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 14, 2016

Second Round: (10) SMASHING PUMPKINS vs (2) JEFF BUCKLEY

“Disarm” and “Hallejulah” are two of the better-known songs competing in March Sadness. Oddly enough, both were released in 1994; however, they took markedly different paths to fame. Despite emerging before alternative music got much mainstream attention, “Disarm”'s success was fairly straightforward. It was released as a single from the 1993 Smashing Pumpkins album Siamese Dream, along with a video that received regular play on MTV. The Pumpkins, of course, eventually became one of the more prominent college rock acts of the 1990s.

“Hallelujah,” on the other hand, had probably the strangest ascent of any song in the brackets. It was included on Buckley’s 1994 album Grace, but received little attention until after his death in 1997. At that point, it took on a strange second life, with Buckley’s version being frequently used (maybe overused) in movies and TV: as someone pointed out in the comments on our first-round coverage of "Hallelujah," a Rufus Wainwright version showed up, bizarrely, in Shrek.

The song, originally written by Leonard Cohen, has also been extensively covered by other acts, most of which seem to have been inspired by Buckley’s version. Buckley’s “Hallelujah” finally charted in 2008, courtesy of a wave of popularity stirred up by a cover version sung by an American Idol contestant. The song is apparently played at 2am every Saturday morning on the Israeli Defense Force’s radio station. Plus, there’s an entire book about it. At this point, it’s a bit of a strange artifact.

History aside, this is a tough match-up. “Disarm” is a sometimes disturbing song purportedly about lead singer Billy Corgan’s troubled childhood (the song was actually banned by the BBC and received limited airplay in Britain due to lyrics about child abuse). The instrumentation is grand and the lyrics are howling. “Hallelujah,” on the other hand, is a stripped down song, just a guitar and a voice singing about a lost love that’s taken on Biblical proportions. One of the interesting things about March Sadness has been exploring the merits of songs about personal sadness vs songs taking a broader, more philosophical view of melancholy; in this case it feels weird to pit a crappy childhood against a broken heart. But perhaps it’s an opportunity to ponder whether grand instrumentation stirs the sadness in your soul more than simple guitar playing.

For more discussion of these songs, you may want to read our previous coverage of "Disarm" and of "Hallelujah."

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(10) Smashing Pumpkins, "Disarm"



vs

(2) Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah"





Note: today, some folks are reporting an error when voting in our polls below. We're working on it, but note that it IS counting your votes, even if the error shows up; the software also filters out multiple votes, so you can't accidentally vote too many times. Anyhow, you can vote manually HERE or see the results HERE if the form below doesn't work. Or vote on twitter, if you'd rather:





Which sadder is better? Vote by 9am 3/15

Hallelujah
Disarm
trivia quiz

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