Best Song of the 1980s Bracket [FINALS, SUBMIT BY 1/5]

[rylltraka]

Friendly reminder that votes for this round will be tabulated at midnight tonight.

[dwd500]

9A/9B: Back in Black
10A/10B: Everybody Wants to Rule the World
11A/11B: Karma Chamelon
12A/12B: Here I Go Again
13A/13B: The Power of Love
14A/14B: Ace of Spades
- Even though this stylophone cover may be my favorite version.
15A/15B: Islands in the Stream
16A/16B: White Wedding

[rylltraka]

WILD CARD ROUND TWO VOTING RESULTS

9A/9B: AC/DC, "Back in Black" 17, Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" 8.5

10A/10B: Tears for Fears, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" 13, The Police, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" 12.5

11A/11B: Culture Club, "Karma Chameleon" 9.5, Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing" 14

12A/12B: Whitesnake, "Here I Go Again" 8, Van Halen, "Panama" 17.5

13A/13B: Huey Lewis and the News, "The Power of Love" 9, New Order, "Blue Monday" 14
In a statistically noteworthy happenstance, no one who elected to explain their choice voted for Huey - they were all silent 1.5s.

14A/14B: Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" 11.5, Motorhead, "Ace of Spades" 14

15A/15B: Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, "Islands in the Stream" 13, Poison, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" 10.5

16A/16B: Billy Idol, "White Wedding" 5, The Pixies, "Where is My Mind?" 19
I know we like to be hip, but even I'm surprised how much quizbowl loves the Pixies. A hard road ahead.

Next quadrant of wild cards will be posted tomorrow morning.

[rylltraka]

WILD CARD ROUND THREE: QUADRANT HILL
VOTES DUE BY 11:59 PM 11/24

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"

[ValenciaQBowl]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"
--I love David Bowie so much, but this song has never been a favorite. I like "Space Age Love Song" and "Waiting" by Flock of Seagulls better than "I Ran," but all of those songs embody '80s New Wave. Mike Score, Flock's lead singer, lives a half hour east of Orlando and apparently shows up at downtown bars sometimes, so I'm keeping an eye out (like, when it's cool to go back to bars anyway).

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
--"Love Shack" is a dumb fun song that pretty much everybody likes (in small doses). At this point, is "Eye of the Tiger" even a song? Isn't it more like exercise montage soundtrack?

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
--Bleah, neither of these songs is interesting enough to dislike, but wouldn't notice if I never heard them again.

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
--Def Leppard's Pyromania was inescapable on MTV and rock radio in 1983, which, as always, ruined those songs for me. But checking it back out, "Photograph" is good hard rock.

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
--Not my favorite Petty by a long shot, but Gainesville unity and all.

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
--Another song I heard too much in high school and got tired of but can appreciate again with some distance. The bridge ("Oh, let it rock, let it rooooll") is fantastic.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
--Kind of tough, as I love the sleazy sound of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." But "Fight the Power" is a way more important and groundbreaking song.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"
--Apologies to Homer Simpson, but Billy Bragg rules. "Greetings to the New Brunette" can still get me verklempt.

[Wartortullian]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"
"Modern Love" is an absolute bop, while "I Ran" isn't even the best Flock of Seagulls song—give "Space Age Love Song" a listen.

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
What David Chris said. (EDIT: I can't read)

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
I've never been the biggest fan of Gabriel's post-Genesis material, but "Addicted to Love" is a snoozefest.

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
The nice thing about hair metal is that otherwise shitty bands usually have one killer song in their catalog. For Motley Crue, that song is "Kickstart My Heart." For Def Leppard, it's "Photograph." "Fight For Your Right" may have an iconic hook, but IMO there's a hard upper bound on the quality of a joke song.
...and not that it matters, but "leppard" makes a pretty good placeholder name for python functions.

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
This was a very close decision, and I could've gone the other way on a different day. This would've been a lot easier if the Tom Petty pick were "The Waiting" or "Don't Do Me Like That", or if "Rock You Like a Hurricane" had a more interesting chorus. In fact, it's one of the only songs where I like the verses way more—after racking my brain for a few minutes, the only other example I could think of was Carly Rae Jepsen's "Making the Most of the Night".

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
A great bridge is a great bridge, but the rest of "Jack and Diane" still sucks chili dogs. "9 to 5" is an all-time classic and tied with "Modern Love" best song on this ballot.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
An iconic song against a merely decent one. Not really much else to say.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"
Okay, forget what I said about the upper bound on the quality of joke songs, "It's Raining Men" absolutely SLAPS. That said, I slightly prefer "A New England", which I hadn't even encountered before this bracket!

[MiltonPlayer47]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"

[ValenciaQBowl]

give "Space Age Love Song" a listen

--Yeah, man!

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
What David said.

Wait, what??? Are all us over-50 guys the same to you, Matt????? Ageism!

[Wartortullian]

Wait, what??? Are all us over-50 guys the same to you, Matt????? Ageism!

[facepalm]
My apologies; I was reading through responses from the last poll when I was typing that and forgot who's post I was looking at.

[Ben Dillon]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"

[Stained Diviner]

An opportunity to give my opinion after it's already been cited!

WILD CARD ROUND THREE: QUADRANT HILL
VOTES DUE BY 11:59 PM 11/24

9A/9B: David Bowie,"Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls,"I Ran (So Far Away)"
The danceability of this song is underrated.

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
Love Shack is great. Eye of the Tiger works well in the movie, and it's probably a good workout song, but I don't work out.

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
I'm going with the song my high school self liked, since right now both of these songs seem overrated.

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
I was a big Pyromania fan back when I went to Summer Camp.

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
Tom Petty is better, obviously. People make fun of Rock You Like a Hurricane for obvious reasons, but it actually works well for what it is.

14A/14B: John Cougar, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
Pink Houses is probably better, but this song is good enough. I helped register voters at a John Cougar concert once, but it didn't go very well because we were only allowed to register people who lived in Cook County. We were told he would give a speech encouraging people to vote. His speech lasted about three seconds.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
These are both great songs, but Joan Jett never made the Flavor of Love reality show.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"
I'm not a fan of either of these songs.

[Sam]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"
Greta Gerwig dance-runs to this song in Frances Ha, and it's great. I'm picturing the scene with A Flock of Seagulls playing instead, and it does not work nearly as well. If "I Ran" can't even beat "Modern Love" as the background music for A PERSON RUNNING, how can it hope to beat it in this competition?

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
Beastie Boys songs always strike me as just a little too silly, and somehow not in a fun way.

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
Something that I think is objectively odder than we give it credit for is how much of music and writing and visual art is all about producing music and writing and visual art. Or maybe it's not odd that artists would want to talk about those things, but that the rest of us go along with it. Seems like it should make up, I don't know, four percent of all artistic enterprise, tops.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"
This was close and I broke the tie with earworminess.

[mrtyrmystry]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls,"I Ran (So Far Away)"

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
decent song , coolest band

skip the next two

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
The other song is good. If I had a literal cup of ambition, I wouldn't drink it.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
The other song is good.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"
HandsUp
The other song is not merely good. These are the best songs.

[pray for elves]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)" -- The only ACB I recognize is to Always Choose Bowie.

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger" -- I got me a Chrysler; it seats about twenty, so hurry up and bring your jukebox money!

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love" -- "In Your Eyes" is probably actually the better song, but I love "Addicted to Love" and its cheesy video.

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph" -- Of course, the objects of the Beastie Boys' satire were the least likely to understand they were being made fun of in this song.

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane" -- My favorite Petty is from the '70s, but I'd still take this one over Scorpions. Great riff, though.

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5" -- A little ditty about cloying puke versus a great Dolly classic.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power" -- Not my favorite Joan Jett. This is also Public Enemy's greatest song.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men" -- abstain

[AgathokakologicalPunk]

9A/9B: David Bowie,"Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls,"I Ran (So Far Away)"
Modern Love makes me think of My Fair Lady. I don't like My Fair Lady.

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
The most annoying parts of '80s music can be well-encapsulated by "Don't Stop Believin'", Culture Club, generic hair metal band, and the B-52s.

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
Two terrible solo artists who came from OK bands. Peter wins b/c Robert's voice is, remarkably, the least annoying aspect of his song.

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
"Fight for Your Right" is surprisingly good for being a meme. "Photograph" is one of roughly 5 Def Leppard songs that don't blend together into an amorphous blob of obnoxious hair metal.

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
If the Scorpions could put together a couple of their biggest hits into one song without sacrificing continuity or brevity, they would have a good song.

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
Most of John Mellencamp's music sounds to me like a very primitive form of country-rap. Pretty terrible stuff.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
Abstain. If Grandmaster Flash wasn't included in this bracket, I will start voting against all other rap or hip-hop next round as a form of protest. Unless it is against the Dross - I will still vote against the Dross.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"
The latter is pretty well done for such a ridiculous concept. About a minute shorter would make it far more potent.

[ScoBo]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"
10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"

[rylltraka]

Abstain. If Grandmaster Flash wasn't included in this bracket, I will start voting against all other rap or hip-hop next round as a form of protest. Unless it is against the Dross - I will still vote against the Dross.

Your syntax is a little unclear here, but if you consult the bracket in the originating post of this thread, GMF is a #1 seed! Melle Mel can come too.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"

I’m always a sucker for a piano based pop song

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"

[BenWeiner27]

9A/9B: David Bowie,"Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls,"I Ran (So Far Away)"

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger" - I do not think that either of these are particularly good songs but Eye of the Tiger is certainly more iconic

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5" - As much as I want to see what Matt Mitchell does if Jack and Diane wins, I will vote for the better song.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men" - I haven't heard either of these songs before today, and I must say, both of them are pretty good.

[rylltraka]

Just your usual reminder to submit your votes by tonight.

[Whiter Hydra]

WILD CARD ROUND THREE: QUADRANT HILL
VOTES DUE BY 11:59 PM 11/24

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"
It is hard to hold a candle to David Bowie, especially when the competition is a song that I suspect only got as famous as it did due to its really weird hall of mirrors music video.

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
I feel like it's hard to accurately rate Eye of the Tiger given how ubiquitous the song is. Survivor has some pretty decent songs, and it's a shame they're basically all overshadowed. I guess I'll vote for Love Shack given that it's a lively and unique song versus Eye of the Tiger being the poster child for generic 80s song.

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"
I came in thinking that I would vote for In Your Eyes without much thought, but apparently I forgot that it's 5 and a half minutes long when it does not have to be. I still do have a soft spot for Genesis and associated acts, though.

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"
I love how over-the-top Fight for Your Right is while still managing to stand on its own merits. Def Leppard has one memorable song, but this ain't it.

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"
There are too many other songs that tries to do what Rock You Like a Hurricane does, but better. It's a shame that Winds of Change was released a year too late for this bracket.

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
Jack and Diane has one bridge, but other than that it's a generic pop song that tries to sound country. It looks like Dolly Parton will thankfully win this one by a margin of more than 9 to 5.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
This would have been an easy vote for Joan Jett had her entry been Crimson and Clover. As it stands, there's a decent but unremarkable song versus a song with real cultural relevance.

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"
How can he say he's 22 now when he said he wrote the song when he was 21? Other than that hangup, A New England was not that memorable to me, unlike It's Raining Men.

[AKKOLADE]

"I Ran (So Far Away)"
"Love Shack"
"In Your Eyes"
"(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)"
"Free Fallin"
"9 to 5"
"Fight the Power"
"It's Raining Men"

[1.82]

9A/9B: David Bowie, "Modern Love" vs. A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran (So Far Away)"

Modern Love always reminds me of the scene in Frances Ha, of course; that was a a movie that didn't connect with me as much as I would have liked when I saw it, but it's grown on me ever since. In February I was driving to Greenville, South Carolina, and as I was flipping through radio stations to see if there was anything good (as I always do when I drive to a new city), as I entered town I heard Modern Love on the radio, and then all of a sudden I was hearing it everywhere. It made me think that I should rewatch Frances Ha. What a great song.

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" vs. Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"

The second football game of my junior year, my first year on the varsity team, was at James Lick High School. The mood before the game was festive because we knew we were going to win (and we did, 27–0), and during warmups our starting middle linebacker (who was the smartest kid I knew and always traded his paper with mine when we had to proofread in AP English Language and, when I last interacted with him at our five-year reunion, was working in fintech in Brooklyn) noted to me with amusement that they were playing Eye of the Tiger over the speakers. Even as fifteen-year-olds it felt silly to us to hear it here, because we had heard it so often that it had lost any meaning.

Love Shack is a fun song from Athens, a lovely town in my beloved state. Athens has a special place in my heart because it was in Athens in August 2016 that I first saw someone wearing a Kevin Durant Warriors shirsey. I had been in a state of general elation ever since Kevin Durant had declared his independence on the fourth of July, but seeing that there was what made me know that it was real.

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" vs. Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"

Last year, back when I still went into the office, Inspire Brands had a corporate event that included a group karaoke competition. One group had a man and a group of identically-dressed women in a way that I assumed was meant to refer to Addicted to Love, but when they went up it turned out that they were doing a deliberately flipped performance of Man! I Feel Like a Woman! Of course the visual signifiers of the video for that song refer directly to Addicted to Love, but given that Shania Twain has conclusively usurped its cultural position there's not much left to the song.

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" vs. Def Leppard, "Photograph"

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" vs. Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"

For as long as I can remember him being asked the question, my brother has said that his favorite song is Free Fallin'. I don't know if he's ever particularly loved that song, and I'm not sure he'd cite it as his favorite now that he's an adult, but it was always an easy answer for him because it's a song my dad has always talked about. Not long after Tom Petty's passing, I was in the car with my dad passing through Mountain View when he opined (unprompted) that it was a shame that Tom Petty was gone and that they didn't make singers like him anymore. I'm glad that Tom Petty allows my dad, who was about the age I am now when he set foot in this country for the first time, to express dad opinions that measure up to any American-born dad. It doesn't hurt that Tom Petty is very good dad rock.

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" vs. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"

When I was in college, my roommates would often host communal pregames in our living room before going out to the drinking establishments of Baltimore Avenue. I wouldn't join them when they went out, but until then I'd sit on the couch in the living room and observe and maybe talk about it on IRC as it was going on. These gatherings were lacking in gender diversity—my roommates did not really have female friends, so you'd have maybe a dozen men and two women in the room—but typically they did have plenty of racial diversity, with dudes of all colors, and the soundtrack was the great unifier, rap.

One day my roommates' high school friend came down to visit from Temple with a bunch of dudes from his fraternity, and so that Friday evening all of a sudden my living room was full of white guys I didn't know, playing their own music. Eventually Jack and Diane, a song I had never heard before, came on, and every white dude in the room yelled out the chorus at the top of their lungs. All I could do was look at my roommate, the only person in the room who wasn't white, and he looked back at me just the same way.

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" vs. Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" vs. The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men"

It's interesting the gap between how many times in my life I've seen people make jokes about It's Raining Men and how few times I've actually heard it in the wild.

[rylltraka]

80s BRACKET QUADRANT HILL
WILD CARD ROUND THREE RESULTS

9A/9B: David Bowie,"Modern Love" 18, A Flock of Seagulls,"I Ran (So Far Away)" 8.5

10A/10B: The B-52s, "Love Shack" 18.5, Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger" 8
tiiiiiiiin roooooof

11A/11B: Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes" 16.5, Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love" 8.5

12A/12B: The Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" 10.5, Def Leppard, "Photograph" 14.5

13A/13B: Tom Petty, "Free Fallin" 22, Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane" 3

14A/14B: John Cougar Mellencamp, "Jack and Diane" 7.5, Dolly Parton, "9 to 5" 19

15A/15B: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock'n Roll" 6.5, Public Enemy, "Fight the Power" 18

16A/16B/: Billy Bragg, "A New England" 14.5, The Weather Girls, "It's Raining Men" 10
requiem for a request

[rylltraka]

80s BRACKET WILD CARD ROUND 4: QUADRANT STEELE
SUBMIT VOTES BY 11:59 PST 11/28

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[Ben Dillon]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"
10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"
14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"
15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"
16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[MiltonPlayer47]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[Stained Diviner]

80s BRACKET WILD CARD ROUND 4: QUADRANT STEELE
SUBMIT VOTES BY 11:59 PST 11/28

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"
I prefer People are People, but Personal Jesus is good.

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
Crazy Train is a great song.

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
REO was better in the 70s: Ridin' the Storm Out, Time for Me to Fly, Roll with the Changes

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
Great REM song vs good Kim Carnes song

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"
These are both good. One time I was at a wedding that was across the street from a Peter Wolf concert. We walked in as he was starting his encore, and they let us walk in for free. He did seven encores. Also, there were a few weeks of my childhood during which Love Stinks was my favorite song.

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"
Honestly, I'm not a fan of either of these.

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"
This isn't my favorite Stones song, and I don't think this is my favorite Kenny Loggins song.

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"
RIP Ric Ocasek, but Cars songs are forgettable. Good Times Roll might be the best, but maybe not, and it's from the 70s anyways. All Night Long is a fun little song.

[Wartortullian]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
When I was 12, I rode in the front seat of my mom's car for the first time. Being a fidgety kid, I started playing with the radio, and the first station I stumbled across (that wasn't on commercial) was playing "Crazy Train". That song will never sound quite as good as did that day, but it still reminds me of those first few weeks when I started exploring music beyond the stuff my parents listened to.

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
Is REO Speedwagon the worst band that still gets airplay on classic rock stations? Not quite (that title goes to Grand Funk), but it's close.

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"
"Centerfold" is too horny for its own good. Sure, the "na na na-na-na-na" hook is great, but it's no better than the riff from "Blister in the Sun".

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"
The Cars have released plenty of passable songs, but "My Best Friend's Girl" is the only good one.

[A Dim-Witted Saboteur]

Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"

Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[ScoBo]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"
10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"
14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"
15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"
16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[Sam]

Modern Love always reminds me of the scene in Frances Ha, of course; that was a a movie that didn't connect with me as much as I would have liked when I saw it, but it's grown on me ever since. In February I was driving to Greenville, South Carolina, and as I was flipping through radio stations to see if there was anything good (as I always do when I drive to a new city), as I entered town I heard Modern Love on the radio, and then all of a sudden I was hearing it everywhere. It made me think that I should rewatch Frances Ha. What a great song.

It was pointed out to me by a to-remain-anonymous Jain ecologist that "running to 'Modern Love'" was first used in Mauvais Sang. This clip (starting around 2:30) appears to confirms that. I don't know if there's any stronger connection between the two movies.

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
I much prefer the lyrics to "In the Air Tonight." "Crazy Train's" are pretty stupid, and the fact that the theme of the song is a serious one makes them look even more facile. But the guitar is great, and where the lyrics fall short the music makes up.

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
Both these songs were fine. I've heard "Another One Bites the Dust" a million times and "Keep on Lovin' You" once, so I'm reasoning that "Another One Bites the Dust" is probably the better song if I like it about as much as this (to me) novel one.

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"
I'm conflicted about the Smiths. On one hand the primary emotion they seem to express is "adolescent angst," with an emphasis on the "adolescent." On the other hand...they're pretty good at expressing that, much better than what you'd get just by giving an actually angsty adolescent a guitar and microphone. So I think there must be something there, even if the range of themes is maybe narrow.

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"
I didn't realize this song was from the 80s.

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[AgathokakologicalPunk]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"
I have never understood the attraction some people have to Depeche Mode - program moody into a synth. Hall and Oates might Warren Harding their way to a win imo.

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
He sings, drums, and programs a drum machine! If only he could make an original riff!

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
Honestly, either of these bands is a good representation of the 80s - Queen of the bluster and bombast, REO of the ballads every band recorded. "Keep on Lovin' You" is fresher and also didn't rip off Chic.

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
Kim Carnes is kinda annoying; after a while, the novelty of singing with a mouth of gravel wears off.

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"
"Centerfold" should not be in the running for the championship of anything but biggest cheese.

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"
Grammar matters.

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"
"Footloose" is quintessential 80s in all the ways your great-grandparents spoke of the 80s.

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"
There is only one proper end to this bracket - the Cars and Dire Straits facing off in the finals. That probably won't happen, but it should. I suppose both of those bands have songs that might not be their best work. At any rate, Lionel on his own couldn't put a song in the Cars' top 20 (the Commodores are a different story).

[BenWeiner27]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[rylltraka]

This is your friendly reminder that today is the last day to vote in this round.

[AKKOLADE]

Maneater
In the Air Tonight
Another One Bites the Dust
It's the End of the Wolrd
Blister in the Sun
Me, Myself, and I
Start me Up
You Might Think

[ryanrosenberg]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[1.82]

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"

Bette Davis Eyes is one of my very favorite covers; it takes what was a boring song and transforms it completely. I can't think of many riffs that are more notable than those eight notes at the very beginning. It's the End of the World As We Know It is not one of my favorite R.E.M. songs; my very favorite is Man on the Moon.

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"

Centerfold wins for two reasons. The first is that when I was in elementary school, I would go after school with all the other non-Chinese kids both of whose parents had jobs to the childcare center on the side of the school and hang out there from 3 to 6. (The Chinese kids had vans come by the school to pick them up and take them to Chinese school.) There, circa 2002, they constantly played a mix CD of songs from the '80s, many of which are featured in this bracket; one of them was Centerfold. I talk about that CD all the time with my best friend from back then, but neither of us have ever been able to find it. Nonetheless every song from that record is deeply imprinted in my memory of the lost past.

The other reason is that the plot of Centerfold is hilarious: a guy is looking to consume pornography when he's forced to confront the notion that the subjects of his lust are themselves actual people. Having engaged with the Madonna–whore dichotomy, he then decides that he can use it to go to town anyway. If you don't find that deeply amusing, then you and I have deeply different worldviews.

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"

For a variety of reasons, some of which I understand and others of which I haven't been able to identify, I didn't really have much in the way of friends as a teenager, in the sense that I had plenty of people at school with whom I was friendly but I didn't really have people I saw or spent time with outside of school or practice. Instead I spent hours and hours every day online, and so I developed a vast array of Internet friends (some of whom, it turned out, were members of the quizbowl community), and when I got older some of them became off-Internet friends. One of them was a guy from Campbell who was my age and was a frequent AV Club commenter; he would pick me up from my house in the car that he had and then we'd drive somewhere, and on the way we'd listen to The Smiths, and I was young and impressionable enough that this was cool and not passé. Listening to The Smiths now always reminds me of my wonderful homosocial experiences back during the first Obama administration.

In the summer of 2015, I had the second of two consecutive internships at my mom's employer. Working an office job those two summers taught me a lot about ARIMA models and also that most of the time when you work an office job like that you don't need to do anything and often you don't need to be present at all. On the last day of the internship, I decided that I was done with work there permanently and so I called that same friend up and he picked me up from the office and we went to his house and watched about ten episodes of Community before he dropped me off again. On the way back he mentioned that the new Carly Rae Jepsen album was good, and that really changed my life. He's a great friend, even if I don't talk to him much anymore; I should get in touch with him again.

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"

When I was 11 or 12, the one kid on my Little League team who went to a different school showed up to practice one day having just seen Footloose. He then spent the afternoon singing the portion of the chorus that he could remember over and over. None of the rest of us had any idea what he was doing.

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"

[ValenciaQBowl]

Zoinks! Missed the deadline, but don't see results yet, so here goes:

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" vs. Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus"
--Very tough! I love both of these songs and and have badly sung them in my car many times. But will go with the funkier bass line.

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" vs. Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train"
--Phil Collins is the worst, though "In the Air Tonight" is pretty good; it's no "Crazy Train," though.

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" vs. Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"
--Not close.

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" vs. REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
--The REM song is going to win, so I'll cast my lot with one of the weirdest-sounding songs to ever top the Billboard charts in the US.

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" vs. J. Geils Band, "Centerfold"
--"Centerfold," like "Love Shack," is just a fun song. All the alternakids I hung out with in high school loved Violent Femmes, but I've always found the singer's voice annoying.

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" vs. De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I"
--"How Soon Is Now?" is an iconically great song, but that De La Soul song is so catchy. Three Feet High and Rising was one of the first CDs I ever bought when a kid on my dorm floor gave me his old CD player because his well-off parents bought him a new one. There's some filler on that album, but 4-5 great songs, including "Me, Myself, and I."

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" vs. The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"
--Tattoo You was the last good Stones album.

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" vs. The Cars, "You Might Think"
--Not a great Cars song, but post-Commodores Lionel Richie....ugh.

[rylltraka]

Chris is once again touched by the gods, in that I was too tired/had a headache last night and left the tabulations until morning:

9A/9B: Hall and Oates, "Maneater" 13.5, Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus" 10.5

10A/10B: Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" 8, Ozzy Osbourne, "Crazy Train" 16
dun dun DUN DUN dun dun, dun dun Ai Ai Ai

11A/11B: REO Speedwagon, "Keep On Lovin' You" 5, Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust" 19
I remember very strongly driving around in GTA Vice City, listening to Emotion 98.3 (mediocre, but representative of what might actually be on the airwaves any random day) and desperately hoping "Keep On Lovin' You" was playing. Sorry, Fernando.

12A/12B: Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes" 6, REM, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" 18.5

13A/13B: Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" 15.5, J. Geils Band, "Centerfold" 8.5

14A/14B: The Smiths, "How Soon is Now?" 21, De La Soul, "Me, Myself, and I" 5
I have now listened to "How Soon is Now" three times for this process, and immediately forget what it was like afterwards.

15A/15B: Kenny Loggins, "Footloose" 5, The Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up" 19

16A/16B: Lionel Richie, "All Night Long (All Night)" 9.5, The Cars, "You Might Think" 14.5

With this round over, the full bracket of 64 is now complete - check it out in the initial post (in a few minutes). And the party can begin.

[rylltraka]

ROUND OF 64: QUADRANT VICE
SUBMIT VOTES BY 11:59 PM PST 12/2

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"

[ValenciaQBowl]

Chris is once again touched by the gods

Yeah, those gods are always touching me, rarely with prior consent, not cool. Anyway,

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"
--I, too, feel close to the edge and am trying not to lose my head, huh huh huh huh.

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"
--I'm sure it's hard for people born after 1998 to believe, but the clunky video for "Money for Nothing" was really cool in 1985.

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"
--I may be being unfair to "Fast Car," but it seems very tired to me these days, whereas "Edge of Seventeen" still conveys, as Roland Barthes would put it, recognizable Stevie Nicks-ishness.

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"
--Bass lines, always bass lines.

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"
--1980s ZZ Top is not good if you had older brothers who listened to Tres Hombres a lot while reading comics.

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"
--15-year-old me would be very unhappy with this vote. Duran Duran kind of single-handedly led me to make my mom drive me to the Chess King at the mall to get wildly colored shirts with epaulets. I wonder if Reinstein ever bought anything at Chess King?

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"
--Eh, sure.

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"
--Not feeling strong about this vote, but I've been hating Journey for nearly 40 years, so why stop now?

[Sam]

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"
This is a great song (though, as with "Money for Nothing" below, hearing certain epithets thrown around is uncomfortable and not in the way the song means to be). The lyrics are great, with each verse describing a unique vignette. The increasingly frazzled chorus and even the upbeat background music also work really well at conveying a sense of powerlessness and passivity. It's definitely a "political" song but I don't know if it's a "protest" one; there's no sense that Melle Mel can change any of the horrible things he sees. That itself is neither good nor bad but it's an interesting way it feels different from most other topical songs.

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"
I love this song but have heard zero other things by Tracy Chapman. If anyone has suggestions for more by her I'd be interested in seeing them.

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"
"Super Freak" is good. I'm not sure it's as good as the version that existed in my head until today, in which James describes the title freak as the kind "you find in Newsweek magazine."

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"
Abstain. I like "Express Yourself" more and more on each listen but still not a huge fan, and "Hungry Like the Wolf" is kind of fun but nothing special.

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Neither of these songs is especially deep, "Come on Eileen" is catchier. Early on in the coronavirus pandemic I remember many people pointing out "COVID-19" has the same beat as "Come on Eileen," which was mildly funny. But then I did not see one single attempt at expanding on this and creating an entire novelty song about COVID to the tune of "Come on Eileen." Disappointing, to say the least.

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"
Journey definitely runs in a very particular lane, but "Don't Stop Believin'" may be the greatest song in that lane. Even if it's references to Detroit do not apparently reflect real cultural or geographic regions.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"

Along with Public Enemy, one of the few '80s rap songs that (aside from the couple unfortunate lines Sam mentioned) holds up well. It's hard to imagine most of the conscious music that's been coming out for the last 40 years without The Message, and the riff is so good it's been sampled in numerous worse songs.

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"

I didn't know the Tracy Chapman song before, and it's too bad - it's a cool song with a good story and vibe. But it's still matched up against the best song in this section of the bracket and nice as it is just can't compete with any of the performances on Edge of Seventeen.

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"

I'll go with the song that I can remember the tune to now, a minute after having listened to each of them.

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

I don't know that this song is better by any measure of influence or creativity, but it rocks out and I'm here for dudes with big beards banging out the blues on their guitars.

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"

I don't remember if Naveed or I have mentioned it on here before, but, pre-covid, Atlanta was home to the Dark Horse, a bar with one of the coolest things I've ever seen: karaoke with a live band. It's awesome! You feel like a rock star! Most of the people who go up can sing decently well and the band knows a couple hundred songs, so there's a good variety to pick and you're guaranteed to hear some songs you like. If you sing badly or don't hold the microphone close enough for it to pick you up, the MC just turns up his own mic and sings over you. Unfortunately, one of the songs on the list is Don't Stop Believing, and out of all the options, it's chosen every single time, and it's always done by a group of white people who are way too drunk to be on stage. We're lucky to get a couple shouted "HOL ON TO THE WHOOOOO FEEELIN"s. I've heard this song, both as performed by Journey and by Brittney and Chad, about a thousand times more than I've ever wanted or needed to.

[MiltonPlayer47]

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"
These are probably my two favorite songs in this group. It's very close, and I hate to have to vote against either.

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"
I like both of these, but I have to vote for the one that Eleanor Friedberger mentions in the lyrics to one of her songs.

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"
I normally hate Journey, but their competition is weak here and I supposed that "Don't Stop Believin'" was a good song before I heard it for the hundredth time.

[kammajos000]

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"

[A Dim-Witted Saboteur]

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"

[1.82]

I don't remember if Naveed or I have mentioned it on here before, but, pre-covid, Atlanta was home to the Dark Horse, a bar with one of the coolest things I've ever seen: karaoke with a live band. It's awesome! You feel like a rock star! Most of the people who go up can sing decently well and the band knows a couple hundred songs, so there's a good variety to pick and you're guaranteed to hear some songs you like. If you sing badly or don't hold the microphone close enough for it to pick you up, the MC just turns up his own mic and sings over you. Unfortunately, one of the songs on the list is Don't Stop Believing, and out of all the options, it's chosen every single time, and it's always done by a group of white people who are way too drunk to be on stage. We're lucky to get a couple shouted "HOL ON TO THE WHOOOOO FEEELIN"s. I've heard this song, both as performed by Journey and by Brittney and Chad, about a thousand times more than I've ever wanted or needed to.

Your intuition didn't lead you astray:

The weekend before my last birthday in October, I was with some friends at Dark Horse in Atlanta, home of the stickiest floor I have ever encountered in my life (this despite my having lived for three and a half years of my life in College Park). We were bemoaning Dark Horse's ridiculous karaoke rule banning men from singing songs written for women (a category that includes every good karaoke song), when it was announced that it was pop punk karaoke night. The white folks then spent the next hour or so singing all the lyrics to songs that I only vaguely recognized at best. One of the songs I did recognize was "Mr. Brightside", which came on abut halfway through and got my friends very, very excited. I love those people but I don't love pop punk, so this is a demerit for The Killers.

Despite my tone in this post (because I am so tired of Mr. Brightside), I've had a really good time every time I've been to Dark Horse, sticky floor and all. Like everyone else, I really miss the ability to go to places, since that's a big part of what led me to live here.

Anyway:

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"

In March of 2019, back when the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament still existed, Maryland was assigned to play the first two rounds in Jacksonville, which happened to be driving distance from my place of residence. Nowadays Jacksonville is home to Sam Rombro, whom I love very much and who definitely would go to watch the Terps with me, but at the time he was still in College Park. Instead I spent the night in Gainesville, beginning a relationship with the University of Florida quizbowl team that I think has paid substantial dividends to both parties. We stayed up very late talking about quizbowl and in the morning I woke up fairly early and left for Jacksonville, driving on state highways through charming pretty northern Florida communities. The radio was playing Fast Car and I was driving very slow and just dissociating. Later I found out that the places I drove through are actually very ugly, but I was not in a frame of mind at the time for them to be anything but beautiful to me.

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"

Hungry Like the Wolf is a song that I heard often when I was young, similarly to Come On Eileen (see below), although it never occupied quite as large a space in my mind. Express Yourself gets a demerit because I most recently heard it in a commercial for a company that refinances student loans.

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"

Come On Eileen is, in my considered opinion, the very best song of the 1980s, and I'll tell this to anyone who cares to listen. Often in my life I've volunteered it to people who clearly didn't care at all.

Music can inspire a lot of emotions, but the most potent to me has always been nostalgia. When I find myself really connecting to a song I've never heard before, most of the time it's because it reminds me of some part of the past, as if this song would be making me nostalgic if only I had known it at the right time in my life. On a very direct level, Come On Eileen is about just that, about that power that music has. Whenever I think about Johnny Ray, the pretty good Pirates second baseman of the early '80s (which I do at least once a month, as with just about every pretty good player of the late '70s and early '80s, the remembrance of whom is my primary joy in life), I'm reminded of the opening of Come On Eileen and how our mothers cried and sang along to poor old Johnnie Ray and how our parents were once young just like us. That last part I think about especially because Come On Eileen is a song from when my parents were youths.

On Monday, July 22, 2002, I went with my dad to San Francisco to see the Giants play the Cardinals. Then, as now, baseball was the most important thing in my life, and it was my second time ever going to that ballpark (the first had been six days before with my friends) and it was so exciting that it really didn't upset me that much that neither Jeff Kent nor Barry Bonds were in the lineup. We left early (as we always did during my childhood, to my great chagrin) in the top of the eighth with the Giants down 3–1, and then I fell asleep on the train. When I woke up again we were in the car coming home from the train station and there was baseball on the radio; I thought that the game was still going, but I was told that it just was the Midnight Replay that KNBR put on after every game. When I was older I would spend a lot of time listening to the Midnight Replay. Those are all my memories of that night from more than eighteen years ago, and somehow when I recall that night the song Come On Eileen runs through all those memories. Maybe they were playing it at the game or maybe I heard it in the car somewhere or maybe it was just a song that I heard all the time in 2002, but its intrusion into this totally unrelated narrative is a testament in my own mind to the enduring power of nostalgia.

At that point Come On Eileen to me was a song that I recognized and could hum and half-knew the words to, but I didn't really become aware of it on a higher level than that until I was in about tenth grade. At that point there was both the nostalgia that the song held for me as a relic of the beloved past and the nostalgia implicit in the lyrics, now that was closer in age to the subjects of the song and could understand what the words were saying. It's a song about the past and also about the cyclical nature of time and the parental relationship (it's not for nothing that it dwells so much on mothers and fathers) and the awakening of sexual desire and attempting to reconcile that sexual desire with the spectrum of human emotion. In that last sense it presents a substantially less pathological version of the central dilemma of Centerfold.

Of course, none of that is really why it's such a great song. I know nothing at all about music theory but I recall reading once that it has a weird time signature or something like that. It's a tremendously catchy and remarkably joyful song and it's fun to sing along to even if you don't know any of the words. It makes me happy every time I hear it at a wedding, and I imagine it always will.

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited"

There's been enough baseball in this post so I won't bring baseball up now. Instead I'll say that over the summer, like most people, I consumed all of New Jersey's greatest contribution to the world, The Sopranos. I knew the final scene (which is of course set to Don't Stop Believin') because I was alive and conscious in the year 2007, but I wasn't prepared for how much I would love it. Part of that is because the scenes of the Sopranos sitting at the table at the diner are intercut with scenes outside of Meadow, an educated successful career woman, repeatedly failing to park her Lexus. I am literally unable to parallel park, even though once I asked Jerry for advice on IRC five years ago. More than several times in my life I've had to get out of the car I was driving and have one of my passengers take the wheel and parallel park for me. It's just nice to see some representation. That attention to detail by itself isn't what made The Sopranos great, but it sure went a long way.

[Auroni]

1 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "The Message" vs. 16 INXS, "Need You Tonight"

8 Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl" vs. 9 Dire Straits, "Money For Nothing"

5 Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car" vs. 12 Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"

4 George Michael, "Faith" vs. 13 Rick James, "Super Freak"

6 Nena, "99 Luftballons" vs. 11 ZZ Top, "Gimme All Your Lovin'"

3 Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" vs. 14 NWA, "Express Yourself"

7 Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen" vs. 10 The Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian" - I feel Naveed's level of exhaustion toward "Mr. Brightside" toward "Come on Eileen," which I have seen 60 Michigan undergrads bounce up and down to at a house party when I lived in Ann Arbor, and which a black DJ at a terrible racist underage bar/club at the U of I was scolded for not playing (in favor of R&B songs). Nonetheless, it's too good of a song to lose this matchup.

2 Journey, "Don't Stop Believin'" vs. 15 The Pointer Sisters, "I'm So Excited" - ohh, this song. yeah, it's a lot better than "Don't Stop Believin'"