The Obscurometer

http://obscurometer.com/

Clearly I have very "suspect" taste in music


<blanks> overall obscurity level is…

    Bev Lee Harling - 88.6%
    The Moons - 89.7%
    Cliff Hillis - 92.8%
    The World Record - 90.1%
    Shoes - 82.9%
    Milo Greene - 80.5%
    Jets Overhead - 82.5%
    The Stars Explode - 98.4%
    The dBs - 92.5%
    Tim Burgess - 86.4%
    The Heartbreaks - 81.5%
    The Primitives - 71.6%
    Alto Verde - 98.9%
    Jimmy Cliff - 51.0%
    The Heavy - 62.9%
    Saint Etienne - 54.9%

    The Red Inspectors -  96.9%
    Third Coast Kings - 93.5%
    The Bamboos - 69.0%
    Calibro 35 - 86.8%
    Hannah William & The Tastemakers - 97.6%
    The Monophonics - 96.5%
    Kylie Auldist - 79.5%
    Menahan Street Band - 76.9%
    John Boutte - 89.9%
    Elikeh - 96.9%
    The Cactus Channel - 92.7%
    Michael Kiwanuka - 68.7%
    The Funk Ark - 93.1%
    Lee Fields and the Expressions - 81.2%

so they give you an overall score?

I'd love to see Azaghal do this and get a 100% obscure score.

it's the band's "obscurity" level as determined via last.fm, i'm sure there is some mumbo jumbo going on with the final calculation.

The least obscure act is Coldplay- 0%

I have no last.fm account.

the obscure rating given an artist is based on other last.fm user's.

I'm assumed by this statistic

Average Artist Obscurity: 92.1%

kosmo wrote:
http://obscurometer.com/

Clearly I have very &quot;suspect&quot; taste in music


&lt;blanks&gt; overall obscurity level is…

&nbsp; &nbsp; Bev Lee Harling - 88.6%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Moons - 89.7%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Cliff Hillis - 92.8%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The World Record - 90.1%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Shoes - 82.9%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Milo Greene - 80.5%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Jets Overhead - 82.5%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Stars Explode - 98.4%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The dBs - 92.5%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Tim Burgess - 86.4%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Heartbreaks - 81.5%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Primitives - 71.6%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Alto Verde - 98.9%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Jimmy Cliff - 51.0%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Heavy - 62.9%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Saint Etienne - 54.9%

&nbsp; &nbsp; The Red Inspectors -&nbsp; 96.9%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Third Coast Kings - 93.5%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Bamboos - 69.0%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Calibro 35 - 86.8%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Hannah William &amp; The Tastemakers - 97.6%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Monophonics - 96.5%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Kylie Auldist - 79.5%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Menahan Street Band - 76.9%
&nbsp; &nbsp; John Boutte - 89.9%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Elikeh - 96.9%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Cactus Channel - 92.7%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Michael Kiwanuka - 68.7%
&nbsp; &nbsp; The Funk Ark - 93.1%
&nbsp; &nbsp; Lee Fields and the Expressions - 81.2%

I think their system for detecting obscurity is pretty broken.  Tim Burgess has had 3 #1 albums and 2 #2 albums in the UK as the lead singer of the Charlatans.  I dont' think you can get much less obscure than him and yet he is rated at an 86.4 percent. 

the obscurity rating would be based on his two solo records not his Charlatans albums.   

see also James - 51.5%
Tim Booth - 84.5%

kosmo wrote:
the obscurity rating would be based on his two solo records not his Charlatans albums.&nbsp; &nbsp;

see also James - 51.5%
Tim Booth - 84.5%

I think you have the term obscure confussed with how much someone like someone's music. People know who Tim Burgess is so he is not obscure. They choose not to listen to his solo work becuase they do not like and thus it is not reported on last fm.

Anyway the most obscure I could find by typing bands names in was "the bible" at 90.5%.

since the "obscurity" appears to be based on number of times a track is scrobbled on last.fm… more people listen to the Charlatans/James than Tim Burgess/Tim Booth, thus the solo recordings are considered more obscure.  I'm sure your going to find that for most side projects, that only the most diehard of fans tends to listen to them.  And in the case of Tim Burgess his solo project is far different from what the Charlatans release, so it's going to appeal to less fans.

further proof

Foo Fighters - 8.1%
Queens of the stone Age - 23.0%
Led Zeppelin - 18.9%

Them Crooked Vultures - 50%

Artist Obscurity HoyaParanoia's Playcount

The Beatles 11.7% 906

The Magnetic Fields 47.9% 831

Bob Dylan 21.5% 701

Jens Lekman 54.2% 647

Drive-By Truckers 63.7% 632

The Replacements 56.8% 493

Belle and Sebastian 31.4% 445

The Rolling Stones 10.9% 441

M83 33.7% 414

Pavement 42.3% 392

Radiohead 3.1% 390

The Beach Boys 23.7% 388

Camera Obscura 45.8% 383

The Smiths 25.8% 347

Paul Simon 39.6% 336

Tom Waits 34.9% 331

The Decemberists 32.7% 296

Morrissey 38.6% 291

Wilco 37.4% 271

Ella Fitzgerald 34% 266

Charlie Parker 51.3% 266

Ryan Adams 41.1% 249

David Bowie 15.8% 246

Prefuse 73 55.1% 245

Cee Lo Green 46.5% 245

New Order 31.7% 238

The New Pornographers 47.9% 238

of Montreal 39.7% 231

The Byrds 39.8% 225

The Clash 24.8% 225

Pixies 25.2% 220

Against Me! 52.2% 220

Arcade Fire 22.7% 218

The Walkmen 46.5% 217

Ramones 29.8% 214

Miles Davis 35.2% 212

Superchunk 66.5% 212

Spoon 34.6% 209

Explosions in the Sky 40.3% 209

R.E.M. 18.2% 203

Creedence Clearwater Revival 24.9% 202

Elvis Costello & The… 56.6% 202

The Shins 23.4% 200

The Jam 46.9% 195

The Apples In Stereo 55.8% 195

The Cure 18.1% 194

Modest Mouse 22.7% 193

Guided by Voices 55% 193

Drake 19% 186

Yo La Tengo 42.8% 184

This one is pretty accurate on the relative quality of the music produced:

Phil Collins: 31.7
Genesis 37.9
Peter Gabriel 39.4

This only uses the top 50 artists from someones last fm account.  So if the artists music isn't very good people most likely it won't make very many top 50 whether it is obscure or not.

I don't listen to a lot of obscure stuff, I guess. My average was 39.9%.

Here are my most obscure:

God Is an Astronaut 51%
The Magic Numbers 52.6%
Neko Case 53.4%
Natalie Merchant 53.5%
Big Star 57.9%
Sleater-Kinney 60.3%
A.C. Newman 61.6%
The Dears 62.7%
The Rosebuds 68.1%
The Essex Green 71.6%
Robyn Hitchcock 74.1%
Pela 79.1%
Dead Heart Bloom 86.7%
ilyAIMY 95.9%

natalie merchant?

this meter should have a "sucks big dick as well"  rating

My top artists are generally very mainstream.

My tastes are only more obscure than 21.3% of other users.
My favorite artists are 41.2% obscure on average.
Most obscure band  listed:  9353 at 94.8%

My top artists over the 50% mark:

The Dismemberment Plan 63.3% 2174
Bob Mould      69.5% 879
Jerry Garcia Band 84.8% 874
The Slickee Boys 92.7% 871
The Fleshtones 80.5% 791
Hüsker Dü 58.2% 780
X 65.3% 713
Government Issue 80.6% 579
The Damned 57.5% 541
Washington Social Club 85.7% 493
Joe Jackson 57.8% 485
Beauty Pill 88.9% 483
The Rosebuds 68.1% 466
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 54.8% 411
The Psychedelic Furs 54.3% 392
The Hold Steady 55% 366
Black Flag 52.2% 357
9353 94.8% 350
Barry Manilow 56.4% 329
The Replacements 56.8% 327
Pansy Division 81.7% 325
Meat Puppets 57.6% 324

I'm a little concerned that I've listened to more Barry Manilow than The Replacements.  I'll fix that this week. :)

My musical tastes are more obscure than 90.7% of all other users.
My overall favorite bands and artists are 73.7% obscure on average.


Slowdive                       57%      194
Destroyalldreamers              77%      184
Malory                              79%    181
Monster Movie                    79.5% 175
Fleeting Joys                      86.4%  165
Ride                                  60.8%  165
Hammock                          60.1%  161
Swervedriver              72.3% 159
Trespassers William              69.2% 158
Air Formation              77.3% 151
The Daysleepers          76.9% 140
Chapterhouse                      69.3% 126
Windermere                        89.6% 123
Readymade                        82.6% 120
The Radio Dept.            53.1% 119
Rachel Goswell            83.8% 114
Highspire                            81.6% 112
Douglas Heart              84.5% 111
Hearts of Black Science  87%    109
My Bloody Valentine            45.5% 108
SIANspheric                        89.4% 107
Mojave 3                    71.9% 106
The Morning After Girls  74.8% 103
Skywave                      78.3% 103
God Is an Astronaut      51%    101
The High Dials              85.2% 100
Massive Attack            21.1% 99
Phaser                              91.6% 97
lovesliescrushing          80.1% 96
Ulrich Schnauss            57.3% 95
The High Violets            83.2% 94
Airiel                                  74.9% 94
Flavor Crystals              92.4% 91
January                              89.5% 91
Spacemen 3                65.2% 90
Brian Eno                    43.6% 90
Sennen                              83.1% 86
Loop                                  79%  86
Spiritualized                        54.8% 86
Dulcesky                            92%  85
Experimental Aircraft      83.9% 85
Soundpool                          81.5% 84
Lali Puna                      57%    84
The Lassie Foundation    90.3% 81
Ivy                                    63.1% 81
Bowery Electric            77.3% 80
The Black Angels          62%    79
The Voices                  87.9% 79
Blind Mr. Jones                    84.5% 79
The Meeting Places              82.2%        78


What's not obvious is that my artist list is much longer than what my repeat plays would indicate. They often just don't get logged for a variety of reasons.

Bombay wrote:
My top artists are generally very mainstream.


The Slickee Boys 92.7% 871
The Fleshtones 80.5% 791
Government Issue 80.6% 579
9353 94.8% 350

i have seen these obscure artists (in 80's). I am guessing they arent very obscure on this board.

Jaguar's list wins.

Since I no longer use last.fm my list is just me putting in my favorite records of 2012 manually.