Music Madness Final

These two albums beat their opponents with roughly the same percentage (around 75%).   Knocking out any chance of the past 25 years being represented, our two finalists come from the 60’s and 80’s respectively.  It’s your call who is named the most favourite album of all-time, and the winner of March Music Madness.  Do you subscribe to the belief in the 60’s as a golden era?  Or are you more interested in the return of r&b to the world of mainstream pop.  Nearly all of the music we listen to today is somehow a reference of one of these brilliant and influential records that you love so much.  Here are the full vinyl copy tracklists for your reference and convenience.

ABBEY ROAD – The Beatles

SIDE A    1. Come Together    2. Something    3. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer    4. Oh! Darling    5. Octopus’s Garden    6. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

SIDE B    1. Here Comes the Sun    2. Because    3. You Never Give Me Your Money    4. Sun King    5. Mean Mr. Mustard    6. Polythene Pam    7. She Came In Through the Bathroom Window     8. Golden Slumbers    9. Carry That Weight    10.  The End    11. Her Majesty

THRILLER – Michael Jackson

SIDE A    1. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’    2. Baby Be Mine    4. The Girl is Mine (feat. Paul McCarntey)   5. Thriller    6. Beat It

SIDE B    1. Beat It (feat. Eddie Van Halen)    2. Billie Jean    3. Human Nature    4. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)    5. The Lady in My Life

Music Madness: Final Four

Time to pit the four conferences against each other in two votes to determine the final winner of Music March Madness!  The first match-up is the winner of the Since 2000 Bracket against that of the 50’s/60’s Bracket.  

The Since 2000 winner is the #3 seed, Arcade Fire’s FUNERAL.  Their debut album is regularly a favourite from the decade, and hailed in a popular return of epic rock anthems with tracks like “Tunnels”, “Wake Up”, and “Rebellion (Lies)”.  It’s also the only Canadian-made record to make it this far, beating classic albums from Erykah Badu, The White Stripes, Amy Winehouse, and finally Radiohead to make it to the final 4.

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The winner of the 50’s/60’s bracket is The Beatles’ Abbey Road, and this should probably not surprise me as much as it did.  People love The Beatles.  You do, clearly.  And Abbey Road is classic in every way an album can be, from one of the most iconic band’s of the 60’s, with classic songs (“Come Together”, “Octopus’s Garden”, and “Here Comes the Sun”, to name 3 of them), and even classic cover art.  This 10th seeded record of the conference is to date The Beatles’ best-selling album of all-time.

VOTE!

The second match-up is between the winners of the 90’s conference and the 70’s/80’s conference.

Thriller is the highest seeded album to make the final 4, with the automatic #2 spot of the 70’s/80’s for it’s high-selling status.  Thriller continues to sell more copies than any other record ever made, and features Michael Jackson in a state that we all wish we could remember him best.  Forget what songs came from this album?  “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, “Wanna Be Starting Something”, “P.Y.T.” to name a few.  Oh yeah, and the title track.

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Representing the 90’s is The Fugees’ soulful female rapper, Ms. Lauryn Hill, on her brilliant solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.  Not only is this one of the most commercially successful rap albums of the 1990’s, but it also signifies the return of soulful r&b from a woman who can freaking sing.  Refreshingly, she also has something to say beyond the predictable sexy r&b we were so used to in 1998.  To get to the final four, she has faced off against some of the best rock from the decade, including U2’s Achtung Baby, Weezer, Alanis Morisette, and most recently (and perhaps surprisingly), Nirvana’s Nevermind.  

VOTE!

Music Madness: Elite Eight

Today is one of my favourite days of the year because it is the day that the final four NCAA basketball teams of March Madness battle in two games to determine who will play the finals on Monday.  I have a bit of time between games, so it’s time to finally move on to the March Music Madness’ match-ups between the Elite Eight!  Basically, these are the finals of each conference/era, so it’s kind of a big deal.  What albums do you want to represent each conference in the final 4?

*UPDATE: These brackets will be open for a short time only.  Get your votes in here before 7pm PST on Apr. 8th, and make sure you come back soon after that for the Final Four!

For the Since 2000 Conference we have Radiohead and Arcade Fire.

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In the 90’s we have Ms. Lauryn Hill going up against Nirvana.

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In the 70’s-80’s Conference, I was shocked to learn that The Joshua Tree is going up against Thriller.

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And finally, for the music of the 1950’s/60’s Conference, two downright classics in Kind of Blue and Abbey Road go head-to-head.

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Music Madness: The Sweet Sixteen

After a busy Easter weekend, I am finally getting around to posting the next round of voting for Music Madness! The albums have been narrowed to only four in each conference. Check out this updated bracket to see where all the albums are at, then come back and vote.  Polls will be open for a shorter time than usual, so make your picks and check back on the weekend for the Elite Eight.  For now, here’s who has made it this far…

Coldplay’s Rush of Blood to the Head surprised me by beating out Kid A in round 2, and now they’re up against yet another Radiohead gem, In Rainbows.  Any opinion here?  

Arcade Fire destroyed The White Stripes’ last at a Final Four shot, while Amy Winehouse has been slowly and steadily beating anyone who stands in her way.  This is an odd match up, with potential to get ugly.  

This seems fair: two of the most influential women in 90’s music going head to head with their most widely bought and heard albums.  In the last round, Alanis just barely scraped by Lauryn’s old group, The Fugees, with 51% of the vote – the closest of any polls so far.  Meanwhile Miseducation is the album that upset the #1 pick.  Clearly both are in it to win it.  

Two of the biggest records in 90’s alternative rock, both beating out some huge rap records to get here.  Both Mellon Collie and Nevermind had strong wins in round 2, giving me the suspicion that this will be a much closer matchup.  

For the record, the polls with Rumours in them have always had a few extra voters than the others, so it has some fans with opinions.  U2’s Joshua Tree however, is the #16 seed that has already upset another great album of the 70’s in Dark Side of the Moon.  This is a tricky one for me, but it’s up to you.  

Thriller has not had an easy time in these brackets.  MJ has faced both Prince and Paul Simon so far, and now is up against one of his personal favourite albums.  This is the first time that Stevie has faced another R&B record, having faced only punk rock albums so far.  

Kind of Blue is the only #1 seed still in the game, and finally gets to face another brilliant jazz musician here.  Miles Davis has been up against classic soul records, while John Coltrane has been battling folk and rock to be here.  

The Beatles’ final contender vs. this Beach Boys’ game changer.  Two iconic albums in competition is what this conference is all about.