One extremely competitive match between two heavy hitters, but the other three contests were so lopsided that President Obama would be jealous. The only thing of import there is that the 1 seed in the region has yet to record a shutout. Is that a harbinger of things to come?
As the framers would say, Rules and Criteria can be found here.
SHUTOUT
(3) Pink Floyd v (6) Phish. Phish pays the bill for their controversial Round One victory over Public Enemy. There's no category here that they're remotely competitive in. I'd explain about personal connection to Floyd, but the internets really isn't the best place for that.
FINAL SCORE: PINK FLOYD 9 - PHISH 0
BLOWOUTS
(1) Dave Matthews Band v (8) Elvis Presley. For the second straight round, DMB concedes the historical impact category. Maybe it's just the draw. Maybe it's a potentially fatal flaw. Lucky for them, it's only 1 point, while they rank at or near the top in "connection". They move on.
FINAL SCORE: DMB 8 - ELVIS 1
(2) The Doors v (7) Jay-Z. I give Jay Z the Impact. You kind of have to. Being older doesn't mean being better. I also give him the Song. Boy it's tough to go against "Empire" isn't it? But the Doors take the Album, The Doors, the collection, since everything they've cut is a timeless classic, and the personal connection, as I remember being told by a nun in 8th grade that "Jim Morrison is not a positive role model". I'd love to have that conversation with her today, as my retort would be at least he was never a Nazi.
FINAL SCORE: THE DOORS 7 - JAY-Z 2
NAIL BITER
(4) U2 v (5) Billy Joel. This was probably the closest "Entire Collection" decision to this point. Both contestants rank really high, like Top 15 high or better if you were to rank the whole field 1-64. After spending about a full commute thinking about it, I have to give the category to the Piano Man. There are no real holes in his collection, as U2 has a pretty gaping one, in my mind, from 1993 - 2000. Granted Billy Joel hasn't exactly been churning out the albums for the past 20 years, but at least he doesn't have any that suck (*cough* Zooropa and Pop). 3 for the Pride of Long Island.
The Irish strike back though, when we get to the album category. Joshua Tree - by a margin so thin you'd expect anorexia - over The Stranger. 2 points to U2. Seriously, Joshua Tree might be in the Top 10 all time. U2 also claims victory when it comes to the defining song. I love a lot of Billy Joel songs, and my favorite just might be "Leningrad". But it's impossible to say his defining song is anything other than "Piano Man". And as much as I love that as well, I prefer the anthem "Pride (In the Name of Love)".
Impact was another tough decision, but I go with U2 simply for their global appeal. Billy Joel may be a bigger name in the States (debatable, cause I am prone to a very justifiable NY bias). But U2's arguably the biggest active band in the world.
All of this brings us to a 4-3 lead for Bono and company, with only personal connection left. I have a strong connection to U2. One of the 10, maybe 5 best concerts I've ever seen (though Billy ranks nearly as high). They're Irish. They're political. But I bought Billy Joel's Greatest Hits: Volume I & II at the Sam Goody in the Paramus Park Mall in 1989 and I don't think I've gone more than 2 weeks in my life w/o listening to Billy since. "Scenes from an Italian Restaraunt" was one of the 5 most played songs after Midnight of my collegiate life. "We Didn't Start The Fire" is the same for gatherings with my in-laws. Billy is King.
FINAL SCORE: BILLY JOEL 5 - U2 4
The Sweet 16 in C-Ville:
(1) DMB v (4) Billy Joel. I smell some serious vulnerability for the top dog.
(2) The Doors v (3) Pink Floyd. I'm facing some Long, Seriously Deep thinking on this one.
Showing posts with label U2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U2. Show all posts
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Music Madness 2010: Charlottesville 1st Round
All Rules and Criteria can be found here
CHARLOTTESVILLE REGION: FIRST ROUND ACTION
(1) Dave Matthews Band v (16) Queen. Actually giving Queen the 1 point for "Historical Impact". Saving them from a shut out.
FINAL SCORE: DMB 8 - QUEEN 1
(8) Elvis Presley v (9) The Band. The King gets the Collection and Historic Impact. The Band gets album (Ophelia) and song ("Cripple Creek"). Personal connection is the deciding factor, and it goes to...Elvis. I was on a path to becoming one of those freaky candlelight-vigil-at-Graceland-people until I expanded my horizons musically (among other ways)
FINAL SCORE: ELVIS 5 - THE BAND 4
(4) U2 v (13) Poison. Brett Michaels' recent brush with his own mortality not withstanding, Poison wins the personal connection here. I've enjoyed them for what they are for over 20 years. But that's all they win. An Irish asswhoopin here.
FINAL SCORE: U2 7 - Poison 2
(5) Billy Joel v (12) Rage Against the Machine. A rare type of defeat, as Rage takes Album and Song and loses the rest.
FINAL SCORE: Billy Joel 6 - Rage Against the Machine 3
(3) Pink Floyd v (14) Arctic Monkeys. I loved the Monkeys' debut album. But it wasn't Dark Side. Shut Out.
FINAL SCORE: PINK FLOYD 9 - ARCTIC MONKEYS 0
(6) Phish v (11) Public Enemy. The easy parts: PE gets the Album, Fear of a Black Planet, and song "Welcome to the Terrordome". They also take the Historical Impact without any question. Phish, with their history, takes the collection. It comes down to Personal Connection. That's where it gets tricky. Try as I might to run from it, I can't deny the connection I've had with Phish over the last 15 years and change. Mainly because of my wife. But I have to be honest, even when it hurts. As much as I loved Terrordome during Fat-Out Fridays in college.
FINAL SCORE: PHISH 5 - PUBLIC ENEMY 4.
(7) Flogging Molly v (10) Jay Z. Molly takes album, Drunken Lullabies, and personal connection because they're so, well, Irish. Sean Carter takes down Impact, obviously, and the collection that goes with it. Defining Song is the tiebreaker, and in an upset, I just can't pick against "Empire State of Mind".
FINAL SCORE: JAY Z 5 - FLOGGING MOLLY 4.
(2) The Doors v (15) Dropkick Murphys. Not a good day for Irish-punk.
FINAL SCORE: DOORS 9 - DROPKICK MURPHYS 0
So when we finally get to round two, our matchups will be:
(1) Dave Matthews Band v (8) Elvis Presley
(4) U2 v (5) Billy Joel
(3) Pink Floyd v (6) Phish
(2) Doors v (10) Jay Z
This bracket looks heavily tilted towards the favorites, but you know what they say: "That's why I play these games in my head"
CHARLOTTESVILLE REGION: FIRST ROUND ACTION
(1) Dave Matthews Band v (16) Queen. Actually giving Queen the 1 point for "Historical Impact". Saving them from a shut out.
FINAL SCORE: DMB 8 - QUEEN 1
(8) Elvis Presley v (9) The Band. The King gets the Collection and Historic Impact. The Band gets album (Ophelia) and song ("Cripple Creek"). Personal connection is the deciding factor, and it goes to...Elvis. I was on a path to becoming one of those freaky candlelight-vigil-at-Graceland-people until I expanded my horizons musically (among other ways)
FINAL SCORE: ELVIS 5 - THE BAND 4
(4) U2 v (13) Poison. Brett Michaels' recent brush with his own mortality not withstanding, Poison wins the personal connection here. I've enjoyed them for what they are for over 20 years. But that's all they win. An Irish asswhoopin here.
FINAL SCORE: U2 7 - Poison 2
(5) Billy Joel v (12) Rage Against the Machine. A rare type of defeat, as Rage takes Album and Song and loses the rest.
FINAL SCORE: Billy Joel 6 - Rage Against the Machine 3
(3) Pink Floyd v (14) Arctic Monkeys. I loved the Monkeys' debut album. But it wasn't Dark Side. Shut Out.
FINAL SCORE: PINK FLOYD 9 - ARCTIC MONKEYS 0
(6) Phish v (11) Public Enemy. The easy parts: PE gets the Album, Fear of a Black Planet, and song "Welcome to the Terrordome". They also take the Historical Impact without any question. Phish, with their history, takes the collection. It comes down to Personal Connection. That's where it gets tricky. Try as I might to run from it, I can't deny the connection I've had with Phish over the last 15 years and change. Mainly because of my wife. But I have to be honest, even when it hurts. As much as I loved Terrordome during Fat-Out Fridays in college.
FINAL SCORE: PHISH 5 - PUBLIC ENEMY 4.
(7) Flogging Molly v (10) Jay Z. Molly takes album, Drunken Lullabies, and personal connection because they're so, well, Irish. Sean Carter takes down Impact, obviously, and the collection that goes with it. Defining Song is the tiebreaker, and in an upset, I just can't pick against "Empire State of Mind".
FINAL SCORE: JAY Z 5 - FLOGGING MOLLY 4.
(2) The Doors v (15) Dropkick Murphys. Not a good day for Irish-punk.
FINAL SCORE: DOORS 9 - DROPKICK MURPHYS 0
So when we finally get to round two, our matchups will be:
(1) Dave Matthews Band v (8) Elvis Presley
(4) U2 v (5) Billy Joel
(3) Pink Floyd v (6) Phish
(2) Doors v (10) Jay Z
This bracket looks heavily tilted towards the favorites, but you know what they say: "That's why I play these games in my head"
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: 25-21
Though not on the list, I'd like to give an honorary award to the Dixie Chicks. I tried convincing myself that they were good, but they're really not. Still, anyone who annoys tiny dick Sean Hannity gets some kudos.
#25: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2: This is where U2 and I finally got on the same page. When I first really started getting into music, circa 1987, I didn't like U2 cause they didn't sing about boobs or cars, they were "grown up rock" and at the time that was quite a turnoff. Though in the years that followed, I learned that "Grown Up" wasn't bad, it just happened to be that Grown-ups when I was younger were all Baby Boomers, and well, yeah, they were bad. When I was 16 or 17 and finally got into classic U2 like Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum the band had done a 180 and got all technopoppy with their Zooropa crap. But here, Atomic Bomb, they returned to their roots and I was over the boobs and boomers and ready to enjoy. They lose points however, for the most annoying intro of the decade: Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce.
#24: In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson: Ever have a song that makes you hungry? That's what Banana Pancakes, track #3 here, does for me every time. To the point that I'm smelling banana pancakes. I think I need to play this song every time I wake up on a Saturday craving McDonald's breakfast, kill the crave and lower the cholesterol. This album rotates back and forth between a great rainy day, chill on the porch album, and a beautiful sunny day, pilsner on the deck CD. Sure, it's got some songs that can get stuck in your head and drive you nuts, in particularly Staple It Together and Situations, which unfortunately are back to back, but that makes them easier to skip. Any way you look at it though, this album really makes you wish you had Jack Johnson's life. Freakin Hawaiians man, they got it all figured out.
#23: Stand Up - Dave Matthews Band: Full disclaimer: This is the decade where Dave Matthews replaced Jesus in my life so I may skew a little more in his favor than others. Conversely, I also may hold him to a higher standard, so as far as Stand Up is concerned, we'll let it settle right here at good old number 23. Is it DMB's best? Not by a long shot. It doesnt rank among his first three classic full-length releases or another disc that will likely appear on this countdown. But it's the best of the rest. Louisiana Bayou is an instant classic, and you just have to love American Baby - a song that got so popular that the magnetic-ribbon-frat-boys didn't even realize he was making fun of them as they were going apeshit when he played it at concerts. And of course, the dual State of the Union tracks: Out of My Hands and Everybody Wake Up. You'll see as the countdown moves along, I give brownie points to those musicians who told it like it was in the mid-oughts.
#22: Only By The Night - Kings of Leon: Let me get this out of the way immediately: some that I've spoken to swear Aha Shake Heartbreak is the Kings' best release of the decade. I don't disagree, however, as I was getting into it, there was a computer/upload/copywright snafu of sorts that wiped it off my system and I havent replaced it yet. So I can't sit here and put it in perspective when I don't have an honest perspective to put it in, that would be disingenuous. Now that that's cleared up, despite the fact that the word "Somebody" is overused, abused and over-exagerated on this album, simply put - it delivers. It took a while to distinguish itself in my eyes from their previous release Because of the Times but I was also very, very late to the Kings of Leon shindig so really, take my opinion for what its worth. You want an album to put on for a road trip, well this has an Allman Brothers Band-like quality for that purpose: the tempo picks up comfortably (without causing palipatations) and mellows down, but never too down, even on some of the slower-paced tracks. I give it one of my highest compliments: Good Shit.
#21. Light Grenades - Incubus: Now here's a band who's career completely passed me by. When I went on my music gathering binge in 2006, I came across this album and a previous one, Morning View. I have no idea what's considered by "experts" to be the better of the two, but when I would play Music->Artists->Incubus->ALL - I found that most of the tracks I preferred were off of Light Grenades - in particularly Ana Molly - a classic "What Coulda Been" ode to a fallen chick, along the same lines of The Ballad of Jane and Fly High Michelle. And that's good enough for me. The album as a whole seems like a counter-argument to most of the rock produced in the 90s: "My life sucks, come join my pity party and let's die". The overall vibe I get from Light Grenades is "Life Sucks, Wear a Helmet" - a much healthier perspective if you ask me.
#25: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2: This is where U2 and I finally got on the same page. When I first really started getting into music, circa 1987, I didn't like U2 cause they didn't sing about boobs or cars, they were "grown up rock" and at the time that was quite a turnoff. Though in the years that followed, I learned that "Grown Up" wasn't bad, it just happened to be that Grown-ups when I was younger were all Baby Boomers, and well, yeah, they were bad. When I was 16 or 17 and finally got into classic U2 like Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum the band had done a 180 and got all technopoppy with their Zooropa crap. But here, Atomic Bomb, they returned to their roots and I was over the boobs and boomers and ready to enjoy. They lose points however, for the most annoying intro of the decade: Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce.
#24: In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson: Ever have a song that makes you hungry? That's what Banana Pancakes, track #3 here, does for me every time. To the point that I'm smelling banana pancakes. I think I need to play this song every time I wake up on a Saturday craving McDonald's breakfast, kill the crave and lower the cholesterol. This album rotates back and forth between a great rainy day, chill on the porch album, and a beautiful sunny day, pilsner on the deck CD. Sure, it's got some songs that can get stuck in your head and drive you nuts, in particularly Staple It Together and Situations, which unfortunately are back to back, but that makes them easier to skip. Any way you look at it though, this album really makes you wish you had Jack Johnson's life. Freakin Hawaiians man, they got it all figured out.
#23: Stand Up - Dave Matthews Band: Full disclaimer: This is the decade where Dave Matthews replaced Jesus in my life so I may skew a little more in his favor than others. Conversely, I also may hold him to a higher standard, so as far as Stand Up is concerned, we'll let it settle right here at good old number 23. Is it DMB's best? Not by a long shot. It doesnt rank among his first three classic full-length releases or another disc that will likely appear on this countdown. But it's the best of the rest. Louisiana Bayou is an instant classic, and you just have to love American Baby - a song that got so popular that the magnetic-ribbon-frat-boys didn't even realize he was making fun of them as they were going apeshit when he played it at concerts. And of course, the dual State of the Union tracks: Out of My Hands and Everybody Wake Up. You'll see as the countdown moves along, I give brownie points to those musicians who told it like it was in the mid-oughts.
#22: Only By The Night - Kings of Leon: Let me get this out of the way immediately: some that I've spoken to swear Aha Shake Heartbreak is the Kings' best release of the decade. I don't disagree, however, as I was getting into it, there was a computer/upload/copywright snafu of sorts that wiped it off my system and I havent replaced it yet. So I can't sit here and put it in perspective when I don't have an honest perspective to put it in, that would be disingenuous. Now that that's cleared up, despite the fact that the word "Somebody" is overused, abused and over-exagerated on this album, simply put - it delivers. It took a while to distinguish itself in my eyes from their previous release Because of the Times but I was also very, very late to the Kings of Leon shindig so really, take my opinion for what its worth. You want an album to put on for a road trip, well this has an Allman Brothers Band-like quality for that purpose: the tempo picks up comfortably (without causing palipatations) and mellows down, but never too down, even on some of the slower-paced tracks. I give it one of my highest compliments: Good Shit.
#21. Light Grenades - Incubus: Now here's a band who's career completely passed me by. When I went on my music gathering binge in 2006, I came across this album and a previous one, Morning View. I have no idea what's considered by "experts" to be the better of the two, but when I would play Music->Artists->Incubus->ALL - I found that most of the tracks I preferred were off of Light Grenades - in particularly Ana Molly - a classic "What Coulda Been" ode to a fallen chick, along the same lines of The Ballad of Jane and Fly High Michelle. And that's good enough for me. The album as a whole seems like a counter-argument to most of the rock produced in the 90s: "My life sucks, come join my pity party and let's die". The overall vibe I get from Light Grenades is "Life Sucks, Wear a Helmet" - a much healthier perspective if you ask me.
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