The Old Acclaimed Music Forum
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Vote for your winners, results posted tomorrow:
#1 Bruce Springsteen vs. #8 Siouxsie & The Banshees
#5 Peter Gabriel vs. #4 Blondie
#3 Al Green vs. #6 Lynyrd Skynyrd
#7 Hall & Oates vs. #2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello vs. #8 Abba
#5 Television vs. #4 Curtis Mayfield
#3 Patti Smith vs. #6 Tom Petty
#7 Boston vs. #2 Queen
Bruce -
Blondie - Tough choice.
Al - My hatred for "Sweet Home Alabama" & "Free Bird" make this even easier...
Hall & Oates - Even more surprising is the fact that I am at my desk listening to "Isolation" from Joy Division right now. I recently watched a Behind The Music Remastered with Hall & Oates and it made me reconsider just how good these guys were...
Elvis - Easiest matchup of the day...
Curtis -
Petty - Let's not forget about the Heartbreakers, but since he did a couple of albums without them we had to for UMT purposes...
Queen - I agonized over this one, I absolutely love the first 2 Boston albums, but in the end they are lacking a "Stone Cold Crazy", "Killer Queen" or "Sheer Heart Attack" which would be my top 3 songs if I listed them between these 2 artists...
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#5 Peter Gabriel
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#5 Television
#3 Patti Smith
#2 Queen
Bruce (tough one)
Peter G
Lynyrd Skynyrd (another tough one)
Joy Division
Elvis Costello
Curtis
Patti
Queen
#8 Siouxsie & The Banshees
#4 Blondie
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#3 Patti Smith
#2 Queen
Bruce Springsteen
Peter Gabriel
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Joy Division
Elvis Costello
Curtis Mayfield
Tom Petty
Boston
#8 Siouxsie & The Banshees: I can tolerate Bruce Springsteen, but Siouxsie and the Banshees blow him out of the water with their immense musical scope and innovation. They'll lose here, but not without a well-deserved vote from me!
#4 Blondie: Siouxsie vs. Blondie would have been a matchup of top-10 artists for me. Peter Gabriel has some good stuff, but I was disappointed by the only album I have of his - So.
#3 Al Green: An artist whose acclaim I underestimate but appreciate vs. an artist whose acclaim baffles me.
#2 Joy Division: I have a singles comp by Hall & Oates, and it's pretty fun, but Joy Division have an easy match here.
#1 Elvis Costello: This Year's Model was much more of a revelation to me than The Visitors was, although I enjoy both.
#5 Television: I haven't really explored Curtis Mayfield yet beyond some singles. But Marquee Moon is an established fave.
#3 Patti Smith: I really like Tom Petty, but Horses and Easter are just wonderful.
#7 Boston: Weak matchup here, but Queen's annoyance is more omnipresent.
Bruce Springsteen
Blondie
Al Green
Joy Division
Elvis Costello
Television
Patti Smith
Queen
A number of matchups here where a siingle excellent album is matched against an artist with sustained top-drawer output.
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#5 Peter Gabriel - Tough choice #1. I have recently come to love Parallel Lines, but Gabriel has had a better overall oeuvre.
#3 Al Green
#7 Hall & Oates - Joy Division continues to fail to move me.
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield - Tough choice #2, and the most difficult of them all. Marquee Moon is a transcendently great album. But Mayfield, overall, has a weight, depth, and beauty that few artists can match.
#6 Tom Petty - Tough choice #3. Horses is not the type of album I usually like, but the surprising strength of its deeper cuts, like "Free Money" and "Break It Up" lifts the album in my mind. But I am a little more impressed with what a hit machine Petty has been for over 30 years.
#2 Queen
Bruce
pass
Al Green
Joy Division
Elvis Costello
Curtis Mayfield
Patti Smith
Queen
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#4 Blondie
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#8 Abba
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#3 Patti Smith
#2 Queen
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#5 Peter Gabriel
#3 Al Green
#7 Hall & Oates
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#6 Tom Petty
#2 Queen
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#4 Blondie
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#3 Patti Smith
#2 Queen
Thanks!
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (The margin is very slight. I’m a fan of Bruce’s very early, pre-Born to Run work, and I think he gets a bad rap from hipster types, but on the whole I think he’s overblown. Siouxsie I think is underappreciated, and in fact I almost voted for her here. But she’s a bit of a one-trick pony. I’m opposed to strategic voting, or contrariness for the sake of it…and, looking at the rest of this bracket, there are plenty of artists I will be happy to pick over the Boss in a later round.)
BLONDIE (They would win in a blowout if it hadn’t been for Say Anything.)
AL GREEN
JOY DIVISION (Yes, Hall & Oates were considerably better than critics realized at the time…but let’s get real.)
ELVIS COSTELLO
TELEVISION (Oh, do I hate having to bump Curtis. But arty punk is my musical baseline, and Tom Verlaine virtually invented the genre.)
PATTI SMITH (Petty and Patti are both outstanding pop songwriters. But the former is Vaseline and the latter is sandpaper, and all else being equal, I’ll take sandpaper every time.)
QUEEN (Don’t feel strongly at all about this matchup, but Freddie’s pipes tip the scales.)
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#5 Peter Gabriel
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#8 Abba
#4 Curtis Mayfield
pass
#2 Queen
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#5 Peter Gabriel
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#3 Patti Smith
#2 Queen
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#5 Peter Gabriel
#3 Al Green
#7 Hall & Oates
#1 Elvis Costello
#5 Television
#6 Tom Petty
#2 Queen
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#4 Blondie
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#3 Patti Smith
pass
#1 Bruce Springsteen (He's the Boss of this matchup, and Goddamn it, spellcheck, matchup is one word when it's used as a noun)
#4 Blondie (Close contest, but Parallel Lines wins it)
Don't care (I'm fine with either advancing)
#2 Joy Division (Two really good albums versus a spotting discography)
#1 Elvis Costello (Um, yeah)
Don't care (I'm fine with either advancing)
#3 Patti Smith (Extremely close, but I'm reading "Just Kids" right now, so I'm going to go the opposite way I probably usually would)
Don't care (I'm not fine with either advancing)
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#4 Blondie (wow, very very tough choice for me here)
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#3 Patti Smith
#2 Queen
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#5 Peter Gabriel
#3 Al Green
pass
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
pass
pass
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#4 Blondie
#3 Al Green
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#4 Curtis Mayfield
#6 Tom Petty
#2 Queen
The Boss
Blondie
Skynyrd
JD
Costello
Pass
Tom Petty (I love one, hate the other)
Queen (One is my favorite ever, the other has one great album.)
#1 Bruce Springsteen
#4 Blondie
#6 Lynyrd Skynyrd
#2 Joy Division
#1 Elvis Costello
#5 Television
#3 Patti Smith
#7 Boston
I might as well note that two of those are on the album with the third's name.
This baffles me! I think Siouxsie is an incredibly versatile vocalist and performer, and her band was always up to the task of being just as versatile.
RESULTS:
Bruce Springsteen 91.4% / Siouxsie & The Banshees 8.6%
Blondie 54.3% / Peter Gabriel 46.7%
Al Green 70.6% / Lynyrd Skynyrd 29.4%
Joy Division 55.9% / Hall & Oates 44.1%
Elvis Costello 82.3% / Abba 17.7%
Curtis Mayfield 75% / Television 25%
Tom Petty 54.5% / Patti Smith 45.5%
Queen 71.9% / Boston 28.1%
Today's observation: Lots of love for H&O (or JD hate) among the emailers.
Don't forget me! I have lots (OK , just a little) love for H&O and lots of hate (OK, just bafflement at their acclaim) for JD.
Don't forget me! I have lots (OK , just a little) love for H&O and lots of hate (OK, just bafflement at their acclaim) for JD.
11-1 Hall & Oates out of e-mailers. I think it more about some H&O lovin'.
Don't forget me! I have lots (OK , just a little) love for H&O and lots of hate (OK, just bafflement at their acclaim) for JD.
11-1 Hall & Oates out of e-mailers. I think it more about some H&O lovin'.
Slick, we've established a tradition here of asking you about the non-AM vote when a critical favorite narrowly beats (or loses to) a more popular act.
I've been wondering...do the other voters ever ask what the hell is going on with those guys over at AM?
Don't forget me! I have lots (OK , just a little) love for H&O and lots of hate (OK, just bafflement at their acclaim) for JD.
11-1 Hall & Oates out of e-mailers. I think it more about some H&O lovin'.
Slick, we've established a tradition here of asking you about the non-AM vote when a critical favorite narrowly beats (or loses to) a more popular act.
I've been wondering...do the other voters ever ask what the hell is going on with those guys over at AM?
It's not necessarily about H&O love. Some of those votes are probably "I'm not a fan of Hall & Oates, but I've heard they exist, and I haven't heard Joy Division exists. I vote Hall & Oates."
I wonder what the Patti Smith/Tom Petty split is. I can't believe that result.
I wonder what the Patti Smith/Tom Petty split is. I can't believe that result.
Don't forget me! I have lots (OK , just a little) love for H&O and lots of hate (OK, just bafflement at their acclaim) for JD.
11-1 Hall & Oates out of e-mailers. I think it more about some H&O lovin'.
Slick, we've established a tradition here of asking you about the non-AM vote when a critical favorite narrowly beats (or loses to) a more popular act.
I've been wondering...do the other voters ever ask what the hell is going on with those guys over at AM?
Most of the non-AMers are extremely knowledgable music people, they may not look at things from the indie/acclaimed perspective as the forum does. I do get an occasional... How are The Smiths a #1 seed? or how did so and so beat so and so? usually after there is a huge split between AM voters and e-mail votes on certain matchups where the more acclaimed artist wins over the more popular artist.
For the most part their seems to be alot of similarities between the two, but every couple of days there are one of those matchups that split between the two.
Sometime I feel the urge to reach through the computer and slap these email voters.
I wonder what the Patti Smith/Tom Petty split is. I can't believe that result.
That's not fair Henrik. If the split were 8-4 or 9-3 against Tom Waits or Joy Division, I'd totally believe it was just a difference of opinion. It's the 11-1 and 12-0 results that make me think most of them haven't heard of the other.
That's just how these votes tend to work. If people are familiar with one and not the other, they vote the one they're familiar with.
I wonder what the Patti Smith/Tom Petty split is. I can't believe that result.
It does seem that some folks may hold their preferences a bit too dearly. It's not a matter of being wrong or correct on many of these calls, it is a matter of preference.
My guess is that for many avid music lovers Waits voice remains annoying and Joy Division's offerings are not particularly enjoyable for a variety of credible reasons.