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"

My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: #7

#7. Drunken Lullabies - Flogging Molly

I've already described the gift this century that was Flogging Molly, and nothing has changed in the last six weeks on that front. They're still Irish, they still kick ass. But while Float was incredible on it's own, and even though it was more widely acclaimed by those toolbags we know as "Critics", it can't hold a (Bailey's scented) candle to Drunken Lullabies.

The title track kicks off the album itself and the rest is pretty much history. Less than a second after pressing “PLAY”, you’re treated to a heavy symphony of drums, horns, bass, bagpipes, you name it. It’s also one of those tunes that reaches you personally: “We find ourselves in the same old mess singing drunken lullabies”. That’s pretty much how my Saturday nights end. But while it sounds like a simply Irish drinking anthem, it’s anything but. It kinda asks a question that’s rarely asked about the troubles in Northern Ireland (or the Middle East, Pakistan, you name it):

What savior rests while on his cross we die

"Forgotten Freedom Burns"

Has the Shepard led his lambs astray

to the bigot and the gun?

Yep. Where’s your Messiah now? Enough of my soapbox though because the rest of the album is near-perfect. Not only do they cover what’s probably my favorite Irish standard: “The Rare Ould Times”, they don’t PC it up by avoiding some less than “acceptable” language by 21st Century standards the way I’ve heard other, lesser bands do so in recent years. Written decades ago (really, I have no idea when), the song’s as meaningful today as it was way back when. In a world of outsourcing, crumbling economies and infrastructure, nobody can really go “home” anymore. I’m a fan of progress, it does more good than harm, but sometimes, to put it bluntly, progress sucks.

The album also boasts one of the 65 or so songs that I want put on my funeral playlist: “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”. Don’t ask me why, but our own mortality fascinates me. Maybe it’s an Irish thing. Maybe it’s another unfortunate side affect of a Catholic upbringing. Maybe it’s cause I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that when you’re done, you’re done. Finito, end of story cause I’m a control freak and don’t like not understanding things, so this explanation makes the most sense. Yet given that belief structure, I’m captivated by this pledge of post-mortem love and support from man to woman. What can I say; sometimes I’m a walking dichotomy.

Possibly my favorite song on the album is the rebellious anthem “What’s Left of the Flag”. I’m a sucker for songs about rebellion, in particular Irish ones. “Flag” has it all: the heavy instruments, the inspiring battle cries, and blatant insults hurled at the enemy. Side note: I’m not into “rebellion” hymns of the Confederacy though. Not in the least. It really chaps my ass that 150 years later I’ll occasionally hear “Dixie”, or that “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down” paints Sherman’s march as a borderline War Crime. Dude, you rebelled based of the principles of denying human rights (save me the “it’s not all about slavery” bullshit, I’ve heard it and you’re just whitewashing things. And Jim Crow ended any shadow of a doubt about that. Plus, we won.)

I could go on and on about each track but it’s all going to come back to the same underlying point: this album will kick your ass while making you think at the same time. And really, I can’t say that about anything else without copping to the use of illicit substances.

My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: 20 - 16

Moving along, I wish I knew who the hell Taylor Swift was, so Kanye West could chime in and deprive her of a place on this chart.

#20: Encore - Eminem: Simple: If an album samples Martika, and also contains the lyric "Fuck Bush", I'm in all likelihood going to enjoy said album. Not my favorite Eminem disc, probably because it's a little muted in comparison to his earlier recordings. He's obviously an enigma and few musicians can spark as much love/hate opinions as him (really, do you know anyone who thinks "Eminem is OK"?), like everything else these days - likely fashioned by the media. But I'll get into that a little later cause methinks he'll be appearing on the countdown again. This album rocks because of the track "Mosh". It should have been released around Labor Day (not 10 days before the election), because it caught the essence of the 2004 election: We're not coming out to vote for John Kerry - We're coming out to vote because Bush/Cheney is the most dangerous threat to our democracy since the day before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. John Kerry was a hard guy to get behind, but the vitriol for Bush that Mr. Shady put forth here summed up the motivating factors behind George Bush receiving the most "votes against" ever by a President running for re-election.

#19: In Between Now and Then - O.A.R: The first of three bands I really got into this decade makes it's debut. Now, O.A.R studio is a far cry from O.A.R live - which is much more enjoyable music. Still, of all their studio work, this one seems to rise above the rest in terms of quality of the tracks. Their lyrics are a tad sophomoric and I think they try a little too hard to be like other tour-bands, but at the end of the day, they're a fun band to throw on the machine. Hey Girl and Dareh Meyod highlight the album and also translate very well on their live discs. Never been to one of their shows, as scheduling conflicts seem to arise every summer as our time gets burglarized by commitments we'd really rather not honor, but one of these days, I'll hit them up. Guess I should start collecting party beads now.

#18: Broken Boy Soldiers - The Raconteurs: Jack White was to good 00's music as Ryan Seacrest was to annoying, poppy, fluffy, tabloid supermarket crap this decade - He was everywhere. I chose Ryan Seacrest for the analogy because he was pretty much the anti-Jack White. While White was involved in near-iconic albums throughout the entire decade, Seacrest was fluffing up his overexposed resume with such tripe like A Celebration of Heroes with George W. Bush and of course, the decade's septic tank: American Idol. He even took over for the indestructible Dick Clark on New Year's Eve, although Clark still made his appearances and I was supposed to not crack up laughing at them after 20 beers. Riiiight. Anyway, Broken Boy Soldiers is pretty much everything rock'n roll should be, rock at its roots. Intelligent lyrics that capture the essence of just being a human, along with solid intros and exceptional music. Really can't say a bad thing about it. And America didn't have to vote via text-message to approve of it.

17: Float - Flogging Molly: Of all the things I'm grateful for this decade - you know, stuff like getting married and Eli Manning - few things have impacted me the way that the music acquisition practices have changed. I've always felt that the Irish do 3 things better than any other culture: Drink, Make Breakfast, and Play Music. For most of my life, Irish Music was limited to the traditional folk songs and some rebel rock like the Wolftones. Because that's what I had access too. And then came the internet music explosion. And then came Flogging Molly. Formed in LA with a frontman from Dublin, they pretty much encompass everything I've always loved about music. And their subject matter touches all bases: relationships, war, peace, politics, rebellion, family, and of course, the unique Irish perspective on alcohol. Float is their most critically acclaimed album, probably because it's their most mature. A worthy investment, the album's perfect for a big party, a solitary commute and everything in between.

16: Modern Times - Bob Dylan: Something tells me that if I were to rank the top 30 albums of previous decades in my collection, this would make it the 5th consecutive decade that the Legendary Bob Dylan would rank in the top 20, as The Freewheeling Bob Dylan was probably the greatest album of the 1960s, Blood on the Tracks would hold the exact same honor for the 1970s, Infidels would have some stiff competition but would rank among the 80's best, and Time Out of Mind would do the same for the 1990s. What else is there to say about a man who continues to impress and amaze as he pushes towards his 6th decade in the spotlight? Modern Times basically takes a little bit of the definitive "Dylan Sound" that we're all accustomed to - from classic folk, to rock, to blues, sometimes all blended together - and adds the wisdom of a lifetime of experience by the greatest lyricist in American History. It's also the 23rd consecutive album to disprove the common misconception that "All Dylan sounds the same" yet the fallacy lives on.

One of the true enigmas of the last 50 years, I can't even begin to explain what my life would be like without Bob Dylan so I'm not going to bother. It's no wonder Dylan's favorite ballplayer is Derek Jeter.