Best Decade Tournament 2000s: mike wins for realz!

[numbers]

the bracket link is in the main page. Seeds were shuffled. Byes were given to everyone who was on the 'just skip my turn' list plus Abnorman for the playlists and Letmesleep for helping to run the night shift. If Iholdthepain doesn't make it numbers will get a bye, but he won the last tournament.

Give yourself a bye over me, Stip.

No need

Son of a bitch.

[Heathen]

Okay, so for my last two picks... There are so many artists I wanted to include. I can't believe I'm going to walk away with a team lacking Pearl Jam, They Might Be Giants, Ryan Adams, Glen Hansard, Arctic Monkeys and Sufjan Stevens. When I started planning for this, I thought for sure they would all be locks. But here we are.

For my 9th pick I'm going with The Decemberists. They are my favorite band from this decade, hands down. Actually, they were the first band to knock Pearl Jam from the top spot on my favorite list.

The question is, which Decemberists song will I take? The Crane Wife is my favorite of their albums. So, I should probably grab something from that record. But that record is already represented in this tournament. And since you just can't go wrong with any Decemberists track, I'll dip back a bit further to their sophomore effort, Her Majesty, and the first Decemberists song I ever heard.

In Pembroke City when I was young
I lived by the Castle Keep
And six cold pennies is all I earned
To work... as a chimbley sweep....



The Decemberists - The Chimbley Sweep

what an odd song. I liked this, but not as much as the other decemberist song.

Rank the Decemberists songs you've heard.

You're going to regret this post, I assure you.

1. That song varis picked
2. That song dct picked

I concur.

Do you want me to rank the ones I've heard now?

I don't.

[stip]

For my final pick, we go back to late September of 2006 and the single most significant day of my life. Are there better songs from this decade? Yes. Many. But there are none that mean more to me. On each of my teams so far I've giving one spot to a song for my wife. This will be no different.

It wasn't our first dance as husband and wife and it wasn't our last. But it was something special, a dance that I still feel every autumn.



Johnny Cash - Rose of my Heart

now I feel like an asshole for not drafting at my most beautiful last tournament.

[stip]

that was lovely, joey

[epilogue]

Okay, so for my last two picks... There are so many artists I wanted to include. I can't believe I'm going to walk away with a team lacking Pearl Jam, They Might Be Giants, Ryan Adams, Glen Hansard, Arctic Monkeys and Sufjan Stevens. When I started planning for this, I thought for sure they would all be locks. But here we are.

For my 9th pick I'm going with The Decemberists. They are my favorite band from this decade, hands down. Actually, they were the first band to knock Pearl Jam from the top spot on my favorite list.

The question is, which Decemberists song will I take? The Crane Wife is my favorite of their albums. So, I should probably grab something from that record. But that record is already represented in this tournament. And since you just can't go wrong with any Decemberists track, I'll dip back a bit further to their sophomore effort, Her Majesty, and the first Decemberists song I ever heard.

In Pembroke City when I was young
I lived by the Castle Keep
And six cold pennies is all I earned
To work... as a chimbley sweep....



The Decemberists - The Chimbley Sweep

what an odd song. I liked this, but not as much as the other decemberist song.

Rank the Decemberists songs you've heard.

You're going to regret this post, I assure you.

1. That song varis picked
2. That song dct picked

I concur.

Do you want me to rank the ones I've heard now?

I don't.

Are you sure? I could whip it up in about an hour or so. No trouble.

[ABNorman]

Well, at least this way I'll make it to round 2 before being knocked out.

[epilogue]

that was lovely, joey

Glad you liked it. It gets me every time.

[Brett]

Brett takes:

Evangelista - Hello, Voyager!

is this really 12 minutes of a band tuning with a jack white impersonator squawking on a soapbox?

Seriously, what was the draw of this song for you? This is baffling.

Jack White impersonator? How do you equate Carla Bozulich's voice with his? That's what's truly baffling. Did you finish listening to it? I admit it does have a bit of a "tuning-up" feel at the beginning, but it evolves into a pretty dark drone for most of its duration.

The biggest draw for me here is a bit on the unusual side as it's the lyrics first followed closely by the mood. I can relate to them in a small part, as I can to most of Carla's lyrics, because I've dealt with depression, and I've dealt with being a bit of an outsider. Granted, I've not had even a fraction of the difficulties she speaks to in this song, and many others. I'm not gay, I'm not a woman, I've not had a history with drugs and homelessness, I'm not part of any number of other oppressed groups or classes, besides growing up poor and not being much better off now. But I can still relate to a point, and I can still empathize. So that's the draw.

The lyrics, if anyone's curious:

Spoiler: show

Voyagers! Open your cramped legs locked in that flying suit of lights. Open your eyes. You are with us now. Adjust your eyes to the dark. We are all the same. A small group of lucky aces bound together in black air burning out our hopeful eyes. Dust and wind bleed out the skies. Monuments, architecture,flat at our feet. Rubble and blood, rubble and blood, rubble and blood. Still! Still I stand before you, dear stranger and I say: Yes! Yes, we can climb out from the tangled metal and cement and say: Yes!. Yes, we can look upon the dark sky of day and say: I never was who I seemed to be.

When there's no hope. When there's no hope left, there is only one word, one word, one word that has dried on your parched lips. Can you say it with me? Can you say it with me? Can you say it with me? The word is love! The word is love! The word is love! Love! Tell the truth and be free. This is my hit and run. This is my porn collection. This me feeling superior to you. This is me selling you out when you needed me most. This my huge, diseased, throbbing prick. This is my homosexual inclinations. This is me loving someone I'm not supposed to love. Is this me? This is what I don't want people to see. Look upon them and let me be free, let me be free, let me be free, let me be free.

This is me I don't think normal people, doing things, doing things I don't think normal people do. But I can see you. Haha. You're dirty too, you're dirty too, through and through, you're dirty too. We are reigning in the dust. And when there's no hope, when there's no hope, there's only one word. There's only one word that hasn't dried on your parched lips. The word is love. Can you say it with me? Love! Can you say it with me? Love! Can you say it with me?

There's only one word that has hasn't dried completely in your parched throat. Can you say it with me? The word is love.

It's a powerful sentiment. Was this what drew you to her, or were you already a fan?

I knew of her before, but it was on that album that I first listened and became a fan of her work, though I wasn't introduced through that song.

[Heathen]

heathen, what decemberist album should I listen? They're going to be my first priority after this tournament. Them and that guy from bigredledbetter's high school.

My favs are The Crane Wife, Picaresque and Castaways and Cutout. My least favs are Her Majesty and the last one so you should probably listen to any of these two.

[ABNorman]

I'd listen to the Crane Wife. That's what I first heard of them.

[BigRedLedbetter]

I liked KOL's most recent album.

It was better than the previous two, that's for sure.

I think Only By The Night actually gets a bad rap because of the backlash caused by it's popularity. Come Around Sundown was pretty shitty, though.

Agreed with this. I don't love OBTN but it's solid. Not to sound like a pretentious hipster I don't really follow what is popular or not so I was shocked back then when I realized how huge KoL was getting.

I think Cold Desert might be their best song.

Agreed I liked maybe 1-2 songs of CAS.

Yeah, A-Ha Shake Heartbreak is far and away my favorite, but I dont think OBTN is awful it's a good album. People just hate it because it was so popular, people that liked them before it came out resent it for that reason, other people hate on it simply because it was so huge.

Seriously. I don't get it. Some people out of principal just hate on something cuz it's popular. These same people probably love The Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt Pepper, Jagged Little Pill, Nevermind, Led Zeppelin IV, etc. *scratches head*

Born in the USA is a great example. That album gets shit on but it's fantastic. I will totally admit I like Nebraska and Darkness better but Born in the USA has some classic Springsteen songs. If you don't like I'm On Fire? I don't know about you.

[BigRedLedbetter]

I'd listen to the Crane Wife. That's what I first heard of them.

I second the Crane Wife.

I'm probably in the minority here but I really enjoyed The King is Dead.

[Heathen]

If you don't like I'm On Fire? I don't know about you.

I had a traumatic sexual experience to this song once and I've hated it ever since.

[BigRedLedbetter]

If you don't like I'm On Fire? I don't know about you.

I had a traumatic sexual experience to this song once and I've hated it ever since.

So there's that.

[epilogue]

heathen, what decemberist album should I listen? They're going to be my first priority after this tournament. Them and that guy from bigredledbetter's high school.

My favs are The Crane Wife, Picaresque and Castaways and Cutout. My least favs are Her Majesty and the last one so you should probably listen to any of these two.

Rank the Decemberists' albums, you say? Don't mind if I do:

1. The Crane Wife
2. Her Majesty
3. Hazards of Love
4. Castaways and Cutouts
5. Picaresque
6. The King is Dead

But none of them are bad. And all of them have songs that off the hook.

[stip]

If you don't like I'm On Fire? I don't know about you.

I had a traumatic sexual experience to this song once and I've hated it ever since.

[Kaius]

Ok, last pick. I wanted to make sure Heathen would like it good and plenty.

Local Natives - Who Knows Who Cares

[BigRedLedbetter]

Ok, last pick. I wanted to make sure Heathen would like it good and plenty.

Local Natives - Who Knows Who Cares

I'm seeing them today! Pretty excited.

[Kaius]

Jealous

[BigRedLedbetter]

Jealous

My buddy saw LN open for the National at Red Rocks and said he liked LN better. Which is a huge compliment in my eyes.

Pretty excited for this festival today. It's about time I see Head and the Heart. Death Cab is headlining and Walla (who produced a couple Decemberists albums) said this week he is leaving the band after this tour. I guess they were great last night in Dallas.