So here we are for Bracket #2, first of all Happy Halloween to everyone, definitely one of the best holidays ever. ( I think any holiday that is highlighted by having and eating lots of candy is a big winner) There is no spooky or eerie theme for the bracket here, just business as usual...

Round I

Airbag – Radiohead v. All In The Suit You Wear – Stone Temple Pilots – Two completely weird dudes here in Thom Yorke and Scott Weiland. Airbag however is nothing spectacular, and All In the Suit You Wear is a simple rock song and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Alcohol and Oxygen – Anadivine v. All Mixed Up – 311 – I am slowly finding that 311 is better than I have ever given them credit for, and think about the staying power that they have accomplished recently as well. It is only because of that staying power that I will excuse them for that horrendous version of “Lovesong.” Stick to the laid back, loved by stoners unique style that made you great, which All Mixed Up is a very solid version of.

Alice Childress – Ben Folds Five v. All My Fault – Fenix TX – You Know What?, sometimes when you realize that everything is your fault, all you wanna do is flail around and check things into walls. Fenix TX provides a good soundtrack for that.

Alien’s Exist – Blink 182 v. All My Rowdy Friends – Hank Williams Jr. – You know, I made sure to get All My Rowdy Friends after a Monday Night Football game one year and I found out a very simple truth. The song is only good when 3 and a half hours of football come after it, apparently it is one of those association things. Alien’s Exist has its moments, I am always a fan of rants like “nice to know ya, paranoia”

Alive – Pearl Jam v. All Night Thing – Temple of the Dog – I went to a Pearl Jam concert, which ranked as one of the very best concerts I have ever been to. They didn’t play Alive during the regular set, and I was all like “What the Fuck?!?” Then the encore came and nothing….then the second came and BOOM! Black, Alive, and an incredible version of Baba O’Reilly…talk about everyone in the crowd erupting at the last possible minute, what a way to leave the show, and Alive was a big part of that.

All – Collective Soul v. All or None – Pearl Jam – Both songs certainly don’t jump out of the speakers and please you oh so well. Both songs show off each lead singers distinctive voice which is always nice in each band’s case. All or None has just slightly more listenability and that won’t take it far, but will take it past this matchup.

All About Her – New Found Glory v. All Right Now – Free – Great opening riff, great chorus that gets stuck in your head and you don’t mind. Yeah, that’s the ticket, All Right Now crushes All About Her.

All Along the Watchtower – DMB v. All She Wants to Do is Dance – Don Henley – Yes, I understand that Don Henley had a successful solo career. I want to remind everyone of that because there will not be much love any further in this rambling of mine. Watchtower is amazing really, and any of the artists who ever did it did it well. Dylan, Young, Hendrix, DMB, all the versions are very good. The DMB one has a special place in my heart not only for the different twist and more creepy/eerie vibe with it, but because of an idea I had when I was camping with friends. It was about 2 am or later sittin around the fire, already having drunk more things than I can recount and smoking more cigarettes than I have lived days in my life. We were listening to music and DMB’s version of Watchtower comes on and when it gets to the “wind begins to howl” part, I mention how funny it would be to have smoke spew out of Dave’s mouth when he yells HOWL!!! We all agreed and then spent the next few minutes trying to recreate this. That was one hell of a coughing fit, but dear lord was it worth it. Moral of the story is camping with friends rules, and this song played a role in that.

All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix v. All Star – Smashmouth – Anthem of the summer before my senior year in high school, or anthem of awesomeness that has been around for nearly 30 years? Yeah, flash in the pan is nice, but staying power, gotta love it. Hendrix wins.

All Apologies – Nirvana v. All the Small Things – Blink 182 – Credit is due to Blink 182 for creating a video making fun of boy bands, but they just pulled it off a little too well putting them in nearly a similar place in my state of mind for that song. All Apologies gets extra points as well for being a way for me to say I’m sorry without saying I’m sorry. It makes me sound English or Australian when I say “oh, all apologies ma’am” Hey, chicks dig foreign accents, so I’ll take whatever help I can get.

All Deliberate Speed – Mae v. All The Things She Said – TATU – Cultural Significance beats out music on this song. All Deliberate Speed is a better song, although could use a singer with slightly better range, as it seems our young friend in Mae is struggling with the high notes. No worries about that in the electronic sounds of TATU, whose voices are so doctored who even knows if it is them singing on any of their songs. Then again, they were Russian teenagers who behaved suspiciously like lesbians. For some reason the world loved them and was fascinated by them. Can’t argue with conventional wisdom there, haha.

All For You – Sister Hazel v. All You Need – Sublime – All For You for some reason was always on when I was playing this NASCAR game on my old computer, and those were fun times dammit all, and that’s all the explanation I need.

All Fucked Up – Everclear v. All You Need is Love – The Beatles – Most people I know make fun of me when I proclaim myself an Everclear fan, with the common criticism being “all of their songs sound the same.” Hey, if they get it right once and just slightly switch it up every now and again what’s wrong with that, they have families and themselves to feed. Extra credit given for using a swear in the title, it shows that they have “balls.” But let’s face reality, All You Need is Love is far better. It convinces us that we are only human despite the many times and situations we face that make us feel like we need to be something else. Of course it also rams into our head that all we need is love, so I guess people who are against love would hate this song. Sorry.

All I Need is a Miracle – Mike and the Mechanics v. All You Wanted – Michelle Branch – Ok, so the reason I have “Miracle” is because I remember one day looking through my mom’s cassette tapes in the car in like 1988 on the way to soccer practice and I found one from Mike and the Mechanics, and I thought it was a cool name. I literally didn’t realize they existed until maybe three years ago when I was like, hey I wonder what songs made Mike and the Mechanics famous during a project when I was looking for late 80s/early 90s music, and this was the song I checked out. I like it for sure, but I bet it sounded cooler back then, haha. Ms. Branch’s entry wins here however. I would like to point out that this was difficult because in this song she tells us “if you want to, I can save you” so my old roommate and I went to her concert at the Canopy in Champaign and she cancelled it because she “passed out” so we signed up to get free stuff that would get sent to us and it never did. So not only did she not save me, but she didn’t even give me free stuff for going to a concert that didn’t even happen. Bitch. This just proves that I don’t hold a grudge, either that or I still hold out hope that one day my mailbox will be filled with something from Michelle Branch.

All I Want – Offspring v. Alone This Holiday – The Used – Here’s why Alone This Holiday wins: Bert, the lead singer, sings about a breakup that happens before the holidays and how Christmas is your own then. Well he once dated Kelly Osbourne, and she sang quite possibly the worst song ever in “Shut Up” so I totally understand why he would want to be alone this holiday.

Always – Back in the Day v. All I Want Is You – U2 – Sorry Mikey and Jon (my college roommates who were in the band Back in the Day), I enjoyed your guys’ music but All I Want is You is just a phenomenal song. Maybe somewhere down the line a song will advance, not that it matters anymore, but we shall see.

Always Be – Jeffrey Gaines v. Amityville – Eminem – Always Be has talent in the song, music and solid lyrics. Amityville does not. This choice was not too hard, hopefully my explanation was easy enough to follow there.

Am I Wrong – Brand New v. Amphetamine – Everclear – Well it certainly is not because I am sore because Brand New cancelled a show of theirs that I was going to go to. Get this, because the guys were jumping across the beds in their hotel room and one of the band members smashed his head on the end table between the beds and was in the hospital. Wow, way to party like rockstars boys. Amphetamine wins here really because of the line “she’s perfect in a fucked up way.” I want you all to think about this, and go ahead and make the she a he if that’s the way you swing, whatever gender you prefer is fine by me, how often is someone you are interested in or date “perfect in a fucked up way.” Poetry in motion right there, and presented in a high energy way, I’m a fan.

AM Radio – Everclear v. Amsterdam – Coldplay – The prevailing image I have of AM Radio is of Art Alexakis in a Portland TrailBlazers jersey singing this song which steals from some older songs to make this one up. Because of this Amsterdam just has to be decent to take the win here. It paints a pretty picture in my head, of walking down a snowy street, being introspective. Quite a few songs can do that for me, but it’s an image I like, so we’ll go with it.

Amanda – Boston v. Amsterdam – Guster – Just a quick note about me here, typically when I first hear songs, I never like them, and it takes quite a few listens before I really start to appreciate them. On the rare case that I do like a song right away, I either learn to not like it very much, or its always “just ok.” In the case of Amsterdam, I liked it immediately and loved it further after listening to it more and more. Believe me I listened to it a lot during the summer and fall of 2003. I was fascinated with Boston during this time, and during the baseball playoffs that year, as a passionate Red Sox fan, kept with honoring superstition and listened to this album before and after every game in the playoffs. It didn’t work as Aaron Boone hit the homer to knock the Red Sox out of the playoffs. Even though it ended on a sour note, that summer/fall was an amazing time in my life, with many many stories that I haven’t included here simply because it might be one too many tangents, and Amsterdam was part of the soundtrack for it.

Amazed – Lonestar v. Amy – Ryan Adams – Each of these songs do not have special meaning to me really. I think Amy is a pretty name however, so I guess we will let that win.

Amber -311 v. Ana’s Song – Silverchair – Amber will always be one of the very few memories I have of “September,” which can best be described as approximately the one month I remember very little of, but needless to say was hilariously funny times where I ate an inordinate amount of junk food. A very positive set of memories (or lack thereof indeed), but I think I’ll go with Ana’s Song which is a powerful song from Silverchair that chronicles the singer’s difficulties with anorexia. The fact that a man can admit he has anorexia should be something we give credit to, not to mention the song is good.

America The Beautiful – Frank Sinatra v. And She Was – Talking Heads – Sinatra is an amazing singer obviously and has many songs that only a man of his talent could do. His version of America the Beautiful seems almost ordinary though, just a plain run through to show his patriotism. And She Was just is fun, it feels fun, sounds fun, and its corny being from the 80s. Recipe for success I think.

America The Beautiful – Ray Charles v. And So It Goes – Billy Joel – Let me get this out of the way. I think And So It Goes is a very beautiful song and I enjoy it very much. HOWEVER, you know the things I just mentioned about Frank Sinatra’s version of America the Beautiful simply being an exercise just to run though and hit the notes of essentially. Well Ray Charles version is about the exact opposite, it actually feels like he believes each and every word of the song, which is an accomplishment since the song was written a long long time ago. Also, this song is in the 4th of July scene of “The Sandlot” when the boys get to play their only night game of the year because the fireworks light up the sky just enough to play baseball. That scene and this song reek of Americana and the simple beauty of it, and I told you before and will many times in the future I think as well, I love America, and The Sandlot.

American Gigolo – Weezer v. Angel – DMB – The story of two great bands, in my opinion anyways, and two songs from two albums of each that really were not the best in each of their pantheons. Everyday by DMB at least grew on me, Maladroit did not grow as much. Angel is the winner here.

American Girl – Tom Petty v. Angel Band – O Brother Soundtrack – I really enjoyed the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, and I especially enjoyed the bluegrass/old-timey music they chose to focus on in the Coen brothers adaptation of the Odyssey. I am thinking that in my enjoyment though, I should have avoided mentioning this fascination at a family party on Thanksgiving. When we all got together again on Christmas, I received several copies of the DVD and VHS versions of the movie and several versions of the soundtrack. I decided at that point again I was never saying I really liked anything in front of them unless I wanted at least 5 of them by Christmas. Let’s just hope we never talk about me getting married at any point there. There will be no harem’s full of mail order brides for Sean. But back to reality, American Girl wins, cuz Tom Petty rules, and I’d be the Mad Hatter everyday, not just Halloween, if he hadn’t taken the idea first.

American Girls – Counting Crows v. Angel From Montgomery – DMB – It seems like Dave may have had the same dream I do of being in a gospel choir, Angel From Montgomery makes me feel like that, unfortunately it is no match for my love of American girls. Credit given to the Counting Crows for picking a song title that I would be such a fan of.

American Pie – Don McLean v. Angel of Harlem – U2 – American Pie is a good song in small doses, what sucks is that it is 8:34 long. Maybe if we cut out 6 or 7 verses and a few choruses in there it would be more bearable. Angel of Harlem checks in at 3:49 and I do not get sick of it during any second of that time. Easy winner here.

American Skin – Bruce Springsteen v. Angel of Mine – Monica – Ok, Angel of Mine seems to be far fetched given my musical taste right. Well, here is just a sample of what kind of music was popular when I was in high school. We all had to find some songs from the other genres that we could stand so we could talk like we were cool, or at least pretend (my way). This was my shot at it. American Skin is great all around though, making a political statement regarding the Amadou Diallo case, notably in the repetition of “41 Shots” over and over. If you don’t remember or know about Diallo, he was a man who lost his keys and was trying to get into his apartment building and was confronted by police and when reaching for his ID was shot 41 times by New York police officers. Obviously you can see why I and many many others would be outraged that an innocent unarmed man trying to get into his home apparently needed to be shot at 41 times. I could go on and on about how awful this tragedy was and I did in a paper I wrote about it, so ask me about it sometime. (An odd note here, one of the policemen who were the shooters names is Sean Carroll. Talk about a letdown when I Google my own name).

American Woman – The Guess Who v. Angels – Robbie Williams – Robbie, believe me, I would love to give you a sympathy win here because no one remembers you were the one to first put this song on the map, not Jessica Simpson. However, the original American Woman gets a sympathy win because of what Lenny Kravitz did to it. That and that scene in American Beauty when Lester is singing it in the minivan on the way to work in a suit and smoking pot. One of the coolest scenes in a movie and Kevin Spacey really pulled it off well. In addition to the sympathy, the raw energy of the song is very good and makes you want to listen to it.

Americana – Offspring v. Angels Would Fall – Melissa Etheridge – The title song of an incredible album going up against a song that is very good and underrated during the Lilith Fair era when lesbian semi-rock was all the rage. Believe it or not it was a tough choice, but Offspring takes it here because though I can respect the music, I am way closer to tainted youth than I am a lesbian.

Amish Paradise – Weird Al Yankovic v. Annabella’s Song – Everclear – Amish Paradise may be one of Weird Al’s best parodies, especially with the scene where he pretends to be the really fat guy who is sweating profusely from the original “Gangsta’s Paradise”, but is obviously amish in his version, too funny. Annabella’s Song is a very good song, I prefer the alternate version of the song that I have to the one on the album. The one on the album is just too slow and makes the song feel agonizing, my version feels more natural and I have no idea why the two are different and why they decided to go slower.

Round 2

All Mixed Up – 311 over All In the Suit You Wear – Stone Temple Pilots
All My Fault – Fenix TX over Alien’s Exist – Blink 182
Alive – Pearl Jam over All or None – Pearl Jam
All Along the Watchtower – DMB over All Right Now – Free
All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix over All Apologies – Nirvana
All the Things She Said – TATU over All For You – Sister Hazel – Never underestimate the power of Russian girls
All You Need Is Love – The Beatles over All You Wanted – Michelle Branch
All I Want Is You – U2 over Alone This Holiday – The Used
Amphetamine – Everclear over Always Be – Jeffrey Gaines
Amsterdam – Guster over Amsterdam – Coldplay – I totally forgot about another Guster – Amsterdam story that really makes it special to me. I went searching for a music video for this song, being that it was a single I thought there might be. When I found it, it featured a THREE WHEELED CAR, which I have been fascinated with ever since watching old Mr. Bean shows on channel 11 (those were the days). Although now I absolutely know what to talk about at Thanksgiving with my family….I can’t wait to have 5 Three Wheeled Car’s. Oh, but I can never have enough, so please, if you are thinking of a gift for me, Three Wheeled Car….I’m not joking.
Ana’s Song – Silverchair over Amy – Ryan Adams
America the Beautiful – Ray Charles over And She Was – Talking Heads
American Girl – Tom Petty over Angel – DMB
American Girls – Counting Crows over Angel of Harlem – U2
American Skin – Bruce Springsteen over American Woman – The Guess Who
Annabella’s Song – Everclear over Americana – Offspring

Sweet Sixteen

All Mixed Up – 311 over All My Fault – Fenix TX
All Along the Watchtower – DMB over Alive – Pearl Jam
All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix over All The Things She Said – TATU – Hey, at least I still have the things that matter right in my heart…
All You Need Is Love – The Beatles over All I Want Is You – U2
Amsterdam – Guster over Amphetamine – Everclear – Apparently the song about the town that is famous for drug use is superior to the song about the actual drug itself
America The Beautiful – Ray Charles over Ana’s Song – Silverchair – Silverchair is from Australia, showing my American pride here.
American Girl – Tom Petty over American Girls – Counting Crows – Apparently I am not a ménage a trois man choosing one over a group…
American Skin – Bruce Springsteen over Annabella’s Song – Everclear

Elite Eight

All Along the Watchtower – DMB over All Mixed Up – 311
All You Need Is Love – The Beatles over All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
Amsterdam - Guster over America the Beautiful – Ray Charles
American Skin – Bruce Springsteen over American Girl – Tom Petty

Final Four

All You Need Is Love – the Beatles over All Along the Watchtower – DMB – My guess is that something in the simple nature of All You Need Is Love appeals to me. I have always been a person who attempts to simplify things as best I can. Watchtower has quite the drunken memory attached to it, but then again, I used to listen to all my Beatles songs in order to do my homework faster so I could hit up $1 bottle night on Wednesday nights in school. Like I said before, at least I have my priorities straight…
Amsterdam – Guster over American Skin – Bruce Springsteen – My complete adoration of three wheeled cars and happiness and fun win out over a truly special song that evokes sadness and the true ugliness society can have.

Final Two

Amsterdam – Guster over All You Need Is Love – the Beatles – Really both of these songs were very important to my life in my junior year in college. If I had to look back and pick a theme song for that specific time frame, Amsterdam gets the nod.

Round 1

#34 - DMB vs. 5th Symphony - Beethoven– The first matchup and it is a tough one. So much to wrangle with. DMB is one of my favorite bands though I do not listen to them nearly enough anymore, and one of the most famous classical pieces ever. I think in the end it is in the power of the 5th that I will choose that, but damn, I think I almost broke a sweat. What a way to start this whole thing.

#40 - DMB vs. 83 – John Mayer – Much easier here, 83 has significance because I enjoy the lyrics and was in the movie Serendipity (guilty pleasure, damn you chick flicks that I like the premise of!) Oh and by the way, I am totally drinking Guinness at the moment, so I’m all man and I don’t wanna hear anything from anyone otherwise.

#41 - DMB vs. 88 Lines about 44 Women – The Nails – #41, not to take anything away from the Nails, but #41 was one of my favorite songs when that album came out, and already being a pretty solid DMB fan at the time, all of my friends joined me when Crash came out. I felt like I belonged more, but I was better than everyone because I already knew about them. Sometimes it is nice to feel powerful.

#41 (cover) - Howie Day vs. 9th Symphony - Beethoven – I know what I just said about 41, but Howie, even your fun cover stylings are no match for things I heard in cartoons. I really think this is my attachment to classical music, even these days. Some people hear the individual instruments, I think about what Bugs Bunny or Ren and Stimpy or Daffy Duck was doing when each part happens. Again, nice try Howie, but don’t fuck with Beethoven or my cartoons.

½ Full – Pearl Jam vs. A Better Place - VAST – VAST gets the nod over Pearl Jam here, song has more depth and the complexity wins out in the end, at least this time.

100 Years – Five for Fighting vs. A Box Full of Sharp Objects – the Used – the Used takes this one fairly easily, which somewhat surprises me since I do enjoy Five for Fighting. However the lasting image in my mind doing this is the very enjoyable concert the Used put on in Champaign vs. those stupid credit card, “there is a card for everything” commercial which changes as the person gets older. Sappy is fine, just not associated with credit cards. And my completely obvious thought of the day: sometimes commercials can ruin a song’s effect.

11am - Incubus vs. A Certain Shade of Green - Incubus – Both being Incubus songs really made this very difficult, so difficult I don’t wanna talk about it, so I flipped a coin 11am=heads, a Certain Shade of Green=tails…..heads wins, so 11am it is.

1979 – Smashing Pumpkins v. A Change – Sheryl Crow – Sorry Sheryl, my crush on you will not take you very far in this tournament, certainly not when you go up against a song like 1979, which has such an incredible video to it. Simply put, the Smashing Pumpkins rule, and this song is part of the reason why.

1985 – Bowling for Soup v. A Favor House Atlantic – Coheed and Cambria – A Favor House Atlantic gets the nod because this band is affectionately known as “Colby and Cottage Cheese” I named them this when my college roommate was playing their cd and I asked who it was and that’s what I thought he said. Why did I have such problems understanding normal human speech? It was college, and what happens in college, like Vegas, stays there. At least until I need a funny story to impress someone, then I rip open Pandora’s box like no other.

25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago vs. A Flat - Staind – Chicago has that great opening riff to the song that makes you know it right away. I know Name that Tune isn’t around anymore, but its fun to pretend when I hear songs, and this one definitely is easy to pick out. Being from Chicago, I think I need to give minor “props” if you will to the city I came from, especially if it is from a song that occurred before Peter Cetera immasculated the band and turned it into another Air Supply.

4 Degrees - TOOL vs. A Lifetime – Better Than Ezra – Lifetime is a better song.

40 - U2 vs. A Little Help From My Friends – The Beatles – Where would any of us be without our friends, the Beatles tell us and I listen happily…

4th of July – U2 vs. A Long December – Counting Crows – Odd that we have a battle of months here ( I am up WAYYYYY too late I think). December is gonna win this one because it was played on the radio at least 7 million times during my freshman year/sophomore year in high school. Those were my formative years, and no matter where I went or what I did, this song was playing somewhere.

5 Year Plan – H20 vs. a Mad Russians Christmas – Trans-Siberian Orchestra – too easy, Russian! CRUSH! Inside joke, and on the December theme, I think Christmas song wins out here.

50 Friends and a Keg of Killians – Lucky Boys Confusion vs. A Plain Morning –Dashboard Confessional – One of the better break up songs that no one has ever heard of makes this one also too easy. Don’t cry Mr. Dashboard, I am sure a few of your songs will last to round 2 of their initial tourney….seriously, stop crying…..you know, sometimes you emo people!!! This is why things like heavy metal and such exist, so we do not take out our rage on you!….better to listen to music that sounds violent versus actually becoming violent.

50120 – Less Than Jake vs. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay – I am feeling in the mode for upbeat and energetic….melancholy can be done so much better, LTJ all the way on this one…

A Song for You - Finch vs. Addicted –Simple Plan – Canadians making plays on words and actually creating a song that makes me say “you know what, upper middle class suburban life must be really hard” Yeah, you win this round, just for the #19 (my old college apartment number, it signifies not only an apartment, but a way of life) connection though, so don’t get a big head Sebastian, I still remember where you started as that crab in the Little Mermaid.

Aenima - TOOL vs. A Sort of Homecoming – U2 – Aenima won a Grammy, PHENOMENAL!, and the song just flat out rocks and makes you realize that TOOL is a force to be reckoned with. And we all wonder why their shows sell out in like 3 seconds.

A Sorta Fairytale – Tori Amos vs. Aerials – System of a Down – I’m all for feminism and Tori Amos is a lovely woman, but System of a Down has Serj and political messages. Being a political science major, this one hits close to home.

A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton vs. Africa - Toto – Well, in a move that most males will be like, “dude, are you gay?” Ill go with Ms. Carlton here. HOWEVER, only because this song inspired me to say probably the nicest thing I have ever said to anyone, and no I will absolutely not tell you about it.

Africa (Cover) -Virginia Coalition vs. A Warm Place - NIN – Warm Place doesn’t take me to a warm place, that’s false advertising. The keyboardist in Virginia Coalition is really talented, but looks like a toothpick, however in the end it still provides for quite a pleasant experience.

A Whisper - Coldplay vs. Africa (cover) – Howie Day – I adore Howie’s cover, so much emotion and one that’s fun to sing along to even though you know you have no chance of making it sound good. I expect things from Coldplay, however just not from this entry.

AWOL - Yellowcard vs. After All – Collective Soul – neither song has any chance of winning, but Blender was an underrated album and Collective Soul is an underrated band, so consider it me giving them a very small portion of the credit they so deeply deserve.

About an Hour Ago - OAR vs. Again it Goes Unnoticed – Dashboard Confessional – This is a pretty solid battle for a Round 1 matchup, but I knew these were gonna happen, so I will soldier on. I will give Again it goes Unnoticed its credit for being a raw and simple song that really does hit an emotional chord. About an Hour Ago makes you feel happy and talks about hangin with friends and drinking. My overall thought on the issue, good songs can be written when dwelling on a bad personal relationship, but great songs can be written after you go out with your friends and get hammered and forget about it! About an Hour Ago wins.

About Mr. Brown - OAR vs. Against All Odds – Phil Collins – very close race, I thought about flipping a coin despite the two songs massive differences. However the tiebreaker came in a different form. Kelly Clarkson’s favorite song is Against All Odds. If it is good enough for her, it is good enough for me.

Above Me - Rufio vs. Against the Wind – Bob Seger – Something about when bands say their own name in the song when it is totally unrelated and the song would be fine without it, the “Limp Bizkit Syndrome” we will call it. Because of this the winner is Against the Wind by default. Against the Wind is also very important to me because of its tie in to Forrest Gump, and I like to compare Forrest’s running across the country with my journey to find my favorite song. Yeah, call me a lazy fatass, its fine, I am ok with it.

Accidentally in Love – Counting Crows vs. Age Six Racer – Dashboard Confessional – It’s far too catchy and been stuck way too many times in my head. It also includes the line “I don’t know nothing about love” and has a video where a Bunny steals a woman from a guy. Not too often a video can pull off what is essentially implied bestiality and still be a song for the movie Shrek 2. I love America.

Across the Sea - Weezer vs. Agent Orange Song – Country Joe McDonald – Another odd matchup, weighing songs that I got turned on to as a result of taking a Vietnam War class, and my first year on ASB Planning Board listening to Pinkerton with Craig ( by the way, two very important experiences into shaping the man I am today), who showed me that this album was the one that truly showed Weezer’s talent, not the Blue album. So it comes down to a fantastic protest song vs. a song from quite possibly one of the best albums of all time. Cultural significance wins out in this one, Agent Orange moves on.

Across the Universe - Beatles vs. Aint No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye – The awesome power of the Beatles and birds chirping beats out Motown, despite my inner soul and desire to be in a gospel choir with a bunch of 300 lb black women who make kick ass gumbo.

Across the Universe (cover) - Rufus Wainwright vs. Aint So Big No More – Left Undone – the cover wins like the original. The I Am Sam soundtrack is truly special and very interesting with this song as one of its strong points. Left Undone deserves credit, they played a show with OAR on September 14th 2001, just three days after the 9/11 attacks and put on a great show, with the best song far and away being their cover of John Cougar Mellencamp’s Little Pink Houses (the Ain’t That America part I thought was gonna blow out a wall or something, everyone was so loud). This song isn’t that song, so Rufus, its on you my friend.

Across the Universe (cover) - Fiona Apple vs. Aint Even Done With the Night – John Cougar Mellencamp – The sheer Americanness of Mellencamp up against a very good cover of a fantastic original song. Is it just me, or could you see ms. Apple’s version of this song appear in a Zach Braff movie? I love America, always remember that, but in this case, something just strikes me about Fiona Apple with this song so I will go with her. However if she pulls some of that creepy acceptance speech political bullshit I will so take back my choice here.

Adam’s Song – Blink 182 vs. Air for the G String - Bach – Wow, these are WAY different. I know a child committed suicide while listening to Adam’s Song, and in no way do I condone that and am very sorry that it happened, however, Adam’s Song advances.

Round 2
83 – John Mayer over 5th Symphony – Beethoven

#41 – DMB over 9th Symphony – Beethoven – Sorry, I guess my love for classical music really does come from cartoons, and without the cartoons, the novelty wears thin.

A Box Full of Sharp Objects – The Used over A Better Place – VAST

A Favor House Atlantic – Coheed and Cambria over 25 or 6 to 4 – Chicago

A Little Help From My Friends – Beatles over A Lifetime – Better Than Ezra

A Long December – Counting Crows over A Mad Russian’s Christmas – Trans-Siberian Orchestra

50 Friends and a Keg of Killians – Lucky Boys Confusion over 50120 – Less Than Jake

Aenima – TOOL over Addicted – Simple Plan – I actually laughed out loud when I saw this matchup.

Aerials – System of a Down over A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton

Africa (cover) – Howie Day over Africa (cover) Virginia Coalition – The Battle for Africa goes to Howie Day, however I find it rather sad that the original isn’t around to battle any longer.

About an Hour Ago – OAR over After All – Collective Soul – See, I told you “After All” had no chance of winning. Do you think I can bet on my own tournament?

Against the Wind – Bob Seger over Against All Odds – Phil Collins – Sorry Ms. Clarkson, bro’s before ho’s.

Agent Orange Song – Country Joe McDonald over Accidentally in Love – Counting Crows

Across the Universe – The Beatles over Across the Universe (cover) – Rufus Wainwright

Across the Universe – Fiona Apple over Adam’s Song – Blink 182

Sweet Sixteen

#41 – DMB over 83 – John Mayer

A Box Full of Sharp Objects – The Used over 1979 – Smashing Pumpkins

A Favor House Atlantic – Coheed and Cambria over A Little Help From My Friends – Beatles

50 Friends and a Keg of Killians – Lucky Boys Confusion over A Long December – Counting Crows

Aenima – TOOL over Aerials – System of a Down

Africa (cover) – Howie Day over About an Hour Ago – OAR

Against the Wind – Bob Seger over Agent Orange Song – Country Joe McDonald

Across the Universe – The Beatles over Across the Universe (cover) – Fiona Apple – Interesting, in the first tournament bracket I have one original song that cannot outlast its cover’s (Africa) and then one that goes head to head with two of its own cover’s and wins. This may only be interesting to me, and that’s all that matters.

Elite Eight

#41 – DMB over A Box Full of Sharp Objects – The Used

A Favor House Atlantic – Coheed and Cambria over 50 Friends and a Keg of Killians – Lucky Boys Confusion

Aenima – TOOL over Africa (cover) – Howie Day

Against the Wind – Bob Seger over Across the Universe – The Beatles

Final Four

#41 – DMB over A Favor House Atlantic – Coheed and Cambria – In the end on this one, my adult side takes over for my child side here. While A Favor may rock harder, the voice gets dangerously high at points. Dave’s is more natural, and I am all about getting naturally high…..with your voice of course.

Aenima – TOOL over Against the Wind – Bob Seger – Maynard tells us to learn to swim, which I think is a fantastic lesson to learn from a song. However, I do believe the reason we need to learn to swim is because of impending Armageddon as a result of the stupidity of society. Instead of saying “Damn the man” he uses his voice to create a six and a half minute middle finger to the morons of society. That deserves a Golf Clap…and so does this…

The Final Two

Aenima – TOOL over #41 – DMB – The final two songs are definitely two songs I have listened too easily hundreds of times, whether or not this bodes well for future tournaments we shall see, but as for a start, I feel it is an auspicious one.

It all started while I was watching Pete and Pete (you remember that old Nickelodeon show??). It was the episode where lil Pete hears his favorite song being played by a garage band and goes into the wonderful feelings associated with having a favorite song. Well, I have never been able to experience the joy of Pete and I want to. Though it sucked for Pete since he forgot his favorite song until recapturing it at the end of the episode, mine gets to live on (bless you iPod and other lovely musical playing devices). Now the tricky part...

How in all of the songs that I own can I possibly pick out the one that I can call my favorite??

Given my sports fanatic and complete loser with nothing better to do attitudes I came up with this: a tournament.

That's right, itll be like March madness for quite some time while I figure this out. While there are considerable drawbacks: only knowing the #1 song and not really knowing where the others stand, odd matchups in tournaments, hard to define criteria, I still feel that this is worth it to me and I will at least have a better idea about what makes a favorite song.

While the criteria for picking songs is difficult, I can think of a few things for each matchup that will allow it to move on to the next round:

-Emotional Attachment to the Song (What it reminds me of, or where I was when I heard it)
-Sheer Musical Brilliance (I have my idea of talent and songs get points for having talent)
-Cultural Significance (Think about it, Star Spangled Banner itself, worthy of national anthem, but Hendrix playing it at Woodstock with Taps being played within the song=culturally significant, makes a statement if you will)
-*Critical Acclaim (Essentially an invisible force that may affect some of my choices because someone I know and respect may think the song is good so I think it is better than it is because of that)
*(Note: I have the right to completely disregard this at any time)

Tournament Breakdown:

There are approximately 3200 songs that I have to choose from, I am limiting this only to the ones I currently own. I know this leaves out the millions of songs that I have never heard and quite a few thousand I have heard and may like. But for the love of God this is just for fun and I think 3200 songs is a pretty solid sample! That will break down into 50 NCAA style tournament brackets of 64 (since 64 x 50 = 3200...I knew math would come in handy someday). I am simply going to go in order of Alphabetical order by Song Title, to hopefully avoid too many from a certain band in each bracket but still something arbitrary enough to avoid screwing with it too much.

Occasionally if I feel like it I will make up a smaller bracket or something with songs that may fit a certain genre of what I want to find out my favorite song of a certain type is. This could either be a band's best song, best war protest song, best song with the word "all" in the title, best cover song, crap like that.

Overall, this is just for fun, so the rules can be bent or broken at my discretion. However, I am taking this serious, I want to be able to crown a song "my favorite" at the end of this whole thing. I am fully aware that it could be my favorite song of the moment, or the lesser of two evils in the final or whatever, but at least I have the balls to commit to a playoff system.

I will post all of the matchups and winners for each bracket as they happen. While I will not include comments on all of them, since I am sure some of these will be obvious which is the better choice even if you aren't me, believe me I will have something to say about every matchup, so if you wish to know why I picked the way I did, ask me, then argue with me if you want, I don't care, that's what the whole point of this is.

Now let's make this happen....