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.