The most pointless poll ever


You’re supposed to vote on who goes into the Ultimate Classic Rock Hall of Fame, and this week, it’s…

Ted Nugent Vs. Journey.

Journey  57.28% 
Ted Nugent  42.72%

Please. My stomach is still a little bit wobbly — I don’t want to hear anything from either one. The best I can say is Journey is banal, while Nugent is actively evil.

Comments

  1. says

    Oh, Jebus. Immediately after posting that, I got slammed with a bout of explosive diarrhea. My guts seem to be expressing their opinion of everything today, and I’m just worn out.

  2. says

    I’ll try to avoid giving updates on the disgusting things my body is doing today.

    Gotta save something for tomorrow, when it go in for minor surgery to have a cyst excised.

  3. Kevin Kehres says

    Probably best to avoid surgery if you’re having GI issues.

    Norovirus is going around my little patch of heaven. Don’t know about your neck of the woods, but best to play it safe.

  4. birgerjohansson says

    Better to have a good mind and a temporarily bad colon than the other way around.

  5. chigau (違う) says

    PZ
    Get well soon.
    and thank you for refraining from more updates.

  6. says

    Steve Perry STILL sounds like a duck.

    And Nugent probably still soils himself. Anyone remember the name of his live album again? “Incontinence In Contintents”, wasn’t it?

  7. Larry Kearney says

    I guess all the really good bands and musicians are already in the Hall.

  8. Louis says

    Oh I get it. This is like those “gun to the head” questions that kids ask in school. Two unpalatable choices or death.

    Death please.

    Louis

  9. Reginald Selkirk says

    Ah, Midwestern rock. Who can forget REO Speedwagon‘s classic Journey to Kansas album?

  10. blf says

    Who can forget REO Speedwagon‘s classic Journey to Kansas album?

    Me. Well, actually, not so much “forget” as “never heard (of)”. The album. That band rings a bell, as does, unfortunately, T. nugent. Fortunately, I gather, the other band in the poll is also a “never heard (of)”.

  11. WILLIAM says

    What the heck is the “ultimate classic rock hall of fame.” Looks like a hall of fame for all those terrible seventies logo-rock bands that drove me away from FM radio.

  12. Kevin Kehres says

    @15… definitely not “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” in Cleveland.

    Just something made up by someone to generate clicks on their web page, I suspect.

  13. richcon says

    I don’t know what you’re all complaining about, Journey kicks ass.

    Heathens, all of you.*

    * Wait… was that a compliment here?

  14. Johnny Vector says

    left0ver1under:

    Steve Perry STILL sounds like a duck.

    …on helium.

  15. awakeinmo says

    Yeah, I’m sure none of you guys ever sang along to “Don’t Stop Believing” while driving.

  16. PaulBC says

    You got something against street lights? Plus… they had their own video game. In 1983.

    Their. Own. Video. Game. In. Nineteen. Eighty. Three.

  17. twas brillig (stevem) says

    ignoring all the previous “replies” (blather): I gotta say, thumbs down on Nugent, Journey ON. ahem… I mean: even in my old R&R days, Nugent never hooked me, while Journey occasionally rocked me; so Nugent as a candidate for “Hall of Fame” status is inconceivable. But is the hall just recognizing who WAS famous or attempting to preserve who DESERVES to be famous? Journey for the latter, ?? for the former.
    Back to Floyd (or the Boss) for me, regardless.

  18. David Marjanović says

    Thanks for voting! This poll closes May 11, 2014, at 11:59PM ET. You can vote once an hour until then!

    Journey 59.89%

    Ted Nugent 40.11%

  19. knowknot says

    Nugent? I defy any sane person to listen through his catalog and not require treatment for PTSD or depression afterward.
    He was always talentless and vapid. I was around when he was happening, and it was all pulp then. And vile. This coming from a person who actually liked Foghat and Black Sabbath. (My fingers hurt from typing that.)
    I did see him live in Spokane once. There was a moment during the show when we were briefly picked up by the mass of the crowd and swept a bit aside. It was a strange sensation, like a wave. At the same time, Nugent disappeared from the stage, still making guitar-like noises.
    I found out later that, in our immediate vicinity, an “escaped doorknob” (by Nugent’s description) had drawn a gun and pointed it toward him. The gunman had been wrestled down quickly.
    Now, with Nugent’s “talents,” the exact same “talents” that drove his music directed toward politics, I feel somewhat different about the outcome of that whole near disaster. With well-deserved guilt, I might add.

  20. Goodbye Enemy Janine says

    I see someone had to link to a bunch of Family Guy bullshit (Hate it as almost as much as I hate Journey and The Nuge. Bet that surprises people.) and Conway Twitty. My own personal remedy, Killdozer cover Conway Twitty. Never Been This Far Before. A bom bom bom.

  21. joel says

    OK, I’ll be the dissenter in this thread. Ted Rocks. His guitar playing was cutting-edge for his era, and “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Great White Buffalo” still get heavy rotation on my iPod. Yes, he’s a creep, but then so is Roman Polanski: The Pianist is a great film nonetheless.

    And Journey: I hated them in high school (mid 80’s), but a few years ago they caught my attention again with the close of the Sopranos, and surprisingly I actually appreciate them now. “Send Her My Love” is one of my favorite tunes. Journey trivia: all the members except Steve Perry had previously played for Santana.

  22. ebotebo says

    Nugent, I pretty much feel the same for him as he would for me. Journey, I remember waiting outside Oakland Auditorium Arena (Henry Keizer) to get into the Grateful Dead New Years Show when I heard a young lady say to her boy friend “Why don’t you take me to see Journey instead of the Grateful Dead” to which I thought “Yeah, take her to see Journey!”

    Miss you Jerry!

  23. says

    blf@14, Reginald Selkirk’s comment was a joke. Kansas was another American rock band from the ’70s that often gets lumped into the “arena rock” or “album oriented rock(AOR)” categories along with Journey and REO Speedwagon. Their big hits were “Dust In The Wind” and “Carry On Wayward Son.”

    As for Journey they were in part a Santana spinoff, Gregg Rolie and Neil Schon having been members of Santana. Rolie was the vocalist on Santana’s version of “Black Magic Woman.”

  24. knowknot says

    @29 joel

    … Ted Rocks. His guitar playing was cutting-edge for his era…

     
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    Actually I, um… Usually don’t
    Taste. That taste thing. We had a salt lick, I remember it was
    the cows exploded and then we err … Um … fire, acckkk phhhttt
    (dies)

  25. consciousness razor says

    joel:

    His guitar playing was cutting-edge for his era,

    I think what knowknot was trying to say is that this is false. But it is pretty funny.

    Of course, this part may well be true:

    and “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Great White Buffalo” still get heavy rotation on my iPod.

    On the other hand, perhaps by “cutting-edge” you mean something like he used a sharp object while playing. I admit I don’t actually know whether that is the case.

  26. mikeyb says

    Nugent is banal and actively evil at the same time.Or he’s trying to out do Glenn Beck every time he goes off on his insane rants.

  27. Rob Grigjanis says

    joel @29:

    His guitar playing was cutting-edge for his era

    I know nothing technical about guitar, but to my uneducated ear Nugent is nothing compared to Stevie Ray Vaughan, or Robert Fripp, or many others.

    This whole thing reminds me of a friend who said, long ago, that if he had to choose between voting for Margaret Thatcher on the one hand, or Armageddon on the other, he would abstain.

  28. mikeyb says

    The Nuge is great if your into ardent sexism, racism, gun fetishes, i.e. if you are a bonafide MRA asshole. Not to mention being the kind of worthless scumbag who writes songs about sex with underage women possibly from experience.

  29. ottotellick says

    Every time I see or hear a reference to the band “Journey”, I recall the one time in my life (decades ago) when I saw them live in concert. It was not my intention, really, to see Journey live in concert.

    It so happened that this particular concert, in Anaheim, CA (in 1973, I think), was the last concert in which a band called “Humble Pie” would perform – it was widely known that Humble Pie was going to break up, and this was their last concert together. For some reason that I’ll never fathom, it was arranged that Journey would perform first that night.

    I distinctly remember the point during Journey’s performance when the lead singer announced, “This next one will be our last song tonight.” He paused briefly, and during that pause, I distinctly heard, from thousands of voices in union, a soft whisper or low mumble – a single word: “Good.”

    (BTW, the last Humble Pie performance was awesome.)

  30. ck says

    @mikeyb,

    You forgot hypocritical chickenhawk, given that he crapped his pants to avoid being drafted and now things the U.S. should invade everyone else.

  31. Useless says

    As much as I’m sure you’re impressed by Ted Nugent’s performances, he’s been outdone by a couple of cute 9-year old twins, Vincenzo and Vittorio. You will certainly be impressed by their guitar.



  32. ChasCPeterson says

    The List of 70s Bands I Hate:
    Journey
    Styx
    Foreigner
    Kansas
    Queen
    Supertramp
    Boston
    Aerosmith
    um
    there are probably a lot more

    (Mr. Nugent is beneath even contempt.)

  33. Holms says

    As much as I’m sure you’re impressed by Ted Nugent’s performances, he’s been outdone by a couple of cute 9-year old twins, Vincenzo and Vittorio. You will certainly be impressed by their guitar.

    It is just goddamn disgusting, seeing how warped their views are already. No doubt their parents are tremendously proud to hear their own views parroted back at them so faithfully.

  34. Tom Reeves says

    I’d vote for Journey.

    Without their bland, self indulgent, coked-up shite, we may never have had punk.

  35. sugarfrosted says

    This bracket has quite a few bands and artists I actively hate. Damn.

    Seriously, there are so many better bands. GAH.

  36. woggler says

    I guess it’s all down to personal taste, but I really like some of Journey’s stuff. Ted Nugent I’m less aware of, though I love Wango Tango.

    Other than that, my taste in music is limited to either Gospel or Rap. If I get fed up listening to songs about death, drugs and sex, I can listen to some rap music instead.

  37. knowknot says

    50 Tom Reeves

    I’d vote for Journey.
    Without their bland, self indulgent, coked-up shite, we may never have had punk.

     
    Well, it did get even worse. I know that for some this will be a form of hate speech, but: though I believe that any truly competent sound engineer is an amazing, impressive and formiddable life form, and musicians should always develop to the bleeding edge of their ability, but the result of their collaboration should not sound like the engineer was repeatedly taking the musicians out of a locker, doing assorted complicated capacitance/resistance voodoo, and then powering them down for the mix. You know who you are.
     
    But for my money, if Journey et al provided any piece of whatever led up to Johnny Rotten singing “Seattle” (which isn’t about Seattle), then fine. Bless their pants and the larynxes they rode in on.
     
    And p.s. because blathering:
    Detroit Cobras. Rachel Nagy is easily one of the most underestimated singers this side of cosmic inflation. Or at least Canada.

  38. rorschach says

    Nothing wrong with Supertramp. Journey and Foreigner were just banal gaga rock bands for the mass market, totally boring. No comment on Nugent.

  39. says

    Um, can I vote for no one? I don’t like any of the bands in this bracket. I don’t hate all of them, but I don’t like a single one. The least offensive is Judas Priest, but meh… btdt.

  40. Rey Fox says

    Yeah, I’m sure none of you guys ever sang along to “Don’t Stop Believing” while driving.

    Nnnnope. That song is the bane of karaoke night everywhere. (well, one of the many many banes)

  41. David Chapman says

    You’re supposed to vote on who goes into the Ultimate Classic Rock Hall of Fame, and this week, it’s…

    Ted Nugent

    Oh dear Lord!!

    Vs. Journey.

    Oh fuck!

    Journey 57.28%
    Ted Nugent 42.72%

    Eenie meenie miney neither! :)

  42. awakeinmo says

    @ Rey Fox 57

    Yeah, I’m sure none of you guys ever sang along to “Don’t Stop Believing” while driving.

    Nnnnope. That song is the bane of karaoke night everywhere. (well, one of the many many banes)

    I would always take a loooong bathroom break when folks did “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”

  43. knowknot says

    @59 awakeinmo

    I would always take a loooong bathroom break when folks did “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”

    I assume you’re referring to the postadolescent, irritation based bathroom break caused by this song(?)

  44. Crimson Clupeidae says

    I’ve seen both in concert (well, technically, I saw Ted N as part of the Damn Yankees). Journey was really quite good (this was in the late 90s when they got the new lead singer).

    Journey is the better band, and their music is actually pretty good. I admit I like Ted’s music from back in the day, but it doesn’t age as well as some others from that era.

  45. knowknot says

    @57 Rey Fox

    Yeah, I’m sure none of you guys ever sang along to “Don’t Stop Believing” while driving.

    Stellar criterion fail.
    – I actually studied music in college (classical piano, composition, etc), was already a huge fan of Monk, Davis, Rollins, McLaughlin, along with the standard core rock stuff… bla bla bla. Hated commercial crap.
    – AND YET, on an overnight drive up the west coast, with radio being spare, I actually sang along with “Love Will Keep Us Together.” Still listening to King Crimson to cleanse my soul for that one.
    – So, my firmly believe is that “sung in car” is a null factor, at best. That may be solely for my peace of mind, but I’m sticking with it anyway.

  46. ck says

    I’m reminded of the tagline for the AVP movie. “Whoever wins… we lose.”