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Is Sparks the best band ever? |
yes |
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68% |
[ 46 ] |
no |
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31% |
[ 21 ] |
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Total Votes : 67 |
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SOLDAT Power Groupie
Joined: 28 Oct 2003 Posts: 433
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Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 2:56 am Post subject: Is Sparks the best band ever ? |
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i vote for yes _________________ www.rhp.ro/sparks |
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platonic_lover Sparkologist
Joined: 04 May 2004 Posts: 653 Location: Russia
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Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 4:56 am Post subject: |
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a fan cannot be objective... _________________ (bows) |
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Stephen James Certified Fan
Joined: 29 May 2004 Posts: 76
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Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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How do you vote if you're undecided? 'Yes' or 'No' is too definitive! |
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Mike Ventrella Power Groupie
Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Posts: 307 Location: Stroudsburg, PA
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Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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Of course not. Sparks better than the Beatles? Give me a break. They're a great band yes, but come on... |
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platonic_lover Sparkologist
Joined: 04 May 2004 Posts: 653 Location: Russia
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Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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To say that the Beatles are the best is kinda tradition.. on an instinct level.. dont wanna abuse anyone...sorry. _________________ (bows) |
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Mike Ventrella Power Groupie
Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Posts: 307 Location: Stroudsburg, PA
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Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2004 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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platonic_lover wrote: | To say that the Beatles are the best is kinda tradition.. on an instinct level.. dont wanna abuse anyone...sorry. |
Yeah, but maybe it's tradition because it's true! |
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Carl_van_breukelen Sparkologist
Joined: 21 Jan 2002 Posts: 489 Location: The Netherlands
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Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2004 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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Mike Ventrella wrote: | Of course not. Sparks better than the Beatles? Give me a break. They're a great band yes, but come on... |
When the Beatles did "their thing" there was not so much to compare with... (except maybe for Godly and Creme) - anyhow as long as Ron Mael doesn't accuse the Beatles as they were with all 4 of them and he has to do everything himself... |
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uberflash Groupie
Joined: 12 Jan 2002 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden
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Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 4:53 am Post subject: |
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Beatles maybe was first (Or? I wasn't around these days! :-) ) but not the best. Simply my opinion.
For example, The Move. You can hear a thousand things direclty influenced by the Beatels, but the Move is simply doing it so much better. |
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fossilise_apostle Sub-Deity
Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 1418 Location: England
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Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 6:56 am Post subject: |
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just look at mccartney's output since sparks. he even took to imitating sparks in one of his videos. i prefer sparks far more than the beatles. |
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Mike Ventrella Power Groupie
Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Posts: 307 Location: Stroudsburg, PA
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Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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fossilise_apostle wrote: | just look at mccartney's output since sparks. he even took to imitating sparks in one of his videos. i prefer sparks far more than the beatles. |
There wouldn't have been a Sparks without the Beatles, and I'm sure Ron and Russell would agree.
By the way, XTC is my second favorite band! |
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ladystardust Sub-Deity
Joined: 27 Nov 2003 Posts: 1344 Location: Lille France
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Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2004 3:21 am Post subject: |
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Quote: | There wouldn't have been a Sparks without the Beatles, and I'm sure Ron and Russell agree.
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Just because their mother used to take them to the Beatles'show when they were kids....
I do love the Beatles but Sparks is the greatest band in the world just because they are always years ahead other bands .[/quote] _________________ I am a Sparkette and I am proud of it ! |
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CALI Sparks Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2004 Posts: 4789 Location: Stourbridge, West Midlands, England
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Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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I think that Sparks are without doubt, the best band ever!! _________________ Carol wears Cacheral..... |
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Angus_Desire Sub-Deity
Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Posts: 757 Location: Brisbane, Australia
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:05 am Post subject: |
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I'd have to say that The Beatles are my fave with Sparks being a close second.
They basically did everything that was possible with popular music, but Sparks took their musical eclecticism and put lyrics that were more esoteric and not always on the plane that the average listener could relate to.
Sparks never really conquered America, they never got an OBE from the Queen or have claimed that they are much more popular than Jesus. Added to that, they seem to stay well away from drugs and dabbling in Eastern religions that the Beatles were known for.
It's good to see that John Lennon and Paul McCartney paid homage to them, but it would've been interesting if they could have got one of the Beatles to perform with them. I dunno what John and Paul had to say about the cover of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", but to me it is an ingenius cover (and one that I couldn't stop laughing at when I heard it the first time).
I have John Lennon's "Double Fantasy" album and I think Yoko Ono's 'Give Me Something' sounds a little bit Sparkish, as does Paul McCartney's keyboards on "Old Siam, Sir" from the 'Back To The Egg' album.
Angus Desire _________________ 'You'll be in the future if you don't do nothing foolish' - Ron Mael
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparksfangroup |
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Girl From Glastonbury Sparks Guru
Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Posts: 1833 Location: Glastonbury, England
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:01 am Post subject: |
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Ron hasn't ever said that Sparks are more popular than Jesus, ( though with falling church attendences in the UK I'm sure they are getting pretty damn close,) but he did say in a US interview in 1983 " what we've been doing in the band has become as all-encompassing as a religion. I'm the godhead, Russell's jesus, and we have lots of little virgin mary's who come to our concerts, and a few magdalenes out there too!" _________________ You see a peanut, and the day's off to a good start. You witness some soil, and it's a jamboree..... |
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fossilise_apostle Sub-Deity
Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 1418 Location: England
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 5:48 am Post subject: |
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perhaps 'bigger than jesus' can be the name for their next album? |
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platonic_lover Sparkologist
Joined: 04 May 2004 Posts: 653 Location: Russia
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 7:14 am Post subject: |
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fossilise_apostle wrote: | perhaps 'bigger than jesus' can be the name for their next album? |
too pretentious for them. Suits for a new movie with Steven Seagal though..lol... _________________ (bows) |
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Brightonian Sub-Deity
Joined: 22 Mar 2003 Posts: 864 Location: Brighton, UK
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 6:19 pm Post subject: |
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Angus_Desire wrote: | It's good to see that John Lennon and Paul McCartney paid homage to them, but it would've been interesting if they could have got one of the Beatles to perform with them. |
McCartney and that 'Coming Up' video, but did Lennon ever really pay homage to Sparks? |
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Alex Robertson Sparks Guru
Joined: 11 Jan 2002 Posts: 41453 Location: Crawley,West Sussex
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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Brightonian wrote: |
McCartney and that 'Coming Up' video, but did Lennon ever really pay homage to Sparks? |
I'm sure there was something about it in a newsletter in the early 80s..I think it was a tad tenuous...but IMO Lennon "homaged" a lot of music stars including Bowie,Noddy Holder and Aneka whenever the mood was on him.
Did someone print up a link to the "Coming Up" video on another thread??
If not...can they??? |
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Angus_Desire Sub-Deity
Joined: 06 Oct 2004 Posts: 757 Location: Brisbane, Australia
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Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:59 am Post subject: |
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Brightonian wrote: | Angus_Desire wrote: | It's good to see that John Lennon and Paul McCartney paid homage to them, but it would've been interesting if they could have got one of the Beatles to perform with them. |
McCartney and that 'Coming Up' video, but did Lennon ever really pay homage to Sparks? |
He made a mention of them ion 1974 when discussing the music he and Julian were into.
'Julian called me up and he asked me 'Have you seen Queen?'. I said 'No, what it is it?' and he told me about them. Then I asked him 'Have you seen Sparks? They've got Hitler on the piano!" and he says 'No, they're alright, but have you seen Queen?' I think his age group is hipper to music. When I was young I was aware of music, but not all that much."
I think it'd be cool to see Sparks have a religious theme for their next album, maybe where Ron's snarling face is in the sky firing lightning bolts out of his fingers whilst Russell is hanging from a cross looking up at him and Tamara riding an ugly looking beast dressed in lingerie holding a chalice filled with yucky things inside it. ;-)
Angus Desire _________________ 'You'll be in the future if you don't do nothing foolish' - Ron Mael
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sparksfangroup |
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Brightonian Sub-Deity
Joined: 22 Mar 2003 Posts: 864 Location: Brighton, UK
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Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:38 am Post subject: |
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Angus_Desire wrote: | Brightonian wrote: | Angus_Desire wrote: | It's good to see that John Lennon and Paul McCartney paid homage to them, but it would've been interesting if they could have got one of the Beatles to perform with them. |
McCartney and that 'Coming Up' video, but did Lennon ever really pay homage to Sparks? |
He made a mention of them ion 1974 when discussing the music he and Julian were into.
'Julian called me up and he asked me 'Have you seen Queen?'. I said 'No, what it is it?' and he told me about them. Then I asked him 'Have you seen Sparks? They've got Hitler on the piano!" and he says 'No, they're alright, but have you seen Queen?' I think his age group is hipper to music. When I was young I was aware of music, but not all that much."
I think it'd be cool to see Sparks have a religious theme for their next album, maybe where Ron's snarling face is in the sky firing lightning bolts out of his fingers whilst Russell is hanging from a cross looking up at him and Tamara riding an ugly looking beast dressed in lingerie holding a chalice filled with yucky things inside it. ;-)
Angus Desire |
Thanks AD for clearing that up about the Lennon. I'd always wondered the context of the oft-repeated 'look it's Hitler' reference to Lennon (which I assume is the same reference as yours).
It's not a 'homage' though, is it? Nothing more than a 'reference to'. I wonder also if maybe people tend to read too much into the McCartney's imitation of Ron in the Coming Up video too: not so much a homage as 'Er, shit, what kind of keyboardist can I dress up as that people will recognise who I'm doing?'.
Incidentally, folks, did you know that Sparks both are and are not the greatest band in the world? 17th most important artist in the history of pop (in the wider sense of the term), but certainly the greatest band in the world in terms of my personal likes. So I voted 'yes' in the end. I respect the Beatles for paving the way for what happened in music, but I don't rate them that highly at all. Their music doesn't touch me at all, for the most part. They're number 1 in the 'most important artist' chart though! |
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