Lurker > Sheep007

Ya go my lil guy

1. Living for the City
2. Higher Ground
3. Dont You Worry Bout a Thing
4. Golden Lady
5. Visions
6. Too High
7. All in Love is Fair
8. Hes Misstra Know-It-All
9. Jesus Children Of America

I really liked this album, it felt like there was a ton of variety in songs' structure and themes and even the ones I didn't care all that much for sounded good. Living For the City was a particular standout.

SIMPLE BEAM
+3 Steelix
+2 Galvantula
+1 Corviknight
-1 Araquanid
-2 Remoraid
-3 Nickit

STEEL BEAM
+3 Staraptor
+2 Servine
+1 Sprigatito
-1 Lunala
-2 Shroodle
-3 Shelgon

Two great divisions. Everything bar Nickit in Simple Beam would get a + normally.

Inviso posted...

Iron Boulder is literally the best Rock-type from Gen IX >_>

I just kinda dislike the future paradoxes. I warmed up to the Ultra Beasts, maybe I'll like them someday. Always gonna be ugly as fuck though. Klawf is too but at least it's goofy, and the Nacl line are some of the best of the generation.

I always feel unintentionally contrarian in these polls. Not sure I've voted for a single winner yet! Gen 3 winning for Rock is particularly baffling, though. What's even popular aside from the Aron line? I personally think the gen has the best fossils but I can't imagine Lileep is what's drawing people in here.

Voted for Gen 9 and then remembered Gen 2 is amazing except Sudowoodo. Ah well, 9 is also pretty great even if Boulder sucks. Rock is one of the worse types but every single gen has something great. Except Gen 8 but the Rolycoly line is goofy at least.

-10 Espurr is crazy. That's the best mon of its entire generation!

TECHNO BLAST
+3 Noibat
+2 Arboliva
+1 Toxtricity
-1 Vaporeon
-2 Sharpedo
-3 Throh

BESTOW
+3 Dolliv
+2 Luxio
+1 Frosmoth
-1 Arctozolt
-2 Carracosta
-3 Scorbunny

Two great divisions. Bestow has three meh mons plus six great ones, and Techno Blast is just good all around. Scorbunny is also today. When an Eeveelution gets bottom three you know the options are good. I expect the Arboliva line will get hate but they're all great. Dolliv is one of the best mons in the "vaguely humanoid" archetype.

Only type where 3 is the best. 8 is also very solid.

Wii Sports
Mario Kart Wii
Twilight Princess
Just Dance

I don't think she's actually Swedish. Missing the extra S. Really makes you think.

Zero soap. It's great. Especially when fresh.

POWER-UP PUNCH
+3 Espurr
+2 Cubchoo
+1 Carkol
-1 Metapod
-2 Sawsbuck
-3 Tapu Fini

ACUPRESSURE
+3 Venipede
+2 Paras
+1 Venusaur
-1 Simisage
-2 Thievul
-3 Quilladin

I believe in Ctes. You get a sun stone early in Platinum, if he lives til the fourth gym he'll be ready for Wake!

PSYBEAM
+3 Duskull
+2 Glastrier
+1 Armaldo
-1 Flapple
-2 Pineco
-3 Morgrem

COMEUPPANCE
+3 Rookidee
+2 Spearow
+1 Dudunsparce
-1 Zamazenta
-2 Cosmoem
-3 Lotad

Comeuppance is really strong, seven mons that coulda gotten +3s. Psybeam less so.

Madoka

I mostly rank based on design, but if something gets really fun moves or is totally unremarkable in battle, that influences it a fair bit. I don't really care whether it's actually good or it sucks, though.

That Purugly is a menace, don't think anything you have left stands a chance at level 10, especially after taking on the Zubat. Should be fine if you go over the cap, though. Lea could have done it solo!

NEEDLE ARM
+3 Ceruledge
+2 Exploud
+1 Snivy
-1 Meganium
-2 Gulpin
-3 Rillaboom

FROST BREATH
+3 Naclstack
+2 Charjabug
+1 Cranidos
-1 Minccino
-2 Tarountula
-3 Cleffa

Bebop

Speaking of just for fun, I've finished listening to the first cycle of albums and will hijack the end of this topic to post my rankings.

1. Nirvana - Nevermind
2. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
3. The Beatles - Abbey Road
4. Pixies - Doolittle
5. Radiohead - OK Computer
6. Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, m. A. A. d. City
7. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
8. Gorillaz - Demon Days
9. Air - Moon Safari
10. Pink Floyd - The Wall
11. The Strokes - Is This It
12. Alice in Chains - Dirt
13. Janelle Monet - The ArchAndroid
14. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
15. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
16. Meatloaf - Bat out of Hell
17. The Killers - Hot Fuss
18. Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
19. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
20. Weezer - Blue Album
21. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
22. U2 - Achtung Baby
23. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
24. Hamilton - Hamilton
25. Mastodon - Crack the Skye

For a comparison, Weezer would be around 10th for this cycle, and everything 11th and up would probably be 2nd. Any choice of albums where Is This It barely cracks the top half of rankings is ridiculously good. Top six would be close to getting 1st and they're up against my favourite band of all time. Not a fan of everything U2 and below, though. This was the first and last time I ever listened to the Hamilton soundtrack! I don't get it in the slightest!

I got to hear some brilliant artists from this that I would never have heard otherwise, though. Massive Attack, Air and Kendrick Lamar were all huge (and relatively new to me) standouts. The former two I absolutely adored and don't think I'd run into before. Kendrick Lamar, I've heard plenty of singles from and enjoyed well enough, but the album might be the best example of storytelling through music I've ever heard, even if I wouldn't throw on any of the songs for fun. It hits like a ton of bricks over and over again. Only giving it sixth is an abberation. Got a lot of spare time on my hands now, so I think I'm going to work my way through the second cycle over the next few weeks.

SNORE
+3 Porygon-Z
+2 Musharna
+1 Chesnaught
-1 Pichu
-2 Nidoran
-3 Tinkatink

G-Max Tartness
+3 Weepinbell
+2 Ferrothorn
+1 Skeledirge
-1 Toxel
-2 Bonsly
-3 Golduck

Voted for Gen 5 here, but I think I shoulda gone 4. Everything except Wormadam is great. Don't see what's good about the Gen 1 grounds, the Sandshrew and Rhydon lines are cool but the others aren't anything special. Gen 9 is also very solid.

Eupho 3 let's goooo

Movies kinda suck but might be needed for context. Liz and the Blue Bird is phenomenal though.

STUN SPORE
+3 Barraskewda
+2 Kilowattrel
+1 Gible
-1 Nidoran
-2 Nidorino
-3 Gurdurr

CORE ENFORCER
+3 Kricketot
+2 Snom
+1 Sewaddle
-1 Mr. Rime
-2 Spritzee
-3 Cacnea

Everlong
My Hero
Monkey Wrench
Hey, Johnny Park!
See You
Walking After You
Up in Arms
February Stars
The Colour and the Shape
My Poor Brain
Wind Up
Doll
New Way Home
Enough Space

I'm a big Foo Fighters fan (less so these days, but I was particularly in my late teens and early 20s, where they were probably my favourite band), and while I don't think this is their best album (that title goes to Wasting Light), it's got their best song on it. Everlong is an absolute classic rock song. Dave Grohl is ridiculously talented as a vocalist, drummer, and guitarist, and all three of them shine through in this album. I think the songs surrounding the top four are unfortunately not the strongest - Foo Fighters songs often lack a bit of substance, and when the hook isn't straight up one of the best you've ever heard, they're "just" excellent sounding rock songs. Then again, just about every band out there would kill to have an album with no misses and multiple of the best songs of their genre. Like FoolFantastic says, they sound head and shoulders above your typical rock band. When you sound that good, you can get away with pushing the boat out less.

Madoka

I haven't been voting Gen 1 at all so far but I'm shocked it's losing here with lots of amazing lines and only Exeggcute that's not great. Gen 3 is good with the Cradily and Breloom lines, and Roselia, but the others are broadly meh.

Mudkip
Gardevoir
Blaziken
Rayquaza

Bob-omb battlefield is an active warzone. Y'all voting in the poll are braver than I.

Ah man, kind of a shame at the end, but I expected Illinois would have a huge outlying low rank or two. I think there's a huge gap between my top four and everything else. Siamese Dream is a solid album, but Illinois is phenomenal, and it went from being in the middle to almost getting placed second. First time I listened I didn't 'get' it, nor the second or third time, but I relistened to it once more for this ranking and everything clicked. Chicago into Casimir Pulaski Day killed me off (pun unintended) emotionally. I can't say I liked the sound in isolation as much as R.E.M. or FKA twigs, but it captures... something, like no other album I've heard.

Thanks for running this, Sean! I'm really enjoying taking part in these projects, listening to a lot of music that I never have before. I only really started listening to full on albums about three years ago, and this has definitely gotten me out of my indie/classic rock comfort zone. Thanks to y'all who keep nominating and FoolFantastic for running Rank the Tracks too!

Chimchar getting a -4 is kinda bad.

Glad Mewtwo didn't run away with things. Lame Pokemon that nobody would like if it was from gen 6.

DIAMOND STORM
+3 Gabite
+2 Iron Moth
+1 Pawmo
-1 Beautifly
-2 Glameow
-3 Meowth

TACHYON CUTTER
+3 Staravia
+2 Fennekin
+1 Ducklett
-1 Capsakid
-2 Wynaut
-3 Latios

Penalties are so horribly stressful. Not too disappointed by the result despite hoping Wales would win, I think that both teams would be embarrassed in the groups regardless. Poland are more able to drag teams down to their level, at least. Hopefully there's a new manager incoming for Wales.

Only one vote for Lovesong for Song of the Cycle is crazy. I'll take third for an album I know isn't for everyone, though.

Wales/Poland feels horrid. Think Wales will win at this point, Polish defense is so slow and already looking shaky, they might crumble when Dan James and David Brooks come on and got very lucky to have that goal ruled out. Lewy might still pull something out of the hat but he is not as scary as he was a few years back. Wish Poland even attempted to have a style of play.

Monster

Madoka

FOCUS ENERGY
+3 Krookodile
+2 Pikipek
+1 Chimchar
-1 Cottonee
-2 Surskit
-3 Basculin

ASTRAL BARRAGE
+3 Floatzel
+2 Chien-Pao
+1 Centiskorch
-1 Grumpig
-2 Aipom
-3 Mewtwo

Two stacked divisions. Astral Barrage has three of my top 20-ish Pokemon, and a full half of Focus Energy would get my +3 on most days.

Glad Muse dropped there. The album sounds great but lacks substance and something to push it from solid to exceptional. I was kinda expecting to be the bottom ranker. Don't really mind what wins now, although I don't think it's my #1 or #4.

1. Closer
2. Ruiner
3. I Do Not Want This
4. Hurt
5. March of the Pigs
6. Heresy
7. The Becoming
8. Eraser
9. A Warm Place
10. Mr. Self Destruct
11. Reptile
12. Piggy
13. Big Man With a Gun
14. The Downward Spiral

Took me a few songs to get into this, but this is a really strong concept album. Closer in particular is absolutely phenomenal. The whole thing is almost a little too intense, a little too focused on a glob of thoroughly negative feeling for me to enjoy it as much as I might other albums. That said, I don't have to want to listen on repeat to recognise how good it is.

No! Trubbish! It's an adorable lil sack of trash why did it finish last :(

Dancing in the Dark is great, everything else on Born in the USA is very mediocre. Working on the Highway will never leave my head and it is a curse. Relistening for this ranking was a mistake.

A tad surprised to see Automatic for the People dropping there. It feels like very palatable rock with a bit of pathos behind it, and I think a few marginally weaker albums which fit that description have landed higher.

Still, with Springsteen out, we have my 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9 remaining. Can't complain with this, I think any of my top five would be very worthy winners. I expect Disintegration next, I think it's too polarising to have gotten any of those top four scores.

Follow Slowly is really good. Feel I may have underranked it a little on reflection, but I feel it struggles to be a super cohesive album.

FLAME WHEEL
+3 Ferroseed
+2 Shroomish
+1 Bidoof
-1 Blastoise
-2 Politoed
-3 Natu

BELCH
+3 Drifblim
+2 Dhelmise
+1 Inkay
-1 Hitmonchan
-2 Magby
-3 Chikorita

OCTAZOOKA
+3 Serperior
+2 Woobat
+1 Beartic
-1 Cyclizar
-2 Urshifu
-3 Deerling

PAIN SPLIT
+3 Kingambit
+2 Glimmet
+1 Aurorus
-1 Iron Boulder
-2 Blissey
-3 Unfezant

PIKA PAPOW
+3 Trubbish
+2 Sigilyph
+1 Iron Valiant
-1 Bagon
-2 Mantyke
-3 Giratina

AMNESIA
+3 Trumbeak
+2 Rockruff
+1 Scolipede
-1 Regidrago
-2 Azelf
-3 Spinda

Amnesia is probably the most stacked division so far. Everything aside from the -s would get a +2 or +3 in pretty much anything else.

My expected finishing positions

1. Black Holes and Revelations
2. The Suburbs
3. Siamese Dream
4. Automatic for the People
5. Illinois
6. That! Feels Good!
7. Born in the U.S.A.
8. Franz Ferdinand
9. Disintegration
10. Follow Slowly

I expect to be horribly wrong because I had Art Angels dropping around here in the last cycle and it won the whole thing (and Queen winning, but they dropped shockingly early). The only ones I don't think have any shot are Follow Slowly (which is probably next?) and Franz Ferdinand. The rest of the bottom six are probably too divisive so I'm inclined to guess it'll be one of the top four. They've got pretty sizeable leads over fifth.

If the players don't want to play internationals they can simply refuse. They're there because they want to be.

I don't really care about friendlies but international tournaments get way more viewers, and people globally care more about them (especially for the World Cup, but even the average Euros game outstrips the average weekly viewing of all ten Premier League games - roughly 100m per Euros game, 80m per Prem gameweek). While I kinda dislike that breaks are so frequent (it's moreso in early season that I feel disrupts the flow), they need to play the qualifiers at some point. No space for them to be played in May, that makes it basically impossible for fans to make arrangements for major tournaments or teams to prepare. And international tournaments themselves are typically far less soulless than the Prem or CL. I loved Swansea being in the Premier League and Europe but it was nothing compared to watching Wales make the Euros semis.

I agree that extra fixtures (particularly the League Cup) should probably go, in the English system. The big clubs are so far ahead of others in terms of depth and finances these days that it's not even like we get interesting underdog stories anymore, and most fans of those teams don't care anyway, so may as well chop it.

TRIPLE DIVE
+3 Carbink
+2 Honedge
+1 Crocalor
-1 Duosion
-2 Zygarde
-3 Enamorus

HYPER BEAM
+3 Falinks
+2 Rhydon
+1 Sirfetch'd
-1 Patrat
-2 Chewtle
-3 Chingling

Glad one of the two will qualify for Euros (I suspect Wales if only due to home advantage) but the final will be horrible.

Water Sport Division
+3 Garbodor
+2 Runerigus
+1 Lokix
-1 Bruxish
-2 Beheeyem
-3 Bastiodon

ELECTROWEB DIVISION
+3 Drilbur
+2 Mabostiff
+1 Silicobra
-1 Finizen
-2 Dewgong
-3 Purugly

I care about both Poland and Wales and will be simultaneously watching them lose tonight. Particularly looking forward to the embarrassment of struggling against Estonia.