Posted on 02/13/2022 9:49:18 AM PST by the OlLine Rebel
ROUND 5 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II COMMENCES!
ROUND 5 – THE GREAT 8
Votes due: Sunday, Feb 20 @ 12:00 pm Eastern.
8 songs, 4 pairs, 4 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. (You may abstain from any pairs, but please don't overdo it!)
Any ties will be broken via Billboard annual ranking, then back to Round 1 ranking (seed), then Round 1 point total, then Round 1 vote count.
Past Rounds:
Rounds 1A and 1B: Rd 1A, Rd 1B
Round 2: Rd 2
Round 3: Rd 3
Round 4: Rd 4
There will be 4 pairs from the '50s to compare. 4 songs will emerge as the winners of this round.
The vote is simply: which of each pair is better?
Please vote on as MANY pairs as possible! However, it is not required in order to “complete” the survey. You can do as many pairs as you like.
See run-down of the pairs in my next reply post.
Format in survey: Poll seed – year - song title - act
The survey is at 1950s survey Great 8
My YouTube playlist is 1950s playlist Great 8
(This is a temporary ping list, so don’t worry it won’t last forever!)
Here are the 4 pairs for Round 5. Please see start of thread for Round 5 rules!
Again, the survey is here: 1950s survey Great 8
My YouTube Playlist covers ALL these songs, but is in order of year, not paired up as the preview below: 1950s playlist Great 8
ROUND 5 PAIRS/BRACKETS (TOCT seed/year/BB rank/title/act)
1 1950 2 "Mona Lisa" Nat King Cole
8 1958 8 "Tequila" The Champs
4 1957 3 "Little Darlin'" The Diamonds
5 1959 6 "Dream Lover" Bobby Darin
2 1958 2 "All I Have to Do Is Dream" / "Claudette" The Everly Brothers
10 1959 2 "Mack the Knife" Bobby Darin
3 1955 2 "Rock Around the Clock" Bill Haley & His Comets
11 1954 4 "Sh-Boom" The Crew-Cuts
(The following statement should not be construed as suggesting anything in particular about this contest but as a broad brush generality.)
Bracketed tournaments.
Humans can see the makeup of atoms and are on the verge of a colony on the moon yet we as humans dont seem to be able to come up with a better way of determining “best”.
For me each bracket always seems to break down into a competition where my true feeling/vote is either “Who cares?” and “Both!”
Since this is an open fun poll, where random people with other things to do can play, it’s much easier for them (as well as me) to pick from pairs than ranking 100 songs themselves!
This is a pretty good remaining list, but I’ve been corralled into facing off my worst nightmare.
I won’t vote for Mack the Knife, and I have not voted for the Everlys’ selections YET due to the dual nature. (I absolutely ADORE “Dream” - that’s not the problem.)
Now my hand is being forced!
Will have to vote for Everlys now to keep the murder song from getting up there (and it’s too Frank-Sinatra ‘40s like for this anyway - 1959!).
It’s interesting that “Mack the Knife,” a song written by a couple of Stalinists, has risen so high on a conservative site.
Sorry to see we lost the Fleetwoods. Something sweet and innocent about their music and harmonies. It isn’t really what I expect to like, musically. But damn it, I really do.
While obviously a phenomenal singer and performer, he was plagued with poor song choices and a manager (Tom Parker) who only cared about the dollars and not at all about artistic merit.
The above tells me that your tournament is truly bringing out the very best of the 1950s.
"Rock Around The Clock" personified the 1950s for me and "Dream Lover" as well. Those are my picks for the top two.
I’m hoping Mack The Knife takes it all, it’s a great tune that even the youngest of the youngers get a kick out of.
That said, I am very familiar with and enjoy music from many eras, the 50’s were that in-between time of leaving fabulous Big Band and Crooners behind, and coming into the experimental, very-beginnings of the greatest mass-produced music of all time - Rock and Roll of the 60’s and 70’s.
1950’s music was mostly terrifically corny, nauseatingly saccharine, or just-plain-fun.
Mack, Tequila, Rock Around the Clock.
People call corny what is just decent and clean. Why is it bad to be nice and decent and not edgy? Why is talking sexual and other immorality “artistic”?
Sorry, that is a huge pet peeve of mine!
Further it seems until the horrid hippie SanFran movement, most “rockers” were more conservative. Then it went mostly liberal America-hating.
Off my soapbox!
I preferred Come Softly but like Mr Blue.
So acapella.
Yes, in a way, and I appreciate your view of me, thanks. But it’s just what people chose from 100 songs considered at the time to be the tops by regular people.
As it is Elvis had at least 4 songs in the top 10s, so that’s pretty accurate.
I’m not displeased with what has turned up. And most of it was so in my previous survey!
I love Fleetwoods!
I preferred Come Softly but like Mr Blue.
So acapella.
_________
This is my favorite from them. Especially the line about “Remember the games we almost won.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-HAkTVOR8w
I'll take any song from the fifties over what was performed at the Super Bowl half time show earlier today.
My picks for the Top Two are “Sh-Boom” and “Mona Lisa.”
Some difficult decisions.
Indeed!
I like Mary Blige. But the general rap nonsense of mind-numbing drumbeat monotonic sneering is obnoxious.
It’s kind of difficult all along. There are few I’d just glibly toss aside!
Play it Cool--The Spaniels (1954)
I’ll agree with you even though I didn’t see one second of halftime, game, or commercial. 8-)
Was there a winner??
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