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

Monday, March 7, 2016

First Round Matchup: 10,000 MANIACS vs ELLIOTT SMITH

(16) 10,000 Maniacs, "Eat for Two"

“Eat for Two” covers a fairly wide swath of emotion, most overtly anger, fear, and regret. But sadness is always there too, obvious in the form of an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy (“My folly grows inside of me”), but, more subtly, in the form of the narrator’s disappointment in herself. Bitterly, she tells us “Pride is for men, young girls should run and hide instead / Risk the game by taking dares with yes.” She holds herself entirely responsible for her predicament and dispenses with the baby’s father in a few withering lines, “But she couldn’t stand for the way he begged and gave in.” It is this quality that makes the song a more universal song about sadness—it’s less about an unwanted baby and more about the sadness we feel when we disappoint ourselves with our own weakness. 



vs

(1) Elliott Smith, "Waltz #2"

Though official selection committee advisers strongly recommended “Needle in the Hay,” the committee made a late switch to “Waltz #2” and stand by this choice. Smith is a one-seed in part on account of his reputation—this is a legacy program we’re looking at here, and it’s hard to argue with a track record of sadness like Elliott Smith’s (or with his presumed—or possible, anyhow—suicide with a knife to the chest). One of the things we admire most about “Waltz #2” is that it's a freaking waltz, for starters, and thus it stands out from everything else here. Secondly, there’s the wonderful way the song ends, turning the minor to the major with the very last chord. It’s almost unbearable listening to that turn, knowing he's gone. The committee admits that it doesn't know enough about Elliott Smith—the committee does not claim expertise in his oeuvre—but his is a pretty god damned sad story, ending sadly, and with a significant question mark, and this is one of the bracket's high-water points of desperation and sad beauty. Of course there's no official video:





Which song's sadder? Vote by 9am 3/8

Waltz #2
Eat for Two
Poll Maker

9 comments:

  1. I'm not quite sure this is the 10,000 Maniacs I would have chosen--and I've always liked them, even at Natalie's most strenuous. Smith for me, but whether this song is deserving of a #1 seed is another question entirely.

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    Replies
    1. For better or worse, suicides got a bump up in the ratings by the committee.

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  2. Since suicide is usually irrefutable evidence of (a particular sort of) overwhelming sadness, the committee thought it an important selection criterion. Admittedly there is a question of whether Smith killed himself or not, but his sadness rep is hard to deny. Hence his #1 seed. Other criteria we used were the rabidity of a musician's fanbase, whether the band was on a major label (in a major conference), their cultural reach (Smith's inclusion of a song in Good Will Hunting, for instance), some aspects of their reputation or life story (or death story), as well as, of course, the perceived sadness of the song (and band). Perhaps, however, 10,000 Maniacs is underseeded (or, as Juan pointed out, represented by the wrong song: he suggested What's the Matter Here; we had a hard time with them finding "sad" songs exactly, which also explains their relatively low seed).

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  3. For what it's worth, and I feel like I'm commenting way too often, I think 10,000 Maniacs are just hurt by the fact that sadness isn't really what they do. Or rather, what they do is keep a straight face in the midst of sadness, like a nineteenth century farm bride looking at a coming storm. They would kick as in a bracket about stoicism.

    Wasn't Smith's death and likely suicide a stabbing? I'm not sure why that's important to me, other than, well, it's sadder than a shotgun. I also think suicide is relevant because affect matters and the artist's death contributes to affect. Sometimes by detracting from it, depending on how one feels about suicide in abstract, potentially unfair ways.

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  4. Oh, you're right re stabbing. That's also important: it's sadder because harder and I'd think more painful (and as such way more unusual, and maybe also then more evidence of possible foul play, so thus more mysterious). Post has been updated to reflect that.

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  5. The Mark Linkous suicide is interesting to consider in light of this discussion because while it was a shotgun, it was to the chest in an ally in KY at night after he left his friend's house (from what I heard). Pretty brutal and bitter.

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  6. Think the Linkous story might have been what we mixed up with Smith's. Sparklehorse was on our radar, but we knew his later work best, so he didn't quite make the cut, but I do think the question of the narrative surrounding the songs/bands/musicians in the bracket is clearly important to a lot of us, and how that affects how we read the song.

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  7. Absolutely agree, Ander. If you do this again next year I highly suggest studying up on Sparklehorse. The entire catalog could give many of these songs a run for their money and three albums were released 2001 or earlier. Good Morning Spider breaks my heart every time I listen to it.

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  8. It's hard to dispute the Kind of Sadness, but I think "Eat for Two" is a pretty inspired selection.

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