SCORES & UPCOMING GAMES



CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORE: (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 168, (7) Tracy Chapman 159 .......... FINAL FOUR FINAL SCORES: (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 154, (1) Joy Division 90 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 137, (1) The Cure 89 .......... ELITE EIGHT FINAL SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 74, (14) Low 60 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 85, (1) Elliott Smith 69 ..... THE CURE 65, (2) Radiohead 58 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 74, (1) Neutral Milk Hotel 44 ..... FINAL SWEET SIXTEEN SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 75, (5) PJ Harvey & Nick Cave 24 ..... (14) LOW 73, (2) Concrete Blonde (64) ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 78, (4) Gary Jules 44 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 74, (6) Kate Bush 53 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 54, (13) The Church 49 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 73, (3) Sinead O’Connor 35 ..... (1) THE CURE 109, (3) Tori Amos 86 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 76, (6) This Mortal Coil 50 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 96, (9) Mazzy Star 91 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 76, (7) Bob Mould 28 ..... (14) LOW 60, (6) Crowded House 51 ..... (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 65, (4) Alphaville 38 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 113, (8) Replacements 88 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 87, (3) Nirvana 64 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 99, (2) The Eels 62 ..... (3) GARY JULES 103, (12) Morrissey 63 ..... (6) Kate Bush 72, (3) Nirvana 53 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 66, (11) Ride 27 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 106, (5) James 44 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 95, (10) Smashing Pumpkins 40 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 80, (9) New Order 56 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 102, (7) Nine Inch Nails 99 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 61, (3) Indigo Girls 60 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 89, (5) Swans 40 ..... (1) CURE 82, (8) Tom Waits 68 ............... FINAL 1ST ROUND SCORES: (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 93, (12) Midnight Oil 38 ..... (7) BOB MOULD 63, (10) Peter Murphy 47 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 117, (16) Erasure 19 ..... (6) CROWDED HOUSE 98, (11) Leonard Cohen 54 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 199, (10) The Smiths 162 ..... (5) MORRISSEY 115, (12) Morphine 83 ..... (3) NIRVANA 137, (14) Slowdive 102 ..... (8) THE REPLACEMENTS 128, (9) Dream Academy 82 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 262, (4) Magnetic Fields 193 ..... (10) SMASHING PUMPKINS 165, (7) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 155 ..... (9) NEW ORDER 160, (8) Sarah McLachlan 78 ..... (1) JEFF BUCKLEY 204, (16) Bjork 92 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 78, (13) Echo & the Bunnymen 22 ..... (8) TOM WAITS 72, (9) The Pretenders 22 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 51, (11) Yaz 31 ..... (3) INDIGO GIRLS 71, (14) Pavement 26 ..... (9) MAZZY STAR 132, (8) REM 46 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 88, (15) Psychedelic Furs 34 ..... (4) ALPHAVILLE 71, (13) Dead Can Dance 36 ..... (14) LOW 120, (3) U2 65 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 63, (16) 10,000 Maniacs 24 ..... (2) EELS 50, (15) Counting Crows 46 ..... (4) GARY JULES 62, (13) Depeche Mode 19 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 59, (11) Sisters of Mercy 20 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 42, (16) Violent Femmes 12 ..... (11) RIDE 25 (6) Peter Gabriel 24 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 37, (14) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 17, ..... (5) JAMES 24, (12) Red House Painters 23 ..... (7) NINE INCH NAILS 46, (10) Wilco 31, (5) SWANS 31, (12) Pet Shop Boys 18 ..... (1) THE CURE 50, (16) Gear Daddies 10 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 40, (15) Liz Phair 35


CURRENT GAMES BELOW — PAST GAMES ARCHIVED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Thursday, March 17, 2016

At the halfway point of March Sadness, let us spend some time with those we've lost

I was listening to the full playlist (you can hit up the Spotify and the Google playlists at right, but be aware that they omit the recently-defeated Bob Mould song, which you can only get via CD or via bootleg upload to Youtube) and had the thought that, here at the halfway point of the tournament, with almost half the field culled, the songs that we've lost make a better mixtape than the songs that are still here. I think that's because the songs that remain are converging on something—something really dark and sad that I can't yet articulate—which is good, that's what we want, we have our eyes on the prize, clear eyes, full hearts, you know, whatever, but that something is also getting more specific (and therefore self-similar, and therefore potentially unbearable).

So it seems like a lot of the songs that have now been cut are the more interesting ones, the ones that aren't as obviously "sad" like Liz Phair's "Fuck and Run" or that Leonard Cohen song, "Closing Time," that, you know, didn't really match up well against the big dogs, or maybe their charms are more idiosyncratic and less accessible. But that's the case with any tournament, especially one that's decided by majority vote. And it's a fact that they make for a more fun (if also predictably less sad) mixtape than the remaining ones. We'll be playing two Sweet Sixteen games a day starting today, 3/18, then we take a break for the weekend, then we're back on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for the remaining six.

For the Sweet Sixteen matchups, since you've heard enough from The Committee by this point, we've invited guest columnists to write short essays in advocacy, anecdote, and/or analysis of each of the songs and sadnesses for you to consider in your voting. So today you'll find Alison Stine repping (3) Tori Amos's "Silent All These Years," Kathleen Rooney repping (1) The Cure's "Pictures of You," Brian Blanchfield speaking out for (6) This Mortal Coil's "Song to the Siren," and Matt Vadnais on (2) Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees." Those go live at 9am or a little earlier.

In the meantime, if you're interested in some more statistics, exactly 32 of our 64 entries are acts from the USA (a slight oversimplification, since at least one—The Pretenders—is half US, half UK). Of the foreign half, 23 entries are unsurprisingly from Ireland or the UK. Five (The Church, Nick Cave, Midnight Oil, Crowded House, Dead Can Dance) are Australian. Two (Sarah McLachlan, Leonard Cohen) are Canadian. Alphaville is from Germany. Bjork is from Iceland.

Of the domestic bands, seven are from California, four are from Minnesota, then the next most-represented states are Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Georgia with two apiece. Then at least seven other states are represented. That Minnesota is so well represented is on the face of it surprising, but that is possibly related to the fact that the Committee is made up of Midwesterners. (One can certainly conclude that at least the Gear Daddies' inclusion was on account of this, since they're probably not on your radar if you haven't spent some time in the hinterlands.) Though, in response, one might also note that one half of the Committee is from Michigan, and exactly none (!!?) of these songs are by Michiganders. What's up with Michigan's lack of successfully incubating sad artists during this time period? Weren't we sad and fucked enough to at least spawn a notable one? Or did everyone just get the fuck out for a better climate? Minnesota's strength here also likely has to do with the excellent alt/indie scene in Minneapolis in the 1980s and 1990s (which continues to this day). This made the state much more likely to resist the sad song brain drain since at least there is a city and a scene to go to. After some thought, the committee couldn't name one band from this era that might have been included that's from Michigan. Detroit is, after all, Motown and Rock City, and was in decline in the 80s and especially the 90s. Can you think of any? We'd value that input. (And no, Sufjan came a bit too late for this bracket.)

The gender breakdown of the Sweet Sixteen includes eight songs sung by women and eight by men. Women have outpunched men, generally speaking, in the first two rounds, since we started with fifteen female-sung songs of the original field, and only seven of them lost in the first two rounds, giving them a success rate of 54%. Compare that to the 37 songs sung by men that lost, giving the men a 16% success rate. Because we were aware of the gender disparity in the field, we tried to avoid pitting women against each other in the first round (also because of the numbers it was simply less likely).

Also, of the original 64, sixteen were solo artists (a couple of the bands, like Magnetic Fields (at least the song represented here), are a little hazier whether they're really bands: still, we counted them as bands). Seven of the Sweet Sixteen songs remaining are by solo artists, so solo artists have also punched above their weight in the tournament thus far. You can do the math.

That's not surprising in a tournament of sadness, right? Is it fair to say from this that we (at least slightly) prefer our sadness solo? And perhaps sung in a female voice?

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