“Rebel Rebel” jumps into the mix.
Alright everyone- sorry for the delay in posting, I had been hoping we could get the numbers up a little bit (with 8 respondents I wasn’t feeling super great about my degrees of freedom, ha.) However, the show must go on. Results are below, as we gear up for Day 6. Votes due by Friday, September 20th at 5 PM EST! Take a second, tell your friends, and hope you enjoy these next songs!
The next group features a bit of Motown, a quartet of British(and Irish) slices of 1968, an eclectic mix of rock from 1974/1975 from both sides of the pond, and a nod to female singer/songwriters from the early 90s. Elton John gets a chance to make it two in a row after winning a close group in the most recent matches.
Motown (Group 3)- Late 60s UK Rock (Group 6)
- Mid 70’s Rock Traditions (Group 9)
- Early 90’s Girl Rocking (Group 10)
Day 5 Results: No strong contenders emerged from our last set- high average goes to Elton John’s “Your Song” with 6.88.
Singer Songwriters 1969-1971
“Your Song” by Elton John- 55
“Wild World” by Cat Stevens- 52
“Something In The Way She Moves” by James Taylor- 51
“Vincent” by Don MacLean- 49
90’s Metal Rock
“Closer” by Nine Inch Nails- 42
“The Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson- 40
“Bulls On Parade” by Rage Against The Machine- 39
“A.D.I.D.A.S.” by Korn- 24
The Deep Roots of Country Western
“Pistol Packin’ Papa” by Jimmie Rodgers- 39
“Blue Yodel” by Jimmie Rodgers- 38
“Going Down To Cripple Creek” by Fiddlin’ John Carson- 36
“Soldier’s Joy” by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers- 34
New Wave Arrives
“Heart of Glass” by Blondie- 52
“Psycho Killer” by The Talking Heads- 45
“Less Than Zero” by Elvis Costello- 39
“Satisfaction” by Devo- 39
Living the Dream 
So having just finished an article about public masturbation being legal in Sweden (Gawker said so!), I decided to let it all hang out here.
Seriously, i have a theory that, while we’ve all made it easier on our man Guillermo with the automated scoring, we’ve taken some of the fun out of it by not having the scores publicly revealed along with occassional commentary, funny anecdotes, maybe a touch of trash talking, and the conversations that really drove the idea of the tournament in the first place.
So I’m going to try to bring it back to life and encourage others to follow suit. Or just sound off and tell me i’m an ass… as long as there’s some chatter out there!
So here goes:
Do You Love Me – The Countours: 7 – Old school, reminds me of growing up… frequently on Oldies 103.3 in Boston… great pick me up in the afternoon.
You Really Got a Hold On Me – Smokey Robinson: 8 – The song is amazing on its own, but I can’t listen to it and not think about Lionel Ritchie doing a version of this on Sesame Street and being chased by a weird gumby-esque monster for 3 minutes. No earthly idea how or why i remember that, but i do. Childhood memories are scoring well this evening.
Pride and Joy – Marvin Gaye: 6 – Marvin basically can’t score poorly, but this has less of the warmth and soul of some of his more epic songs, and holds up less for me than the previous two tracks. Still a great couple music minutes.
Fingertips Pt. 2 – Stevie Wonder: 4 – Sadly not my Stevie style. A little too cacophonous… really odd choice for Motown… wonder what the prof was thinking with that one.
Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones: 9 Ahhhhhhhhhh. The devil and the stones… perfectly paired, even as the sound grows a touch thin in electronic renditions. On vinyl, this song is a 10 nearly every time. Fabulous on its own rights, tremendous movie images conjured up (including the close of Fallen), just stellar.
1983 – Jimi Hendrix: 6 – Wish i had half scores to increase this. I don’t even think the song itself is great, but Jimi’s guitar is evocative as ever. This is all atmosphere to me – its like going little jazz cafes and eating a crappy lunch just because the ambience is worth the price of admission. Can’t quite pull off “Fantastic” on the score sheet, but very deserving of recognition. Also loses a point for length…even i have limits.
Spoonful – Cream:9 Lord that’s good. Doesn’t even feel like a cover (Willie Dixon would be aggravated by that), but Jack Bruce’s bass is stellar, and Ginger Baker’s vocals fit perfectly. The song is a Clapton showcase, but god for three incredibly white dudes, they sound like they have real soul. Absolutely amazing. Even slightly better than Sympathy, but alas, no more decimals.
Astral Weeks – Van Morrison: 5 Not Van’s fault – he’s following a LOT of power and sound. A little unfair but…hey that’s how this tourney crumbles.
Rebel Rebel – David Bowie: 5 I’m surprised at the modest score. Really good song, just still missing something after the power of Spoonful. Had this led off, i’ll bet its a 7. Maybe this and Astral Weeks are the palate cleansers…
Walk this Way – Aerosmith: 8 Well then. That was a meaty little muffin right there. Now i’m back in the mood. This subset has a really rollercoastery feel to it. Digging it, but its going to produce some distortion in numbers i think.
Rhiannon – Fleetwood Mac: 7 Oooh, nicec bite to this – not my favorite FM song, but it had some serious legs today. Feeling great about these all around.
Philadelphia Freedom – Elton John: 4 Sir Elton… you are the weakest link.
Strong Enough – Sheryl Crow: 6 Hadn’t heard that one in a while. Really solid, if not my preferred sound. Not sure I know the next 2 tracks… this ought to be interesting.
Closer to Fine – Indigo Girls: 5 Not my style… starting to thin out a bit here…this song has always bugged me, though i had no idea that’s what this was.
Never Said – Liz Phair: 4 I got nothing here.
Rebel Girl – Bikini Kill: 6 The intensity did it. Sheryl Crow gets the edge, but…you know the bitching by now!
Hope some folks jump in and chat on this one.
I really wanted to join in on this one, but as it happens I voted for the songs two days ago and forgot exact number of points I gave to each song. Therefore I’ll give only a general comment on these groups and do better next time.
In Group 1 The Contours were the strong contender for me, I love every version of that song and since this is the original I had little doubt. On the other hand, I prefer later works of both Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye and these songs aren’t doing it for me really. The Miracles are the middle ground here, I like the song just enough.
Group 2, two tough contestants, but The Stones just a tiny bit over Cream. Can’t tell exact reason, maybe it’s just that I know the song longer and it’s stuck with me for years, but Spoonful is also a great example of mighty music. Behind them is Hendrix (not one of my favorites from him) and Astral Weeks in the back, in this match it doesn’t really stand a chance.
In 3rd Group I didn’t have any real favorites, no matter how that sounds I like Run DMC version of Walk This Way better, so it ended up somewhere in the middle. Rebel Rebel got the highest vote, Bowie just does that for me; Elton John is somewhere along with Aerosmith (one of his better songs in my opinion), and Rhiannon was the weak link in this group since I like earlier bluesier Mac better.
Final Group really isn’t my cup of tea, but I liked those more punkier better. Because of that Bikini Kill and Liz Phair did fairly better than Indigo Girls and Sheryl Crow, but comparing them to the winners of other three groups isn’t exactly gratifying. Sheryl Crow ended up last since I really don’t like her voice or singing style, and Indigo Girls had just enough for a passing grade.