I like today’s match-ups because most of them don’t have obvious winners. Listen to them at Grooveshark, except Twist and Shout. This Twist recording isn’t great, so if you have your own, listen to that.
Vote by commenting below or emailing LTDdotorg@gmail.com before Tuesday at 9pm. But first, watch this small child perform Hey Jude. Mad impressive.
Buddy Holly (Weezer) vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison)
Country Roads (John Denver) vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles)
Gloria (Patti Smith) vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles)
Rocket Man (Elton John) vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa)
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction)
Living the Dream 
The Hey Jude Baby: 10+ that was the cutest thing ever!
Buddy Holly (Weezer) vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 8.5/6
Country Roads (John Denver) vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles) 8/6
Gloria (Patti Smith) vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7/6.5
Rocket Man (Elton John) vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 8.5/4
Sir Elton is such a class act. Salt n Peppa, not so much.
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 4/6
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 8
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 4
Country Roads (John Denver) 5
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 7
Gloria (Patti Smith) 3
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7
Rocket Man (Elton John) 9
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 3.5
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 8
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 3.5
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 8
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 3
My Dad would disagree: massive Roy O fan. I just don’t get it.
Country Roads (John Denver) 7.5
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 7
Gloria (Patti Smith) 4
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7
Rocket Man (Elton John) 9.5
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 2
If anyone says Salt n Peppa over Rocket Man, we’ll need to have words.
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 5
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 7
Totally into Jane’s Addiction today.
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 8
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 5.5
Country Roads (John Denver) 2.5
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 5
Gloria (Patti Smith) 4.5
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7
Rocket Man (Elton John) 6
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 8
Sorry Mark B. If this had been Shatner’s cover, it’d be a perfect 10. Plus I had a half-naked woman dancing around to Shoop while it was playing. Nothing I could do about the score.
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 4
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 2
Yikes.
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 8 vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 6
Country Roads (John Denver) 7 vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles) 10 This might be my off the cuff pick for best rock and roll song of all time. Forward looking, backward looking and damn catchy to boot. If this gets knocked out by John Denver, I’m going to have serious doubts about the legitimacy of this tournament.
Gloria (Patti Smith) 7 vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7
Rocket Man (Elton John) 5 vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 4
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 6 vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 7 Wasn’t that purple song in that annoying yahoo commercial campaign on hulu? I never made the connection with Gogol Bordello. And is this the last Janes Addiction song in the tournament? Some bracket intel would be helpful.
Jane Says won it’s match-up against Stranded in the Jungle to advance to the Round of 256. This is the only other Jane’s Addiction song. Mountain Song would have been good too, but three felt a bit much.
Don’t know about the Yahoo ad, but if you’ve never seen Gogol Bordello live, I’d rank them as top 5 live experiences where you don’t need to love their studio stuff, along with Dropkick Murphys, Flaming Lips and Wyclef Jean.
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 7
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 5
Country Roads (John Denver) 7.5
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 8
in the same way that i wanted the jets and the pats to both lose yesterday, i want some way for both of these songs to win. i thought for sure i’d swing denver. but then twist and shout started and was awesome.
Gloria (Patti Smith) 6
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 6.5
you know VKTRS was the first music video ever played on MTV. That’s all I got on this.
Rocket Man (Elton John) 5
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 5.5
Gimme Push It, but Rocket Man sort of annoys me. I did not have a half-naked girl dancing to Shoop like Adrock did, but it sounds like he’s having a really great Monday.
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 5
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 5
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 7.5
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 6
For many reasons it pains me to rank Weezer higher than Roy Orbison, but nostalgia packs a strong punch and there are more interesting Orbison songs.
Country Roads (John Denver) 6
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 7.5
Gloria (Patti Smith) 8
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7
Rocket Man (Elton John) 6.5
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 9
My love for Salt n Peppa cannot be quantified. Those ladies OWN IT.
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 6
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 2
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 7.5
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 7
Country Roads (John Denver) 8
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 5.5
Gloria (Patti Smith) 8.0
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7.0
Rocket Man (Elton John) 8
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 7
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 4
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 4 (Why not mountain song? MUCH better song)
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 8.5 vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 7.5
Country Roads (John Denver) 6.5 vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles) 9
Gloria (Patti Smith) 9 vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 6
Rocket Man (Elton John) 5.5 vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 5
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 8.5 vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 4
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 8
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 7
Both solid, love me that Blue Album though… Weezer are some of my favorite contemporary rockers for a host of reasons, including that Rivers Cuomo was in a few of my classes at USC and is as cool in person as in his videos.
Country Roads (John Denver) 8.5
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 8.5
Too close to call. Love both these songs, for different reasons. I don’t think the Beatles COULD have rocked without this song, but they sure did once they started shouting. Country Roads is just such a sweet melody, it gives me chills. Both class acts all around.
Gloria (Patti Smith) 5
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7.0
Both a bit dated. The Buggles take it though with their signs and portents of things to come.
Rocket Man (Elton John) 5
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 9
Wow. I really thought I was gonna go the other way on this one, then listened to the songs and was really impressed with Salt n Peppa’s smooth delivery, sweet instrumentals, and lyrical composition. Rocket Man just seemed boring in comparison.
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 7.5
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 4
Gogol is a fun, fun group. Gypsy punk music can be the best thing in the world in certain contexts (building crazy art in the desert), but its definitely not music you just always want to listen to. Summertime Rolls didn’t do it for me.
Buddy Holly (Weezer) vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 6/ 7
Country Roads (John Denver) vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles) 8/6
Gloria (Patti Smith) vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 10/1
Rocket Man (Elton John) vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 7/9
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 8.5/ 7.5
Buddy Holly (Weezer) vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) = 10:4
Country Roads (John Denver) vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles) = 4.5:9.5
Gloria (Patti Smith) vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) = 5:6
Rocket Man (Elton John) vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa) = 6:6
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) = 8:3 (This Jane’s song is fucking unlistenable. Glad I never heard it before, sad I heard it now. I think VICE called Gogol Bordello “clown music for clowns who hate music” – it’s a fun song.)
Buddy Holly (Weezer) [7.5]
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) [6]
Country Roads (John Denver) [6]
Twist and Shout (Beatles) [8]
Gloria (Patti Smith) [5.5]
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) [6.5]
Rocket Man (Elton John) [7]
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) [8]
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) [2]
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) [5]
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 7 vs. Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 5
Country Roads (John Denver) 6 vs. Twist and Shout (Beatles) 8
Gloria (Patti Smith) 4 vs. Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 6
Rocket Man (Elton John) 7.5 vs. Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 7
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 5 vs. Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 4
Buddy Holly (Weezer) 7.5
Only the Lonely (Roy Orbison) 6
Country Roads (John Denver) 7.5
Twist and Shout (Beatles) 7
Gloria (Patti Smith) 8.5
Video Killed the Radio Star (Buggles) 7.5
Rocket Man (Elton John) 7.5
Shoop (Salt n Peppa) 7
David Bowie maintains that Elton John was ripping off Space Oddity, and he has a decent case.
Start Wearing Purple (Gogol Bordello) 8
Summertime Rolls (Jane’s Addiction) 7.5
If Gogol Bordello wins it totally could start growing on people as the tournament goes on. I imagine the same’s not true for Summertime Rolls. Apologies for not picking Mountain Song…
Summertime Rolls is awesome in the same way Patience by GnR is- you just have to make it to the closing kick.