This is a tough one - neither of these songs deserve to advance.
Better Days: Eddie does sound great on it, but the new age treacle is grating, and while I appreciate the expansive and exotic feel he is going for with the music, it doesn't quite work (and almost feels condescending, though it remarkably manages to capture the profundity a middle aged white yoga instructor must imagine they feel on their first trip to India)
Bushleaguer: The music is fantastic, and it is a great chorus. But Eddie cannot do spoken word well, and the lyrics were a profound letdown when I first heard this song. I had a lot invested in Eddie really tearing into Bush and was looking forward to both a cathartic release and memorable turns of phrase that would carry me through the administration. What we got actually makes sense in the larger context of Riot Act, but it was not what I needed then and it's not like it's aged well since then. He does a better job on S/T.
Better Days is more offensive then Bushleaguer, but I never had cause to resent it, so I guess it gets my vote. I just realized there is a very real chance the winner of this song is going to be up against Leatherman in the next round, so I can't even look forward to voting it out then.
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 12:36 am
by tragabigzanda
Leatherman is a jangly garage rock gem you fool
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 12:39 am
by stip
I love REM almost as much as Pearl Jam, too, and yet...
Looking at the bracket, I might be stuck voting in a Leatherman vs In the Moonlight matchup in round fucking 3.
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 1:15 am
by Jaeti
stip wrote:Bushleaguer: The music is fantastic, and it is a great chorus. But Eddie cannot do spoken word well, and the lyrics were a profound letdown when I first heard this song.
Hearing this music and pre-chorus/chorus ultimately go to waste on this song is one of the biggest missed opportunities in the catalog for me.
But I'm still voting for it on the strength of those two components.
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 2:20 am
by PHATJ
Better Days, by just a little.
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 2:48 am
by Monkey_Driven
Bushleaguer
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 9:47 am
by Higgs
Bushleaguer it is. Better Days is pretty meh.
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 12:16 pm
by EJ
I like both of these quite a bit. But, Bushleaguer takes it here. Love the groove of this song. The spoken word doesn't bother me anymore.
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 2:50 pm
by Stardog Champion
There was a time that I was really moved by Better Days. Now I've gotten to a point where I haven't listened to that track in the last several years. I'm honestly not sure anymore what I used to see in that song.
Re: 42. Better Days vs. Bu$hleaguer
Posted: Mon March 15, 2021 4:31 pm
by VinylGuy
Stardog Champion wrote:There was a time that I was really moved by Better Days. Now I've gotten to a point where I haven't listened to that track in the last several years. I'm honestly not sure anymore what I used to see in that song.
yeah, i kinda liked it when it came out and i never ever listened to it again.