I see some hands over here...
Remember, kids, just say NO to drug bands, like:
1. Pink Floyd
2. Dave Matthews Band and The Doors
3. Black Sabbath
4. Aerosmith
(That's one for the Femmes, one for the Straits, one for Squeeze, and one for neither of the overrated schlockers in match #2.)
1. Floyd. Comfortably Numb could be the theme for the tournament after seeing the tiebreaking results!
2. The Doors. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Naked Indians rule. Score one point for interracial homoeroticism
3. Dire Straits. Just awesome to listen to.
4. Aerosmith, because of their earlier stuff. Unlike Radiohead, let's look at a band's ENTIRE career here people, and not vote based on their most recent work. Besides, what could Squeeze possibly deliver in terms of longevity? From Toys in the Attic to Big Ones, Aerosmith actually left some sort of indelible booze-stained imprint on rock.
Pink Floyd, only because I love Syd Barrett. Besides, I never need to hear "Blister in the Sun" again.
It really pains me that one of these bands will advance, while James and the JB's have an early tee time. Even though they are just behind U2 in overrated uselessness, I must vote for The Doors, for this reason alone: Ray Manzarek produced the first two albums by the fabulous and unjustly-omitted band, X. No one in the DMB has yet justified their existences at all.
Dire Straits. And if you haven't seen Local Hero, go rent it RIGHT NOW. Knopfler's lovely score is only icing on the cake.
Squeeze! Previously I compared REM to Woody Allen, in that the crap on the resume was gaining a majority over the legitimate good stuff. Aerosmith ain't even that close. They're like BLAKE EDWARDS-- a scant few years of goodness, and a full twenty-plus years of suck suck suck. They're the weakest high seed in this event.
1. Violent Femmes, in a tough one. Gordon Gano's appearance on "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" swings it. "Blister in the Sun" may get too much attention, but "Kiss Off", "Add it Up", and "Gone Daddy Gone" are very underrated.
2. The Doors. Because they aren't DMB. In the words of Donkey Punch, "I can't stand listening to the Dave Matthews Band / I think they're bland, but everyone else thinks they're the f***ing s**t!"
3. Sabbath, even if Knopfler plays guitar on the Weird Al version of "Money For Nothing". And go listen to the Cardigans cover "Iron Man" and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
4. If I could think of a single Squeeze song that isn't "Tempted" I might vote for them. Aerosmith used to be able to write a decent song. After all, "Just Push Play" sounds like they just through it all in a blender and combined with a little vocoder.
1. Pink Floyd. The Femmes always sound whiny.
2. Much as I like DMB, The Doors. I think their fate was sealed when Craig listed "All Along The Watchtower" as one of their best songs (I would have replaced it with The Christmas Song, but whaddayagonnado).
3. Dire Straits. Mark Knopfler wrote the theme to The Princess Bride. That seems cooler than The Stanford Band playing Paranoid for the 966th time.
4. Aerosmith. Look at the song list - hit, hit, hit, hit. That and consistency go a long way.
Pink Floyd. I'm sure there's some sort of calculation error that made Floyd a 3 seed. That's the only explanation. I'm sure the younger set of voters in this tournament think the band is a bunch of old overrated fogies. Those people need to stop listening to just the overplayed radio songs. Listen to albums like Meddle, Animals or Wish You Were Here in their entirety. One of the tightest, energetic, passionate, and talented bands of all time. Period.
The Doors.
Black Sabbath. How many bands can say they single-handedly launched a style of music that is still in existance over thirty years later? These are the godfathers of heavy metal, friends, and one of the best bands of the genre and of all time. That great bands such as Metallica claim them as an influence and are still seeded higher is a travesty. That Sabbath even needed to go through a second cut to get here is a joke.
Aerosmith.
1. Pink Floyd in a walkover. I second Rick; Floyd is at worst a #2.
2. The Doors. Unlike many people on here, I like DMB. I just think the Doors are and were more significant and deserve to advance more.
3. I have nothing against Dire Straits. I second Rick here too. Black Sabbath, more than Zep, more than Hendrix, more than anyone, *is* metal. Something is wrong when Sabbath needs a second round to get in and acts like The Cars and BNL don't.
4. You know, I had as much do with putting Squeeze in here as anyone. But I think I'm going to play the local card and go with Aerosmith.
It's not like they haven't earned it.
Thanks for the support, Tim.
Sorry for the rants above, folks, but as Tim will tell you, the placements of Floyd and Sabbath have bothered me since the seedings were first announced. Add that to the few too many beers I had last night and you get the above.
Floyd
Doors
Dire Straits, echoing Greg and Hayden, if you ever get the opportunity to pick up Mark Knopfler Screenplaying, do it. Cuts from the soundtracks of Last Exit to Brooklyn, Princess Bride, and Local Hero. Best sampler platter CD I ever owned, and whoever has my copy, give it back or I'm gonna kick your ass.
Aerosmith, even if they've become their own self-parody.
Pink Floyd. A strong choice to win the entire tournament, if I'm the only one allowed to vote.
The Doors. I kinda like DMB, which in this company is akin to confessing a fondness for beastiality and Rick Santorum, but the Doors are deservedly one of the pillars of classic rock.
Dire Straits. A close call, but since Blue Oyster Cult and Steppenwolf were playing heavy metal before Ozzy Osbourne's dilated pupils fixed on Ronnie James Dio, I'll go for the more versatile act.
Squeeze. Aerosmith and Squeeze have produced about an equal number of songs I like. Squeeze has produced many, many less songs written by Dianne Warren.
1.) I'll go for the Femmes, because there's a reason I avoid the local classic rock station. (Actually, the Femmes are the only band here that would appear on any of the stations I *don't* avoid. So there.)
2.) The Doors, because although there's a reason I avoid the local classic rock station, there's a bigger reason I avoid the local "modern schlock" station.
3.) Abstain, because I can't imagine wanting the greatest hits of either of these bands. (In all fairness, I'd probably be more enthusiastic about today's selections if I were really a rock fan.)
4.) Squeeze. No, I can't think of anything other than "Tempted" that they did. But I'd listen to "Tempted" about 30,000 times before overplay would overcome the special kind of hatred I have for most of Aerosmith's oeuvre, "Toys In The Attic" excepted. That and Steven Tyler frightens me.
1. Pink Floyd. Not particularly a fan any more but there was a time...
The Femmes on the other hand never did much for me.
2. The Doors. Mostly for the reasons above.
3. Dire Straits. Tough call but after seeing the wreck Ozzie has become it kind of takes away from that whole Prince of Darkness image. Also David makes a valid point about the roots of metal.
4. Aerosmith. I could live without their recent stuff but where would rap have been without Walk This Way?
*sigh* I apologize in advance.
On many things Rock I will defer to Dave, but not on heavy metal.
BOC, great band. Playing metal before Sabbath? Heck no! BOC's first album is in '72. Sabbath's in '70.
Steppenwolf recorded earlier, but I've never heard them referred to as a metal band until this thread started. And let's face it, who did they influence?
The only band, other than Sabbath, could be argued to have given birth the metal would be Deep Purple. Given the close connections between the two and all of the member swappng they did, this is not surprising. But even they didn't add the gloomy, angry feeling to the music that Sabbath did and in my book that's what defines metal. It's thematic more than anything else.
I've bored you all to tears now, I'm sure. But I have serious issues when a seminal band is going to go down to a lightweight, two album wonder whose lead singer went on to have a decent career. C'mon people, vote on the merits here...
Floyd
Doors
Abstain: Just too indecisive on these 2...
Aerosmith. "Dream On" never fails to grow old on me.
~ Tricia ~
Always glad to debate the origins of heavy metal with someone who doesn't think it was invented by Metallica. Or Linkin Park.
BOC's first album was in 1972, but the band was formed in 1967, which IIRC puts them a year ahead of Sabbath. As for Steppenwolf, they arguably get credit for naming the whole genre with the line "heavy metal thunder," and but I'll admit that they're more proto-metal than actual metal. (Though Google came up with 5,450 matches for "'heavy metal' Steppenwolf," the first several of which seem to think Steppenwolf was one of the earliest metal acts. And they're not all just quoting "Born to be Wild.")
I also considered Deep Purple- another band I had on my nomination list, also unjustly overlooked here- but I'd agree that Sabbath gets the nod over Deep Purple in historical terms. Deep Purple never struck me so much as a pure heavy metal act as a metal act with some prog-rock influences (c.f. "Listen Learn Read On"), sort of the middle ground between Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull (for all that the actual tie runs directly from Sabbath to Tull).
A music critic who wasn't afraid of looking uncool could do a pretty detailed study of the linkages between prog-rock and old-school heavy metal. (Rush, for instance, was frequently considered heavy metal, and Jethro Tull won a heavy metal Grammy.) I'd read it.
FWIW, while looking up founding/first release dates for metal bands, it turns out the real pioneer may well be Alice Cooper, of all people, who founded the Spiders in 1965.
Femmes
Doors
Dire Straits
Aerosmith
Dang...as much as I like his work, I'd have trouble acknowledging Alice Cooper as the founder of metal. He's a tad too shlocky (in a good way) for such a title.
Your suggested book/study would be quite interesting and, I think, lies on some fertile ground. The connections between prog rock, hard rock, and metal are murky indeed. I think more than most, though, I have less of a problem drawing a distinction. I think metal has an element of the occult or gloom to it. Prog rock is heavily influenced by sci-fi, fantasy, or some kind of mysticism; also it's kind of heavy on the synth. Hard rock is any loud band not fitting into the above. Therefore, Sabbath is metal, Rush is prog, Aerosmith is hard. Your mileage may vary.
One last note I thought was interesting. In the "most accessed artists" section of the heavy metal page on All Music, 13 of the 24 are bands I'd not consider metal at all. Of course, their prog listing is messed up even moreso.
Floyd - Not too hard of a pick, mostly since the only VF song I really know is "Blister".
DMB - Ok, those of you who know me know reason #1 why I'm picking them. But there's also some Jim Morrison animosity going here. I think Denis Leary summarized it best with his review of Oliver Stone's film.."I'm nobody, I'm famous, I'm drunk, I'm dead" (it went something like that)
Dire Straits - Both groups have a solid case for advancing, as articulated by those above me in the comments widget. That being said, it becomes a matter of personal taste, and so the vote goes to Knopfler et. al.
Aerosmith - Squeeze takes the edge on movie soundtracks, but as "tempted" I may be to take the #15 seed, one can throw out Aerosmith's recent work and still have the better "greatest hits" collection, for my money.
1. Gotta go Floyd
2. The Doors
3. Dire Straits
4. Aerosmith (And may God have mercy on my soul)
You don't have to vote on the "merits." The rules say vote for the one you want to listen to.
Pink Floyd
Dave Matthews Band
Dire Straits
Aerosmith
1. The Violent Femmes-because I like American Music
2. NOT really a fan of either, but will go with DMB. There was a time when I really enjoyed Dave, but that was before Fratastic pseudo-music lovers sucked the life out of anything he produced.
3. The Dire Straits
4. Since the Velvet Underground did not make it through to the next round My vote goes for Squeeze-- a band named after a VU album (okay granted neither Cale, nor Reed appeared on the album, but whatever, the spirit lives on.)
pink floyd, the doors, dire straits and aerosmith.
1. Violent Femmes, even though Elizabeth took my line.
2. The Doors, who I could at least occasionally deal with.
3. Dire Straits, see #2.
4. Squeeze, because of the inspired use of Pulling Mussels from the Shell on Todd Wright All Night, and because Black Coffee in Bed is a great song.
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