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Re: Bracketology Round 2: Week 2

BRACKET E

1. "A Day In the Life" - I might have liked all the cute Beatles songs and Yellow Submarine when I was a kid, but this song hit me with the idea that I needed to look deeper when listening to music, and that truly good bands and artists have to courage to get experimental like this and expand their musical
horizons. I've never gone back to liking something that just "sounds good" since.

2. "Be My Baby" - Of course, if something is so perfectly constructed to help you understand why good music sounds great, it still can trump most experimental tracks (except the one above) any day.

3. "Sounds of Silence" - Beautiful harmonizing, just a little dated sounding. I like the version on the earlier S+G album better.

4. "When Doves Cry" - I think Prince has much more interesting sounding stuff than this. I don't like to be able to place anything in a general decade just by how it sounds, but this is 80s.


BRACKET F
1. "Crazy" - Converge classic soul voice with plodding beats and you get this classic that seems to combine all elements of anything currently indie into a universally liked gem.

2. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - I wish this wasn't overplayed so much and is considered the essential song of the alternative revolution. I try to seperate it from the hype and it's still gnarly and powerful.

3. "California Dreamin'" - Gorgeous, but very 60s and little too polished.

4. "Stand By Me" - If Ben E. King could come to our time and sing Crazy, it would be even more of a solid number one in this bracket. But it's not that timeless, the way the song is.

1. "God Only Knows" - Essential to my listening pallette. Can't really say anything more about it.

2. "Strawberry Fields Forever" - Why these two songs in the same bracket! Among a large handful of perfect Beatles songs, I guess if John, Paul, George, and Ringo did a harmonizing round instead of that weird coda at the end of the song, then they would top Carl Wilson & Co.

3. "Born to Run" - This is still incredible at #3, all the appropriate bombast with none of the indulgence. Can't get over how he pulls off the horn section and over 7 minutes while remaining honest and authentic.

4. "Whole Lotta Love" - A really plodding song, not what I would recommend for anybody wanting to get into Zep.

BRACKET H

1. "One" - Tough call, but this song opened up the nineties for me and is still memorable.

2. "Waterloo Sunset" - Close second, only because the nineties were the formative decade for me, and the early nineties U2 albums were key early purchases as I began my teen years. This is a masterpiece, otherwise.

3. "Respect" - Love it, but really a staple of oldies radio, and nothing beyond. Don't even have it on iTunes.

4. "Changes" - Another 'good song' but nothing epic. Bowie could do a lot more that this song in regards interesting sounding tunes with perfect melodies.
BRACKET H
5. Aretha Franklin, “Respect”
60. The Kinks, “Waterloo Sunset”
92. U2, “One”
156. David Bowie, “Changes”

Re: Bracketology Round 2: Week 2

BRACKET E
1. Prince and the Revolution, “When Doves Cry” - A coin flip made it number one (tails). Hypnotic.
2. The Beatles, “A Day in the Life” - The culmination of Sgt. Pepper's, enough said.
3. The Ronettes, “Be My Baby” - Pretty rough putting my favorite girls group song third, but this is round 2.
4. Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence” - Was last in round 1, will be last here. Not that it's terrible, just pretentious as fuck.

BRACKET F
1. Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” - The voice of a generation, "Here we are now, entertain us."
2. Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy” - A modern classic
3. Ben E. King, “Stand By Me” - I like this one just as much because of the movie as the song.
4. The Mamas and the Papas, “California Dreamin’” - Pretty good, but how'd it get here?

BRACKET G
1. The Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever” - Seems this is a very polarizing Beatles song, but it's one of my all-time favorites.
2. Bruce Springsteen, “Born to Run” - The Springsteen epic.
3. Led Zeppelin, “Whole Lotta Love” - Living, breathing physical rock 'n' roll, people.
4. The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows” - Sweet harmonizing, sweet sentiment, maybe just a shade too sweet.

BRACKET H
1. Aretha Franklin, “Respect” - I respect the Queen, and I think even Bono would put this numero uno.
2. U2, “One” - "One" is two. Although I think the Bank of America version would top this bracket.
3. David Bowie, “Changes” - One of my favorite Bowie tunes, but while I like him, he's not one of my favorite artists.
4. The Kinks, “Waterloo Sunset” - Kool Kinks Kan't Kontinue Kompetition

Re: Bracketology Round 2: Week 2

It's 9pm Friday here in Vancouver, so I'm hoping these will count...

BRACKET E
1. The Beatles, “A Day in the Life” - To merely call it a "song" is almost an insult.
2. Prince and the Revolution, “When Doves Cry” - That beat seeps into the subconsciousness...great track.
3. Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence” - Yes yes, it's pretentious as heck. But the amount of (still) memorable lines from this song is a testament to its power.
4. The Ronettes, “Be My Baby” - Spector 101 just doesn't match up in this bracket for me unfortunately.

BRACKET F
1. The Mamas and the Papas, “California Dreamin’” - Gorgeous harmonies...a timeless gem.
2. Ben E. King, “Stand By Me” - Wonderfully simple and pure in every way, shape, and form.
3. Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy” - Amazing that this never actually hit #1 in the states...pretty much defines the term "crossover hit"
4. Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” - Eh...I was born in 1987, so I can't say I have the "I was blown away the first time I heard this song" story that so many others do - but that is a tribute to how influential Nirvana was.


BRACKET G
1. Bruce Springsteen, “Born to Run” - A true anthem
2. The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows” - It teeters on that edge between sappy and haunting the entire time, but never crosses it - the fact that they progressed from "Fun Fun Fun" to this in just a couple of years is stunning.
3. The Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever” - Beyond the whole subtext-of-lyrics and revolutionary-for-its-time business, and you're left with a very, very good song - but one that doesn't pack the same punch to the gut impact that the previous two do.
4. Led Zeppelin, “Whole Lotta Love” - As Cookie Monster would say: "One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?"

1. David Bowie, “Changes” - Not the best Bowie song from this era, and the verse isn't anything to write home about...but that chorus. Oh, that chorus.
2. The Kinks, “Waterloo Sunset” - That Davies was writing songs with wonderful melodies like this consistently for a 4-5 year period just boggles the mind.
3. Aretha Franklin, “Respect” - Probably a victim of being overplayed; nonetheless, it still packs a punch .
4. U2, “One” - Remember that comment about God Only Knows being right on the edge of sappiness, but never crossing it? I think this one crosses it. But because that's subjective, I can completely understand the amount of acclaim its gotten.