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

Friday, March 11, 2016

First Round Matchup: MORPHINE vs MORRISSEY

(5) Morphine, "I'm Free Now"

Any band named for a Schedule II painkilling narcotic automatically got considered for an at-large bid (Codeine's record was underwhelming so they were on the wrong side of the bubble), but add the fact that Morphine's best and best-known record (though we like their whole remarkably consistent discography) was titled Cure for Pain, and add in the fact that Mark Sandman died of a heart attack onstage in Rome in 1999, and it's obvious that Morphine ain't here for the laurels. They're notable for being maybe the only non-Tori-Amos/Gary Jules band in the bracket that doesn't feature a guitar, and the only one to reliably rock the baritone saxophone. Damn, and what an identifiable sound it is, right? Two or three notes and you know it's Morphine, and you know it's gonna be a downer, but one with a little swing to it that helps to cut the straight sadness, and so it is. We stayed away from the obvious song choice ("Cure for Pain") largely because we view this as the sadder song, about anxiety and desire, the dubious freedom of being cut loose from a relationship. It doesn't matter now who did the cutting; the fact is that you're free, yeah, you could do anything: "direct a movie / Sing a song or write a book about yours truly," but then, what's the point? It just gives way immediately to "How I'm so interesting I'm so great / I'm really just a fuck-up and it's such a waste." Sometimes being tethered is the lesser bother.



vs

(12) Morrissey, "Suedehead"

At first glance, Morrissey would appear to offer a surfeit of sad songs. But dig a bit, and it gets harder. This one’s a little too sardonic, that one’s enjoying the pain a little too much (the committee had no tolerance for songs that were mostly about wallowing), and all of them seem to have a too-healthy dose of schadenfreude. Eventually, “Suedehead” emerged as the consensus. Like nearly all Morrissey songs, there’s a lot going on, emotionally: “Why do you come here / when you know it makes things hard for me?” coupled with the repeated “I’m so sorry”s offers sadness but also regret and growing frustration with a lover who won’t let go. Perhaps most interesting is the edge of shame throughout the song. Whoever the sender of silly notes is, s/he’s clearly not someone the speaker cares to be seen in public with. The speaker is toppling a bit, up there on his high horse, and it’s this combo of spurned lover and shamefaced rejecter that give “Suedehead” a bleak biting edge.

>



Which is sadder? Vote by 9am 3/12

Suedehead
I'm Free Now
online polls

6 comments:

  1. I can't believe Morrissey has to suffer this. The committee should avoid putting a crooner anywhere near Morrissey. Sorry indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Smiths/Morrissey is like Kentucky/Louisville: same damn state, so you've got odds either way. I pick him here though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Was a Hooter’s waitress name of Jodee. Her breasts got the job done, but everything wasn’t peaches. She had the usual waitress concerns, kids, credit cards, plantar fasciitis of the left foot, some bum for a man, the type who would steal tips off a table, kick a stranded dolphin (This was in Panama City), all that. Waitressing, waitressing, it wore on you. Sometimes Jodee felt like an amputated arm. And Panama City was about as inviting as a lizard’s belly. But one day Jodee’s manager, Jared, told her about a chance to win a new car, a Toyota, Jared proudly proclaimed! In a beer sales contest! Damn if Jodee didn’t try, didn’t walk and talk and wink and leeeaaaannnn just a tad bit too far forward, to sell-that-beer. She won the contest! Things were looking up. Everyone applauded. She was walked out to the parking lot blindfolded. Suspense! Joy! Finally, joy! Everyone stood around, in a circle (or egg-shaped gathering). Blind fold removed….it was not a Toyota. It was a boxed Star Wars toy, a “Toy Yoda,” get it? Jared laughed. Jodee cried. Imagine Jodee, with her toy Yoda, taking it home to her sun-bleached apartment. Imagine Jodee, how she felt about life, her life.

    That’s exactly how sad is Morrissey.

    http://geekologie.com/2010/10/hooters-girl-competes-in-conte.php

    ReplyDelete
  4. Morrissey is cool on the mic and all, but it's too much work to separate his art from his ego. Something about his being groped last summer by a TSA agent, who may have just been following standard, post-9/11 procedure? Did anyone give a damn about his public whining on this matter? I've heard sadder stories.

    ReplyDelete
  5. When Morphine's center dropped dead in the parquet court, this match up was over. Daydreaming about James Dean's eyebrows doesn't even come close.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Man, I can't believe I'm voting against Morrissey twice in a sadness contest... This one just doesn't bring me down that much. Neither does the Morphine, particularly--there's a little too much beatnik-cool in their delivery to inspire true sorrow (for the record, they're one of my favorite bands). But they get the point for subject matter and real-life sadness.

    ReplyDelete