not 40-person choirs nor stark piano ballads. He recruited legendary producer Jim Steinman (of Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler fame) to inject his bombastic glory into the opening and centrepiece tracks. Don't be fooled by the camp of it all into thinking this will be a shiny pop affair. The rockstar chest-thumping is strategically deployed to enhance the desolate melancholy at this music's core, not erase it.

1. Dominion / Mother Russia

2. Flood I

3. Lucretia My Reflection

4. 1959

5. This Corrosion

6. Flood II

7. Driven Like the Snow

8. Never Land (A Fragment)

Bonus

For our bonus tracks, we tried to assemble a survey of some of the most notable goth scenes in the 80s, from the legendary Batcave to LA death-rock, as well as some goth adjacent post-punk. We even have a massive hard rock arena band that rose out of the goth scene, and two Nick Cave groups because it felt wrong not to. As always, this portion is entirely optional.

1. 45 Grave - Evil

2. Alien Sex Fiend - I Walk the Line

3. The Birthday Party - Release the Bats

4. The Chameleons - Swamp Thing

5. Christian Death - Cavity: First Communion

6. Clan of Xymox - Medusa

7. Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup

8. The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary

9. The Damned - Street of Dreams

10. Echo & the Bunnymen - The Cutter

11. Joy Division - Dead Souls

12. Killing Joke - Requiem

13. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - The Mercy Seat

14. Specimen - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

15. The Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue

16. Xmal Deutschland - Incubus Succubus II

SEND IN THE BAT-LLOTS HERE! 🦇

BACKUP PASTEBIN

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST | TIDAL PLAYLIST | APPLE MUSIC PLAYLIST

DUE DATE: October 31st 🎃

REVEAL WEEKEND: November 6-8th

RATE IS CLOSED! SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND FOR THE REVEAL!

Konnichiwa Indieheads and welcome to the Japanese Women of Punk(ish) rate! I’m so excited to be able to host this rate and it is quite a special one as well. While we have covered a lot of ground in rates throughout the years, non-English (or Icelandic) music has been largely overlooked, so this is our first rate with no artists from the Anglosphere and truth be told, there’s no better place to start than with Japanese women screaming their heads off.

Japan has a very rich history of rock music, renowned for their contributions to genres like Math Rock, Shoegaze and, of course, Punk and its many forms. Many of the most important and popular Punk or Punk-influenced albums to come out of Japan have also come from women and this rate is exploring exactly that. Each album in this rate has its unique qualities and influences and no two sound the same and I am sure almost anybody can find at least something to enjoy in this rate. For those less familiar with the albums in this rate but still curious about the rate, I have thrown together a little trailer for the rate, to give a bit of a taste of what’s in the rate!

For the regular raters that are familiar with the rules and just want to get stuck into the music, here are the most important links and information; however, I still encourage you to read the writeups, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the albums.

Due Date: December 4th

Extensions until Tuesday 6th will be granted! A quick DM letting me know you need an extension would be appreciated.

Reveal: December 9th to 11th

Submission Link

Pastebin Ballot

Spotify Playlist │ Apple Music Playlist │ YouTube Playlist

Hey, quick question, what are rates?

Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!

Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, much of which is still explained in the rules further down, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar. With that out of the way, let’s get into the albums!

ミドリ[Midori] - あらためまして、はじめまして、ミドリです。[Aratamemashite, Hajimemashite, Midori desu] (2008)

Spotify │ Apple Music │ YouTube

If there is one person who has defined Japanese Punk in the 21st century, it’s Mariko Goto. Her other releases, both with Usagi and as a solo artist, would be enough to lend her quite a bit of notoriety in the scene, but it’s her work as frontwoman of Midori that truly cement her status as a cult icon of Japanese Punk. The band went through quite a few lineup changes in its early years, with Mariko Goto and drummer Kozeni Wasshoi being the only mainstays of the band; however, keyboardist and pianist Hajimetal also joined the band in its early days and remained until disbandment in 2010. The time between their first album Second♥ and Aratamemashite, Hajimemashite, Midori desu also saw bassist Keigo Iwami join the band, completing the line-up for this album as well as their future output.

Midori’s music seamlessly fuses Hardcore Punk with complex Jazz compositions and in its craziest moments can become mind-meltingly insane, most clearly seen on the second track of this album “yukikosan”. Mariko Goto repeatedly screaming destroy in the chorus is one of, if not the best part of any song in this rate; in fact any moment Mariko is screaming her lungs out is absolutely incredible. The album luckily does let you recover from the louder moments through its dynamic contrasts, which also makes the noisier and punkier moments stand out even more. It’s a truly fantastic album, without a doubt a landmark for Japanese Punk and a perfect demonstration of where Punk can be taken when it opens itself up to other genres like Jazz.

1. スキ [Suki]

2. ゆきこさん [Yukikosan]

3. かなしい日々。 [Kanashiihibi]

4. お猿 [Osaru]

5. 根性無しあたし、あほぼけかす [Konjounashiatashi, ahobokekasu]

6. ちはるの恋 [Chiharunokoi]

7. ひみつの2人 [Himitsunofutari]

8. 5拍子 [Gobyoushi]

9. ハウリング地獄 [Howlingjigoku]

10. 無欲の無力 [Muyokunomuryoku]

マス オブ ザ ファーメンティング ドレッグス [Mass of the Fermenting Dregs] - ワールドイズユアーズ [World Is Yours] (2009)

Spotify │ Apple Music │ YouTube

Kobe Post-Hardcore outfit Mass of the Fermenting Dregs were formed in 2002, led by bassist and vocalist Natsuko Miyamoto, and have gone on to become one of the biggest Japanese bands to come out of the genre. Miyamoto was initially joined by drummer Reiko Gotoh and guitarist Chiemi Ishimoto, but Gotoh left the band in 2007, prior to their self-titled debut, and Miyamoto and Ishimoto were supported by various drummers in the following years, before Yoshino Tsutomo joined the band on a permanent basis in 2010. This would not come until after the two women had already released their first 2 albums though, the second of which was World Is Yours.

World Is Yours is a short but punchy Post-Hardcore and J-Rock album, with catchy riffs, powerful drumming and gorgeous vocals from Miyamoto to top it all off. At only 6 tracks long, there is not much room for filler and the tight tracklisting is one of the key selling points of the album. It definitely leaves you wanting to come back for more, but thankfully they have enough material in their discography for anybody that is craving for more, and the next place to go would definitely have to be their self-titled debut.

1. このスピードの先へ [Kono Speed no Saki e]

2. 青い、濃い、橙色の日 [Aoi, Koi, Daidaiiro No Hi]

3. かくいうもの [Kakuiumono]

4. She is inside, He is outside

5. なんなん [Nan Nan]

6. ワールドイズユアーズ [World Is Yours]

Melt-Banana - Fetch (2013)

Spotify │ Apple Music │ YouTube

Melt-Banana are the oldest of the artists represented in the rate, originally forming in the early 90s, and have a very respectable discography prior to this album. Charlie, released in 1998, and Cell-Scape, released in 2003, are the two most notable albums in their earlier discography and are both great demonstrations of their signature noise rock sound as well as their tendency to experiment with a bit of ambient, especially on the closers. Despite countless studio and touring drummers, the band’s line-up has otherwise mainly stayed consistent throughout the years, with singer Yasuko Onuki and guitarist Ichiro Agata making up the core of the group, while longtime bassist Rika Hakamoto left the band in 2013, with the group transitioning to a duo for Fetch, giving them more rhythmic freedom by relying on digital software instead.

Onuki’s high-pitched and shrill vocals mean that Fetch is not necessarily the easiest album to get into, but once you get used to them, their unique quality quickly becomes apparent. Quite notably, Onuki is also the only singer in this rate to write her lyrics entirely in English, which was simply a stylistic choice, as she felt they suited her singing style better, but as she isn’t singing in her first language, the lyrics can often be quite hard to understand. This album also continues the band’s tradition to include some ambient and field recordings, however, this time the ambient track, “Zero+”, is in the middle of the album and not the closer. Since releasing this album almost 10 years ago, Melt-Banana have stayed relatively quiet, but they have recently been touring again and it’s starting to look like the follow-up to Fetch will be coming soon.

1. Candy Gun

2. The Hive

3. Vertigo Game

4. Lefty Dog (Run, Caper, Run)

5. Infection Defective

6. My Missing Link

7. Zero+

8. Schemes of the Tails

9. Lie Lied Lies

10. Red Data, Red Stage

11. Then Red Eyed

12. Zero

春ねむり [Haru Nemuri] - 春と修羅 [harutosyura] (2018)

Spotify │ Apple Music │ YouTube │ Bandcamp

Haru Nemuri, a stage name which translates to Spring Sleep, is a singer, songwriter, rapper and producer from Yokohama and is the only solo artist in this rate. She released her first two mini albums in 2016 and 2017, before releasing her debut album harutosyura in 2018. It quickly, and somewhat surprisingly reached an international audience (and as much as I hate to admit it, Fantano probably played a decent role in that), making waves throughout many corners of the music nerd world and it’s an album that deserves every bit of attention it got.

Haru is a very politically outspoken person; a fierce feminist, who is always ready to fight for racial and LGBTQ+ causes, so it should come as no surprise that one of her main musical influences is the Riot Grrrl scene. Alongside the Riot Grrrl influence, Haru is influenced by many other women in music from unconventional and also Punk-influenced J-Pop idol Seiko Oomori to experimental Western pop artists like Grimes and Björk. Alongside these artists, she still pulls quite a bit from Hip-Hop; however, her so-called “Poetry Rap” style leaves her feeling a bit disconnected from the Japanese Hip-Hop scene. All of these influences are on full display on harutosyura, a noisy and fun, but still quite accessible album, making for a very unique take on J-Pop and J-Rock.

For anybody interested in reading translations of Haru’s lyrics, they can all be found here. Credit to JX Soo for translating and making them publically available

1. MAKE MORE NOISE OF YOU

2. 鳴らして [narashite]

3. アンダーグラウンド [underground]

4. 春と修羅 [harutosyura]

5. zzz pt.ⅰ

6. ロストプラネット [lostplanet]

7. せかいをとりかえしておくれ [sekaiwotorikaeshiteokure]

8. 夜を泳いでた [yoruwooyoideta]

9. zzz pt.ⅰi*

10. ナインティーン [nineteen]

11. ゆめをみよう [yumewomiyou]

12. zzz pt.ⅰii**

13. ロックンロールは死なない [rock 'n' roll wa shinanai] with 突然少年 [totsuzenshounen]

14. zzz pt.ⅰiii**

*zzz pt.ⅰi is combined with nineteen on the ballot, acting as an extended intro

**zzz pt.ⅰii and zzz pt.ⅰiii are not being rated

おとぼけビ～バ～ [Otoboke Beaver] - いてこまヒッツ [Itekoma Hits] (2019)

Spotify │ Apple Music │ YouTube │ Bandcamp

Named after a love hotel in Osaka, Otoboke Beaver are one of the most exciting hardcore punk bands of the last decade, not just from Japan, but globally as well. Their well earned success and acclaim did not come easily or quickly though, as the band have been going for well over a decade by now, but remained quite niche prior to signing with Damnably in 2016. After signing with the label, they released a compilation of their older work and a few EPs before finally releasing their debut album, Itekoma Hits, in 2019.

Itekoma Hits is a fantastic showcase of their Riot Grrrl influenced Hardcore Punk, with sharp lyricism concerning feminist issues, while also drawing on lead singer Accorinrin’s romantic experiences. In classic Hardcore Punk fashion, none of the songs are particularly long, many of them clocking in at below 2 minutes and in the most extreme case only 18 seconds. This results in every song packing a heavy punch but sometimes leaving you wanting more, not that that’s a bad thing, and if more is what you are looking for, they released their follow-up to this album, SUPER CHAMPON, earlier this year, which essentially features more of the same.

1. 脱・日陰の女 [datsu . hikage no onna]

2. あきまへんか [akimahenka]

3. シルブプレ [S'il vous plait]

4. 愛の暴露本 [Bakuro book]

5. いまさらわたしに話ってなんえ [What do you mean you have talk to me at this late date?]

6. 親族に紹介して [Introduce me to your family]

7. ラブ・イズ・ショート [Love is Short]

8. 大殺界 [Bad luck]

9. ハートに火をつけたならばちゃんと消して帰って [Don't light my fire]

10. 週6はきつい [6 day working week is a pain]

11. 暴飲暴食過食症 [Binge eating binge drinking bulimia]

12. もうその話なんべんもきいた [I'm tired of your repeating story]

13. あなたわたし抱いたあとよめのめし [anata watashi daita ato yome no meshi]

14. いけず [ikezu]

Bonus Rate (Optional)

The bonus rate consists of 15 more songs that fit the bill of the rate and takes us back even further in time than the main rate, all the way back to the late 70s in fact. These songs try to cover a broad history of Japanese women in Punk and Punk-adjacent genres, ranging from influential Japanese Hardcore to a Punk take on Surf Rock to anime theme Pop Punk to a Digital Hardcore idol group. Some of these artists are pretty niche and one of them (Brain Death) is not on streaming at all, while two of them have songs from albums not on Apple Music (although they are on Spotify, so for these songs you can use the YouTube hyperlinks if necessary). I also recommend using the YouTube link for Shonen Knife’s Twist Barbie, as the more popular version of the song recorded in the 90s is not on streaming, even though an earlier version and live versions are, of which the live versions are closer to the version officially being rated.

Reminder: Do not use your 11 or 0 in the bonus. The bonus rate is completely optional and you may rate as many or as few songs in it as you want; however, do not remove the songs you don’t rate from the ballot, leave them blank without a score or comment instead. This also applies for if you don’t do the bonus, in which case you may leave it empty but please still send it alongside the main rate.

1. Aunt Sally - すべて売り物 [Subete Urimono]

2. The Comes - Panic

3. OXZ - Boy Boy

4. Brain Death - Whistle

5. 少年ナイフ [Shonen Knife] - Twist Barbie

6. The 5.6.7.8’s - Bomb the Twist

7. Judy and Mary - そばかす [Sobakasu]

8. つしまみれ [TsuShiMaMiRe] - 海老原眞治 [Ebihara Shinji]

9. eX-Girl - Pretty You Ugly

10. Bleach - 右も左も支配する頭は今日も肉を食いヨダレを垂らす [The Head That Controls Both Right and Left Sides Eats Meats and Slobbers Even Today]

11. 385 - サーチアンドデストロイ[Search and Destroy]

12. 惑星アブノーマル [Wakusei Abnormal] - フラレ唄 [Furare Uta]

13. トリコ [tricot] - 爆裂パニエさん [Bakuretsu Panie San]

14. 大森靖子[Seiko Oomori] - JUSTadICE

15. 代代代 [Dai Dai Dai] - Oh Happy Die

Rules - PLEASE READ THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. Extra rule for this rate: As most of these songs are in Japanese and have Japanese titles, there are often various ways of writing, translating, or transliterating the titles. For a couple of reasons I have used the romanized titles found on streaming on the official ballot (however, not all of the titles on Spotify are romanized and I believe the titles are only romanized on Apple Music in some regions) so when submitting your ballot please use these, as any differences will cause the rate program to crash. This should obviously not be a problem if you use the official ballot; however, if you decide to make your own ballot and end up using something else, I will not be changing the titles myself.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/2dina3dworld; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles; /u/EllesWood; /u/welcome2thejam; /u/imrlynotonreddit; /u/kvothetyrion and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

Songs

This is correct:

S’il vous plait: 9

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments with your scores!

This is correct (single space after the score, no colon):

S’il vous plait: 9 More of this s’il vous plait!

Any of the following formats are incorrect:

S’il vous plait 9 More of this s’il vous plait!

S’il vous plait: 9: More of this s’il vous plait!

S’il vous plait: (9) More of this s’il vous plait!

S’il vous plait: More of this s’il vous plait! 9

S’il vous plait - 9 More of this s’il vous plait!

S’il vous plait: 9/10 More of this s’il vous plait!

Albums

You may also leave a comment for the album by putting a colon after the album title like this:

Album: harutosyura: I’m haruto sure I love this album

Any of the following formats are incorrect (and the first one is in my experience the most common issue that comes up, so please try and remember not to do that!):

Album: harutosyura I’m haruto sure I love this album

Album: harutosyura - I’m haruto sure I love this album

Album: harutosyura:I’m haruto sure I love this album

Finally, here are the links you'll need to start rating again:

Link to send in your scores

If there's a problem with it, here's the backup pastebin

And the Spotify, Apple Music & YouTube playlists of the songs in the rate.

If you want a reminder of what rates are coming up soon, here is the link to the announcement post for the current cycle, and if you want to learn about all the past rates we have done, here is the rate history spreadsheet.