BRACKET #19

#1 (28) PAUL MCCARTNEY vs. #16 (997) ANGELS & AIRWAVES

Post-Beatles solo career with or without Wings… “Maybe I’m Amazed”, “Band On The Run”, “Silly Love Songs” and “Live And Let Die”.

Offshoot of Blink 182... “The Adventure”, “The War” and “Everything’s Magic”

#8 (485) PORTISHEAD vs. #9 (540) SMASHMOUTH

Trip hop at it’s finest… “Sour Times”, “All Mine”, “Machine Gun” and “Glory Box”.

Cheesy late 90’s Alt/Pop at it’s… well… “All Star”, “Walking On The Sun”, “When The Morning Comes” and “Can’t Get Enough Of You, Baby”.

#5 (284) STEVE MILLER BAND vs. #12 (741) HUSKER DU

Rock band that charted in 3 different decades with songs like “The Joker”, “Fly Like An Eagle”, “Abracadabra” and “Living In The U.S.A.”

Influential punk band laying the foundations of alternative rock with songs like “Makes No Sense At All”, “Sorry Somehow”, “Could You Be The One” and “Eight Miles High”

#4 (229) THE VERVE vs. #13 (796) THE MOTELS

Psychedelic Britpop that hit it big with 1997’s “Bittersweet Symphony”. Others include “The Drugs Don’t Work”, “This Is Music” and 2008’s return to prominence with “Love Is Noise”.

80’s new wave band… “Suddenly Last Summer”, “Only The Lonely”, “Remember The Nights” and “Danger”.

#3 (156) CONNIE FRANCIS vs. #14 (869) DJ SHADOW

Popular 50’s & 60’s singer… “Who’s Sorry Now?”, “Lipstick On Your Collar”, “Where The Boys Are” and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”

Instrumental Hip-Hop/Trip Hop artist DJ Shadow gained notoriety in 1996 with his CD ‘Endtroducing’. “Midnight In A Perfect World”, “Stem”, “What Does Your Soul Look Like?” and “High Noon”.

#6 (357) QUEENSRYCHE vs. #11 (668) THE HOUSE OF LOVE

Progressive Metal… “I Don’t Believe In Love”, “Silent Lucidity”, “Jet City Woman”, “I Am I”.

Great late 80’s/early 90’s British band… “Shine On”, “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”, “Christine”, “Destroy The Heart”.

#7 (412) TOAD THE WET SPROCKET vs. #10 (613) JOE COCKER

90’S Alt/Rockers had a number of hits… “All I Want”, “Walk On The Ocean”, “Somethings Always Wrong” and “Fall Down”.

The guy who made a living covering other peoples songs… “With A Little Help From My Friends”, “Feeling Alright”, “The Letter” and “You Are So Beautiful”.

#2 (101) BECK vs. #15 (924) ALABAMA

Beck is a hard one to describe, multi-genres, styles, influences and creative outlets… “Loser”, “Where It’s At”, “Devil’s Haircut” and “E-Pro”.

80’s Country band with some crossover pop success… “Love In The First Degree”, “Dixieland Delight”, “Mountain Music” and “The Closer You Get”.

Paul McCartney
Portishead
Husker Du
The Verve
DJ Shadow
Beck

#1 (28) PAUL MCCARTNEY
#8 (485) PORTISHEAD
#12 (741) HUSKER DU
#4 (229) THE VERVE
#14 (869) DJ SHADOW
#6 (357) QUEENSRYCHE
#10 (613) JOE COCKER
#2 (101) BECK

McCartney... Not much to say about this matchup...

Portishead... Easiest one, 3 songs off 'Dummy' destroys the entire Smashmouth catalog...

Husker DU... Hatred runs deep for SMB, Bob Mould is the man...

The Verve... One of the best bands of the 90's...

DJ Shadow...

The House Of Love... I really do like QR, but I listen to HOL more often...

Toad... One of those great bands to chill to...

Beck... Another joke of a matchup...

#1 (28) PAUL MCCARTNEY
#8 (485) PORTISHEAD
#5 (284) STEVE MILLER BAND
#4 (229) THE VERVE
#14 (869) DJ SHADOW
#11 (668) THE HOUSE OF LOVE
#10 (613) JOE COCKER
#2 (101) BECK

#1 Paul McCartney
#8 Portishead
#12 Husker Du
#4 The Verve
#14 DJ Shadow
#6 Queensryche
#7 Toad the Wet Sprocket
#2 Beck

#8 (485) PORTISHEAD

Portishead is one of my favorite bands. Smash Mouth, at this point, causes me physical pain when they come on the radio. I even liked Walking On The Sun. Why did they have to start making songs for kids films?

#12 (741) HUSKER DU

#4 (229) THE VERVE

#14 (869) DJ SHADOW

#6 (357) QUEENSRYCHE

#2 (101) BECK

BRACKET #19
#1 (28) PAUL MCCARTNEY
#8 (485) PORTISHEAD
#12 (741) HUSKER DU
#4 (229) THE VERVE
#14 (869) DJ SHADOW
#6 (357) QUEENSRYCHE
#10 (613) JOE COCKER
#2 (101) BECK

#1. PAUL MCCARTNEY
#8. PORTISHEAD
#5. STEVE MILLER BAND
#4. THE VERVE
#3. CONNIE FRANCIS(she started Rodney Bingenheimer's career)
#11. THE HOUSE OF LOVE
#10. JOE COCKER
#2. Beck

McCartney
Portishead
Husker Du
DJ Shadow
Beck

No time for comments today, but wanted to get votes in.

#1 PAUL MCCARTNEY

#8 PORTISHEAD

#5 STEVE MILLER BAND

Sorry I like MOuld's solo and Sugar stuff, but somehow never got into the harder edged Husker Du work. SMB is a fun hit machine.

#13 THE MOTELS

Never got into the Verve.

#14 DJ SHADOW

#6 QUEENSRYCHE

#10 JOE COCKER

#2 BECK

I comment on seeds a lot...this group has me completely baffled

#1 Paul McCartney
#5 Steve Miller Band - surprised they aren't ranked a bit higher, also surprised Husker Du isn't ranked higher
#13 The Motels - come on, the Verve at #4?? I mean, "Bittersweet Symphony" isn't even an original...it was based on a Rolling Stones song ("The Last Time")
#3 Connie Francis
#6 Queensryche - a #6?? That seems really high for a band known to most for one song (qqv The Verve)
#7 Toad the Wet Sprocket - I like the Toad. They epitomized college rock when that term still had meaning (coincidentally...when I was in college)
#15 Alabama - I like Beck alright, and I don't like country music much, but I have to support my home state, and Alabama dominated country music in the 80s. At one point, they released 21 consecutive #1 country singles. I know they don't have a chance against Beck, but they deserve a little love. :)

1. Paul McCartney (I’ve never even heard of Angels & Airwaves, but the descriptor “offshoot of Blink-182” tells me all I need to know)
8. Portishead
12. Hüsker Dü
4. The Verve
14. DJ Shadow
11. The House of Love
Abstaining from the 7/10...
2. Beck

****

MOST UNDERRATED
Hüsker Dü (UMT 741, AM 103); DJ Shadow (UMT 869, AM 241); Portishead (UMT 485, AM 98); Joe Cocker (UMT 613, AM 387).

(There is no other context in which I would EVER put the words “underrated” and “Joe Cocker” together.)

MOST OVERRATED
Smash Mouth (UMT 540, AM 1712); Queensryche (UMT 357, AM 1063); Paul McCartney (UMT 28, AM 262).

NOT AM RANKED
Connie Francis, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Motels, Alabama, Angels & Airwaves.

CLOSE?
Nobody, really; the nearest one today is The Verve (UMT 229, AM 154).

McCartney
Portishead
Husker Du
The Verve
DJ Shadow
Beck

And Larry, The Verve did a lot more besides "Bittersweet Symphony," and that sounds nothing like "The Last Time." They sampled the orchestral version of the song, but the lyrics and violin melody are original. If sampling is a detriment, then DJ Shadow, Public Enemy, and the Avalanches aren't good either.

Fair enough. My point wasn't to denigrate sampling, or Bittersweet Symphony, so much as to say that I didn't think their accomplishments merited a #4 seed. It's an interesting interplay that we are seeing with these seeds, where there is a trade-off between commercial success and critical acclaim. Looking at the last few #4s you see

Bad Company
Diana Ross
Deep Purple
Nelly

and even some #5s

James Taylor
The Spinners

with more commercial success, or deeper oeuvres, or both, than The Verve. And if I might inject some mathematics for a second, I would hazard to say that The Verve minus Bittersweet Symphony is about a 13 seed, whereas the other artists above would drop maybe one or two seeds if you took away their best song.

But I guess this is the musical version of the Baseball All-Star game...half the fun is arguing about who's really the best at some position.

This was the breakdown for The Verve... according to the Slicknation top 400 songs for each year (1955-2009) which determines the seeding... just as an fyi, it would take up too much room to post each breakdown...

1992 - 336. The Verve -- Gravity Grave
1995 - 209. The Verve -- History
1995 - 295. The Verve -- This Is Music
1997 - 1. The Verve -- Bittersweet Symphony
1997 - 35. The Verve -- The Drugs Don't Work
1997 - 100. The Verve -- Lucky Man
1997 - 213. The Verve -- Space And Time
1997 - 342. The Verve -- The Rolling People
1997 - 394. The Verve -- One Day
1998 - 135. The Verve -- Sonnet
2008 - 63. The Verve -- Love Is Noise
2008 - 321. The Verve -- Rather Be

Winners from bracket #19...

Paul McCartney 92.9% / Angels & Airwaves 7.1%
Portishead 78.6% / Smashmouth 21.4%
Husker Du 62.1% / Steve Miller Band 37.9%
The Verve 89.3% / The Motels 10.7%
DJ Shadow 69.0% / Connie Francis 31.0%
Queensryche 60.7% / The House Of Love 39.3%
Toad The Wet Sprocket 52.0% / Joe Cocker 48.0%
Beck 93.1% / Alabama 6.9%

I'd love to see those breakdowns for more artists, at least when we get to later rounds.

Nice to see Husker Du pull a mini-upset over a much more popular group.

I think that is what I'll do for the second round... some of the #1 seeds have long lists though...