Announcement: The Great Music Tournament of 2016

[mae]

Are you ready to rock?

This great forum of ours has hosted a number of fun tournaments in the past, but this time I'm excited to announce an entirely new kind of tournament, both unique in theme and scope. I think music is unique amongst the arts in that it instantly can transplant you back in time to when you first heard a given song (even just a few first notes of it) and I think in a lot of ways music (and not movies or books) often define a generation or a specific time period. So we are setting out to determine the best song (track, piece of music, what have you) of the last 70 years. This means we all get to experience lots of amazing tunes throughout, and we need lots of participants to make this worthwhile.

There are lots of various music lists published online: The 100 greatest jazz recordings; Top 7,000 Beatles songs; The 1,001 songs with the word "You" in the title you must hear before you die... But everything is subjective. We can go through Billboard charts and pick the top songs, put them in a list, and be done with it, but that's no fun. Everyone knows those Madonna songs or those songs by The Police. But what about the lesser-known stuff that's often overlooked but is often mind-blowing?

Because everything is subjective, there, of course, cannot be a single authoritative best or top list of anything. But as a musical omnivore, I strongly believe good music knows no genre or time or length or place. So this will be an attempt to have our wonderful membership nominate and vote for what they feel is the best music from a given time period, regardless of genre. When considering seconding these upcoming nominations or voting for them when the time comes, I implore everyone to judge the song solely on its musical and artistic merits. It's perfectly okay to dislike a certain genre of music (jazz, heavy metal, gangsta rap, etc.), but we want to be as inclusive as possible and cover as much of the musical spectrum as we can, and I think we can all agree that if a nomination is being made, the person nominating it feels this piece of music - for them - truly represents an iconic sound, a unique performance, or simply something that takes them back and exemplifies that particular period when the song was released.

All this means is that any and all nominees are welcome, but space is limited. Even though this should be a rather epic tournament (or rather, series of tournaments), we can only have so many nominees before things get really out of control. So, here's what we're going to do:

To determine once and for all the greatest piece of music of the last 70 years (not all-time, just from 1945 to 2014), we will need to run 14 separate tournaments, each covering a time period of five years. This will allow us in the end to get to our finalists for these five-year periods, which will then get to face one another in a battle royale for the top spot. The first period of the 1940s (1945-1949), due to its age, will require 56 nominees. All other periods will be at 112 nominees. Altogether we will be nominating and voting on 1,512 tracks!

So here is the general layout we'll follow:


Period 1: 1945-1949
Period 2: 1950-1954
Period 3: 1955-1959
Period 4: 1960-1964
Period 5: 1965-1969
Period 6: 1970-1974
Period 7: 1975-1979
Period 8: 1980-1984
Period 9: 1985-1989
Period 10: 1990-1994
Period 11: 1995-1999
Period 12: 2000-2004
Period 13: 2005-2009
Period 14: 2010-2014


Why the 1945 to 2014, you may ask? Well, 70 years seemed like a good round number. We will get to go over all music created post-WWII. And separating our picks into five-year periods is a good idea to pit songs against each other that are closer to the same zeitgeist, since I feel that music (but most everything else, really) changes in five-year periods when it comes to decades. So when we talk about '80s music or '80s movies, there's quite a difference between the early '80s and the mid-to-late '80s.

Anyway, I apologize for this lengthy introduction. I'm just very excited that we are about to get this thing moving. When the actual voting will begin is not entirely clear, but it will all depend on the success of the nomination process, which begins on Saturday, December 5, 2015. Please use the time until then to think about what you may want to nominate. Nomination threads will be going up in chronological order, several at a time, starting with the first three periods (1945-1959). Some of the greatest all-time classic early rock 'n roll and pop songs came out during this time, as well as some of the best jazz tunes, so this will be an exciting beginning to what I'm hoping will be a very fun, popular, and definitive tournament.

Participation is very much encouraged and extremely welcomed, but please do follow these guidelines for this nomination process (subject to adjustment):


You can nominate one track per post, and you can nominate another track after three other members have made their nominations.
You can second one track per post, and you can second another track after three other tracks have been seconded.


Nominations will need to be seconded in order to make it onto the final list. To make a nomination, please use the following format: ARTIST - TITLE (YEAR). A nomination should also be supported by a video, illustrating the song being nominated (though not necessarily the song's official video, especially if it contains a lengthy pre-song scene). Most tracks can be found on YouTube, and that's preferred, but other video hosting services can be used, which can be embedded with your nomination. If you can't find your pick, send me a PM and I will try to locate it for you. However, please do not simply post a link or embed the video so it appears on the page. Since there will be lots of nominations per page and lots of videos, this will be too much to handle for most computers, slowing down the page tremendously. So to make your nomination, please hide the embedded video using the SPOIL tags (using this spoiler option: http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/images/icons/spoiler.gif) Don't forget to remove the s in https when embedding YouTube links.

All you need to do is first click the "Insert Video" icon: http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/images/editor/video.png. Paste your YouTube link, remove the s in https and click OK. The link should stay selected, so click the black SPOIL button, enter your ARTIST - TITLE (YEAR) into the field which appears, click OK, and you're done.

To illustrate, a sample nomination should look like this (and this track is not eligible, since it's from 2015):



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo6Nr1VEml8

P.S.: Feel free to post any questions, suggestions, whatever. Let me know if something doesn't make sense. None of this is set in stone, so if there's a better way, we can change stuff. Once nominations actually start there will be an overall overview thread and a few other dedicated staff members will be helping me with keeping track of everything during that fun but complicated process. Can't wait! :excited:


Now that we're underway:

Nomination/discussion thread links:

1945-1949 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19376) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19376&p=974308&viewfull=1#post974308))
1950-1954 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19377) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19377&p=975034&viewfull=1#post975034))
1955-1959 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19378) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19378&p=974427&viewfull=1#post974427))
1960-1964 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19382) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19382&p=973741&viewfull=1#post973741))
1965-1969 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19386) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19386&p=971221&viewfull=1#post971221))
1970-1974 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19391) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19391&p=971222&viewfull=1#post971222))
1975-1979 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19399) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19399&p=972214&viewfull=1#post972214))
1980-1984 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19408) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19408&p=971218&viewfull=1#post971218))
1985-1989 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421&p=976020&viewfull=1#post976020))
1990-1994 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19439) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19439&p=978707&viewfull=1#post978707))
1995-1999 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19450) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19450&p=981599&viewfull=1#post981599))
2000-2004 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19457) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19457&p=985451&viewfull=1#post985451))
2005-2009 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19463) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19463&p=987764&viewfull=1#post987764))
2010-2014 (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19464) (nomination stats (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19464&p=987366&viewfull=1#post987366))

[Br!an]

I haven't participated in a tournament yet.

You've got me with this one though.

I think you have thought this through quite well. Your explanation of the tournament and the "rules" is very clear.

I love music and also can't wait! :excited:

[ladysai]

You've got this, pablo. Let's rock!

[Still Servant]

Wow. The music tournament gets a message posted on the home page in order to promote it.

I don't remember that happening with the movie tournaments.

EDIT: Pablo, you might want to mention that in order to post a video from YouTube you have to copy and paste the URL not the link in the "share" portion of the video. A lot of people try to do that without realizing it won't work.

[mae]

Yes, you're right. I'll make a note of that for the actual nomination threads.

[Jon]

Clearly, pablo IS the man!!

[mae]

The nominations begin in just five days, so get ready, peeps! Also, happy December.

[Mattrick]

What aboUT making 45 tO 49 just pre 1950? I can't imagine filling out 56 from those years alone. I also.Think we should have the last one to be 2010 and onward since fhese nominations will go for awhile and that's a whole year plus of music that is inelligible. Just my two cents.

[mae]

The idea was to stick to five-year periods. I was actually thinking, after this is done, we can always do earlier periods and later (when the time comes). But to keep things somewhat manageable 70 years is good. And I'm sure we will be able to come up with the required number of '45-49 songs. If you need help, check out the yearly lists at http://www.acclaimedmusic.net, Wikipedia, etc. And if there are other helpful resources, please do post a link. For years starting in 1952 and on, I linked to charts databases in the initial proposal thread.

[fernandito]

Too late for a trial balloon now, but.. any particular reason why you did segments of 5 years instead of just doing the entire decade at once?

[mae]

Too late for a trial balloon now, but.. any particular reason why you did segments of 5 years instead of just doing the entire decade at once?

Yeah, I posted about that a while back when this idea first came up:


Also, I think it would be best to divide songs into five-year groups. I think it's natural that songs from the first part of a decade always sound different from songs in the other half of the decade. This would give us 14 main groups (and we wouldn't be stuck with the 1940s and the 2010s having five less years to pick from than the rest of the groups). So all we would need is just a whole bunch of nominations (not just the popular stuff, but various deep cuts and good things like that), not quite sure yet how many exactly - but doesn't really matter, the more the merrier. And after several rounds we will end up with the 14 best songs of the last 70 years, each one representing one five-year period from 1945 to 2015. That would be amazing!

Basically, I felt it would be better to keep music from a certain period of time together, because music from the beginning of a decade is always different from music from the end of a decade. It seems to me that there do appear to be more or less five-year periods in popular music that always come and go. Some types of music seem to bubble up and enjoy great prominence and then mainly go away, music like surf, disco, grunge, for example. In recent years it's dubstep that appeared in the mainstream around 2010-11 and probably is now past its peak, with the EDM movement going toward the so-called big-room house nowadays.

And the fact that the 2010s and the 1940s would only encompass five years, making it uneven and unfair. My hope is that this is successful and we can later do other five-year periods, going back in time, as well as the 2015-2019 period, when the time comes ;)

[Iwritecode]

The nominations are moving much slower than I thought they would.

[mae]

I'm hoping it's just most people are not very familiar with older music, which is a shame because music is timeless. I like Adele just as much as Nat King Cole :)

If nobody objects, I think I will lower the restriction for the waiting period to two nominations/secondings (at least up until the '70s or '80s), and to one for the '40s group.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I'm hoping it's just most people are not very familiar with older music, which is a shame because music is timeless. I like Adele just as much as Nat King Cole :)

If nobody objects, I think I will lower the restriction for the waiting period to two nominations/secondings (at least up until the '70s or '80s), and to one for the '40s group.

I second this, as I've been waiting ages for 3 nominations to pass...

There are literally hundreds of great songs to nominate during these periods!

[mae]

Okay, restrictions have been updated.

[mae]

As a kind of a PSA, I'll post these links again to help anyone trying to come up with nominations:


http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/
http://tsort.info/
http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1958-08-09
http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19521114/7501/


Note that just because a song charted in a certain year, doesn't mean it came out that year. A notable example would be "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers, which was released in 1988 but only became a hit (at least in the US) in 1993. For our purposes this would be a song for the 1985-1989 period.

[mae]

Another quick PSA. For original album/studio tracks you can't find on YouTube (a few artists or labels take their stuff down routinely, such as The Beatles, Prince, maybe a few others but not many), try other services. Dailymotion (http://www.dailymotion.com/) is usually good for that. It will embed the same as YouTube.

Also, I'm thinking of keeping the waiting period at two, instead of going back to three for the more modern stuff. Let me know what you all think.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Rather like the 1940's thread, how about reducing the wait time on the following threads to only 1 nomination?

1950 - 1954
1955 - 1959
1960 - 1964

The nominations on these threads have stalled and I'm itching to nominate some more great songs....

[mae]

Maybe, we'll see how things go. Hopefully more people will join in. And "some more great songs" is an understatement. We haven't even scratched the surface six days in.

[Jon]

As I predicted...but where ARE these threads?

[Jon]

Maybe, we'll see how things go. Hopefully more people will join in. And "some more great songs" is an understatement. We haven't even scratched the surface six days in.

Where are these threads. I think the treads are disappearing too quickly...I barely made 60-64 and 65-70.

[mae]

What do you mean? They're not disappearing, they're still here in this sub-forum. And they're all linked in the first post of this thread. The sixth thread will be going up later this morning.

[Jon]

Ah... my mistake, pablo.

By putting up a new thread (time frame) I assumed the others were done.
Pablo, Please consider not making the new thread until nomination limit is satisfied for the last.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Yeah, please don't start the 1970's thread until the others are done?

[mae]

The plan was actually to have all 14 threads up before New Year's. I didn't want to post them all at once but a thread every other day should spur activity more than having one thread, I think, because people can nominate things in multiple threads at the same time. And it would take much too long to wait for one nomination period of 112 tracks to be compete before moving on to the next, we may be here for months! Nobody wants that, I'm sure :)

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Threads 1 - 4 have already stalled. Adding even more threads to the equation will only make matters worse...

People will just concentrate on the new thread and ignore the others, rather like what is currently happening on the 1965 - 1969 thread. All activity on that thread to the detriment of the earlier ones. There has been no activity on threads 1 - 4 for several days now, and I cannot nominate again until someone else does....

[mae]

From what I see right now, looks like you can make a nomination in threads #1 and #2, and after someone makes one nomination in the other three.

[divemaster]

Most times when I check a thread there might be 5 or 6 new nominations, but many folks nominating aren't bothering to second anything. I'd like to second more songs, but I have to wait for 2 others to do so in the meanwhile. But it's only nominate, nominate, nominate...

[mae]

Yes, I always make sure to check all noms and see if there's anything I can second (if I think it should be). I don't believe I can at the moment. Folks, do please second nominations if you feel they're worthy of making the list. I update all seconded and unseconded nominations in the first post of each thread with a direct link to it, so you can listen to the track if you missed it when it was originally nominated.

[mae]

I updated the restriction for Thread #2 to one as well.

[Jon]

I have been here since 2007, my friend.

[fernandito]

Pablo, I think the way you're handling the time frame is fine. Agree with your points.

[mae]

I think we'll keep the five current threads going for a little while and once we get some more traction, I'll put up the next two, the '70s. And so on every once in a little while. We're in no rush, but hopefully we can get through the nominations by the end of January. I'm sure from the '80s on it will go by quick because that music is just much more familiar to a lot of folks.

[divemaster]

Ha. It's the opposite for me. I'm very familiar with music from the mid '50s and '60s, and even through into the early '80s. I'd say Queen, Blondie, Supertramp, George Thorogood, the Eagles, and the Stray Cats represent the outer limit of my musical interest, timeline-wise. Anything more recent than that, I pretty much have no clue.

[mae]

I'm like that with most popular music of late but I've been researching and listening to a bunch of different stuff, both old and new. YouTube and Spotify and Pandora are indispensable for that. And because of the Internet I've really been exposed to so much great music I wouldn't otherwise get to hear in the last 15 years.

That's actually part of the idea of this thing, to not only nominate the well-known stuff but also educate each other on music that's truly great but not as renowned. If something is good, it's good, I say. Doesn't matter if it spent a month at #1 or could not get there in a million years. Discovering new music is always exciting. Especially great music.

[mae]

So a week in here's where we are at the moment with the nominations:

1945-1949: 7 noms out of 56 - 12.5% (3 not yet seconded)
1950-1954: 7 noms out of 112 - 6.25% (1 not yet seconded)
1955-1959: 21 noms out of 112 - 18.75% (5 not yet seconded)
1960-1964: 9 noms out of 112 - 8.04% (7 not yet seconded)
1965-1969: 17 noms out of 112 - 15.18% (12 not yet seconded)

61 noms altogether, which is 4.03% of the total of 1,512. Still a ways to go and hopefully more peeps will join in!

[Iwritecode]

Is it possible to make the announcement at the top of the site include an actual clickable link? I had to copy/paste it to get here.

[mae]

I'll ask RF. But in the meantime, to get here, we're right under The Forge.

Also, Thread #6 should be going up tomorrow to spur more activity, but just to remind, that doesn't mean nominations have stopped in other threads. And keep in mind Threads #1 and #2 are one a 1-nom/second waiting period, as they have kinda stalled :cry:

[mae]

Just another little PSA. When looking for a video for your nomination on YouTube, I would suggest clicking on the "Filters" options at the top of the results and selecting "HD". The HD videos will usually yield much better sounding versions. So if you can find an HD version of your track (more often than not a few should be available), please consider using that, so that everyone can have the best experience possible with the song.

And again, please do look in on the first two threads, as they have stalled shamefully.

[Iwritecode]

I didn't think 112 nominations would be that difficult to come up with in a single 5-year period but as of right now the highest total any of them have is 46. I have another dozen or so yet on my list to nominate between the years of '61 and '79 (which we haven't even gotten to yet). Were we too ambitious in our thinking?

I don't know how anyone else has been coming up with songs but I've just been browsing through Youtube and when I see a song I like I write it down and check the year later.

[mae]

Were we too ambitious in our thinking?

I really don't think so. I linked to four great resources earlier which you can use, as well as just looking up favorite artists on Wikipedia (which also has lots of lists and stuff). And yeah just searching YouTube and Google. And your memory.

[mae]

Thread #7 just went up, which brings us up to 1979. We are at the halfway point now, and the '80s begin on January 1, 2016!

Rock on :rock:

[mae]

And updated stats through two weeks:

1945-1949: 19 noms out of 56 - 33.93% (6 not yet seconded)
1950-1954: 16 noms out of 112 - 14.29% (2 not yet seconded)
1955-1959: 37 noms out of 112 - 33.04% (12 not yet seconded)
1960-1964: 36 noms out of 112 - 32.14% (11 not yet seconded)
1965-1969: 56 noms out of 112 - 50% (21 not yet seconded)
1970-1974: 34 noms out of 112 - 30.36% (22 not yet seconded)

198 noms altogether, which is 13.09% of the total of 1,512.

[Mattrick]

I haven't been nominating because no Internet and videos never embed right on phone. Can I still momimate without embedding?

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I haven't been nominating because no Internet and videos never embed right on phone. Can I still momimate without embedding?

I will help you Matts. :smile:

Nominate and add the link to the video that you want, and I will help you embed it onto the thread. Sorted.

[mae]

I can edit posts here, so I'll fix it, no worries.

[mae]

I gotta say, I'm really enjoying the process thus far. I hope everyone else is too. I think we all are getting to listen to some truly great music - our favorites, stuff we may not have heard before, and tunes we haven't heard in years. It will be very tough to vote some of these gems out. I've pretty much loved every song seconded so far. I keep wondering if it will be possible to have the same artist come out on top (or in the Final) for more than one time period. Anyone foresee that?

[divemaster]

I can see Led Zeppelin or Queen or The Eagles winning more than once.

[mae]

So I've been working out some math and looking back at my post here (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19352-The-Great-Music-Tournament-proposal&p=957709&viewfull=1#post957709). Trying to come up with the best possible layout as far as the voting phase will go. I just wanted to know what you good people thought of the structure. So, what I think will happen, once all nominations are in, the 112-track eras will go through the three rounds as outlined before, ending up with 24 titles at the end, and the 56-track eras (we may need to cut 1950-1955 short, it seems like) will go through two rounds:

112 nominations:

Round 1: 16 groups of 7 with the top 5 moving on (80 total)
Round 2: 16 groups of 5 with the top 3 moving on (48 total)
Round 3: 24 groups of 2 with the top 1 moving on (24 total)


56 nominations:

Round 1: 8 groups of 7 with the top 5 moving on (40 total)
Round 2: 8 groups of 5 with the top 3 moving on (24 total)


So, heading into the playoffs will be 336 tracks overall. Each of the 14 eras will be going through a one-and-done playoff using this template (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:24TeamBracket-Byes2). This is a ranked template, and tracks will be ranked throughout the first 2 or 3 rounds by the average percentage of votes received. So, this rank will be used to seed them 1 through 24, with the top eight getting a bye into the second round of playoffs.

Once a winner is declared in each time period, the 14 winners will then also go onto a round-robin seeding tournament and a face-off playoff (because just a playoff between 14 tracks seems unfair). The 13-round round-robin will start with all tracks at zero points each facing off against one other track and the winner receiving 1 point and the loser 0. In event of a tie, 0.5 points will be awarded to both tracks. The points earned during the round-robin will determine the order for the final face-off, using this template (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:14TeamBracket-BigTenBasketball). In this template the top four tracks are getting a bye all the way to the Quarterfinals, while the others go through a preliminary two-round battle.

I know it sounds daunting and kinda confusing, but at the end of the day I think it will work perfectly. What do y'all think?

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Sounds good to me. :thumbsup:

[Jon]

So I've been working out some math and looking back at my post here (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19352-The-Great-Music-Tournament-proposal&p=957709&viewfull=1#post957709). Trying to come up with the best possible layout as far as the voting phase will go. I just wanted to know what you good people thought of the structure. So, what I think will happen, once all nominations are in, the 112-track eras will go through the three rounds as outlined before, ending up with 24 titles at the end, and the 56-track eras (we may need to cut 1950-1955 short, it seems like) will go through two rounds:

112 nominations:


Round 1: 16 groups of 7 with the top 5 moving on (80 total)
Round 2: 16 groups of 5 with the top 3 moving on (48 total)
Round 3: 24 groups of 2 with the top 1 moving on (24 total)



56 nominations:


Round 1: 8 groups of 7 with the top 5 moving on (40 total)
Round 2: 8 groups of 5 with the top 3 moving on (24 total)



So, heading into the playoffs will be 336 tracks overall. Each of the 14 eras will be going through a one-and-done playoff using this template (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:24TeamBracket-Byes2). This is a ranked template, and tracks will be ranked throughout the first 2 or 3 rounds by the average percentage of votes received. So, this rank will be used to seed them 1 through 24, with the top eight getting a bye into the second round of playoffs.

Once a winner is declared in each time period, the 14 winners will then also go onto a round-robin seeding tournament and a face-off playoff (because just a playoff between 14 tracks seems unfair). The 13-round round-robin will start with all tracks at zero points each facing off against one other track and the winner receiving 1 point and the loser 0. In event of a tie, 0.5 points will be awarded to both tracks. The points earned during the round-robin will determine the order for the final face-off, using this template (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:14TeamBracket-BigTenBasketball). In this template the top four tracks are getting a bye all the way to the Quarterfinals, while the others go through a preliminary two-round battle.

I know it sounds daunting and kinda confusing, but at the end of the day I think it will work perfectly. What do y'all think?

Dude... highlight any changes. Please.

[mae]

No real change from before, other than more detailed explanation of the playoffs. There is now actually a change from the above, now that I think some more about it. The third round of the first voting phase should actually look like this:

112 nominations:

Round 1: 16 groups of 7 with the top 5 moving on (80 total)
Round 2: 16 groups of 5 with the top 3 moving on (48 total)
Round 3: 12 groups of 4 with the top 2 moving on (24 total)


To make the third round a little more competitive, fun, and less predictable, it won't be one against one, but four against each other with the top two moving to the playoffs.

[mae]

So we are moving nicely along, and the second half of the nomination threads will begin on New Year's Day, but I would urge everyone to look over the first post in each thread to see what hasn't been seconded yet. Not that everything nominated needs to be seconded, not at all, but each entry is linked to the nomination where you can listen to the song if you missed it or the title is unfamiliar. In a lot of cases you will know the song even if you don't recall the title, or discover a new but great piece of music which you may then second if you believe it belongs on the list as one of the best of the given time period. There have been lots of great nominations not yet seconded, so hopefully something really deserving does not get left behind. On the other hand, do rack your brains and various best-of lists and such to come up with other great tracks not yet nominated that should be. I made a post here (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19369-Announcement-The-Great-Music-Tournament-of-2016&p=963510&viewfull=1#post963510) with some helpful links.

[mae]

Since we are nearing the limit of the required seconded nominations in a few threads now, I think it would be fun if the threads remain active indefinitely and independently of the overall tournament and people keep posting nominations even after the number of nominations has been satisfied. Because there is just so much great music out there, there is no way, even in this sprawling tournament, we could encompass everything. So I would urge everyone not to abandon the nomination threads for each time period, but use them to discuss what made the list, what didn't, and keep posting other great tunes for all to listen to. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm having a blast!

[divemaster]

I, too, am obviously having a blast, given my level of participation. I'll be active for the 1980 -1984 time period and somewhat (just a little) for 1985 - 1989. I don't see me being much of a factor at all anything later than that (maybe some country songs). So if anyone is sick of me in these threads so far, you'll get your wish soon enough LOL.

One thing I thought would be fun would be to give all "active participants" one nuke button. Not per thread, but one for the contest. One song you just hate so much you could nuke it from orbit. There are a couple of songs I just hate with a passion. Two I can think of for sure are million-sellers but neither has been nominated so far (thank god). However, I don't know how you could determine who was active enough to get that privilege, as opposed to the person who posted once or twice zapping a song out of the contest. But it's fun to think about!

[mae]

I have also been working on scheduling the polls and decided to cap 1950-1954 at 56 titles (I'm surprised it's moving slower than 1945-1949). Therefore, there will be 1,456 tracks overall (the first two time periods with 56 and the other 12 with 112). When all the nominees are locked in, the voting process will be pretty intense, so get ready, because we need to get through a lot of polls, 560 polls in the first three preliminary rounds to be exact. Each round should take about a month to get through. The first two rounds will have 208 polls and the third round will have 144 polls (because the first two time period won't have a third round). The breakdown looks to be like this:

Rounds 1 and 2: 16 polls posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (13 times) in chronological order
Round 3: 12 polls posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (12 times), one from each time period

What this means is that the first day the polls go live for Round 1, I'll post polls for all 8 groups of 7 for the 1945-1949 period and all 8 groups of 7 for the 1950-1954 period. Each poll, as usual, will go on for seven days. There will also be an overview thread for each round so that it will be easy for everyone to keep track of things. I understand this may appear overwhelming at first, but I've played around with various numbers, and if we want The Great Music Tournament of 2016 to actually finish in 2016, we need to be ready to do more polls than we're used to doing.

[Tommy]

A few of my very favorite songs are from before 45


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAKfy2W70Qg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iGo9CoNvvw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blI2dXHyBj0


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiM7G6bqlPQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU

I just wanted to have a spot for a few older ones (not necessarily in the tournament but listed just for good measure :) ) but at the moment I can't think of many more than these. Anyone got any goodies from the 30's?

[mae]

Those are all great, and I think it's totally possible we could do pre-1945 stuff in similar fashion at a later date.

[Tommy]

Those are all great, and I think it's totally possible we could do pre-1945 stuff in similar fashion at a later date.

Oh No absolutely! I did not mean to suggest that these be included in the this tournament because the parameters were very clearly set. :)

[mae]

I know, and it already came up earlier I believe, so I would definitely love to do something similar for the older stuff.

For the '30s one of my all-time faves would have to be:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGxf93NqH74

[mae]

So just like with the recently "locked" 1965-1969 thread, please do continue using the thread to post other great music from the time period, even though the number of required seconded nominations for the tournament has been reached. Keep to the same format, please, one track per post, but no other restrictions (just don't post too many in a row). I'll keep track of them all in a separate list of "other tracks" in the first post of each thread. This way we can keep the music flowing, discuss our picks, the artists, the time period in general, and so on. In time, each thread will collect all of the best music and we can really use them as our definitive greatest music of all time type of playlists for any given timeframe!

[T-Dogz_AK47]

:idea:

Pablo, would it be possible to add the spoiler links containing the music videos to the list of songs yet to be seconded?

As each thread grows larger with nominated songs, it becomes increasingly difficult to find videos of some of the songs, especially if they have been nominated mid way through....

Adding the spoiler links containing the videos to the list of un-seconded songs at the start of each thread, should eliminate the risk of some great songs being ignored in the nominating process....

[mae]

Actually each entry on the nominated and seconded lists are all linked to the original nominating post containing the video :)

It's a good way to look through what's been seconded already and not yet, and click on the link if something looks unfamiliar.

[mae]

As predicted, the nominations starting with 1980 are coming in fast and furious, just as I'd thought, since most of us are more familiar with those tunes rather than older classics. I hope nobody minds then that going forward I'll be opening up a new thread only once the previous has been locked (meaning 112 secondings have been made). It'll probably prolong the process a little but we have time :)

[divemaster]

Fine by me. Good job running this show so far!

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Fine by me. Good job running this show so far!

+ 1 :thumbsup:

[mae]

I just realized I had forgotten to update the overall stats as I had the first two weeks of the tournament. I guess it just got away from me during the holidays, apologies.

So, through one month here are the stats:

1945-1949: 41 noms out of 56 - 73.21% (13 not yet seconded)
1950-1954: 36 noms out of 56 - 64.29% (14 not yet seconded)
1955-1959: 73 noms out of 112 - 65.18% (15 not yet seconded)
1960-1964: 83 noms out of 112 - 74.11% (33 not yet seconded)
1965-1969: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1970-1974: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1975-1979: 82 noms out of 112 - 73.21% (54 not yet seconded)
1980-1984: 64 noms out of 112 - 57.14% (40 not yet seconded)

603 noms altogether, which is 41.41% of the total of 1,456.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Thread 9? :unsure:

[mae]

Coming soon!

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Coming soon!

I'm about to go out for a couple of hours, so I might miss the start... If the thread starts in my absence, could you please nominate this on my behalf right from the get go?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmSdTa9kaiQ

This song would count as my nomination, so you would still be able to nominate a song straight afterwards and I would have to wait for two other songs to be nominated before nominating another....

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, my friend! :smile:

[mae]

Looks like the nominations are flying. As I keep updating the list, more noms and seconds appear. Will everyone be pissed if we go up to three for the waiting period as originally intended?

[divemaster]

Fine with me.

[Iwritecode]

Yea, we are starting to get into the time periods a lot of us grew up in and are intimately familiar with. My list of songs I want to nominate grows with each new thread.

[fernandito]

I think we need more diversity, honestly. It's the same 5-6 people nominating in every thread. The final product will be very narrow.

[mae]

Can't make people participate. An announcement banner was made and I have a link in my signature. Plus a separate visible sub-forum was created. Hopefully more people will turn out to actually vote in the polls.

[fernandito]

Hopefully.

[mae]

Yeah we need around 20-25 people to vote in each poll to make this worthwhile.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I think we need more diversity, honestly. It's the same 5-6 people nominating in every thread. The final product will be very narrow.

Interesting comment, considering that you have only nominated a handful of songs so far. Surely if you were to participate more yourself, you would be bringing some of the diversity that you're seeking?

Just a thought.

[divemaster]

I think we need more diversity, honestly. It's the same 5-6 people nominating in every thread. The final product will be very narrow.

A valid point, and one that has crossed my mind as well. I've tried to hit various genres, and it seems others have done so as well. Even in the more modern threads, I've nominated from pure rock to country to sappy ballads, and even novelty, etc.

Overall I think there is a very good mix of music. Not sure why less than 10 people it seems have participated over the stretch of the contest. You'd think that at least Jerome would have been in the game.

[fernandito]

I think we need more diversity, honestly. It's the same 5-6 people nominating in every thread. The final product will be very narrow.

Interesting comment, considering that you have only nominated a handful of songs so far. Surely if you were to participate more yourself, you would be bringing some of the diversity that you're seeking?

Just a thought.
I've nominated a couple, but mostly I'm just losing interest in the tournament to be quite frank.



I think we need more diversity, honestly. It's the same 5-6 people nominating in every thread. The final product will be very narrow.

A valid point, and one that has crossed my mind as well. I've tried to hit various genres, and it seems others have done so as well. Even in the more modern threads, I've nominated from pure rock to country to sappy ballads, and even novelty, etc.

Overall I think there is a very good mix of music. Not sure why less than 10 people it seems have participated over the stretch of the contest. You'd think that at least Jerome would have been in the game.
Yeah, I thought the output would be much higher too. I wonder what it is that isn't speaking to everyone.. maybe going through the hassle of looking for the videos and linking them? I honestly don't know.

[Jon]

I suspect that some folks aren't so musically inclined...maybe.

[Jon]

Good God...did the 85-89 get filled already? I don't see it. I didn't nominate or second anything.

[Iwritecode]

Good God...did the 85-89 get filled already? I don't see it. I didn't nominate or second anything.

It's here. (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421-Great-Music-Nomination-amp-Discussion-Thread-9-(1985-1989)) Only about a third of the way there so far.

[Jon]

Good God...did the 85-89 get filled already? I don't see it. I didn't nominate or second anything.

It's here. (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421-Great-Music-Nomination-amp-Discussion-Thread-9-(1985-1989)) Only about a third of the way there so far.


I simply don't see it!

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Good God...did the 85-89 get filled already? I don't see it. I didn't nominate or second anything.

It's here. (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421-Great-Music-Nomination-amp-Discussion-Thread-9-(1985-1989)) Only about a third of the way there so far.


I simply don't see it!

Here's the link for thread 9 (1985 - 1989) and to a song that I think you will like....

http://http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421-Great-Music-Nomination-amp-Discussion-Thread-9-(1985-1989)&p=971326&viewfull=1#post971326

[mae]

Good God...did the 85-89 get filled already? I don't see it. I didn't nominate or second anything.

It's here. (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421-Great-Music-Nomination-amp-Discussion-Thread-9-(1985-1989)) Only about a third of the way there so far.


I simply don't see it!

Here's a direct link (it's also linked in the first post of this thread): http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421-Great-Music-Nomination-amp-Discussion-Thread-9-(1985-1989)

[Jon]

I am just THICK today....thanks.

[Iwritecode]

Good God...did the 85-89 get filled already? I don't see it. I didn't nominate or second anything.

It's here. (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?19421-Great-Music-Nomination-amp-Discussion-Thread-9-(1985-1989)) Only about a third of the way there so far.

The "it's here" in my post is a link as well.

[Jon]

I think we need more diversity, honestly. It's the same 5-6 people nominating in every thread. The final product will be very narrow.

A valid point, and one that has crossed my mind as well. I've tried to hit various genres, and it seems others have done so as well. Even in the more modern threads, I've nominated from pure rock to country to sappy ballads, and even novelty, etc.

Overall I think there is a very good mix of music. Not sure why less than 10 people it seems have participated over the stretch of the contest. You'd think that at least Jerome would have been in the game.


Yes...I find myself nominating songs I don't like based solely on the fact that I feel the song had an impact on the era. I don't think I have nominated even a single "metal" song...(maybe). I will likely NOT vote for Most of my nominations.
In my youth I was ALL metal...with a smattering of Billy Joel, Billy Squire, Rod Stewart, Toto and... for some reason The Thompson Twins. I don't think I have nominated a Maiden song. This may come as a surprise to you... but I LOVE Iron Maiden.

[mae]

So, just a heads up. Other than the new thread (1985-1989), we still have plenty of work left to do in:

1945-1949: 12 more seconds needed
1950-1954: 17 more seconds needed
1955-1959: 31 more seconds needed
1960-1964: 25 more seconds needed
1975-1979: 14 more seconds needed

[Girlystevedave]

I think we need more diversity, honestly. It's the same 5-6 people nominating in every thread. The final product will be very narrow.

Yes. It's a shame more people aren't nominating. The polls are filling up way too fast with the same voters voting back to back.
I'm not blaming people for being excited over the tournament, I just wish more members were involved. <_<


Edit: Of course, then again, more people may make an appearance as the time periods progress. Hopefully.

[mae]

So just a heads up, the waiting period for threads #3 and #4 has been decreased to one, like with #1 and #2, since they've kinda stalled and are languishing in a bit of a limbo. This means you can nominate and second again after one other person has made a nomination or seconding.

[mae]

Here are the overall stats thus far:

1945-1949: 48 noms out of 56 - 85.71% (12 not yet seconded)
1950-1954: 44 noms out of 56 - 78.57% (18 not yet seconded)
1955-1959: 86 noms out of 112 - 76.78% (12 not yet seconded)
1960-1964: 95 noms out of 112 - 84.82% (30 not yet seconded)
1965-1969: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1970-1974: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1975-1979: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1980-1984: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1985-1989: 56 noms out of 112 - 50% (55 not yet seconded)

777 noms altogether, which is 53.36% of the total of 1,456.

[Iwritecode]

I think I have my nominations for the 90s ready to go. We are so maddeningly close to finishing up the first 4 threads. I'm kinda surprised out how much the 85-89 thread slowed down.

[divemaster]

I think I have my nominations for the 90s ready to go. We are so maddeningly close to finishing up the first 4 threads. I'm kinda surprised out how much the 85-89 thread slowed down.

I literally do not know any more '80 songs. Other than country.

[Iwritecode]

I think I have my nominations for the 90s ready to go. We are so maddeningly close to finishing up the first 4 threads. I'm kinda surprised out how much the 85-89 thread slowed down.

I literally do not know any more '80 songs. Other than country.

I've got at least a couple dozen more that I want to nominate. I'm just waiting for a few more people to go.

As for picking songs, I've just been going to http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/ and copying their list from each decade into an Excel spreadsheet, then sorting it by year. Then I'll go through and color code all the songs. First I just find all the songs that I actually recognize by title. Then I look for titles that sound familiar that I may have forgotten about. Then I narrow it down to the ones that deserve to actually be nominated.

[mae]

Another great resource is http://tsort.info/

[mae]

Thread #4 is done, but we definitely need some action in the first three threads, we're pretty close to finishing them as well. Thread #1 needs only 4 more seconded nominations, with 17 not yet seconded. In Thread #2 we need 8 to be seconded and 23 are awaiting on the list. Thread #3 needs 10 and we have 22 nominations to choose from. More can be nominated as well, of course.

[mae]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

[Iwritecode]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

I have entire albums I want to nominate. :excited:

[Tommy]

I have entire bands I want to nominate. :excited:

[divemaster]

I have 5 songs I want to nominate.

[mae]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

I have entire albums I want to nominate. :excited:

What would those be? Offhand I can only think of Nirvana's Nevermind (not every song, but most need to be nominated).

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

I have entire albums I want to nominate. :excited:

What would those be? Offhand I can only think of Nirvana's Nevermind (not every song, but most need to be nominated).

Interesting, I seem to recall being criticised by another member for trying to push through more than four U2 songs in thread 9.... Something to do with variety?

Yet I notice that thread 7 has a total of 8 songs by Pink Floyd and now people are discussing nominating entire albums in thread 10.

Not cool.

[mae]

From the start I stated there would be no restrictions on the number of nominations by a single artist. We had 11 Beatles songs make it through in one of the threads and no one seemed unhappy :)

[Tommy]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

I have entire albums I want to nominate. :excited:

What would those be? Offhand I can only think of Nirvana's Nevermind (not every song, but most need to be nominated).

The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica Black Album, just thinking out loud. :)

[Tommy]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

I have entire albums I want to nominate. :excited:

What would those be? Offhand I can only think of Nirvana's Nevermind (not every song, but most need to be nominated).

Interesting, I seem to recall being criticised by another member for trying to push through more than four U2 songs in thread 9.... Something to do with variety?

Yet I notice that thread 7 has a total of 8 songs by Pink Floyd and now people are discussing nominating entire albums in thread 10.

Not cool.

Don't let that bother you too much Tim, just nominate what you want and it will either get seconded or it won't. I personally have loved many of your picks. I've nominated a lot of Fats Domino myself so I don't mind people nominating multiple tracks of their favorites at all. I'm a little disappointed more NIN hasn't gone through but I get that they are not too everyone's liking. That's not going to stop me from nominating a whole buttload more of their songs though. :coo3l:

[mae]

I am firmly for variety myself, as well, but if a nomination is good enough for myself to be considered as one of the 112 best on the given time period, I'll second it, whoever the artist. It's not U2's fault they wrote a bunch of good songs :)

[Iwritecode]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

I have entire albums I want to nominate. :excited:

What would those be? Offhand I can only think of Nirvana's Nevermind (not every song, but most need to be nominated).

The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica Black Album, just thinking out loud. :)

Those are some good ones. GnR's Use Your Illusion I & II are both in this time period. Meatloaf's Bat Outta Hell 2 is pretty good as well.

Maybe "entire albums" is stretching it but I like a good chunk of them.

[mae]

I have 5 songs I want to nominate.

I just counted and my rough list which is missing lots of stuff is at 295 titles for 1990-1994 :panic:

[divemaster]

Yeah, it makes it easy for me!

[mae]

I have also been working on scheduling the polls and decided to cap 1950-1954 at 56 titles (I'm surprised it's moving slower than 1945-1949). Therefore, there will be 1,456 tracks overall (the first two time periods with 56 and the other 12 with 112). When all the nominees are locked in, the voting process will be pretty intense, so get ready, because we need to get through a lot of polls, 560 polls in the first three preliminary rounds to be exact. Each round should take about a month to get through. The first two rounds will have 208 polls and the third round will have 144 polls (because the first two time period won't have a third round). The breakdown looks to be like this:

Rounds 1 and 2: 16 polls posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (13 times) in chronological order
Round 3: 12 polls posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (12 times), one from each time period

What this means is that the first day the polls go live for Round 1, I'll post polls for all 8 groups of 7 for the 1945-1949 period and all 8 groups of 7 for the 1950-1954 period. Each poll, as usual, will go on for seven days. There will also be an overview thread for each round so that it will be easy for everyone to keep track of things. I understand this may appear overwhelming at first, but I've played around with various numbers, and if we want The Great Music Tournament of 2016 to actually finish in 2016, we need to be ready to do more polls than we're used to doing.

So I have been tinkering with the schedule and the above does not seem very doable, so instead I think we'll be going with 8 daily polls, Monday through Friday. Since we have 208 polls to vote on in Rounds 1 and 2, that means at 8 polls per day it will take 26 weekdays (excluding Saturday and Sunday). Basically a month and a half or so. I do not want to stretch a round any longer than that, so I hope everyone's ready and willing to cast lots of votes. Nevertheless, my hope and preference is that everyone gives each nominee a listen, at least a cursory one, prior to voting, and not simply vote on name recognition alone, since each poll will run for seven days and there will be a lot of time to listen to all the nominees in order to make an informed decision.

[mae]

And here are the updated overall stats thus far:

1945-1949: 56 noms out of 56 - 100%
1950-1954: 56 noms out of 56 - 100%
1955-1959: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1960-1964: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1965-1969: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1970-1974: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1975-1979: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1980-1984: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1985-1989: 112 noms out of 112 - 100%
1990-1994 - 55 noms out of 112 - 49.11% (65 not yet seconded)

951 noms altogether, which is 65.32% of the total of 1,456.

[mae]

Since it's now February 1, I just wanted to post a quick thanks to everyone working hard in the nomination threads. We started on December 5, 2015, so it has been quite a while, and I really appreciate everyone and their time. We are getting closer to finishing the '90s, and then it's just three more time periods. So my hope is to finish by the end of February (it's a leap year so we get an extra day!) and then start in early March. Again, thanks to everybody for participating in the boring part of the tournament. It will be much more fun when the voting begins!

[Iwritecode]

As the newer decades come up, I'm finding it more and more difficult to narrow the songs down. As of right now, for the 2000 - 2009 time periods, I have a master list of almost 1700 songs. I'm sure there are 1000s more that aren't even on my list.

[divemaster]

As the newer decades come up, I'm finding it more and more difficult to narrow the songs down. As of right now, for the 2000 - 2009 time periods, I have a master list of almost 1700 songs. I'm sure there are 1000s more that aren't even on my list.

I have 1 !

So, more spots for you!

[mae]

As the newer decades come up, I'm finding it more and more difficult to narrow the songs down. As of right now, for the 2000 - 2009 time periods, I have a master list of almost 1700 songs. I'm sure there are 1000s more that aren't even on my list.

I have 1 !

Well, I don't have that many or that few, I do have a nice handful, but not as much as for the older time periods. Mostly, because I kinda stopped following popular music in the 2000s. With the advent of the Internet and the demise of MTV there wasn't as much exposure to it, plus having a job meant not spending as much time listening to radio like in the good old days. So once we hit the new millennium, most of my picks will be the more obscure (but awesome nonetheless) electronic acts, with some mainstream stuff sprinkled in.

[Iwritecode]

With the advent of the Internet and the demise of MTV there wasn't as much exposure to it, plus having a job meant not spending as much time listening to radio like in the good old days.

I feel the exact opposite. With the internet I've discovered much more music than I ever did when I was younger. There is so much software out there that suggests new music based on your current preferences. Now instead of waiting all day long for a song to play on the radio or TV, I can pull it up on my computer or phone in seconds and then get a list of dozens of other similar songs that I may like as well.

[mae]

With the advent of the Internet and the demise of MTV there wasn't as much exposure to it, plus having a job meant not spending as much time listening to radio like in the good old days.

I feel the exact opposite. With the internet I've discovered much more music than I ever did when I was younger. There is so much software out there that suggests new music based on your current preferences. Now instead of waiting all day long for a song to play on the radio or TV, I can pull it up on my computer or phone in seconds and then get a list of dozens of other similar songs that I may like as well.

You misunderstood what I meant about the Internet. It did introduce me to a whole buttload of new and different music, but at the expense of mainstream pop and rock music.

[Iwritecode]

With the advent of the Internet and the demise of MTV there wasn't as much exposure to it, plus having a job meant not spending as much time listening to radio like in the good old days.

I feel the exact opposite. With the internet I've discovered much more music than I ever did when I was younger. There is so much software out there that suggests new music based on your current preferences. Now instead of waiting all day long for a song to play on the radio or TV, I can pull it up on my computer or phone in seconds and then get a list of dozens of other similar songs that I may like as well.

You misunderstood what I meant about the Internet. It did introduce me to a whole buttload of new and different music, but at the expense of mainstream pop and rock music.

Gotcha.

I agree. I'm not into mainstream pop and rock music quite as much as I used to be either. Every night when I went to bed I'd listen to the "top 10" countdown on the local radio station. I'm not even sure that's a thing anymore.

My wife still listens to mainstream stuff so I still get a little exposure that way.

[mae]

So I just had my mind blown. I've been working on the scheduling of the tournament and have posted the overall process overview earlier in this thread, but only today did I realize how huge this undertaking will actually be. You should see my Excel spreadsheet :panic:

As I posted earlier, we will need to do eight daily polls each weekday, but I just worked out the scheduling including the playoffs, taking March 7 as the start date, and with daily polls each weekday for every round through to the Finals, not allowing for any delays due to tiebreaker polls and such the tournament would finish on January 30, 2017. I shit you not.

Here's how it would break down:

ROUND 1: 8 daily polls each weekday from Monday, March 7 to Friday, April 8, plus additional 8 polls on Saturday, April 9 (26 weekdays and 208 polls)
ROUND 2: 8 daily polls each weekday from Monday, April 18 to Friday, May 20, plus additional 8 polls on Saturday, May 21 (26 weekdays and 208 polls)
ROUND 3: 6 daily polls each weekday from Monday, May 30 to Thursday, June 30 (24 days and 144 polls)
PLAYOFFS - ROUND 1: 4 daily polls each weekday from Monday, July 11 to Wednesday, August 17 (28 weekdays and 112 polls)
PLAYOFFS - ROUND 2: 4 daily polls each weekday from Monday, August 29 to Wednesday, October 5 (28 weekdays and 112 polls)
PLAYOFFS - QUARTERFINALS: 4 daily polls each weekday from Monday, October 17 to Thursday, November 3 (14 weekdays and 56 polls)
PLAYOFFS - SEMIFINALS: 4 daily polls each day from Monday, November 14 to Sunday, November 20 (7 days and 28 polls)
PLAYOFFS - FINALS: 4 daily polls each day from Monday, November 28 to Sunday, December 4 (7 days and 14 polls)
ROUND-ROBIN: 4 polls each on Monday, December 12 and Tuesday, December 13, and 5 polls on Wednesday, December 14 (3 days and 13 polls)
TOURNAMENT FINAL: 2 polls on Monday, December 26; 4 polls on Monday, January 2; 4 polls on Monday, January 9; 2 polls on Monday, January 16; 1 poll on Monday, January 23 (5 days and 13 polls)

That final final round would be a face-off one-and-done round with each of the 14 time period winners squaring off against one another until just two are standing for the ultimate battle on that last day...

[Tommy]

holy shit! :panic:

[ladysai]

Wow!
We'll have added another year of new music to our experience while we vote on what we've already experienced. Cool beans.

[mae]

I may need to employ the help of my fellow music nerds taking over the posting of polls for a round here and there. I'm hoping to do it myself, but if I need to be away for any extended period of time, I wouldn't want to disrupt the flow.

[divemaster]

One thing I thought would be fun would be to give all "active participants" one nuke button. Not per thread, but one for the contest. One song you just hate so much you could nuke it from orbit. There are a couple of songs I just hate with a passion. Two I can think of for sure are million-sellers but neither has been nominated so far (thank god). However, I don't know how you could determine who was active enough to get that privilege, as opposed to the person who posted once or twice zapping a song out of the contest. But it's fun to think about!






...
And also, divemaster, what are the two million-sellers you would "nuke" as mentioned above?


I like so much of Elton John's work (with the exception of one song that makes me want to stab out my eardrums with an icepick). Even the songs that make no lyrical sense are still captivating.

Ok, so one of the songs I would use my nuke button for is...Benny and the Jets.

The other would be any song from Peter Frampton. Meaning, anything from Frampton Comes Alive!, which is the only Frampton stuff I'm familiar with from what they play on classic rock stations. From everything I hear, Frampton is truly a nice guy and very personable. But I can't tell you how much I hate those songs. I'll start to hear Do You Feel Like We Do, and immediately switch over to the sports talk station. Then, like a half hour later, I'll switch back over to the classic rock station and that damn song is still playing! (LOL; I exaggerate--but not by much).

I can probably come up with a couple more. Band on the Run would be close. Oh, and from my country music days...Islands in the Stream.

[M-O-O-N]

Sounds like fun. Sorry I'm late to it.

[mae]

Sounds like fun. Sorry I'm late to it.

Jump right in.

Thread #12 (2000-2004) will be going up tomorrow morning!

[Jon]

Since we've recently reached our goals in several of the long-ongoing threads (and Thread #2 is close to being finalized as well, while we're well past halfway in Thread #9), Thread #10 for the early to mid '90s will be going up tomorrow morning.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bQ8vBTLnmiU/U-yBsKvY6rI/AAAAAAAACx8/fJtAE3KTVps/s1600/giphy.gif

I have entire albums I want to nominate. :excited:

What would those be? Offhand I can only think of Nirvana's Nevermind (not every song, but most need to be nominated).

Interesting, I seem to recall being criticised by another member for trying to push through more than four U2 songs in thread 9.... Something to do with variety?

Yet I notice that thread 7 has a total of 8 songs by Pink Floyd and now people are discussing nominating entire albums in thread 10.

Not cool.

Four WHOLE U2 songs!!!???!!!

You BASTARD!!! Do you hook fake air lines to the shower heads of elderly Jewish folks???!!??
* hides his Maiden albums*

[Tommy]

One thing I thought would be fun would be to give all "active participants" one nuke button. Not per thread, but one for the contest. One song you just hate so much you could nuke it from orbit. There are a couple of songs I just hate with a passion. Two I can think of for sure are million-sellers but neither has been nominated so far (thank god). However, I don't know how you could determine who was active enough to get that privilege, as opposed to the person who posted once or twice zapping a song out of the contest. But it's fun to think about!






...
And also, divemaster, what are the two million-sellers you would "nuke" as mentioned above?


I like so much of Elton John's work (with the exception of one song that makes me want to stab out my eardrums with an icepick). Even the songs that make no lyrical sense are still captivating.

Ok, so one of the songs I would use my nuke button for is...Benny and the Jets.

The other would be any song from Peter Frampton. Meaning, anything from Frampton Comes Alive!, which is the only Frampton stuff I'm familiar with from what they play on classic rock stations. From everything I hear, Frampton is truly a nice guy and very personable. But I can't tell you how much I hate those songs. I'll start to hear Do You Feel Like We Do, and immediately switch over to the sports talk station. Then, like a half hour later, I'll switch back over to the classic rock station and that damn song is still playing! (LOL; I exaggerate--but not by much).

I can probably come up with a couple more. Band on the Run would be close. Oh, and from my country music days...Islands in the Stream.

I don't really like any of those either, except Islands in the Stream

[Iwritecode]

I've started to notice as we get into the late 90s and 2000's it's getting more difficult to determine the release date of some songs. Digital downloads became a thing. Sometimes singles were released digitally months before the actual album.

[mae]

I've started to notice as we get into the late 90s and 2000's it's getting more difficult to determine the release date of some songs. Digital downloads became a thing. Sometimes singles were released digitally months before the actual album.

That's true for the last ten or so years, yeah. A lot of the lesser known stuff is also not on Wikipedia (not that that's a 100% reliable source), but I also check Discogs (usually reliable), and just plain ol' Google.

[Merlin1958]

Where does this go?????




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fQG4CcoRuM

[mae]

Here's a question for y'all: Would you like to start the voting process now or prefer to wait until the nomination process is complete? The reason I ask is because as outlined earlier, this will be a very long tournament, but I'm fully dedicated to see it through. However, since it is so long, we can actually start voting on the earlier decades while finalizing the nominees for the 2000s, since it will take us about a month to vote on the polls from the 1940s to the 1990s. The downside being, of course, confusion, and the need to vote in numerous polls in addition to whittling down our list of nominees. I can see pros and cons in both, so wanted to see what others thought. If everyone's okay with taking our time and knocking out the remaining nominations, that's cool. I'm leaning towards that myself, but I can understand if some of you wish we were already voting on these.

P.S.: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony can be nominated when we do 1820-1824 :wink:

[T-Dogz_AK47]

IMHO I think it's best to start voting, only when all the nominations are complete.

[divemaster]

I vote to wait until all done with noms.

[Jon]

I vote to wait until all done with noms.

Oh what do you know?!?! You have a chick as your AV!!



Yeah.. let's clear the threads as much as we can B4 voting.

[mae]

Sounds good, folks. Since we are nearing the end in Thread #11 and about halfway through Thread #12, the last two threads will be going up Friday morning :excited:

[divemaster]

I vote to wait until all done with noms.

Oh what do you know?!?! You have a chick as your AV!!


Oh yes. Yes I do. A finely attractive chick who is very pleasing to the eye. :)

[Girlystevedave]

I'm also game for waiting until the nominations are complete before we do voting.

Also: I'm finding it hard to nominate much past 2000 since most newer music is junk. :lol:

[mae]

Have you checked out acclaimedmusic.net and tsort.info yet? Very useful sites for looking up songs for a given year.

[mae]

My hope is for the nominations to be finished by the end of this month or very early next month, because the target start date for the tournament is March 7. The nominations and secondings, however, seem to have slowed a little in the last few days. I'm hoping we can power through these. This doesn't mean I want everyone to second everything in sight and nominate random stuff, but I'm hoping it's not that the more recent music is not as popular as the '80s and '90s, which seemed to generate the most interest, understandably so. There is still a lot of great music of all kinds from the last 15 years to nominate, so hopefully we will be able to do this in the next couple of weeks, if we all put our minds to it. Because then the real fun begins! I've already got the (very numerous) groups set up and it will be a doozy, I can tell you now! Very competitive with pretty much every nomination at least being good if not great. It will be loads of fun. Cannot wait!

[Iwritecode]

I've got tons of stuff to nominate in the current threads. Just need to get a few more people going so I can get them in.

[Jon]

Oh!!

I had not considered that the later eras may bring in the younger Folks!!

[mae]

Since the action has slowed down the last week or two, if nobody minds we'll set the waiting period for seconding at one (1) and keep the waiting period for nominations at two (2). I'll make it official later on today if everyone's okay with it. Just trying to spur some activity and get us closer to voting!

[Tommy]

That's fine with me pablo. What would really speed things up is if we could second our own nominations. :clap::evil:

[Jon]

How about two nominations in a row?

[divemaster]

How about two nominations in a row?

The problem isn't lack of nominations. We've got tons of those. It's lack of secondings.

[mae]

So since nobody minds it, secondings are as of now on a waiting period of one.

[Jon]

How about two nominations in a row?

The problem isn't lack of nominations. We've got tons of those. It's lack of secondings.

Ummmm... yeah... but without nominations, there are no seconds.

[Jon]

How about two nominations in a row?

The problem isn't lack of nominations. We've got tons of those. It's lack of secondings.


But my point is....those of us with limited time online may only get to nominate or second one song per category a week.

The '95-'99 thread filled so fast with nominations it made my head spin. In the '00-'04 thread, we made it over 80 seconded until two very impactful songs (Disturbed's - Down With the Sickness and Drowning Pool's -Bodies) were even mentioned.

(I am no particular fan of either band, but I think the impact of those two songs was worthy of consideration LONG before 80 seconds. To that point, neither song was even nominated. Due to my limited online time,I felt I had to break the rule {I nominated these two in a row} to get such songs even for consideration.)

[mae]

If waiting for two other nominations is too restricting at this point, we can go to one across the board. Things will certainly go a lot quicker. I'm cool with that.

[Jon]

Please clarify "we can go to one across the board."

[mae]

Meaning having a waiting period of one for nominations and secondings.

[Jon]

I am fine with that...and since speed seems to be the reoccurring theme (Though I don't know why) let's do the same with seconds.

[mae]

As nobody seems to object, the waiting period now for the remaining three threads is at one for both nominations and secondings.

[mae]

So after 12 threads and three months we only have two time periods remaining and hopefully we can finish the necessary nominations there soon. I'm sure everyone is eager to begin voting which should be lots of fun.

Thread 13 needs 48 more seconded tracks with 121 choices now available, and Thread 14 needs 46 tracks with 106 on the unseconded list.

Let's do it! :excited:

[Jon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4ngf766N0

[mae]

So after more than three months we finally have all of our nominees set, covering the last 70 years of popular music: 1,456 tracks in all... I am super thankful for everyone's patience and participation in these nomination threads! I'm very happy with how the lists turned out. Very eclectic mixes of things and I cannot wait to begin voting on them. That will start very soon, on Monday, March 14, 2016.

Here's a quick layout of Round 1, and there will be a more thorough Overview thread posted later. As stated before there will be a daily posting of eight polls each weekday starting this coming Monday. The first two time periods (1945-1949 and 1950-1954) will have eight groups each while the other 12 time periods will have 16 groups:


The first week, from March 14 to March 18, will cover the era from 1945-1949 to the first half of 1960-1964.
The second week, from March 21 to March 25 will cover the second half of 1960-1964 through to 1970-1974
The third week, from March 28 to April 1, will cover from 1975-1979 to the first half of 1985-1989
The fourth week, from April 4 to April 8, will cover the second half of 1985-1989 through 1995-1999
The final fifth week, from April 11 to April 16 (this includes the Saturday) will cover all of the 21st century from 2000-2004 through 2010-2014

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Awesome sauce. :clap: :thumbsup: :excited:

[divemaster]

How long will each poll run?

[Aronstg]

Kind of bummed that I just found this. That nomination period looked fun. Looking forward to seeing how this all goes down.

[mae]

How long will each poll run?

Each poll will be open for seven days so there should be plenty of time to check out each nomination

[mae]

Happy Pi Day! The first of our polls are now up and running.

The Great Music Tournament has begun! :panic:

[Jean]

great!!! http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gif (http://s91.photobucket.com/user/mishemplushem/media/Facilitation/bear_thumb.gif.html)

[Jean]

have checked all the groups, and in every one of them there's at least one video youtube says is not available http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_sad.gif (http://s91.photobucket.com/user/mishemplushem/media/Facilitation/bear_sad.gif.html)

[mae]

have checked all the groups, and in every one of them there's at least one video youtube says is not available http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_sad.gif (http://s91.photobucket.com/user/mishemplushem/media/Facilitation/bear_sad.gif.html)

There could be region-locks so please let me know which one it is in the same thread and I'll try to find an alternative.

[Iwritecode]

Just going through the 50's polls and started to notice a pattern... :unsure:

Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons (1955)
Connie Stevens - Sixteen Reasons (1959)
Sam Cooke - Only Sixteen (1959)
The Crests - Sixteen Candles (1958 )
Chuck Berry - Sweet Little Sixteen (1958 )

[mae]

Yeah I saw that too. Weird.

[Girlystevedave]

Kind of bummed that I just found this. That nomination period looked fun. Looking forward to seeing how this all goes down.

You'll still vote, right? :)

[Jon]

Happy Pi Day! The first of our polls are now up and running.

The Great Music Tournament has begun! :panic:


FUCKIN' A!!

[Jon]

So... you nominate, you second, you listen... but which song is YOUR winner in this tournament?

First tell me what you wish would win...a heartfelt second, then tell me your prediction.





I wish the winner were ...




Iron Maiden - Brighter than a Thousand Suns (2006)

http://youtu.be/Ox0S0A3qt4U


I'd love to see:

Taco- Puttin on the Ritz (1982)


I suspect...my prediction is :

The Eagles-Hotel California (1977)

[mae]

That one's not in the running though. As far as predictions, that's a very hard question and the reason why I started this thing in the first place. I can make some guesses or wishes, but we'll see what actually happens. I can think of a few favorites that could take the top spot overall in some of the time periods, but the overall winner? No idea.

[Shannon]

I preface my following statement by first saying that I understand putting on this tournament is a lot of work. And thank you for that.

But seriously, I am so fucking tired of seeing these threads. Yesterday, I logged in, and I had to scroll through TWO PAGES before I found a normal thread I follow.

If ever there was a fan of the Great Music tournament, and someone who is loving every single second of being a part of it, I am the exact opposite of that.

[stroppygoblin]

I preface my following statement by first saying that I understand putting on this tournament is a lot of work. And thank you for that.

But seriously, I am so fucking tired of seeing these threads. Yesterday, I logged in, and I had to scroll through TWO PAGES before I found a normal thread I follow.

If ever there was a fan of the Great Music tournament, and someone who is loving every single second of being a part of it, I am the exact opposite of that.

I suspect this is an issue due to the way you access the forum. Like me, you probably just click the "You have xx new posts" button and see what's been posted recently. You can avoid this by going direct to Calvins Corner (where most of the interesting SK stuff is posted anyway).
There is a Vbulletin 4 (which this site uses) Mod to allow the users to ignore specific threads, you just add the thread name to your personal list and it doesnt show up in searches/whats new/todays posts, etc. RF would need to implement this however.

RF, I can point you to the right place if you would like to take a look - just PM me.

[mae]

I preface my following statement by first saying that I understand putting on this tournament is a lot of work. And thank you for that.

I can tell you it's a lot of work. You should see my Excel spreadsheets! Much more work than scrolling through a page or two. But I understand if you're not interested it could be annoying, and I apologize for that. There's really no way around the number of threads with a tournament this big. Some forums have an "Ignore forum" or "Ignore thread" function, but I'm not sure if our does or if that could be implemented. I wish more folks would participate and vote in the threads, but we're having a pretty good turnout still, so at least some people seem to be enjoying it.

[Jon]

I preface my following statement by first saying that I understand putting on this tournament is a lot of work. And thank you for that.

But seriously, I am so fucking tired of seeing these threads. Yesterday, I logged in, and I had to scroll through TWO PAGES before I found a normal thread I follow.

If ever there was a fan of the Great Music tournament, and someone who is loving every single second of being a part of it, I am the exact opposite of that.

I understand those feelings, Shannon. Please indulge us as we are enjoying it. In addition to pablo's work, there IS a lot of commitment by participants... to listen to each song. If the average song is 4 minutes...times 7 songs per group...16 groups per era... comes out to 7.47 hours per era...and the individual participant MAY not be a particular fan of all songs... LOL. My ears often bleed and my faith in humanity wanes... but it is that diversity that introduces me to new sounds... new bands. I understand that folks may not be into music as much as others. Please tolerate us for a bit.

[Jon]

OMG! Did anyone nominate anything from Metallica's Garage Days in the late 80's? I don't think I did...what a shame.

* Humbly bows and turns in his "Headbanger" card.

[Iwritecode]

OMG! Did anyone nominate anything from Metallica's Garage Days in the late 80's? I don't think I did...what a shame.

* Humbly bows and turns in his "Headbanger" card.

If you're talking about the original Garage Days album, then no. I think I only nominated their original songs rather than the covers. If you include their Garage Inc. album from '98, Turn the Page was nominated and is currently moving on to round 4.

I thought about nominating So What but didn't think it would go over well. :evil:

[Jon]

So fucking what... you boring little...:P

[Ben Staad]

Baaaa....


So fucking what... you boring little...:P

[Merlin1958]

I'm sorry, byt this has been nagging at me. Apparently, I totally missed the posts that lead to "Stated posts" being a viable means to determine a tie. My bad I suppose, but I fail to see the sense in this over an actual tie breaker vote. A "stated vote" is simply a regurgitation of an "actual vote" that has already been cast. In an sense you seem to be allowing folks willing to post in a given poll a second vote over those that simply vote one time. I just don't see that as being fair. JMHO is all. Had to get it out of my system.

There, I feel better. lol

[mae]

It's not a perfect system, I agree. But we have been using it for a while now in other tournaments without incident. It's the quickest way to determine a winner. Think of it as sudden death overtime. We did use shorter tiebreaker polls during the preliminary rounds, but to continue using them during the playoffs would inflate our schedule even more, and we're already scheduled to finish in February. So to keep to a tighter schedule and do it as fairly as possible, stated votes are being used, as we've used them in the past. Now, if the stated votes are tied as well, then someone who did not vote in the poll would need to cast a tiebreaking vote, and thankfully we haven't had to do that a lot, only once or twice. This can be time-consuming as it would mean having someone vote, who had seven days to vote in a poll and didn't.

So, I do get what you're saying, and whenever a poll is close or tied, I get very anxious myself, believe me. I'm glad you feel better about it, though. It's always preferable when a poll closes with a clear winner, but a tie means both were worthy opponents.

[Merlin1958]

It's cool, Pablo. Like I said I just needed to get it off my chest. Glad you acknowledge the flaws. Go forth and tabulate!!! lol

[Jon]

A "stated vote" is simply a regurgitation of an "actual vote" that has already been cast.


Strangely, this is not always the case.

[Iwritecode]

A "stated vote" is simply a regurgitation of an "actual vote" that has already been cast.


Strangely, this is not always the case.

When would it not? Why would someone vote for one song and then negate that vote by saying they voted for another?

[Merlin1958]

A "stated vote" is simply a regurgitation of an "actual vote" that has already been cast.


Strangely, this is not always the case.

When would it not? Why would someone vote for one song and then negate that vote by saying they voted for another?


Kinda my point, but whatever TPTB have clarified things. Never mind.

[Jon]

A "stated vote" is simply a regurgitation of an "actual vote" that has already been cast.


Strangely, this is not always the case.

When would it not? Why would someone vote for one song and then negate that vote by saying they voted for another?

I cannot account for the behavior of others but I believe it has happened. It seems I remember seeing it when comparing votes to stated votes. http://i973.photobucket.com/albums/ae214/denny111/smiley%20good%20evil.gif

[Merlin1958]

OMFG!!!! The amount of threads!!!! I have spent at least 20 mins deleting threads about this competition I care nothing about at this stage. You guys only have 20-25 members voting, if you're lucky. Find a better way to do these things. I have participated to a degree, but the overall thread count is overwhelming. If, I posted in as many threads for the HF you would all be, and have been, up in arms!!! Find a better way I'm sure I am not the only one that is exhausted wading through the multitude of threads and duration for these things!!! I like it, but find a a way to limit it a bit!!!! Holy crap, pass the Tylenol!!! LOL LOL

[divemaster]

But they're all in one subforum, right? Just don't go to that subforum. Problem solved.

[Merlin1958]

But they're all in one subforum, right? Just don't go to that subforum. Problem solved.

No. They are always in "Unread Messages", which is the issue. Nevermind me I suppose. Just had to get my rant out is all.

[mae]

I hope you continue to vote as we near the end. But if you wish you can simply double-click The Forge icon to mark all threads as read before going to your unread messages. Very easy. Happy Thanksgiving!

[Randall Flagg]

I hope you continue to vote as we near the end. But if you wish you can simply double-click The Forge icon to mark all threads as read before going to your unread messages. Very easy. Happy Thanksgiving!
Very simple solution.

[Jon]

OMFG!!!! The amount of threads!!!! I have spent at least 20 mins deleting threads about this competition I care nothing about at this stage. You guys only have 20-25 members voting, if you're lucky. Find a better way to do these things. I have participated to a degree, but the overall thread count is overwhelming. If, I posted in as many threads for the HF you would all be, and have been, up in arms!!! Find a better way I'm sure I am not the only one that is exhausted wading through the multitude of threads and duration for these things!!! I like it, but find a a way to limit it a bit!!!! Holy crap, pass the Tylenol!!! LOL LOL


We 20-25 DO count as humans...members even.

[Merlin1958]

OMFG!!!! The amount of threads!!!! I have spent at least 20 mins deleting threads about this competition I care nothing about at this stage. You guys only have 20-25 members voting, if you're lucky. Find a better way to do these things. I have participated to a degree, but the overall thread count is overwhelming. If, I posted in as many threads for the HF you would all be, and have been, up in arms!!! Find a better way I'm sure I am not the only one that is exhausted wading through the multitude of threads and duration for these things!!! I like it, but find a a way to limit it a bit!!!! Holy crap, pass the Tylenol!!! LOL LOL





We 20-25 DO count as humans...members even.


I know, of course but I am entitled to the occasional "Rant" no? BTW, got any Tylenol? LOL LOL

[Jon]

I have been called a "member" many times in many ways.

[Jean]

OMFG!!!! The amount of threads!!!! (...)
my old heat is bleeding when I think of how I haven't been able to take more active part in this, which is an absolutely great and perfectly organised event.

I only wish I could turn back the clock, or slow the time somehow - bogged down in my health problems again, I keep feeling sorrier and sorrier that I am missing all the fun. How it could be purposely missed or be a source of resentment, is totally beyond me

...and, as has already been said, there's nothing easier than just double-click on an icon. Meh.

[Tommy]

Anyone know if ladysai is OK? She's a regular voter here but has been silent since New Years. Hope nothing is wrong.

[Jon]

Yes...She is conspicuous by her absence in The Rock and Roll song game as well.

I hope all is well.