I can’t see much overlap between the Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna and the Austin-based indie rock band Spoon, making this one of the oddest decisions yet in the first round of Montauk Madness.
Rihanna is one of the most commercially successful musical artists in history (she recently passed Elvis as the top-selling solo act of all time) and has received quite a bit of critical acclaim as well, especially in recent years. Spoon is a critics’ darling without the sales and notoriety.
I opted for random seeding in Montauk Madness, but the other avenue is to seed each particpant based on stature. That’s how March Madness works, with the #1 teams (based on record) facing off against the #16 teams in Round One.
That prevents any heavyweight matchups early in the contest. Ideally, you don’t want the two best teams in a division to battle on Day One.
Going that route in this contest, however, felt wrong. If I were to rank the participants before even setting the bracket, wouldn’t I be defeating the purpose of the game? If a top contender loses in Round One because of an unlucky matchup, well, that probably would have happened in Round Three of Four anyway.
Our next Montauk Madness matchup pairs two legends, one who sadly (and triumphantly) passed away last year and another struggling to remain relevant after spending the better part of four decades as the world’s greatest rock band. David Bowie vs. U2.
Had I faced this decision before Bowie’s passing, I likely would have gone with U2. Apart from the hits, I knew Bowie’s work mostly by reputation. Of course, Bowie’s hits alone put him in contention, but I own almost all of U2’s albums and consider them at worst enjoyable and at best masterpieces (The Joshua Tree remains one of the seminal listening experiences in my life as a music fan).
Entering our third week of Montauk Madness, ten first round mathcups have been posted with 22 to go. I’ll leave all of the polls open for the duration of this round to pick up any stragglers. All of the Round One matchups can be accessed here.
The seeding in this tournament was determined randomly, and it’s fun to see the interesting pairings that result. Today’s battle, for example, is a showdown between depressed whiners Adam Duritz and Morrissey — specifically Counting Crows vs. Morrissey’s work as a solo artist.
Here’s a nifty little New Wave cut from Elvis Costello’s second album, 1978’s This Year’s Model.
Costello has spent the last two decades or so in elder statesman mode, releasing chamber orchestra and country folk albums, so it’s easy to forget what a scrappy, literate punk rocker he was back in the day.
Meet Me In Montauk 