In third place, scoring 13 points, Lawnmower_Man with On The Turning Away by Pink Floyd
I had the most trouble with this of any song in the category. So for starters, this is one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs. The first thing I thought about was whether this was too obvious. It is, after all, a single by one of the biggest rock bands ever - but it’s not one of their big singles. I conducted a poll of my friends and a number of them had not only never heard it, but had never heard OF it. I don’t like to penalise a song when it might not be clear to the submitter that they’re picking something widely known. So I decided not to penalise it on that basis.
The other thing is that the live version on Delicate Sound of Thunder is just better. Like, it’s a scientific fact:
But in the end, it’s a good fit, I love the song, and I wanted to show it some love. It’s a stadium rock song that - especially in the live version - straddles that line between stirring and melodramatic/overwrought, and for me comes down triumphantly on the correct side.
Also, to answer their question: Yes. It is only a dream that there’ll be no more turning away. Sorry, I know it’s a bummer.
Further up the podium…
In 2nd place, scoring 14 points, Louis Cyphre with The Hunt by New Model Army
This is very cool. I’ve never heard of this band before but I really dug this. It made a late run at first place. I think new wave/post-punk etc is best with some dark menace in it and this definitely has that. It’s a questionable category fit but I did say the politics could be as tangential as you liked, so I can’t really penalise it for that.
Both this and the 1st place song introduced me to bands I’d never heard of and am keen to check out more from, so that’s a big win.
Moving on to the winner. I feel like this might be controversial.
In 1st place, scoring 15 points, hokie with Tech Noir by Gunship
hokie writes:
Trying to go off the beaten path here, if we consider a future nuclear wasteland to be political
No dude, I mean this is definitely politics in 2019:
A three-hundred thousand degree baptism by nuclear fire
I’m not sorry, we had it coming
A surge of white-hot atonement will be our wake-up call
Hope for our future is now a stillborn dream
(John Carpenter giving that speech, by the way. Just in case it wasn’t already 80s enough).
It sounds like 80s synthwave and yet it was immediately obvious to me that this was a present-day song - which I think is the mark of a good homage. Nostalgic, but not obnoxiously so. I think some people are going to find this boring or naff, but for me the production is so impeccable, big cinematic sound with a lot of richness and texture that keeps it from getting dull. Sounds great loud in headphones. While I was listening to the rest of the category I kept wanting to go back and listen to it again. Even if it’s ultimately ephemeral and the pleasure of it wanes, it’s my #1 right now.
