As was demanded, I got off my ass and decided to get another posting goin here. I do apologize, I have been in mourning over the loss of my first car. Anyone who has lost their first car has got to feel for me. Keep in mind, I am 24 years old and I had my first car for over seven years, thats a ton of memories and so many stories. Needless to say I still get a little emotional about it. That coupled with the goodbye to Rolling Meadows and hello to Evanston for my working location and I have been an incredibly busy man. Not that any of you care since the only thing that matters is my musical taste, I feel like such a tool for your musical pleasure. And let's bear in mind that I am perfectly ok with this. Not that there are that many of you, so for the three people who will read this, here you go...

Round I

Beat It – Michael Jackson v. Best of Me – Starting Line – Well this one wasn’t too tough for me. The lead singer of The Starting Line kinda looks like Milo, my ferret, and I love Milo. Next…
Beautiful – Christina Aguilera v. Betrayal is a Sympton – Thrice – While Thrice was an interesting band I had the opportunity to see live at a Used concert I went to and got my interesting mosh pit experience, I am not sure it can compare to Beautiful. Ever seen the movie Mean Girls?? Yeah, I have too, and its awesome, and I don’t wanna hear anything otherwise dammit all. When the too gay to function guy sings it for the high school talent show and begins with the “Don’t look at me part,” this was absolute genius. Say what you want about Lindsay Lohan, but don’t fuck with Mean Girls. Beautiful gets the nod here.
Beautiful – Snoop Dogg f/Pharrell v. Better Days – Goo Goo Dolls – Right now I am very emotional about cars, seeing as how my first car has gone to car heaven. The Mustang is gone and I went through so so much with it. I will be creating a massive tribute to the Mustang at some point so stay tuned for it. Needless to say Better Days highlighted a lot of drives from my Schaumburg apartment out to Cary/Algonquin, which is quite a little drive. The Mustang will live on forever in my heart, and apparently has some bearing on what songs I like too.
Beautiful Day – U2 v. Better Man – Pearl Jam – You know, this is crap, I hate when two songs that are sooo good meet in the first round of one of these when you could see it as a potential final bracket matchup (which is shaping up to be the mother of all things in history). You have so much power in here, U2 and Pearl Jam are two of the greatest bands in the world. Say what you want about their aging processes and changes in musical style, each of these two will be remembered forever. Beautiful Day wins out here as it was one of the two songs I heard for at least 187 straight mornings during my freshman year in college waking up (the other was Hemorrhage by Fuel, which we will see later). Better Man also loses slight points because when I saw it live, one of the people I attended the concert with told me that the song reminded her of her current boyfriend, which made me throw up a little in my mouth, and that’s the kind of shit you just don’t do at a Pearl Jam concert where no alcohol is involved. Way to taint a phenomenal song.
Beautiful Disaster – 311 v. Better Now – Collective Soul – This song finally made me realize that Collective Soul is getting old. Usually as bands get older they get a more mature sound and everyone sees it as becoming road-hardened or more intelligent or less partying. Apparently Collective Soul lost this memo and decided to go with a younger and more energetic look. Ed Roland got his hair done with blond highlights, cue that same vomit a lil bit feeling. This coupled with the idea that Beautiful Disaster makes me feel cool for being white and it makes this battle not much of a contest.
Beautiful Girl – INXS v. Better Off Dead – New Found Glory – Damn you Michael Hutchence for leaving us so early, INXS was too phenomenal a band to be gone so early, because I refuse to allow the “new” version of INXS into my conception of reality. (“Dirty Vegas” sonofabitch what the hell was anyone thinking??) You want a simple song that implies real beauty, listen to “Beautiful Girl.”
Beautiful Life – Ace of Base v. Better Than Him – Back in the Day – It finally happened! My old college roomies band had their song up against a cupcake that I only downloaded as a joke. Not to take anything away from Swedish pop bands, but seriously my Ace of Base songs are really for only comedic purposes yet I am still not ashamed to own this and “The Sign.” And Better Than Him was on our college radio station on several occasions so some people must have liked it to not diss it to the trash forever after hearing it for the first time. So even though the band is dead, the music lives on. God Bless #19!!! (While the number of my college apartment with these boys, it emphasizes much more than that, it was a way of life, just ask around..)
Beautiful People (cover) – Smashing Pumpkins v. Between a Laugh and a Tear – John Mellencamp – Anything from the Scarecrow album has a special place in my heart because it was the first album I was chronically overexposed to as a young child. By the age of 6 I had heard this album at least 700 times, needless to say it played quite a role in my life then just from the sheer proportion of my life was spent listening to this album. Maybe it is why I like America so much, maybe it is why I wear white t-shirts a lot, maybe it is why I don’t think Indiana is the armpit of America, who knows, who cares.
Because the Night – 10000 Maniacs v. Between Angels and Insects – Papa Roach – The 10,000 Maniacs Unplugged really was quite the show and should be given credit as such. Before Natalie Merchant went all crazy and started listening to nature and whatever other fun things she did, she was really quite the talent but now I am turned off to her, that and I found that “Kind and Generous” video so creepy. However Between Angels and Insects uses profanity quite a great deal of times and when the lead singer flails around as he sings it, you feel how rough his parents divorce must have been. Not that I give a shit about that, I just like the swearing in the song, it makes you feel all “oh shit he said a bad word” and sometimes I like that feeling.
Beer Beer Beer – Irish Drinking Songs v. Beyond Barriers – Tim Reynolds – Timmy, this is a great song, but you know what would make it better??? That’s right, Beer Beer Beer. Moving on.
Beethoven’s 5th – Joe Satriani v. Big Apple Heartbreak – Yellowcard – Yellowcard started in Jacksonville Florida, so whatever Big Apple Heartbreak they had was with some whore groupie, so I really don’t wanna hear it. What I do wanna hear is Joe Satriani’s take on a fantastic classical piece, so let’s do that.
Being Your Walls – Armor for Sleep v. Big Bang Baby – STP – These songs are not either bands respective best so no one really cares who wins cuz we know they aren’t going very far in the tourney the rest of the way. I think Big Bang Baby is a fantastic title for the song though, so it wins out here.
Believe in What You Want – Jimmy Eat World v. Big Blast of Hot Air – Tim Reynolds – Geez, just listen to some of Tim Reynolds guitar work, at first it almost sounds like too much and just way too overbearing and like a jumble of guitar sounds at once. Listen to it further and you just find your jaw dropping lower and lower as it goes on. Really, just try this and I bet it works the same way for you. This is of course if you are musically enlightened, this is really the test, I asked (or made it up, either way, shut up.)
Bell Bottom Blues – Eric Clapton v. Big Cock – Fenix TX – Gee, I wonder who wins here, an absolute rock music and guitar god (Clapton) or some douchebag song about a bird but it’s a play on words talking about a weener. Look, if you wanna talk about weener, just do it, its not so bad, see look, weener weener weener. Done.
Belong – REM v. Big Eyed Fish – DMB – Belong is a very solid entry of the Out of Time album, which has a lot of underrated songs on it after the commercial success of “Losing My Religion” and “Shiny Happy People” which were very important to the success of REM as a band too (I still think Shiny Happy People occurred as a result of chugging too much Nyquil or something but whatever). However Big Eyed Fish tells a lovely story and is so simple. Check out the Lillywhite Session version too if you wanna listen to this puppy. I have loved every version of this song I can listen to and when they couple it with “Bartender” in concerts I get all giddy inside, and I don’t really ooze giddy on a normal day, so it’s a special thing.
Best Imitation of Myself – Ben Folds Five v. Big Machine – Goo Goo Dolls – I feel bad since it feels like every Ben Folds Five song loses right away when they are all very good songs. The luck of the draw can be the un-luck sometimes. Big Machine has quite the energy behind it and I am always a fan of solid lyrics and Big Machine has them with “I’m torn to pieces” and only a few lines later saying “God it’s good to be alive.” Life is beautiful in every instance, sometimes its harder to realize though, and they seem to feel the same way, very awesome.
Blackbird – Beatles v. Big Man with a Gun – NIN – Something with me and the simple ones, Blackbird takes it here.
Big Me – Foo Fighters v. Blackbird (cover) – Sarah McLachlan – Big Me gets major points for a very cool video on this one as well as being a catchy tune that turned me on to them in the first place. Though Nirvana was better Dave Grohl could have done much worse than Foo Fighters.
Big Pimpin – Jay-Z v. Blackdog – Led Zeppelin – Hmm….el Chiefo’s ringtone v. a rock classic. I am gonna get the Led out here. All aplogies to my big brown friend.
Big Rock Candy Mountain – O Brother Soundtrack v. Blame – Collective Soul – It seems the bluegrass guys of O Brother take another hit here as I go with Collective Soul. Despite what I said about “Better Now” please don’t take that as a shot at the band. I absolutely adore Collective Soul and could listen to nothing but them for months at a time to be sure. This song is a fair example of their music and sound, and moves on easily.
Bigger Than My Body – John Mayer v. Blame it on the Rain – Milli Vanilli – I have always liked to think that I am “bigger than my body” so I am right with you John Mayer. Blame it on the Rain always reminds me of my one year at Catholic school in Lombard. The only way I can describe it is as follows: remember in Forrest Gump when he talks about how he fit into the army like one of those little round pegs, well that was me in Catholic school, I could do no wrong and I enjoyed every second of it. Unfortunately I only got to be there for one year, but man, that was quite a year, I have millions of stories that I remember from that too, quite lucky am I. However, the music wins out here and I just like Bigger Than My Body more.
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson v. Bleed – Collective Soul – I am sorry, but if my steps could light up when I walked, I would probably proclaim myself the king of something other than Ramen Nation, which is totally legit by the way. Billie Jean gets the nod cuz that is just flat out awesome.
Binge – Papa Roach v. Bleed American – Jimmy Eat World – Jimmy Eat World is another underrated band not only in the world but as represented thus far in my tournament. Here’s to them and their Andy Kaufman-esque lead singer. And yes, I do in fact Bleed American so I guess theres a tie in there too.
Birmingham – Amanda Marshall v. Blew Away – Smashing Pumpkins – Ok, so when I was the newbie on the ASB board, our giant orientation meeting for everyone going on a trip got to have a “Hey, remember the 90s?” theme. One that my brother mentioned on a visit to Champaign and a theme that I totally championed from there on out. It was a definite hit and the soundtrack I created for that night was such a hit I had to make copies and give them out to each person on the board as an xmas present. The reason I tell this story is that when we had to introduce ourselves we had to mention what our favorite early 90s music band was. I chose Smashing Pumpkins, and Blew Away gets the nod here.
Bitch Please II – Eminem v. Blind – Korn – Ok, both of these songs are exercises in letting out aggression. Blind is on my Workout Music playlist, needless to say, Bitch Please II may be on my “I suck at life would you like to hear me whine about women and degrade them to a point that makes me seem like the worst human being on the planet” playlist. Since I don’t have that playlist, and I do love working out. Blind crushes here.
Bittersweet – Fuel v. Block Rockin Beats – Chemical Brothers – Bittersweet is a really great song but something about the energy created in Block Rockin Beats just gets me goin, I can’t explain it and I don’t have to, cuz its my tournament.
Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve v. Blood Brothers – Papa Roach – Has there ever been another song in a movie more perfect than when Bittersweet Symphony fades in during “Cruel Intentions?” This moment made that movie worth watching to me, not to say the rest didn’t as I did enjoy this movie for sure. It may just be a Reese Witherspoon thing, but I think it goes deeper than that.
Black – Pearl Jam v. Blood on the Ground – Incubus – Another matchup of heavyweight bands, but while Black is very high on my list of Pearl Jam songs that rule, Blood on the Ground is just an average Incubus song. Easy choice here.
Black Balloon – Goo Goo Dolls v. Blue – Smashing Pumpkins – Black Balloon reminds me of the movie “Meet Joe Black” which featured the lovely Claire Forlani who I find attractive, that never hurts a songs credibility. That and the version of Blue that I have is live and the sound isn’t so great so I may be underappreciating its gifts because the sound is crappy.
Black and Blue – New Found Glory v. Blue – VAST – Hmm…I could have Blue or Black AND Blue??? I go for the quantity here.
Black or White – Michael Jackson v. Blue Monday – Orgy – At this point I had lost all faith in Michael Jackson and couldn’t take him seriously anymore, so by default Orgy wins, although I do enjoy the “How Does It Feel” line in this song nearly as much as the original.
Black Rock – OAR v. Blue on Black – Kenny Wayne Sheperd – This was a really tough choice, goin with Black Rock because of the symbolism it holds. I am apparently very transcendental in thinking sometimes and I think Black Rock kind of goes along with that idea.

Round II

Best of Me over Beautiful – Milo beats out Mean Girls, Damn right I got my priorities straight.
Beautiful Day over Better Days
Beautiful Disaster over Beautiful Girl – Good thing the battles are not only over the titles
Better Than Him over Between a Laugh and a Tear – Let’s see, song I heard a million times at 6 vs. song I heard a million times at 19, recently takes precedence.
Between Angels and Insects over Beer Beer Beer
Beethoven’s 5th over Big Bang Baby
Bell Bottom Blues over Big Blast of Hot Air
Big Eyed Fish over Big Machine
Big Me over Blackbird
Blackdog over Blame
Bigger Than My Body over Billie Jean
Bleed American over Blew Away
Blind over Block Rockin Beats – Though both songs rev me up, Blind is on workout music, Block Rockin Beats was left on the cutting room floor, this made the decision easy.
Black over Bittersweet Symphony
Black and Blue over Black Balloon
Black Rock over Blue Monday

Sweet Sixteen

Beautiful Day over Best of Me
Beautiful Disaster over Better Than Him – Sorry, I can only let personal friends carry a song so far, then the music has to play some role
Between Angels and Insects over Beethoven’s 5th
Bell Bottom Blues over Big Eyed Fish
Big Me over Blackdog
Bigger than My Body over Bleed American
Black over Blind
Black Rock over Black and Blue

Elite Eight

Beautiful Disaster over Beautiful Day – Something about the magic in that song, 311 just makes it rock and I love it.
Bell Bottom Blues over Between Angels and Insects – I got turned onto Bell Bottom Blues by a girl who I had dated after we dated, that was certainly an interesting time in my life, and I always have this song that I really do love to look back on it with, that’s pretty cool, again lucky am I.
Bigger Than My Body over Big Me
Black over Black Rock

Final Four

Beautiful Disaster over Bell Bottom Blues – dammit we have one hell of a matchup here. I like the candor in the lyrics for Beautiful Disaster, and the snare roll during the song just is such a spark. The realism and raw energy of Beautiful Disaster make it a slightly more powerful masterpiece than Bell Bottom Blues.
Black over Bigger Than My Body – Black is another masterpiece of a song, lyrically, musically, energywise, and Bigger Than My Body is just a good song. Not a tough one here.

Final Two

Beautiful Disaster - 311 over Black – Pearl Jam - Ok, I literally listened to each song over a dozen times before making this decision. In the end I just really kept humming Beautiful Disaster and when in doubt go with the one that sticks with you the longest.