Acclaimed Music Forums

After three rounds, 21 weeks, and a few months, it all comes down to this. Four songs are left, one will walk out a champion. (Fun fact: not one, but TWO of the songs in the final bracket won their first round bracket in week 1).

So here's how the game works: You will be given four brackets with four songs each. Your job is to rank the songs in each bracket from 1-4. You #1 song will be given 4 points, #2 will be given 3, and so on. The winner of each bracket advances to the next round. In the event of tie, whichever song gets more first place votes will advance.

Here they are, our final four:

9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)

Wow, I don't know what I expected, but this group just seems unexpected to me. Three electronic songs! However, we have three very forum-acclaimed bands, and one song (EtS) that just should have been in Bracktology 1 or 2 if the critics knew better, so it probably all makes sense.

1. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)

2. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
3. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
4. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)

Time of the Season: Easy number one here, such a catchy, trippy song.
Idioteque: The call on 2 and 3 was tough, but in the end "this is really happening" gives Radiohead the clear edge.
Enjoy the Silence: One of the best songs I discovered in the poll, I wish I could put it higher.
Someone Great: A good song, but nothing that I absolutely love about it.

Had "When the Levee Breaks" made it (one point!!!!) it would have handily been my #1

38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)

Super close between Someone Great and ETS, both are two of my all time faves, while ETS is more of a "classic" innovative song, Someone Great is just more visceral in the end.

LCD Soundsystem- Someone Great
Depeche Mode- Enjoy the Silence
Radiohead- Idioteque
The Zombies- Time of the Season

237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)

All brilliant songs, though I'm less familiar with Enjoy The Silence.

From the beginning, I was hoping Frank Ocean's "Pyramids" won this, simply because it's such an epic modern masterpiece. But I certainly can't complain about any of these great songs...

The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968) 10
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990) 9
Radiohead - Idioteque (2000) 9
LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007) 8

Very unusual final. Not what I thought at all!

Enjoy the Silence
Time of the Season
Idioteque
Someone Great

Had either Zeppelin song or "Wake Up" advanced, they would have easily won.

47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)

237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)

Strange but good finalists isnt'it?

237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)

9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)

Congrats to the Zombies for beating in semi final 3 songs I would have predicted as potential finalists at the beginning of the game, but Time of the Season is a clear 4th here. Ranking the other 3 though proved very difficult, Enjoy the Silence was one of my very favorite songs as a teen, Idioteque is a landmark in the construction of my grown-up music tastes and Someone Great a big favorite of this past 10 years.
For the last all time songs poll, I had Idioteque at 127 and Someone Great at 117 but I feel like today's order is the right one.

47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990) - classic!
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000) - modern classic
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968) - semi-classic.
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007) - really surprise here, imo.

237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968) - my 883rd favorite song of all time
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007) - my 942nd favorite song of all time
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990) - my 3549th favorite song of all time
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000) - not in my top 4000 songs

1. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
2. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
3. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
4. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)

A little late to jump into this game, but:

1. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
2. Radiohead - Idioteque
3. Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence
4. The Zombies - Time Of The SEason

237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968) 10
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000) 9
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007) 8
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990) 7

38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)

9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)

It looks like a super-close race!

After all these amazing weeks a little bit a dissapointing finale. No bad songs, but three of these were actually last on my list last week. Luckily, there is Someone Great, something great!

1. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
2. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
3. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
4. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)

Henrik wrote:It looks like a super-close race!

Before Rob's vote, the scores were, from lowest to highest: 44, 45, 45, 46.

237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)

Thanks!

A great selection for the finals! Thanks for hosting this, Listyguy!

1. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
2. The Zombies - Time of the Season
3. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
4. Radiohead - Idioteque

1. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
2. The Zombies - Time of the Season
3. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
4. Radiohead - Idioteque

Or, The Vindication of James Murphy. After not voting for "Someone Great" in the previous two rounds, I finally have my chance, as it's easily my favorite of the four finalists (with "Time of the Season" coming in a close second). As several have said, this is a very unexpected group, although they're all great tracks. This has been a lot of fun - thanks!

38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)

Keep the votes coming!

Many thanks Listyguy for hosting this third edition of Bracketology. Although I was an active participant of the first edition I completely missed the second edition. I'm glad to have participated in an edition with many songs from the current decade, if only for the fact that I noticed how I'm (quoting the likely winner of the game) "losing my edge." Week after week I noticed that I honestly preferred the older songs. I'm not too fond of many of these actual synth-pop revivalists, some of the modern R&B and rap-pop and some recent indie-rock. Surely it's my fault; I should check the songs in lower positions on the critics' lists giving the fact the songs on the higher positions haven't impressed me enough.

As you're about to see, my votes on the final are in exact chronological order:
1. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
2. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
3. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
4. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)

I'm not ashamed of putting the oldie at #1. The Zombies' psychedelic-pop masterpiece is my #55 favourite song of all time and it has many charms like the jazz flavours, the gulp & aah (taken probably from Hendrix's "Purple Haze"), the fantastic organ solo by Rod Argent and especially the harmonic twist and the backing vocals on the line "it's the time of the season for loving."

#2 and #3 are two excellent songs by two bands I love, Depeche Mode and Radiohead. "Enjoy the Silence" is a synth-pop classic with a fantastic chord sequence and a superb guitar riff (the few guitar performances on Depeche Mode songs were always outstanding). And "Idioteque" showed Radiohead at its most experimentalist (using samples of 70s German electronica as I learned when I was doing my thread about covers) but retaining addictive vocal melodies that were about to lose in successive releases.

About "Someone Great" I admit that it's a song (and a band) I don't like too much. Thank to this Bracketology 3, especially to the comment of Rob about the lyrics that took me there, I began to appreciate the song much more. I suffered recently the decease of a loved one and I acknowledge that lines like "The worst is all the lovely weather, / I'm stunned, it's not raining. / The coffee isn't even bitter, / Because, what's the difference?" hit the spot perfectly to describe these situations. Anyway it's still an easy #4 for me in the company of these three other monsters.

Many thanks again Listyguy and Happy New Year to everyone at the Forum…

1


2


3
[imgsize 200x200]http://www.nazariograziano.com/wp-conte ... aziano.jpg[/imgsize]

4
[imgsize 200x300]http://cloud.freehandmusic.netdna-cdn.c ... timeof.png[/imgsize]

47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968) - I always like this one more than I think I do.
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007) - LCD is my favorite group of the four, but this is probably my least favorite LCD song.

We're down to two days! Get your vote in!

ONE MORE DAY. VOTE. DO IT.

47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)

38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)

47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)

Honorio wrote: #2 and #3 are two excellent songs by two bands I love, Depeche Mode and Radiohead. "Enjoy the Silence" is a synth-pop classic with a fantastic chord sequence and a superb guitar riff (the few guitar performances on Depeche Mode songs were always outstanding). And "Idioteque" showed Radiohead at its most experimentalist (using samples of 70s German electronica as I learned when I was doing my thread about covers) but retaining addictive vocal melodies that were about to lose in successive releases.…

I am always grateful and appreciative for the insights Honorio provides in his comments.

Unfortunately, I still find Idioteque to be mediocre in terms of enjoyment and satisfaction. But, at least I now have a better idea of what others find appealing in the song

237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (1968)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (1990)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (2000)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (2007)

And here are the final results:
237. The Zombies - Time of the Season (81, 10)
47. Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (78, 8)
38. LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great (76, 10)
9. Radiohead - Idioteque (65, 2)

I don't know where to begin on this one. The fact that one of the lowest seeds (237 of 256) won, that the four songs ended up in reverse seed order, that in a game dominated by post-2000 songs, the 60s still managed to reign supreme. Regardless of how you slice it, The Zombies come out on top in a nail bitter. Every song except "Idioteque" held the lead for a good portion of the week. "Enjoy the Silence" held it early in the week, "Time of the Season" took over a day or two later, then "Someone Great" held it near the end of the week before TOTS regained it yesterday.

What a thriller! Thanks for a very enjoyable game, Listyguy!

I already look forward to a bracketology 4, to see if "Seasons", "Two weeks" and other new favorites can beat the next layer of classic songs.

A great game, thanks for hosting Listyguy.

Time of the Season is a song I like without loving it, so it isn't an ideal winner for me, but I've discovered a lot of great songs on the way and that's what this is foremost about to me, so no serious complaints.

Great game, Listyguy! I'm a bit saddened "Someone Great" didn't win, but oh well! "Time of the Season" is a worthy winner!

I understand the reasons why Listyguy describes how "The Zombies come out on top in a nail bitter" even if I'm delighted by the fact. Anyway many thanks Listyguy for hosting the game (and many thanks Henry for your words).

Thanks for the kind words everyone! More importantly, thanks for voting, it made the game possible!

Thank you Listyguy, you did a fantastic job running this game, especially when it came to making sure everything ran in a timely manner

Thank you for running this Listguy, and everyone for participating. Found some great new music and am looking forward to bracketology 4!