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I love all kinds of music and I know everyone’s taste of music is different but if forced to pick only one group since 1970 that was awesome, encompassed uniqueness and range and just fun music overall it would be Earth Wind & Fire. I just loved how they mixed R&B, Jazz, Soul, Pop, Latin and Disco and had lyrics to many of their songs that had meaning and message. Maurice White was a genius and his instrumental arrangements for the bands top hits was bar none. Great Car music ‘That’s the Way of the World’ ‘ Fantasy’ ‘Reasons’ Getaway’...

ROUND 6 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! The FINAL 4! Votes due: Sunday, June 7 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. (My birthday, FYI; don't disappoint me!) 4 songs, 2 pairs, 2 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (NO abstentions this time! Must vote both contests - you can handle 2, cantcha?) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 5 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! The GREAT 8! Votes due: Sunday, May 31 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. 8 songs, 4 pairs, 4 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from some pairs but please don't overdo it! No onesies, please, or anything less than half!) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 4 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, May 24 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. 16 songs, 8 pairs, 8 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from some pairs but please don't overdo it! No onesies, please, or anything less than half!) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 3 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, May 17 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. 32 songs, 16 pairs, 16 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs but please don't overdo it! No onesies, please.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 2 of the greatest hits of the '50s begins! Due date: Sunday, May 10 @6:00 pm (Eastern) This Round takes the top 6 songs of each year of the '50s per BILLBOARD, along with the best 4 #7s as voted in Round 1, and pairs them in play-off brackets. Round 1: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3838848/posts

OK, FREEPERS, LET'S START THIS CONTEST FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '50S! The baseline for the contest is the top 7 hits of each year of the '50s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is NOT based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture fringe-element reactionaries. Round 1 involves listing all 10 #7 candidate songs in order of preference. (The remaining rounds are handled as play-off brackets, starting with 32 pairs of songs to compare.) ROUND 1 We begin by using the #7 songs of each year, which we'll pare from 10 songs to 4 (to set up play-off brackets...

Anyone want to participate in a music play-off bracket-type poll for best songs of the '50s? At the start of this year, as well as 2 and 5 years ago, I ran "tournaments" to pick the best songs of the '60s, '70s and '80s, based on Billboard rankings, so only the best of the best were included! Normally it'd probably be next year before I'd even attempt. But given this stay-home COVID nonsense, I thought maybe everyone would like another something to do. You can view how the earlier versions played out here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3818895/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3635562/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3249477/posts I can do this...

ROUND 7 - THE FINAL - OF THE '60S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, March 1 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. The FINAL! Just 2 songs! Pick your favorite! No reply, no vote. Please be clear what your intentions are! Cuteness is fun, but often misunderstood. Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end (hopefully) the following Monday.

ROUND 6 OF THE '60S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 23 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. The FINAL 4! Even easier! Just 2 pairs of songs! Vote for your favorite of each pair shown. No reply, no vote. No more refusals - there're only 2 pairs, after all. Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end (hopefully) the following Monday.

ROUND 5 OF THE '60S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 16 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. The Great 8! It's getting easier! Just 4 pairs of songs! Vote for your favorite of each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs, but please be clear about that.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end (hopefully) the following Monday.

ROUND 4 OF THE '60S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 9 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. SWEET 16! 16 songs, 8 pairs, 8 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs but please be clear - and please don't overdo it! No onesies.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - title - act

ROUND 3 OF THE '60S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 2 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. (SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!) 32 songs, 16 pairs, 16 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs but please don't overdo it! No onesies, please.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end the following Monday. Format: Billboard rank/seed - year - song title - act

ROUND 2 of the greatest hits of the '60s begins! Due date: Sunday, Jan 26 @6:00 pm (Eastern) This Round takes the top 6 songs of each year of the '60s per BILLBOARD, and pairs them in play-off brackets, along with the best 4 #7s as voted in Round 1 (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3807574/posts)

OK, FREEPERS, LET'S START THIS CONTEST FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '60S. The baseline for the contest is the top 7 hits of each year of the '60s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is NOT based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture fringe-element reactivity. Round 1 is listing candidate songs in order of preference. (The remaining rounds are handled as play-off brackets, starting with 32 pairs of songs to compare.) ROUND 1 We begin by using the #7 songs of each year and paring them from 10 songs to 4 (to set up play-off brackets for the rest...

Who wants to participate in a music play-off bracket-type poll for best songs of the '70s? 2 and 5 years ago I ran "tournaments" to pick the best songs of the '70s and '80s, based on Billboard rankings, so only the best of the best were included! You can view how this played out here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3249477/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3635562/posts I want to do that for the '60s, and some posters expressed interest in the '60s back then.

The nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 are in, and the list includes Radiohead, Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks, Rage Against the Machine, the Cure, Devo, Janet Jackson, Kraftwerk, LL Cool J, Roxy Music, Todd Rundgren, John Prine, MC5, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan and the Zombies. The top vote-getters will be announced in December and inducted March 29th, 2019 at a ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. HBO will broadcast the event later next year. To be eligible for this year’s ballot, each nominee’s first single or album had to released in 1993 or earlier. Several...

‘...The Recording Industry Association of America told The Associated Press on Monday that the Eagles' album -- "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" -- is now certified 38x platinum, which means sales and streams of the album have reached 38 million copies...’

Charlie Watts, legendary drummer of The Rolling Stones is celebrating his 77th birthday this weekend.He's preparing for a live show on Tuesday with the boys in Manchester.

ROUND 5 OF THE '70S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS COMMENCES! Votes due: Sunday, Feb 18 @ 6:00 pm Eastern. The Great 8! It's getting easier! Just 4 pairs of songs! Vote for your favorite of each pair shown. No reply, no vote. (You may abstain from any pairs, but please be clear about that.) Any ties will be broken with a run-off which will end (hopefully) the following Monday.