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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Tournament

Now I knew before I started putting this project together that I would not be able to make everyone happy with this list. Nobody can. In fact, if I were to go back and put this together again, I am sure I would come up with a different 64.

Well, after 5 days of thinking about it, I put together a list of 64 songs that I thought we could turn into a tournament. My selection process had no define lines with the exception of one, no duplicate artists. Now this is what made the selection process a bit difficult. Sure, you can go through and pick a ton of rolling stones, Beatles, Dylan and Who songs, like Rolling Stone magazine did, but what fun would that be.

When making these selections, I tried to put together a good collection from different genres. Some old, some new, some rock, some roll, some pop and some metal. Regardless of where theses songs may fall, they all have one thing in common, they are all great tunes. Now in order for me to get down to 64, I had to leave behind many good tunes. You will notice that there is no rap, hip-hop, funk, R&B, reggae, Philadelphia Soul, Regular Soul, U2, The Eagles and Aerosmith. The reason behind this is because I needed to narrow this down and if I included those genres, there is now way I could have narrowed this down to 64. And those other bands, well, I just don’t like them.

These songs, I have not put in any particular order, so that is where I need your help. I gave you 64 songs, now I need you to help me rank them for the tournament.

This will be set up just like the NCAA Basketball tournament, so we will have 4 brackets of 16, with songs ranked 1-16 in each bracket. Now, I know that 64 songs is a lot to go through, but rank what you can. Even if you can only rank your favorite 8 songs in the list, that will help me set up the top 2 seeds in each bracket.

UPDATE: also, if you want to submit an additional song for the list, feel free. What I will do is have the most requested song off the list, play the song with the worst ranking in a play-in game, just like the tournament. The play-in game winner will then play the best ranked song in the opening round.

And just to clear up any confusion, please rank the songs from 1-64, with 1 being your favorite and 64 being your least favorite.

thanks to all who have participated already. this looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Well, here you go. Here are the 64 songs.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin – Happy


Oasis – Supersonic


Rolling Stones - She's A Rainbow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O60kvW1dyCw

Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huaCEYIvaXE

The Beatles - A Day In The Life


Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song


AC/DC - Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)


The Clash - London Calling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqO1b-5RsAs

Blur – Parklife


The Doors – L.A. Woman


Prince - I Would Die 4 U


Beach Boys - Sloop John B


Guns ‘n’ Roses - Welcome to the Jungle


Nirvana - Drain You


Van Halen - Hot for Teacher


Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zPbBMbnjI

Radiohead - The Bends


Nine Inch Nails – Wish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68KxXeeHXHk

Ride – Twisterella


Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run


Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart


Beirut - Postcards From Italy


Elvis Costello – (What's So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love & Understanding


Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)


Black Sabbath - War Pigs


David Bowie - Space Oddity


The Libertines - Death on the Stairs


Pixies – Debaser


Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon


New Order - Perfect Kiss


The Cure - Pictures of You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l54xuQmwks

The Who - My Generation


Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae9l36SlyZM

Doves - There Goes the Fear


Stereophonics – Dakota


Arcade Fire - neighborhood #1 (tunnels)


Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945


The Animals - We Gotta Get Out of this Place


The Smiths – How Soon is Now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U5HpeA_WSo

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody


Pearl Jam – Porch


The Jam - Town Called Malice


The Police – Roxanne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3kG-7I_Y6k

Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen


The Kinks - You Really Got Me


Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone


Elvis - Suspicious Minds


B-52s - Rock Lobster


Blondie - Heart of Glass


Rod Stewart - Maggie May


Elton John - Tiny Dancer


Kings of Leon – Slow Night So Long


Broken Social Scene - Anthems for A 17-Year Old Girl


Elliott Smith - Son of Sam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rggjfnX20nw

Pink Floyd – Fearless


The Strokes - You Only Live Once
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk1fl_U1dKU

Metallica - Creeping Death


Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot


Flaming Lips - Race for the Prize


Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way


New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno


The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog


Beck – Girl


The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

11 comments:

JP said...

just to be clear, just rank the songs from 1-64 with 1 being your favorite and 64 being your least.

if you don't want to go through all 64, just send me the one's you want to rank, regardless if that is ranking them at the top or the bottom.

Unknown said...

1 Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
2 The Ramones - Bonzo Goes to Bitburg
3 The Beatles - A Day In The Life
4 Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song
5 Black Sabbath - Paranoid
6 Prince - Purple Rain
7 Elvis Costello – (What's So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love & Understanding
8 The Animals - We Gotta Get Out of this Place
9 Beach Boys - Sloop John B
10 The Kinks - You Really Got Me
11 Van Halen -Panama
12 The Clash - London Calling
13 The Who - Behind Blue Eyes
14 Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells a Story
15 The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog
16 The Jam - In the City
17 Rolling Stones - She's A Rainbow
18 AC/DC - Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)
19 Guns ‘n’ Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
20 Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
21 David Bowie - Space Oddity
22 Elvis - Suspicious Minds
23 The Police – Roxanne
24 Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
25 Kings of Leon – Slow Night So Long
26 Blondie - Heart of Glass
27 The Strokes - You Only Live Once
28 Arcade Fire - neighborhood #1 (tunnels)
29 Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody)
30 Stereophonics – Dakota
31 Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
32 Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way
33 Pink Floyd – Fearless
34 New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno
35 Metallica - Creeping Death
36 The Smiths – How Soon is Now?
37 Beck – Girl
38 Nirvana - Drain You
39 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
40 Flaming Lips - Race for the Prize
41 Elliott Smith - Son of Sam
42 Elton John - Tiny Dancer
43 Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945
44 Broken Social Scene - Anthems for A 17-Year Old Girl
45 The Libertines - Death on the Stairs
46 Pixies – Debaser
47 Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
48 New Order - Perfect Kiss
49 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
50 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control
51 The Cure - Pictures of You
52 Beirut - Postcards From Italy
53 Oasis – Supersonic
54 Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
55 Radiohead - The Bends
56 Nine Inch Nails – Wish
57 Ride – Twisterella
58 Ned's Atomic Dustbin – Happy
59 Blur – Parklife
60 Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks
61 The Doors – L.A. Woman
62 Doves - There Goes the Fear
63 B-52s - Rock Lobster
64 Pearl Jam – Porch

Gastripod said...

Instead of ranking them 1 to 64, shouldn't there be 4, 1-16 rankings? Maybe even name the brackets? I would suggest famous club names for the regions. I suggest the Whiskey-A-Go-Go bracket, the CBGBs bracket, the Wembley bracket, and the Royal Albert Hall bracket.

Erin Weller said...

I like the bracket idea - and the names are great, but maybe we should have the 100 Club instead of Wembley and what's the name of the place in Manchester? It's escaping me. That way they are all small venues that broke huge acts.

For some of these bands, are we going iconic or best? Some of the song choices seem more iconic than a representation of the best work of the band.

Erin Weller said...

I have a few other suggestions for other songs representing some of these bands.

Arcade Fire - Tunnels is awesome, but Rebellion (Lies) is even better.

The Who -- My Generation - iconic, Baba O'Reilly better.

The Smiths - This Charming Man. Better captures the spirit of old Smiths before Morrisey became a whiny bitch.

Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue. 'Nuf said.

Metallica - Enter Sandman. I'm just a sucker for that song.

Mikey, your Ramones choice is quite ingenious, but if we're going iconic, I'd have to stick with Blitzkrieg Bop or maybe Rock 'N Roll High School. Or I Wanna Be Sedated. Damn, it's hard to choose just one Ramones song.

It's a damn good thing you put something by The Jam on there, or I would have had to hurt you. With that said, Town Called Malice is probably the obvious choice, In the City is a good alternative because it is what broke them on the punk scene. You could go with That's Entertainment for it's simplicity of sound and richness of lyrics. But IMHO, one of the best examples of Weller's writing is encompassed in a tiny track from The Gift called Ghosts. Listen to it. Then listen to it again. It may just change your life.

I'll have to think about rankings. Just my two cents.

JP said...

I think the names for the brackets are a great idea. The Hacienda will have to be the name of one bracket.

The reason I am asking everyone to rank them from 1-64 is because I will take the top 4 and put them as number 1 seeds in each bracket. Then I will take the next 4 and make them 2 seeds. and so on and so on and so on etc....

Gastripod said...

Here's my list.

The Clash - London Calling 1
The Beatles - A Day In The Life 2
Rolling Stones - She's A Rainbow 3
Pink Floyd – Fearless 4
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run 5
David Bowie - Space Oddity 6
Pixies – Debaser 7
Elton John - Tiny Dancer 8
Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored 9
Elvis Costello – (What's So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love & Understanding 10
The Who - My Generation 11
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody 12
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song 13
Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon 14
The Smiths – How Soon is Now? 15
The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop 16
Talking Heads - This Must Be The Place (Naïve Melody) 17
New Order - Perfect Kiss 18
Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone 19
Rod Stewart - Maggie May 20
Blur – Parklife 21
The Doors – L.A. Woman 22
Nirvana - Drain You 23
Ride – Twisterella 24
Guns ‘n’ Roses - Welcome to the Jungle 25
Radiohead - The Bends 26
The Cure - Pictures of You 27
Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen 28
Ned's Atomic Dustbin – Happy 29
Prince - I Would Die 4 U 30
Black Sabbath - War Pigs 31
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945 32
Van Halen - Hot for Teacher 33
The Jam - Town Called Malice 34
Blondie - Heart of Glass 35
Broken Social Scene - Anthems for A 17-Year Old Girl 36
Nine Inch Nails – Wish 37
The Police – Roxanne 38
Metallica - Creeping Death 39
Flaming Lips - Race for the Prize 40
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control 41
Arcade Fire - neighborhood #1 (tunnels) 42
Kings of Leon – Slow Night So Long 43
Psychedelic Furs - Love My Way 44
Beirut - Postcards From Italy 45
The Kinks - You Really Got Me 46
Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot 47
Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock 48
Beach Boys - Sloop John B 49
The Libertines - Death on the Stairs 50
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart 51
Beck – Girl 52
AC/DC - Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) 53
Doves - There Goes the Fear 54
Elvis - Suspicious Minds 55
Elliott Smith - Son of Sam 56
Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks 57
Stereophonics – Dakota 58
Pearl Jam – Porch 59
B-52s - Rock Lobster 60
Oasis – Supersonic 61
The Strokes - You Only Live Once 62
New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno 63
The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog 64
The Animals - We Gotta Get Out of this Place 65

Gastripod said...

You know, after thinking about it, I want to remove Cherub Rock form my list. Please replace it with "I Hate Rock and Roll" by the Jesus & Mary Chain

Anonymous said...

Just to clear this up one more time. I didn't think it was that confusing but I guess I may be mistaken. First rank 1-64 of the songs provided then when you are done add another song to throw in at the end. Do not put your 65th song in the middle of the pack.

Unknown said...

good enough...
1 she's like a rainbow- The Rolling Stones
2 a day in the life- The Beatles
3 my generation- The Who
4 we gotta get out of this place- The Animals
5 sloop john b.- The Beach Boys
6 london calling- The Clash
7 like a rolling stone- Bob Dylan
8 you really got me- The Kinks
9 born to run- Bruce Springsteen
10 tiny dancer- Elton John
11 town called malice- The Jam
12 fearless- Pink Floyd
13 war pigs- Black Sabbath
14 l.a. woman- The Doors
15 maggie may- Rod Stewart
16 bohemian rhapsody- Queen
17 blitzkrieg bop- The Ramones
18 debaser- The Pixies
19 space oddity- David Bowie
201 supersonic- Oasis
21 i wanna be your dog- The Stooges
22 the bends- Radiohead
23 i would die 4 u- Prince
24 (what's so funny 'bout) peace love and understanding- Elvis Costello
25 god save the queen- The Sex Pistols
26 drain you- Nirvana
27 suspicious minds- Elvis Presley
28 it's a long way to the top- ACDC
29 twisterella- Ride
30 immigrant song- Led Zeppelin
31 teenage riot- Sonic Youth
32 love will tear us apart- Joy Division
33 parklife- Blur
34 i wanna be adored- The Stone Roses
35 wish- Nine Inch Nails
36 postcards from italy- Beirut
37 how soon is now?- The Smiths
38 this must be the place (naive melody)- Talking Heads
39 race for the prize- The Flaming Lips
40 death on the stairs- The Libertines
41 the killing moon- Echo And The Bunnymen
42 you only live once- The Strokes
43 love my way- The Psychedelic Furs
44 neighborhood #1 (tunnels)- The Arcade Fire
45 creeping death- Metalica
46 heart of glass- Blondie
47 girl- Beck
48 holland 1945- Neutral Milk Hotel
49 son of sam- Elliott Smith
50 there goes the fear- Doves
51 slow night- Kings Of Leon
52 anthems for a seventeen year-old girl- Broken Social Scene
53 y control- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
54 pictures of you- The Cure
55 happy- Ned's Atomic Dustbin
56 the perfect kiss- New Order
57 young folks- Peter Bjorn And John
58 sing me spanish techno- The New Pornographers
59 roxanne- The Police
60 dakota- Stereophonics
61 rock lobster- The B52's
62 hot for teacher- Van Halen
63 welcome to the jungle- Guns N Roses
64 porch- Pearl Jam
....
65 cheapskate- Supergrass
66 play it cool- Supper Furry Animals

i know, i know, 2 write ins... do what you will, but i couldn't leave them out

Anonymous said...

Chris M:

I know I'll never do the full 64 but here's what I have....

1. Boo Radleys-Lazarus
2. Stone Roses- I Wanna Be Adored
3. Ride-Twisterella
4. The Who- My Generation
5. Neutral Milk Hotel- Holland 1945
6. Led Zeppelin- Immigrant Song
7. Joy Division- Love Will Tear Us Apart
8. Echo-Killing Moon
9. Doves-There Goes the Fear
10. Oasis-Supersonic
11. Blur-Parklife
12. The Clash-London Calling
13. Beirut-Postcards from Italy
13. Jesus and Mary Chain-Head On
14. I'm From Barcelona-We're From Barcelona
15. Prince- I Would Die 4 U