U2 vs. AC/DC
Beck vs. Chuck Berry vs. Guns 'N Roses
R.E.M. vs. Jimi Hendrix
James Brown vs. The Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna vs. INXS
Gorillaz vs. Otis Redding
Depeche Mode vs. The Stone Roses
The Cure vs. The Velvet Underground

U2
Guns 'N Roses
Jimi (toughest vote yet)
Pumpkins
Madonna
Gorillaz
Stone Roses
The Cure

U2
Guns N Roses
REM
James Brown - arg...I like neither
Madonna
Otis Redding - ouch!
pass
pass

U2
Chuck Berry
Jimi Hendrix
The Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Cure

U2
Beck
Jimi Hendrix
James Brown
Madonna
Otis Redding
Depeche Mode
The Velvet Underground

U2
Chuck Berry
R.E.M.
James Brown
Madonna
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground

THE GREATEST AMERICAN BAND
1. R.E.M.*

ALL-TIME GREATS
2. The Velvet Underground*
3. Chuck Berry*
4. Jimi Hendrix
5. James Brown*

REALLY LIKE
6. U2*
7. Otis Redding*
8. Beck
9. Gorillaz

LIKE
10. Smashing Pumpkins
11. The Stone Roses*
12. Madonna*
13. The Cure
14. Guns N’ Roses
15. INXS

NOT TERRIBLE
16. AC/DC
17. Depeche Mode

U2
Beck
Jimi Hendrix
James Brown
Madonna (Madonna got the weakest artist left)
Gorillaz
The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground

Voting against R.E.M and Otis Redding was painful, because they're so different from their opponents. While I love the Cure as well as the VU, it's hard for me to go for the influencee over the influencer, especially considering I enjoy and listen to the VU more.

U2
Beck
Jimi Hendrix
James Brown
Madonna
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground

U2
Chuck Berry
Jimi Hendrix
James Brown
Madonna
Otis Redding
Depeche Mode (eat this, Tim! )
The Cure

Some really close ones this time (Chuck, Jimi, Otis).

Thoughts on today’s tournament action:

The Matchup I Have Been Dreading has arrived. If we polled all UMT voters, on this site and not, my guess is that the two favorite artists among today's 17 would be Hendrix and R.E.M. (maybe with U2 in the mix as well). This is a brutal, brutal matchup, and I predict that the winner of it will get all the way to the Final Four.

The early results don’t look promising for my guys (et tu, Harold?), but in all honesty, I can’t really give anybody a hard time for picking Hendrix.

I have much more of a problem with the possibility (probability?) that the Cure will take out VU, which for me is the travesty most likely to occur in round 5.

Look, the Cure is a very good and important band. But they’re literally one of dozens of very good and important bands who number among the descendants of the Velvet Underground—including about half of the artists on today’s ballot.

AC/DC
Chuck Berry
R.E.M.
The Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna
Otis Redding
Depeche Mode
The Cure

VU gets way too much credit in AM as far as I'm concerned. In my view, a "descendant" artist would include a member of the parent band (or at least have some tenuous personnel connection, e.g., Wings is a descendant of the Beatles, Traffic could be a descendant of Blind Faith, etc.)

The argument regarding the great influence of VU on almost any and every alternative band seems to be posited on AM at least once a week. I'll readily concede that VU was innovative and cutting and edge. However, I am not so convinced that VU's influence is so deep or wide.

I also don't find a lot of their songs all that wonderful to listen to (personal taste and all). There are probably only 4 VU songs that I would be interested in hearing, but about 10-12 Cure songs that would do the trick.

For me, influence and innovation only take an artist so far, and perhaps that limit has been reached for VU in this round.

U2
Beck
R.E.M.
pass
Madonna
Gorillaz
Depeche Mode
VU

Favourite artist: VU
FNVF: Jimi
Favourite album: Murmur
Mavourite Song: Heroin

I find that there are tons of great VU songs, even if you ignore influence. Heroin, Sister Ray, Sunday Morning, Venus in Furs, All Tomorrows Parties, and if you want more poppy songs, anything on Loaded. To me some of those songs are entrancing.

U2 14 vs. AC/DC 6
Two bands I used to hate, one I still hate. I started respecting U2 as soon as I heard War.
Beck 18 vs. Chuck Berry 15 vs. Guns 'N Roses 18
Tiebreaker goes to the greater depth.
R.E.M. 20 vs. Jimi Hendrix 20
AHH! Can't we match one of these against Weezer and the other against Van Halen, instead of both against each other?!
James Brown 14 vs. The Smashing Pumpkins 16
Madonna 13 vs. INXS 10
Gorillaz 12 vs. Otis Redding 16
Depeche Mode 13 vs. The Stone Roses 17
The Cure 17 vs. The Velvet Underground 19

U2 (#5) vs. AC/DC (#37)
Beck (Outside top 250) vs. Chuck Berry (#45) vs. Guns 'N Roses (#63)
R.E.M. (#6) vs. Jimi Hendrix (#77)
James Brown (#86) vs. The Smashing Pumpkins (#150-200)
Madonna (#100-150) vs. INXS (Outside top 250)
Gorillaz (#96) vs. Otis Redding (#100)
Depeche Mode (#66) vs. The Stone Roses (#100-150)
The Cure (#150-200) vs. The Velvet Underground (#9)

I'm going to copy Schleuse yet again! Winners in bold:

Best band ever!

1. The Cure

Awesome (in my top 25):

Madonna
Depeche Mode
The Velvet Underground

Really good (in my top 100):

Gorillaz
U2
Otis Redding

Good (in my top 200):

INXS
Guns 'n Roses
Jimi Hendrix
James Brown
The Stone Roses

Decent:

Chuck Berry
The Smashing Pumpkins

Not bad:

R.E.M.
Beck

Scrate awful:

AC/DC

Favorite album: Disintegration
Favorite song: "Lovesong"

At least 3 artists I prefer to Jimi and 6 I prefer to R.E.M. Neither is the class of this golden group.

U2
Beck - I feel bad for Berry, and feel even more bad that Beck will go out to freakin' overrated GnR.
Jimi Hendrix - Don't get me wrong, Hendrix is a golden god as well.
James Brown
Madonna
Otis Redding
Depeche Mode - Blech... I can't believe I have to vote for one of these at this late stage.
The Velvet Underground

Fave this round - Brown? Beck? Redding? Definitely one of those three.
Fave not voted for - R.E.M., though Berry has my love also.

AC/DC
Beck
R.E.M.
The Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground

I'll enter the VU/Cure debate.

I come from a biased perspective, as The Cure were instrumental in me getting into music in the first place. When I discovered this website, VU were one of the first artists I explored, and their first 2 albums helped to shape the way I now think of music. As such, both are immensely important to the way I view music.

That said, I still think The Cure has a great case here. They are just so much more colorful and limitless (if you can believe that). While The Velvet Underground were wonderfully innovative and important, their sound was not as extensively sprawling as The Cure's. Moreover, I really think their material took a nosedive after John Cale left, ultimately leaving VU (in my mind) with a legacy of only 2 amazing albums. It's a bit unfair to slight a band for such a thing, but Robert Smith was able to withstand the turnstile lineup of The Cure and still create amazing material. I can't think of another band that stands as such a vibrant peacock of sounds, ranging from the unpolished bratty post-punk of their debut to the stark wintry minimalist classic of Seventeen Seconds through the somber fog of Faith to the unrelenting goth dirge of Pornography to the sharp about-face into quirky synth pop and even shades of synth funk in Japanese Whispers to the paranoid psychedelia of The Top to the accomplished alternative pop of The Head on the Door to the sprawling palette of styles in Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me to the glacial, stately wonder of Disintegration, and that's just the first decade! Contemporary artists like Joy Division, New Order and The Smiths were likewise amazing at certain elements within this list, but the twisted genius of Robert Smith has proven that he can do all of that while sometimes masquerading with Siouxsie and the Banshees (the other 80s band to showcase such a massive scope) and The Glove. I'm not going to argue that The Cure are more influential or more important, but I stand firmly in my belief that no other band has displayed such a wonderfully schizophrenic approach to music over the past 60 years.

As bad as the Beatles or Pink Floyd? Worse?

Worse!

Perhaps you should have assigned a value of 0.1 out of 20 for Pink Floyd and the Beatles, so you could properly quantify (distinguish) your disdain for GNR

It's AC/DC I loathe, but yeah, I could go with a decimal system!

U2
Guns N' Roses
REM
Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna
STONE ROSES (pick any song off their self titled debut and it easily better than anything Depeche Mode has ever put out)
Velvet Underground

U2 17 AC/DC 16
GUNS N ROSES 16 Beck 15 Chuck Berry 12 (rough luck for Beck)
R.E.M 17 Jimi 16 (Also rough on Jimi)
JAMES BROWN 17 Smashing Pumpkins 16 (Oh! This round keeps going hard)
MADONNA 17 INXS 12
GORILLAZ 17 Otis Redding 15
STONE ROSES 16 Depeche Mode 15 (v close indeed)
THE CURE 16 Velvet Underground 15

A very solid 8/10 round here

U2 10, AC/DC 5

I admit U2 gets an edge because they are associated with Brian Eno, but I do genuinely like some of their earlier songs. Everything Joshua Tree and after is pretty bad in my opinion.

Beck 11, Chuck Berry 9, Guns 'N Roses 7

No standouts here, but Odelay does make for an entertaining occasional listen.

Jimi Hendrix 15, R.E.M. 14

Really weird matchup here. Both are very good but in completely different ways. I think R.E.M. produced more great songs than Hendrix, but Jimi's albums are better and his peak is better than R.E.M.'s.

Smashing Pumpkins 8, James Brown 5

James Brown is the perfect example of an artist I respect and have nothing against, but have no desire to listen to.

Madonna 5, INXS 1

Neither should have made it this far, but Madonna does have some pop gems.

Pass on Gorillaz and Otis Redding; I haven't heard a full album by either.

Stone Roses 10, Depeche Mode 4

From what I've heard by them, Depeche Mode is very overrated. The Stones Roses' s/t has tumbled down my album rankings but still has some very solid tunes.

The Velvet Underground 20, The Cure 14

I'd be fine with The Cure advancing to the top 32, but not over my favorite artist left in the tournament. The VU keep getting better the deeper I get into music. The Cure sound very much of their era, but the VU sound like they don't belong to any era.

U2
Chuck Berry
Jimi Hendrix
The Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Cure

AC/DC
Guns 'N Roses
Jimi Hendrix
James Brown
Madonna
Gorillaz
Depeche Mode
The Velvet Underground

U2
Beck
R.E.M.
James Brown
Madonna
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground

U2
Beck
Hendrix
Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna
Gorillaz
Depeche Mode
Velvet Underground

U2
Chuck Berry
Jimi Hendrix
James Brown
Madonna
Otis Redding
Depeche Mode
The Velvet Underground

U2
Chuck Berry
Jimi Hendrix
The Smashing Pumpkins
-
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground

U2
Beck
R.E.M.
The Smashing Pumpkins
Madonna
Otis Redding
The Stone Roses
The Velvet Underground

We had 3 ties at 20-20 / One 22-19 matchup / and a 17-14-10 3-way... winners in 5.2...
U2 85.4% / AC/DC 14.6%
Beck 41.5% / GNR 34.1% / Chuck Berry 24.4%
Jimi 53.7% / R.E.M. 46.3%
***TIE James Brown & Pumpkins 50% each ***
Madonna 90% / INXS 10%
Otis Redding 59% / Gorillaz 41%
***TIE Depeche Mode & Stone Roses 50% each ***
***TIE Velvet Underground & The Cure 50% each***

Paha, does that mean we're gonna have a 4 way? That would be epic.

Crazy thing is, I got an e-mail from a non-AMer right as I was tallying up the final votes for James Brown, Depeche Mode & The Cure setting up the 2nd 4-way of the tourney. In the round of 32, as if it wasn't hard enough already.

The four-way will be fun to watch, but I feel like The VU will be a clear winner just because of how strong their base is. Tough luck for Depeche Mode.

R.I.P R.E.M

Most of the votes in the 4-way will go to VU and The Cure anyway, I guess.