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

Saturday, March 5, 2016

First Round Matchup: NINE INCH NAILS at WILCO

(7) Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt"

Another unfortunate early matchup here, since both Wilco and NIN seem to this committee to be contenders, but that’s the luck, as they say, of the draw. This song’s despair feels pretty righteous and intense. Like Wilco, there’s plenty of sweetness here, though it’s more in the instrumentation than in the lyrics or vocal delivery. How does the seeming march to darkness— “What have I become / my sweetest friend / everyone I know / goes away in the end / you can have it all / my empire of dirt / I will let you down / I will make you hurt”—match up with Wilco’s lament? Does NIN’s anger-and-despair-accompanied descent into noise feel more true or real? Does your memory of Johnny Cash’s revelatory late-life version add dimension here to get this song into the second round?



vs

(10) Wilco, "She's a Jar"

This is flat-out sad from the beginning note to the end. It’s not quite clear where the sketch leads us, since, this being Wilco, some of the lyrics wander into poetry’s territory and resist an easy condensing or even a close reading (perhaps this is why Tweedy’s book of poems disappointed?). Either way, it makes for a complicated listen. The crucial bit (and maybe the saddest or most baldly sad bit) is late in the song, which shows up just after the 3 minute mark: “I believe it’s just because / Daddy’s payday is not enough / Oh, I believe it’s all because / Daddy’s payday is not enough” where the “bruised road” of the early lyrics comes into focus. Oh, here’s the real heart of the song, we think, but then we’re not sure in other moments, except to say this is a relationship, past or present, and it’s a sad one that’s either been experienced or imagined. We admire too how its title only shows up in the first and last moments of the song, and how the very last verse transforms the first. It’s a different sort of complication than Nine Inch Nails offers us, just maybe a sadder and sweeter one?






WHICH IS SADDEST? WHICH SHOULD ADVANCE? VOTE BY 3/6 at 9am
Which Song's Sadder?
Hurt
She's a Jar
make a quiz

6 comments:

  1. The Cash version of "Hurt" might be influencing me a little here, revealing a texture I might not have otherwise been pushed to think about. Wilco will also sound like Wilco to me. Unless Mary J. Blige did a Wilco cover that I don't know about (in which case, I'll rethink it all).

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  2. C'mon! "She's a Jar" is, like, Catholic prep school sad, which is to say the sadness of the last slurp of milkshake, or crumble of chocolate croissant. "Hurt" is blackness in the rain, Hemingway with a shotgun sad. Apples and oranges. (Full disclosure: I was also intro'd to Wilco in college by some snootass Catholic prep school types I never really liked.)

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  3. That is a damning comparison. Sounds like many are influenced by the Cash cover, which we would have thought of using, except it's from, I think, 2003, so out of the range of this bracket. It's true that Wilco are easy targets for the sort of people who would use them as targets. But perhaps the subtlety of "She's a Jar" is a nice antidote to the melodrama of "Hurt"? So far the voters seem to disagree...

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  4. Beyond agreeing that the Cash cover has a thumb on the scale here, I also think She's a Jar suffers in comparison to a song on it's own album: "Via Chicago."

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  5. Wait. I think I accidentally voted twice. I mean I did. That seems to be a glitch (if you comment, it clears your vote?). Wilco is minus one in actuality.

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  6. Noted. Current results don't indicate that this'll be within the margin of error to be a concern at least in this matchup, but the scorekeepers shall keep that in mind.

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