The final Montauk Madness post honors The Beatles, who won the bronze medal over Bob Dylan with 63% of the vote.
In an alternate universe, the Fab Four would be our overall winners. They lost to Elvis Costello in the semi-finals after an influx of Costello votes from a fan site, and otherwise would likely have won. Had they advanced to the finals, I’d give them pretty good odds against Billy Joel.
Now that we know the first and second place winners of Montauk Madness, today’s runner-up matchup will decide who gets the bronze medal: Bob Dylan or The Beatles?
This pairing was the one considered inevitable by many readers, and indeed it’s the championship battle I arrived at when running through the brackets myself. It pits the most celebrated solo artist in history against the most celebrated band.
Our second Final Four matchup is a battle of London lads: Elvis Costello vs. The Beatles.
A nice connection here, as Costello has been a die-hard Beatles fan since he was nine years old and 27 years later teamed up with Paul McCartney to write an excellent batch of songs that both men released on future albums.
Our final Montauk Madness Round Four matchup is another good one. Randy Newman vs. The Beatles.
Newman took out Adele and The Rolling Stones before besting Fiona Apple in Round Three with 80% of the vote. The Beatles blanked Shakira in Round One but have had a progressively harder path, knocking out Ben Folds before winning a relatively close battle against Lyle Lovett, 64/36.
Here we are, at the last matchup in Round Three of Montauk Madness. Things are moving fast now; we’ll be down to the final eight artists next week.
This battle might seem like a laugher in the broader world, but around these parts I expect it will be a nail-biter. Lyle Lovett vs. The Beatles. Lovett got here by dispatching Elliott Smith with 89% of the vote in Round One before winning a tighter match against Bruce Springsteen (63/38). The Beatles unanimously defeated Shakira then toppled Ben Folds with 80%. This matchup will be the first real test of the Fab Four. Continue reading
