I see some hands over here...
The Who. Dammit, against anyone else NWA would get my vote. But the Who are a top 5 personal band and NWA, well, isn't.
Santana.
The Cars. Lots of goodies on both sides, but Drive is irresistable.
The Godfather. Would there be Run-DMC without JB?
1. The Who. You know, NWA is undoubtedly important. They probably don't cite The Who as an antecedent, but they could and maybe should. A number of Who songs (big chunks of "Quadrophenia" in particular) are given over to vaguely political critiques of being young, frutstrated and working-class, complete with frank depictions of sex and/or violence that bluenoses of the time couldn't really deal with. Townsend and Daltrey were there years before Ice Cube.
2. Roxy Music. Carlos Santana is of course a guitar legend. But "Santana" is not and never was much of a "band" in the usual sense. Roxy Music brought the world Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry, one damn fine hit single ("Love Is The Drug") and some fantastic albums. And they were really a band, and a damn good one.
3. The Cars. I have no really good rock-critic/historian reasons for this choice. So instead, I'll the cite the following petty ones.
*I'm from Massachusetts.
* Frankie Valli's voice to me is like a guy chewing tinfoil.
4. James Brown. I feel kinda guilty voting against (give or take Grandmaster Flash and Public Enemy) the two most important rap groups in history in one fell swoop.
But would there _be_ a rap industry without James Brown? I don't know.
BTW...I didn't mean to dump on you personally - it took a large blue-ribbon panel to do stuff I was complaining about. I don't agree with all your tie votes, but I respect your right to make them.
First of all, Craig, or should I call you "bud"? Way to blow on your tiebreaker yet again! how to deflect criticism? Vote in the shitty white bread band over the group that was "interesting". Seriously, just let me do it from now on.
1. So Baba O'Riley is my favorite song ever. That said, why is NWA a 16 seed, people? I'm gonna vote for them this once, and then The Who to win it all.
2. Who the hell is Roxy Music? Give me Santana, and let's not discuss Shaman. EVER.
3. I have negative connotations with the Cars that I don't want to go into. Frankie Valle scares me. I'm staying away from this one.
4. Run DMC, because LL Cool J told me so. James Brown solo would advance, but i never even heard of his "group" before. and it sure wasn't with him for his magnum opus, "Livin' in America".
NWA. Especially during the 1989 Flair-Steamboat trilogy.
Santana.
The Four Seasons.
Run DMC. James Brown and the JB's is an entry that just feels an attempt to get around the eligibility rules.
The Who. That being said, has anyone else seen the new Northwest Airlines plane paint scheme and wondered if they're planning a new hub in Compton?
Santana - Almost an abstention, almost an "ehh", but Black Magic Woman is enough to get my vote.
Cars - A bit of an 80's bias in this case, but there's just something about the Four Seasons' music that annoys me ever so slightly. Maybe the high notes in some songs.
James Brown and the JBs - "Christmas in Hollis" was almost enough to change my vote.
1. The Who. Though NWA could take the Zippers and slap them around for a long time.
2. Santana.
3. Four Seasons.
4. Run DMC is a great, key band in the history of rap. But TH-WMiSB is like Danny Manning cubed. He gets mucho bonus points for his appearance in Undercover Brother and playing off Chris Kattan for "Say It Loud" - easily one of the most hilarious sequences of 2002.
NWA. I know that all you uncultured swine will vote for The Who, but clearly NWA is by far the superior choice for the intellectual listener.
Who cares
Who cares
Run DMC
Who
Viva Carlos Santana! *mmmmmm....guitar mastery -- I do this for slowhand and Jimi, too... 
*
Four Seasons.
Run DMC
~ T
1.) Abstention due to oppressive apathy.
2.) Riddle me this: How is Santana really a band? Everyone knows it's just Carlos and his guitar. At any rate, Roxy Music had one truly brilliant album, *Avalon*, and to me that's enough to give them the right to undoubtedly be clobbered by the Who in the next round. Yawn.
3.) Abstain. I'll listen to either of these bands without getting at all excited or nauseous.
4.) And as usual, both of the artists worth a damn are against each other in the last round. The thing is, when I think of James Brown, I think of the songs and his presence. No, he wouldn't have been the same without them, but it's not like Elvis and the Attractions or Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, where the band always got billing. That tips is to Run for me.
But Craig --- Chicago?!?! You be illin'.
1. The Who
2. Santana
3. The Cars. Listening to the Four Seasons for longer than the space of a single would annoy the crap out of me. It's the sort of falsetto that could be used to strip paint.
4. James Brown, in a match clearly set up by The Man. A Run-DMC greatest hits collection might include tracks off of "Crown Royal", while the entire James Brown catalog contains solid material.
1. The Who. Can anyone band that remains intelligible really match them for sheer punch? Heck, they're practically the godfathers of all the hard rock youth anthems that were to come. Besides Boris the Spider is cool.
2. Santana.
3. The Cars.
4. James Brown.
Craig's right about tiebreaks. Blame the people who abstain or pick oncoming traffic.
Now...
The Who. NWA was much, much less than the sum of its parts. A lot of that was because Eazy-E really sucked.
Roxy Music. Santana loses points by needlessly extending Rob Thomas's career.
The Cars. I can't believe the Four Seasons made it in here and the Chipmunks didn't.
This is the most painful matchup of the tournament, and the winner should automatically be in the final 8. James Brown it is. Even isolating his work with the JBs, you've hot a classic setlist, not to mention the important role this music had in civil rights history. The dynamics between frontman and band were part of every James Brown single, and especially the live shows.
Besides, Run carried Darryl. C'mon. DMC was really bad, even before his voice problems.
btw, DeJesus proves himself a fraud by claiming James Brown's entry is an attempt to circumvent the rules, and then voting for Santana.
1. The Who. But NWA gets a serious seeding snub.
2. Roxy Music.
3. The Cars. Do you realize both groups have a significant hit, some would argue their best song, sung by someone other than the lead singer for the other 99% of their tunes (Drive and December 1963 (Oh What a Night))?
I dated a girl named Sherri. Some of her ex-boyfriends formed a support group. We got really drunk one night singing,"Sherri, won't you **** off and die."
4. James Brown and the JB's. Can't make myself vote against the Godfather of Soul. Run-DMC gets the serious shaft.
The Who
Roxy Music
The Cars. I'm surprised that the Cars were seeded this high, but I understand exactly why. The entire collection of Cars songs that you might want to listen to, fits exactly in the length of a double album. When you listen it's like it all the meal you want to eat, and not one atom more.
Run-DMC, partly because the Godfather has always felt like a solo artist, partly because despite my middle school having the demographics of Provo, Run-DMC was the biggest thing in my school for about 6 months, anything that breaks the tyranny of 12 years of hair metal worship does a body good.
Damn, how many tiebreakers could I have broken if I had just voted? :-P
Sorry, dude.
Who?
Santana
Four Seasons (though the Cars are definitely listenable to me)
And... I guess James Brown, though I really am not sure I care either way.
The Who
Santana
The Cars
James Brown and the JBs
Technicalities don't bother me.
oh, more to consider in the matter of Godfather of Soul v. Kings of Rock:cinematic output.
James Brown: Blues Brothers, When We Were Kings, Undercover Brother
Run-DMC: Tougher Than Leather, Krush-Groove.
Hold on a second Greg, let's not forget James Brown's star turn in Jackie Chan's ~The Tuxedo~.
Then again, he did play the voice of the hostage negoiator in a Duckman episode, so you know...
Okay, The Tuxedo, but then there's JB's greatest cinematic achievement: Dr. Detroit.
I will not argue about this.
1. The Who. I have no particular fondness for them, and despite its success in Barker tourney #1 and a subsequent google search for the lyrics, I still don't know what "Baba O'Reilly" is. But thanks to them we got the Buffy scene where Giles was doing "Behind Blue Eyes" acoustic in a coffee house, to the shock and dismay of all. And that was just cool.
2. Roxy Music. I really like "Let's Stick Together". More importantly, I don't recall a popular song that I've ever hated more than "Smooth". And Don Carlos is a veritable god in LA, so stations across the demographic board had that song in very heavy rotation for a year and a half. Few things have ever driven me closer to the belltower.
3. The Four Seasons had big hits I like across four decades, something I doubt any other band in this tourney can say. I really should vote earlier in the day, so seeing things trending against me wouldn't upset me so much.
4. Run-DMC. Technicalities do bother me.
Hmmm interesting match-ups today.
1. Gotta go with the Who- no particular reason, just voting the higher seed.
2. Santana- C'mon Oye Como Va, wait maybe that might change my vote.
3. The Cars- Frankie Valli's voice is higher than most opera singers
4. This is rough, James Brown solo is a no-brainer, but I'm giving the edge to Run-DMC on this one.
1)the who
2)Santana
3) Four Seasons
4) Run-DMC
You know, I just realized that Run-DMC technically has even less basis for being in this tournament than James Brown and the JBs. To quote Craig: "Who is excluded: Artists who work primarily as solo artists or as duos."
So we make an exception for Run-DMC and we make an exception for They Might Be Giants, but what about Simon & Garfunkel? They deserve to be here at least as much as the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
On a positive note: Craig, you've pretty much split 50/50 with me on tiebreakers, but I have no problem with the way you've done so, even when I don't agree with the decision. I'm a little less well-disposed toward my fellow seeding committee members, who somehow left Midnight Oil, Blue Oyster Cult, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and the Pogues out of the tournament. But I think we all have bands we feel were hosed, at least some of which were hosed by me- I left Minor Threat, for one, off my ballot, for which crime people are no doubt readying the voodoo dolls- and I'm certain we could all have a long, boring conversation listing what we feel those bands were.
Oh, wait, I forgot. Run-DMC are not reuniting without Jam Master Jay. To quote Emily Litella, "never mind."
Soonish, I'll blog post about the tie-breaker controversy, but I wanna get in on the deadline first:
The Who. I concur with Greg: Eazy-E almost makes Biz Markie look like a decent rap icon.
Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno are two good reasons to vote for Roxy Music. Now, if their competition had been (Tura) SATANA, there would have been two much larger reasons to vote against them.
The Cars. Valli's falsetto isn't too convincing on "Walk Like a Man," but I think we can all derive encouragement from looking at photos of Rick Ocasek with his wife.
James Brown. It truly is upsetting that Run-DMC had to square off against him in round one, but sometimes you be illin'.
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