Vote for your winners, results posted tomorrow:
#1 The Cure vs. #9 ZZ Top
#5 Pretenders vs. #4 T. Rex
#3 Sex Pistols vs. #6 Eric Clapton
#10 Dire Straits vs. #2 AC/DC
#1 Michael Jackson vs. #8 Def Leppard
#5 Paul Simon vs. #4 Rush
#3 Kraftwerk vs. #6 Kiss
#7 Paul McCarney/Wings vs. #2 The Police
THE CURE!!!!!!!
Pretenders / Just barely
Pistols
Dire Straits / Would have taken T. Rex over either...
Def Leppard / I prefer Pyromania to Thriller...
RUSH
PASS / Not a big fan of either, but I almost voted for Kiss and it felt wrong in this case, but I cannot vote for Kraftwerk either...
THE POLICE!!!
#1 The Cure - But I really feel they are an inconsistent band. They can turn from interesting to boring in the blink of an eye.
#4 T. Rex - Tough call.
#3 Sex Pistols
#10 Dire Straits
#1 Michael Jackson
#5 Paul Simon
#3 Kraftwerk - Once again... KISS is one of the three worst acts of all time.
#2 The Police
#1 The Cure: Heaven vs. oatmeal.
#4 T. Rex: Brutal choice here. Both are in my top 50.
#3 Sex Pistols: Eric Clapton is an easy opponent. Couldn't Pretenders have landed here?
#10 Dire Straits: Or here?!
#1 Michael Jackson: I like some Def Leppard singles, but Michael should run through this and the next round fairly easily.
Pass (I don't know much by either.)
#3 Kraftwerk: Good vs. evil. Light vs. dark. The choice is as clear as any.
#2 The Police: A battle of massively overrated bands. At least The Police have a few good songs.
The Cure (I didn’t really think twice about this pick, but, as I’m sure longtimers are sick of me mentioning, I’m very fond of the Top. They’re the only UMT2 band whose members I’m likely to bump into while grocery shopping.)
Pretenders (Like many of you, it’s very hard for me to give T. Rex the boot here.)
Sex Pistols (Universal solvent beats sticky glue.)
AC/DC (I once read something about Phil Rudd’s fill-free drumming giving AC/DC’s music a strange similarity to disco. I mention this for Moonbeam’s consideration.)
Michael Jackson (Easy choice in a match of two poptastic acts.)
Paul Simon (Don’t feel real strongly about either one here, although I can enjoy both.)
Kraftwerk (There’s a strange similarity between Kraftwerk and Kiss, in that they both cultivated a certain visual aesthetic very carefully…except that one band tried to look like robots or mannequins, and the other tried to look like supervillains. They’re both fun.)
The Police (Gordon, Andy and Stewart in their prime crush Paul past his prime.)
#1 The Cure
#5 Pretenders
#6 Eric Clapton
Tough one. The only Clapton stuff I like is Layla. But, none of his stuff hurts my ears, so...
#10 Dire Straits
TEEE ENN TEEE! I'M DYNOOOMITE! TEE ENN TEEE! I WIN THE FIGHT!!!!
#1 Michael Jackson
#5 Paul Simon
I think I like his new one better than any other solo album of his except Graceland.
#3 Kraftwerk
#7 Paul McCarney/Wings
Meh. I think I'd rather vote against The Police than against McCartney.
#1 The Cure
#4 T. Rex
#3 Sex Pistols
#2 AC/DC
#1 Michael Jackson
#4 Rush (not even going to call them a guilty pleasure -- when they were on, they were damn good)
#3 Kraftwerk
#2 The Police
Don't care (I'd like to, I just can't)
#5 Pretenders (Easy choice)
#3 Sex Pistols (If I could include Cream and Derek and the Dominoes, it would be different)
#2 AC/DC (At least AC/DC has one great album)
#1 Michael Jackson
#5 Paul Simon (Geddy Lee's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me)
Don't care
#2 The Police (Maybe if it was Paul McCartney, but I can't vote for this McCarney fellow.)
RESULTS:
The Cure 88.2% / ZZ Top 11.8%
Pretenders 51.5% / T. Rex 48.5%
Sex Pistols 55.5% / Eric Clapton 44.5%
AC/DC 63.9% / Dire Straits 36.1%
Michael Jackson 88.6% / Def Leppard 11.4%
Paul Simon 58.8% / Rush 41.2%
Kraftwerk 65.6% / Kiss 34.4%
The Police 72.2% / Paul McCartney 27.8%