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

Sunday, March 6, 2016

First Round Matchup: JAMES at RED HOUSE PAINTERS

(5) James, "Say Something"

It’s not hard to find a sad James song; even their happy-sounding tunes are downers if you pay close enough attention (“Laid” for example). “Say Something” rose to the top for three reasons: 1. The weird, bleak video (below, apparently made for the British market—the later American video was different, though MTV also showed the British one) featuring gorillas and sexy, indifferent scientists. 2. The fondness one committee member had for this song during her wallowing-in-self-pity college days: the lyrics “More than a drug is what I need / need a change of scenery / need a new life” ring especially true when all alone in a crappy dorm room. 3. The presence of another, much worse song called “Say Something” in the world. This dumb and sappy “Say Something” dominates the searches; is being supplanted by a lousy approximation not among the saddest fates?



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(12) Red House Painters, "Katy Song"

Before this song disintegrates into an increasingly spooky place in the last few minutes it occupies a forlorn and isolated place, one happy to simply echo sadness and resignation: there’s no way our speaker’s ever getting the girl back, and he knows this, hence the way it gets creepier and creepier the longer the song goes on, a nice recognition that all expressions of wistful romance become desperate and eventually pathetic, even pointless. Well, it’s never pointless to sing an ache, and maybe it’s sadder that the ache can’t be alleviated in a song. The Toronto Star has this as the 93rd saddest song of all time on their list (you’ll see several songs from this bracket on the list, which isn’t limited to our timeframe, so Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” wins it, which should give you a good idea). How do you differentiate between this at #93 and #94, Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”? Better, we think, to seed the field, as we’ve done, and play the songs, and let you all decide. 





Which Song's Sadder? Vote by 9am 3/7

Katy Song
Say Something
Do Quizzes

8 comments:

  1. "Say Something" is a Top-5 downer song of the 1990s on a Top-5 downer album. I can practically taste those existential cigarettes of my early twenties when I hear this one...

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    1. Funny, I too can practically taste those existential cigarettes of my early 20s when I hear this one, though I didn't get into it until my brother gave me his old copy of Laid in 2000 when I finally got a car with a tape player (Not that you're old, Kirk, that's not what I'm saying :)) Some sadnesses transcend time & place.

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    2. I am old. Makes the sadness sadder...

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  2. I almost want to declare "Katy Song" a work of musical genius, but I don't have another eight minutes to listen to it again. They get my vote though.

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  3. This one's tight indeed. Tied with less than 2 hours left to go (including the one-vote advantage on twitter). Don't think your vote matters? Well it does on this contest. To be fair I'm also pretty torn on this one.

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  4. Except apparently this one (in a surprise, frankly, to me; I thought RHP would go deeper, but I wonder if both his relative obscurity and his recent dickish behavior didn't work against him with some of the voters. Too bad. Certainly one of my all-time saddest bands/musicians.

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