Vote for your winners, results posted tomorrow:
#1 The Beastie Boys vs. #16 The Smithereens
#8 The Cult vs. #9 They Might Be Giants
#5 Eric B. & Rakim vs. #12 The Minutemen
#4 Nick Cave vs. #13 Rick Springfield
#3 Sonic Youth vs. #14 Poison
#6 Lenny Kravitz vs. #11 Nenah Cherry
#7 Huey Lewis & The News vs. #10 Digital Underground
#2 Depeche Mode vs. #15 The Verlaines
#1 Beastie Boys ~~~ Hate to vote against The Smithereens who had a lot of great tracks, but these are The Beasties. I am excited to hear the new album...
#8 The Cult ~~~ TMBG were a fun band to listen to in small doses, the Cult were the bridge between Zeppelin and Pearl Jam...
#5 Eric B. & Rakim ~~~ Back when Hip-Hop was still pure... timeless...
#13 Rick Springfield ~~~ As much as I love "The Mercy Seat" and seen Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live and kind of enjoyed the show, I'm just not a huge fan overall. As for Rick Springfield, he has some catchy sort of guilty pleasure songs I kind of enjoy more...
#3 Sonic Youth ~~~ Poison.... really? The worst of all the hair bands...
#6 Lenny Kravitz ~~~
#7 Huey Lewis & The News ~~~ I have to vote for Huey at least once...
#2 Depeche Mode ~~~ The Verlaines were one of two bands in todays bracket that made it in strictly off occuring enough points through the top 100 lists submitted by a number of people voting in this tournament. They were the one band I will admit, I did not know anything about. I checked them out and I will admit, they were pretty good, but unfortunately they were up against DM...
#1 The Beastie Boys : 2nd fav band ever
#9 They Might Be Giants
#5 Eric B. & Rakim : though I find the Minutemen interesting, I very rarely find them honestly enjoyable
pass
#3 Sonic Youth
#11 Nenah Cherry
pass
#2 Depeche Mode
#1 The Beastie Boys
#9 They Might Be Giants
#12 The Minutemen
#4 Nick Cave
#3 Sonic Youth
#6 Lenny Kravitz
#10 Digital Underground
#15 The Verlaines (Thank you)
#1 The Beastie Boys: I like the Beasties only in small doses, but they still are wildly entertaining and deserve to advance.
#8 The Cult: For "She Sells Sanctuary" alone! I don't mind TMBG, but I am rarely in the mood for them.
Pass - don't know The Minutemen
#4 Nick Cave: Tougher than it should be? I like Rick Springfield a bit, but Nick Cave has this easily.
#14 Poison: I know Sonic Youth is better, but it's not fair for me to pick them when I don't own any of their stuff while I was compelled to buy some Poison cassingles back in the day.
#11 Nenah Cherry: Had Lenny retired in 1995, he would have been the choice. Neneh is solid throughout, and that earns her the win.
#10 Digital Underground: Thankfully, the epidemic 80s hatred has passed, but I can almost understand it when judging Huey Lewis.
#2 Depeche Mode: The Verlaines were a great discovery for me in Unacclaimed, but DM are titans.
Today starts with three hard choices, and then come the gimmes.
#1 Beastie Boys (Smithereens have a fun aesthetic, though.)
#9 They Might Be Giants (The Cult was a fun band to listen to in small doses, TMBG were the bridge between Devo and Hot Chip.)
#5 Eric B. & Rakim (Ooooo! Tough one. I feel very bad leaving out the Minutemen.)
#4 Nick Cave
#3 Sonic Youth (Nick Cave and Sonic Youth are both matched against artists who aren’t even on the same planet with them.)
#11 Neneh Cherry (Lenny Kravitz wrote some nice, riffy pastiches of Sly and Hendrix, but he’s a hack. Neneh’s not really my cuppa either, but she was a fun, original voice. Easy pick.)
#10 Digital Underground (Very similar to yesterday’s Kool & the Gang/Devo matchup. Sports vs. Sex Packets? “Hip to Be Square” vs. “The Humpty Dance”? You’ve gotta be kidding.)
#15 The Verlaines (I hadn’t thought about the Verlaines in years, but I’m pleased to give them this one. D-Mode is OK, but they ain’t all that.)
#1 The Beastie Boys
#9 They Might Be Giants
#12 The Minutemen - Double Nickels... is one of my favorite discoveries of the past two years.
#4 Nick Cave
#3 Sonic Youth
#6 Lenny Kravitz
#10 Digital Underground
#15 The Verlaines - I go back and forth on whether DM are not good at all or just a little bit good. The Verlaines I have been excited about since Unacclaimed.
#1 The Beastie Boys
#9 They Might Be Giants
#5 Eric B. & Rakim
#4 Nick Cave
#3 Sonic Youth
#6 Lenny Kravitz
pass
#2 Depeche Mode (I wish they could both go on though)
All the artists I know are spread out...I can only vote in two matchups.
Springfield (I don't like Cave at all. At least Springfield has Jessie's Girl)
Poinson (Sorry, I had to. A pure guilty pleasure, but I love Nothin But a Good Time and Every Rose has it's thorn.)
RESULTS:
The Beastie Boys 93.1% / The Smithereens 6.9%
The Cult 55.6% / They Might Be Giants 44.4%
Eric B. & Rakim 71.4% / The Minutemen 28.6%
Nick Cave 64.5% / Rick Springfield 35.5%
Sonic Youth 74.2% / Poison 35.8%
Lenny Kravitz 60% / Nenah Cherry 40%
Huey Lewis & The News 52% / Digital Underground 48%
Depeche Mode 87.5% / The Verlaines 12.5%