Alright, voters- good to be back in the driver’s seat after a three month admin hiatus. Hats off to Janos and his masterful launch of this tournament through eighteen independent days of match-ups (click here to see a full record of everything that’s happened to date.) It is not easy driving solo, and to return the favor I look forward to launching the third flight of four new challengers in the coming days.
The results of the most recent set of match-ups are in, and there are fond farewells to be had.
To start, after letting Paul Simon fight back to a tie, Stevie Wonder and Coach Jacob lay down the law with a 1-2 “If You Really Love Me”-“Higher Ground” combo. While it seemed that Coach Ilya was running low on ammo near the end, I’m a little sad this exit comes before “Father and Daughter” and “Slip Slidin’ Away.” Next season, Paul. “Higher Ground” over “I Know What I Know,” 81.8-62.
Moving into the Undercards, not sure if anyone told AC/DC they were given the lower seed, but Coach Joe said enough was enough with sports game powerhouse “Thunderstruck.” The Who kept it close, but AC/DC beats out “Squeeze Box,” 66-56.5. The Who exits gracefully and AC/DC sits back to see who comes out on top of the last match.
Last but not least, on the verge of elimination New Order fights back and forces a Game 7. “Disorder” defeats “Story of My Life,” 71.2-61 and coaches Pete and Jenn take off the gloves for a very solid winner takes all situation.
Short set list as we try to get the flights of contenders back in sync. Last reminder- if you want to coach a team, e-mail me at gcolivos@gmail.com and let me know. Right now I think we have one spot left. Votes due by Thursday April 5th at 5:00 PM EST.
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin)
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
Living the Dream 
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin) 7.5 – 8
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 5 – 3
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin)
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) 6
vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 8
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) 8
The Rover (Led Zeppelin) 6.8
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) 6
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 8
Soft spots for driving songs. Points deducted for mumbling.
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin)
6 vs. 6.2
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
## v. ##. G’luck Jenn. Even as we have both slaughtered our best hits, I’m happy this went to Game 7
Champion
Livin’ for the City (Stevie Wonder) 9
The Rover (Led Zeppelin) 6
I’d argue this is Stevie’s anthem. If I have a gripe this is the shortened version of this song, we’re not getting the anger you hear with the longer version.
This I think is the first song from Physical Graffiti, and that album is so loaded (in my opinion), but can’t compare to this Stevie song.
Challengers
Satellite of Love (The Velvet Underground) 6
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 8.5
I’d forgotten all about this Joy Division song. It’s amazing. Just beautiful lyrics and music. Thank you Team JD/NE. Satellite of Love can’t compare to me.
Houses of the Holy went up earlier, but that’s it from Physical Graffiti. The first disc might actually be the best Zeppelin disc out there, though I will always love IV more (first LZ album I owned).
Adrock I stand corrected. I’m going to split hairs here with you; love me some Ten Years Gone, Wanton Song, Down By The Seaside. Disc 1 is epic, but disc 2 is sooo good. Though IV, and Houses of the Holy to me mark Zeppelin at their apex. Again I’m sure we could go back and forth all day on what Zeppelin songs are amazing.
Went back and listened to Physical Graffiti all the way through today and am blown away by how varied it is. I kind of knew most of the songs, but forgot they were all assembled in a such a dense and continuously rewarding package. The Rover’s a sweet song, but I think In the Evening is my favorite.
As for the question of whether to use the long or short version of Living for the City, I went back and forth, but figured the short one was more likely to keep people’s attention. (long songs routinely get bashed in this forum). But if you want to hear that poor dude get set up and arrested during the interlude on the Intervisions version, along with Stevie’s trademark snarl-singing in the reprise, here it is:
http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Living+For+The+City/2zfFRP?src=5
Jacob- Thats a totally understandable reason why you went with the shorter version. Here’s some food for thought though. My team got rocked against two of the longest Who songs out there (granted, they’re epic songs), but I still lost those match ups.
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin) 6.0 to 7.0
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 5.0 to 4.0
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin) 5.5 to 7.0
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 4.0 to 3.0
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder): 8.5
The Rover (Led Zeppelin): 6
Classic Stevie, too bad it’s the single version and not the one off of Musiquarium.
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground): 6
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division): 4
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) *
The Rover (Led Zeppelin) *
Not sure what i’ve got left for Stevie… but I’ll throw some good shit out there anyway.
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) 5.5
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 6.8
Adrock, have faith, Zeppelin goes deep, and Bonzo was a R&B drummer at heart. Keep that in mind.
I feel bad that I missed voting for the Who when it was a song that I requested. Hopefully you were planning to put it in anyway. Doesn’t look like people were too into it, but I think it’s a fun tune and I’m glad some people had to listen to some stuff that isn’t on, like, Who’s Next.
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder): 8.5
The Rover (Led Zeppelin): 2
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground): 9.5
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division): 10
These are both great songs but we’ve got to talk about some of these scores for “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” They are APPALLING. I haven’t really gone off on a rant in this tournament yet, but now’s my moment in the sun. Look, it is SCIENCE that this is a great song. And by science I mean an unscientifically conducted poll of thousands of self-selected people who love and care about music but that’s good enough in my book. And this is not being snobby, because being snobby would be to sneer at the opinion of the masses simply because it is an opinion held by the masses. No. In this case, the masses are correct, and I refer you to them as an authority. Listen to the masses, and get on the Joy Division train.
And I’m sorry I didn’t even get to talking about Satellite of Love, which is another cheeky and lovely tune from Lou Reed that’s just fantastic and I hate that they can’t both win. BUT this is what my dining room looks like so I do have to give the edge to Joy Division:
(This is mostly a joke, but a little bit not).
I love that this unscientific poll was run by a Seattle radio station. And how come this site never talk about The Smiths anymore? Also your dining room is fantastic.
Thanks for the rant in my defense, Aiko. I think we may have to be friends. (On that note, I’m hosting a birthday barbecue on Friday the 13th at my apartment in Bed Stuy–these things usually devolve into backyard dance parties, heavy on the Fleetwood Mac and New Order–an odd mix, I know, but it works. Let me know if you want to come.) I also my have to steal your interior decorating tips.
Not back to the games.
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin), 8.9 vs. 3.1
Stevie really blows this one out of the water. This track is killer, plus it’s one of the few non-rap songs that uses sound effects successfully, IMHO. The Rover sounded more Deep Purple than Led Zepp to me and just didn’t flip my switch. Sorry Adrock.
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
Pete, thanks for reminding me what a great song Satellite of Love is. Good luck, worthy competitor!
The Rover is definitely more in the vein of some of the Deep Purple Mark II classics off of In Rock and Fireball – shockingly, I love those albums as well. Sorry it wasn’t quite up to your standards – I’ll do better in Round 2 (and I hope to god Jacob does worse with Stevie, or this may be a short-ass title reign)
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) 3
vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin) 9
I think this is the first Stevie song I haven’t really dug…meh. That opening lick to the rover gets me every damn time.
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) 3
vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 2
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin)
6 : 7
Physical Graffiti got me through junior year of high school, and now I have brunch across the street from the album cover.
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
10:8
Love Will Tear Us Apart is a truly fine song, but Satellite of Love warms my heart and lowers my blood pressure every time I hear. The other Velvet Underground song I would have given a “10” is Pale Blue Eyes, which everyone should give a shot if Joy Division advances.
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
9:4
Aesthetically, Love Will Tear Us Apart does not hold up as well as does Satellite of Love. Love Will Tear Us Apart is reminiscent of the Smiths, whereas Satellite of Love reminds me of older Beatles tunes.
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin)
10 : 7
Both songs have a sort of hard-hitting slow groove, but 9 times out of 10, I will always choose Stevie over any other artist. Musically, Stevie’s song is more impressive, incorporating funk, R&B, soul, and rock sensibilities in one song.
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder): 7
The Rover (Led Zeppelin): 5.5
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground): 8
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division): 4
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) 7
The Rover (Led Zeppelin): 6
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground): 8
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division): 5
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin) 4 – 7
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 10 – 2
Champion vs. Contender- Game 1
Livin’ For The City (Stevie Wonder) vs. The Rover (Led Zeppelin) = 5 to 4
Challengers Bracket Semi-Final- Game 7
Satellite Of Love (The Velvet Underground) vs. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) = 6.5 to 9.5
If it were a younger me, LWTUA would’ve gotten a 10. One of those songs that are so loaded its hard to listen to sometimes.