April Madness
 

Would anyone be interested in conducting a tournament for the best sonic youth song of all time?

I've seen other boards do this where either 64 or 128 songs are ranked and face off against each other. People vote for the songs over a short period of time then go to the next round.

For example "I love her all the time" might be ranked a #1 seed and face off against "Junkies Promise" (a #16 seed) in the first round. "I love her all the time might win and face the #8 seed "The Sprawl". By the end there would be only one winner... the Sonic Youth song that would be (by the board) considered the greatest of all time.

I would be willing to assemble the songs into a bracket and keep the stats. People could PM me and I'd update the bracket. I could use a spreadsheet if someone would be willing to let me know how to do it.

I have a pretty good grasp of what songs people like and dislike; I remember the survivors that were on the old board a few years back. I feel like I could pick the "favorite" songs and then place them in a decent order.

Let me know if you'd be into it, or if you have any suggestions, please reply.

Sounds cool

Yeah, that sounds interesting. The hard part is determing the "seeds" of the songs...

I'd be willing to let people help me. Would the seeds make that much of a difference in the long run?

I suppose not. But obviously a song is going to last longer if it faces the likes of "Nic Fit" in the first round rather than "The Diamond Sea".

I'm down.

so is this thing going to happen?

I'll come up with a 64 song list in order this week and ask people's opinions on any songs that should be ranked differently and/or added deleted, etc.

I was hoping this would have more buzz since it will be quite time consuming, but I figure people would be more into it once they see the brackets.

For the number one seeds maybe you should divide the "east" and "west" brackets by having one "big/well known" song from the 80's (Schizo, Teenage Riot, Death Valley etc.) on each side and do the same for the 90's/00's.

I like that... maybe each bracket is a different era of Sonic Youth.

I'm thinking of only doing mainstream albums with the possible exception of Anagrama which is very popular with some people. Are there any other songs NOT on the main albums that people would want?

Sounds like fun!

this sounds really cool. do it!

Maybe throw in Genetic.

I like that idea. Maybe a bracket for each decade, with the 80s being divided up into pre/post Steve Shelley brackets.

Are you considering S/T and Confusion is Sex/Kill Yr. Idols main albums?

I don't know, should Ciccone Youth material be considered? I might like seeing "Macbeth" on there.

why in the hell not?

I'm a total loser and need a life:

Here's what I have so far... trust me, it's not easy to pick the top 64 Sonic Youth songs of all time.

Bracket One: Sonic Youth/Confusion, KYI/Bad Moon Rising/Evol

1. Expressway
2. Inhuman
3. I'm Insane
4. Brother James
5. I Love Her all the Time
6. Death Valley 69
7. Tom Violence
8. Burning Spear
9. Intro/Brave Men Run
10. Shadow of a Doubt
11. Kill yr Idols
12. Halloween
13. She is Not Alone
14. Star Power
15. In the Kingdom 19
16. Shaking Hell

--- Didn't make the cut

17. Green Light
18. Nature Scene
19. World Looks Red
20. Flower
21. Society is a Hole
22. Confusion is Next

Comments?

I broke it up so that the brackets work like this:

Bracket One: already listed
Bracket Two: Sister/Daydream/Ciccone (just Macbeth)/Goo
Bracket Three: Dirty (and Genetic)/Jet Set/Washing Machine
Bracket Four: 1000 Leaves (and Anagrama)/NYCGF/Murray St/Sonic Nurse

Let me know what you think of the first bracket. The others are much tougher to widdle down to 16 songs.

Cheers!

Looks good even though I would have liked to have seen Protect Me You:D. Give a holler if you need any input/ideas.

Looks pretty good. Maybe Death Valley '69 should get a higher seed?

I agree....and maybe Tom Violence too.

Ok, so "Protect Me You" should be a low seed, "TV" and DV69" should be higher? I can live with that.

What should "Protect me You" bump out? "Shaking Hell"?

No. You need to pick the 128 songs at random to set up the brackets. Since there isn't anyway to "rate" each song. Plus it makes it more interesting.

Damn that's tuff....I'd say bump out Halloween (but that's just me). It's all good either way.

That would certainly be a lot less time consuming. You wouldn't have to try an narrow it down to 64. And you wouldn't have to deal with people bitchin' about how one of their favorite songs didn't make the cut.

Whatevz.

I think, unless people really wouldn't partake, I'm going to stick with the 64 song list with brackets. That will prevent two huge songs going up against each other early on and we'd have a better vibe of the fan favorite songs (those in the elite eight).

I have a good grasp of songs that sonic youth fans like; I've been on the board for all the survivors, and even on the old board when Chris Lawrence assembled fan favorite songs that we wanted to hear on the next tour (supposedly given to the band).

What I do want to do is have people tell me which songs they are "outraged" are not on the list so I can include them.

You just have to inform me of three things:

Which songs are ranked too high
Which songs are ranked too low
Which song should be on/and what should it replace

Then I'll make appropriate changes.

Hopefully this will work and eventually lots of people will vote!

Which song should it replace?

My first thoughts would be to find the best song off of each album and have them battle it out. The problem is the polls are limited to 10 songs.

Be nice, this took me quite a while:

Bracket One: 1982-1986
1. Expressway to yr skull
2. Inhuman
3. Death Valley 69
4. I'm Insane
5. Brother James
6. Tom Violence
7. I Love Her all the Time
8. Burning Spear
9. Intro/Brave Men Run
10. Shadow of a Doubt
11. Halloween
12. She is not Alone
13. Green Light
14. Star Power
15. Kill Yr. Idols
16. Shaking Hell

Bracket Two: 1987-1990
1. Cross the Breeze
2. Mote
3. Silver Rocket
4. Schizophrenia
5. Teenage Riot
6. Stereo Sanctity
7. Disappearer
8. Candle
9. Pipeline/Kill Time
10. White Kross
11. Kool Thing
12. Cinderella's Big Score
13. Eric's Trip
14. Dirty Boots
15. Total Trash
16. Hey Joni

Close but no cigar: Titanium Expose, Catholic Block, Beauty Lies, Tuff Gnarl, PCH, Kotton Krown, The Sprawl, Kissability, Tunic, Mary Christ, Macbeth

Remember, state which songs should be moved up, moved down, or if one should be in the top 16, which song it should replace. THIS IS NOT THE FINAL BRACKET, just a starting point.

Bracket Three: 1992-1995
1. Diamond Sea
2. Theresa's Sound World
3. Skip Tracer
4. Sweet Shine
5. Sugar Kane
6. Washing Machine
7. On the Strip
8. Self-Obsessed and Sexxee
9. JC
10. 100%
11. Chapel Hill
12. Drunken Butterfly
13. Androgynous Mind
14. Purr
15. Unwind
16. Bull in the Heather

Close but no cigar: Wish Fulfilment, Youth against facism, starfield road, screaming skull, waist, doctor's orders, in the mind of the..., becuz, saucer-like, no queen blues, genetic

Bracket Four: 1999-2004
1. Rain on Tin
2. NYCG&F
3. Dripping Dream
4. Hoarfrost
5. Pattern Recognition
6. Wildflower Soul
7. Sypathy for the Strawberry
8. Karen Revisited
9. Disconnection Notice
10. Paper Cup Exit
11. Empty Page
12. Small Flowers Crack Concrete
13. I love you golden blue
14. Nevermind
15. Sunday
16. Heather, Angel

Close: Anagrama, Female Mechanic, French Tickler, Hits of Sunshine, Karen Koltrane, Ineffible Me, Free City Rhymes, Renegade Princess, Radical Adults, Unmade Bed, Stones, New Hampshire, Peace Attack

Please offer suggestions. If there is a song that is left off the list completely, then let me know where it should go.

Nice....I think Wish Fullfillment should replace Self Obsessed and Sexee. Maybe Kotton Krown (my fave) over Kool Thing. I'd like to see Stones on there, but don't know what it should replace...Pattern Recognition??? But like I said, whatever's clever.

Well, it's up to you since you're pretty much running the thing. But as I was going through your brackets, it struck me how hard it is to decide what makes the cut and what doesn't. Some really excellent stuff would left off. Which is worse; two "popular" songs facing off too soon or a song not even getting the chance to compete?


Well, here's my take on this bracket. Maybe others disagree.

I think we need far more songs from Sister and Daydream Nation than Goo. In my eyes, Goo has a bunch of nice songs, but not as many "classics" as DDN or Sister. I really think the only songs that need to make it from Goo are "Dirty Boots" and "Mote". Ok, maybe "Kool Thing" as well. But the other Goo songs are totally dispensable.

"Catholic Block", "PCH", and "Kotton Krown" really deserve to be on there. I think those three should replace "Cinderella's Big Score", "Disappearer", and "White Kross". I would even argue that "Tuff Gnarl" should replace "Kool Thing" but if others REALLY want "Kool Thing" on there, I could live with that.

Oh yeah, and as for the seeds, I think "Schizophrenia", "Teenage Riot", and "Silver Rocket" should probably get the top spots. "Mote" and "'Cross the Breeze" need to get moved down, "Candle" could probably move up a bit. And if "Kool Thing" stays on, it should definitely be a very low seed.


Not bad, but I think "Bull in the Heather" and "100%" should get much higher seeds, and maybe a song like "Skip Tracer" shouldn't be so high. I'd also rather see "Saucer-Like" than either "On the Strip" or "Washing Machine".


I think "NYCG&F" got much too high of a seed. "Anagrama" and "Unmade Bed" should replace "Nevermind" and "Paper Cup Exit", IMO. And maybe "Hits of Sunshine" over "Heather, Angel"?

I think Wish Fullfilment, PCH, Macbeth, and Genetic all need to be put in.

that looks good. I like the world looks red, but it wouldn't go very far compared to the rest so leave it off.

I'm going to try to get some more suggestions, but just to let you know... on the old board about two years ago there was a very intense survivor that "voted off" each of the songs off all their albums. The winner at the end was "NYCG&F", second was "Cross the Breeze" (it got robbed), Diamond Sea got knocked off early but is an obvious favorite of pretty much everyone, and "Expressway" is considered a masterpiece. From there, I took the songs that won from their original albums. If I remember correctly, they were "I'm Insane", "Bro James", "Mote", "Stereo Sanctity" (Schizo did well), "Rain on Tin", "Sweet Shine", "Dripping Dream", etc.

The suggestions so far are good. Sister is underrepresented, though DDN has seven songs, so I don't think it needs any more. "Genetic" should make the cut.

I agree "Heather, Angel" (though one of my personal favorites) should be replaced by "Unmade Bed".

I'll try to work the rest out after I get some more suggestions.