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: DEPECHE MODE at GARY JULES

(13) Depeche Mode, "Blasphemous Rumours"

So here’s another obvious band inclusion but a surprisingly difficult song choice. Darkness is everywhere in their discography, but it's maybe darkest here. “Blasphemous Rumours” begins with a 16-year old attempting suicide, and only gets blacker from there, as the song suspects that “God’s got a sick sense of humor / that when I die I expect to find him laughing.” Most of DM’s songs (“Black Celebration,” for instance) revel in the darkness they find themselves in, but not this one. Later they’ll find religion, of a sort, but not here: this song makes its case for the unfairness of the godless world: “girl of 18 / fell in love with everything / found new life / in Jesus Christ / Hit by a car / Ended up / on a life support machine.” There is no condolence or joy in this song—nor, perhaps, in the world, for those of us who pay attention. Matching up with Jules below (a song written in 1982, two years before this song, though Jules recorded much later) is a song with a weirdly similar message. One difference, perhaps, is that Depeche Mode's angle of attack feels a lot less passive, so we have Jules on upset alert.



vs

(4) Gary Jules, "Mad World"

If you’re looking for reasons to pick against Jules, here are two: first, it’s a cover (as at least two other songs in the bracket are), and second, it was evidently released in 2001, recorded for the movie Donnie Darko, so it’s the latest song in the bracket, and the reason the ending date is 2001. But listening to it, perhaps because the Tears For Fears version is from 1982, so the song almost bookends the entire era, it feels like it’s been with us forever. I guess I was aware of the original, though it was never a favorite or a big single in America, but, man, it was brilliant in Donnie Darko, wasn't it? Your memories of that film may affect your fondness for this song. But it really struck a cultural chord: check the Wikipedia page for the Jules version to see how many times it’s been used in television shows since it came out (lotsssss). From that it seems clear that it’s indispensable for describing a particular kind of emptiness. It’s unadorned, unshowy. This isn’t a song that’s going to overwhelm you with sadness, but the dark heart's there if you’re ready for it. The Michel Gondry-directed video may offer it a bit of an unfair advantage in this matchup versus the videoless "Blasphemous Rumours," but that and the use of it in the film is why it's the 4 seed.





Which is saddest? Vote by 3/8 at 9am

Mad World
Blasphemous Rumours
Do Quizzes

7 comments:

  1. I won't question the committee on "Mad World"'s release date and though I'm hesitant to vote for a song that *feels* too recent, two things swayed me. 1) This song makes me sad that I'll never go to bed with Jake Gyllenhaal. 2) I have always found Depeche Mode vaguely embarrassing.

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    1. Google won't let me post a Peter Gabriel "Don't Give Up" gif re: Jake, so just imagine one in your head.

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  2. I'm interested in the argument that cover songs are automatically less sad because they are covers. That was my initial reaction as well but I'm not convinced it's the right one. I suppose there is the argument a cover is less raw, more removed from the original sadness. But isn't there also an argument that a cover signals that a song's sadness has a certain resonance?

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  3. The committee doesn't necessarily agree with that argument either (after all, it's not like most songs—or works of literature—are much more than recombinations of previously existing materials), but we're interested in it too. I think it's the default response for a lot of listeners (on account of the American ken for authenticity and the myth of the artist as the individual genius), so the performance of the song sort of has to overcome it, I suspect, for it to move on. We have several covers here aside from this one in the bracket: "Song to the Siren," "Romeo and Juliet," "Henry Lee" (sorta), "Hallelujah." It seems like one good way to evaluate them is to consider other versions of the song to see what this version—or another—reveals (like how the Johnny Cash version of "Hurt" clearly influenced people's voting for the Nine Inch Nails version). We'll see how much that matters with Jeff Buckley or the This Mortal Coil of his father's song.

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    1. I'm glad this topic is part of the conversation. In the case of This Moral Coil, cover songs are automatically MORE sad because they are covers. All of what TMC accomplished, especially on the album Blood, is a treasure. Though they are covers, the songs stand on their own as stylized versions crafted within the unique constraints of the 4AD project. How they strip a song to its essence! The pregnant space between notes! Ah, the strings, keys, and harmony! “Mr. Somewhere” & “With Tomorrow” forever & always.

      Tim Buckley's “Song to the Siren,” performed lovingly by Cocteau Twins’ Frasier & Guthrie as This Mortal Coil is an all-timer for me. Please vote it to the finals or I will DDoS this website. ;-)

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  4. “Mad World” never struck me—to my ear it sounds vapid, medicated, passionless. Maybe it's Jules' voice? Maybe if Julee Cruise sang it? In any case, I am a proponent for the Donald Drako OST. Lots of good cuts from the likes of others in this fair tournament. Among my favorites: Tears for Fears, The Church, Echo & the Bunnymen. It was a soundtrack of discovery for me, one that introduced me to several artists whom I now hold dear, much like the Lost in Translation OST (e.g., JAMC, Phoenix, Death in Vegas). Also, Michael Andrews’ score can't be trifled with—“Gretchen Ross” is one of the singular most beautiful instrumentals under one minute.

    This round appears to be a runaway in favor of Gary Jules, but I voted for DM. Clearly, “Blasphemous Rumours” deals with sad subject matter, lyrically. But more than that, I feel like I am voting on account of my familiarly with the artist’s work in general, my propensity for their aesthetic, as opposed to directly addressing the question, “Which is saddest?” I'm an ardent fan of “It Doesn't Matter,” another track from the DM album, Some Great Reward, so that is what I'm really voting for here.

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