vote for your winners, results posted tomorrow:
#1 Elton John vs. #16 The Fall
#8 Public Image Ltd. Vs. #9 The Cars
#5 Rod Stewart vs. #12 Scorpions
#4 The Jam vs. #13 J. Geils Band
#3 Eagles vs. #14 Jimmy Buffett
#6 Kool & The Gang vs. #11 Devo
#7 Foreigner Vs, #10 Chic
#2 Ramones vs. #15 Triumph

More upsets than usual today.

#1 Elton John
#9 The Cars
#12 Scorpions
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles
#11 Devo
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

#1 Elton John ~~~ Had he ended his career in 1975, he would be even more of a legend. His early '70's stuff, borderline amazing. Everything since, borderline garbage...
#9 The Cars ~~~ Hard to go against PIL, but I really do enjoy the majority of The Cars work. Haven't checked out the new album, it has me curious though..
#12 Scorps ~~~ With the exception of about 3 songs, Rod bugs me. Though I hate "Winds Of Change", I do mostly enjoy the bulk of Scorpions work...
#4 The Jam ~~~ Once you really start to get into The Jam's work, you discover this is a great band...
#3 Eagles ~~~ Ugly, Ugly matchup.
#6 Kool & The Gang ~~~
#7 Foreigner ~~~
#2 Ramones ~~~

#16 The Fall (it's not an anti Elton John vote, I enjoy the Fall and they have influenced many bands and artists I love ; I might enjoy almost as many Elton songs than Fall's songs, but he can't see his legacy)
pass (2 bands I respect more than I enjoy)
pass
pass
pass
#11 Devo (can enjoy both, only Devo has a song in my top 500)
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

All those bands together you have 2 songs of my top 500 and not album of my top 200, pretty weak bracket.

#1 Elton John
#8 Public Image Ltd.
pass
pass
pass
#11 Devo
pass
pass

#1 Elton John
#9 The Cars
#5 Rod Stewart
#4 The Jam - Although "Centerfold" is unassailably awesome.
#3 Eagles - One I dislike, the other I loathe as much as it is possible to loathe someone on a strictly aesthetic basis.
#11 Devo
#10 Chic - Blow out of the week. Chic should be a 3 or 4 seed. Foreigner is less than meh.
#2 Ramones

#16 The Fall
#8 Public Image Ltd.
#5 Rod Stewart
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles
#11 Devo
#7 Foreigner
#2 Ramones

Thanks!

Elton John
Public Image Ltd.
Rod Stewart
The Jam
Eagles
Devo
Chic
Ramones

The Fall (unbelievably easy choice for a 16-1)
pass (haven't heard Public Image Ltd. yet)
Scorpions
The Jam
Eagles (one of the worst matchups of the entire tournament; as much as I hate the Eagles just thinking of Buffett brings to mind crappy singers at beach hotels)
Devo
Chic
Ramones

#1 Elton John
#9 The Cars
#5 Rod Stewart vs.
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles
#6 Kool & The Gang
#7 Foreigner
#2 Ramones

#1 Elton John
#8 Public Image Ltd.
#5 Rod Stewart
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles
#11 Devo
#7 Foreigner
#2 Ramones

#16 The Fall (tough call)
#8 Public Image Ltd. (tough call)
#12 Scorpions (for comic value, plus I hate Rod Stewart)
#4 The Jam
pass ... 2 of my least favorite artists ever
#6 Kool & The Gang (very tough call)
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

#16 The Fall (@Jackson: Yes it is. Unlike Sir Elton, I doubt Mark E. Smith is in line for a knighthood.)

#8 Public Image Ltd. (The Cars really don’t get the credit they deserve, and I’m sorry to have to send them packing. But PiL seemingly never stops going up in my estimation.)

Pass. (Beating or kicking?)

#4 The Jam

#3 Eagles (Two acts with, I suspect, a largely overlapping demographic. I don’t dislike Buffett as much as I’m supposed to – dock me five hipster points – but the Eagles take this matchup on the basis of their one epic, “Hotel California.” You know, if you like that sort of thing.)

#11 Devo (Funny, funny matchup, but an easy one. Kool & the Gang is smooth party music that goes down easy, and they drew Devo, the spastic geeks who gave us “Mongoloid” and “Jerkin’ Back and Forth.” Seriously, who actually likes K&tG better? Besides professional wedding planners, I mean?)

#10 Chic (As with the above matchup, the higher seed is the mainstream – not to say middlebrow – choice against a “weird” but VERY clearly superior opponent. To be honest, though, I probably would have gone for Foreigner over Chic at one time. And that time would have been 1979. When I was 11 years old.)

#2 Ramones

pass
#9 The Cars
#5 Rod Stewart
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles
#11 Devo
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

#1 Elton John
#8 Public Image
#5 Rod Stewart
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles (The lesser of two evils? Seriously these are two of the worst bands ever)
#6 Kool & The Gang
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

#1 Elton John
#8 Public Image Ltd.
#5 Rod Stewart
#4 The Jam
PAss
#6 Kool & The Gang
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

passl
#8 Public Image Ltd.
pass
#4 The Jam
pass
#11 Devo
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

It's upset week!

The Fall (criminally under seeded)
Public Image Ltd.
Scorpions (Rod just doesn't strike any chords)
The Jam
Eagles ( the only no brainer this week for me)
Devo
Chic (closer than the other upsets)
Ramones

Elton John
The Cars
Rod Stewart
The Jam
Eagles
Kool & the Gang
Chic
Ramones

Up until this point we have 29 voters (both AM & my e-mail voters) and some amazingly close matchups...

1- Tie
1- One-vote lead
1- two-vote lead
1- three vote lead

When I get back into work tomorrow morning and add up the final 6 - 9 votes that are still out there, any of these matchups could go either way. Usually by this point in the day there is at most one or two matchups that are still undecided.

#16 The Fall: I agree with those who say that this is an easy choice. I even dislike Elton's acclaimed 70s work, and the only song of his I can tolerate is "I Don't Want to Go on with You Like That", perhaps subliminally as it is eerily similar to some music from Megaman 2. The Fall, however, have lots of great stuff.
#9 The Cars: This is a great 8-9 matchup. Both are probably about equal, but I've bought stuff from The Cars and not P.I.L.
#5 Rod Stewart: Hey, I like "Crazy About Her", "Forever Young" and "Broken Arrow", ok? OK?! What are you gonna do about it?!
#4 The Jam: Very easy choice here.
#14 Jimmy Buffett: Strategic vote. Both of these artists are sickeningly awful to me, but I suspect that The Eagles have a chance to advance beyond this round, and we can't let either of these artists sully the tournament any more than they must.
#11 Devo: I suspect my vote would flip if I knew more early, non-cheesy Kool & the Gang, but I'm sticking to my personal purchase tiebreaker.
#10 Chic: This is a blowout.
#2 Ramones: Hey ho. Let's go!

#16 The Fall
#8 Public Image Ltd.
#12 Scorpions
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles
#11 Devo
#10 Chic
#2 Ramones

#16 The Fall
#9 The Cars
#5 Rod Stewart
#4 The Jam
#3 Eagles
#6 Kool & The Gang
#7 Foreigner
#2 Ramones

Elton
Cars
Rod
Pass
Eagles (Come on, Jimmy Buffet, really?)
pass (sorta know both, not well enough)
Foreigner
Pass

RESULTS: Oddly enough we had our first tie of the 1st round, not once, but twice...

Elton John 69.7% / The Fall 30.3%
The Cars 59.4% / PIL 40.6%
Rod Stewart 56.3% / Scorpions 43.7%
The Jam 80.6% / J. Geils Band 19.4%
Eagles 80% / Jimmy Buffett 20%
*** TIE *** Kool & The Gang / Devo 50% EACH
*** TIE Foreigner / Chic 50% EACH
Ramones 90.6% / Triumph 9.4%

Good lord, how could Chic not beat Foreigner outright?!?