Poll 2018 Results

During a 6 week period in Autumn 2018, site visitors were invited to vote in the fifth major Erasure poll run on this site. In total, 480 fans participated in the poll and the results are published below. Where applicable, the results have been compared to the previous Poll 2012-13 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
The Innocents
211 17%
Chorus
188 15%
Erasure
128 10%
Wild!
126 10%
I Say I Say I Say
111 9%
Nightbird
109 9%
The Violet Flame
79 6%
The Circus
68 6%
Cowboy
61 5%
Wonderland
42 3%
World Be Gone
31 3%
The Two Ring Circus
21 2%
Light At The End Of The World
20 2%
Loveboat
11 1%
Tomorrow's World
9 1%
Snow Globe
5 0%
Union Street
5 0%
Other People's Songs
4 0%
World Beyond
2 0%
Total votes: 1231

Last time out, there was nothing to choose between The Innocents and Chorus but this time around, with fans allowed to vote for multiple albums, we have a clear winner. For the first time ever, I Say I Say I Say drops out of the top four with Wild! taking its place and there is a notable new entry at #7 in The Violet Flame. Unsurprisingly, the bottom 7 albums are from 2000 onwards.

Favourite Erasure Song

Rank Answer Votes
1st
A Little Respect
138
2nd=
Always
85
2nd=
Drama!
85
4th
Phantom Bride
81
5th
Stop!
72
6th
Fingers and Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)
67
7th
Sometimes
62
8th
Hideaway
60
9th
Blue Savannah
59
10th
Chorus
58
11th
Oh L'amour
53
12th=
Breathe
51
12th=
Rock Me Gently
51
14th
Love To Hate You
44
15th
Victim Of Love
38
16th
Breath Of Life
37
17th
Home
35
18th=
Chains Of Love
34
18th=
Sacred
34
20th
Take Me Back
32
Total votes: 2247

It comes as no surprise, especially having won this category three times previously, that the iconic A Little Respect is overwhelmingly voted as the fans' favourite song. The ever-popular Phantom Bride continues its rise and breaks into the top four for the first time. Only two songs from the 21st century (Breathe in joint 12th and Sacred in joint 18th) make the top 20. I've made a Spotify playlist of the Top 50 Songs for your enjoyment.

Favourite Erasure Compilation

Answer Votes % Graph
From Moscow To Mars (2016)
167 35%
Total Pop! The First 40 Hits (2009)
120 25%
Pop! The First 20 Hits (1992)
116 25%
Always - The Very Best Of Erasure (2015)
31 7%
Hits! - The Very Best Of Erasure (2003)
28 6%
Pop2! The Second 20 Hits (2009)
8 2%
Essential (2012)
1 0%
Total votes: 471

Despite coming in for a fair amount of criticism upon its release in 2016, From Moscow To Mars is triumphant in this new category, receiving over a third of the total vote. Pop! and Total Pop! each received 25% of the vote, with the remaining compilations barely registering – and surely the single vote for Essential was a mistake?!

Favourite Erasure EP

Answer Votes % Graph
Crackers International
265 56%
ABBA-esque
140 30%
Storm Chaser
18 4%
Phantom Bride EP
17 4%
Pop! Remixed
13 3%
Rain Plus
11 2%
Moon & The Sky Plus
8 2%
Total votes: 472

Not a lot has changed in this category since the last time out with Crackers International sweeping up well over half of the vote to be victorious once again. Second placed ABBA-esque received 30% of the vote leaving the remaining EPs to fight over the scraps. It's been nearly a decade since the last EP was released – I can't help feeling we're due another one soon.

Favourite Erasure B-Side

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Don't Suppose
102
2nd
Supernature
69
3rd
Dreamlike State
62
4th
Over The Rainbow
50
5th
Die 4 Love
45
6th
Waiting For Sex
42
7th=
La La La
40
7th=
Runaround On The Underground
40
9th
Let It Flow
39
10th
Tenderest Moments
35
11th
The Soldier's Return
31
12th
Ghost
21
13th
March On Down The Line
20
Total votes: 1026

Having won three out of the four previous polls, Don't Suppose cements its place as the band's most popular b-side after this convincing victory. Having finished second last time, Tenderest Moments inexplicably plummets to 10th spot. Die 4 Love is a high new entry in 5th spot and is the only song from this century to feature. Rightly or wrongly, I don't class When I Needed You or The Hardest Part as b-sides – for those that do, they would have charted at joint 5th and 13th respectively. Fancy a listen? Check out my Top 20 B-Sides Spotify playlist.

Favourite Erasure Instrumental

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Piano Song – Instrumental
50
2nd
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
34
3rd
Tragic
29
4th
Sixty-Five Thousand
26
5th=
91 Steps
20
5th=
Dodo
20
7th
Snappy
18
8th
In the Hall Of The Mountain King
16
9th
Tomorrow's World
14
10th
Jacques Cousteau
13
11th
Chertsey Endlos
12
Total votes: 317

Not a great deal of movement from last time out with the top four being exactly the same as in the previous poll. Dodo makes a surprise entry into the top 10 at #6, along with Snappy in 7th place. The most recent instrumental, Nothing I Could Say just fails to make the grade down in 13th place. Some of these tracks have some limited vocals, but we'll bend the rules a little...

Favourite Erasure Sleeve / Artwork

Rank Answer Votes
1st
I Say I Say I Say
128
2nd
Chorus (Album)
50
3rd
The Innocents
34
4th
Wild!
26
5th
The Circus (Album)
22
6th
Erasure
20
7th
World Be Gone (Album)
18
8th
Nightbird
14
9th
Cowboy
12
10th
Crackers International EP
10
Total votes: 408

As always, the excellent I Say I Say I Say artwork absolutely destroys the competition registering more than twice as many votes as the Chorus album in second place and over a quarter of all votes cast. Once more, the top 4 remain the same as previously, although there is a notable new entry in 7th place in the form of the World Be Gone album.

Favourite Erasure Music Video

Rank Answer Votes
1st
A Little Respect
42
2nd
Always
37
3rd
Sometimes
36
4th
Love To Hate You
31
5th
Drama!
37
6th
Breathe
24
7th=
Blue Savannah
21
7th=
Take A Chance On Me
21
9th
Chorus
16
10th
Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer's Day)
14
11th
Am I Right?
11
12th
Rock Me Gently
10
Total votes: 408

Four consecutive victories for A Little Respect in this category, to go along with its dominance in the Favourite Song category. Always has always been another popular choice but was 6 votes shy of the top spot. Breathe remains the only video this century to make the top 12, now that the once popular Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) has fallen out of favour.

Favourite Erasure VHS / DVD

Rank Answer Votes
1st
The Tank, The Swan & The Balloon (1993)
207
2nd
Wild! (1990)
60
3rd
Hits! – The Videos (2003)
46
4th
Innocents (1988)
33
5th
Live At The Seaside (1987)
26
6th
Pop! – The First 20 Hits (1992)
23
7th
The Erasure Show – Live In Cologne (2005)
14
8th
ABBA-esque (1992)
10
9th
Tiny Tour (1998)
8
10th=
Live At The Royal Albert Hall (2008)
7
10th=
On The Road To Nashville (2007)
7
12th
Sanctuary – The EIS Christmas Concert (2003)
5
12th
Erasure 1995-96 (1996)
1
Total votes: 447

Well, I've a confession to make here... I've messed up on this particular category. In the previous poll I mistakenly omitted Wild! from this list and this time around I've forgotten to include Total Pop! Deluxe – The First 40 Hits. That renders these results pretty much flawed, but given the massive lead The Tank, The Swan & The Balloon has enjoyed both times I very much doubt the winner would have been any different even if I had included all the options on the poll!

Favourite Erasure Cover Version

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Solsbury Hill
116
2nd
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
83
3rd
Supernature
77
4th
Lay All Your Love On Me
74
5th
S.O.S.
70
6th
Take A Chance On Me
67
7th
Atomic
65
8th
Voulez-Vous
58
9th
Heart Of Glass
56
10th
Rapture
48
11th
Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
45
12th
River Deep, Mountain High
43
13th
Goodnight
40
14th
Hi NRG
28
15th
Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
19
Total votes: 1049

Ever since its release in 2003, Solsbury Hill has always won this category and history repeats itself again here. There's a high new entry at #7 for Atomic, which much like fellow Blondie cover Heart Of Glass has only been released as a live rather than studio recording. Not a single cover from Snow Globe makes the top 15, although Gaudete only just missed out down in 17th place.

Favourite Erasure Remix

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Am I Right? – Grid Mix / Dave Bascombe Mix
33
2nd
Supernature – William Orbit Remix
28
3rd=
A Little Respect – Big Train Mix
17
3rd=
Victim Of Love – Vixen Vitesse Mix
17
5th=
Stop! – 12" Remix
16
5th=
You Surround Me – Mark Saunders Remix
16
7th=
Drama! – Krucial Mix
13
7th=
Hideaway – Little Louie Vega Mix
13
9th=
Always – Extended Mix
9
9th=
Blue Savannah – Mark Saunders Remix
9
Total votes: 663

With so many remixes existing, the votes were spread very thin resulting in many remixes receiving the same number of votes. Despite that, we have a clear and extremely worthy winner in Dave Bascombe's Am I Right – Grid Mix which topples Supernature – William Orbit Remix from the summit. The host of new entries in the rest of the top 10 show there isn't much of a consensus among the fanbase it would seem. You can listen to these on my Top 10 Remixes Spotify playlist.

Favourite Erasure Tour

Answer Votes % Graph
Phantasmagorical Entertainment (1992)
155 34%
Wild! Tour (1989-90)
64 14%
World Be Gone Tour (2017-18)
51 11%
Violet Flame Tour (2014)
40 9%
Cowboy Concerts (1997)
27 6%
The Erasure Show (2005)
24 5%
The Innocents Tour (1988)
23 5%
The Tiny Tour (1996-97)
20 4%
Total Pop! / Forest Tour (2011)
16 4%
Acoustic Tour (2006)
9 2%
The Other Tour (2003)
8 2%
Tomorrow's World Tour (2011)
6 1%
Circus Tour (1987)
5 1%
Light At The End Of The World Tour (2007)
5 1%
Wonderland Tour (1986)
2 0%
Beats Per Minute Tour (1986)
1 0%
Total votes: 456

Over a third of the vote goes to Phantasmagorical Entertainment as it reclaims its crown as the best tour. There are high new entries for the two most recent tours in the World Be Gone Tour and the Violet Flame Tour but if history is anything to go by their time near the top will be short lived – the Tomorrow's World Tour has plummeted from 2nd spot last time out to 12th this time, picking up only 1% of the total vote.

Least Favourite Erasure Album

Answer Votes % Graph
Loveboat
145 15%
Other People's Songs
138 15%
Union Street
130 14%
Tomorrow's World
77 8%
Snow Globe
72 8%
World Beyond
71 7%
World Be Gone
53 6%
Light At The End Of The World
51 5%
The Violet Flame
34 4%
Wonderland
31 3%
The Two Ring Circus
28 3%
Cowboy
27 3%
Erasure
20 2%
Nightbird
19 2%
The Circus
17 2%
I Say I Say I Say
11 1%
Wild!
11 1%
The Innocents
9 1%
Chorus
5 1%
Total votes: 949

Poor old Loveboat! Ever since this category was introduced, the 2000 album has always been voted the least favourite, although it's lead over Other People's Songs is a slender one. The top 4 remain unchanged, with the top 9 all being albums from this century (only Nightbird in 14th place stops the 10 albums released since the turn of the millennium making up the entire top 10).

Least Favourite Erasure Song

Rank Answer Votes
1st
La Gloria
47
2nd
Sixty-Five Thousand
33
3rd
No G.D.M.
26
4th
Perchance To Dream
20
5th
Freedom
19
6th
Sucker For Love
17
7th
Then I Go Twisting
16
8th
You've Got to Save Me Right Now
15
9th=
Heavenly Action
12
9th=
Moon & The Sky
12
11th=
Sexuality
11
11th=
The Circus
11
13th=
91 Steps
10
13th=
Crying In The Rain
10
13th=
Elevation
10
13th=
Take Me Out Of Myself
10
Total votes: 719

In some categories in this poll we've only ever had a single winner and it's no different here as La Gloria continues to be regarded as the fans' least favourite song. Album filler Sixty-Five Thousand finishes 2nd for the fourth time (and has never been lower than 3rd). Freedom is the highest ranked single (although I find it inexplicable that The Circus also makes the grade down in joint 11th place).

Least Favourite Erasure Compilation

Answer Votes % Graph
Essential (2012)
206 59%
Hits! - The Very Best Of Erasure (2003)
41 12%
From Moscow To Mars (2016)
28 8%
Pop2! The Second 20 Hits (2009)
27 8%
Always - The Very Best Of Erasure (2015)
25 7%
Pop! The First 20 Hits (1992)
14 4%
Total Pop! The First 40 Hits (2009)
11 3%
Total votes: 352

A clear and obvious choice tops this category with the disingenuously named Essential receiving over half of the total vote. Interestingly the favourite winner From Moscow To Mars is the third least favourite – highlighting how much this particular compilation has divided the fanbase.

Least Favourite Erasure EP

Answer Votes % Graph
Moon & The Sky Plus
92 26%
Storm Chaser
78 22%
Pop! Remixed
72 20%
Phantom Bride EP
46 13%
Rain Plus
31 9%
ABBA-esque
23 7%
Crackers International
11 3%
Total votes: 353

This new category sees a near reversal of the results for the Favourite EP category with the Moon & The Sky Plus EP receiving the unenviable least favourite EP title. The releases from the 80s and 90s make up the lowest ranked EPs - but I'll never understand how anyone, let alone 11 people could possibly vote for Crackers International here!

Least Favourite Erasure B-Side

Rank Answer Votes
1st
No G.D.M.
50
2nd
Vitamin C
27
3rd
91 Steps
24
4th
Like Zsa Zsa Zsa Gabor
22
5th=
Love Is Colder Than Death
14
5th=
Snappy
14
7th=
Better
13
7th=
Carry On Clangers
13
7th=
Dodo
13
10th=
Don't Say No
12
10th=
The Soldier's Return
12
Total votes: 448

Another new category and another inaugural winner in the form of No G.D.M.. Quite a few of these tracks are instrumentals or have very limited vocals. The newest song here is Better from the year 2000 which bucks the trend somewhat as in most other least favourite categories the more recent releases have dominated.

Least Favourite Erasure Music Video

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Star
27
2nd
Elevation
16
3rd
Freedom
15
4th=
Blue Savannah
14
4th=
Heavenly Action
14
6th
Solsbury Hill (Directed by Vince Clarke)
13
7th
I Could Fall In Love With You (Kissing Video)
11
8th
Run To The Sun
8
9th=
Always
6
9th=
Sometimes
6
Total votes: 214

The usual suspects are present and correct here but with the notable addition of the Elevation video, which although fairly slick, was completely devoid of any character (and Andy and Vince for that matter!). Interestingly, both Always and Sometimes make the top 10 on both the favourite and least favourite video categories.

Least Favourite Erasure Cover Version

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Video Killed The Radio Star
42
2nd
Ebb Tide
34
3rd
Can't Help Falling In Love
29
4th
Everyday
26
5th=
Rapture
20
5th=
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
20
7th
Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
17
8th=
Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime
16
8th=
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
16
10th=
Heart Of Glass
15
10th=
No G.D.M.
15
Total votes: 464

Another new category and I can't think of a more worthy winner than the awful Video Killed The Radio Star. Seven out of the top 10 tracks are from Other People's Songs – in fact all songs from that album make the top 15. Despite being the least popular b-side, No G.D.M. is only down in joint 10th position.

Song That Should Have Been A Single

Rank Answer Votes
1st=
Heart Of Stone
19
1st=
Save Me Darling
19
3rd
Hideaway
17
4th
Brother And Sister
14
5th
Home
12
6th=
Supernature
11
6th=
Waiting For The Day
11
8th
Under The Wave
9
9th
Die 4 Love
8
10th
Take Me Back
7
Total votes: 350

When oh when will people learn that Phantom Bride was released as a single? I appreciate the 53 of you who voted for this song, which would have put it miles out in 1st place, were saying it should have been released in 1988 and not 21 years later but I simply can't accept the votes for it in this category! Some cracking songs do make the grade though and it's interesting to see two b-sides in Supernature and Die 4 Love in the top 10.

Song That Shouldn't Have Been A Single

Rank Answer Votes
1st=
Stay With Me
25
1st=
Freedom
25
3rd
Heavenly Action
15
4th
Love You To The Sky
13
5th
Am I Right?
12
6th
Moon & The Sky
11
7th=
Elevation
10
7th=
Sunday Girl
10
9th
Gaudete
8
10th=
Don't Say You Love Me
7
10th=
Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
7
Total votes: 258

I've always found this to be an interesting topic as I don't believe that the songs listed above are voted for because people think they are bad songs, but for other reasons like not being very radio friendly or there being better album tracks that should have been released instead. Regardless, Stay With Me reclaims its top spot, but this time has to share the spoils with Freedom.

Section 2 – Album Ratings

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Chorus
91.4%
2nd
The Innocents
90.6%
3rd
Wild!
86.6%
4th
I Say I Say I Say
85.3%
5th
Erasure
83.5%
6th
The Circus
81.2%
7th
Nightbird
80.8%
8th
Cowboy
78.9%
9th
The Violet Flame
78.3%
10th
Wonderland
75.4%
11th
The Two Ring Circus
74.4%
12th
World Be Gone
73.5%
13th
Light At The End Of The World
69.2%
14th
Tomorrow's World
67.4%
15th
Snow Globe
66.0%
16th
World Beyond
63.0%
17th
Loveboat
62.2%
18th
Union Street
60.5%
19th
Other People's Songs
57.9%
Total votes: 8053

For this category, fans were invited to rank each album out of 10 with the average scores listed above as a percentage. Unlike in the Favourite Album category, it is Chorus and not The Innocents that triumphs with an impress score of over 91%. There's not a lot of movement in the top 10 whilst at the foot of the table it's not the Least Favourite Album winner Loveboat in last but Other People's Songs instead.

Section 3 – About You

Sex

Answer Votes % Graph
Male
392 83%
Female
80 17%
Total votes: 472

Nothing much has changed in the gender of the average Erasure fan in the 18 years I've been running these polls with the vast majority of the fanbase being male.

Age

Answer Votes % Graph
Under 16
3 1%
16-21
3 1%
22-30
8 2%
31-40
64 14%
41-50
340 72%
51-60
52 11%
61+
3 1%
Total votes: 473

What a loyal bunch we Erasure fans are. As each poll goes by, the average age goes up as the fans stick by the band, but few new, younger fans enter the fray.

Song That Made You A Fan

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Sometimes
95
2nd
Oh L'amour
59
3rd
A Little Respect
39
4th
Who Needs Love (Like That)
29
5th
Chains Of Love
23
6th
Always
22
7th=
Chorus
16
7th=
Victim Of Love
16
9th
Stop!
14
10th=
Love To Hate You
11
10th=
Ship Of Fools
11
10th=
The Circus
11
Total votes: 445

It comes as little surprise that the band's 1986 breakthrough hit Sometimes spawned so many lifetime fans but even before the hits the band still had started to build its fanbase as chart flops Oh L'amour and Who Needs Love (Like That) are in the top 4. The most recent track is Always, which incidentally was the song that started it all for me!

First Erasure Album Owned

Answer Votes % Graph
Wonderland
123 26%
The Innocents
104 22%
The Circus
82 17%
Wild!
43 9%
Chorus
29 6%
Pop! The First 20 Hits
26 6%
I Say I Say I Say
25 5%
The Two Ring Circus
21 4%
Erasure
6 1%
Cowboy
4 1%
Nightbird
3 1%
Tomorrow's World
2 0%
Total Pop! The First 40 Hits
2 0%
Hits! – The Very Best Of Erasure
1 0%
Light At The End Of The World
1 0%
Other People's Songs
1 0%
Total votes: 472

For the first time compilation albums were added to the options that people could vote for to see what difference that would have on the results. In reality, it didn't really change the complexion of things a great deal as the top three remain unchanged. It would appear the last album to significantly gain new fans was I Say I Say I Say back in 1994.

Favourite Other Bands / Artists

Rank Answer Votes
1st
Depeche Mode
191
2nd
Pet Shop Boys
146
3rd
Yazoo
69
4th
O.M.D.
00
5th
New Order
42
6th
Madonna
36
7th
The Cure
27
8th
Duran Duran
26
9th
Queen
25
10th
ABBA
24
11th=
George Michael
21
11th=
Soft Cell
21
11th=
U2
21
14th
David Bowie
20
15th
A-ha
19
Total votes: 1912

Some things never change! Five polls conducted over nearly two decades and the top two in this category have always been the same. The make-up of this list has barely changed either over the years with the bands and artists who made their names in the 80s dominating. Indeed, you have to go down the 26th in the list to find a band from this century in CHVRCHES.