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

Sunday, March 13, 2016

The Second Round: SWANS vs TORI AMOS

This ought to be an emotional matchup of unlikes here in the second round. We should say up front that it's impossible not to keep in mind the very recent troubling allegations made against Michael Gira (of Swans) by Larkin Grimm, which for some of us will probably derail our abilities to listen to each song as just a song. Maybe there's no such thing as a song just being a song, though, right? When we're listening to these and trying to weigh one sadness against another, we're talking about ourselves and our memories and where and who we were when we heard these songs and what we thought they meant then and a thousand other valences. We'd like, though, to try to just talk about the songs.*

So to start, maybe first check back on our first-round coverage of "Silent All These Years" and of "God Damn the Sun" in which we discuss the song selection among other things?

So these two songs aren't very much alike at all: we have the lush instrumentation of "God Damn the Sun" and the stark piano-and-a-voice of "Silent All These Years." Swans are at their most resigned here, and the song becomes about a couple varieties of abandonment, friendship, and the beauty of resignation, culminating in cursing the sun: "God damn the sun / God damn the sun / God damn the light it shines / And this world it shows." That it's written to the friend: ("I miss your arrogance / And I need your intelligence and your hate for authority / But now you're gone") makes it a lot more interesting and complicated than if it was written to the her ("I said I'd kill myself / if she left me again"), largely because I feel like I've heard that song a lot more often.

It's chilling, really, where we end up. We'd love to see this make it through to match up against Joy Division's "Atmosphere," but that'd be a long ways off, and first Tori Amos might have something to say about it. (We think she will.) If you want more amusement, Here's an epic fan video made for the song which is pretty funny in its juxtapositions.

When "Silent All These Years" came out, it felt, to us, like she'd blown a big hole in an old white male industry wall (and if you don't know about her first album of sorts, Y Kant Tori Read, well, you should probably take a look, since the cover art shows you the exact texture of that wall in case it's already not obvious). Really, it felt like the world had just leveled up a little bit. As such, she's got an outsized reputation compared to Swans. That's worth something. It's not like Swans weren't already blowing shit up out back and making riotous, poisonous concoctions: they were. This isn't a matchup of Tori and Loverboy. We don't want to see either of these songs lose, but one will. The question for you is: which is the one you want to take with you?

* At least the Tori Amos song in the bracket isn't "Me and a Gun," which was a breathtaker to watch live (only one of the committee members has seen Amos live, and in Grand Rapids, Michigan, no less: at the time it was the only time he had been to Grand Rapids, though both committee members would later come to live there). 


*

(5) Swans, "God Damn the Sun"



vs

(4) Tori Amos, "Silent All These Years"






Which song's sadder, better? Vote by 9am 3/14

Silent All These Years
God Damn the Sun
Quiz Maker

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