Into the Round of 32!

Just a few trivial things I find interesting about our tourney so far, now that we've cut 75% of our original albums from contention....

* Talking Heads are, so far, the greatest victors going 7-1 in our first 2 rounds. Their one loss came against R.E.M., a band that they have beaten twice before. The two could meet up again in the sweet 16.
* Our other major player, Prince, started strong at 3-1 in the first round. He now has only 1 album left in contention.
* R.E.M. started with 3 albums in the tourney. They are down to one. As mentioned, both other albums lost to different Talking Heads albums.
* David Bowie, The Pixies, Beastie Boys, and Tom Waits all started with 2 albums. All still have 2 albums in the tourney.
* The soonest we could have 2 albums from the same artists facing off would be in the Sweet 16 where we could see Talking Heads and/or Beastie Boys facing themselves.
* Metallica appears to be the biggest bust as they went 1-2 in the first round and were eliminated in the second.
* Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Janet Jackson and Queen all started with 2 albums in and now have 0.
* There were 3 shut-outs in the first two rounds and 17 one-point differential matches. That's a lot of close ones.
* The most combined votes an album received in the first 2 rounds is a 3-way tie at 19 total votes. Those albums were Paul's Boutique (Beastie Boys), Doolittle (The Pixies) and.....Rio (Duran Duran).
* The lowest combined total of votes an album received and still somehow remained in the tourney was also a 3-way tie at 9 votes. Those albums were Back In Black (AC/DC), A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (Pink Floyd) and Full Moon Fever (Tom Petty).

Don't forget, if you want to check out the entire tourney bracket you can always click the link close to the top left (from your viewpoint) on this page.

The Explanation

What? You still here? No, no, we're done with this blog for every vote now. At the end of each round I'll post a little sumpthin about interesting happenings from that round, but that's it. The only reason to go here from now on other than that is to click on that link toward the top left...that's your left...to look at the whole tourney bracket. All voting is on our facebook page so vote there from now on!

The Halloweenishist One

The Replacements have destroyed Kate Bush and Petty narrowly defeated Prince to give us the awesome match-up of Tim vs. Full Moon Fever in the next round. Here, at long last, is the next one. It was, top to bottom, I think the spookiest looking bracket for various reasons. I mean, it's got Grace Jones, man. That's fucking terrifying.

Nightclubbing (Grace Jones) vs. Nothing's Shocking (Jane's Addiction) - Game 67
The Queen Is Dead (The Smiths) vs. Little Creatures (Talking Heads) - Game 68

We'll try the vote on this blog one more time. If we have the same problem as last time, we'll scrap it and start doing it on facebook. I'll give it until Friday and if I see 0 votes, we'll switch it up. Happy Halloween, y'all!

Petty Party!

Tom Waits in a landslide and Van Halen in a 1-vote win gives us Rain Dogs vs. 1984 in the next round. Since we just missed Tom Petty's birthday, let's do his next.

Tim (The Replacements) vs. Hounds Of Love (Kate Bush) - Game 95
Full Moon Fever (Tom Petty) vs. 1999 (Prince) - Game 96

3 days again on this one due to my working a silly amount of hours starting Thursday.

Long Hair and Tom Waits

Pretty Hate Machine vs. Purple Rain in the next round is a pretty intriguing match. Since there's not many of us currently voting I shall pick a bracket I've been looking forward to...

Permanent Vacation (Aerosmith) vs. Rain Dogs (Tom Waits) - Game 93
1984 (Van Halen) vs. The Real Thing (Faith No More) - Game 94

Since no votes are coming during our last day of each poll I will be shortening our time to vote to 2 days when I can. Due to my work schedule this will not happen with this bracket, so ya gits until Tuesday with this one.

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?

So Pink Floyd shuts out The Pogues by a whopping 4-0 and Run DMC just edges out The Police giving us Momentary Lapse Of Reason vs. Raising Hell in the field of 32. 4 voters? Time to chat, people. First, here's next, let's do one of the big matches...

Pretty Hate Machine (Nine Inch Nails) vs. Uprising (Bob Marley/The Wailers) - Game 89
Purple Rain (Prince) vs. London Calling (The Clash) - Game 90

4 voters is the lowest amount of voters we have had in either of the 2 tournaments we've done thus far. Now, this is not a "boo you guys for not playing" thing. This is a "if we're over this, that's okay...really, it is" thing. I love doing this, I do, but I've got my top 20 albums of the year I'm working on fervently and haven't even STARTED my top 20 movies (why bother until the Oscar ones come out). I've also got a lil horror movie thing going on at a separate page. My point is, I've got lots going to satisfy my list/tourney obsessed mind. Working 45-50 hours a week means I either do these late at night when I'm exhausted or in between children dealing. Example: It has taken me 40 minutes so far JUST to type this, as I've also located 4 toys, built a fort roof, served 2 bowls of cereal, cut up an apple, taken my 3 year old to the bathroom, found something on TV twice and dressed a doll while attempting to finish this damn post. SO, although I really like doing this, if there are 4 of us left playing I'm not sure I see the point. I mean, the 4 of us could just have a couple beers and wrap this whole tourney up in a few hours if that's the case.

If we get a decent showing here, I'll keep doing this. If not, I gots nuthin but love for you all, but we'll bail on this one.

BEGINNING THE SECOND ROUND!

The Pogues and Pink Floyd were victorious as both move on to face off in the second round. Since these albums are fresh in our minds, why don't we start by doing something we haven't done...let's go right to this bracket now!

Rum, Sodomy and The Lash (The Pogues) vs. A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (Pink Floyd) - Game 81
Ghost In The Machine (The Police) vs. Raising Hell (Run DMC) - Game 82

This one ends midday Wednesday, so a little shorter time. Getting a tad more competitive here now!

THE LAST OF THE FIRST!

We have Paul Simon advancing and the Pixies going 2-0 giving us Surfer Rosa vs. Graceland in a brutal second round match, which starts after THIS LAST ONE!.....

Rapture (Anita Baker) vs. Rum, Sodomy and The Lash (The Pogues) - Game 33
Blue Mask (Lou Reed) vs. A Momentary Lapse Of Reason (Pink Floyd) - Game 34

So, if you have a second round match that you're dying to get to early, message it to me and I'll make sure it happens. Feel free to talk up any albums on our facebook page, as always, and post somgs from said albums. I'll be honest, I's kinda bored with the first round but, looking ahead, the next should be fun!

For Patty McMunelolly

Aerosmith banged out a couple more votes and Tom Waits held tight to give us Permanent Vacation vs. Rain Dogs in the next round, which starts after 2 more brackets. This one I dedicate to my good friend Patrick, member of this tournament and originator of it's creation, as he is having a minor procedure happening tomorrow...no, not the sex change, I think that's planned for later, this is smaller in scale. Anyway, 2 albums he loves appear in this bracket, and I know if one of them in particular loses it will kill him anyway, so now seems appropriate to do this.

A Kind Of Magic (Queen) vs. Surfer Rosa (The Pixies) - Game 25
Graceland (Paul Simon) vs. Gaucho (Steely Dan) - Game 26

This is a good bracket. Cheers to you, Patrick, m'boy! I hope you're able to pull it together enough in your vicodan induced haze to vote! Love ya, brotha!.....now everybody else go listen and vote!

LAST AEROSMITH, LAST WAITS

By results of 6-3 we shall have Let's Dance vs. Guitar Town in the second round. Bowie finishes the first undefeated and Metallica goes 1-2. Here's 2 more bands with final entries (both have won their first matches) against 2 bands we have not yet heard....

Permanent Vacation (Aerosmith) vs. Low Life (New Order) - game 57
Rain Dogs (Tom Waits) vs. Computer World (Kraftwerk) - game 58

2 more first-rounders to go after this!

LAST METALLICA, LAST BOWIE!

The Smiths took a win and Talking Heads go 4-0 in the first round to give us The Queen Is Dead vs. Little Creatures in the next round, which is creeping up. Just 4 brackets left in the first! Can Metallica go 2-1 in the first? Can Bowie go 2-0? Both have some pretty good competition here, so, we'll see...

Let's Dance (David Bowie) vs. Songs From The Big Chair (Tears For Fears) - Game 11
Ride The Lightning (Metallica) vs. Guitar Town (Steve Earle) - Game 12

LAST TALKING HEADS

Okay, I gotsta work, so real quick we've got Double Fantasy vs. Pump (the porn title bracket) in the next round. Will the Talking Heads go 4-0 in the first round?

The Queen Is Dead (The Smiths) vs. Candy Apple Grey (Husker Du) - Game 7
Little Creatures (Talking Heads) vs. Empty Glass (Pete Townshend) - Game 8

Only 5 first round brackets left!

THE LAST BEATLE

The Replacements destroyed Camper Van to give us Tim vs.....I have no idea as the other match ended in a tie. So, I'm gonna give that match 1 more day for a winner. Someone who hasn't, please vote on that match!
Here's the new bracket to go with it.

Double Fantasy (John Lennon/Yoko Ono) vs. Playing With Fire (Spacemen 3) - Game 29
Pump (Aerosmith) vs. My War (Black Flag) - Game 30

Former Beatles are now 0-3. Can Lennon salvage one, or are the Fab 5 ousted in the 80's? This is Aerosmith's first of 2 albums to match up. Will they start out big? And who, dammit, who will win between Kate Bush and Prince? Answers, please.

THE LAST PRINCE IN THE FIRST

I know a few people who will be disappointed in both of these results as The Police and Joe Jackson move on to bring us Synchronicity vs. Blaze Of Glory in the second. We now close out the Prince albums competing in the first round. He's 3-0 right now...can he go undefeated? We also have The Replacements here, who and 0-2. Can they win any?

Tim (The Replacements) vs. Key Lime Pie (Camper Van Beethoven) - Game 61
Hounds Of Love (Kate Bush) vs. Around The World In A Day (Prince) - Game 62

DOWN TO 7...

Two blow-outs as Bowie and Chapman advance to give us Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) vs. Tracy Chapman. And now, a moment of silence for Def Leppard who went 0-2 in the tourney.....no sugar poured on them today. This is the last of our first round brackets I associate with summer, so let's do this one since summer is clearly now over.

Synchronicity (The Police) vs. Tales Of The New West (Beat Farmers) - Game 53
Blaze Of Glory (Joe Jackson) vs. My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (David Byrne/Brian Eno) - Game 54

It's late and I'm weary, so streams will come another day unless any of you wish to put them up to stump for your preferred album.

LOW TIDE

In our lowest voter turn-out yet, Cowboy Junkies and AC/DC took 1 vote wins to give us Trinity Sessions vs. Back In Black in the second. 8 more to go in the first. It's time for Bowie.

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (David Bowie) vs. Isn't Anything (My Bloody Valentine) - Game 47
Hysteria (Def Leppard) vs. Tracy Chapman (Tracy Chapman) - Game 48

If we continue to have all the votes in within the first 2 days of a bracket, I may speed this up a bit. For now, we'll keep it at a few days.

In Single Digits

Talking Heads and Metallica won out in some low-tallied contests serving up Stop Making Sense vs. And Justice For All in the next. Only 9 more first round brackets to go! Since we're in single digits, let's do one where every album is that band's only entry.

Underwater Moonlight (The Soft Boys) vs. Trinity Sessions (Cowboy Junkies) - Game 27
Back In Black (AC/DC) vs. The Blasters (The Blasters) - Game 28

That first one's a tough one for me. All right, I'll try to have streams up by tomorrow night. You can post them, or fave songs from the albums, if you wish (hint hint). This one ends Monday evening.

The Preview

2 blow-outs this time as we'll see Pretty Hate Machine vs. Uprising in the second round. Now let's move back up to the top of the tourney as we'll have our first of 3 face-offs (possibly more) between Talking Heads and R.E.M.

Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads) vs. Reckoning (R.E.M.) - Game 1
And Justice For All (Metallica) vs. Operation: Mindcrime (Queensryche) - Game 2

Both R.E.M. and Talking Heads are 2-0. Who will be the first to lose a match? Will Metallica continue it's losing ways? Stay tuned....

Before the Summer Fades...

Two blow-outs, pretty much, as PE slayed Slayer and Elvis Costello eased Easy E right out of the tourney. Hip hop loses it's first match and Elvis Costello goes undefeated in the first round, giving us It Takes A Nation of Millions...vs. Blood And Chocolate in the second round.

Here in the mitten it feels like maybe, possibly fall may be creeping in (YAY!) so we better get our Marley on before the summer ends.

Pretty Hate Machine (Nine Inch Nails) vs. Too Low For Zero (Elton John) - Game 49
Uprising (Bob Marley & The Wailers) vs. Dare (The Human League) - Game 50

HIP HOP VS.....

We had a blow-out with the Pixies and a one vote race with Leonard Cohen getting the extra one to give us I'm Your Man vs. Doolittle in the next. Let's see if hip hop can win both of these next matches to go 7-0 in the tourney thus far....

It Takes A Nation Of Millions... (Public Enemy) vs. South Of Heaven (Slayer) - Game 41
Blood And Chocolate (Elvis Costello) vs. Eazy Duz It (Eazy E) - Game 42

Can hip hop continue undefeated? Will Elvis Costello go 2-0? Will metal ever win? Answers in the form of votes, please. 

Some we haven't heard...

Duran Duran just destroyed the piano man and Squeeze did just that to Ms. Jackson (if you're nasty) to give us Rio vs. East Side Story in the second round. Now let's do some albums by 4 artists/bands I don't think we've come across yet...

Ocean Rain (Echo And The Bunnymen) vs. I'm Your Man (Leonard Cohen) - Game 15
Doolittle (The Pixies) vs. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (Dead Kennedys) - Game 16

We are over half way done with the first round! For those of you who are new, it moves a lot quicker in the next rounds. Still some big albums to decide on. So, go! Listen! Vote!

POP!

Prince continues his undefeated streak and, in our lowest voted-on match yet, Tom Petty psyched out the Furs to give us Full Moon Fever vs. 1999 in the second round. Since those albums didn't bring out the masses to vote, let's do the pop pop poppiest bracket I think we gots left.

Rhythm Nation 1814 (Janet Jackson) vs. East Side Story (Squeeze) - Game 3
Rio (Duran Duran) vs. An Innocent Man (Billy Joel) - Game 4

So, there. Pop away!

From The Bottom...

All right, I know I ended that one 4 hours early, but I gots ta work and won't have a chance to get another bracket going until tomorrow night, so it be what it be. Yaz beat Georgie by 1 vote, putting former Beatles at 0-3 thus far. De La made quite a comeback on the last day to keep 80's hip hop undefeated. We have Upstairs At Eric's vs. 3 Feet High And Rising in the next. It's probably time for another Prince album and this bracket has some summery selections, so let's do this...

Full Moon Fever (Tom Petty) vs. The Psychedelic Furs (The Psychedelic Furs) - Game 63
1999 (Prince) vs. Medicine Show (Dream Syndicate) - Game 64

This one ends a little earlier so I have time to get another bracket up for the weekend, so make sure you're watching the vote clock!

Firsts And A Last

The OGs from Compton beat down Annie and Dave and Fugazi just barely made it past Ms. Turner to give us 13 Songs vs. Straight Outta Compton in the second round. I recall listening to Yaz quite a bit back in my first summer fully in Flint, so let's get that bracket while summer is still with us.

Upstairs At Eric's (Yaz) vs. Cloud Nine (George Harrison) - Game 43
Peter Case (Peter Case) vs. 3 Feet High And Rising (De La Soul) - Game 44

Former Beatles are 0-2 right now. Will George change this unlucky streak? Hip Hop albums are 4-0. Can De La keep the genre's undefeated streak alive?

DIVAS DO HARDCORE!

Phish got out to a quick lead and kept it and in the final 7 hours Sonic Youth lept ahead of Macca to give us Sister vs. Junta in the second round. Here's a couple matches with divas taking on some hardcore factions. Well, hardcore to me, anyway. Plus, I really wanted DIVAS DO HARDCORE! to be a blog post name, so...there it is.

Private Dancer (Tina Turner) vs. 13 Songs (Fugazi) - Game 31
Straight Outta Compton (N.W.A.) vs. Touch (The Eurythmics) - Game 32

Do you Diva? Do you Hardcore? Do you go both ways? What's your number? Sorry, one too many questions there. Just, go listen.

Animals and Fourths

Both R.E.M. and the Talking Heads won their matches to give us Speaking In Tongues vs. Green in the next round, making these two bands pretty fearsome rivals in our little tourney as they also have a first round match against each other coming up. Let's skip to something else now, though....

Tug Of War (Paul McCartney) vs. Sister (Sonic Youth) - Game 17
Pyromania (Def Leppard) vs. Junta (Phish) - Game 18

Oh, did you not notice I slipped a Phish album in here? Hee hee hee. Now, I've read some comments from Don and others...well, mostly Don...okay just Don, voicing that it is only the faves going in that are winning. I just want to say...WHO'S FAVORITES, MANNNNNN? Alls I know is The Thompsons beat G'n R, Grace Jones beat Metallica and a so-so Elvis Costello album beat a great Peter Gabriel album. I am actually enjoying this tourney more than the last one (maybe not the albums, but the actual tournament) because I can't guess at what will win most times. Don's saying Thriller is taking this all. I'm calling it, right now...I say Thriller wins maybe one more match then loses. That's right, hold me to it. We shall see. Now go do some listenin and vote for MY favorites. Word.

CONTINUING UNDEFEATED?

Van Halen outrawked Bon Jovi (duh) and Faith No More did, indeed, pull out a win by 1 vote, probably causing Don to have faith no more. Fear not, Don, The Replacements have one last shot further down the road to get a win. But that's later, for now let's go for an all-around pretty damn good bracket...

Speaking In Tongues (Talking Heads) vs. Skylarking (XTC) - Game 13
Second Edition or Metal Box (Public Image Ltd.) vs. Green (R.E.M.) - Game 14

Will this set up another second round match between Talking Heads and R.E.M.? Both have already won their first matches, so will we see 2-0 for both bands, or will this be the upset round? Up to you!

HAIR

We've had our first shut-out as Tom Waits decimated Ozzy and poor Lou Reed couldn't muster up half of the votes Prince reached. This gives us Sign 'O' The Times vs. Swordfishtrombones in the second. Now, I gotta admit, I've sorta been guiltily looking forward to this one...

1984 (Van Halen) vs. Slippery When Wet (Bon Jovi) - Game 59
Let It Be (The Replacements) vs. The Real Thing (Faith No More) - Game 60

Get yo rawk on!

DIFFERENT DEMONS

Jane's Addiction destroyed Ringo Starr and Grace Jones edged out Metallica...wait, is that right, that can't be...no shit?....okay, Grace Jones beat Metallica to give us Nothing's Shocking vs. Nightclubbing in the next round. We should probably do another Prince now, so, here we go...

Sign 'O The Times (Prince) vs. New York (Lou Reed) - Game 55
Swordfishtrombones (Tom Waits) vs. Tribute (Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhodes) - Game 56

Puppets, Clubs, Shock and...more Roses.

By dual scores of 8-3, Beasties and the Pretenders move on to give us License To Ill vs. The Pretenders in the second round. We've got 3 Metallica albums in this thing, so we better get one of em in here now.

Master Of Puppets (Metallica) vs. Nightclubbing (Grace Jones) - Game 5
Nothing's Shocking (Jane's Addiction) vs. Stop And Smell The Roses (Ringo Starr) - Game 6

I would think this one might be a quick blow-out on both ends, but what the hell do I know? Have at it!

HAPPY B-DAY MCA

2 decisive victories for R.E.M. and Talking Heads gives us Murmur vs. Remain In Light in the next round. I had a different bracket all picked out, but that was before I read it was Adam Yauch's birthday. Let's do the other Beasties album in his honor.

The Pretenders (The Pretenders) vs. Indigo Girls (Indigo Girls) - Game 23
Licensed To Ill (Beastie Boys) vs. The Miracle (Queen) - Game 24

The Emotional Bracket

U2 won in a blow-out and Elvis hung on to win by one vote (helped by Don's stumping) to give us The Joshua Tree vs. Imperial Bedrooms in the next round. We have yet to do a Talking Heads album and, since they are one of the artists with the most album represented, we should do one. This bracket seems kinda summery to me....

Murmur (R.E.M.) vs. Closer (Joy Division) - Game 9
Remain In Light (Talking Heads) vs. Red (Black Uhuru) - Game 10

So you newbies have no seen how stumping for an album can help immensely. Feel free to do the same for any album you feel you must give a little shove to. It doesn't work every time, but it makes things more interesting.

Last Of The Big Faves

2 more blow-outs as Thriller moves on to face She's So Unusual in the second round. No shut-outs yet, though. Here is the last of the albums that multiple people have told me they felt would win this whole thang....

The Joshua Tree (U2) vs. Uh Huh (John Cougar Mellencamp) - Game 37
So (Peter Gabriel) vs. Imperial Bedroom (Elvis Costello) - Game 38

Pretty good bracket, there. I have heard from 2, maybe 3 people who want to take turns selecting the order of brackets that we vote on. Part of that may be because I suck at explaining what it is I am asking, part may be because we will get to all brackets eventually, anyway. For now I'll just keep picking them and we can revisit that later if 5 or 6 of you wanna pick matches. Please feel free to expound on matches as they come up on our FB page. Michael, Amy, Jennifer, Marie, Mark, Don.....you've all had little bits to say about matches in the past, and I love that shit, so please feel free to comment on any albums you feel you must.

One Of Two

We had 2 blow-outs as The Police brutalized Bruce and ABC were put in place by their relations down the line, Run DMC. Ghost In The Machine vs. Raising Hell. There remain 2 albums in the first round that I've heard the most about getting to the finals. One of them is below.....

She's So Unusual (Cindi Lauper) vs. Stoneage Romeos (HooDoo Gurus) - Game 39
Thriller (Michael Jackson) vs. How Will The Wolf Survive? (Los Lobos) - Game 40

Would anyone like to take turns picking which brackets we do? Does anyone actually read this far? Lemme know on the FB page if you are interested in picking a bracket for us to vote on from time to time.

The Most Listed

Wow, that was over quick. Didn't even need streams! Paul's Boutique will face War in the second round. Now let's move to the album that appeared on the most lists I received for this tourney. Let's see if you can guess which album it is.

Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Ghost In The Machine (The Police) - Game 35
Raising Hell (Run DMC) vs. Lexicon Of Love (ABC) - Game 36

 Did you guess? That's right, it was Run DMC. No, really, it was Run DMC. I was surprised, too, though it deserves that status. This is the last Bruce album in the first round, too.

Last Of The Original Greats

The Femmes destroyed the Stone Roses and Bruce held off a late comeback to win by 1 vote, giving us Violent Femmes vs. Nebraska in the next round. The last of the albums making it to the field of 32 in our previous tournament shall now be honored, OH YES IT SHALL! Yes, it shall.

Paul's Boutique (Beastie Boys) vs. Control (Janet Jackson) - Game 19
War (U2) vs. Big Lizard In My Backyard (Dead Milkmen) - Game 20

PATRICK'S BIRTHDAY BRUCE FIX

Nirvana won a see-saw battle with the Dead by 1 vote and we've had our first major upset as Guns 'n Roses have been knocked out of the tourney to give us Shoot Out The Lights vs. Bleach in the second round. We'll save the last major 80's album to make it far in our previous tournament for next time as somebody's got a birthday comin up! Patrick is an enormous fan of the Boss, so in honor of that, here's a Bruce bracket for the birthday boy...

Violent Femmes (Violent Femmes) vs. The Stone Roses (The Stone Roses) - Game 45
Nebraska (Bruce Springsteen) vs. Nick Of Time (Bonnie Raitt) - Game 46

I've heard from a few of you that you would like to see a list of all tournament albums. On our blog page, directly under the bold white 'The Great 80's Album Tourney!' print, there is a small grey print of 'The Great 80's Album Tourney.' Click on that, then on Championship Bracket, and you'll see the entire tournament - albums, seeds, game numbers, future brackets and all. So check that out, cuz I ain't writing no other list of 128 80's albums, people! .

Whoops.

The purple one dominated and The Clash squeezed one out (hee hee) as we have Purple Rain vs. London Calling as a powerful second round match-up down the line. Okay, I gotta get this one out quickly. In the last post I said there were 3 80's albums that made it to the previous tourney's round of 32. There were 4, and Appetite was one of them. Actually, it reached the sweet 16.

Appetite For Destruction (Guns 'n Roses) vs. Shoot Out The Lights (Richard/Linda Thompson) - Game 21
Bleach (Nirvana) vs. Reckoning (Grateful Dead) - Game 22

G 'n R is against another big vote getter from the last tourney here. We also have the pre-cursor to the 90s new rock explosion against our first of just a few live albums in the tourney, a hippie acoustic marvel. Are we leading to G 'n R vs. Nirvana? Can we get an upset here after coming so close in the last bracket? Am I wearing pants?

Early Favorites

Let's start our first few brackets with the albums some of you have already told me were your picks to win it all.....

Purple Rain (Prince) vs. Waiata (Split Enz) - Game 51
London Calling (The Clash) vs. Pleased To Meet Me (The Replacements) - Game 52

Purple Rain was the only album from the 80's to make it all the way to the elite 8 in our first tourney. London Calling was one of only 3 80's albums to make it to that tourney's round of 32. Are we headed for a vicious second round match-up, or can Split Enz and/or The Replacements pull off a big upset? Up to you, my friends. Again, once any album gets 11 votes, it's over. Otherwise, you've got until Friday night to decide!

The Tourney And Its Workings

Okay kids, 128 albums deep, our tournament is ready. First, here's how it works. For this first round (which will take quite some time...like a month at least), every 3 days I'll have a new 2-match bracket to vote on. The polls will be to your right at the edge of the screen. Voting is completely anonymous, we can only see how many of us have voted so far...that's it. This leaves you free to vote for those guilty pleasures over the critically acclaimed albums, if you so desire, without getting trolled mercilessly by your fellow voters. SO, if you wanna vote Human League over Bob Marley, you do it, dammit! As I've said in the past with this, you're not voting for the most socially relevant album (unless you want to), you're voting for the album you prefer RIGHT NOW. You choose your own guidelines/decisions for voting.

Stumping is encouraged on our FB page. If you wanna make a case for a particular album to woo voters, do it. Lets respect peoples' album choices though, peeps. Talk up your album, don't talk down other voters. Well, a little, but, you know...don't be a douche. Nobody likes a douche. Also, you WILL have album that lose. It will happen. Relax, breathe easy, it's just a fun game. It's nothing personal. Bitches.

The tourney seeds were decided by me drawing albums names out of a pot. For realz, y'all, that's how I did it. If artists/groups had 2 or more albums, I tried to make it so that it was impossible for the same band to appear twice in our final 4. All albums that were listed on 2 or more lists face albums that were on only 1 list in the first round.

I think that's it for the 'splaining. I will do my best to have links to albums streaming on our FB page at least for the first couple rounds. If you have questions/problems, the FB page is the place to let me know. Basically, the blog is for tourney viewing and voting, the FB page is for all other communication. We will quicken the 3-day voting period at some point, but if a match is mathematically impossible to change (over half our group votes for 1 album), I will end matches early. Check the FB page for new blog posts which will always contain new polls from here on, or follow this blog for notifications. Here's a list of artists/groups that feature more than 1 album in our tourney. The link to the entire tournament grid is near the top of this page in grey lettering just under the title. Click on it to view it all. First ballot will be coming shortly. Let me know if there are questions, please LISTEN TO THE ALBUMS, DON'T VOTE MISINFORMED, and have fun!

Prince and Talking Heads - 4 albums

Metallica, R.E.M., The Replacements - 3 albums

The Pixies, Beastie Boys, Tom Waits, Def Leppard, David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Police, U2,
Bruce Springsteen, Janet Jackson (yup, more than Michael), Aerosmith, Elvis Costello and Queen -2 albums

The Very Beginning

Welcome or welcome back! The tourney will include albums released from 1980-1989 ONLY. I need lists! For those of us coming out of our last tourney, the rules for choosing albums are pretty much the same as last time. If you need a reminder or are new to the group, here are the album list rules.....
* - Did I say they must have come out between 1980 and 1989? Well, that's an important one.
* - Greatest Hits, Best Ofs and Box Sets cannot be included. Leave Bob Marley's "Legend" off your list no matter how much it may hurt.
* - Soundtracks can only be included if every song is from the same artist/band. For example, if Prince's "Purple Rain" and Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" don't appear in our tourney, well, that's just silly. But leave Footloose, Top Gun and Miami Vice-type soundtracks off. Please.
* - Any other genre is fair game. Rock, New Wave, Punk, Pop, Hip Hop, Jazz, Blues, whatever. It just must be from the same artist/group, beginning to end.
* - Live albums are also great, provided the actual concert was recorded DURING the 80's and was released via a record label, no bootlegs!
* - This is optional, you do not HAVE to message me a list, you can simply vote if that's all you wanna do. Personally, I think it's more fun coming up with a list, but I'm a list guy. If you didn't notice.
* - All albums MUST have been released between the years 1980-1989. Yes, that's the third time. Wanna bet someone lists an album from 1990 that "sounds 80s-ish?" You got almost a week, people, do a little research. Sheesh.

I would try to list at least 10 albums and no more than 25 so we have a nice variety. Okay, that's part one of The Very Beginning. Part two would be who is playing. Here's who....
* - Any who played in our first tourney are welcome to stick around for this one. IF YOU DO NOT MESSAGE ME A LIST OR COMMENT ON OUR FB PAGE BY TUESDAY AT NOON I WILL ASSUME YOU ARE WANTING OUT OF THIS ONE AND DROP YOU FROM OUR GROUP! Nothing personal, It's just this is for people who are voting MUCH of the time. Not just once every 5 brackets, please. If this continues to another tourney, I'll ask you back then.
* - There are a few who've reached out to me on FB who want to play so I will be sending invites to some others, but not TOO many.
* - Each of you can bring ONE PERSON into our little game, if you like. Our FB page says that anyone can add members and then I just have to okay them. I am hoping that this is the case. If that doesn't work I'll just need to friend them and then bring them on board and then unfriend them. I think. Hopefully that first way works. If they would like to submit a list as well, great, message it to me from you and just let me know it's your friend's list.

I think that's it for now. I need EVERYTHING...friends and lists and friends lists...by Tuesday at noon. I am shipping off to Boston tomorrow and won't get back until late Monday night, so I may not be checking in here very often. Just leave any questions/problems on our FB page as that will not change like the blogpage has. I'll make sure we get everything worked out on Tuesday, we're in no rush. Just remember....
*Lists messaged to my FB or just comment on the GROUP FB that you wanna play
*Add your friend and I'll approve on Tuesday if not before
*Send them this link for our blog if they want the rules for album list submission and
*Message me their list from you

Okay, best of luck! Let's get ready for another fun one!