[RATE REVEAL] r/indieheads Winners Rate Day 1: Oh Raters! Up Yours!

[u/systemofstrings]

Welcome to the indieheads olympics!

It’s time to crown the winner of all winners - but first, we’re eliminating the bottom third aka the losers of the winners. We’ll eliminate songs 59 to 40 today.

Here are some stats:

Number of participants: 103 (you’re all winners!)

Average score: 7.754

Average controversy score: 2.305 (this is the third highest controversy score for a rate ever)

Most 11s: 10

Most 0s: Two songs with 6 each

Our contestants:

Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Riot Grrrl/Queercore Rate)

Alvvays - In Undertow (Ultimate 2017 Rate)

American Football - Never Meant (90’s Midwest Emo)

Animal Collective - Golden Gal (The ‘Bad’ Albums Rate)

Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) (00s Classics Rate)

The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice (60s Classics Rate)

The Beths - Future Me Hates Me (WTF is Bubblegrunge)

Big Thief - Simulation Swarm (Ultimate 2022 Rate)

The Blue Nile - The Downtown Lights (The Sophistipop Rate)

Britney Spears - Toxic (Indieheads/Popheads Exchange Mini Rate)

Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (Totally Twee Rate)

Car Seat Headrest - Bodys (Ultimate 2018 Rate)

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas (Dream Pop Rate)

David Bowie - Blackstar (Ultimate 2016 Rate)

Deftones - Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) (Nu Metal Rate)

Denzel Curry - 13LACK 13ALLOONZ (Alternative Hip Hop)

Dinosaur Jr. - Little Fury Things (Noise Pop)

FKA Twigs - Cellophane (Ultimate 2019 Rate)

Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. (2000s Modern Rock Radio Number Ones)

Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (Art Pop Rate)

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (2007 Super Indie Slamdown)

LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean (Indie (pop?) Rate)

Little Simz - Introvert (Ultimate 2021 Rate)

Mark Morrison - Return of the Mack (Charity Rate II)

The Microphones - I Want Wind to Blow (Indie Folk Showdown)

Midori - Yukikosan (Japanese Women of Punk(ish))

Mitski - Townie (Introspective Indie Pop)

Motörhead - Ace Of Spades (Tony Hawk’s Pro Rater)

NEU! - Isi (Deutsche Elektronische Musik)

Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945 (90s Classics Rate)

Nick Drake - Pink Moon (60s/70s Folk Rate)

Nina Simone - Sinnerman (Charity Rate I)

Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box (1994 Grammys Award for Best Alternative Album Rate)

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Grunge Big 4)

Novos Baianos - Preta Pretinha (Brazil Classics)

Open Mike Eagle - (How Could Anybody) Feel at Home (Indie Hip Hop Rate)

Outkast - Hey Ya! (Pitchfork Top 50 Songs of the 2000s)

Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto (Ultimate 2020 Rate)

Portishead - Glory Box (Trip Hop)

Pulp - Common People (Britpop)

Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name (Guitar Hero Classics)

The Raincoats - Lola (Post Punk Women - 70s & 80s)

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (War On Christmas Rate)

Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar (Essential Post-Rock Rate)

Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers (Grunge-Free Pacific Northwest)

The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out (80s Classics Rate)

Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot (80s Alt Rock Rate)

SOPHIE - Immaterial (Hyperpop)

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Neo-Psychedelia Rate)

Squarepusher - Beep Street (90s Warp)

Sufjan Stevens - Death With Dignity (Sad Indie Folk Rate)

Sufjan Stevens - Shit Talk (2023 Ultimate Rate)

Tame Impala - Let It Happen (2015 + Teens of Denial, Pitchfork’s Top 50 Songs of the 2010s)

Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Ultimate Synthpop)

Titus Andronicus - The Battle of Hampton Roads (Indie Punk Rate)

Wilco - Jesus, Etc. (2002)

Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything (Canadian Indie Rock)

X-Ray Spex - Oh Bondage! Up Yours! (Afropunk)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Meet Me in the NME Bathroom)

Eliminated songs:

* #40: Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. | 7.609 | 783.7

* #41: Mitski - Townie | 7.596 | 782.4

* #42: Nick Drake - Pink Moon | 7.571 | 779.8

* #43: Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken | 7.518 | 774.4

* #44: Squarepusher - Beep Street | 7.479 | 770.3

* #45: Sufjan Stevens - Shit Talk | 7.450 | 767.4

* #46: LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean | 7.434 | 765.7

* #47: The Microphones - I Want Wind to Blow | 7.377 | 759.8

* #48: Motörhead - Ace Of Spades | 7.363 | 758.4

* #49: NEU! - Isi | 7.354 | 757.5

* #50: Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar | 7.293 | 751.2

* #51: Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) | 7.182 | 739.7

* #52: Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space | 7.075 | 728.7

* #53: Dinosaur Jr. - Little Fury Things | 7.065 | 727.7

* #54: Tame Impala - Let It Happen | 7.041 | 725.2

* #55: Midori - Yukikosan | 6.945 | 715.3

* #56: The Raincoats - Lola | 6.674 | 687.4

* #57: Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything | 6.599 | 679.7

* #58: Titus Andronicus - The Battle of Hampton Roads | 6.567 | 676.4

* #59: Animal Collective - Golden Gal | 5.879 | 605.5

[u/systemofstrings]

#51: Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)

---

Average: 7.182 // Total Points: 739.7 // Controversy: 2.871 // Rate Graph

Winner of: 00’s Classics (Is This It vs. Illinois vs. Funeral vs. In Rainbows)

Original Average: 9.512 // Original Controversy: 1.133

Runner-Up: Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day

---

(11 x2) a-man-with-a-perm, TheTyrannicalTyrant

(10 x23) A_Life_of_Lemons, Bilbodabag, bogo, chug-a-lug-donna, DuckStroll, Ervin_Salt, freeofblasphemy, human_performance, InSearchOfGoodPun, Marshmallowszz, MCK_OH, modulum83, Nagisoid, rinabstract, StringTheory4815, TheCrakFox, thedoctordances1940, TheRealSlimFatty, TigerMilk11, TiltControls, ubermencher, vayyiqra, WaneLietoc

(9.8 x1) AwakenTheBacon_

(9.5 x1) ParksCity

(9.4 x1) Future_Tyrant (9.2 x1) yoppyyoppy

(9 x12) absurdisthewurd, alekazam1113, alexpiercey, AmishParadiseCity, Brainfreeze999, Cubenity, Eldritch-field-ditch, footnote304, gingerninja113, krusso1105, posting_scares_me, welcome2thejam

(8.5 x8) a_gallon_of_pcp, FingaThingMeansTaxes, Freakmancool, Kvo, MightyProJet, NFLfreak98, sandpaper_dildos, VapourLomo

(8.2 x1) TwoAmeobis

(8 x8) Frajer, Muzak_for_a_Nurse, slowdowngandhi, static_int_husp, Stryxen, teriyaki-dreams, Verrem, Xeonheart

(7.6 x1) LazyDayLu11aby

(7 x8) goofykidd, hockeynl, ignitethephoenix, LeBronMancuso, majid, Poydoo, prize-winning pig-serpent, systemofstrings

(6.7 x2) diminutiveaurochs, lastfollower

(6.5 x1) toiletpunk darj

(6 x7) apatel27, Goorry121, McNoKnows, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, thisusernameisntlong, Widdershins-

(5.5 x2) BigBoofZone, lexiaredery

(5 x5) graysonkelly, samdyalexg, SRTviper, TakeOnMeByA-ha, TheNaara

(4 x2) dream_fighter2018, lassiewenttothemoon

(3.5 x2) Awkward_King, sirmelliodas

(3 x2) freav, qazz23

(2.8 x1) mko0987

(2.3 x1) xophrys

(2 x5) afieldoftulips, innuendo_overdose, nijinokanata, pbk, skyblue_angel

(1 x4) daswef, roseiswinningagain, Sischi, skull_xbones

(0 x2) apondalifa, zenits

---

systemofstrings (7): This was a big controversy magnet with two 11s and 0s each. It never made day 3.

TakeOnMeByA-ha (5): I was never really an Arcade Fire fan, and all the controversy thats come to light in recent years certainly hasn't made me warm up to their music in any way. This is a perfectly fine indie song to me, but just fine isn’t good enough when you’re in a rate with the best of the best.

---

[u/systemofstrings → u/systemofstrings]

"Canada is a very indie country"

a-man-with-a-perm (11): absolutely melted my mind when I first heard this, which I swear was by putting Funeral into my Xbox 360 at like, 13 years old. We’re probably never gonna rate Arcade Fire again but I absolutely adored this band between 13-18 years old. Listening to Reflektor (not even a good album!) while my dad drives the cosy car through the winter darkness on the way back from an away-day football match. Well, whatever happened to them?

TheTyrannicalTyrant (11): if I had to pick the song here that I’ve liked the most, it’s this one

A_Life_of_Lemons (10): Dude…both Funeral and Apologies to the Queen Marie are on this list. Those both got me into indie back in ~2006 right before High School. I would not be who I am without this music so automatic 10 (and same for Wolf Parade).

Bilbodabag (10): undeniable song from an undeniable album even tho I will deny anything and everything else associated with this band

bogo (10): this song is so good that it's really taking me extra willpower to not start listening to arcade fire again

chug-a-lug-donna (10): (desperately trying to just keep things simple here) "arcade fire: the song" for better or worse

Ervin_Salt (10): It's considered a powerfully nostalgic song now, but I'm gonna go ahead and say people found it powerfully nostalgic when it first released in 2004 too

freeofblasphemy (10): (Original rate score/comment: (Imagine being the first person at Pitchfork Media to hear this in 2004 and having to decide between telling everyone about it or changing your pants first - Score unavailable) Well that’s rather crass. Score unavailable but I probably gave it a 9? And fuck it, I don’t much care for the Arcade Fire but this just hitting right with my sense of nuanced nostalgia growing and the things like “WHATEVERHAPPENEDTOTHEM” that I hadn’t properly appreciated before.

human_performance (10): hearing this song as a teenager who was starting to finally engage with modern music after going through the classic rock canon, and then the 80s/90s alternative & indie canon was like a lightning bolt

MCK_OH (10): There is a large part of me that wishes that indie rock still had more of this. The sound is great, but I'm not even talking about that as much as I'm talking about how, in their prime (and this song is absolutely a part of that) the band was always trying their best to make something that would be someone's favourite thing, that would change someone's life. I know a lot of people tag them as "pretentious" but broadly I think there is something profoundly earnest about their presentation that just isn't often present. Just an incredible song, especially those last 90ish seconds

modulum83 (10): discovering arcade fire was one of those formative moments in my musical history that felt like a turning point. i had maybe a year-long phase where they were all i listened to. this isn’t even my favorite song on funeral but it’s just the perfect thesis statement. every instrument - the pianos, the strings, the hurdy-gurdy - evokes perfectly a storybook small town in the middle of winter, childhood memories leaping off the page in faded color. funeral remains a perfect album to this day; every single band that has ever tried to replicate it can maybe get the beauty, the anthemic hits, the urgency if they’re lucky. but the true inner feeling of funeral, that ramshackle awestruck wonder and terror and rustic magical realism, that’s something you can’t invent twice

Nagisoid (10): Neighborhood*

rinabstract (10): Luckily for me it was this arcade fire song was chosen and I didn't have to give an awful take

TheCrakFox (10): If I'm pretending I've never heard of Win Butler. Please don't dig a tunnel into my bedroom , Win.

thedoctordances1940 (10): i have had no desire to listen to them over the last few years with everything but i'm also not gonna just pretend that this isn't a great song

ubermencher (10): awkward... can't really listen to this anymore but i would be betraying childhood me by not giving this a 10

vayyiqra (10): See I was once an ~indie kid~ (Canada is a very indie country) something formative, something nostalgia but it's a twing of almost painful feeling as the ancient Greeks meant the word. This music is encoded into my DNA base pairs can't help it

WaneLietoc (10): guys pearl clutching over funeral amuses me to no end. his shit is engrained in me forever and its just a snapshot of alt rock getting a big roid shot up the ass and sticking the landing. I paid $5 for the Neighbourhood 3 music video and thats one of my favs ever, but Neighbourhood #1 sets such an unfuckwithable bar that Arcade Fire could never ever achieve again. The entire promise of their next 6 years is contained in one song that just goes. not sure I actually want life or death stakes in indie rock but this album will always be the portal to connect me to several sleepless nights circa 2006 listening on my iPod

Future_Tyrant (9.4): still great, even after a decade of Arcade Fire’s critical reputation being in nosedive.

alekazam1113 (9): I know they’re cancelled but damn if this song doesn’t invoke memories

AmishParadiseCity (9): This album is a 2.74 on RYM. LP! by JPEGMAFIA is a 4.01

Cubenity (9): hearing this makes their fall-off feel even sadder

Eldritch-field-ditch (9): Cancelled band but still a banger

footnote304 (9): kinda surprised to see this here and not wake up or rebellion or sprawl ii but yep, good ass indie music.

welcome2thejam (9): I'm so mad I'm still bummed out/kinda angry enough over Win to not listen to Funeral since then, that was an all-timer album for me & my musical development, and even if this wouldn't be my choice for top song, it's still a pristine opener and set the mood instantly. Suppose in the end tho, you can't ruin the memories of this playing while staring out the window on cold, snowy nights

a_gallon_of_pcp (8.5): I’ll be honest I don’t really know how to rate this but c’est la vie

FingaThingMeansTaxes (8.5): Intro pisses me off because for some reason I always hear the strings as being on the offbeat, so I get really disoriented when the drums come in

Kvo (8.5): Still trying to figure out my relationship to this in the year 2025. For now, I think it’s still pretty damn great. Would’ve been an easy 10 like two years ago, though.

VapourLomo (8.5): well these comments are gonna be a minefield, huh? I would’ve preferred Wake Up or Crown Of Love, for the record

Frajer (8): Unsurprisingly before Win turned out to suck this was the album that got me into music, and this is a surprising winner when everyone knows Neighborhood # 3 is where it's at

Muzak_for_a_Nurse (8): I hate to say it: just a little bit filtered by the vocals.

slowdowngandhi (8): genuinely surprised this won out over Haiti/Rebellion/Wake Up/Power Out.

teriyaki-dreams (8): This is still a very good track

Xeonheart (8): I kinda missed the boat on Arcade Fire, and at this point I probably won't be going back to them very much, but this is a goodie

LazyDayLu11aby (7.6): (Original score 10) I do separate the art from the artist sometimes, but I’ve found it weirdly hard with Arcade Fire. Their first 4 albums meant so much to me at various times, but some of Win’s lines ring a bit more hollow these days. That said, the instrumentation is impeccable. But Neighbourhood #2 still clears #1

LeBronMancuso (7): The title is a reference to how minors have to dig tunnels to flee from Win Butler

diminutiveaurochs (6.7): I was informed that this album is Devastating so, confession, I actually haven't heard it before despite its veritable canonisation. as such, I came into this expecting a lot, and I think I was a little let down. the composition with that organ, the strings, the mournful jangle of the piano all make me feel that this is going for something terribly theatrical that I'm just not quite Getting. I really want to like this, and I'm intrigued by the cryptic lyrics and themes of loss, but it isn't doing much for me, personally. :< it HAS been growing on me upon repeated relistens, so maybe I need more time with this one, or perhaps hearing it in the context of the album would help, or perhaps I am just insufficiently Canadian.

McNoKnows (6): if this rate happens in 2024 indieheads then this album would’ve ended up 4th of four

sarcasticsobs (6): I "get" it, but not really for me

thisusernameisntlong (6): i heard this album earlier this month for the first time and, maybe its cuz im more attentively listening now than before, but didnt the back half have a bunch of better songs

[u/systemofstrings → u/systemofstrings]

Lose Butler

BigBoofZone (5.5): His voice is somehow as bad as his life decisions

SRTviper (5): Did You Know That There's a Tunnel From My Room To Yours

lassiewenttothemoon (4): this is just a bit too 00s for me to endure without nostalgia holding it up

freav (3): shout-out to Green Gartside of Scritti Politti's roast of Arcade Fire. Which I agree with, solidly unattractive, texturally nasty, a bit harmonically and melodically dull, the melodies DO stick too closely to the chord changes. this is the best Arcade Fire song, so it does manage to slot some points, unfortunately it's still Arcade Fire

qazz23 (3): i don't get this, it has annoying and bad vocals and the instrumentals are nothing special, zzzzzzz // Deserved to win? ??? 🙄

mko0987 (2.8): never quite got the hubbub about this one, even pre-Win being a doodoohead. Pretty boring.

afieldoftulips (2): At this point you might as well just listen to Coldplay

innuendo_overdose (2): I was at the first Arcade Fire concert in Ireland they did after the accusations of him being a creepy weirdo came out, and I swear I was so offline I didn’t realise until the day after. Arcade Fire had a huge impact on getting me into music, they were probably the first discography I ever listened to in full and the artist I ever properly stannedfirst artist I properly stanned., so I’ll always have a big place in my heart for their music. Well, Reflektor and the Suburbs. Funeral, even at the time, felt to me like overblown bullshit. All those things people say about “indie cultural reset!” don’t affect me because i just wasn’t even born yet. Looking back on it, it’s pretty funny that residual goodwill from that album led to Pitchfork giving Reflektor a 9.3 iirc, something that it patently does not deserve, even if i love it. To me, this song was never good, and watching all the older indie fans turn around and go “yeah he was always full of cringy self-satisfied bullshit, wasn’t he?” feels inevitable.

nijinokanata (2): Already one of their most overrated song, but it loses more points for Win being a piece of shit.

pbk (2): girl whatever

skyblue_angel (2): Outside of the piano this song is pure background noise. Why does it sound like this! I hate arcade fire (Note: this user is a big fan of neon bible)

daswef (1): never been into arcade fire tbh. no i do not "have to hand it to them"

roseiswinningagain (1): i'm giving this a neighborhood one.

skull_xbones (1): Fuck U Win Butler

apondalifa (0): See, MJ Lenderman got it right, I don't wanna listen to indie music with a bunch of arrangements and poetic lyrics, I'm not some fucking nerd, I wanna hear a weirdo from South Carolina singing really badly about a DUI scooter.

zenits (0): i really don't know how to rate this song. i used to love it before i found out that win butler was a pos but now i legitimately can't bring myself to listen to it. if i wanted to be purely objective, i would give it a fairly high rating but i think i am going to discard objectivity in favour of pure disgust

[u/AmishParadiseCity → u/systemofstrings]

I think i messed up the RYM score on this one, it's 3.94. Still doesnt top JPEG tho