Going to kick things off with the results from Week 1:-
The Lemonheads 30 Spoon 11
The Indelicates 11 Kitchens of Distinction 28
Butcher Boy 28 The Magnetic Fields 8
The Feelies 17 Paul Quinn 21
Big Audio Dynamite 32 The Streets 9
Talk Talk 24 Death In Vegas 18
Sonic Youth 25 Billy Joel 14
PJ Harvey 25 Malcolm Ross 16
Associates 15 Edwyn Collins 26
LCD Soundsystem 5 New Order 36
The Cramps 32 Shit Robot 5
Deacon Blue 5 The Wedding Present 35
The Police 25 v Captain Beefheart 13
The Charlatans 26 The Mekons 14
Saint Etienne 28 v The Sugarplastic 10
Tilly and The Wall 5 Orange Juice 37
No real drama this week – only The Feelies/Paul Quinn match-up saw the tie see-sawing occasionally back and forth; all the other winners established early leads which they built on. I think what it does show is that if a truly legendary song is aired, as in the case of Blue Monday, then even an opponent as strong, on paper, as LCD Soundsystem really are up against it. The rules of this competition mean that New Order can’t be represented by that song again…which could be crucial if they make the latter stages.
Thanks to everyone who voted – and I really appreciated the occasional piece of commentary – it was interesting to see that some of the choices were very tough. But guess what….it doesn’t get any easier, although in saying that, the really big match-ups are in weeks 3 and 4. The 16 ties in week 2 may lack some of the glamour, but there’s plenty of intriguing match-ups and I can guarantee that some households, particularly in the south-west of the UK, will be bemoaning the random nature of the draw.
Deadline is Friday 26 January, midnight UK time. Once again, don’t feel you have to vote in all instances.
Gemma Ray v The Lightning Seeds
Fist Of A Flower (from ‘Lights Out Zoltar!’ 2009) v You Showed Me (from Dizzy Heights, 1996)
The Woodentops v The Go-Betweens (2)
Plenty (single, 1984) v The Wrong Road (from Liberty Belle and The Black Diamond Express, 1986)
Mission of Burma v The Smiths
Slow Faucet (from ‘The Sound The Speed The Light’, 2009) v Accept Yourself (12″ b-side, 1983)
A Certain Ratio v Arab Strap
Lucinda (from Sextet, 1982) v The First Big Weekend (single, 1996)
Supergrass v Wire (2)
Richard III (from In It For The Money, 1997) v Another The Letter (from Chairs Missing, 1978)
Queens of the Stone Age v The Fall
Monsters In The Parasol (from Rated R, 2000) v 15 Ways (from Permanent Records, 1994)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions v Half Man Half Biscuit
Strict Time (from Trust, 1981) v 1966 And All That (from Trumpton Riots EP, 1986)
Prefab Sprout (2) v The Blue Aeroplanes
Enchanted (from From Langley Park to Memphis, 1988) v Bury Your Love Like Treasure (from Spitting Out Miracles, 1987)
Beach House v British Sea Power
Tim Badger’s two favourite bands go head-to-head. The TV companies snatched this one up:-
Space Song (from Depression Cherry (2015)
Waving Flags (from Do You Like Rock Music 2008)
Magazine v Prince (live)
The Light Pours Out Of Me (from Real Life, 1978) v The Whole Of The Moon (live at Paisley Park, 2 May 2015)
Lambchop v Martha & the Muffins
The Old Gold Shoe (from Nixon, 2000) v Black Stations / White Stations (from Mystery Walk, 1984)
Everything But The Girl v The Libertines
Draining The Bar (from Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, 1986) v All At Sea (b-side, 2004)
Kanye West v SBTRKT
Runaway (from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2010) v Sanctuary (from SBTRKT, 2011)
Talking Heads v Massive Attack
Paper (from Fear of Music, 1979) v Man Next Door (single, 1999)
The Twilight Sad v Pavement
Sick (from No One Can Ever Know, 2012) v Summer Babe (from Slanted and Enchanted, 1992)
The Orwells v Pete Wylie
The Righteous One (single, 2014) v Remember (single by Shambeko Say Wah!, 1982)
The next 16 ties will be revealed next Saturday. Trust me, you will be taking time off work to tune into to some of the match-ups.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
L seeds , easy one
Go betweens , plenty is a killer but cant vote against the gbs and wrong road is fantastic
Smiths
Arab strap
Wire
Fall had to toss a coin on this one both would have lost to woodentops
Half man
Prefab sprout
British seapower
Magazine
Lambchop
Evbtg , i love ebtg as much as i dont like libertines
Sbrt , another coin toss
Talking heads
Twighlight sad
Pete wylie
Aw, man! How could you put my favorite Elvis song up against HMHB?!?
Anyway…
Gemma (because she loves me)
Woodentops (G-B’s too sad for me)
Smiths (with apologies to the Boston scene)
Arab Strap (JC was wearing an AS t-shirt when I met him)
Wire (for longevity)
The Fall (for curmudgeonly longevity)
Elvis (AAARRGHH!!)
Blue Aeroplanes (because eloquence)
Beach House (since they come from down the block)
Magazine (wins on brilliance)
Lambchop (Muffins were 1-hit wonders no matter what anyone thinks)
EBTG (Libertines had it and lost it in 10 minutes)
SBTRKT (because Kanye is a douche)
Talking Heads (their importance to modern music still not fully recognized)
Pavement (this isn’t a serious matchup, right?)
Orwells (because they’re all younger than my son)
Lightning Seeds
Wooden Tops
Mission of Burma
A Certain Ratio
Supergrass
The Fall
Elvis
Prefab Sprout (and one of my all time faves by them)
Beach House
Prince
Lamchop
EBTG (seriously under-rated album)
SBTRK
Massive Attack
Pavement
Pete Wylie
JC, what I haven’t understood so far about the concept of this all: who in your team chooses the songs?! Or is it some drunken derelict you randomly pick up in front of Nice ‘N’ Sleazy’s and then take home with you ??? Jesus Christ, what a bitter bunch of combinations at times! Aah, either way:
– Gemma Ray
– Woodentops (Blasphemy? Perhaps!)
– Smiths (a goalless draw basically, both songs were no good at all. Where was ‘Revolver’?)
– Arab Strap
– Wire
– Queens Of The Stone Age (note to myself: attention when having the next International Chancers meeting: Drew might spit in my beer when I’m on the lavy!)
– Half Man Half Biscuit (they simply can’t lose, can they? Also I’m wearing their ‘Achtung Bono’ T-shirt at this very moment, so ….)
– Blue Aeroplanes
– British Sea Power
– Magazine (no question about that, that’s for sure!)
– Martha & The Muffins (a game which gives “the lesser of two evils” a new definition, but Martha was a minute shorter, so she wins!)
– Everything But The Girl (my favorite song of theirs, and The Libertines were ace as well, a hard one!)
– Kanye West (both tunes goddamn awful, would someone give this derelict m.a. a good smacking, please?!)
– Talking Heads (won by miles!)
– Pavement
– Orwells (sorry Pete, but ‘Remember’ is not your finest moment, it must be said!)
Hey Dirk
It was all explained in the first posting launching the World Cup.
A coin is tossed. Heads means side A from the ICA, tails means Side B.
A dice is then rolled for the number of the song on whatever side of the ICA is involved.
And no song can be used twice in the competition…..all designed to add to the randomness of the game!!!!!!
Lightning Seeds
Go Betweens
Smiths
Arab Strap
Supergrass
the Fall
HMHB
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power (top song)
Magazine – my tip for the top
Martha and the Muffins
EBTG
SBTRT
Talking Heads
Twilight Sad
Pete Wylie
Love this series. So much work you’re putting in. Did it properly and listened to every track and surprised myself big time.
Gemma Ray,
GBs (reading the book now),
Smiths,
Arab Strap (minor surprise down the Indie Disco),
Wire,
The Fall,
HMHB (major shock, probably the only time I’ll vote against a team I’ve seen live three times, but on the day…)
Prefab Sprout,
BSM,
Magazine,
Lambchop,
EBtG despite a strong turnout by the Libs,
Kanye,
THeads,
Pavement,
Wahlie.
Cheers
Fab series – in the football world cup i’d go for the underdog every time but feel I’m backing the big-hitters mostly here:
Lightning seeds
Go-Betweens
The Smiths
Supergrass
The Fall
Elvis C
Prefabs
EBTG
Talking heads
cheers
Lightning Seeds
The Go-Betweens
The Smiths
Arab Strap
Wire (the toughest match in this round for me)
The Fall
EC & the Attractions (another tricky one)
Prefab Sprout
Beach House
Magazine
Lambchop
EBTG
(Kanye V SBTRKT 0-0)
Talking Heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
First tie is a poser, not too fussed either way but Gemma Ray inches it.
Woodentops
The Smiths
ACR (5-0, Jex Kerr bags a hat trick)
Wire
The Fall
HMHB (in their Dukla Prague inspired away kit)
Blue Aeroplanes
BSP
Prince (Surprisingly good in the air for such a little lad)
Lambchop
EBTG
SBTKRT
Talking Heads (but only just, extra time and all that)
Pavement
Pete Wylie (penalties, sudden death- actually that could have been a Prince joke now I think about it)
Gemma Ray
Go Betweens
Smiths
Supergrass (purely based on the song choice. Hate having to vote against Wire…)
QotSA
HMHB
Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power
Magazine
Martha
Talking Heads
Pavement
the others I missed were all 0-0 aet and the penalties are still being taken…
Lightning Seeds (often forget how good they were)
The Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Supergrass
Queens Of The Stone Age
Half Man Half Biscuit (on penalties)
Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power
Magazine
Martha & The Muffins (yes, they did do more than Echo Beach)
The Libertines (aged surprisingly well, better now than when the hype and expectation surrounded them)
Talking Heads
Pete Wylie
The Go-Betweens
The Smiths
Prefab Sprout
Beach House
Prince (despite being short, was and will be one of the greatest ever)
Martha & the Muffins (agree, one hit wonders – but what a song!)
EBTG
Massive Attack
Gemma
Go -Betweens (but points off for Aussie rules)
Smiths
Arab Strap
Wire
The Fall (although there is every chance they may have fielded an illegible player)
HMHB (next round can’t clash with the Tranmere game)
Prefab Sprout
Beach House
Magazine
Lambchop (Martha to one dimensional – just that one big win)
EBTG (by a distance)
Match abandoned
Talking Heads (taking heart after getting through their tricky preliminary)
Pavement
Pete Wylie (an old head seeing off the young bucks)
Great fun but so hard in places!
Lightning Seeds
The Go-Betweens
ACR
Supergrass
Queens of the Stone Age
HMHB
Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power
Magazine
Marthe & the Muffins
Libertines
Massive Attack
Pavement
The Orwells
After a day of listening on and off in between doing various things:
Gemma Ray (Ian Broudie loses out due to a lacklustre tune – “Pure” or “Sense” would have walked it).
Go-Betweens
Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Supergrass
Fall
Elvis Costello
Blue Aeroplanes (close one)
British Sea Power (good BH tune loses out to my favourite from BSP)
Magazine (confirmed when it popped up on random play driving back from my mother’s!)
Martha & The Muffins (marginally the better of two indifferent efforts in this tie)
Libertines
SBTRKT (purely by the virtue of being slightly less irritating than Kanye)
Talking Heads
Twilight Sad (another close one)
Pete Wylie
Relishing the prospect of difficult choices to come…
It takes ages to get through these, so I’ve done the purple ones and may or may not come back and do the green ones…
Gemma Ray
The Smiths
Supergrass
Half Man Half Biscuit
British Sea Power (a tough match indeed)
Martha & The Muffins
SBTRKT
The Twilight Sad
Lightning Seeds
Go-Betweens
Smiths
the Fall
Half Man Half Biscuit
Martha and The Muffins
Beach House
Prince
Talking Heads
First of all, I’m so pleased Paul Quinn got through!
On to this weeks matches
Lightning Seeds
Go Betweens
Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Wire
Queens of the Stone Age
Elvis Costello
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Magazine
Lambchop
EBTG
SBTRKT
Talking Heads
Twilight Sad
Pete Wylie
You know what, JC? Little Loser has EXACTLY THE SAME COIN in his magic box … I lose every bloody time!!!
Lightning Seeds
Go-Betweens – horrible choice as Plenty is a great song from a great band, but GBs unbeatable here
Smiths
Arab Strap (Although they will regret playing their joker so early)
Supergrass
The Fall
HMHB
Blue Aeroplanes – nearly any other combination of songs would have let to a different result
British Sea Power
Magazine – Another difficult one
Dont care
Libertines
Joe Dolce
Massive Attack
Pavement
Wylie
Phew. Couple of tough ones here: most notably Elvis vs. HMHB. Ironically, the fact that HMHB drew a football-related track swung it for Elvis. Bloody football. 😉
Lightning Seeds
Go-Betweens
The Smiths
Arab Strap
Supergrass
The Fall
Elvis Costello
Prefab Sprout
BSP
Prince
Lambchop
EBTG
Neither
Talking Heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
Lightning Seeds
Woodentops (all about the songs here, bigger fan of Go-Betweens but…)
The Smiths (Jeane and this one song make This Charming Man quite a single)
A Certain Ratio
Wire
The Fall
Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Magazine
Lambchop
EBTG
Talking Heads
Pavement
Quite a bit of foul weather so a couple of matches never made it onto the pitch.
Rain and cold conditions plagued most matches this week:
Lightning Seeds
The Go-Betweens
The Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Wire
The Fall
Elvis Costello + The Attractions
Prefab Sprout
Beach House
Magazine
Martha + The Muffins
Everything But The Girl
Talking Heads
The Twilight Sad
Pete Wylie
lightning seeds (match abandoned when Gemma Ray failed to come out for the second half –ie I disliked it so much i switched it off)
go betweens
smiths
ACR (this one decided on which i’d rather listen to again – i’ve heard The First Big Weekend so many times and it’s clearly the better song but maybe I listened to it too much back in the day)
supergrass
the fall
HMHB (each and every goal a hotly disputed penalty)
Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power (goal of the round with Waving Flags)
magazine
martha and the muffins
everything but the girl
kanye
talking heads
pavement
orwells
Here we go: –
Lightning Seeds
Go-Betweens
Smiths
Arab Strap
Supergrass
Fall
HMHB
Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power
Magazine
Lambchop
EBTG (I really like the Libs but have always loved ‘Draining the bar’)
0-0
Massive Attack
Pavement
Orwells
Lightning Seeds (both songs always appear too slow – the Italians of the 80s perhaps?)
The Woodentops (bit of a shock for me but bad performance by Go Bs)
The Smiths
Arab Strap
Supergrass (They have definately peaked too early but every other song would probably have seen them lose here anyway!)
Queens of the Stone Age (sorry just think this is a better song)
Half Man Half Biscuit (playing like the Peruvians in 1978 – especially their mad keeper)
Blue Aeroplanes (What were PS thinking playing like this!)
Beach House
Magazine (I bet there was ructions in the tunnel after this one – just like their gigs back in the late 70s when Simple Minds often appeared with them)
Martha and the Muffins
The Libertines
Kanye West (cant believe how much I didnt like this game)
Massive Attack
Pavement ( i always feel like I am missing something with Twi Sad – I just dont like them, same irrationality as I have for Chelsea possibly?)
The Orwells
Lightning Seeds
Woodentops
Mission Of Burma
Arab Strap
Supergrass
The Fall
Elvis Costello
Prefab Sprout
Beach House
Prince
Martha and the Muffins
EBTG
Sbtrkt
Massive Attack
Pavement
Pete Wylie
Only been away two weeks and have missed first round and lost The Associates already
I’m voting on the bands , not the track – is that correct ?
Lightning Seeds
Woodentops – although was disappointed when I saw them recently
Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Wire – without whom we wouldn’t have Elastica
The Fall – it’s the Fall no more to say (and Josh Homme is a bit of a knob at times)
Half man Half Biscuit – for Breaking news
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power – everyday
Prince
Martha and the Muffins
Libertines
Sbtrkt
Massive Attack
Pavement
Pete Wylie – a legend
Hello JC,
My picks this week are.
Lightning Seeds
Wooden Tops
Smiths
Arab Strap
Wire
The Fall
HMHB
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Magazine
Martha & Muffins
Libertines
Sorry, both so bad i would rather not choose
Massive Attack
Twilight Sad
Pete Wylie
Cheers Jim
Hi Neil
Sorry you missed out on the earlier stuff.
Everyone is free to vote as they please, but ideally it should be on the song. For instance, in the last round, most readers of this little corner of the internet would likely have said Sonic Youth were more enjoyable to listen to than Billy Joel, but in the match-up, the SY song was a bit of a stinker while Billy’s effort gained a lot of gruding admiration.
In this round, someone who is a huge fan actually went against The Go-Betweens as they aren’t fond of the song that was to be considered against the brilliance of ‘Plenty’ by The Woodentops.
You’re free to change any of your votes if you like.
Lambchop
What’s going on in the world
Brexit, Trump and now Martha and the fucking Muffins I despair
Jules…..your wonderfully acidic sense of humour continually cracks me me up!
The Lambchop v Martha contest feels as if it will go all the way to the wire….and if it’s a tie, I have the casting vote!!
Hello!
here is my choice for this turn (I voted for the songs, not for the Bands) :
The Lightning Seeds
The Woodentops
The Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Wire
Queens of the Stone Age
Half Man Half Biscuit
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Magazine
Lambchop
Everything But the Girl
Kanye West (but really not my cup of tea)
Talking Heads
Pavement
Shambeko Say Wah!
Thanks a lot,
Corwin
Lightning Seeds
Go-Betweens for the win
The Smiths
Arab Strap
Wire
The Fall
Elvis Costello
Prefab Sprout
Beach House
Magazine
Martha & the Muffins
Everything But the Girl
Kanye West
Talking Heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
OK here are the results from the TSOBO camp. Oh and Kanye for title.
Gemma Ray
The Go-Betweens
The Smiths (reluctantly)
Arab Strap
Supergrass
QOTSA
HMHB
The Blue Aeroplanes
BSP
Prince
Lamb chop
Libertines
Kanye
Massive Attack
Pavement
Orwell
much love TSOBO
Lightning Seeds
The Woodentops
The Smiths
ACR
Wire
The Fall
Elvis Costello
The Blue Aeroplanes
Beach House
Magazine
Lamb chop
EBTG
Kanye
Massive Attack
Pavement
Pete Wylie
All the best, strictlyrockers
So hard. Do you think that, if people are not really familiar with the songs, that they’re just voting for their preferred band? Subconscious bias?
Anyway, my votes:
The Lightning Seeds
The Go-Betweens (2)
The Smiths, naturally
Arab Strap
Supergrass
The Fall
Elvis Costello & The Attractions (a very tough call)
The Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power
Magazine
Martha & The Muffins
Everything But The Girl
SBTRKT
Talking Heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
I was a bit of both to be honest – will go 100% for the track next time and hang the consequences
The Lightning Seeds
The Woodentops
The Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Wire
The Fall
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Prince
Lambchop
Everything But The Girl
SBTRKT
Massive Attack
The Twilight Sad
Pete Wylie
Gemma Ray
Woodentops
The Smiths
ACR ( so much prospect on the bench)
Supergrass (keeping them moving to the next round)
The Fall (Come on Sparta F.C.!)
HMHB (what a gem of a performance)
Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power
Magazine
Lambchop (good to be listening to Nixon again, come on you ‘chops)
Libertines
SBTRKT (result based on dancing to SBTRKT in a field at a festival versus watching (on telly) the worst ever Glasto headline appearance )
Massive Attack
Pavement
Pete Wylie
The Lightning Seeds
The Woodentops
The Smiths
Arab Strap
Wire
The Fall
Half Man Half Biscuit
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Magazine
Lambchop
The Libertines
SBTRKT
Talking Heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
Gemma Ray
The Woodentops
Mission of Burma
ACR
HMHB
Beach House
Prince
Libertines
SBTRKT
Massive Attack
Pavement
Pete Wylie
What odds do I get on a Joy New Order/Smiths final?
The Smiths
Supergrass
Elvis Costello
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Everything But The Girl
Massive Attack
The Twilight Sad
Pete Wylie
The Lightning Seeds
The Go-Betweens (2)
The Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Wire
The Fall
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Prefab Sprout (2)
British Sea Power
Prince
Lambchop
Everything But The Girl
Kanye West
Talking Heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
The TV Puppets
Not a band but the nail biting tie
Shari Lewis and Lambchop
V
Annette Mills and Muffin the Mule
It’s all about the song…darn it. Had to pick some upsets
L’seeds
Woodentops
Smiths
Arab Strap
Supergrass….LOVE this song.
Fall
HMHB….I don’t like when Elvis does that funky beat thing…
Prefab
Brit Sea Power….Beach House, Best Coast, etc all make me sleepy
Magazine….just ’cause it starts rockin!
Lambchop…or if neither team showed up?
SBTRKT…I just can’t do Kanye
Massive Attack
Pavement
Orwells…again, it starts rockin.
Hey y’all
Such a shame MES has passed away in the week his team are involved in this.
Lightning Seeds
Go betweens
Smiths
Arab Strap
Wire
The Fall
Elvis C
Prefab Sprout
BSP
Magazine
Lambchop
EBTG
Kanye
Massive Attack
Twilight Sad
Wylie
Thanks.
Gemma Ray
0-0
Smiths
Arab Strap
S’grass
Fall (RIP)
HBHB
0-0
BSP
Magazine
Lambchop
EBTG
0-0
Massive Attack (4-3 aet)
Pavement
Wylie
Hey ho!
Gemma ray
The go-between
Arab strap
Wire
The fall (boo hop)
Half man……
Prefab sprout
Beach house
Magazine
EBTG
Kanye West
Talking heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
No double voting either
Must be getting honest in my dotage
Might call for a VAR though
There you go:
Gemma Ray
The Go-Betweens
The Smiths
Arab Strap
Wire
The Fall
Elvis Costello
The Blue Aeroplanes
British Sea Power
Magazine
Martha And The Muffins
Everything But The Girl
SBTRKT
Talking Heads
Pavement
Pete Wylie
Cheers JC – bring on Round 3.
The Lightning Seeds
The Woodentops
Mission of Burma
A Certain Ratio
Supergrass
The Fall
Elvis Costello
Prefab Sprout
British Sea Power
Magazine
Lambchop
Everything But The Girl
SBTRKT
Talking Heads
The Twilight Sad
Pete Wylie
Deep breath…
Lightning Seeds
The Woodentops
The Smiths
A Certain Ratio
Wire
The Fall
Half Man Half Biscuit
Prefab Sprout
Beach House
Prince
Lambchop
Everything But The Girl
SBTRKT
Massive Attack
Twilight Sad
Shambeko Say Wah!