Push It
Votes due by Saturday, July 9nd at 8 pm EST. New voters, click here to understand what it is we do here.
We’re so close to the end of the Round of 256 I can taste it! Our final 8 songs before we move on to the next round are upon us, and tonight’s match-ups are bringing out some of the heavy hitters from the last tournament: Van Morrison, Springsteen and Dylan. These 3 alone have 30 songs across both tournaments! Salt N Pepa, America, Muse, Meatloaf and Frankie Valli are up to the task though.
BREAKING NEWS: The Beatles are out of the tournament. A last minute discovery found that Helter Skelter was in the previous tournament. It has been replaced with Meat Loaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light…a worthy replacement in my humble opinion.
Final songs here!! (Except Moonshine Whiskey and I Don’t Believe You, which are here and here — we had some issues finding the right version of I Don’t Believe You, so if that link gives you trouble, just use this one)
Meat Loaf‘s Bat Out of Hell album trilogy has sold more than 43 million copies worldwide and won a grammy. Marvin Lee Aday — his real name — doesn’t limit his talents to only music either. He has also made more than 50 television and movie appearances. Rappers Cheryl James, Sandra Denton and Deidra Roper aren’t intimidated by this legendary rocker though. Salt-N-Pepa have a grammy (and 3 more nominations) under their belt and are gunning to push it to the Round of 128.
Moonshine Whiskey
Sister Golden Hair is a song about a man who isn’t ready for marriage, but still loves his lady. Despite this, the song title was inspired by the blonde mothers of all 3 band members. Van Morrison’s Moonshine Whiskey, which was the inspiration for Springstein’s Blinded by the Light, is a song that Morrison described as “for Janis Joplin or something.”
Grammy winners, Muse, make their second appearance here at Living the Dream. Muse has been named one of the best acts to see live by no less than three publications, and as recently as two weeks ago were voted as the best event ever at Wembley Stadium by the general public. Incident on 57th Street, a hit from Springsteen‘s 2nd album is up against Muse. Bruce is prepared to handle it the way he handles everything — like a boss.
Meat Loaf
Our final match-up of the Round of 256 gives us two different tales of two different nights. Dylan sings about “the intoxication of a night of love followed by the throbbing headache of his partner’s emotional abandonment and detachment”…ouch! Frankie Valli seems to have had a better evening roughly 47 and a half years ago. Fun fact: Oh What a Night was the last song played at my first middle school dance.
You know what to do:
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf)
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa)
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America)
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison)
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen)
#14 New Born (Muse)
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan)
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons)
Living the Dream 
Listening and rating from 30,000 feet. Thank you free trial of Google Chromebook and Virgin America for making my voting in this round possible.
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) – 4- If not for the really weird scene around 4min, I’d say I was pretty satisfied and amused…but that was just distracting. Is this a song or a full musical?
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) – 5 – Catchy, but more repetitive than I remembered.
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) – 6.8 – A classic feel good kinda song.
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – tbd –
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 4.8 – Funny cause my school is on 57th street in chicago.
#14 New Born (Muse) – 4 –
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 6.7 –
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) – 8 – Growing up in a very Jewish town we sometimes had as many as four Bar Mitzvah parties per weekend…this song reminds me of those awesome awkward parties…a great time in life.
Sarita just emailed me her vote for moonshine whiskey from the road: 5.6
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) = 4.5
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) = 6
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) = 8.5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) = 7
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) = 7
#14 New Born (Muse) = 5
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) = 6.5
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) = 8
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) – 6
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) – 7
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) – 7
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – 6
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 6
#14 New Born (Muse) – 10 (got to give mine an upvote)
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 5.5
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) – 7
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) [6.25]
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) [7]
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) [8.25]
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) [6]
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) [7.5]
#14 New Born (Muse) [4]
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) [6.4]
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) [7.75]
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) 7.5
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) 7
Tough battle. Widely known fact: According to Phil Rizzuto, the baseball voice-over was created without his knowing it would be used as a metaphor for sex. Little known fact: I saw Meatloaf live last summer and I loved it.
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) 8
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) 6.5
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) 6
#14 New Born (Muse) 4.5
Not my favorite Muse song, or my favorite Springsteen.
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) 5.5
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) 6.5
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) vs. #15 Push It (Salt N Pepa): 7/4.5
Paradise by the Dashboard Light is a solid 7; reminds me of riding the bus, silly school dances, and Billy Madison (http://tinyurl.com/rirruto). Push it…reminds me of middle school or something.
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) vs. #10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison): 7/6
I’ve always loved the beginning of Sister Golden Hair, but never knew the name of the song. It’s one of those ones that always surprised me on the radio. Happy to finally know! Van, it’s pretty okay, you know?
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) vs. #14 New Born (Muse): 6/4.25
There’s some of that older, good Boss. Incident on 57th St. always makes me think it’s bizarro-world version of Simon & Garfunkle’s Ceclia. Just change Jane’s name to Cecilia…crazy. Muse is so hit or miss, no?
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) vs. #11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons): 5.8/6.28
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf): 4.5
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa): 2.5
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America): 5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison): 6.5
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen): 5.5
#14 New Born (Muse): 6
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan): 7
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons): 7
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) – 4
this song has its moments… and a lot of non-moments
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) – 5
i usually love this song, but it was hard to handle after meat loaf. i remember it coming on the radio once when i was probably about 11 years old, and my mom being totally disgusted & saying “i hope your friends don’t walk around school singing this song”
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) – 5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – 6
nice bubble sounds?
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 5
none of these songs can justify being longer then 7 min…
#14 New Born (Muse) – 4.5
wanted to like this more than bruce, but just wasn’t working for me
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 5
maybe i’m just having trouble focusing, but i’m finding everything super boring today
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) – 7
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) 3.5
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) 5.5
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) 6.5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) 5.5
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) 3.5
#14 New Born (Muse) 3
I happily jump on most music-festival-headlining trains, but Muse just can’t hook me.
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) 5.5
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) 6
Oh What A Night was the theme song for my senior prom (a slight step up from Take My Breath Away for the junior prom). Oh What A Night it really wasn’t…pretty overrated. The song meets a similar fate, but still catchy enough to get more than a 5.
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) 6
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) 6.8
I first heard Paradise by the Dashboard Light on Gage’s record player sometime last year, it’s fun but a little long. I still remember staring at my list of songs, with all the pencil marks and circles and being down to 7 and staring at 6 other songs that I couldn’t decide on for the last spot. I literally had my pencil starting to make a circle around “Soul To Squeeze” when “Push It” came on my iPod. I had a moment of clarity, said “fuck it,” added it as my last nomination out of left field, and immediately e-mailed Janos my nominations so I couldn’t take it back. No regrets, this song is awesome. Not going to win a music tournament, but hopefully got you nodding your head a bit to start your weekend
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) 7.1
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) 7.1
At the end of every year I make a “This Was ____” mix CD that encapsulates the year for me, just songs that hit at different points. SGH was track 8 on This Was 2007. I wish I could remember why, but I love this song regardless. But Van sorta crushes it with southern love. Eh another tie.
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) 8.9
#14 New Born (Muse) 6
Bruce Springsteen’s second song of this tournament where the last verse ends with leaving someone you love to go do something small that will only take a minute, but something that is definitely illegal regardless. It’s so hard in Jersey. So hard.
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) 7.9
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) 5.8
Most versions of anything from the Last Waltz will do well with me. This was nice though. And a free mp3! Rad.
Fun round. Next round is when the fighting really starts 😉
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) – 7 – I wanted to hate on Meat Loaf as the picture made me vomit in my mouth a little bit, but this is a pretty good song — the baseball announcer part sounds like a Zappa song.
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) – 6.8 – As much as I like the synth track, this gets a little repetitive.
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) – 6.5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – 7.5 – Isn’t this the third Van Morrison song (at least that I’ve voted on)? I think this is my favorite so far.
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 8.5 – I’m one of those people who has had trouble finding an entry point for Bruce stuff, this might be it.
#14 New Born (Muse) – 7.8 – This might be the first time I am knowingly listening to a Muse song, its probably not getting a completely fair listen since my awesome-o-meter was blown by the previous Bruce song. This is really good though.
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 7.6
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) – 7.2
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) 7
-Its like, five songs in one! Or the soundtrack to a Broadway show. I’m not sure that these are necessarily positive characteristics, however, this evening it seemed to work. I’m feeling charitable.
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) 7.25
-Nostalgia, FTW!
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) 9
-I want to marry this song.
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) 6.5
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) 6.51
#14 New Born (Muse) 6.6
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) 7.5
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) 8.5
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) 4.0 Actually this one gets 3 scores – a 7 for the first 3.5 minutes; a -0- for the radio interlude; and a 4 for the balance. I know the math doesn’t exactly work but that’s ’cause I factored in the amount of time I had to listen to each segment.
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) 3.0 N/C
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) 6.5 Really good song — once upon a time.
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – 5.5 Doesn’t approach his better works.
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 6.0 Still not a fan of the Boss.
#14 New Born (Muse) – 2.5 Did the Muse take and oxygen break when the band took over? He was certainly having ‘breathing difficulties’ or maybe just needs a new vocal coach.
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 6.0 So bad it’s good. No — he can’t sing but even on a bad night with a bad song he has more talent than most.
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) 8.5 Great!! Never was a fan of Frankie but I loved the show. Any way to get those guys to do a whole album of the Four Seasons without the chatter and the interruptions?
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) – 5.0
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) – 3.0
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) – 6.5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – 5.0
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 7.0
#14 New Born (Muse) – 2.0
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 7.0
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) – 8.0
dj roomba is eating pizza in my dining room, upset because she didn’t get to vote because she was driving here…
She contemplated phoning it in.
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) = 7.5
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) = 3
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) = 6.5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) = 5
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) = 5.5
#14 New Born (Muse) =
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) = 7
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) = 7
whoops. 8.5 for muse
Coffee and music listening with the roommates. Votes for me / Chris (carolyn got too distracted, again)
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) – 7.5 / 6
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) – 5.5 / 4
I love PBTDL – after my oldest sister’s wedding, we bullied the hotel into letting us take over the hotel bar once we had to leave the ballroom, and my uncle decided to get on the bar and serenade the entire party with this song, and, of course, everyone joined in. Awesome.
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) – 7.5 / 8
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – 7 / 5.5
Sister Golden Hair is just going to sound good all the time. So is Van Morrison. But America just hit the spot for me this morning.
Chris is a huge Sister Golden Hair fan.
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 6.5 / 5
#14 New Born (Muse) – 8 / 8.5
Oh man. I love Bruce and I love Muse. I totally thought that I was going to go Bruce – but Muse just felt better this morning.
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 7.5 / 7
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) – 4 / 2
Chris said Oh What A Night is just too close to being disco for him to like it at all. I don’t hate Oh What a Night – but it definitely suffers from overexposure. And I reeeeeally hope that it can’t beat Bob Dylan.
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) = 7.8 This song oscillates wildly between a “3” and a “10” for eight and a half minutes. This was a confused score, with no promises of what score I’ll give it next time. The whole “and now I’m praying for the end of time” bit is super clever.
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) = 3
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) = 5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) = 6
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) = 8.5
#14 New Born (Muse) = 4.5
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) = 9
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) = 6
The hangover is bringing down all these scores.
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) 5 [never truly bad, never truly great.]
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) 6.8
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) 6.8
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) 8.5
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) 5 [this track is great because it shows how he developed the lyric and music ideas into fully fledged amazing songs later in his career.]
#14 New Born (Muse) 8.0 [grandiose? Grandiose. yet that fuzz guitar is fantastic]
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) 9 [thanks nominator.]
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) 2 [I hate this song. It’s got about as much depth as a trisket and I think the music was written to theme a children’s show.]
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) 8
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) 4
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) 9.6
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) 5.4
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) 3
#14 New Born (Muse) 5
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) 6.8
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) 6
I’m glad I am able to vote today (Chris Roomba was referring to the round that ended last night… when after work I drove from NY to CT, miraculously avoided all of the road closures, flooding, and other storm related disasters, but still didn’t make it to their house until 8:30pm) because since I only got an honorable mention for the Rookie award I feel like I need to step it up. [Of course now I see some people vote from airplanes, so I guess I have no excuse.]
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) – 7.5*Please note the high-ish score on a long song. Finally – proof I am not a long song hater!
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) – 4
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) – 7
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) – 5.5
These are both good driving songs. So, bonus points for that.
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) – 3.5 *In this case, I took off half points for every minute it should have ended.
#14 New Born (Muse) – 7.5 *I was surprised to like this, but I really did. And also longer than my normal attention span.
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) – 4
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) – 7 *I had to go with Oh What a Night because it’s just the sort of song you never mind hearing.
So I won an award huh for second most polarizing voter?? Well…..I think I’m going to take the advice of someone who wanted to trash TV on the Radio and say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Anyways, back to voting…….
#2 Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf) = 5
#15 Push It (Salt N Pepa) = 6.9
Meatloaf should have ended at 2:51, and then at 5:00. And then I didn’t want to finish it. It’s good music, just not one song. And Push it is a great hook, not a great song.
#7 Sister Golden Hair (America) = 8.5
#10 Moonshine Whiskey (Van Morrison) = 6
#3 Incident on 57th Street (Bruce Springsteen) = 7
#14 New Born (Muse) = 8
#6 I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met), Last Waltz version (Bob Dylan) = 5
#11 Oh What A Night (December 1963) (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons) = 8.5
Me and Adrock’s votes:
Paradise by the Dashboard Light: 8.5/7.8
Push It: 8/7.5
Meghan: I’m pretty surprised by this, I was really psyched for Push It but I found I had more fun singing Paradise than Push It.
Sister Golden Hair: 9/6
Moonshine Whiskey: 6.5/4
Incident on 57th Street: 6/4
New Born: 6.5/7.5
I Don’t Believe You: 7.5/7.5
Oh What a Night: 9.5/8.8
Adrock: super nice last round. Sad I missed set O. Weird not to be writing my own post.