The "Best opening song on an album" polls are fake

I have participated in this funny social game up until now, but I took a closer look at the rules, and it seems that the OP Hollow Horse is really not at all fair or systematic.

I was wondering when Def Leppard's great opening song from Pyromania would show up , but it wasn't happening, and then I realized that the number of songs was 256, and the number of years were 50 (1965-2014) which ammounts to 5 songs per year.

No wonder that Pyromania didn't get the chance since it was only number 10 of 1983 , but then how come that U2: I will follow did? It's album Boy was only number 16 on Best ever Albums of 1980!

I don't like that kind of cheating, so I think that the trojan horse should come up with an explanation right here.

 

Fun sponge!!

 

Hello, Donald!

 

You realise you could probably just ask him rather than create a thread about it.

 

I think you're taking this all together too seriously mate.
There are hundreds of albums a year and that would mean thousands and thousands of songs and months or years of polling.
It is probably extremely unfair to start saying that someone is cheating, just because you don't agree with the songs and albums selected.
It is also a little silly to start saying that songs are not songs because they are over three and a half minutes, or the intro is longer than you would like it to be.

If everyone liked the same music, music would be the most boring thing on earth, rather than one of the most satisfying.
I have also been disappointed that some songs I think are absolutely fantastic openers have been booted out, but it is a poll. Really it is just an idea of what music the majority of people on this forum gravitate to. A lot of the votes are very close, which is a good thing, because it shows there is good diversity.
Sure there is a leaning toward older songs for the most part, but the majority of people are probably older ... and also the longer a song has been around the more of an attachment people tend to have to it.

I could list all sorts of bands and artists that I think would have been good in the polls, but it isn't the apocalypse due to the fact that they aren't.

 

Plus, I assume it's all subjective. If Hollow Horse prefers U2 over Def Leppard, so be it. It's his thread and supposed to be a nice little fun waste of time.

 

No no no. It's not that easy. He makes it look like it's a fairly neutral selection like "the top albums from each year". Almost everybody must think that.

If people knew it was just his own personal choices that we should work on, then I would certainly not have spent so much time on it.

It is indeed a missed opportunity, the basic idea is good - but sooo wrongly executed!

And if someone thinks I shouldn't have created a thread: Well, he creates dozens of threads!

 

FWIW I never thought that ... the choices looked pretty random to me, and a lot of them also seemed pretty questionable.

But if you were thinking that the first song (whatever that is) from Pyromania was going to win this thing, I've got some very bad news for you ...

 

I would be using the acclaimedmusic.net lists if I was choosing.

U2's Boy is number 21 for 1980

 

it's suppose to be a bit of fun mate, let it go

 

I dread to think how much time you have spent on it that you are this upset........

 

Sure we could have thought that - the wording is neutral, I give you that point. But I think most here (myself included) tend to favor own preferences in creating certain threads and polls. So, while we could technically assume he chose his albums from various top lists, it wasn't stated anywhere and it's quite clear that such polls will always have some sort of bias to them. If not even science can be without a certain bias, a poll on the SHF (or any other forum, for that matter) will never even have the chance to be unbiased and 100 per cent neutral.

Just my two cents, don't lose your head over this

 

For the record......the poll totally missed my favourite opening track as well.....The Ian Campbell Folk Group - The Unquiet Grave...its total travesty to be honest......so maybe the OP has a point (??!!)

 

Well, I debugged him and of course people make fun of me for helping someone make things clearer. So is the coward nature of the herd..

 

Perhaps he'll start a new one when this competition is finished.

 

I totally agree with you @Kiss73, I was waiting for `The Unquiet Grave` to show up as did the 738 fellow Hoffmanites I contacted.

 

quoting the beginning:

"I have used BEST EVER ALBUMS as the source and taken a selection from the top twenty albums of each year from 1965 until 2014.
(...)
DRAWS
I use an online randomiser for this and have no say in which songs compete against which - the complete draw has been done and each poll will last three days duration before a new one is posted, that way the board won't be impaired by too many of these at any one time."
​

It is presented like it's an almost objective selection that we are supposed to vote among.

 

Here is what he says about song selection.

Note... he doesn’t say anything about all songs have to be from the top 10, or any other specific qualifier other than they were something he picked from the top 20 songs. He was very open about the process.

This was obviously meant as just a bit of fun, and I think you might have misread something and took it a little too seriously.

 

Dude.....in all seriousness, there are many things I take incredibly serious.....my wife, my kids, my job....even my record collecting.......I certainly do not take anything on the SHMF that serious I'm afraid (sorry Steve). I think we all come here for a bit of light-hearted banter and share information about bands and artists we like.....end of story.

I am a Bing Crosby, Slayer, Fairport Convention/Dave Swarbrick loving KISS fan....and you want to moan about your favourite band being under represented in polls??

 

But that's just legal talk - it implys some kind of neutrality.

 

Just my point of view but I figured he was just either choosing albums at random or albums he liked. It never entered my mind that he was actually going to go through every album ever. That's insane.

 

He used the word “selection”. He made it clear from the start that he was choosing which albums would be included.

 

Yes, I'm so terrified of [whoever it is that runs those threads] that I am afraid to criticize him/her and instead huddle together for safety with others oppressed by his/her tyrannical grip on SHF ...

Either that or I'm so little invested in the outcome of these polls that I've never thought to worry about it.

 

Come on now. That's a lame accusation. I came up with an real skewed example , let's keep focus on the matter of facts, not the motives.

 

Btw: my favorite band is The Beatles. They are very well represented.