Interactive Duos Poll: Heaven-Sent and Hell-Bent

Interactive Poll # Holy 3 - 666: Heaven-Sent and Hell-Bent: A "heaven" and "hell" "duos" poll (these can be out of or included in PA)

"In Heaven
Everything is fine
You got your good thing
And I've got mine" (Ivers / Lynch - "In Heaven")

"I'm living in a hell hole
Don't want to stay in this hell hole
Don't want to die in this hell hole
Girl, get me out of this hell hole" (Spinal Tap - "Hell Hole")

Are you on a stairway to heaven AND on a highway to hell? Are you both heaven-sent and hell-bent?

Welcome to the latest installment in this interactive poll series. With this theme we travel to the promised neverland (harp music anyone?) and plunge into the abyss (bagpipes anyone?). The heaven and hell theme can be taken very literally, such as songs specifically about heaven and hell and songs that reference heaven and hell, but it can also be about music that thematically has a heavenly and hellish relation to you -- ones that are evocative of heaven and hell or just speak of paradise and are infernal in some way to you. I'm pretty open here. So, in case this is unclear, it doesn't literally have to be about heaven or hell or reference something heaven or hell related, it just has to evoke something of those qualities for you. I'll be interested to see what musical associations people make to the heaven and hell theme.

This is a duos poll, so it is expected that you include at least one Heaven theme and one Hell theme.

I am partially inspired by two sequential episodes of Doctor Who called "Heaven Sent" (fantastic episode) and "Hell Bent" as well as Art Zoyd's Le mariage du ciel et de l'enfer. For those not familiar with the expressions, heaven-sent refers to something good that happens at an opportune time; whereas, hell-bent denotes dogged determination at all cost. Title aside, it's best just to think of this as "Heaven and Hell".

My original conception was to do this as another duos poll (one heaven and one hell entry per participant), but I felt that that would be too onerous on some, especially when considering recent increased participation in these polls. That said, considering how others feel, I am making this a duos poll. I doubt that this will be as lively in terms of the number of participants, but who the heck knows? I also considered purgatory as an option before -- a "limbo" dancing theme for another time perhaps.

This topic comes in two main stages. First there is the suggestions and nominations round, and then comes the voting round when the nominations have been listed in the poll. Each stage generally lasts about a week, meaning two weeks total. After that we're onto the next Interactive Poll, although these polls might still show some activity after two weeks.

Here are the guidelines/ requests for participation in the "suggestions/ nominations" round (the first half of the process) which will last for one week (I would make it a little longer, but this might make it easier for people to remember and be prepared).

1. For the suggestions in the nomination round, feel free to mention up to four choices of music for potential nomination (more if you really want to). ;) People must mention at least one heavenly piece AND one hellish piece to be considered for the nomination process. You can mention some others not to be officially considered for nomination along the way, say in discussion, but please try to make that clear. And if you think of preferable ones later in a timely-enough fashion, then that's fine and I will NOT ask you not to nominate that later mention if we have not yet entered the voting round even if you listed four officially already.

2. For your nomination/suggestion, please type the composers, bands, or artists names followed by the title of the music along with the videos -- preferably a youtube embed if possible, but if that is not possible, then provide a hyperlink to where we can hear the music (say bandcamp). Adding the name of the artist plus the music title helps me to add it to the poll (copy-paste) and it makes it easier for others to find it in the thread. Also, sometimes videos don't work in certain regions, and this way we can see what to search for if your video isn't working for some of us. Please try to use the format in the following examples to make copy-paste and consistency easier for me:
Spinal Tap - "Hell Hole"
Belinda Carlisle - "Heaven Is a Place on Earth"
Santa Claws with AC/DC - "Hell's Sleigh Bells".

3. Ideally, your first music post will be edited and updated to mention which of your two choices (one heaven and one hell) are your two specific nominations when you decide, and this should be done before June 15th. If you only mention one heaven and one hell then this won't be an issue. This step makes it less likely that I will make mistakes or be unsure of your choice, but hopefully others will be double-checking as these topics are sort of team-efforts and we all make mistakes (yes, also in heaven). At least to try to specify your two nominations within a week.

4. On Tuesday, June 15th I will add the nominated music entries. I will give warning, but I would like all final decisions to be made before then if possible. If no choices have been specified, then I will add your first hell mention and your first heaven mention as your nominations, so consider trying to pick what is best for you as your first if you think you might not get the chance to specify your choices for nomination. Come Tuesday morning (June 15th), expect me to be hell-bent on putting together the poll with your choices even if some have not got around to specifying their nominations (I might do it later, but be prepared for Tuesday morning PST).   I like to stay on schedule and likely will have to plan my time as they take time to put together.

Note: comments on other people's choices in the meantime are much appreciated but not required, this can help people to make up their minds on what to nominate.

On to the voting period details (do not vote for any poll option before Tuesday, June 15th, which is when I will paste the music nominations (Artist - Song) in the poll):

1. When I have entered the nominated music choices into the poll, then the voting phase will be open.

2. Before voting, please ensure that you have tried to listen to all of the poll entries. Hopefully there will be a playlist to listen to those (I should make a new youtube account just in case Geo isn't available to create the playlist).

3. Vote for three of the options, no less and no more, but do not vote for your own choices (I figure by nominating those you've already voted for them in a sense).

4. List those choices in a post.

Note: you can mention songs if you don't plan to fully participate in the process, but please make it clear if you do not plan to be listening to other people's choices and voting for three options and listing those choices in a post. I would like to limit the poll spaces to those who plan to take part in the nomination, listening and voting process. If things come up and you can't in a timely manner, or ever, well, things happen. That we listen to each others music and indicate so is the most important part of this exercise to me.

Like with suggestions, comments on other people's nominations are appreciated, but not required. Acknowledging those that do take/find the time to comment would be appreciated, I expect. And please remember, no voting before the appointed time.

To summarise or reiterate important guidelines points:

1. Mention up to four choices* (Artist - Track) on the heaven/heavenly AND hell/hellish theme. Artist - Track text for each should be written in the post, and youtube videos embedded (we can help if any don't yet know how to do this) or at least links (hyperlinks preferably) to the music if youtube is not available or you can't embed youtube videos. *You can mention more, but more than four per post can be a problem. So the four is not a set rule.
2. Within seven days of this topic starting, nominate one heaven and one hell choice (please try your best to do this before June 15th).
3. On Tuesday, June 15, I will list all of the nominated music in the poll (expect early PST time, although it may come later).
4. When music nominations are up in the poll, it is an expectation that the other nominated choices will be listened to.
5. After listening to all of the choices, vote for three poll options (in other words, three options with three duos) not your own and mention those in a post.

Again, feel free to mention music not for nominating or potential nomination, just please try to make that clear. Not everyone may wish to take part in the whole process that wants to mention music. If it is not specified by a poster that mentions music, then I will expect that you plan to nominate two (heaven and hell), listen to all the nominees and vote for three poll options (duos) and mention those in a post when the time comes. It does take a level of commitment, but I understand that life can get in the way sometimes and sometimes the best laid plans come to naught.

There's a fine line between pleasure and pain, heavenly and hellish listening to each other's music choices!

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I'll start with a quite well-known infernal piece, which I've seen described as devastating and of course is in reference to a devastating incident. This piece was also used very well in a quite experimental and amazing episode ("Part Eight") of Twin Peaks: The Return -- three of my four choices have a Lynch relation as I have been quite obsessed:

Krzysztof Penderecki - "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima"



Switching moods, this is just heavenly to me (also may be too well-known; I got to know it and love it first from watching the film The Hunger, a vampire film which features David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon and was in my top five favourite films when I was a teenager especially):

Léo Delibes - "The Flower Duet (Lakmé)"



For more "hellish" music (has a Twin Peaks connection -- I used another Xiu Xiu track from this album in an earlier Interactive poll and I used this track in one of my own non-interactive polls at one time soon after discovering the album):

Xiu Xiu - "Blue Frank / Pink Room"



I mentioned "In Heaven" in another poll (and Threnody... methinks), but this is the song I think of with the word "heaven".   Bauhaus did an interesting cover, as did Pixies and Tuxedomoon. And the Cardiacs song "A Time For Rejoicing" references it. It's from the Lynch film Eraserhead.

Peter Ivers / David Lynch - "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)"



One might argue that it's also quite hellish, or at least unsettling in its way, especially when considering the whole film it's from, and it's one that I cannot not mention.

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An additional note, if by some heaven-sent circumstance this poll is graced with more than 25 options, the extras will be combined with others low down on the list. So if there are 26, then that will share a spot with 25, and if there are 27, then option 24 also will have two options. If the titles are long, I might have to rethink the order if this more than 25 scenario occurs. I generally like to order these in the order that people mention music (before the playlists this could be particularly helpful). Again, please no voting before its time (we'll be watching). If only the names of the submitters are up, and not the names of the music, then it is not yet time. Sorry for such a long OP. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask.

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So the poll is now up, just a number of hours earlier than I expected, but I'll be very busy later on today. Please listen, vote for three duos, then mention those in a post.   Thanks to all who participated. I hope its been a little more of a heavenly than hellish experience. ;)[

Edited by Logan - June 15 2021 at 15:31

^ Yes, 'tis a shame about scrapping this as a duos theme as that was the conception behind this.  If others are amenable, I would happily change to it being duos poll as I do much prefer that.  I do hope everyone will at least try to list a heaven and a hell piece.  Shame about the Xiu Xiu, that video you posted is unavailable for me.

Edited by Logan - June 08 2021 at 10:19

^ I'll edit my first post to include that one, thanks.

^ Considering that that is my preference as well as yours and Kees, that does it for me.  This is a duos poll.  Will amend the first post accordingly.  Thanks.

Yeah, plenty of Prog selections that would be great for this.  Aside from the duos aspect, I struggled with whether I should allow music included in Prog Archives.  If people want that, I'll change it.  At this stage it's easy enough to make changes, and I'm hardly hell-bent on that.

Edited by Logan - June 08 2021 at 11:11

Raff wrote: Including songs that are on PA would make this easier for me. When I first saw the poll title, the only songs I could think of were in the thrash metal genre - enough to make Nickie run away screaming into the night !

^ Yep, makes it more challenging (especially when it comes to the listening, and for commenting, which makes it more time-intensive).  I doubt we'll nearly a get a full-house this time in terms of nominations as this requires more commitment.

Edited by Logan - June 08 2021 at 12:43

The Anders wrote: I have to think about this, but maybe I can come up with something. The first song I came to think of was Talking Heads' "Heaven", but I guess most people know it already, so I am not going to submit it anyway.

Edited by Logan - June 08 2021 at 13:10

So: a masterpiece versus an awfully bad song... would that count?