Comments on: It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

drezdn — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:23:13 -0800

Six degrees of Nirvana, see how bands are connected to each other.

By: milnak

milnak — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:36:33 -0800

This is fun. Who knew there was a connection between G.G. Allin & The Holy Men and Old & In the Way?

By: underer

underer — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 23:52:06 -0800

Bachman-Turner Overdrive to Buzzcocks in 15 steps And those 15 steps were gruelling.

By: Bdave

Bdave — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:24:25 -0800

Split Enz to Dead Kennedys in 17 steps. Crazy. I recall seeing one of these before but with no pictures of the albums. May have been a Misfits site, methinks. Anyway, a pre-emptive [this is good]

By: Bdave

Bdave — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:31:20 -0800

Ahh, blessed Google. The previously mentioned similar page, albeit offline for now.

By: underer

underer — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:41:09 -0800

Huey Lewis & The News to Gwar in 18 steps Which included Shellac and Mission of Burma!

By: trinarian

trinarian — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:46:25 -0800

Les Claypool is the chronic link between every band I've tried. My largest degree of separation so far is twelve.

By: handee

handee — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:48:58 -0800

But if you try and go from Talking Heads to Public Image Limited, it takes a step longer than it ought. Adrian Belew played with Talking Heads directly so there is, as ever, NO NEED FOR THE TOM TOM CLUB.

By: trinarian

trinarian — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 01:01:30 -0800

I've got 19 now between Snot (mid-90's metal band that would have gone somewhere save the death of its lead singer) and The Animals (House of the Rising Sun), which went through both Ugly Kid Joe and Jimmy Page :-)

By: underer

underer — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 01:41:21 -0800

Ruins to The Alan Parsons Project in 19 steps And you can only ever get 15 steps away from Nation of Ulysses.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 03:26:08 -0800

Crazy Horse to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 17 steps. Hmm, that's efficient.

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 04:12:17 -0800

Where are the Bacon Brothers?

By: 13twelve

13twelve — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 04:46:45 -0800

Guns'N'Roses to The Vandals in way too many steps cos Josh Freese drummed for both. Or maybe he didnt. Now I dont know!

By: Jairus

Jairus — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 04:53:02 -0800

It's amazing how many band links/albums/members this database doesn't have. I'm willing to bet that most of these band-to-band links can be done in a half-dozen steps, but the DB just doesn't have the info to map it properly.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 05:03:37 -0800

Bolt Thrower to anything is good for some uncomfortable squirming regarding one's musical past.

By: MotorNeuron

MotorNeuron — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 05:32:06 -0800

" Crazy Horse to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 17 steps. Hmm, that's efficient." And Neil Young is not one of those steps!

By: Witty

Witty — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 05:35:17 -0800

22 steps from Atheist to Big Audio Dynamite II.

By: Wulfgar!

Wulfgar! — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:07:49 -0800

Out of about 10 linking attempts, 8 of them involved Rainbow as a step. Wild.

By: bardic

bardic — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:12:08 -0800

It cheats a bit by using compilation albums, but still quite rad. Anal Cunt to Bikini Kill? No problem!

By: emelenjr

emelenjr — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:30:54 -0800

The Beatles to Poison in 9 steps? Whoa. You all remember Poison, don't you? Unskinny bop bop bop bop...

By: terrapin

terrapin — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:42:58 -0800

Can't even find my favorite band, moe. And they backed up Bob Weir on at least one Furthur Festival tour, so I at least expected to see some connections. *shrug*

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 06:44:27 -0800

>22 steps from Atheist to Big Audio Dynamite II. And so not worth the trip.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 07:25:57 -0800

Great stuff, though very uneven as previously mentioned. I was surprised to see Air Miami, who I was just listening to this morning and thinking how nobody's heard of them these days. On the other hand, let's look at the letter Q... Qango, Quasi, Queens Of The Stone Age, Quicksand, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Quiet Riot, Quiet Sun Hmmmmmm... seems like there might be some low-profile band missing there... and don't tell me not one member ever worked with anybody else...!

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 07:52:18 -0800

Someone entering the band data etc likes DC punk rock, which is always a good thing to like. Air Miami was the first band I saw and realized that the site was going to have music I cared about. They even have the Vile Cherubs. Very cool.

By: bardic

bardic — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 07:58:29 -0800

soyjoy--You forgot another great DC band, Q and Not U.

By: sour cream

sour cream — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 08:12:20 -0800

This is really fun. Although the guy who owns this site has a really weird record collection. I mean seriously, Midget Handjob? ... Worst. Band. Name. Evar.

By: Ptrin

Ptrin — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 08:18:14 -0800

Brian Setzer Orchestra to Electric Light Orchestra in 10. Brian Setzer Orchestra to Shellac in 8. I can hear the music of the spheres...

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 09:14:48 -0800

Tony Iommi and Al Pitrelli are also huge hubs in this network.

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 09:26:44 -0800

The previously mentioned similar page, albeit offline for now. This is actually an updated version of that page, done by the same people. And yes, one of the people doing the research is a punk fan from DC. They're continuously adding stuff to the database, so feel free to email them with stuff you know that they've left out, althought they're apparently swamped with emails as it is.

By: donut

donut — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 09:48:30 -0800

Musicplasma shows how bands (they extended the service, now works with movies too) are connected according to "interests, style, epoch and other criteria". Requires flash, but it's funny.

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 09:50:49 -0800

The Beatles to weezer in 12 steps. No Beach Boys?

By: jeffj

jeffj — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:10:41 -0800

Who'da thought that The Smiths to The Rapture would take 20 steps and go through Eric Clapton? Also, it's interesting to note that if you reverse the order of the endpoints, you can get a slightly different route. Though I suppose it would be harder to design an algorithm that DIDN'T have this property.

By: Down10

Down10 — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:45:55 -0800

Anal Cunt to Hole in 13 steps.

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 12:31:45 -0800

Anal Cunt to Hole in 13 steps. Only took me two dates.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:39:58 -0800

Yeah, but those were with your mother.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:40:50 -0800

username joke, folks. Don't get upset.

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 13:52:51 -0800

Wow. I am so bookmarking this link. Thanx drezdn.

By: Kleptophoria!

Kleptophoria! — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:05:14 -0800

The only way any band connects to U2 is via Brian Eno, it seems. Which probably makes sense, considering "Passengers" (with Brian Eno) is the only sideproject any U2 guy has ever been in. Pretty cool.

By: go vegan

go vegan — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 15:35:14 -0800

It's good to see that so many people are enjoying the site. I saw a few things that I'd like to respond to all at once: > Crazy Horse to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 17 steps. > Hmm, that's efficient. Right now, bandtoband.com focuses on bands as individual units. We exclude solo artists (Madonna is not a band) and we exclude collaborations between bands (Run D.M.C. and Aerosmith recording "Walk This Way" together is a collaboration involving two bands, not one super-band in which Reverend Run and Steven Tyler are both members). Sure, we recognize that Neil Young & Crazy Horse is important, but because Crazy Horse, the band has released albums apart from Neil Young, the solo artist, we think of Neil Young & Crazy Horse as a collaboration. If a supporting band only records with a solo artist fronting the band, as in the case of Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, we'll list the whole unit as one band because there's no other way to get the supporting band into the tree. We've got some pretty detailed rules on how and why we do things the way we do: http://www.bandtoband.com/index.php?Page=Rules > But if you try and go from Talking Heads to Public Image > Limited, it takes a step longer than it ought. Adrian > Belew played with Talking Heads directly so there is, as > ever, NO NEED FOR THE TOM TOM CLUB. If I remember correctly, Adrian Belew was a contributor to one studio album ("Remain in Light" on which he doesn't seem to be treated as a band member) and he also performed on a live album. For a number of reasons, we avoid live albums unless the band in question only put out live albums. One of the reasons (and of course, nobody has to agree with us) is that we think it's very easy for someone to temporarily "join" a band as a substitute member or as part of an augmented performance lineup and then disappear without ever contributing to the music-making process. We also do not count guest appearances, session musician participation (e.g., Aynsley Dunbar played drums on tons of albums, but we only list him as a band member when appropriate), production credits, or "my brother was a backup hand-clapper on one song" as signs of legitimate band membership. So, on those theories, WE DO NEED THE TOM TOM CLUB. Excuse me for shouting. Of course, we're not experts on every band (I've only heard one Talking Heads song), so if we're wrong, please email us so we can shorten the connection. > It's amazing how many band links/albums/members this > database doesn't have. Ouch! I'm amazed that we even have 2000. There are just two of us doing it (along with a handful of loyal and persistent contributors) and we go to great lengths to verify all the data. It takes a lot longer than you might think. For the past seven weeks, we've averaged about 100 new bands per week and we thought that was great. It's a work-in-progress that we add to when we have time. If you want to start paying us, I'm sure we can do it full-time... And if you want to start contributing, please visit the "Help" page: http://www.bandtoband.com/index.php?Page=Help > It cheats a bit by using compilation albums, but still > quite rad. Bandtoband.com considers only "official" band lineups that released music on a single, a full album, or a compilation album. Sometimes the only appearance of a legitimate band member is on a compilation. One example of this is Jason Everman, a former member of Nirvana who recorded only one song with the band, which was released on a Kiss tribute album. In our database, we treat compilations like one-song albums by the band in question, thereby ignoring every other band on the album. We do NOT use compilations to connect to other bands that happen to be featured on that album. That certainly would be cheating. Sometimes we throw in a compilation album so you don't have to see the same image every time. For example, we got really tired of seeing the same old Mad Season and Class Of '55 album covers, so we found compilation albums that featured the same lineups. > This is actually an updated version of that page, done by > the same people. It's the third online version we've worked on. You can also see the original "paper" version on the "Fun Stuff" page. Thanks for visiting the site. http://bandtoband.com

By: schyler523

schyler523 — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 00:35:09 -0800

Cheers Go Vegan!... [this is good.]

By: bwg

bwg — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 02:01:57 -0800

How I can I take this seriously when The Tragically Hip isn't listed?

By: handee

handee — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 02:06:01 -0800

Cheers go vegan - I'd assumed it was to do with being credited on album sleeves, rather than through actual band membership. Although band membership is a decidedly nebulous thing - some "bands" (the The or anything involving Eno for example) seem to be one person with different musicians each album. Whether or not Adrian Belew made as much of a contribution to Remain In Light as Johnny Marr did to Mind Bomb is one of those questions I could probably ponder for far too long, but by your rules - you do need the tom tom club. bad luck:)

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 05:05:35 -0800

I always thought this game would work best with Elvis Costello.

By: go vegan

go vegan — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 10:05:06 -0800

> is a decidedly nebulous thing - some "bands" (the The or > anything involving Eno for example) seem to be one > person with different musicians each album. No doubt. It's a lot harder than we thought it would be, especially when we know so little about most of the bands being submitted now. We created the "rules" so we could be consistent about who we treat as band members and bands, but it obviously creates some bizarre results!

By: MiltonRandKalman

MiltonRandKalman — Fri, 18 Mar 2005 15:34:35 -0800

AC/DC to Anthrax #3. Priceless.

By: tjarrett

tjarrett — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 05:59:03 -0800

Regarding Brian Eno and U2 and connecting to the band, that really shouldn't be true. I think it's an artifact of the rules (no session gigs, no production credits, etc.) For instance, Daniel Lanois was credited as co-producer with Eno all the way, and has done some substantial production work, including playing instruments, with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris--and Emmylou should connect you to just about anybody, considering the number of folks she's sung duets with or backup for (Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams, Steve Earle, Neil Young, and a whole host of other artists). I guess that's as good a reason as any to restrict these connections to permanent band members. Someone like Emmylou would shortcircuit all of these connection chains. For instance: Emmylou's 1995 album Wrecking Ball featured Daniel Lanois in the booth... and Larry Mullen, Jr. on drums. So U2 to Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams, etc. in two steps.

By: serafinapekkala

serafinapekkala — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 14:49:40 -0800

Klepto: More U2 'side projects' which spring to mind: U2 played backup on "Sweet Fire of Love", from a Robbie Robertson album; Bono sang a duet "In A Lifetime" on a Clannad album, and The Edge recorded a movie soundtrack Captive in 1987, on which Sinead O'Connor & Larry Mullen performed.