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Last year, 692 people participated in the DPRPoll 2000, this year the number of participants
increased slightly to 725. This page contains a summary of the results of the poll. The full tables can be viewed by clicking through the 'next table' links in the upper right corner of the screen.
Before we have a look at the results of 2001 we would first like to thank the following
sponsors of the poll prizes: InsideOut Music, DVS Records, Pallas, Colourblind and Tempus Fugit.
Participants
As mentioned above, 725 people participated in the DPRPoll 2001. Most people came from The
Netherlands (31%), USA (14%), while Germany (9%), UK (8%) and Canada (4%) also provided quite
some votes, just like last year. In total, inhabitants of no less
than 49 different countries participated in the DPRPoll 2001, compared to 39 in 2000.
The average participant of the poll was 34 years old, although ages range from 13 to
52 years ! Since the average age was 33 years in both 1999 and 2000, this seems to indicate that
prog isn't really attracting a young new audience anymore and it's mainly a scene of people born in
the sixties and seventies.
Best Albums of 2001
No less than 297 different albums received votes for Best Album of 2001. Below
you will find the Top 25. The full list can be viewed by clicking here.
We have provided links to information on DPRP about some of the bands as well as links
to the DPRP reviews of most of these albums.
Some quick explanations about the calculations. 'Votes' are the number of people who voted
for a specific album, regardless if it was their number 1 or number 5. 'Percentage' is the
percentage of all participants that voted for an album. The 'Weighted Points' are calculated
based on the ranking of the (max) 5 albums the participants voted for; their number 1 got 5 points,
number 2 got 4 points, etc. 'Weighted Points' is the sum of these points.
The Morse-Portnoy-Trawavas-Stolt quartet does it again. Whereas their debut album scored an average of
1.6 points per participant in the DPRPoll 2000 and reached the #1 position, its follow-up seems to
be even more popular with an average score of 2.0 points per participant.
The Top 10 is made up of several long familiar names. It's also good to see that Mostly Autumn has gained popularity. In 1999 they received 10 votes for their Spirit of Autumn Past album, while this year
they enter the Top 10 with their latest CD.
One album that needs a bit of additional explanation is IQ's The Seventh House. This album first
appeared in November 2000 during the tour the band did in Europe, and some additional copies were sold
through mail order before the year ended. Therefore, 140 people already voted for this album in the
DPRPoll 2000, bringing the CD a #6 position in that year's chart. However,
lots of people did not get the CD before it was officially released and appeared in the shops in February 2001. For this reason, the album appears in this years chart again with another 202 votes.
Interestingly, if we would add up the points the album scored in 2000 and 2001, it would have had 1156 points, giving it either a number 1 position in 2000 or a number 2 position in 2001 ! It has to be said though that some people could have voted for this album in both 2000 and 2001, making this total higher
than it would actually have been had all the votes been done in one year.
Best Tracks of 2001
Participants in the Poll were also asked to name their favourite track of
2001. The table below shows the 5 bands which got the most votes, regardless
of which track.
| # |
Band |
Votes |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Transatlantic |
180 |
26.8% |
| 2 |
Marillion |
70 |
10.4% |
| 3 |
IQ |
44 |
6.5% |
| 4 |
Pallas |
41 |
6.1% |
| 5 |
Yes |
39 |
5.8% |
The next table shows the actual Top 5 out of 182 different 'best tracks' of 2001.
| # |
Band |
Track |
Votes |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Transatlantic |
Stranger in Your Soul |
93 |
13.8% |
| 2 |
Transatlantic |
Duel with the Devil |
76 |
11.3% |
| 3 |
Marillion |
This Is The 21st Century |
30 |
4.5% |
| 4 |
IQ |
The Seventh House |
28 |
4.2% |
| 5 |
Marillion |
When I Meet God |
25 |
3.7% |
Once again the epics rule the charts; almost 90 minutes of music in 5 songs. The two big ones from
the Transatlantic album are of course hardly a surprise. The appearance of the two Marillion tracks
is a bit remarkable though, especially since you would expect some of the bands of which their album
scored higher in this list.
Best Artwork of 2001
| # |
Band |
Album |
Votes |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Pendragon |
Not of this World |
131 |
19.3% |
| 2 |
Transatlantic |
Bridge Across Forever |
104 |
15.3% |
| 3 |
The Flower Kings |
The Rainmaker |
79 |
11.6% |
| 4 |
Pallas |
The Cross And The Crucible |
59 |
8.7% |
| 5 |
Tool |
Lateralus |
21 |
3.1% |
Okay, 98 different albums received voted for 'Best Artwork', but Pendragon's new cover art
had a clear victory, leaving the 'remake' of Transatlantic's debut behind. It has to be said
that the cover of Not Of This World indeed has an outer-worldly beauty, as does the
French model Aurelie Claudel who
'inspired' artist Simon Williams when painting the figure of the woman in the front.
Click here for a larger
version of the artwork, and here for the
advertisement that inspired part of the artwork.
Best Concert 2001
Loads of different concerts got votes for best gig of 2001. To get a clear
picture of which bands did best on the stage last year, we'll first have a look at the ones
that got the most votes, regardless of which concert.
| 2001 |
2000 |
Band |
Votes for Best Concert |
Percentage |
| 1 |
- |
Transatlantic |
90 |
14.8% |
| 2 |
5 |
Yes |
87 |
14.3% |
| 3 |
- |
The Flower Kings |
46 |
7.6% |
| 4 |
- |
Marillion |
34 |
5.6% |
| 5 |
- |
Porcupine Tree |
26 |
4.3% |
Now let's have a look at which of the 331 gigs that received votes got the most votes for
Best Concert 2001.
| # |
Band |
When |
Where |
Votes |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Transatlantic |
12-Nov-2001 |
013, Tilburg, Holland |
55 |
9.0% |
| 2 |
Yes |
21-Nov-2001 |
HMH, Amsterdam, Holland |
27 |
4.4% |
| 3 |
The Flower Kings |
26-Oct-2001 |
Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Holland |
10 |
1.6% |
Once again Transatlantic lead the way with one of the gigs from their European tour which could
have been called 'Parade of the Epics'. As always, the large number of Dutch poll participants
combined with a small number of venues played in The Netherlands has resulted in three
Dutch gigs ending up highest again.
Best Newcomer
| # |
Band |
Votes |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Ambeon (Astrid van der Veen) |
36 |
7.2% |
| 2 |
Alias Eye |
35 |
7.0% |
| 3 |
Magenta |
33 |
6.6% |
| 4 |
NDV (Nick D'Virgillio) |
25 |
5.0% |
| 5 |
Hamadryad |
17 |
3.4% |
In 2001 Arjan Lucassen re-wrote some of his Ayreon material and rerecorded it with young teenage
vocalist Astrid van der Veen. The atmospheric but powerful music combined with Astrid's enchanting vocals has obviously captured the hearts of many prog fans. Alias Eye, a new band from Germany that deserves a lot more attention, can be found at #2.
Biggest Disappointment of 2001
Many different albums, gigs, incidents, etc received votes for 'biggest disappointment'. We grouped the votes until they referred to a unique album, gig or incident.
51 people were disappointed that one of their favourite bands had not released a new album in 2001, 19 people were disappointed that they missed a live performance of some band and 11 people complained that there weren't enough gigs in their part of the world. The other most often mentioned, and more specific, disappointments can be found below.
| # |
Disappointment |
Votes |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Marillion - Anoraknophobia |
80 |
13.2% |
| 2 |
Fish - Fellini Days |
58 |
9.6% |
| 3 |
Yes - Magnification |
28 |
4.6% |
| 4 |
Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever |
27 |
4.5% |
| 5 |
The Flower Kings - The Rainmaker |
18 |
3.0% |
Clearly the prog scene remains a world of contradictions and controversies. While it doesn't
surprise us to see the weak latest Fish album in this list (some of us had even expected to find
it at #1) all of the other albums in this top 5 can also be found in the Top 10 of most popular albums.
Marillion maintains the dubious honour of being in the Top 5 for the last 5 years (3 of which at #1).
While their recent apathy towards anything proggy makes them more than deserve this position, it
is a bit remarkable since their new Anoraknophobia album seemed to have been received
a lot better than their previous attempts. Probably, those people that continue to vote for this
band are the same ones that still think that the band should not be allowed to evolve and should
get Fish back on vocals. Well, judging from his latest album and vocal abilities that's probably the
last thing that those who do like the new Marillion would want to see happening. Indeed, prog is
a conservative and controversial world .....
Click here if you also want to see how the participants of the poll evaluated DPRP.
Click here if you also want to see the list of prizes and winners.
You can also check out what the DPRP Team voted for themselves.
For comments about the poll, please e-mail Ed Sander.
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