This is the last bracket in round #1. Starting Friday Morning we will kick off round #2. I will have detailed song listing for each matchup in the second round. I also wanted to take a second and thank everyone who has participated and hope you are enjoying the tournament...

#1 (47) Billy Joel vs. #16 (978) K-OS
#8 (466) The English Beat vs. #9 (559) The Box Tops
#5 (303) Bloc Party vs. #12 (722) Dr. Hook
#4 (210) Blink 182 vs. #13 (815) Sum 41
#3 (175) The Killers vs. #14 (850) The Hooters
#6 (338) Bay City Rollers vs. #11 (687) Seven Mary Three
#7 (432) XTC vs. #10 (594) Good Charlotte
#2 (82) ZZ Top vs. #15 (943) H.I.M.

I'm afraid I can't vote on any of these, but I may just say that the Blink 182/Sum 41 matchup is HILARIOUS

Billy Joel
The English Beat
Bloc Party
Blink 182
The Killers
Bay City Rollers
XTC
ZZ Top

1. Billy Joel
8. The (English) Beat
5. Bloc Party
Pass. If you add up the numbers in these two bands’ names, you get 223, which, coincidentally, is roughly my systolic when I contemplate that one of them will make the next round.
3. The Killers
6. Bay City Rollers
7. XTC
2. ZZ Top

****

MOST UNDERRATED
XTC (UMT 432, AM 164)…and they’re the only act today that places higher in AM than UMT. For the sad remainder, see below:

MOST OVERRATED
Billy Joel (UMT 47, AM 386); Blink-182 (UMT 210, AM 1003); ZZ Top (UMT 82, AM 363); The Killers (UMT 175, AM 471).

NOT AM RANKED
Bay City Rollers, Good Charlotte, Seven Mary Three, Dr. Hook, Sum 41, The Hooters, H.I.M., K-OS.

CLOSEST
The (English) Beat (UMT 466, AM 559).

POINTLESS OBSERVATION
Not sure whether I’ll be running all these stats in subsequent rounds. Doubtless I’ll find something stupid to say, though…

POINTY OBSERVATION.
Round one has been fun, Slick. Thanks for including us in this jamboree.

From this point forward all seedings will be taken out of the mix...

Billy Joel
Bloc Party
The Killers
XTC
ZZ Top

#8 (466) The English Beat
#4 (210) Blink 182
Really? Two whiny pop punk bands with irritating voices against each other? I'll vote for the one that didn't copy the other and who has actually released one or two listenable songs.
#7 (432) XTC
Another whiny pop punk band against an awesome band.

#16 (978) K-OS
#8 (466) The English Beat
#5 (303) Bloc Party
#4 (210) Blink 182
#14 (850) The Hooters
#6 (338) Bay City Rollers
#7 (432) XTC
#2 (82) ZZ Top

#1 (47) Billy Joel
#8 (466) The English Beat
#5 (303) Bloc Party
#4 (210) Blink 182
#3 (175) The Killers
#6 (338) Bay City Rollers
#7 (432) XTC
#2 (82) ZZ Top

#1 Billy Joel
#9 The Box Tops
#12 Dr. Hook
#4 Blink-182
#14 The Hooters
#6 Bay City Rollers
#7 XTC
#2 ZZ Top

#1 (47) Billy Joel
#8 (466) The English Beat
#12 (722) Dr. Hook
#4 (210) Blink 182
I actually like their 'Enema Of The State' album
#3 (175) The Killers
#6 (338) Bay City Rollers
#7 (432) XTC
#2 (82) ZZ Top

#1 Billy Joel - my #1 artist of all time
pass
pass
#4 Blink 182 - a #4???
#14 The Hooters - still listen to "And We Danced" all the time
#6 Bay City Rollers
#10 Good Charlotte
#2 ZZ Top

Today's Favorite: obviously, Billy Joel
Today's Favorite I didn't vote for: XTC
Favorite Song from today's bracket: "The Longest Time", Billy Joel

Thanks Slick!! This has been great! Looking forward to round #2!

#1 Billy Joel - With respect to the junior high Schwah, who listened to Joel a hell of a lot.
#8 The English Beat - R.I.P. Alex Chilton
#5 Bloc Party
#4 Blink 182
#3 The Killers - Tough call. "And We Danced" and "Mr. Brightside" are both "guilty" pleasures.
#6 Bay City Rollers - True story: My uncle wrote "The Way I Feel Tonight"
#7 XTC
#2 ZZ Top

Favorite this round: Err... this was a notably weak bracket. Let's go with XTC, but I don't feel stongly about them.

Favorite not voted for: The Hooters

Bloc Party
Blink-182 : Enema sucks, but Dude Ranch was a very good album. Sum 41 has a few decent songs but always surrounded by horrible fillers (despite what one of their album titles says)
XTC
H.I.M.

#1 (47) Billy Joel
#8 (466) The English Beat
#5 (303) Bloc Party
#4 (210) Blink 182
#3 (175) The Killers
pass
#7 (432) XTC
#2 (82) ZZ Top

Winners in the final bracket of rd. 1
Billy Joel 88% / K-OS 12%
English Beat 75% / Box Tops 25%
Bloc Party 68% / Dr. Hook 32%
Blink 182 88% / Sum 41 12%
The Killers 80% / The Hooters 20%
Bay City Rollers 73.9% / Seven Mary Three 26.1%
XTC 81.5% / Good Charlotte 18.5%
ZZ Top 88.5% / H.I.M. 11.5%

Final Stats, pt 1:

PERFECT SCORES: (25 total)

#3 THE WHITE STRIPES
#6 CREAM
#2 NIRVANA
#2 THE CARS
#2 WEEZER
#1 THE BEACH BOYS
#1 RAMONES
#1 OASIS
#1 ELTON JOHN
#1 THE CLASH
#1 RAY CHARLES
#2 BLACK SABBATH
#2 GUNS ‘N ROSES
#1 R.E.M.
#1 MADONNA
#2 HALL & OATES
#1 FRANK SINATRA
#1 THE ROLLING STONES
#2 BUDDY HOLLY
#1 DEF LEPPARD
#2 THE SMITHS
#2 CCR
#1 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
#1 MARVIN GAYE
#2 OUTKAST

Seed vs. Seed win/loss:

Seed #1: 63 WINS 1 LOSSES 0 TIES
Seed #2: 61 WINS 3 LOSSES 0 TIES
Seed #3: 57 WINS 6 LOSSES 1 TIES
Seed #4: 58 WINS 6 LOSSES 0 TIES
Seed #5: 52 WINS 11 LOSSES 1 TIES
Seed #6: 46 WINS 15 LOSSES 3 TIES
Seed #7: 45 WINS 16 LOSSES 3 TIES
Seed #8: 39 WINS 23 LOSSES 2 TIES
Seed #9: 23 WINS 39 LOSSES 2 TIES
Seed #10: 16 WINS 45 LOSSES 3 TIES
Seed #11: 15 WINS 46 LOSSES 3 TIES
Seed #12: 11 WINS 52 LOSSES 1 TIES
Seed #13: 6 WINS 58 LOSSES 0 TIES
Seed #14: 6 WINS 57 LOSSES 1 TIES
Seed #15: 3 WINS 61 LOSSES 0 TIES
Seed #16: 1 WINS 63 LOSSES 0 TIES

Final Stats pt 2.

Seed by seed average vote %
-----------------------------------
1 - 92.26%
2 - 83.93%
3 - 72.85%
4 - 70.87%
5 - 67.38%
6 - 61.15%
7 - 57.18%
8 - 54.01%
9 - 45.99%
10 - 42.82%
11 - 38.85%
12 - 32.62%
13 - 29.13%
14 - 27.15%
15 - 16.07%
16 - 7.74%


I'll be honest, I'm a little surprised that the voting totals are perfectly descending as you go from 1 to 16. Given the methods used to generate seeds, and the general musical tastes of the participants, I expected to see at least one of the seeds perform above average. So this tells me that despite all the complaints about artists seeded too high or too low, that Slick, you've really managed to accurately capture the "average" likeability of artists with your seeding. Very impressive!

Which #16 seed won?

Also remember we only constitute between a third and a half of the voters. The rest of the voters seem more mainstream oriented than us. But, I think that strikes a good balance between the accessible and the cool. The bands that get to the end will probably be the ones that are both.