B is for...

It's Friday so frivolity time again. Here's my Top 20 groups & solo artists beginning with B...

• David Bowie
• The Beatles
• Bjork
• Kate Bush
• The Blue Nile
• Blancmange
• Between
• Blondie
• Peter Baumann
• John Barry
• Biosphere
• Harold Budd
• Buffalo Daughter
• The Black Dog
• Michael Brook
• Baked Beans
• Bark Psychosis
• Banco da Gaia
• The Beach Boys
• Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band

And look who weren't included: Blur, David Byrne, Buzzcocks, Bomb the Bass, Boards of Canada, Broadcast, Benge, Howie B, Martyn Bates, The Birthday Party, Bauhaus, Belle & Sebastian, The Beloved, Buena Vista Social Club, Gavin Bryars, Glenn Branca, David Borden, Bohren & der Club of Gore, The Boredoms, James Brown, Arthur Baker, BEF etc.

Can I really justify the inclusion of The Black Dog over and above James Brown?! Clearly not in the great scheme of things but I still prefer those early 90s examples of electronica to the Godfather of Soul. Is Peter Baumann, with his two great late 70s albums and rubbish early 80s ones, more important than David Byrne? I can't really answer that, except that Romance 76 and Trans Harmonic Nights were important to me at the time and I still play them a lot. More than Byrne. Are Bark Psychosis 'better' than The Birthday Party? Hmmmm... Comments please...