Note: Votes due Monday, August 26th at 11 PM EST/8 PM PST
And we’re off! Today’s matches include 4 categories w/ 4 songs each:
- Killin’ It In ’86 (Group 13)
- Late 60’s Bay Area Psychedelia (Group 6)
- Great-grandpa Gets Down: Dance Numbers Pre-1955 (Group 1)
- Late 70’s FM Rock Monsters (Group 9)
The Spotify playlist is below- or if you are having trouble with the widget, you can access the direct link here. If you click on the voting window link before that, a new tab or window (depending on your browser) will open where you can provide each song a score between 1 and 10. If you are having a voting party, you can only enter one set of results at a time- not as easy as just putting numbers in the comments section like last time, but better for accuracy as well as our sanity.)
If you need a refresher on the rules, you can view them here. Or if you want to glance at the other songs in the groups, we’ve got those posted here. Good kickoff set! Pre-game on this over the weekend and get some scores in. And comment below on any agonizing decisions you had to make in throwing numbers down. Results will be up Tuesday morning along with Day 2!
(Note: I do not personally have Spotify Premium, but my understanding is that those who do can actually listen to this playlist on a smartphone on the go! Little bonus if you have that, but you can just as easily listen on a computer.)
Click here to open up the voting window to rank the match-ups!
Living the Dream 
Man i miss gradations between whole numbers!!
Great slab of tracks to start – not sure if the votes are open to viewing any more, but i love to know what the diehards (in particular) think, so i’m happy to reveal them.
Beastie Boys – 6 (would be a 6.5 normall)
Bon Jovi – 8 (might not be sober doing this, and bon jovi is great to listen to drunk)
Poison – 7 (would be a 6.8 or so… only fractionally better than beastie boys)
Run-DMC/Aerosmith – 5 (would be a 5.5… oddly just not feeling it)
Jefferson Airplane – 6 (about right… didn’t remember this track being quite as drawn out as it is)
Grateful Dead – 3 (ouch… just the wrong time for that…)
Janis Joplin – 8 (ahhhh just stellar. Maybe only a 7.5 but it hit the spot after the Dead)
Country Joe & The Fish – 5 (new one by me… solid)
Benny Goodman – 7 (only a slightly drawn out ending keeps it from an 8… played this in HS band… it did NOT sound like this!)
Duke Ellington – 5
Tommy Dorsey – 4
Glen Miller – 6
Peter Frampton – 4 (never been a big frampton fan… oh well)
Eagles – 7 (probably a 7.5 but just not quite chill or aggressive enough to warrant an 8… little bit of a tweener song (very appropriate for the Eagles i think))
Steve Miller Band – 6 (always solid, never great. that’s why steve miller was and is such a great band for HS graduation party mixes… no one is upset and hardly anyone focuses except for the occassional “hey who is this? … ‘really? cool” and back to conversation)
Boston – 9 (now THAT is how you end an opening set. Guillermo, hats off to ya.)
Had a Seattle voting party last night last night with G and Chaz before a weird night in Capitol Hill in which we ended up at the tail end of a warehouse t-shirt party drinking shitty wine. Then later we got mozzarella sticks. Crazy times. Dunno if they want their scores public, but I’ll put mine along with relative commentary.
Beasties 8
Bon Jovi 5
Poison 4
Run DMC 7
When voting on this one, Chaz inquired whether there was a score whose associated adjective was “stupid” for Run DMC/Aerosmith. In my opinion here, Beasties are the clear favorite- but Bon Jovi and Run DMC are sneaky dark horses. Poison will probably fare better when “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” takes its turn.
Jefferson Airplane 8
Grateful Dead 4
Janis 6
Country Joe 6
Lot of hate on the Dead song. They never do well in tournaments, and this song was a weird nomination from my Professor in my opinion. However, pre-American Beauty (1970) you gotta pick something I guess. Somebody To Love is a classic, and I am hit or miss with Janis on most days. Country Joe is a Woodstock staple, but this song is nothing special.
Benny Goodman 9
Duke Ellington 5
Tommy Dorsey 6
Glenn Miller 4
The stronger the brass, the more resonance for us. Goodman should run away with this, but I’d like to see Dorsey get high enough scores to stick around- his song is fun.
Frampton 5
Eagles 4
Steve Miller Band 8
Boston 6
Not the Eagles’ strongest, but they’ve got plenty more in the bag to come. Frampton Comes Alive is seminal and all, but this song isn’t really my cup of tea, talkbox or not. Rock’n Me is a super fun Steve Miller, probably in my Top 2 for the artist. Foreplay/Long Time lasts a long time- as they say in Marvel Comics, ’nuff said.
First Bracket: Solid, wasn’t overwhelmed by any of the songs.
Second Bracket: Janis killed it as always. Was surprised by the obscure GD choice. Hope we get some more stuff from them later.
Third Bracket: Similarly thought Benny was the best, and it more or less went downhill from there.
Fourth Bracket: Frampton and Eagles were great. Don’t think this is a top 5 Steve Miller song (though his songs are all solid, at the least), and while Long Time was ok, Boston’s got at least two stronger songs on the same album.