Rank Lists
I have never been a big fan of rank order lists. You know the kind I'm talking about. Just turn on VH-1, VH-1 Classic, E! TV, CMT and even the big networks who get into the game and you will find the latest countdown of the 100 Greatest This or That or the 100 Most Fill in the Blank Thingamajigs. There's just something so judgmental and pretentious about them. It almost reminds me of junior high school MASH games where you list the top 5 cute boys or top 5 nicest girls. No matter what happens someone is going to get their feelings hurt and someone is going to have their ego inflated.
I spent this past weekend actually viewing some of these television programming options. There was CMT's 10 Sexiest Southern Women and Men. Maxim's Top Ten Sexiest Women was also unveiled on television this weekend. VH-1 covered the 100 Most Influential Hard Rock Bands and VH-1's (red headed step-)sister station VH1 Classic broadcast the 100 Most Metal Moments. Another network station will be airing AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Movies that follow closely on the heels of their 100 Best Movie Quotes program. So you get the idea. One could sit for hours munching popcorn and sipping Mountain Dew through a licorice straw enjoying these programs that basically dictate, and to some extent re-write history and influence perceptions.
I understand that it is natural and there are theoretical views that espouse that humans crave order and organization. We learn by assimilating and accommodating when we encounter new experiences. We categorize animal and plant species. We classify eras and other time periods, We organize information so that we can make sense of it. I totally get that. But what I don't get is the ranking and ordering that goes on now with these "lists."
Shamless plug alert: My husband once published a great article on the demise of VH-1's programming. Upon further thought that last sentence was entirely inaccurate because in order for something to demise it actually has to be at some higher level in the first place, which I'm not so sure VH1 ever was there in the first place. And since I'm so inept, or rather clueless, at posting links you will just have to find it here (http://www.lonelygoat.com/lonelygoat/features/jd_void.htm) yourself-if interested. It was published years ago and this weekend I was once again reminded of the cultural void that is encouraged by these rank order lists.
In celebration of Metal Month May on VH-1, the 100 Most Influential Hard Rock Bands was particularly interesting. My beef with these lists is not with the content necesssarily. I really enjoyed seeing Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, and Angus Young kicking hard rock ass. I reminisced with the skin tight pants, hair spray, and make up of the boys of Poison, Cinderella, and Warrant. And I suddently realized just how ugly the Scorpians were-despite singing my all time favorite rock ballad "Still Loving You."
Instead, my complaint with these lists lies in their subjectivity, their competitiveness, and the utterly misguided inclusion of bands that really can't be characterized as hard rock per se. For example, number ninety-something (forgive me for not having the specific ranking but since I don't believe in it I didn't note the exact rank) was King Crimson. The Rolling Stones topped in at sixty-something. But Ministry was in the forties. It just didn't make sense.
Now in all fairness, these lists are probably determined by a statistical program. Ballots are sent out and the responses are collected and analyzed to come up with a ranking based on the number of responses one receives. The problem with this process is first, who are the ballots sent to? Most likely critics, musicians, and record industry executives-(i.e. the people in the business who yeah, have experience in the field, but can very likely provide responses that reflect and advance their own interests.) Also, I wonder if the Top 100 are already determined and then each balloteer must rank them in their own order, which does not promise to provide fresh insights.
Finally, these lists irritate me because they encourage competition and superiority. Some uninformed kid in Des Moines, Iowa will now perceive that Ministry must be more influential to hard rock than the Rolling Stones, and then might make the leap that they are somehow better because they fell much higher on the list. I guess I can't really fault the show for this and instead should criticize this hypothetical kid's critical thinking skills. It's just the ranking and countdown that occurs is what perpetuates the superiority complex. It makes for sensational television as we sit with bated breath on our couches to find out who number one is. But what does that really tell us, except more along the lines of popularity than on real influence or substance.
Anyway, I just wanted to vent about this topic. But I have to say the Metal Moments countdown provided some new tidbits of information. Lars from Metallica almost got his ass kicked by Nikki Sixx because he yelled at him on Sunset strip that Motley Crue sucked. Fortunately Lars was quick and Nikki was wearing platform boots or we might never had had Lars' help with shutting down Napster (don't get me started on that one- that's a completely different post for another time). Also Ted Nugent was cut off by someone in a van on the San Fransico Bay Bridge and proceeded to ram them and pull out his wanker-oops I mean proceeded to pull out his gun (which is just a representation of his wanker, I presume).
So my only hope is that viewers will consider these lists with a critical eye. They by no means reflect a true order or rank of importance. As long as people keep this in mind I won't make fun of you for watching. Just please, someone tell me whose the best.
I spent this past weekend actually viewing some of these television programming options. There was CMT's 10 Sexiest Southern Women and Men. Maxim's Top Ten Sexiest Women was also unveiled on television this weekend. VH-1 covered the 100 Most Influential Hard Rock Bands and VH-1's (red headed step-)sister station VH1 Classic broadcast the 100 Most Metal Moments. Another network station will be airing AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Movies that follow closely on the heels of their 100 Best Movie Quotes program. So you get the idea. One could sit for hours munching popcorn and sipping Mountain Dew through a licorice straw enjoying these programs that basically dictate, and to some extent re-write history and influence perceptions.
I understand that it is natural and there are theoretical views that espouse that humans crave order and organization. We learn by assimilating and accommodating when we encounter new experiences. We categorize animal and plant species. We classify eras and other time periods, We organize information so that we can make sense of it. I totally get that. But what I don't get is the ranking and ordering that goes on now with these "lists."
Shamless plug alert: My husband once published a great article on the demise of VH-1's programming. Upon further thought that last sentence was entirely inaccurate because in order for something to demise it actually has to be at some higher level in the first place, which I'm not so sure VH1 ever was there in the first place. And since I'm so inept, or rather clueless, at posting links you will just have to find it here (http://www.lonelygoat.com/lonelygoat/features/jd_void.htm) yourself-if interested. It was published years ago and this weekend I was once again reminded of the cultural void that is encouraged by these rank order lists.
In celebration of Metal Month May on VH-1, the 100 Most Influential Hard Rock Bands was particularly interesting. My beef with these lists is not with the content necesssarily. I really enjoyed seeing Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, and Angus Young kicking hard rock ass. I reminisced with the skin tight pants, hair spray, and make up of the boys of Poison, Cinderella, and Warrant. And I suddently realized just how ugly the Scorpians were-despite singing my all time favorite rock ballad "Still Loving You."
Instead, my complaint with these lists lies in their subjectivity, their competitiveness, and the utterly misguided inclusion of bands that really can't be characterized as hard rock per se. For example, number ninety-something (forgive me for not having the specific ranking but since I don't believe in it I didn't note the exact rank) was King Crimson. The Rolling Stones topped in at sixty-something. But Ministry was in the forties. It just didn't make sense.
Now in all fairness, these lists are probably determined by a statistical program. Ballots are sent out and the responses are collected and analyzed to come up with a ranking based on the number of responses one receives. The problem with this process is first, who are the ballots sent to? Most likely critics, musicians, and record industry executives-(i.e. the people in the business who yeah, have experience in the field, but can very likely provide responses that reflect and advance their own interests.) Also, I wonder if the Top 100 are already determined and then each balloteer must rank them in their own order, which does not promise to provide fresh insights.
Finally, these lists irritate me because they encourage competition and superiority. Some uninformed kid in Des Moines, Iowa will now perceive that Ministry must be more influential to hard rock than the Rolling Stones, and then might make the leap that they are somehow better because they fell much higher on the list. I guess I can't really fault the show for this and instead should criticize this hypothetical kid's critical thinking skills. It's just the ranking and countdown that occurs is what perpetuates the superiority complex. It makes for sensational television as we sit with bated breath on our couches to find out who number one is. But what does that really tell us, except more along the lines of popularity than on real influence or substance.
Anyway, I just wanted to vent about this topic. But I have to say the Metal Moments countdown provided some new tidbits of information. Lars from Metallica almost got his ass kicked by Nikki Sixx because he yelled at him on Sunset strip that Motley Crue sucked. Fortunately Lars was quick and Nikki was wearing platform boots or we might never had had Lars' help with shutting down Napster (don't get me started on that one- that's a completely different post for another time). Also Ted Nugent was cut off by someone in a van on the San Fransico Bay Bridge and proceeded to ram them and pull out his wanker-oops I mean proceeded to pull out his gun (which is just a representation of his wanker, I presume).
So my only hope is that viewers will consider these lists with a critical eye. They by no means reflect a true order or rank of importance. As long as people keep this in mind I won't make fun of you for watching. Just please, someone tell me whose the best.
posted by amyd | 4:40 PM
2 Comments:
well said!
After I posted this I saw this article that reported that a survey of British found that Oasis had the Best Album of all time, followed by Sgt. Pepper and Revolver. Again, subjective! If that poll was taken 10 years ago it would be a different result, and if given 10 years later it could be different than. So what does it really say, except in that point in time with that particular group of people they found more people liked that album-not that it was the greatest. I would be hard-pressed to decide what I thought was the greatest album because I like so many for many different reasons. Why rank?
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