You guys gave me four songs each. I had to first figure out what was the best submission from each of you, and then determine a winner between the two of you. And now I've got a winner. But first, a word to each of you.
theseoafs -
You started in this roulette as a fine young man. You had your failings, but you pulled yourself out of the mud. Round Five saw an incredible comeback, as you went from having 0 points to becoming a contender in the final round.
Jaffa -
I never doubted you for a second, and you've delivered every step of the way. Your performance in this roulette has been stellar, and you've surprised me with how good some of your submissions turned out to be. I had a hunch you'd make it to the final round from the get go. I'm happy it turned out that way. (And no, I didn't let that influence my decisions.
)
Now we'll turn to the songs of the final round!
theseoafs, your submissions all revolved around classic rock hits. You gave me "Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp, "Nightswimming" by R.E.M., and "Last Dance" by Donna Summer. Now, I know those songs (some better than others). They're all terrific, 8/10's or better. But the best song you gave me was "The Last Resort" by The Eagles.
I must confess, I've never been an Eagles guy. I don't get "Hotel California" or "Take It Easy" or...well, that's pretty much all I knew by them before now.
So I was skeptical when I saw an Eagles song in your list. I thought it was going to be a snoozefest after I saw that it exceeded the 7-minute mark. How pleasantly surprised I was to be wrong!
"The Last Resort" blew me away, to put it simply. I've always been a fan of apocalyptic songs (if that makes sense), so this really hit the nail on the head in that respect. I was literally captivated by everything in the song - the music, the mood, the lyrics. Heck, the lyrics were sheer poetry. Songs like these tell a story about the state we human beings find ourselves in. theseoafs, you've won yourself an Eagles convert!
Jaffa, you sent me four songs as well. Two of the songs were
killer and would have guaranteed your victory...but I knew them already. Those were "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera and "Fly Like An Eagle" by The Steve Miller Band. 10/10 songs, both of them. But I know them all too well.
The other two songs you gave me were Muse's "Hysteria" and Deep Purple's "Strangeways". I've heard loads about Muse but I never bothered to check them out. "Hysteria" is their most popular song, and I must say, it wasn't my cup of tea. I knew it before, and it still just didn't do anything for me. So I'm going to judge Deep Purple.
You're very fortunate, then, that the song I didn't know was so good. Literally this head made my head spin. I don't know if you would call it "prog" (I personally have a hard time identifying what counts as prog) but it was something you could see a non-metal Dream Theater putting out. Technical rhythms, instrumental wackiness, all around craziness. When I finished listening, I was just like WTF, in a good way. Golden submission.
Now it is time to reveal the winner.
And the winner is....
...
..
.
theseoafs! Congratulations, friend!
It was such a close bout. I kept going back in forth in my head as to who should win the round. But after listening to each song several times, I finally came to a decision. But trust me when I say that it was
so close.
Thanks everyone for participating! Sorry about the delays. I hope you had fun! Thanks to all of you, I have some great new music under my belt.