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Tournament of Tunes
Spring is the time for tournaments. But with NCAA hoops long since ended, the Tournament of Books ending today and Faux March Madness in puzzling hiatus (will the Duke kick Condi's ass, or what?), I'm here to fill the void.
Today I'm launching the Tournament of Tunes. Every morning I will have my iPod randomly select two songs as that day's contestants. While I'm tempted to add "May the best tune win", it probably won't be that simple. Sure, superior quality may prevail, but outside influences may just as likely taint my judgment. For example, I might fight myself sickened by the sudden appearance of a Guided by Voices tune in a McDonald's commercial, causing me to vote down the otherwise exemplary "Motor Away." Or I might be angered by some political outrage in New Zealand, causing me to momentarily shun the Verlaines. But I'm hoping that quality will ultimately win out over the course of a six-round tournament.
I should also add that no artist will have more than one song in the tournament--if the iPod selects an artist for the second time, I'll simply skip ahead to the next random song of a previously unselected artist. This will prevent the otherwise probable likelihood of an all-Elliott Smith Final Four, as my iPod is heavily populated by Smith's stellar songs.
The tournament bracket is here, with the play-by-play commentary here. I'll update the sidebar to the right daily with the current matchup. The debut match pits The Clean's "Crazy" against the live version of Dumptruck's "Watch Her Fall."
I hope you enjoy the tournament. If not, please just indulge me for a few weeks.
Update: It just occurred to me that the first round would take inordinately long to complete at the rate of one match per day. So for the first round I'll do two matches per day. I've just added Sebadoh vs. Monks of Doom.
April 13, 2006 in Music, Music: ToT 06 | Permalink
Comments
Yeah Sebadoh! Although since they made it into the bracket with "Got It", they can't get one of their better songs onto the board. Hmmmm. . . what else you got loaded onto that iPod contraption? Any of my stuff? Will I get the chance to cheer for Bad Religion? Is there any hope?
Posted by: Julie at Apr 13, 2006 5:16:49 PM
Okay, I would have given BTS good odds in the competition overall, but against the Pogues? With you the sole judge? I'm not liking their chances now. Sigh. . .
Posted by: Julie at Apr 14, 2006 10:41:38 AM
Actually, I might have gotten a bit carried away with that Pogues comment. The Pogues-BTS battle will actually be a real nail-biter.
Posted by: Pete at Apr 14, 2006 1:12:27 PM
Woo-hoo! My man Ted pulls through to the second round!
Posted by: Julie at Apr 17, 2006 10:47:18 AM
AOL -- excellent (said rubbing my hands in a Mr. Burns sort of way.)
Posted by: Julie at Apr 18, 2006 12:35:50 PM
So far round 2 is looking like the contents of the Honda Civic. Built to Spill over the Pogues? I'm shocked!
Posted by: Julie at May 9, 2006 9:59:06 AM
Okay. now see, this is interesting because "21st Century Digital Boy" is not one of my favorite BR songs and I was kind of disappointed that it got into the TOT. If I had my choice, I may heve taken Dougher's "Hold the Bar" -- one of my favorites by her -- over thos one. Hmmmmm. . .
Posted by: Julie at May 31, 2006 3:58:51 PM
Great idea, and from the look of your initial bracket, you have good taste (roughly defined as being close to my own). Can't imagine knocking Dino Jr.'s "Freak Scene" out in the first round. If J Mascis, like his forefather Neil Young, has truly only written one song dozens of times over the course of his career, "FS" is probably his purest, most rewarding attempt.
Still, it's an interesting exercise that is likely teaching you a bit about your likes and dislikes (or, in the case of an iPod playlist, lesser likes).
Posted by: John at Aug 3, 2006 12:56:52 PM
John--yes, we have fantastic taste, don't we? I agree that "Freak Scene" is a great song, but up against Morphine's "Whisper" (one of the very best songs by one of my very favorite bands) it didn't stand a chance. Luck of the draw.
Posted by: Pete at Aug 4, 2006 8:51:28 AM
Please host your own mp3s.
Thanks.
-Bruce
webmeister - the official unofficial scruffy the cat website.
Posted by: Bruce at Oct 26, 2006 9:57:21 AM
Per Bruce's request, I have removed all links to the Scruffy the Cat mp3 that he hosts at his site. My apologies.
Posted by: Pete at Oct 26, 2006 12:25:42 PM
Kudos for coming up with this fun idea for a bracket, and for doing the research required for the play-by-play. Even though the idea for a head to head indy rock song competition is pretty absurd (I don't think music should be competitive), it's still cool because, well, absurdity can be fun.
I would like to point out that Big Dipper's "He is God", which you point out "could be toungue in cheek", is so blatantly and obviously tounge-in-cheek that my bandmates and I must have looked liked Dizzy Gillespie during a trumpet solo or a giraffe with its mouth sewn shut. "On supper we blew the last wad" should have been the tip-off, if none of the previous lines got you. C'mon!
I'd further upbraid you (courteously, mind you) for allowing a song so obviously derivative (Saturnine sounds more like the Byrds than REM to me, but no matter) to win out over "He is God". But I must freely admit that we wrote the tune after someone challenged us to write one that would fit right in on the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. So whatever originality the song has is compromised by the attempt at imitation.
Had you chosen "All Going Out Together", "You're Not Patsy", "Ron Klaus Wrecked His House", "Younger Bums" or one of several other, much better Big Dipper tunes, the outcome may have been quite different, no?
Anyway, thanks for remembering us.
Gary Waleik
Posted by: Gary Waleik at Mar 8, 2007 4:03:36 PM
Thx! :)
Posted by: honda-radio at Feb 18, 2008 2:04:21 PM
