Well we finally made it to Round 2. The Sweet Sixteen. Let me tell you, I went down to one of Macon's popular downtown bars to celebrate a close friend's birthday (Happy birthday Ben Potter). There was only about 2 hours left to go in the voting and I was shocked at how many people came up to me to fuss and complain or gloat about the outcomes of the first round. It was all in fun but I was really blown away by how much people were getting into this. Hopefully that's a good sign.
So let's talk about what happened here. As expected, Hip-Hop, Rock 'N Roll, and Rhythm 'N Blues all moved on easily. In fact Rhythm 'N Blues put on a clinic with Polka. Polka only received 1 vote! That one vote came from my friend Uncle Vic. Vic is the guy behind the Coffee Cake logo and he made sure the brackets looked presentable. Thank you so much for your work on the website and on many other things you've done for me, Vic. Trust me, you all will get to know him over the next few months. He has kept me laughing since I first came up with the idea for this site.
But back to the winners and losers. There was one #1 who got beat down in the first round. Unbelievable! Country lost to Lounge! I know I said I was a lounge fan and if you know me really well, you know I love to sing the theme to the love boat. I love Tom Jones. One of my dreams is to do a lounge act in Vegas. But never would I have though that Lounge could hold a candle to Country. Now I know that we have people voting from Chicago and Detroit and many other places but at this point I still think MOST of the readers on this site are from the south. Didn't matter huh? Well right on, Lounge.
# 2 Pop loses to Ska while the rest of the #2s easily advance. All of the #3s move on to the next round. # 4s Disco and Indie-Rock (one of the funniest statements I heard about the first round was, "DAMN!! Indie-Rock is eating Metal's lunch." There is so much that is funny about that statement when you really think about it.) ease on down the road. While #4 Techno loses to Grunge and #4 Afro-Beat loses to Drum and Bass.
The biggest disappointment for me? Samba. I thought Samba could beat Classical and even though they started out behind, they came back, tied up, and even took the lead. But Classical pulled away and never looked back. A strong showing from Samba all the same. You shouldn't be down on yourself Samba. You did good. I'll still dance my ass off to you when I hear you.
So what's in store for the second round? Let's take a look at the match ups.
(1) Hip-Hop vs (3) Blues - This is fucked up! Blues gave birth to Jazz and Rock & Roll. And Jazz sure had a hand in the birth of Hip-Hop. So this is like Grandfather vs Grandson. Does Blues put its experience and "old man strength" to work against Hip-Hop or does the younger, faster Hip-Hop (now pushing 40) put a hurting on its grandpa? I think it will be a close match but I am going with Hip-Hop.
(4) Disco vs (6) Ska - Disco. You love it or you hate it. Most people think Disco and they think The Bee Gees. In that case I can understand why you hate it. Ska. Once a sound from the Caribbean, now strongly associated with really cool white guys in London. And Ska just pulled off the upset so we know the Ska fans are out there. But me being who I am, I'm going with Disco.
(1) Rock 'N Roll vs (3) Motown - Wow. This is a tough one. Rock could be all things good or bad. Follow me now. Chuck Berry (Good), Good Charlotte (Bad), Jerry Lee Lewis (Good), Fall Out Boy (Bad), The Who (Good), Korn (I liked them when I was younger but truth be told, Bad). You see where I am going with this. Now Motown. I know. I have a bias right? I'm from Detroit. Well, I am not a big Motown fan. Nope. You know what keeps me turning back to Motown? Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. The rest of the acts were too polished from the late 50s into the 60s. Motown seemed to hit it's stride for me in the 70s and then was done by the 80s. But Stevie and Marvin were always good. Hometown takes it. Motown. Big up Jackson 5!
(2) Jazz vs (4) Indie Rock - Miles vs R.E.M.? Jazz please. Thank you.
(3) Funk vs (8) Lounge - Lounge, I love you. But the clock just struck 12. You are turning into a pumpkin and James Brown is about to go on. It's been real, but this is where I get off the bandwagon.
(2) Reggae vs (7) Grunge - Take your plaid shirt and get to stepping. Bob Marley is really singing about pain.
((1) Rhythm 'N Blues vs (3) Punk - Tough choice. R&B can be full of true love and passion and hurt. Punk does hurt damn good and true punks sing it like they want to do something about what's causing the hurt. I'm going with R&B.
(2) Classical vs (7) Drum and Bass - The drugs have worn off. The sun is up. The party's over Drum and Bass. Go home. Classical, play me a song.
So what do you think? Let us know.
Don't forget, you can follow The Extravaganza on Twitter @CCExtravaganza.
Roger
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This was just too good not to post this here for all to see. My friend Josh McCoy in El Paso Texas had this to say about the Disco vs Ska match up.
ReplyDelete"Aside from the mainline argument I'm trying to get across here that Disco is weaksauce, ska really has been one of the more progressive genres to hit music in the past ten years. Not to be so singleminded, but anything that can get kids interested in a brass section is pretty badass. That kinda makes ska the "gateway drug" for so many other genres: Jazz, Funk, Classical... I'm just saying that if disco wins, I will have completely lost faith in humanity's taste in music."
Josh McCoy totally made me vote for Ska. It was a toss-up, because even though I've heard the "good" disco, I'm still not all that interested, but ska has been kinda "eh" with me as well. But I'm all about gateway drugs!
ReplyDeleteMost of the picks were easy for me. Love me some Motown, but Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Rolling Stones... Yeah, Rock N Roll. Classical over Drum & Bass (I picked Afro-Beat anyway, so fuck you Drum & Bass). Punk over R&B because I listen to way more punk than R&B. Grunge over Reggae because Pearl Jam got me when no one else did *sniff*, plus the only reggae I even halfway listened to was Bob Marley and when I do the same thing I did with rock vs. Motown it is Bob Marley vs. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, etc.
I almost picked Lounge over Funk, mainly because a co-worker was playing me the ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY of Richard Cheese and I liked it. But then I kept hearing the bass note from funk and had to go with that. (the other voices told me to).
I picked the blues over hip-hop mainly because I like the name Muddy Waters.
The hardest pick, however, was Jazz vs. Indie-Rock. Jazz... how I love it. I have several vinyls that cover jazz while my indie-rock collection sits firmly in iTunes. On a rainy day, I like to throw on a little Miles or Coltrane and just listen to horns that sound like they're in the room with me. But when I walk (and I love to walk) it is indie Rock all the way. I used to have Coltrane on my iPhone, but found it did me no good because there are only a few occasions when I NEED jazz. But I always need some indie-rock (unless I'm listening to local artists or my workout mix). Sorry Jazz.