Iron Maiden Survivor 2016 - Somewhere In Time - Final Round

[425]

Round 6 Tiebreaker Results:

Stranger In a Strange Land - 15 votes - 53.6%
Alexander the Great - 13 votes - 46.4%


Eliminated:
1.
2.
3. Stranger In a Strange Land
4. Wasted Years
5. Sea of Madness
6. Heaven Can Wait
7. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
8. Deja Vu


In a close tiebreaker vote, Stranger In a Strange Land is sent to consolations and Alexander the Great moves on to finals along with Caught Somewhere In Time.

____________

One more vote. Let's see if this thing matches my album rankings exactly. Now, these are both really good songs. But the opener is just too good, so I have to vote for

Alexander the Great

[CharlesPL]

Alexander the Great easily

[Outcrier]

Alexander

[Kwyjibo]

Alex

[sneakyblueberry]

didn't know people loved the title track so much! 

[425]

Neither did I! I'm pleasantly surprised, though I like Alexander as well.

I guess this is as good a time as any to share my personal story about how CSIT affected my music-listening life, since it's seemingly on the verge of winning the album survivor.

Caught Somewhere In Time was one of the four songs that got me into Iron Maiden (and, consequently, into being a serious music fan). The first three were When the Wild Wind Blows, The Clansman and Brave New World. Of course, I did think that all these songs were cool musically, but the lyrics were the main focus for me. I was extremely musically illiterate at the time (still am with regard to any sort of theory thing, but I'm talking I didn't really know how to identify basic rock instruments by ear or even how to tell when a guitar solo was happening back then), though, and the big draw for me on those three was that I liked the lyrics a lot—it was cool to find a band that sang about history and literature.

Caught Somewhere In Time was the fourth Iron Maiden song I heard, and it was the one that sealed the deal for me. On that one, the lyrics are kinda cool but there's not really a profound meaning to them—not the type of thing that would catch the attention of someone looking for obviously intelligent lyrics. So this was the first song that I really loved for the musical aspect, without lyrics being a factor at all. That intro caught my attention right off the bat. That riff is crazy awesome. And the rest of the song was just as cool—and exciting!—musically. This one really had it all for me from a musical standpoint, and it's the one that completely sold me on this band (which, as I alluded to, was my gateway to Metallica and Rush and eventually then to Dream Theater and almost everything else from there). I remember the first time I heard this song thinking, okay, I'm definitely going to be an Iron Maiden fan.

And this song still excites me to this day, every time. It's a fantastic track that really demonstrates the level of  energy and melody that metal can bring when it's at its best. Truly deserving of classic status, in my biased opinion.

[Zydar]

Alexander the Great easily

[MirrorMask]

didn't know people loved the title track so much!

Didn't expect a landslide victory of it either!

I believe however that the survivor system may throw off balance the actual liking someone has for a song, because when it's all about not picking your favorite, but voting out the least favorite, it changes the mindset of how one goes into voting.

People spot a song they dislike and they vote against it, then there's a song that's overplayed or they don't like its commercial sound and they vote against it etc and so in the end a song that has no specific "faults" comes unscathed until the end. And maybe other votes take away people's favorite song so in the end they all converge on a song they wouldn't have picked straight away as favorite.

It's kinda like an election, you want to make sure this or that party or politician does not get the office and what you remain with is the best "compromise" candidate that everyone can agree with.

Then of course it's just a case of people really liking a song, but so far Caught Somewhere in Time is having a massive victory that not even the universally acclaimed Hallowed Be Thy Name had against Children of the Damned in the final "666" round.

[sneakyblueberry]

I think Alexander is one of the greatest things Maiden ever did, personally.  And I think CSIT kinda goes nowhere.

[425]

I'm definitely surprised by the one-sided nature of these results. I myself don't think that CSIT is a 79-21 better song than Alexander. More like a 55-45.

[Outcrier]

At the beginning, i thought Alexander would easily win this one. If not that, it would still win with a some votes ahead of the runner up.

But Caught Somewhere the champion and with that many votes ahead? Unexpected.

[Mladen]

Very unexpected, even though it's a fantastic song.

[jjrock88]

Alexander

[wolfking]

Alexander the Great easily

[cramx3]

Alexander the Great easily

CSiT is easily the best on this album IMO