Vote for your winners, results posted tomorrow:
#1 The Clash vs. #16 Robert Wyatt
#8 Judas Priest vs. #9 The O’Jays
#5 Big Star vs. #12 Toto
#4 Genesis vs. #13 War
#3 Aerosmith vs. #14 Todd Rundgren
#6 Kate Bush vs. #11 REO Speedwagon
#7 Journey vs. #10 The Doobie Brothers
#2 Lou Reed vs. #15 Rainbow
The Clash ~~~ THE only band that matters...
Priest ~~~ Hell bent, Hell bent for leather...
Big Star ~~~ I have a soft spot for Toto though...
Genesis ~~~ Despite Phiily C turning into a douchenozzle during the later years, lots of great material from these guys...
Aerosmith ~~~
Kate Bush ~~~ Though REO has a great track in 1972's "Golden Country" that was almost enough for me to vote for them, then I remember all the time life info-mercials that featured one of their cheesy 80's power ballads and I couldn't do it...
Journey ~~~ The ultimate guilty pleasure except for one song, "Don't Stop Believin'", that song now makes me throw up a little in my mouth everytime I hear it..
Rainbow ~~~ Never liked Lou Reed, always liked Rainbow, whether it was Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet or Joe Lynn Turner on vox, I know they won't get the upset here because going against Lou or VU is sac-relig, but they should.
#1 The Clash
#9 The O’Jays - Judas Priest is one of the heavy metal bands I kind of like, but much prefer the Philly saound of the O'Jays.
#5 Big Star - Despite my love for "Roseanna,", it's Big Star in a walk.
#4 Genesis
#14 Todd Rundgren - The Bebe Buell battle! Tough call. Both have excellent work, and both have far less than excellent work. On another day, I might have voted for Aerosmith
#6 Kate Bush
#10 The Doobie Brothers - Another close one.
#2 Lou Reed
#1 The Clash (not that obvious to me though)
#8 Judas Priest
#5 Big Star
#4 Genesis
pass
#6 Kate Bush (joke match-up)
#10 The Doobie Brothers
#2 Lou Reed
Six very easy choices today, and two matchups about which I really don’t care.
#1 The Clash (brutal draw for Wyatt)
#9 The O’Jays
#5 Big Star
Pass.
Pass.
#6 Kate Bush (I’ve actually soured on her a bit, but this is still no contest.)
#7 Journey (They have two or three excellent songs, to the Doobie Brothers’ none. And I have resolved to remove the term “guilty pleasure” from my vocabulary.)
#2 Lou Reed
***
Once again, here’s my preferred Final Four for the 70s region at this point:
Talking Heads (over Prince…sorry, you-know-whom)
Pretenders (over either Michael Jackson or Kraftwerk)
Elvis Costello (over Blondie)
The Clash (over Ramones)
#16 Robert Wyatt
#9 The O’Jays
#5 Big Star
#4 Genesis
#14 Todd Rundgren
#6 Kate Bush
#7 Journey (can't believe I'm voting for Journey, but the only good thing the Doobies ever did was appearing on an episode of "What's Happening?", which is totally baffling because those guys would never have listened to the Doobies. Was P-Funk unavailable? Now THAT would've been an episode!)
#2 Lou Reed
#16 Robert Wyatt
This is pretty evenly matched for me so I'll go with the sympathy vote.
#9 The O’Jays
Not close.
#5 Big Star
Not close either.
pass
#14 Todd Rundgren
Aerosmith probably has more songs I like, but they also have that entire half of their career that makes me wretch. I can't forgive them for 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thang'.
#6 Kate Bush
#7 Journey
#2 Lou Reed
#1 The Clash
#9 The O’Jays (Little did we know how appropriate an album titled "Back Stabbers" by this group would be later)
#5 Big Star (lol)
Don't care
Don't care
Don't care
Don't care
#2 Lou Reed
When I say "don't care" that doesn't necessarily mean I don't like the artists.
#1 The Clash: I like Robert Wyatt, but The Clash are perhaps the quintessential punk band (although Ramones have a strong case as well.)
#9 The O’Jays: Soul beats metal for me almost every time.
#12 Toto: Sorry, guys, but I just don't see what the big deal is about Big Star. At all. "Africa" is one of my favorite 80s guilty pleasures, so TOTO wins this easily.
#13 War: Funk beats prog every time.
#3 Aerosmith: Aerosmith were once a top 10 artist for me. They've slipped down near the 50 range now that I have grown to love so many more artists, but I still love them a lot.
#6 Kate Bush: I probably should like her more than I do, but she has essentially a bye with this matchup.
#7 Journey: Close, close matchup. I sort of like both and sort of cringe thinking about both at the same time.
#2 Lou Reed: My pick to advance out of this bracket. Berlin and Transformer are likely my 2 favorite albums out of all of the artists here (Pump may give Transformer a run for its money).