Battle of the Bands

[Super Silver Haze]

Yes, I'm running yet another game. Or at least I hope to, because this idea might take off and it might not. I know I personally would love to participate if I wasn't running it, but some people simply won't be able to. I'm hoping for 32 sign-ups for this; if I can't get 32, I will be happy with any even number that's at least 16. We'll see how it plays out.

To play, all participants PM me the name of a song and the group (or artist) that performed it. Through completely legal methods , I obtain mp3s of all 32 songs, make them available for download, and post them with the songs randomly arranged into 4 groups of 8, without disclosing which poster chose which song.

People then listen to the songs within a certain time period (I'm thinking 10 days) and vote in this thread for their 4 favorites in each 8-song group. At the end of the voting period, the 4 players whose songs received the most votes in each group advance, and everyone else will be eliminated. That'll leave us with 16 players, and we basically repeat the process, with everyone selecting entirely new songs for the next round. We keep going in that way, eliminating half the players each time, until we have one winner.

Any AO member can vote, whether they're participating in the game or not. If someone that is playing casts votes, I expect one of their votes will be for their own song, which is fine. What's not fine is to purposely vote for the songs you think are the worst in order to eliminate your most dangerous competition. You're always expected to vote for the songs you actually like. Also, of course, no single person should be voting more than once, regardless of how many IDs they have.

If we have any first-round ties that need to be broken, they will be decided by which player PMed me their song first. To break ties in every round past the first, I'll compare:
1. the ratio of the number of votes each player received in all previous rounds to the maximum total number of votes they could potentially have received, with a higher ratio being better
2. the number of votes each player received in the current round from players who have not yet been eliminated, with more being better
3. the number of votes each player received in the current round from people playing the game, with more being better
If all three of those are ties as well, then we go back to the "who PMed me their song first" criteria.

Here's the catch: there are restrictions on what songs you can choose.

• All songs selected should be reasonably inoffensive. I'm not going to police that myself, but use your best judgment.
• There's a (completely arbitrary) 15 minute limit on any single song. Just to make sure no one picks anything REALLY insane.
• No group or artist may be chosen more than once at any point in the tournament. If two people happen to pick the same group/artist in the same round, only the first person to choose them will be allowed to use them. The other person will have to pick something else.
• The album on which the song appears must be findable on amazon.com. This is to make sure no one picks anything too obscure...
• ...but I don't want anyone picking anything that's not obscure enough, either. This is the big one: The only groups or artists you may select are ones that have never had an album appear on the main best-selling album chart in Billboard Magazine, currently referred to as The Billboard 200. You can use allmusic.com to check a group's chart appearances (search on the group/artist name, then click the "Charts & Awards" tab). According to Wikipedia, the actual name of the relevant Billboard chart has gone through many changes over the years, but allmusic seems to treat it as having been called "Pop Albums" from roughly 1956 to 1984, and then "The Billboard 200" from 1984 to the present. So if neither of those charts show up in the group's allmusic Billboard Albums history, you're golden.
• Lastly, cover songs are not allowed.

That's it. If you want to play, post so in this thread, and you can pm me any time with your first-round song selection.

Players

Abstract Actuary, Baron Von Raschke, barry, Bamafan, BingBoing, Coffee Coffee, cubedbee, Former Actuarial, Gentle Giant, glassjaws, Happy Professional, harvma, Heathen, high9, hotkarl, Jables, Jonas Grumby, Kris Kross, ldancer911, Linus, lipman, Meshuga, notmyfriends, otley, Reflection, rekrap, SirVLCIV, soyleche, Super Silver Haze, UNCORRELATED LAY, vtek, Werewolf

Round 1

Group 1
20 votes for Reflection: Nellie McKay - The Down Low
19 votes for Werewolf: Iris - Annie Would I Lie To You
18 votes for otley: FM Static - Definitely Maybe
17 votes for hotkarl: Gooder - Torn Down
14 votes for harvma: Pierre Lapointe - Deux Par Deux Rassembles
12 votes for Baron Von Raschke: The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner
11 votes for rekrap: Greg Summerlin - Going All The Way
9 votes for Bamafan: Downright - Cop On A Bike

Reflection, Werewolf, otley & hotkarl advance
harvma, Baron Von Raschke, rekrap & Bamafan are eliminated

Group 2
21 votes for Kris Kross: Tea Leaf Green - Taught To Be Proud
18 votes for high9: Stealing Love Jones - Out There
17 votes for ldancer911: Deaf Pedestrians - Hail To The Geek
14 votes for Gentle Giant: Echolyn - American Vacation Song
13 votes for notmyfriends: Pizzicato Five - Baby Love Child
13 votes for Jonas Grumby: Tinariwen - Cler Achel
11 votes for barry: Gathering Field - Lost In America
9 votes for Super Silver Haze: Chainsuck - Reverie

Kris Kross, high9, ldancer911 & Gentle Giant advance
notmyfriends, Jonas Grumby, barry & Super Silver Haze are eliminated

Group 3
21 votes for Jables: Newton Faulkner - Dream Catch Me
21 votes for glassjaws: Gregory And The Hawk - Boats And Birds
18 votes for vtek: Blackfield - Scars
17 votes for cubedbee: Twothirtyeight - Modern Day Prayer
16 votes for soyleche: Collin Herring - Punches
13 votes for Abstract Actuary: Heroes Del Silencio - Avalancha
11 votes for BingBoing: The Morning Light - Safe Bet
7 votes for Former Actuarial: The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You

Jables, glassjaws, vtek & cubedbee advance
soyleche, Abstract Actuary, BingBoing & Former Actuarial are eliminated

Group 4
18 votes for Happy Professional: The Rakes - Retreat
14 votes for Coffee Coffee: The Scabs - Tarantula
12 votes for SirVLCIV: Voltaire - Dead Girls
11 votes for lipman: Olive - Blood Red Tears
10 votes for Heathen: Southern Culture On The Skids - Camel Walk
9 votes for UNCORRELATED LAY: The Atomic Fireballs - Caviar & Chittlins
9 votes for Linus: Course of Empire - Infested! (Darwin Goodman mix)
1 vote for Meshuga: Riggs - Heartbeat

Happy Professional, Coffee Coffee, SirVLCIV & lipman advance
Heathen, UNCORRELATED LAY, Linus & Meshuga are eliminated

Round 2

Group 1
20 votes for Happy Professional: Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell
16 votes for high9: The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost
15 votes for glassjaws: Murder By Death - Brother
15 votes for otley: Deas Vail - Anything You Say
11 votes for Reflection: Kaki King - Life Being What It Is
9 votes for Kris Kross: Jackie Greene - So Hard To Find My Way
7 votes for Jables: Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
3 votes for hotkarl: First & Tyndall - Poison

Happy Professional, high9, otley & glassjaws advance
Reflection, Kris Kross, Jables & hotkarl are eliminated

Group 2
18 votes for Coffee Coffee: Stars - Take Me To The Riot
17 votes for ldancer911: Jupiter One - Countdown
13 votes for cubedbee: The Subways - I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say
12 votes for lipman: BT - Never Gonna Come Back Down
10 votes for Gentle Giant: Anubian Lights - Way Gone Man
8 votes for axjoke: The Felice Brothers - Frankie's Gun!
8 votes for Werewolf: Peach Union - On My Own (Single mix)
2 votes for vtek: Amparanoia - Don't Leave Me Now

Coffee Coffee, ldancer911, cubedbee & lipman advance
Gentle Giant, axjoke, Werewolf & vtek are eliminated

Round 3

13 votes for cubedbee: The Rentals - Little Bit Of You In Everything
12 votes for high9: Chris Letcher - Architect (Edit)
11 votes for otley: Jump, Little Children - Mexico
11 votes for Coffee Coffee: Remy Zero - Fair
10 votes for lipman: Gabriel & Dresden - Tracking Treasure Down
10 votes for ldancer911: Operator - Delicate
9 votes for Happy Professional: Low Vs. Diamond - Heart Attack
4 votes for glassjaws: Vision Of Disorder - Southbound

cubedbee, high9, otley and Coffee Coffee advance
lipman, ldancer911, Happy Professional and glassjaws are eliminated

Round 4

14 votes for otley: The Format - The First Single (You Know Me)
12 votes for Coffee Coffee: Rocky Votolato - Uppers Aren't Necessary
9 votes for cubedbee: Sugababes - Push The Button
7 votes for high9: Mansun - Wide Open Space

otley and Coffee Coffee advance
cubedbee and high9 are eliminated

Round 5

12 votes for Coffee Coffee: Shout Out Louds - Very Loud
10 votes for otley: Dryve - Whirly Wheel

Coffee Coffee wins!

[Linus]

Sounds like buckets of fun!

In!

[vtek]

i'm in. and will pm you with my selection asap

[harvma]

in!

[otley]

This is crazy....therefore, I am in.

[illogic]

You know me. I'm out.

I won't even vote, so those that pick "good" music will actually have a chance.

I will watch (listen?), though.

[Former Actuarial]

AWE EEN BAYBEE!!!

[Werewolf]

I am so in. But what if I select a song that's so obscure that you can't find the mp3?

[glassjaws]

I'd like to try this.

[glassjaws]

Question: If you go into Charts and Awards, are we only to stray from bands that made the Billboard 200? There's other listings such as "Top Independent Albums", are those groups also off-limits, or only the ones who hit the 200?