Sunday, April 11, 2010

MRML's Greatest Hits


There are three figures I check obsessively here: number of comments, number of visits and number of downloads. The combination of those things is a big part of how I choose what goes up next. While in the end I cover what I love (I finished my series about American hardcore legend Vic Bondi in the face of almost complete indifference), the length of time I stay in any place and the frequency by which I return there is often decided by comments, visitors and downloads.


So, in terms of downloads and comments, here's what has generated the greatest response:

12. Joe Jackson - The Harder They Come ~ 421 D/L's (I trust RapidShare's numbers less than Mediafire's.)
A brilliant little piece of work by JJ that is just begging for re-issue in some form and which I was pleased to remind people of.
Comments: 28 (Coming on the heels of my biggest hissy-fit about not getting comments, this one generated a strong discussion about whether or not Jackson's later career was 'thorny'.)



11. The Clash - This is England 12" 448 D/L's
I fight for Strummer any time I can.
Comments: 16 (Clash fans rule!)



10 Graham Parker Live at Marble Arch 460 D/L's
My series on Graham Parker was big on all three of my metrics - plus I love writing about GP.
Comments: six (overall a great series for comments - one of which may well have been from Mr. Parker himself.)



9. Multitude of Sins - The Dylan Mass ~ 460 D/L's (but someone set up a mirror - whatever that is - without asking me so that might have kept the numbers lower.)
True, such mellow, acoustic music is a bit outside of my mission here but that said:
Comments: 4 (A bit dispiriting, as this deserved an infinitely better response.)



8. Talking Heads - Memories Can't Wait -472 D/L's
A surprise but welcome hit in the D/L department...
Comments: 4 (for those keeping score that's well-below a 1% rate of return on D/L's.)



7. D.I.Y Anarchy in the UK 512 D/L's
With a line up including every great '77 punk band (minus list-favourites The Clash) how could this comp go wrong?
Comments: 8 (Decent till you recall that Blogger counts my own responses in the final tally.)



6. Parker/Pierson/Janovitz - A Tribute to the Beatles 520 D/L's
A low-key release that probably saw a schwack of boomers here on their first and last visit.
Comments:7 (which considering the brevity of the post was okay.)



5. The Dik Van Dykes - Nobody Likes... ~543 d/l's (243 now and at least three hundred on MassMirror)
Canadian funny-punk band that I'm proud as hell to have spread around the world (re-up coming sooner or later).
Comments: 48 ( Best response ever - even beating the 41 commenters who took on my idea of Husker Du being the Great American Band - and it included a few encouraging comments from the band's front-man, Dik.)



4. Bob Dylan - Let My Poor Voice Be heard 544 D/L's
Pixel-stained wretches enjoy writing about Dylan WAY too much and our reward:
Comments: 3 (Dylan fans are the absolute best for visits but the pits for comments.).



3. The Clash - Out of Control (The Alternate Cut the Crap) 722 D/L's
It's cool that something that helps a tiny bit to rehabilitate the much-reviled Cut The Crap (and all of the Clash items in this list are CTC-related) has generated such unexpectedly huge numbers!
Comments: 12 (and many of 'em were sharp!)



2. D.I.Y Blank Generation: the New York Scene 767 D/L's
Biggest in what is probably MRML's most popular series.
Comments: 9 (tepid but not terrible.)



1. The Clash - 12" mixes 877 D/L's
Unstoppable, which is a little odd considering it is almost strictly for completists.
Comments: 7 (Well it was at the tail end of a long series of Clash posts - Clash fans are still my favourite to write for!)



Usually I ask for comments about the music itself but for this time I'm gonna ask you: What was MRML's best post?

7 comments:

  1. great post... MRML-GH is a nice collection....

    the original connection to the 7" version Of "This Is England" is no longer available... anyone have a working link to that?

    the link to the 12" version is fine....

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  2. Going with your "by the numbers" approach the series on TV Smith would have to be my favorite set of MRML posts. I ended up forking over the cash for four Smith discs due to your electronic cajoling and feel that I am a better fan(atic) for it.

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  3. Thats a differcult question to answer Jeff! The above shout (TV Smith) is a good one though for sure. I liked the Ramones tributes as well. I've liked loads actually!

    Oh that 7'' version of This Is England is available again

    http://rapidshare.com/files/374786252/This_Is_England_7__.rar

    That blogger is truely lazy but he cannot read minds and will only re-up music when requested :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. As a fan of indifference, I really enjoyed the Vic Bondi post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I find that your "MRML Top 22/Best of the Year" compilations are a great place to learn about music, and they're probably my favorite posts. (I also like that people tend to wander in to my office when I'm playing them.) Best of 2008 got a bit more play than Best of 2009.

    The Johnny Cash risky covers collection was also a lot of fun, but it would have been nice to have the songs in one place, rather than lots of YouTubes.

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  6. Its amazing isn't it Jeffen.

    Theres nothing here to download so hardly anyone bothers commenting on something really important to you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anon
    Glad everything went great.

    CPB
    Thanks, I'm particularly proud of that one, though it wasn't big on 'hits' the response was gratifying and if i helped TV sell a few more albums I'm a happy man!

    Longy
    nice to hear the echo on the TV series and that Ramones series - insanely long as it was - was great fun even if I given a wag of the finger for beginning the first draft "I Was a Teenage Ramone" at work.

    Chrid
    Glad you liked, I felt a bit burned by the reaction (or lack thereof) but it shouldn't have been a big surprise - it's not like Vic has the cult following he deserves.

    Anon
    It's nice people are choosing the real in-depth pieces, they're a lot of work but I do love doing 'em.
    I struggled over whether to make a d/l copy of the Cash available. I live in fear of being seen as a pirate and since there's really no one's permission to ask I kinda chickened out. If you want the files I could probably upload them now that the hub-bub (that was my most poplar post, hits-wise) has died down.

    Anon
    Six comments (before I chimed in) means something to me, so I won't complain at all.

    ReplyDelete

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