Round One is over, so half of our nominated bands are gone. Loving you isn’t the right thing to do.
Here are some results from Round One, Part 2:
Worst Shellacking: It was a bad day for Bad Company, getting royally screwed by 79 votes to Queen. Talk about good lovin’ gone bad.
Biggest Upset: Curtis Mayfield (34th seed) won’t “move on up”, as he got beat by Sly and the Family Stone (95th seed)
Closest Matchup: Iggy and the Stooges over CSNY by 6 votes. Most matchups in this round were rather decisive.
Winner With The Least Votes: Steely Dan (38)
Loser With The Most Votes: Billy Joel (38)
Other Thoughts:
- This was, in general, a stronger bracket than yesterday. In Day One, 13 bands got at least 50 votes; in Day Two, 18 bands got at least 50 votes.
- Peter Gabriel is one of my favorite human beings, both as a musician and humanitarian. But even I will admit his 70s solo albums are not his strongest. He didn’t find his footing solo until his 1980 release (“Melt”). He likely moved on to Round Two based on his name, a soft matchup, and “Solsbury Hill”.
- The highest selling American band of all time got crushed in Round One. Never underestimate how much people hate the Eagles.
- Goat’s Prog Corner: King Crimson and Jethro Tull both had strong showings, but they have much stronger competition this round. I’m sad to see Kansas go.
In addition to those mentioned above, let us say “goodbye stranger, it’s been nice, hope you find your paradise” to Supertramp, Big Star, Ohio Players, John Denver, BTO, Emmylou Harris, Motorhead, Commodores, Village People, Gary Numan, Aerosmith, Hawkwind, Linda Ronstadt, The Carpenters, Bill Withers, Wire, Bob Seger, Neil Diamond, Al Green, Boston, Cher, The Sweet, Ike & Tina Turner, The Guess Who, Diana Ross, and Pere Ubu.
This round will end on Thursday at 8am PST, at which point your upvotes will be counted and we move on to Round 3. Downvote if you like, but only upvotes will be counted.
[Header Photo: Stevie Wonder’s insanely ambitious 1976 album “Songs in the Key of Life” became the first by an American artist to debut straight at No. 1 in the Billboard charts, where it stood for 14 non-consecutive weeks. It won Album of the Year and two other Grammys.]