Votes due by Thursday, August 11th at 8 PM: Team, we have exactly 1+2+4+8+16+8=39 match-ups left to go before we crown our People’s Choice. It feels these days as though the mob at the start of the marathon has thinned into the survivors still alive with 4 miles left to go. And more elbow room makes it anyone’s game. Could our champion be someone from one of these Divisions? Only time will tell, but in the meantime let’s dive in.
Division M seems wide open- which is to be expected. M was the division that ended up with the 16th and 17th seed overall, which was sure to force many more close matches with no sure favorites. Faux glam rockers The Darkness pair off against the Bowie in a battle of tight fitting pants. On the other side, hot stepping k-os pairs off against violin heavy The Verve. Did anyone else think twice on how weird it was that after not knowing the word verve existed, both The Verve and The Verve Pipe got pop culture famous at approximately the same time?
Springsteen beat Clint last time, but can he do it without Mickey Rourke's help?
After two nail biters, My Morning Jacket arrives to face 1 seed “In The Air Tonight.” That said, Collins only had a 4 point total score lead on MMJ last round, so this again could be anyone’s game. And last but not least, Clint Eastwood vs. Hungry Heart- which sounds sorta like the “vs.” should be “starring in.” Also, after Springsteen won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song in the movie “The Wrestler” over a song from Gran Turismo, he stated “This is the only time I’m going to be in competition with Clint Eastwood.” Not exactly true.
Widget. Pastable. Go.
Division M Semi-Finals
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie)
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket)
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen)
Living the Dream 
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) = 4
vs. Life On Mars (David Bowie) = 5
Crabbuckit (k-os) = 6.5
vs. Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) = 7.5
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) = 8
vs. One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) =7.5
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) = 6.5
vs. Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) = 8
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) 3
vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 6
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) 4
vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 7
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) 4
vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 6
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) 5
vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 10
whoa. your real name. bad day?
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) 8
Bit too much of a balad for me. Do like the lead singer’s propensity to rock out.
#5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 7
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) 7.5
nice, jazzy feel
#3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 8.5
definitely a fan of this song
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) 9.0
dig the drums…anytime, anywhere. side note, anyone else think about mike tyson when they hear this song. thank you hangover
#5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 6.0
Same as last time, not into this song. Singer is a let down after the huge guitar lead-in.
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) 9.0
#3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 8.0
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 2.5 to 6.5
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 10.0 to 4.0
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 7.5 to 6.5
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 3.0 to 6.5
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 2.0 to 6.0
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 10.0 to 3.0
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 8.0 to 7.0
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 6.0 to 7.0
Division M Semi-Finals
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) 8.5
Life On Mars (David Bowie) 5
Crabbuckit (k-os) 7
Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 6.5
Division N Semi-Finals
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) 5.5
One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 5
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) 6.5
Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 5.5
8/9, Guillermo M 1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love Darkness, The 8.5
8/9, Guillermo M 5 Life On Mars David Bowie 6
8/9, Guillermo M 2 Crabbuckit K-os 5
8/9, Guillermo M 3 Bittersweet Symphony Verve, The 5.5
8/9, Guillermo N 1 In The Air Tonight Phil Collins 7
8/9, Guillermo N 5 One Big Holiday My Morning Jacket 6
8/9, Guillermo N 2 Clint Eastwood Gorillaz, The 5.5
8/9, Guillermo N 3 Hungry Heart Bruce Springsteen 5
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) 3.5 (i liked this song a lot better when liking the 80s was briefly cool in the mid-00’s)
Life On Mars (David Bowie) 7
Crabbuckit (k-os) 4.5
Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 4 – this song is reprehensible…at least they made nothing on it
Division N Semi-Finals
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) 8 DUH DUH — DUH DUH — DUH DUH — DUH DUH — DUH – DUH!!
One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 7
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) 8 dig it.
Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 5
Guillermo, you know how to cajole…I should be doing my final project due in 3 hours. But I’m happy to be back!
Darkness 8
Life on Mars 6.5
K-os 7
the other one 4.5
Phil Collins 6
Morning Jacket 6.5
Clint Eastwood 5
Boss 7.5
Division M Semi-Finals
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) 6.5
#5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 7
Hmph.
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) 8
#3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 4
No thank you, Verve, enough is enough.
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) 6
#5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 6.4
These are like opposite songs. In Phil Collins I prefer the last 45 seconds because the beginning seems lazy, and in OBH I prefer the first 45 seconds because the end seems lazy. I don’t know what that means really, but I can’t imagine either of these beating either of the other two songs.
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) 9
#3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 9.9
I don’t understand Clint Eastwood but it’s got a grittiness that has defined my summer, so I dig it. Hungry Heart loses points for speeding up the Boss’s voice on the recording. If the only Boss song to advance to a championship ends up AC, that’s a testament to how important it is for everyone to look into Nebraska (the album.) Oh by loses points I mean loses 0.1 points. I’m a fan, in case you guys didn’t know. Oh you all did.
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) [7.75]
#5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) [7]
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) [6]
#3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) [8.75]
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) [8.5]
#5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) [5]
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) [5.75]
#3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) [8.5]
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) – 6.8
#5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) – 3
never got bowie, this song bores me
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) – 7.8
this is really fun…
#3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) – 9
… but i just love this
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) – 2
ughhh. seriously? why am i still being forced to listen to this crap??
#5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) – 9.2
ahh, so much more enjoyable.
if jim james gets ousted by phil collins, i think i am going to throw up.
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) – 7
#3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) – 3
i’ve been unchracteristically nice to bruce so far this tournmanet, not feeling it anymore
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) = 6
vs. Life On Mars (David Bowie) = 7.5
Crabbuckit (k-os) = 6.5
vs. Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) = 7
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) = 8.5
vs. One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) = 6.5
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) = 6
vs. Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) = 6.5
Good group of songs.
Division M Semi-Finals
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie)
7.2: 9.4
I Believe is a much better depiction of cocaine than Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine”, but man, Bowie brings it to another level, especially during a week when we’ve found some more evidence for life on Mars.
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve)
7.4 : 6.5
An awesome bassline and chorus make us for a lackluster set of versus in Carbbuckit, and the Verve ran out of gas like Tom Glavine in October.
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket)
4.9 : 5.8
I thought we got rid of Phil like two rounds ago. Can’t say I love One Big Holiday, but that fellow can sing.
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen)
9.1 : 9
My favorite match-up of the day, for sure. Very tough call.
Division M Semi-Finals
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 2.5 / 1
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 8.5 / 7
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 9 / 6
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 8 / 5
IBIATCL the darkness – 6.1 a good pong playing song as it allows for ridiculous air guitaring
LON? david bowie – 6
C k-os – 8 did not know this song, but i dig it
BSS the verve – 9.5 awesome
ITAT phil collins – 5.5
OBH my morning jacket – 5
CE gorillaz – 10
HH bruce springsteen – 7
Division M Semi-Finals
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 7/4
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 4/10
Crabbuckit is fun for one listen or two, but Bittersweet Symphony has staying power.
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 1/7.5
The best part of In the Air Tonight is Eminem’s reference in Stan.
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 7/4
“The best part of In the Air Tonight is Eminem’s reference in Stan.”
Exactly what I was thinking.
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) = 6
vs. Life On Mars (David Bowie) = 3
Crabbuckit (k-os) = 8.5
vs. Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) = 6
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) = 6
vs. One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) = 4
Ugh – Why can’t I get on the MMJ train? It’s like I have this huge block, no matter how many of my friends like them.
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) = 2
vs. Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) = 3
Division M Semi-Finals
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) 4.5
#5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 8.5
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) 8.3
#3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 7
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) 9.5
#5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 5.1
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) 6.8
#3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 4
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) = 6
vs. Life On Mars (David Bowie) = 10 [I can’t believe someone gave this a 1.]
Crabbuckit (k-os) = 8
vs. Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) = 4
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) = 10 [I’ve come around on this (it’s super easy to hate Phil) and have concluded it’s a pretty exceptional tune.]
vs. One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) = 8 [and this is great southern rock–I’d be happy for either of these to go forward.]
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) = 3.5 [staying consistent, I still am not a big fan of this song. And today I’m finding it irritating.]
vs. Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) = 6
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) = 7.8
vs. Life On Mars (David Bowie) = 6.9
Both fun in a retarded kind of way. The Darkness knows they’re ridiculous though, while Bowie seemed serious.
Crabbuckit (k-os) = 10
vs. Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) = 5.1
Gotta give it to the closest thing to hip hop left in the tourney. The Verve gets a 10 for the intro, and a 1 for the vocals. God those vocals bug me, I’d rather just hear their riff over and over and the britpop boys can go jump off a cliff.
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) = 0.1
vs. One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) =8.7
This song is so lame it hurts. Phil Collins is everything that was wrong with the 80s. Repetitive and completely lacking in soul and skill.
One Big Holiday is pretty good. Its got everything ITAT lacks, so I’m rating it slightly higher just to put Phil that much lower.
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) = 11
vs. Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) = 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
Wow, I didn’t think it was possible for me to dislike a song more than In the Air Tonight. I very much hope both of the phenomenal hip hop songs in this round trounce the two poppy ballads they find themselves matched with.
Make that last score 1/googolplex
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) = 8.5
vs. Life On Mars (David Bowie) = 6
Crabbuckit (k-os) = 6
vs. Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) = 4.5
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) = 6
vs. One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) = 5.5
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) = 8
vs. Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) = 6
Votes for me / Chris / Carolyn:
Division M Semi-Finals
I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) – 8 / 9 / 8
Life On Mars (David Bowie) – 9 / 6 / 6
Crabbuckit (k-os) – 8.5 / 8 / 9
Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) – 3 / 4 / 1.5
Division N Semi-Finals
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) – 7 / 6 / 5.5
One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) – 8 / 7 / 7.5
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) – 6.5 / 8 / 8.5
Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) – 9.5 / 4 / 5
Wellllllll, I didn’t get home until like 4:45 (west coast time) today but technically you didn’t designated a time zone for the deadline in this post :). So I’ll go ahead and vote because I like these tunes and think they’ll do me good after a day of moving. You can count this or not.
Division M Semi-Finals
#1 I Believe In A Thing Called Love (The Darkness) vs. #5 Life On Mars (David Bowie) 8.5/7.5
#2 Crabbuckit (k-os) vs. #3 Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) 10/5
Fuck it, Crabbuckit is my nomination and I’m really feeling it today. I can’t take Bittersweet Symphony seriously. Somehow it seems like a joke song to me. It reminds me of adolescence: so earnest it’s kind of awkward. Of course, it reminds me of my OWN adolescence, with that sort of embarrassing nostalgia that’s kind of great.
Division N Semi-Finals
#1 In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins) vs. #5 One Big Holiday (My Morning Jacket) 9/7.5
The drums take the PC song over the top into greatness. The instrumentals on MMJ are great, and I’m coming around on his voice and forgiving him for that time he gave me a migraine.
#2 Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz) vs. #3 Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen) 7/7.5