And the winner is....

Scottish listings magazine The List has been running a poll to name the Best Ever Scottish Band. The votes are in, they've been checked and verified, and the winner is... Belle and Sebastian. Yay! Nice to see B&S fans carrying on the vote-rigging that won them their Brit Award (though I'm sure of course that no-one would dream of voting more than once, let alone multiple times like a Busted (r.i.p hahaha) fan in a Record of the Year poll).
The complete list makes interesting reading, with some strange placings: Idlewild number three? I like 'em, but let's face it, they're not that good. Still, if Travis can be number two then anything is possible. There are other surprises, with Mull Historical Society placing higher than current flavour of the moment Franz Ferdinand, The Trashcan Sinatras at number 22 (I've got a couple of their albums lurking somewhere, I might have to hunt them out to remind myself what they're like again), and Bis beating Deacon Blue - ha!
Unfortunately a distinct lack of taste in some voters is also apparent, with The Blue Nile only making number 40 (have people never heard Paul Buchanan sing? Do they not appreciate greatness?), and The Associates stalling at number 36 (have people never heard Billy Mackenzie sing? etc etc etc..). I'd have liked the wonderful Delgados to be rather higher up the list as well, but then I would, wouldn't I? I'm no great fan of The Cocteau Twins (Liz Fraser's voice just irritates me, sorry), but I would have thought they were popular enough to make it higher than number 44.
Apparently Spare Snare have lots of friends and relatives, thus winning a place on the list (can't think of any other reason for their inclusion), and I'm willing to bet that the Vaselines only made it in there due to being a favourite with a certain Mr Cobain. But hurrah for the inclusion of the Fire Engines and the Rezillos (the latter I first discovered in the late-ish 80s when I spent some of my hard-earned pocket money on a mystery pack of old singles at a record store which was closing down, and in amongst the inevitable dross was Can't Stand My Baby. Sometimes you strike it lucky)
So what, I hear you ask, would be your top ten then Betsie? Well seeing as you asked so nicely, in No Particular Order:
Belle and Sebastian
The Blue Nile
The Associates
Teenage Fanclub
Aztec Camera
Orange Juice
The Delgados
The Beta Band
The Proclaimers
and, mainly for the fabulous voice of Monica Queen, Thrum.
So there you have it.
And in the lower places, we'll have honourable mentions for some not mentioned in the poll: The Yummy Fur, Urusei Yatsura, The Bluebells, Love and Money, Lungleg and Danny Wilson.