Song Tournament (May 2024)

I believe you're here to love and not fight.

But yeah, you're on to something about it being the best thing here. There's getting to share something you like, potentially surprising someone or being surprised, rooting for songs you want to win whether or not yours is in the running, etc. It's like being in the main cast of Another Round for a whole month, but you're high on anticipation instead of booze. Much less deadly.

Round 10 nom:
Rainbow Kitten Surprise - Devil Like Me

1. Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues
2. Portishead - Sour Times
3. The Bees - Voices Green and Purple
4. Teddy Swims - The Door
5. Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better
6. Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir Su Mano
7. Blues Saraceno - Evil Ways
8. Metric - Dead Disco
9. Avantasia - Avantasia
10. Tony Bennett/Bill Evans - Young and Foolish
11. Rihanna - What's My Name?

Sturgill Simpson - Played Out

Round 9 ballot

1. Avantasia - Avantasia (The Metal Opera, Pt. 1)
2. Teddy Swims - The Door
3. Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better
4. Blues Saraceno - Evil Ways
5. Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir Su Mano
6. Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues
7. Metric - Dead Disco
8. Portishead - Sour Times
9. Tony Bennett/Bill Evans - Young and Foolish
10. Rihanna ft. Drake - What's My Name?
11. The Bees - Voices Green and Purple

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Round 10 nomination

Calle 13 - Calma Pueblo

1. Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir Su Mano
2. Tony Bennett/Bill Evans - Young and Foolish
3. Teddy Swims - The Door
4. Blues Saraceno - Evil Ways
5. Metric - Dead Disco
6. Portishead - Sour Times
7. Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues
8. Avantasia - Avantasia (The Metal Opera, Pt. 1)
9. Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better
10. Rihanna ft. Drake - What's My Name?
11. The Bees - Voices Green and Purple

R10
Dan Hartman - I Can Dream About You

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Entertainment Log
Letterboxd profile

1. Radiohead - Nobody Does it Better (my favourite ever cover version)
2. Portishead - Sour Times (90s classic)
3. Metric - Dead Disco (enjoyable)
4. Avantasia - Avantasia
5. Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir su Mano
6. Teddy Swims - The Door
7. Rihanna - What's My Name
8. Blue Saraceno - Evil Ways
9. Tony Bennett - Young and Foolish
10. The Bees - Voices Green and Purple
11. Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues

Round 10

Rub salt in my wound, pour lemon juice in my eyes, spit on me in disgust while kicking me in the ribs and exclaiming that my music taste is shit. I don't mind. The notion of people taking offense when someone criticizes a song or movie or book or some other work of art that they enjoy has always baffled me. If anything, interpret such disparagement as further evidence that your taste is superior.

One-hundred percent. The tournament format is just a fun incentive to motivate participants into listening to a collection of songs. Otherwise this would just be another What Are You Listening to While You're MoFoin' It, with little to no engagement and no guarantee that anyone has listened to the songs being posted. I also appreciate that our participants don't typically nominate widely beloved classics just to ensure themselves a meaningless "victory." If I nominate a song that ten of you hate, but one person loves enough to add it to a playlist or seek out more from the artist, that's a victory in my eyes.

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1. Teddy Swims - The Door
2. Blues Saraceno - Evil Ways
3. Avantasia - Avantasia (The Metal Opera, Pt. 1)
4. Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues
5. Metric - Dead Disco
6. Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir Su Mano
7. Portishead - Sour Times
8. The Bees - Voices Green and Purple
9. Tony Bennett/Bill Evans - Young and Foolish
10. Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better
11. Rihanna ft. Drake - What's My Name?

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

R10 nom:

Whitesnake - Ain't Gonna Cry No More

Tony Bennett/Bill Evans - Young and Foolish
Bees - Voices Green and Purple
Portishead - Sour Times
Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better
Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues
Rihanna ft. Drake - What's My Name?
Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir Su Mano
Metric - Dead Disco
Teddy Swims - The Door
Blues Saraceno - Evil Ways
Avantasia - Avantasia (The Metal Opera, Pt. 1)

The Fall - Container Drivers

I don't take any pleasure in belittling anyone's taste. Our relationship to the art we love can sometimes be so tenous, ripping on someone for liking a song I don't doesn't seem like a good use of my time.




Taking offense might be kind of silly, but I get it. And from time to time, I can find myself bothered by it too. Sometimes, certain songs of movies fill me with the belief that finally something I've felt inside, but have never known how to articulate myself, has finally been made flesh. Now it's out there for others to understand too. How exciting it will be to share it. And so if someone throws their hands up in frustration when they hear the secret I believe is buried somewhere in the song I've suggested for them, and they think it is shit, it just makes me sad that once again I'm feeling misunderstood and isolated from the rest of humanity.


So, yes, silly. But there are sometimes deeper reasons for these silly reactions.




I'm already overstocked on evidence of this. No more shelf space. It's time I let other people have a little for themselves too.




Yeah, my goal is the same. I'm looking for one person to appreciate it and if everyone else had to suffer, tough titties. It's why I like when other posters put up obscure stuff that is obviously going to turn off at least half of the participants. I'm not usually interested in the one's that cater to everybody. It's usually a bad sign.

Competition is healthy.

Portishead - Sour Times - One of the best albums of the 90's and, therefore, ever. My favourite song from the band, let alone the album.

Metric - Dead Disco - OK, I was completely unaware of this band. I really like this. I'll be listening to more.

Teddy Swims - The Door - Never heard this, but instantly like it. Feels like Santana meets Eurovision.

The Bees - Voices Green and Purple - Unaware of this too. It's ok, but that simple riff is a real hook.

Tony Bennett/Bill Evans - Young and Foolish - This is a nice, simple crooners tale. Reminds me of playing cards with my grandparents 30 years ago as they'd play easy listening piano music/crooner stuff while we played. Kind of bittersweet in that sense.

Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir Su Mano - This needs to be the music over a 80's/early 90's movie intro/montage. Do I want to listen to an album of it? No. Do I enjoy it for a few minutes while I'm watching a swooping helicopter shot of someone driving along a coastal road or around an island with the top down in the sun or through the streets of the Latin Quarter of some nameless city? God, yes.

Blues Saraceno - Evil Ways - Some lovely guitar work here. Sounds like something a WWE wrestler would've come out to in the 00's. If there must be country, spinning it like this helps me a lot.

Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better - I was pretty sure I'd hate this (it's Radiohead after all and I can't stand all but a few of their songs) but the original is one of my favourite songs of all time, so it's kind of hard to mess it up. He does try, but he doesn't quite. The rest of the band play it well enough to make it work. The fact I love the original is why it's this high though.

Avantasia - Avantasia (The Metal Opera, Pt. 1) - I thought this might be the first real miss for me this round, but it wasn't. I'm not much of a fan of 'fantasy metal', which is where I feared it'd go, but while it touched on that, it didn't go full bore, and so, I'm ok with it.

Rihanna ft. Drake - What's My Name? - Rihanna is so gorgeous. Anyway, I know this from a million clips and cars passing by with windows down, but I'm not sure if I've ever listened to the whole song before. It's a nice flow but I can't say I like listening to it.

Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues - I just don't do country, but a little yodelling will always help a little. I do appreciate it when the songs are short. For all that, I didn't hate this or anything.

2nd good round in the row. unprecedented.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I'll stick in the 90's with a band which should've been bigger, but were 5-10 years too late and got swept away by the Grunge tsunami.

Round 10 nom:

Every Mother's Nightmare - Walls Come Down

That Teddy Swims song is catchy as hell. I'm pretty sure I've heard it; I think my wife likes it.

I really like Blues Saraceno style. He had a brief stint with Poison and I like what he brought to the table. I should probably seek more of his solo stuff.

I'm a big fan of Juan Luis Guerra. He's a staple here in Puerto Rico and this is one of my favorites.

Winner: Portishead - Sour Times (Nominated by honeykid)

ROUND 9 RESULTS:

1st) Portishead - Sour Times (90 points)
2nd) Teddy Swims - The Door (77 points)
3rd) Metric - Dead Disco (73 points)
3rd) Juan Luis Guerra - A Pedir Su Mano (73 points)
5th) Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better (70 points)
6th) Blues Saraceno - Evil Ways (66 points)
6th) Linda Martell - Bad Case of the Blues (66 points)
8th) Tony Bennett/Bill Evans - Young and Foolish (64 points)
9th) Avantasia - Avantasia (The Metal Opera, Pt. 1) (58 points)
10th) Bees - Voices Green and Purple (48 points)
11th) Rihanna ft. Drake - What's My Name? (41 points)