Vote for your winners, results posted tomorrow:
#1 The Beatles vs. #4 Sam Cooke
#3 Aretha Franklin vs. #2 Johnny Cash
#1 The Velvet Underground vs. #5 The Temptations
#3 Van Morrison vs. #2 The Who
#1 Led Zeppelin vs. #4 Otis Redding
#3 Simon & Garfunkel vs. #2 Bob Marley
#1 David Bowie vs. #4 Miles Davis
#3 Pink Floyd vs. #2 Neil Young
#1 The Beatles : not easy choice
#3 Aretha Franklin : easy
#1 The Velvet Underground : hard
#2 The Who : very easy
#4 Otis Redding : very hard
#2 Bob Marley : hard
#1 David Bowie : easy
#3 Pink Floyd ; not easy
Sam Cooke | Even if I was not on an anti-Beatles campaign because I did not want to see them win, I may have considered Sam in this matchup...
Cash | I like Aretha and all, but...
Temptations | I know they're probably not going to win, but to me The Temps are one of the top 5 artists of the 60's and even the 4 or 5 VU songs I really like would not compete with my list of top 10 Temps songs...
The Who |
Led Zeppelin |
Marley | Never really got into S&G...
Bowie | from '69-'77, unstoppable, since '77 still pretty good unlike other '70's powerhouses who peaked during those same years...
Pink Floyd | This for me comes down to who I would rather listen to...
#4 Sam Cooke - why not? After all,I do listen to him more than the Beatles
#2 Johnny Cash
#1 The Velvet Underground
#2 The Who
#4 Otis Redding
#2 Bob Marley - 50/50,could go either way but since yesterday was the 30 year anniversary of his death,I'm in more of a Bob Marley mood at the moment...
#1 David Bowie
#2 Neil Young
#4 Sam Cooke - why not? After all,I do listen to him more than the Beatles
#3 Aretha Franklin
#5 The Temptations
#3 Van Morrison
#4 Otis Redding
#3 Simon & Garfunkel
#1 David Bowie
#2 Neil Young
#4 Sam Cooke: No surprise here.
#2 Johnny Cash: I don't really like either, but Johnny Cash was more involved in the creation of his music.
#1 The Velvet Underground: I wish The Temptations could have been in the previous matchup.
#3 Van Morrison: Strictly an anti-Who vote.
#4 Otis Redding: Real soul vs. fake everything.
#3 Simon & Garfunkel: A pretty meh matchup.
#1 David Bowie: I wish Miles Davis had been in the previous matchup.
#2 Neil Young: An anti-Pink Floyd vote.
#1 The Beatles (looking at the competition this'll be the last round I'm voting for them)
#2 Johnny Cash
#1 The Velvet Underground
#2 The Who (Fuck, two of my top 10 artists)
#1 Led Zeppelin
#3 Simon & Garfunkel
#1 David Bowie
#2 Neil Young
#4 Sam Cooke
#2 Johnny Cash
#1 The Velvet Underground
#3 Van Morrison
#1 Led Zeppelin
#3 Simon & Garfunkel
#4 Miles Davis / Just because I think he won't win anyway. Love 'em both.
#2 Neil Young
THE BEATLES. The right to vote carries with it a responsibility to vote in good faith. Yeah, it wouldn’t be a headline for the Beatles to win this thing, but backlash just for the sake of it is pretty silly. I yield to none in admiring Sam Cooke, but let’s be real.
JOHNNY CASH. Both Johnny and Aretha aged pretty gracefully, I think.
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. If I listed my top 50 post-1969 artists, I bet 45 or more of them could trace some aspect of their influence back to VU. Love the Temps, though.
THE WHO. Today’s only unequivocally easy choice.
OTIS REDDING. I’ve voted for Led Zeppelin in each of the last two rounds, even though I don’t, y’know, really like them much. Why? Because I know they deserved it. (This accounts for why the knee-jerk anti-Beatles thing is kind of a burr under my saddle.) However, this is where I stop with Plant and Page. Otis really is all that.
SIMON & GARFUNKEL. I don’t really think they’re a round-four level act, but they’re the pick for me here.
DAVID BOWIE. We don’t have a bigger matchup of titans in this round, and yes, I checked. Probably the closest is Dylan vs. Sinatra. Miles deserves to go much farther, but it’s a tough tournament.
NEIL YOUNG. I’ve warmed up to Floyd (thank you, Thom Yorke) but have to give this to Neil.
#1 The Beatles
#3 Aretha Franklin
#1 The Velvet Underground
#2 The Who - battle of titans
#1 Led Zeppelin
#3 Simon & Garfunkel
#1 David Bowie
#2 Neil Young
#1 The Beatles
#3 Aretha Franklin
Very close vote.
#1 The Velvet Underground
#2 The Who
#1 Led Zeppelin
#3 Simon & Garfunkel
#1 David Bowie
#2 Neil Young
#1 The Beatles (First competition they've had)
#3 Aretha Franklin (Close matchup)
#1 The Velvet Underground
#2 The Who
#1 Led Zeppelin (If Redding hadn't died way to young, he may well have built a body of work that would have won this matchup)
#2 Bob Marley (It would be tight if you also counted Paul Simon's solo output)
#1 David Bowie
#2 Neil Young (2.5 good-great albums can't beat Neil's catalog)
#4 Sam Cooke
#2 Johnny Cash
#1 The Velvet Underground
#2 The Who
#1 Led Zeppelin
#2 Bob Marley
#4 Miles Davis (tough match-up for Miles...I think he could've beaten either Marley or S&G, but has no shot against Bowie)
#2 Neil Young
THE BEATLES. The right to vote carries with it a responsibility to vote in good faith. Yeah, I yield to none in admiring Sam Cooke, but let’s be real..
Beatles (the well deserved favorites)
Johnny Cash (the Biggest challenger)
Velvet underground
The Who (2nd favorite next to Beatles)
Led Zep
Bob Marley
David Bowie
pink Floyd
RESULTS:
The Beatles 73% / Sam Cooke 27%
Johnny Cash 61.1% / Aretha Franklin 38.9%
The Velvet Underground 64.9% / The Temptations 35.1%
The Who 64.9% / Van Morrison 35.9%
Led Zeppelin 75.7% / Otis Redding 24.3%
Bob Marley 59.5% / Simon & Garfunkel 40.5%
David Bowie 78.4% / Miles Davis 21.6%
Neil Young 59.5% / Pink Floyd 40.5%