The next 50 bands

Last week, The Ticket named the musicians we think are The 50 Best Irish Acts Right Now.This week, by popular demand, we give you a list of the next 50.

THE FIRST 50 

1. David Holmes

2. Jape

3. Cathy Davey

4. Fight Like Apes LM1

5. Lisa Hannigan

6. Villagers

7. Roisin Murphy

8. Adrian Crowley

9. BellX1

10. Halfset

11. The Frames/The Swell

Season

12 . The Divine Comedy

13. RSAG

14. Fionn Regan

15. Jinx Lennon

16. Delorentos

17. Cap Pas Cap

18. U2

19. Chequerboard

20. Oppenheimer

21. Imelda May

22. Snow Patrol

23. Messiah J The Expert

24. My Bloody Valentine

25. David Kitt

26. Katie Kim

27. Cathal Coughlan

28. Colm Mac Con Iomaire

29. Julie Feeney

30. God Is An Astronaut

31. Spook Of The 13th Lock

32. Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill

33. Si Schroeder

34. Damien Rice

35. Duke Special

36. Iarla Ó Lionáird

37. Republic of Loose

38. The Jimmy Cake

39. Ash

40. Dark Room Notes

41. The Script

42. Heathers

43. Iain Archer

44. The Blizzards

45. Evil Harrisons

46. Mick Flannery

47. Ann Scott

48. Saville

49. David Turpin

50. Michael Knight

THE NEXT 50 

51. Sinéad OConnor

52. The Redneck Manifesto

53. Autamata

54. The Lowly Knights

55. Crayonsmith

56. Barry McCormick

57. 3epkano

58. Simple Kid

59. Cane 141

60. Captain Moonlight

61. The Flaws

62. The 202s

63. In Case Of Fire

64. Christy Moore

65. Armoured Bear

66. Gemma Hayes

67. Halves

68. We Should Be Dead

69. Cara Dillon

70. Aphex Twin

71. One Day International

72. Marc Carroll

73. Grand Pocket Orchestra

74. Robotnik

75. Miriam Ingram

76. Two Door Cinema Club

77. The Things

78. Justin Carroll

79. Alias Empire (formerly Dry County)

80. Pony Club

81. Mumblin Deaf Ro

82. Johnny Duhan

83. Fred

84. Juno Falls

85. Dublin Guitar Quartet

86. The Answer

87. Nick Kelly

88. Ugly Megan

89. Pugwash

90. Pony Club

91. The Mighty Stef

92. Giveamanakick

93. Vyvienne Long

94. Northstation

95. General Fiasco

96. Cowboy X

97. Autumn Owls

98. Adebisi Shank

99. Mundy

100. So Cow

READER COMMENTS ... 

No Gemma Hayes? – Ciaran L 

I think that yourself and the team have produced a very well considered and well-argued list. – James D 

How Monaghan based band The Flaws didn’t make it into your Top 50 list is unbelievable. And then you see the likes of Ash and The Blizzards in there? Extremely average bands that inexplicably caught a lucky break. – Dermot Kinane 

David Holmes at Number One, what an excellent outcome. Makes up for his brilliant album not getting the Choice Music Prize. As for the absent names, no Laura Izibor? Ye might regret that one in 12 months time, lads. – Smoothie 

No Mumblin Deaf Ro? Come on. – Eoin 

Some of the acts who made this are hugely questionable – Evil Harrisons, Saville, Michael Knight WTF? That said, the Top 10 – with the exception of the hugely over-rated and rubbish Halfset – is excellent.

Good list, would liked to have seen Giveamanakick/ Adebisi Shank/So Cow getting some love ahead of Delorentos though, the only thing exciting about them is their announcement of splitting up. – Aisling 

I just don’t get it. How is it that Snow Patrol are better than My Bloody Valentine? MBV are better live than most of the lis. U2 in 18th? Their album “contains some of the most mediocre music U2 have created”. So basically their merit in the list is on previous work. In this case MBV should be a lot higher. Sure why not include Thin Lizzy – they’re playing soon enough. Ash’s debut was fantastic, Van Morrison is still knocking about ... – Stampy 

I think this list is a great reminder of how much talent there is in this country. – James D 

A top 10 finish for The Villagers seems generous considering they have merely one ep under their belt. – Teddy 

Please stop making lists. It’s reductive, and to think you have Snow Patrol coming before My Bloody Valentine makes it more so, and Fight Like Apes at number four – what a joke. – Ciaran 

No Therapy?, Kila or Dudley Corporation? Gimme a break. – Niall Kitson 

Excellent genre hopping list with a bit of everything, a rarity in Irish top 50 lists. – nerraw 

A fantastic list. I’m looking forward to checking out the acts on it which I don’t know like The Evil Harrisons, Halfset and RSAG. – Caroline 

Even if I wouldn’t necessarily agree with everything on the list, which is the point of these things anyway, I think it’s a really positive reflection on the Irish music scene. What’s really reassuring is the possibilities afforded by a good record and hard work- there’s no way the likes of RSAG and Katie Kim would even have been near this list a year ago and now they’re up there in the top 25. – Chris 

Here’s my top 10 right now: bats, the pulpit, realistic train, hoovers + sledgehammers, simon the ghost, adebisi shank, estel, lynched, janey mac, vinny club. – Liam 

The fact that I can think of 20 bands off the top of my head that could easily have made that list makes me very excited about Irish music at the moment. Personally, I think it’s a shame Groom or HERM didn’t make it in there, and Dark Room Notes could have been higher. – Key Notes 

What does anybody care about what a cabal of self-appointed egomaniacs think about anything? The only purpose of these lists is to stir a little controversy, sell a few more papers and generate some web traffic. – Jeremy 

This list highlights the strength of the current Irish scene. On the other hand I’m sure that if this list is done next year then maybe 20 of those acts wouldn’t make it. – Jae 

As an even-handed overview of Irish music, this falls flat on its face because it completely exludes entire genres. – Jeremy 

Very odd that Super Extra Bonus Party, a band that won the most prestigious music prize in the country in 2008, are now not on the list of “best Irish acts right now”. Is it now generally agreed that the judges made the wrong decision? – Quint 

What do they say about the prophet in his homeland? I saw Van in NYC in February doing Astral Weeks live, and with the greatest respect to all the artists featured, would wager that none would come anywhere close. – Pasch 

The most fun I’ve had all day – yeah, more fun than watching Kilkenny wallop Cork – has been reading this thread. Well done all! – Roger 

Read more comments or post your own, at www.irishtimes.com/ blogs/ontherecord