Surlaw by Aris: The long overdue reveal

Irish Aris

Hello everyone and welcome to the reveal of my Surlaw. . . which opened 4 months ago, thus the title of this thread

For this Surlaw we went to the United States and saw 20 artists/songs competing for the first spot in this Eurovision style competition.

12 Forum Gamers have cast their votes:
Also Starring LeVar Burton
ShaneU
Kolido
Homer J. Fong
Sawduck
Reberetta
JohnGreenFan
and in the morning Diamonds of frost
JP Liz V1
Clarabel
Electric Nitwit
and I will also throw my votes for good measure

As a reminder these are the songs that are competing:
YouTube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUaRXycpvvkFm-QNQ-W24uDQ12ludupob

Spotify playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4i...TxGI7MZeSKk0dg

State Artist Song
Minnesota Bora York Arrest Me
Ohio Nine Inch Nails The Perfect Drug
Washington Queensryche Della Brown
Colorado OneRepublic Something I Need
New York Slow Knights Signs Of life
Nevada Brandon Flowers Can't Deny My Love
Rhode Island Thrillchaser Emptiness
California The Cramps Ultra Twist
Georgia Boy Harsher Face The Fire
Virginia Wild Nothing Letting Go
Massachusetts Rachel Platten Stand By You
Arizona The Summer Set The Night is Young
Texas Conan Gray Wish You Were Sober
Michigan Inner City Good Life
Florida Marilyn Manson This Is The New ****
Pennsylvania Pretty Poison Catch Me I'm Falling
Alaska Portugal. The Man Feel It Still
Arkansas Beth Ditto Savoir Faire
Oregon The Dandy Warhols Horse Pills
New Jersey Skid Row I Remember You

Irish Aris

I target Wednesday 30th December for the reveal, subject to any other games or reveals happening that day.
I will confirm the time on the day, looking to start around 6 pm.

At Last!!!!!!!

Irish Aris

Good evening everyone!!
Tomorrow I will do the reveal earlier in the afternoon, start time around 4 pm - I have a medical appointment in the evening and won't be available after 6.

Reberetta

I can only remember how two of these songs sound.

Irish Aris

Reberetta wrote: »

I can only remember how two of these songs sound.

Really sorry about that Reb - initially I left it open hoping to get some more gamers in and then life got in the way.

a couple of stats to warm things up a bit:
9 different songs got the maximum 12 points - one of them twice and another one 3 times!!
All songs were voted at least once, so no songs were left with zero points.

See you all in an hour!!

Irish Aris

Let's start so, with my votes.
Obviously I like all 20 of them so the top-10 would be changing constantly but on that given day the points went as follows:

Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 8
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 7
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 6
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 5
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 4
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 3
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 2
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 1


10 points go to
Bora York - Arrest me.

and the 12 points go to
Thrillchaser - Emptiness

Irish Aris

I do the reveal in the order that votes came in. . .
which means that next we have one of the regulars and reliables of Forum Games, Also Starring LeVar Burton

The first points
Bora York-Arrest Me 8
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 7
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 6
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 5
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 4
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 3
Inner City-Good Life 2
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 1


10 points go to
Beth Ditto - Savoir Faire

and the 12 points go to
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love

Irish Aris

Next up the man that puts the U in Shane, ShaneU

The first votes go to:

The Cramps-Ultra Twist 8
Inner City-Good Life 7
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 6
OneRepublic-Something I Need 5
Bora York-Arrest Me 4
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 3
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 2
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 1


10 Points go to
Brandon Flowers - Can't Deny My Love

and the 12 Points go to
Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still

Irish Aris

So with the first 3 sets of votes (and 9 to go) the table looks like this:

Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 29
Bora York-Arrest Me 22
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 18
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 16
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 15
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 13
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 11
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 10
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 9
Inner City-Good Life 9
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 6
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 5
OneRepublic-Something I Need 5
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 3
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 2
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 1
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 0
Queensryche-Della Brown 0
Skid Row-I Remember You 0
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 0


Brandon Flowers takes the lead ahead of Bora York and Thrillchaser.
His 80s influenced The Desired Effect was on my most favourites the year it was released and it included many songs that I liked - this one was my second choice for this Surlaw:

Electric Nitwit

Can't remember my votes now, except my number one

Didn't love Brendan Flowers I don't think, his solo work has never really grabbed me. Mind you, neither have the last few Killers albums sadly

Irish Aris

Next up a Forum Gamer who has organised many great competitions - including the kolidovision, Kolido

Bora York-Arrest Me 8
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 7
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 6
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 5
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 4
Queensryche-Della Brown 3
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 2
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 1


10 Points go to
OneRepublic - Something I Need

and 12 Points go to
Skid Row - I Remember You

Irish Aris

Next up another Forum Gamer who hosted a successful Surlaw, Deleted User

Slow Knights-Signs Of life 8
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 7
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 6
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 5
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 4
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 3
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 2
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 1


10 Points go to
Wild Nothing - Letting Go

and 12 Points go to
Bora York - Arrest Me

Irish Aris

We are just before the halfway mark (5 sets of votes completed, 7 more to go) and our ranking table looks like this:

Bora York-Arrest Me 42
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 36
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 26
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 25
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 20
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 16
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 15
OneRepublic-Something I Need 15
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 13
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 12
Skid Row-I Remember You 12
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 10
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 10
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 9
Inner City-Good Life 9
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 7
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 5
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 4
Queensryche-Della Brown 3
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 1


Now all songs have gotten at least one point but it is the underdogs Bora York that leading the way. Bora York was an accidental Spotify discovery and 2 of their songs have been on heavy rotation in my playlists for years now. Arrset Me is one of them and this is the other:

Irish Aris

Bringing the competition to the halfway mark is another one of our regulars in Forum Games, Sawduck

Rachel Platten-Stand By You 8
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 7
Inner City-Good Life 6
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 5
Bora York-Arrest Me 4
Skid Row-I Remember You 3
Queensryche-Della Brown 2
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 1


10 Points go to
OneRepublic - Something I Need

and 12 Points go to
Marilyn Manson - This Is The New ****

Irish Aris

Next-Up, organiser of the epic best album of all time competition, it's Reberetta

Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 8
Inner City-Good Life 7
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 6
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 5
Bora York-Arrest Me 4
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 3
OneRepublic-Something I Need 2
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 1


10 Points go to
Skid Row - I Remember You

and 12 Points go to
Marilyn Manson - This Is The New ****

Irish Aris

and with only 5 sets of votes to go, our table is:

Bora York-Arrest Me 50
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 36
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 33
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 31
OneRepublic-Something I Need 27
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 26
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 25
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 25
Skid Row-I Remember You 25
Inner City-Good Life 22
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 21
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 20
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 18
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 13
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 10
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 8
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 6
Queensryche-Della Brown 5
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 4
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 1


Bora York continue to be on top, but with 2 consecutive 12 points, Marilyn Manson gets into the top-3.
When it came to selecting a Manson song I was between what I chose and this one which is also one of my favourites of his:

Irish Aris

Next up one of the "New Kids" in the Forum Games block, it's John Green Fan

Rachel Platten-Stand By You 8
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 7
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 6
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 5
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 4
Skid Row-I Remember You 3
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 2
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 1


10 Points go to
OneRepublic - Something I Need

and 12 Points go to
The Summer Set - The Night Is Young

Irish Aris

Next, another "New Kid" on the Forum Games block, it's Deleted User

OneRepublic-Something I Need 8
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 7
Skid Row-I Remember You 6
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 5
Bora York-Arrest Me 4
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 3
Inner City-Good Life 2
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 1


10 Points go to
Beth Ditto - Savoir Faire

and 12 Points go to
Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still

Irish Aris

With only 3 sets of votes to go:

Bora York-Arrest Me 54
OneRepublic-Something I Need 45
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 45
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 40
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 37
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 34
Skid Row-I Remember You 34
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 32
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 31
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 30
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 26
Inner City-Good Life 24
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 21
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 20
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 15
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 10
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 8
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 7
Queensryche-Della Brown 5
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 4


Bora York continue to occupy the top spot.
Behind them both OneRepublic and Portugal. The Man gain momentum.
I'm a big fan of OneRepublic and Ryan Tedder's songwriting.
Something I Need isn't my number one OneRepublic song, but I wanted to avoid the obvious options.
The OneRepublic I hold close to my heart and it is like a safe haven in tough times, is this:

Irish Aris

Next, a Forum Gamer with a tendency to vote late in competitions - but not this time, it's JP Liz V1

Rachel Platten-Stand By You 8
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 7
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 6
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 5
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 4
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 3
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 2
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 1


10 Points go to
Brandon Flowers - Can't Deny My Love

and 12 Points go to
OneRepublic - Something I Need

Irish Aris

Next, a Forum Gamer who has often submitted interesting alternative selections in various Walruses, it's Clarabel

Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 8
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 7
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 6
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 5
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 4
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 3
Skid Row-I Remember You 2
Inner City-Good Life 1


10 Points go to
Wild Nothing - Letting Go

and 12 Points go to
Boy Harsher - Face The Fire

Irish Aris

With a last set of points to be distributed, things are severe up the top

OneRepublic-Something I Need 57
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 57
Bora York-Arrest Me 54
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 54
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 47
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 44
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 40
Skid Row-I Remember You 36
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 35
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 34
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 34
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 32
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 26
Inner City-Good Life 25
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 15
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 14
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 11
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 10
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 8
Queensryche-Della Brown 5


There are 5 songs in total that could win the competition, with 4 of them within 3 points.
Or could Wild Nothing who have been flying below the radar can complete the surprise? Before this Surlaw I didn't know where they are from exactly and it was nice that they are from the more modest Virginia. I have been following them on and off for the last 8-9 years (and have seen them live twice) - and this was my introduction to their music:

Also Starring LeVar Burton

I hope that OneRepublic song doesn't win it. Any of the other options would be worthy, but Something I Need is easily my least favourite song of the twenty.

Electric Nitwit

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

I hope that OneRepublic song doesn't win it. Any of the other options would be worthy, but Something I Need is easily my least favourite song of the twenty.

Think I'm last, if so it won't

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

Think I'm last, if so it won't

Irish Aris

so to complete the proceedings, fresh out of completing an amazing Advent Calendar Competition, it's Electric Nitwit

and his first part of the points means. . .

Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 8
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 7
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 6
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 5
Inner City-Good Life 4
Queensryche-Della Brown 3
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 2
Bora York-Arrest Me 1


that Bora York and Wild Nothing are out of the competition.
Three songs can now win this!!

Electric Nitwit

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Actually... unless I didn't vote for any of the contenders. I must have done though, right...?

Ah yeah, think I did...

Irish Aris

10 Points go to:

Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still

who now take the temporary lead.
Can Brandon Flowers or OneRepublic do one last surge and win this?

Electric Nitwit

Irish Aris wrote: »

10 Points go to:

Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still

who now take the temporary lead.
Can Brandon Flowers or OneRepublic do one last surge and win this?

Yep, I've been feeling it since 1966

*not really that old!

Irish Aris

well, they can not, as 12 Points go to

Marilyn Manson - This Is The New ****

Irish Aris

So your winner, from the exotic Alaska, is Portugal. The Man

Electric Nitwit

That's a good winner I think, a good all rounder

Nice one Aris, cheers for running!

Irish Aris

Final Detailed Table:

Artist/Song Total Points Irish Aris LeVar Shane U Kolido Homer Sawduck Reberetta John Green Fan and in the morning Diamonds of frost JP Liz V Clarabel Electric Nitwit
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 64 0 3 12 0 1 7 3 7 12 1 8 10
OneRepublic-Something I Need 57 0 0 5 10 0 10 2 10 8 12 0 0
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 57 7 12 10 2 5 0 0 4 0 10 7 0
Bora York-Arrest Me 55 10 8 4 8 12 4 4 0 4 0 0 1
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 53 6 7 3 0 10 0 5 0 0 6 10 6
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 49 12 6 0 0 7 0 0 5 7 2 5 5
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 46 4 5 0 0 0 12 12 0 1 0 0 12
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 40 0 0 6 6 0 5 8 0 5 4 6 0
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 40 8 0 2 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 12 8
Skid Row-I Remember You 36 0 0 0 12 0 3 10 3 6 0 2 0
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 35 0 10 1 0 4 0 6 1 10 0 3 0
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 34 3 0 0 7 0 8 0 8 0 8 0 0
Inner City-Good Life 29 0 2 7 0 0 6 7 0 2 0 1 4
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 28 0 0 0 5 0 0 1 12 3 5 0 2
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 22 5 0 8 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 7
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 14 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 0 3 4 0
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 11 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 7 0 0
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 10 2 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 8 1 4 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Queensryche-Della Brown 8 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3

Irish Aris

Thank you all very much for taking the time to participate.
And apologies again for the big delay in completing this!!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

A worthy winner, I was listening to the playlist again earlier, and I probably would've ranked Feel It Still a bit higher than I did at the time ; think I had heard it a bit too much prior to making my choices at the time so I knocked it down a few spots for being overplayed, but hadn't listened to it since then.

Great reveal Aris.

Electric Nitwit

Irish Aris wrote: »

Final Detailed Table:

Artist/Song Total Points Irish Aris LeVar Shane U Kolido Homer Sawduck Reberetta John Green Fan and in the morning Diamonds of frost JP Liz V Clarabel Electric Nitwit
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 46 4 5 0 0 0 12 12 0 1 0 0 12

MM proving to be quite devisive, all or nothing!

Kolido

A good winner. Skid Row was always going to top my list, a big fan of their debut album.

Thanks for the game Aris, a great reveal.

Reberetta

Cheers Irish Aris.

The winning song sounds like Please Mr. Postman, the only reason I gave it any points.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Reberetta wrote: »

The winning song sounds like Please Mr. Postman, the only reason I gave it any points.

Mentioning Feel It Still and Please Mr. Postman together reminds me of this mash-up which includes both songs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN-zHSvDc1g

Thanks Aris!! I love Feel it Still and you introduced me to Savoir Faire

Electric Nitwit

Good job Aris, thanks for running and introducing me to some new stuff.

I'm gonna have to retrospectively take back the points I gave Brandon Flowers though - I did like that song but I got a haircut before Christmas and they were playing him/Killers all the way through and it reminded me how much I hate his voice. :mad:

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

MM proving to be quite devisive, all or nothing!

I like some of his stuff but that particular song never did much for me.

Sawduck

Irish Aris wrote: »

and with only 5 sets of votes to go, our table is:

Bora York-Arrest Me 50
Brandon Flowers-Can't Deny My Love 36
Marilyn Manson-This Is The New **** 33
Wild Nothing-Letting Go 31
OneRepublic-Something I Need 27
Portugal. The Man-Feel It Still 26
Thrillchaser-Emptiness 25
Pretty Poison-Catch Me I'm Falling 25
Skid Row-I Remember You 25
Inner City-Good Life 22
Beth Ditto-Savoir Faire 21
Boy Harsher-Face The Fire 20
Rachel Platten-Stand By You 18
The Cramps-Ultra Twist 13
Slow Knights-Signs Of life 10
Nine Inch Nails-The Perfect Drug 8
The Summer Set-The Night is Young 6
Queensryche-Della Brown 5
The Dandy Warhols-Horse Pills 4
Conan Gray-Wish You Were Sober 1


Bora York continue to be on top, but with 2 consecutive 12 points, Marilyn Manson gets into the top-3.
When it came to selecting a Manson song I was between what I chose and this one which is also one of my favourites of his:

That is my favourite Marilyn Manson song, a great selection of songs in this surlaw so fair play to you aris. The winning song is a worthy winner too

JP Liz V1

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

I hope that OneRepublic song doesn't win it. Any of the other options would be worthy, but Something I Need is easily my least favourite song of the twenty.

I had forgot my votes Ryan Tedder is very talented though

Thank you Irish Aris

JohnGreenFan

This surlaw introduced me to Conan Gray and I have since been obsessed with his album so delighted I entered. Great reveal Aris!