Oh God, It’s A New No Badger Required Countdown

Firstly, welcome to April (and this post isn’t actually a joke) and given the theme this month, this seems rather apt.

April Skies – Jesus and Mary Chain (1987, Warner Records, Taken from ‘Darklands’)

A few months ago, I asked Mrs SWC to pick a letter, any letter from the alphabet.  Unbeknownst to her I would then make that letter the focus for the month of April.  In that every post on a Monday to Friday would feature a band or artist whose name started with that letter.  I sat back and hoped she didn’t pick X or Q (I had a back up plan – my daughter who was also asked to pick a letter, in an entirely different room – that will also be a series later this year) 

She picked the humble letter J.  So welcome then to Rocks Greatest J. A quick month long jaunt through rock history in which the acts are all linked by the letter J.

As this was going to be a countdown it meant contacting a few old friends to make sure that the countdown was wide and varied.  Sadly, none of them picked up the phone, so I had to email The Musical Jury instead. 

“Give me a list of your ten favourite musical acts that start with a J” I yelled at them via an email.  A fairly easy task I’m sure you will agree, that was until I put a few rules in place, which as one Jury Member shouted back at me “could confuse a stupid person”. 

1. If you pick a band that band must start with a J – so mid nineties Dot Cotton endorsed indie popstrels Jocasta would count but bands like The Silver Jews would not.
2. If you pick a solo artist their FIRST name must start with a J – so Joe Jackson would count but Michael Jackson would not.
3. If you pick a solo artist who was in a band, you must only consider their solo work and NOT the work of the band (unless that band starts with a J) so for instance Jarvis Cocker or Julian Cope would count here but only their solo work.
4. You must award 10 points to the act in first place, 9 to second and so on.

I then gave the MJ two weeks to respond and waited for the votes to roll in.

In total the Jury voted for 75 different J’s in Rock and the results are really surprising.  Just for the record John Lennon, Johnny Marr, Judas Priest, Janes Addiction,  Jah Wobble, and Jarvis Cocker all failed to make the top twenty, as did these two but only just : –

Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley (1994, Columbia Records, Taken from ‘Grace’)

You Are The Light – Jens Lekman (2004, Secretly Canadian Records, Taken from ‘You Are The Light EP’)

In case you are interested according to the Jury Member’s the 75^th Greatest J in Rock is this bunch.

Info Freako – Jesus Jones (1989, SBK Records, Taken from ‘Liquidizer’)

Considering that Japanese Breakfast, Jack Johnson, Jason Donovan, Julee Cruise, Julie London, The Jicks, Juliette and the Licks, Joan as Policewoman and Joan Jett all failed to score a single point, I would imagine that Jesus Jones are feeling pretty pleased with themselves right now.

The countdown from 20 to 1 starts here on Monday.

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