Coming up with any lists can be difficult and invites pushback. BBC Music, generally speaking, does a pretty good job when they release one of their best-ofs, which they do quite often, but mistakes do occur. Such is the case with BBC Music's recent ranking of the best Irish bands, and somehow leaving off the Chieftains.
Other great bands made the cut, as one would expect them to. U2 is No. 1, and that is obviously difficult to argue with based on the Dublin lads' decades of high-end charting success and social stances. Thin Lizzy is No. 2, and that's acceptable.
But no Chieftains? That is simply ridiculous. In the early 1960s, while rock was still in its formative years, the Dublin-based group that turned traditional tunes into pure gold was busy giving the world the Celtic sound. Musicians wanted to make music with them; they were a staple of Irish sound, and if you listen to Christmas music, the Chieftains need to be in your rotation.
BBC Music somehow leaves the Chieftains off its ranking of best Irish bands ever
This isn't about commercial success, though the Chieftains have had a good amount of that, but influence. The artistic abilities of the band are immense. Six Grammy wins will tell a person thinking of getting into the trad band's sound, as will 21 overall nominations.
But the group wasn't about awards and selling records. The point was to make global music lovers know what the uilleann pipes sounded like, coupled with a tin whistle. The instruments weren't simply unique and strange; they were worthy of being heard, no matter whether one lives in Cork or Beijing.
If that last part seems odd, it isn't. The Chieftains were the first Western group to be invited by the Chinese government to perform with the Chinese Broadcasting Art Group. That happened in 1983.
The Chieftains also added a song, "Women of Ireland," to the Oscar-winning score of Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film. The group has been a bit of everywhere and made a lasting impact while doing so.
While BBC Music's list of Ireland's best 21 bands is not overly bad, leaving the Chieftains off it certainly diminishes the list's true worthiness. Just ask any of the other bands on the ranking (not all rock, by the way; Clannad is No. 12, for instance) if they were influenced by the Chieftains in any way, and they will almost certainly say "tá."