Rush? In defense of John

[Andrew Gilham]

It struck me that the best survey I had access to for this sort of question
was the "Similarities Engine" (didn't note the URL, just do an Alta Vista
search on "similarities engine", OK).  They say they've got 18,000 responders,
each of whom listed some of their favourite bands.  They then did a cluster
analysis or something (they're a bit secretive about the exact methodology)
and so now if you type in a band name, you get some recommendations.  The
results still look shaky to me - they must have over 1,000 artists listed for
one thing, so the density of information about some of the less mainstream
names will be low.  But FWIW, here's their results for BOC and HW:

Your Choice--> BLUE OYSTER CULT _

Recommendations:
Artist  Confidence
JUDAS PRIEST Medium
HAWKWIND Medium
RUSH Medium
JETHRO TULL Medium
PINK FLOYD Low
SAGA Low
NEW ORDER Low
MARINO,FRANK Low
DION Low
REO SPEEDWAGON Low
COOPER,ALICE Low
CABARET VOLTAIRE Low


Your Choice--> HAWKWIND _

Recommendations:
Artist  Confidence
FROESE,EDGAR Very High
STOCKHAUSEN,K. High
ELOY High
OZRIC TENTACLES High
GONG Medium
DEVO Medium
BLUE OYSTER CULT Medium
AMON DUUL Medium
SCREAMING BLUE MESSIAHS Medium
BLACK SABBATH Medium
ZAPPA,FRANK Medium
BOLT THROWER Low
CRACK THE SKY Low
RIDGWAY,STAN Low
ALLEGRI,G. Low
MONSTER MAGNET Low
ANTISEEN Low
10CC Low
ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA Low
CALVERT,ROBERT Low


Observations:

BOC and HW are on each other's lists!  I think that's probably because several
of *us* submitted entries, when this started a couple of years ago.

I think "DION" should be "DIO" - although there is a simple link between BOC
and Celine Dion* .

Rush *do* come highly on the BOC list, and Gong and Ozrics on the HW, so this
gives *some* weight to the original assertion.  However, all are only rated
"medium" confidence (whatever that means).  I suspect that even though those
names are among the most commonly mentioned, they are still only mentioned by
a minority.

Who the bloody hell are Allegri, G and Antiseen?  I do feel the presence of
such obscure acts does tend to cast doubts over the whole thing.

The only *very high* confidence observation is Edgar Froese!  I mean, he's all
right, but hardly the clearest and most obvious!

10 bloody cc?????

- Andy

* both have recorded Aldo Nova songs

Andy Gilham/Andy_Gilham at msn.com/Andy_Gilham at compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Andy_Gilham