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

Friday, March 11, 2016

First Round Matchup: REPLACEMENTS vs DREAM ACADEMY

(8) Replacements, "Here Comes a Regular"

When we released the bracket, no fewer than five people wrote back to me saying that they could see the Replacements—a dark-horse at best against the likes of The Cure and Radiohead—winning it all. To tell you the truth, we can too. I don't think the sentiment here's unique to the midwest, but most of the people picking "Here Comes a Regular" are or were Minnesotans, it seems like. That's because if you're from Minnesota you just know this band, whereas for the rest of us we had to discover them late, if at all. I'm no superfan, and I'm no Minnesotan, but this hits me where it hurts, in the alcoholic haze of the cold, small place that I come from, where for a whole lot of everyone this is the life, such as it is, and it feels like nothing's ever really going to change because it's not, not for most of us, and there's pleasure to be had in removing yourself from yourself for a while, which drinking will sometimes do. But unlike the days of many who spend their days in bars, this guy knows he's fucked and it's fucked, and well, you know what wouldn't hurt? Another drink. Once I start quoting lyrics for it I'm way gone to the song, so you can read em if you want and weep. Sad music, sad lyrics, sad material, seen by someone who's not going to do anything about it. Well, says poet Bruce Weigl, "say it clearly and you make it beautiful, no matter what."



vs

(9) Dream Academy, "Life in a Northern Town"

“Life in a Northern Town” is a sentimental favorite. It starts out with a happy sort of nostalgia: “A Salvation Army band played / and the children drank lemonade / and the morning lasted all day / all day” that slowly devolves into sadness “And though he never would wave goodbye / You could see it written in his eyes / as the train rolled out of sight, bye bye” That last bit is said to be in reference to Nick Drake, who overdosed in 1974. Still, the song is not so much about a grandiose kind of sadness (Drake overdosed on antidepressants, by the way,); instead, it’s about the melancholy we so often feel about our own home towns. Whether or not they were actual Northern towns, we still tend to remember them as small places in cold landscapes, offering only carefully measured servings of joy. In the end, it’s about the Northern town in all of our souls.

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Which is sadder? Vote by 9am 3/12

Here Comes a Regular
Life in a Northern Town
personality test

7 comments:

  1. A very balanced 8/9 matchup. I nearly always go with the 9.

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  2. Another tough matchup for me; it's hard to separate my feelings about sadness from my feelings of liking a song and these are two songs that, at very different points in my life, I would have included on a list of my favorite songs.

    But, "a person can work up a mean, mean thirst after a hard day of nothing much at all" is maybe the saddest first line in music and, unlike the Eels song -- I'm still not over it -- the music and lyrics are going in the same direction so I don't have to work at all to feel its full brunt. And there's something about self-incrimination here that makes it all the sadder. I mean, maybe there are people who haven't felt this, but they're not from MN.

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  3. But note the "na na na" inclusion in the Dream Academy song. Feel like we need to develop a theory of na na na's in sad songs. Also: album title if not band name.

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  5. "Skyway," "Die Within Your Reach," "Left of the Dial"--few 80s/90s bands anywhere had a stronger catalog of sadness. As a Minnesotan I'm certainly biased, but on actual measurable, meritorious melancholy, "Here Comes a Regular" has to be a dark-horse favorite to take out some higher seeds...

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  6. Very hard; very good match. The Replacements' song reminds me more of my actual fam/region growing up, but I didn't know them until much later in my life. "Life in a Northern Town" on the other hand feels like it's always been a background soundtrack song to my life, and it always struck a (very somber) chord in me even when I was too young to really get the lyrics. Gonna have to listen to both on repeat for a bit...

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