#1 Madonna vs. #4 The Human League
#3 Simple Minds vs. #2 Stone Temple Pilots
#1 INXS vs. #5 The Go-Go's
#3 REO Speedwagon vs. #2 Green Day
#1 Janet Jackson vs. #4 Wu-Tang Clan
#6 Gorillaz vs. #2 Hall & Oates
#1 Frank Sinatra vs. #4 Otis Redding
#3 Donna Summer vs. #2 Coldplay
Slicks Predictions...
MADONNA -- Should win...
TOSS UP -- Not Sure / mellow dramatic 3rd rd. matchup...
INXS -- Should win...
TOSS UP -- Green Day should win, just not sure...
WU-TANG -- Janet could make it close...
TOSS UP -- Gorillaz could win / then again so could H&O...
TOSS UP -- You would think Frank easily, but Otis has some support...
COLDPLAY -- should win...
#1 Madonna
I'll usually vote for the 'higher peaks and lower lows' band. She's got a lot of great songs, two great albums, but also a lot of total junk.
#5 The Go-Go's
#2 Green Day
This is a tougher 'Higher peaks and lower lows' vote than Madonna. I really like Dookie, but everything they've done in their 'second peak' is whiny pandering junk.
#4 Wu-Tang Clan
I wonder if Janet would even have a career without a famous family. She's all about one dimensional dance pop with 'schoolyard sexual' lyrics. *Hides from MB*
#6 Gorillaz
#4 Otis Redding
Sinatra's a great singer but his work is a little pandery.
Slick: I think Otis will dominate AM voting and Sinatra will dominate non-AM voting.
#2 Coldplay
A few great songs, a few overrated albums.
#1 Madonna
#3 Simple Minds
#1 INXS - Oh god,if INXS loses to the Go-Gos,this would be worse than the time when...no wait. It would be the worst ever.
#2 Green Day
#4 Wu-Tang Clan
#2 Hall & Oates
#4 Otis Redding
#2 Coldplay
Right now I have 23 votes in and 5 of the 8 matchups have 1 or 2 votes seperating them. Another has a 5-vote differential. Since most of the non-AM votes with the exception of 3 or 4 are already in, I would imagine the 8-12 votes from here on out on this panel will determine the outcomes...
#1 Madonna vs. #4 The Human League
#3 Simple Minds vs. #2 Stone Temple Pilots
#1 INXS vs. #5 The Go-Go's
#3 REO Speedwagon vs. #2 Green Day
#1 Janet Jackson vs. #4 Wu-Tang Clan
#6 Gorillaz vs. #2 Hall & Oates
#1 Frank Sinatra vs. #4 Otis Redding
#3 Donna Summer vs. #2 Coldplay
Happy to jump back aboard!
1. Madonna
3. Simple Minds
1. INXS
3. REO Speedwagon
1. Janet Jackson (get it, girl!)
6. Gorillaz
4. Otis Redding
3. Donna Summer (Coldplay are quickly becoming as overrated as Oasis.)
Madonna
Simple Minds
INXS
Green Day
Wu-Tang Clan
Gorillaz
Otis Redding
Donna Summer
Two particularly intriguing matchups today:
INXS vs. the Go-Go’s: Midaso might not like to hear this, but this was a very, very difficult choice which, for me, basically came down to body of work. On the one hand, INXS never produced anything at the level of the first couple of Go-Go’s singles. Plus, I love the pop-punk ethos they had early on—I’ll never fail to smile at Gina Shock visibly keeping count in her head in the “We Got the Beat” video—and I can’t wait to read Belinda Carlisle’s memoir. However, the girls pretty much lost the plot after their first album, whereas INXS remained reasonably sharp for about a decade. I’ve also become convinced recently that INXS is somewhat underrated.
Donna Summer vs. Coldplay: Influencer vs. influencee.
Donna Summer might be the archetype for underappreciated influence. Especially since dance music—disco in particular—began to commingle with rock in the late 90s and early 00s, the importance of Summer’s work with Moroder, “I Feel Love” in particular, cannot be overstated.
Coldplay, on the other hand, has to be the archetype for the obviously influenced. That’s not to say they’re bad—when your two very obvious influences are the most critically-acclaimed band of the last 30 years AND the most commercially successful band of the last 30 years, well, that’s a difficult formula to screw up. But, while I can enjoy their music, their derivativeness makes it difficult for me to warm up to them.
Madonna - tough draw for Human League, but hey, it _is_ the 3rd round...
Simple Minds
The Go-Go's - Other than "Need You Tonight" and "What You Need", I don't 'need' to listen to INXS
REO Speedwagon - Go 80s! I'm guessing I'll be about the only REO vote...
Janet Jackson
Hall & Oates - very tough...Gorillaz has some good tracks, but not as many (yet) that I like compared with the dynamic duo
Otis Redding
Donna Summer
Big ups to the 80s, though I suspect only Madonna and Miss Jackson will make it through to round 4
Today's fav: Hall and Oates, though I like a lot of the acts in today's draw, so this was a tough choice
Today's fav not voted for: Gorillaz
Favorite Song: cliche, but "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay"
Wow! This was the closest group of matchups so far...
Madonna 88.6% / Human League 11.4%
Stone Temple Pilots 51.6% / Simple Minds 48.4%
INXS 54.8% / Go-Go's 45.2%
Green Day 65.7% / REO Speedwagon 34.3%
Wu-Tang Clan 52.9% / Janet Jackson 47.1%
Gorillaz 55.9% / Hall & Oates 44.1%
Otis Redding 51.4% / Frank Sinatra 48.6%
Coldplay 68.6% / Donna Summer 31.4%