#1 (7) Led Zeppelin vs. #16 (1018) Unwritten Law
#8 (506) Cypress Hill vs. #9 (519) Twisted Sister
#5 (263) Culture Club vs. #12 (762) The The
#4 (250) Boyz II Men vs. #13 (775) Deftones
#3 (135) Soundgarden vs. #14 (890) Cornershop
#6 (378) .38 Special vs. #11 (647) M83
#7 (391) 10cc vs. #10 (634) Trapt
#2 (122) The Impressions vs. #15 (903) The Call
Led Zeppelin -- "Seein Red" is a pretty good song, but it wouldn't crack the top 50 zeppelin song list...
Cypress Hill -- Twisted Sister was fun, but kind of a novelty act...
Culture Club -- The The put out some great music, but as a kid of the 80's you have to say this is the guiltiest of all pleasures...
Deftones -- "Motownphilly" was a great song, then they got all schmoopie and sappy. Deftones have never been schmoopie or sappy...
Cornershop -- I used to really like SG and hated "Brimful of Asha" when it was hot. Now it's the other way around...
M83 -- This is tough, cuz I really do like .38 Special, they just don't have a "Kim And Jessie" in their catalog...
Trapt... Not a big fan of either...
The Impressions... awesome...
#1 Led Zeppelin
#8 Cypress Hill
#5 Culture Club
#4 Boyz II Men - I have some appreciation for the Deftones. But I'm a former singer. And while B2M were never the absolute greatest, I have appreciation for their bringing tight focus on harmonies back into the mainstream for a bit.
#14 Cornershop
#11 M83
#7 10cc
#2 The Impressions - One of the all time greats.
Favorite this round - The Impressions, not to say I don' get the Led out often.
#1 (7) Led Zeppelin
#8 (506) Cypress Hill
Of the two annoying bands I vote for the one you can glean some talent from.
#12 (762) The The
Hate 80's mainstream
#13 (775) Deftones
#3 (135) Soundgarden
When I Was Born For The 7th Time wears on repeated listens.
#11 (647) M83
Get ready for a barrage of questionable seedings...
#1 Led Zeppelin - one of the greatest and most influential acts of all time, no question
#9 Twisted Sister - seriously? Dee Snider & co @ #9???
#5 Culture Club - The first two albums (yes, vinyl!!) I ever bought were "An Innocent Man", and "Colour By Numbers" (though just 4 years later, I was buying exclusively CDs)
#4 Boyz II Men - I can't stand "I'll Make Love to You" or "End of the Road" anymore (definition of overplayed) unless I'm feeling sentimental , but the Boyz can flat-out sing. But really, only a #4 seed? The singles "End of the Road" (13), "I'll Make Love to You" (14) and "One Sweet Day" (16) logged a ridiculous 43 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
pass
pass
pass
#2 The Impressions - Really surprised to see them as a #2!!
Today's favorite: Led Zeppelin
Today's favorite I didn't vote for: .38 Special
Favorite song from today's bracket: "D'yer Ma'ker", Led Zeppelin (by a little bit over "Karma Chameleon")
Since we’re now at the three-quarter pole of the first round (and since I’m taking a sick day), here are some stats about upsets in the UMT (I think Larry is also keeping track of these):
HOW THE UNDERDOGS ARE DOING:
#9: 17-30-1 (36%)
#10: 11-35-2 (24%)
#11: 10-37-1 (21%)
#12: 9-39 (19%)
#13: 6-42 (13%)
#14: 6-42 (13%)
#15: 2-46 (4%)
#16: 1-47 (2%)
Larry’s observation from a couple of weeks ago holds true: there is a very significant advantage to holding a higher seed in this tournament. Nine of the 48 brackets so far had no upsets at all.
A couple of other things:
So far, there will be only one matchup in the second round featuring two lower-seeded artists: the Spin Doctors (#11) vs. Stevie Ray Vaughan (#14).
I assumed that the vast majority of the upsets would feature more critically-acclaimed artists beating less-acclaimed ones. Sure enough, of the 62 upsets so far in the first round, only five had artists losing to opponents with lower AM rankings (not counting matchups between artists with no AM rankings). They are:
Kurtis Blow (959) over Britney Spears (411)
Stevie Ray Vaughan (903) over Nat King Cole (654)
Kasabian (not ranked) over Ludacris (1350)
Fiona Apple (1147) over The Marvelettes (846)
Kenny Rogers (1322) over T.I. (877)
#1 (7) Led Zeppelin
#8 (506) Cypress Hill
#5 (263) Culture Club
#4 (250) Boyz II Men
#3 (135) Soundgarden
#11 (647) M83
#7 (391) 10cc
#2 (122) The Impressions
Winners in #49...
Led Zeppelin 97% / Unwritten Law 3%
Cypress Hill 75.8% / Twisted Sister 24.2%
Culture Club 64.5% / The The 35.5%
Boyz II Men 51.6% / Deftones 48.4%
Soundgarden 75% / Cornershop 25%
*** TIE *** .38 Special & M83 *** 50% each ***
10cc 65.5% / Trapt 34.5%
The Impressions 72.7% / The Call 27.3%