Stuff just got real. One band eliminated, more to follow. They will be replaced, however, in the days ahead by Stevie Wonder (coached by Jacob), Paul Simon (Ilya), Fleetwood Mac (Mark) and the Foo Fighters (Astrid). More details on how that’s gonna work on Saturday. Listen to Game 6 match-ups here, and vote by commenting before 9pm on Saturday. And now, Game 5 Results:
Rosalita (Bruce Springsteen) crushes It’s Not the End of the World? (Super Furry Animals), 141-107. Rosalita was pretty universally liked, and cruised to give the Boss a 3-2 lead in the series, and a chance to close things out.
Rock the Casbah (Clash) edged out Brown Sugar (Rolling Stones), 145.8-143.2. Another close ones for the British rock legends. This is a good time to remind people to vote responsibly, and not cast large discrepancies with your votes without justification. Meanwhile, look ahead to a sizzling Game 6, with the Stones still leading the series, 3-2.
Young Americans (David Bowie) takes a hard-fought win over Somebody’s Gonna Miss Me (Sam Cooke), 157-143. I just love this series, which Bowie now leads 3-2. Both coaches are leaving everything on the table. That’s how you get Space Oddity vs. Change Is Gonna Come for Game 6. Can’t wait.
Misty Mountain Hop (Led Zeppelin) defeats One Way or Another (Blondie), 158.4-157.2. Brutal. It’s been an uphill battle for Blondie, as folks didn’t really gravitate towards their lesser known work early in the part of the series. Then tonight it looked like Zep had it in the bag, but Blondie supporters rallied furiously into the evening, cutting a 7-point lead to 1 in the final hours. With a 4-1 series win, Led Zeppelin advances to the semi-finals, where it will play the winner of Cooke vs. Bowie.
Game 6 Match-ups
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals)
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash)
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke
Living the Dream 
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) 9.1
– I would pay money to see the session and find out just how much of this Patti Smith “wrote”.
vs.
Down A Different River (Super Furry Animals) Sounded like Flaming Lips, but not as good.
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) X
vs.
Police On My Back (Clash) X
I like these both, Police on My Back was used really well in “Knocked Up”, but Rocks Off has always delivered when it came time to GETTING people Knocked Up.
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 8.1
vs.
Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 10.0
Sam brings it. One of the untouchables.
My condolences to Blondie. I would have loved to give Hanging on the Telephone a “9”. This has been a beautiful first round!
sorry, SFA gets a 4.1. Bruce wins my vote.
Was gonna go with that next in part due to your requests! Oh well.
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) 8
Down A Different River (Super Furry Animals) 4
Hmm…fascinating Bruce choice. Hard for me to hear anyone but Patti singing this. I love that version…I think I *just* like Bruce’s own version a lot. Really not a fan of DADR.
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) 6
Police On My Back (Clash) 4.5
I think that, in the company of Because the Night, Space Oddity and A Change…, these both pale into comparison for me. That said, I think there’s definitely more to love in Rocks Off – it’s much more interesting.
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 8.5
Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 9.5
Actually not one of my fave Bowie songs but it’s all relative – it’s still SO GOOD. The point I always try to make about Bowie to the doubters/haters is to try to imagine how revolutionary this sound was when this material was released. It’s amazing really. As a comedy side note, it’s also the Bowie song that most makes me think of this:
Hard for me to vote against Bowie but Change is Gonna Come is an incredible song.
Because the Night (Bruce Springsteen) 8
Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 6
I had never heard of Super Furry Animals before this competition, they remind me a bit of another band called Spiritualized. I appreciate them, and their method of pushing ideas but staying within the context of a pop song, but my bias goes to the Boss here.
Rocks Off (The Rolling Stones) 8
Police on my Back (The Clash) 8.5
This was such a tough one for me. I love Rocks Off, but this is a Clash song that just grabs me by the coconuts and makes me want to run for ages, or rage uncontrollably.
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 6
A Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 10
I’ve always appreciated this song for it being so weird (at its release), and by weird I mean daring. Its such a good lonely, melancholy song but it can’t in any way compete with Sam.
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) 7.5
Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 6
I heard the opening of Because the Night and got really excited, but then was sad because it wasn’t the version I know better (Still trying to figure out which one it was, maybe Natalie Merchant? This is pretty close to what I remember – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIZU3V8Hh6o). It was on the radio when I was younger and I loved it then. It’s still a good song, I just like that sound more than Bruce’s.
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) 7
Police On My Back (Clash) 6.5
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 8.5
Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 9
Natalie Merchant’s version is pretty great.
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 6 – 2
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash) 6 – 5
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 8 – 3
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) = x to x
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash) = 5.5 to 9
I always like to hear horns in a tune, however I will always err on the side of positive anger as opposed to getting kicks.
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) = 6 to 7
I dig Space Oddity but I don’t have an emotional connection to it in the way I do other Bowie songs.
The lineups for the next tourney sounds excellent.
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 7
Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 10
Perfect.
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) #
Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) #
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) 5
Police On My Back (Clash) 6.5
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals)
6.5 : 5
My theory on Because the Night is that Patti Smith wrote the verses, which are dark and hypnotic, and Bruce wrote the chorus, which is as catchy as everything else Bruce was putting out around then.
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash)
7.6 : 8.8
Rocks Off is a phenomenal opening track. Interesting Police On My Back trivia- it’s one of the few covers on the 36-track Sandinista, originally written by Eddy Grant, of “Electric Avenue” fame.
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)
8.3 : 9.2
High marks for both David Bowie’s tribute to the Apollo moon landing and Sam Cooke’s ode to the civil rights movement. The first time I heard Space Oddity was in college, right after I had taken one of the biggest bong hits of my life. Blew my mind.
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) 7 vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 6
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) 8 vs. Police On My Back (Clash) 10 Why did Rocks Off have to go up against my second favorite Clash song? Both are great and this one kind of hurts to have to choose between.
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 6 vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 10
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen): 8
Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals): 6.5
Because the Night is a good cover(?) by Bruce. It started a bit slow but really got the blood flowing by the end, my kinda jam. Down a Different River was a decent song it just can’t stand on it’s own two here.
Rocks Off (The Rolling Stones): 8.5
Police on my Back (The Clash): 5.5
Rocks Off is miles better than Police on my Back.
Space Oddity (David Bowie): 4
A Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke): 10
Space Oddity is a great song on it’s own, but in comparison to Sam Cooke’s magnum opus it can’t hold a candle.
Hey Greg- not a cover- co-written by Bruce and Patti when they were recording their albums at the same studio.
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals)7/3
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash)3/5
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)6/9
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals): 8.5/4
I’m really not a fan of Patti Smith of 10,000 Maniacs versions of Because the Night, but you know what? THAT WAS GREAT! SFA has some funky vocals. I think I need to be on something for them.
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash): 5/6.5
The clash get a slight edge for the intro
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke): 7/5
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 7.5 to 5.0
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash) 5.0 to 7.0
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke 7.0 to 8.5
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 5.0 to 6.0 I know I am alone on this one but the man can’t put 3 intelligible words together when he sings. Too bad. It’s a great song, esp sung by Patti Smith
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash) 5.0 to 6.5
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke 7.0 to 9.0 Too bad spaceman. This is by far the most listenable song played so far but you ran in to real music class tonight.
Anna / Cristina
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals)
8.3 / 8.7 7.5/ 6.9
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash)
7 / X 9/ X
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke
8.7 / 8.2 6.6 / 8.6
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 7.75/8
I’ve enjoyed most of these SFA songs, and am glad to have been introduced!
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) vs. Police On My Back (Clash) 7/6.5
Space Oddity (David Bowie) vs. Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) */*
I’m really excited for the next group of artists!
Because the Night (live) (Bruce Springsteen) 7.3
Down a Different River (Super Furry Animals) 6.5
Rocks Off (Rolling Stones) 6
Police On My Back (Clash) 8.5
Space Oddity (David Bowie) 6.5
Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) 7.5