We Will Rank You

Best. Covers. Ever. Wildcard Episode What're your favorite cover songs!? A great man once sang "It's like he's tracing Picasso and calling it art." On this wildcard episode, we each rank and celebrate the five greatest and single worst covers ever recorded, talk about the fascinatin' history of covers vs standards and reunite legendary trombone-fronted NYC band Cover Me B...

What’s your most loved and least favorite song on Little Richard's debut album, 1957's Here's Little Richard?! We finally delve into the 1950s by talking about the oldest album we've ranked yet. Adam repeatedly circles back to himself, talking about his short European tour with the red-hot Little Richards and interviews two of its main creators: Sparkle Gail Higgins, longtime Londo...

NEW EPISODE UP! What’s your most loved and least favorite song on Squeeze's Sweets From A Stranger album?! Dan picked another non-obvious record by a band we all love for this episode. Whole lotta praise heaped on the masters of UK song styling and we get a surprise text guest ranking from our high school friend Dan Evans before fading back into hiatusland. Listen at WeWillRankYouPod.com, Appl...

What’s your most loved and least favorite song on XTC's Oranges & Lemons album?! In the middle of our so-called hiatus, Jim again chose to rank Swindon's finest by selecting their fine 11th export. We were graced by not one but two guest rankers who witnessed the band recording the album in Los Angeles: Mike Keneally, a former Frank Zappa guitarist who played guitar on one of the album...

NEW EPISODE UP! What’s your most loved and least favorite song on Depeche Mode's Memento Mori album?! We were prepping to take a year off but Sam's suggestion to rank DM's latest before it was even released was too tempting to not do ASAP. It still took us weeks to record and almost a year to release but it's fun to hear our fresh reactions. Even more fun is finally recording recol...

What’s your most loved and least favorite song on Fleetwood Mac's album Rumours?! For our third request episode, Dan's teenage nephew Esher suggested the 1977 classic and it won our public election. This second season finale turned out as epic as the album itself, with several rankings the likes of which we've never seen in our 30 episodes. Lots of fun facts and opinions and tales abou...

NEW EPISODE UP! What’s your most loved and least favorite song on Alvvays' debut 2014 album?! Adam picked the most recent and most Canadian album we've ever ranked, knowing the others probably hadn't heard it. He first learned about it after hearing Ben Gibbard and Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub raving about the band in an interview. Fun to hear rookie impressions of this dreamy mas...

What’s your most loved and least favorite song on 91X-FM's 1983 Top 91 countdown?! For our third wildcard episode, we celebrated the San Diego station's 40th anniversary by talking about the songs from their very first year-end listener poll. The result is an EPIC three-hour dive into the station's history with a ton of childhood memories plus interviews with first year DJs Billy Bones...

WE ARE THE PODS! WE ARE THE PODS.....What’s your most loved and least favorite song on the Jam's Compact Snap?! For the third of our four-episode series of Greatest Hits episodes, Jim chose the shorter, 21 song version of the Jam's Snap, still resulting in our longest episode to date. Not just the most songs we've ever talked about but no less than four guest rankers weighed with their favorite Ja...

What’s your most loved and least favorite song on The Best of Otis Redding?!   For the second of our four-episode series of Greatest Hits episodes, Sam chose a childhood favorite, possibly influenced by his parents going to school with Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn. Lots of fun chit chatter about the King of Soul! Guest rankings from Tyler Jacobson from Denver's Mile High Soul Club and Isaiah M...

WE WILL WE WILL…. What’s your most loved and least favorite song on 1981’s Queen Greatest Hits?! Adam came up with a fun way to finally talk about our namesake song: kicking off a four-episode series of Greatest Hits episodes! You’ll never guess where we ranked WWRY. It's only the best-selling album in UK history. You've probably never heard of it. Shockingly, none of us are huge fans, despite hav...

What are your most favorite and least-loved songs on Elvis Costello & The Attractions' 1986 album Blood & Chocolate? Dan chose a raw/ragged fan favorite instead of a more well-known record to get three fresh opinions from casual admirers of Mr. McManus. Contains lots of praise and the best story you will ever hear about his stage name. Be sure to stick around to the end for a historic anno...

Jim picked Lifes Rich Pageant by one of our most requested bands, R.E.M., before anyone could pick the wrong album. A new, innovative one-time only ranking system made it one of our shortest episodes ever but we had a record TWO surprise Zoom guests, Craig Rosen, author of R.E.M. Inside Out : The Stories Behind Every Song and Buck09/Plural's Scott Kennerly, who had so much to say that we'll be put...

RATE BUSH! What are your most favorite and least-loved songs on Kate Bush's Hounds of Love? Three months before some very strange things catapulted Miss Bush into a new generation's consciousness, Sam had us sit down to dissect an album that most purists wouldn't dare break into separate parts. While Adam went overboard (groan) researching the second side's epic Ninth Wave song story, newbies Dan...

What are your most favorite and least-loved songs on Big Star's #1 Record? Gee, no power pop nerds are going to have an opinion on this one. Memphis' finest 1972 export got the most votes in our second request election, thanks to a nomination by painter William Feuer. This episode has wide-eyed virginal opinions from Jim, who loves many of the groups famously influenced by this record but had neve...

Violent Femmes, the ultimate in self-titling! What are your most favorite and least-loved songs on the Femmes' 1983 debut album? The hosts care for all of these songs so dearly that it was once called "impossible to rank" by Jim, which is why Adam chose it. Contains fun tales of teenage party singalongs, our own "best-ever" cover versions and even late-night hangouts with the band. Guest ranker, m...

ECHO & THE FUNNYMEN!  What's your most favorite and least loved song on the Bunnymen's Ocean Rain? Jim picked this 1984 classic for us to rank and it's a lovefest, trust me. Lots of fun memories of seeing Liverpool's finest live, having too much Echo ephemera and meeting someone who helped make the record so beautiful. Up just in time for the band's 40th anniversary US tour! Listen at WeW...

What's your favorite and least favorite song on Ride's album Going Blank Again?  Sam chose this 1992 classic so the boys get swooshy, gaze at their shoes and climb mountains of guitar pedals to rank the tunes by a band that didn't get their due on this side of the pond. And I quote: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH......" FILE UNDER/SPOILERS: Shoegaze, alternative, Ride, Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laur...

Best. Live albums. EVER!!!  For our 15th episode, we voted for a wildcard theme that turned out to be the most diverse set of music we’ve ever discussed. Turned out being a blast discussing the history of live recordings, concerts we went to that ended up on albums, our parents’ influence AND our very own top five (and least) favorite live albums of all-time. We hate to spoil our answers beca...

HEY! What's your most-loved and least favorite Schoolhouse Rock song!? The gang takes a look at their five favorite tunes from the iconic 1970s educational television cartoons of their youth. Adam dreamed up the idea to do our first top five episode, focusing on Multiplication, Grammar and America from the series' Golden Era, 1973-1976. Our first-ever 1970s-era show is crammed with fun facts, inte...

What's your most-loved and least favorite song on Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!? Our first new ranking episode in 13 months has us finally listening to something from the 21st century. You might've heard us announce this at the end of our XTC episode but that was, like, over a year ago. Lots of differing opinions for maximum fun. Guest ranker Tom Lord from the world's greatest YYY coverband Alrigh...

SURPRISE BONUS BIRTHDAY EPISODE!  So sorry about our nine month extended hiatus remix, folks. We've been slowly getting together remotely to record a grip of new episodes and finally digging in to edit and share them with you. We can't wait for you to hear new shows about indie queens, the soundtrack of our childhood, epic 80s classics, our first-ever top five themed episode and MUCH more. As...

What's your most-loved and least favorite song on XTC's Skylarking? Dear Pod, we were in literal and figurative ecstasy talking about the ninth album by Swindon's finest. Jim's pick led to a new innovative countdown ranking system that we adored. Fun sharing how we all wrestled with tearing apart song combos and a track order that is such a huge part of why we love it so. Lots of o...

What's your most-loved and least favorite song on Big Country's The Crossing? Sam takes us to Scotland to rank their debut album. The rest of the hosts are fairly uninitiated which makes for interesting reactions all around. Jim and Adam silently celebrate their vaccinations by stupidly trying to record in the same room for the first time, so you might hear a slight echo echo in parts part...

In a heated race, Blur emerged victorious in our first-ever request episode. Suggested by our friend Molly in Boston, the 1994 British classic beat out over 40 other suggestions in a public vote. The 16-track LP is the longest album we've ever done but we tore through it, despite some fun surprise interruptions. Lots of strong opinions and amusing tales, including the time Sam and Adam squeez...