Poll 2012-13 Results

From June 2012 to February 2013, site visitors were given the invited to vote in the fourth major Erasure poll run on this site. In total a record 690 people completed the poll, the results of which are published below. Where applicable, the results have been compared to the previous Poll 2007-08 to see how views have changed since the last poll. The following graphical key compares the results of this poll to those of the previous poll.

Charted Higher Charted Lower Non Mover New Entry

Section 1 – General

Favourite Erasure Album

Answer Votes % Graph
Chorus
138 20%
The Innocents
138 20%
Erasure
81 12%
I Say I Say I Say
70 10%
Nightbird
59 9%
Wild!
48 7%
Cowboy
37 5%
The Circus
36 5%
Light At The End Of The World
21 3%
Tomorrow's World
20 3%
Wonderland
20 3%
The Two Ring Circus
10 1%
Loveboat
4 1%
Union Street
3 0%
Other People's Songs
1 0%
Total votes: 686

Well, well, well. After nearly 9 months and 686 votes there was literally nothing between Chorus and The Innocents with both albums receiving 185 each. Poll 2003-04 winner Erasure slips to third with I Say I Say I Say in fourth spot. In fact, in all previous polls, these four albums have made up the top four every time. Few surprises are to be found at the bottom of the table, except that someone voted for Other People's Songs (surely not?!).

Favourite Erasure Song

Rank Answer Votes
1st
A Little Respect
152
2nd
Always
84
3rd
Sometimes
81
4th
Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)
74
5th
Oh L'amour
73
6th=
Blue Savannah
72
6th=
Drama!
72
8th
Hideway
54
9th
Stop!
52
10th
Breathe
49
11th
Breath Of Life
47
12th
Love To Hate You
46
13th
Chorus
45
14th
Rock Me Gently
38
15th=
Chains Of Love
35
15th=
Phantom Bride
35
17th
You Surround Me
33
18th
Sono Luminus
32
19th
Ship Of Fools
31
20th
Am I Right?
29
Total votes: 1962

For the third time, A Little Respect come out on top in the Favourite Song category, comfortably seeing off the only other previous winner in this category Always. Drama!, which was the runner-up last time out, falls down to joint 6th. Hideaway is the highest charting non-single in 8th, whilst Breathe is the only song from the 21st century to make the top 25. Personally, I was surprised to see the brilliant Waiting For The Day only chart at a lowly #43.

Favourite Erasure EP

Answer Votes % Graph
Crackers International
336 50%
ABBA-esque
178 27%
Phantom Bride EP
41 6%
Pop! Remixed
39 6%
Storm Chaser
36 5%
Rain Plus
28 4%
Moon & The Sky Plus
13 2%
Total votes: 671

A resounding and utterly warranted victory for Crackers International in this new category, with the Christmas themed EP from 1988 gaining half of all votes. No surprise to see the band's only #1 single ABBA-esque in second place, leaving the remaining EPs to fight it out for the remaining 23% of the votes. Some of you may have noticed EPs that were part of other singles (such as Am I Right? and I Love Saturday) were not eligible to be voted for.

Favourite Erasure B-Side

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Don't Suppose
45
2nd
Tenderest Moments
28
3rd=
Over The Rainbow
25
3rd=
Supernature
25
5th=
Runaround On The Underground
21
5th=
Waiting For Sex
21
7th
La La La
18
8th
Dreamlike State
17
9th=
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
13
9th=
Let It Flow
13
11th
Like Zsa Zsa Zsa Gabor
12
12th=
In The Name Of The Heart
10
12th=
True Love Wars
10
Total votes: 376

Having won two out of the three previous polls, Don't Suppose climbs back to the summit with a clear victory over previous winner Tenderest Moments. The top 5 remains largely unchanged with La La La returning to the top 10 after failing to make the grade last time out. I class When I Needed You as an album track (I guess technically it started as a b-side) – for the purists who disagree, it received 39 votes which would put it in second place.

Favourite Erasure Instrumental

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Piano Song – Instrumental
95
2nd
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
50
3rd
Tragic
46
4th
Sixty-Five Thousand
26
5th
In The Hall Of The Mountain King
20
6th=
Jacques Cousteau
19
6th=
Sweet Sweet Baby
19
8th
91 Steps
18
9th=
Carry On Clangers 16
9th=
Chertsey Endlos
16
9th=
Tomorrow's World
16
Total votes: 429

Another new category for Poll 2012-13 sees Piano Song – Instrumental voted as the best instrumental. I can't help wondering if the margin of its victory is down to more people being familiar with it than its rivals. I am pleased to see my personal favourites Tragic, Jacques Cousteau and Tomorrow's World in the top 10. Technically some of these tracks do have some limited vocals... but I'll overlook this just this once!

Favourite Erasure Sleeve / Artwork

Rank Answer Votes
1st
I Say I Say I Say
189
2nd
Chorus (Album)
65
3rd
The Innocents
45
4th
Wild!
38
5th
Nightbird
37
6th
Tomorrow's World
25
7th
Erasure
21
8th
The Circus (Album)
16
9th=
Crackers International
13
9th=
Light At The End Of The World
13
Total votes: 542

As per usual, the excellent I Say I Say I Say artwork destroys the competition, gaining almost twice as many votes as its nearest rival. The three singles from this album also all make the top 15. The Chorus album always makes the top 3 as well although it's nice to see a new entry in the form of the fine Tomorrow's World artwork. The only album sleeve not to receive a solitary vote was The Two Ring Circus.

Favourite Erasure Music Video

Rank Answer Votes
1st
A Little Respect
65
2nd
Always
48
3rd
Love To Hate You
43
4th
Sometimes
38
5th
Breathe
32
6th
Take A Chance On Me
29
7th
Chorus
23
8th
Am I Right?
20
9th
Blue Savannah
19
10th
Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
17
11th
Who Needs Love (Like That)
16
12th
Drama!
15
13th
Rock Me Gently
14
14th
Lay All Your Love On Me
12
Total votes: 533

Three out of four wins for A Little Respect in this category with the ever popular Always not far behind in second place. Joint Poll 2003-04 winner Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) continues to fall down the list and now charts at a lowly 10th place. Not sure how Blue Savannah got so many votes (I've always found it cringe-worthy), although the solitary vote for Onge's Be With You video did put a smile on my face (thank you, whoever you are)!

Favourite Erasure VHS / DVD

Rank Answer Votes
1st
The Tank, The Swan & The Balloon
263
2nd
Total Pop! Deluxe – The First 40 Hits
78
3rd
Hits! – The Videos
65
4th
The Erasure Show – Live In Cologne
45
5th
Innocents
39
6th
Pop! – The First 20 Hits
30
7th
Live At The Royal Albert Hall
28
8th
On The Road To Nashville
25
9th
Live At The Seaside
22
10th
Tiny Tour
15
11th=
ABBA-esque
7
11th=
Sanctuary – The EIS Christmas Concert 2002
7
13th
Erasure 1995-96
6
Total votes: 630

Another new category and another clear winner, with the The Tank, The Swan & The Balloon receiving a massive 42% of the total votes. It's nice to see many releases from the 21st century faring well, which can't be said for many of the other categories in this poll. Not really sure why seven people chose to vote for ABBA-esque – all the videos are found on other releases along with far more content.

Favourite Erasure Cover Version

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Solsbury Hill
93
2nd
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
47
3rd
Take A Chance On Me
44
4th
Supernature
38
5th
Lay All Your Love On Me
37
6th
Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
35
7th=
Goodnight
23
7th=
Heart Of Glass
23
9th
River Deep, Mountain High
22
10th
Voulez-Vous
21
11th
Rapture
20
12th
S.O.S.
17
13th
Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime
11
14th
Magic Moments
10
Total votes: 505

Ever since it's release in 2003, Solsbury Hill has always won this category and this time is no exception. The top three remain unchanged with previous runner-up Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) continuing to drop down the table. As previously, a couple of b-sides make the grade and all the ABBA covers are present and correct, unlike all tracks from Other People's SongsWalking In The Rain didn't receive a single vote.

Favourite Erasure Remix

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Supernature – William Orbit Remix
26
2nd
Am I Right? – The Grid Mix / Dave Bascombe Mix
19
3rd
Blue Savannah – Mark Saunders Mix
15
4th
Always – Microbots Trance Dance Mix
14
5th
Ship Of Fools – Shiver Me Timbers Mix
12
6th=
A Little Respect – Extended Mix
11
6th=
Blue Savannah – Out Of The Blue Mix
11
6th=
Drama! – Act 2
11
6th=
Oh L'amour – PWL Funky Sisters Say 'Ooh La La' Mix
11
10th=
Always – Extended Mix
10
10th=
Hideaway – Little Louie Vega Mix
10
Total votes: 694

We have a new winner! William Orbit's Supernature mix takes the crown as the best remix, jumping up from third place last time out. The top three remain unchanged although there are a lot new entries in the top 10 this time around. By-and-large, these remixes are extended/12" mixes, which makes it all the more disappointing that from 1994-2007 Mute commissioned a load of dire club mixes instead of giving the fans what they like best.

Favourite Erasure Tour

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Phantasmagorical Entertainment (1992)
179
2nd
Tomorrow's World Tour (2011)
85
3rd
Wild! Tour (1989-90)
81
4th
The Erasure Show (2005)
47
5th
Total Pop! / Forest Tour (2011)
46
6th
Cowboy Concerts (1997)
41
7th
The Innocents Tour (1988)
39
8th
Light At The End Of The World Tour (2007)
30
9th
The Other Tour (2003)
20
10th
The Tiny Tour (1996-97)
18
11th
Acoustic Tour (2006)
11
12th
Circus Tour (1987)
8
13th
Wonderland Tour (1986)
3
14th
Beats Per Minute Tour (1986)
1
Total votes: 609

For the first time users were allowed to vote for their favourite tour and it's little surprise that the spectacular Phantasmagorical Entertainment gained the most votes. It's interesting to see both tours from 2011 make the top 5 – is it because the band is getting stronger as a live act as time goes on or is it because these are most recent concerts in most people's memories? I'll leave you to make up your own mind on that one...

Least Favourite Erasure Album

Answer Votes % Graph
Loveboat
141 25%
Other People's Songs
129 23%
Union Street
106 18%
Tomorrow's World
48 8%
Light At The End Of The World
31 5%
Wonderland
24 4%
Cowboy
22 4%
Nightbird
11 2%
The Circus
11 2%
The Two Ring Circus
11 2%
Wild!
11 2%
I Say I Say I Say
10 2%
Chorus
8 1%
Erasure
6 1%
The Innocents
4 1%
Total votes: 573

Business as usual in this category as the misunderstood Loveboat tops the chart for the third successive time, with little movement to be found elsewhere. The top five are all from the 21st century, with new entry Tomorrow's World in fourth spot. That seems harsh to me – and the relatively few votes for The Two Ring Circus, which is basically a remix/unplugged album hybrid, also feels unjust to me.

Least Favourite Erasure Song

Rank Answer Votes
1st
La Gloria
72
2nd
Sixty-Five Thousand
50
3rd
You've Got To Save Me Right Now
39
4th
Freedom
34
5th
No G.D.M.
32
6th
Perchance To Dream
29
7th=
Heavenly Action
24
7th=
Sucker For Love
24
7th=
Video Killed The Radio Star
24
10th
2000 Miles
23
11th
Darlene
22
12th
Sexuality
21
13th
Moon & The Sky
19
14th=
A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot
18
14th=
Pistol
18
14th=
The Circus
18
Total votes: 1194

La Gloria always tops this particular poll and so it proves again with Sixty-Five Thousand once more in the runners-up spot. I really don't understand the disdain for You've Got To Save Me Right Now which is a new entry in third place, or how the awful Video Killed The Radio Star isn't much higher up on the table. Likewise, how can the fine The Circus make the top 15, when the weak 91 Steps does not? Can you tell I don't agree with these results?!

Least Favourite Erasure EP

Answer Votes % Graph
Moon & The Sky Plus
149 32%
Storm Chaser
88 19%
Pop! Remixed
74 16%
Phantom Bride EP
64 14%
ABBA-esque
42 9%
Rain Plus
41 9%
Crackers International
14 3%
Total votes: 472

After receiving the least amount of votes in the Favourite EP category, Moon & The Sky Plus now receives the most amount of votes in the Least Favourite EP category. I think that's a pretty comprehensive condemnation of that release then! But these results aren't simply a reversal of the Favourite EP ones; Rain Plus has come 6th in both categories, demonstrating that EP generates very little positive, or negative, passion from the fans.

Least Favourite Erasure Music Video

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Star 37
2nd
Heavenly Action 31
3rd
Freedom 27
4th
Solsbury Hill (Directed by Vince Clarke) 24
5th
Blue Savannah 18
6th=
Always 17
6th=
Who Needs Love (Like That) 17
8th=
I Love Saturday 14
8th=
Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) 14
10th
Oh L'amour (Pop! version) 13
Total votes: 363

I can't think of a more worthy "winner" in this new category than Star – a video so cheap and nasty it does no justice to its song whatsoever. I don't share the dislike for the Heavenly Action video though, which is the runner-up in this category. Quite a few videos seem to polarise opinion – Blue Savannah, Always and Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) all made the top 10 in the Favourite Music Video chart but are present here also.

Song That Should Have Been A Single

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Hideaway
31
2nd
Save Me Darling
21
3rd
Brother And Sister
19
4th
Waiting For The Day
17
5th=
Heart Of Stone
16
5th=
I Lose Myself
16
7th=
Take Me Back
13
7th=
When I Needed You
13
9th=
Alien
12
9th=
Perfect Stranger
12
Total votes: 437

Having not made the top 10 last time out Hideaway makes up for it by topping the table this time around, leaving Save Me Darling in a distant second place. In general, this is a great list of tracks, all of which would've made worthy singles (except for When I Needed You which has never resonated with me). The 37 votes for previous winner Phantom Bride weren't counted as technically this song was finally released as a single in 2009.

Song That Shouldn't Have Been A Single

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Stay With Me
40
2nd
Freedom
37
3rd
Heavenly Action
33
4th
Moon & The Sky
25
5th
When I Start To (Break It All Down)
24
6th
Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
19
7th
It Doesn't Have To Be
15
8th
Star
14
9th=
Don't Say You Love Me
12
9th=
Sunday Girl
12
11th
Boy
11
12th=
Solsbury Hill
10
12th=
The Circus
10
14th=
I Love Saturday
9
14th=
Ship Of Fools
9
Total votes: 382

Twice in a row Stay With Me gets the most votes in this category. I don't believe this is a reflection of this song's quality (it's great!) but ballads don't tend to set the charts alight and so it proved with this song. The top three remain the same, albeit in a different order with poor old Freedom once again showing its not a fans' favourite. Few songs listed here were hits – but inexplicably Solsbury Hill and Ship Of Fools make the top 15.

Section 2 – Album Ratings

Rank Answer Rating
1st
The Innocents
90.4%
2nd
Chorus
90.3%
3rd
Wild!
86.0%
4th
I Say I Say I Say
85.2%
5th=
Erasure
83.7%
5th=
The Circus
83.7%
7th
Nightbird
81.2%
8th
Cowboy
79.5%
9th
Wonderland
79.4%
10th
The Two Ring Circus
77.2%
11th
Tomorrow's World
73.6%
12th
Light At The End Of The World
72.8%
13th
Union Street
62.9%
14th
Loveboat
62.7%
15th
Other People's Songs
61.6%
Total votes: 9320

For this category, fans were invited to rank each album out of 10 with the average scores listed above as a percentage. We now finally have something to separate The Innocents and Chorus after they were tied in the Favourite Album category... even if it is just 0.1%! Wild! ranks higher than expected, especially as it is home to La Gloria, which tops the Least Favourite Song chart. Score-wise, the bottom three are well adrift from the other albums.

Section 3 – About You

Sex

Answer Votes % Graph
Male
543 80%
Female
135 20%
Total votes: 678

As is the norm, male fans vastly outnumber female fans, this time by 4-to-1. That said, the percentage of female fans has grown slightly since the last poll – but it hasn't really changed the complexion of the result a great deal!

Age

Answer Votes % Graph
Under 16
1 0%
16-21
10 1%
22-30
50 7%
31-40
347 51%
41-50
255 37%
51-60
18 3%
61+
1 0%
Total votes: 682

With little in the way of hit singles for some time, it's no real surprise that the average age of the fan base is increasing, with few new young fans discovering the band. The thirty-somethings now make up over half of all fans, down from over two-thirds previously.

Song That Made You A Fan

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Sometimes
120
2nd
Oh L'amour
111
3rd
A Little Respect
75
4th
Who Needs Love (Like That)
44
5th
Chains Of Love
35
6th
Always
31
7th
Love To Hate You
23
8th
Victim Of Love
19
9th
Chorus
18
10th=
Blue Savannah
16
10th=
Ship Of Fools
16
Total votes: 649

Despite far more people participating in this poll compared to previously, the results remain pretty much as they were with the band's first hit single in Sometimes coming out on top. Always is the most recent song here again – next is Breathe well down the list in 19th place. The highest ranked album track is Hideaway in 17th.

First Erasure Album Owned

Answer Votes % Graph
Wonderland
179 27%
The Innocents
163 24%
The Circus
108 16%
Chorus
68 10%
Wild!
55 8%
I Say I Say I Say
40 6%
The Two Ring Circus
25 4%
Erasure
9 1%
Cowboy
8 1%
Nightbird
6 1%
Light At The End Of The World
5 1%
Loveboat
3 0%
Other People's Songs
2 0%
Tomorrow's World
2 0%
Union Street
0 0%
Total votes: 673

Us Erasure fans are a loyal bunch aren't we – debut album Wonderland was the first album for over a quarter of people and while it didn't set the charts alight it did result in several life-long fans. Four of the next five albums topped the UK album charts, but welcome aboard to handful of fans who didn't discover the band until the turn of the century.

Favourite Other Bands / Artists

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Depeche Mode
278
2nd
Pet Shop Boys
219
3rd
Yazoo
76
4th
Madonna
66
5th
O.M.D.
56
6th
New Order
55
7th
The Cure
44
8th
Kylie
26
9th
ABBA
24
10th
A-ha
33
11th
Keane
33
12th=
Duran Duran
30
12th=
Queen
30
14th
U2
29
15th
Kraftwerk
27
Total votes: 2705

The usual suspects take the top two spots (as they always have) with a familiar looking top six also. A few artists return to a list pretty much comprised of golden oldies – the youngest artist to feature is Lady Gaga, but she is well down the rankings in 19th place.