See I kinda looked at it the other way in that Macarena is THE quintessential one hit wonder. It hit the scene like a mack truck and then flamed out just as fast and we never heard from it or the "band" again. I see what you guys are saying about longevity but as a one hit wonder I think Macarena fits perfectly. However, I am not voting so what do I know? :)

I'm a little surprised at the use here.. it's not terrible, but not where I would have gone... But it's U2, so can't go too wrong there anyways...

Lathum's pick

Classic -Foxy Lady- Jimi Hendrix- 3.2
Epic - BaBa O'reilly ( also known as teenage wasteland)- The Who - 2.9
Arena -
Trendsetter - Smells Like Teen Spirit- Nirvana- 1.2
Love Song - At Last- Eda James - 4.9
One-Hit Wonder -
Party -
Crossover -
Cover -
Anti-Establishment -

Lathum's comment: Anyone who has evet been to a wedding knows that song. It is a classic. At least half the weddings I have been to that has been the couples song. It is easily one of the greatest love songs of all time

Subby is up

And that's what I'm saying - that argument makes total sense. But I can also see the argument that you want a one-hit wonder - that is a wonder because people know the song across generations and 10 years from now people will know it, that kind of thing.

I'm not sure where i stand fwiw.

That was my other choice I was talking about. I really wanted to take U2 off the board but the only category I had available for them was Love Song and I wasn't sure With or Without You or One would have fitted there either, so I just went one of the most popular songs ever in Imagine. But insomuch the Streets gets U2 off, it's not an Arena rocker. - Pride would have been much better, imo.

I thought about taking Streets as an epic, but I wasn't sure it was over-the-top enough.

:searches on line to find out what this song is:

Bad sign for Lathum...

Yeah, I'm glad to be able to take them late, and especially in the category that they've kind of claimed as their own these days.

Given your Imagine pick, I'm surprised you didn't take Streets as a one-hit wonder.

I'm here to pick

Dola: Oh, right...

But voters less engaged might not bother looking if they don't know it by the title like I didn't. Now that I know what it is, it's a good song, but I don't know if what happened with me may happen with other voters and hurt you.

R&B and Pop are two separate genres and were even more delineated when Stevie Wonder recorded it.

Also, NoMyths just backed my argument on Arena rock songs. Great song in the fourth round.

doh!!

oh man

And re: Pride, it's not nearly as good a song as Streets. Not to mention that if you've ever been to a U2 show, you'd have no question about Streets' Arena credentials...it's one of the two or three songs that gets the loudest reaction. The riff is also instantly recognizable.

In fact... *goes to fire up the tune right now*

let me say something about my pick. Anyone who has evet been to a wedding knows that song. It is a classic. At least half the weddings I have been to that has been the couples song. It is easily one of the greatest love songs of all time

U2 is an interesting arena rock choice. They don't really (imo) fit the traditional definition of an arena rock band. I would categorize them as neo-arena rock - a departure from Queen, Pink Floyd, etc...

I probably would have gone with I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...because that seems like more of a sing-a-long arena song.

Good blocking move...you take the When Love Comes to Town collaboration with BB King out of crossover consideration.

hahaha :D

I love At Last, Lathum. But I think you probably could have grabbed it in the final round.

Etta James

And that song is fucking beautiful...

I think that's Lathum's strongest pick yet.

I have, of course, been to a U2 stadium concert and nothing ever came close to rockin' the house like Pride. Probably one of my favorite concert moment ever. Streets is a great, great song - so much so that I thought about putting it in Epic.

Word.

I wasn't sure. It is a solid pick IMO and I wanted to get one of my female artists out of the way early.

Idano, I just can't get behind that logic... When I hear Stevie now, it's about the farthest thing from a crossover I can think of - and I tend to think the voters will feel that way too. Again, especially with the definition ML layed out... I can see it being stronger than some of the other picks in that category, but multiple picks for crossover to me have been WAY off of the definition ML laid out (ironically, even his own pick)


Agreed. I just don't know if you'll be punished by people like me that don't recognize it by name.

I'd consider Streets as arena, but I think it would have been better as epic as far as the sweep of it goes, especially the long version with the full intro.

Regarding one-hit wonders, the Macarena is the biggest one-hit wonder, but remember, the public is voting on this. What is going to determine their vote? I appreciate Macarena's position, but depending on which other wonders come out, I will vote for them for longevity.

ML, I am going off my list for my next pick so I will be ready after Subby goes,

That's funny. But we'll see if voters go with name recognition over niche. Probably half will and half won't. At least I got Lennon off the board for the easy anti-est.

And people may punish Macarena because they just hate the song, vs. a one-hit wonder that they enjoy.

Hey, Mapleleafs. can you cut and paste what I said about my pick and edit it into your post for my pick, that way the explination is right there?

Re: Superstition, I agree with the consensus -- it's not a crossover hit in terms of mixing musical genres as much as it is a straight-ahead funk tune that crossed over into widespread mainstream appeal. If we're going with the rules definition, I can't see it being a good fit, but as always the voters will decide. :)

I thought Superstition was a decent pick, although I would have it used it ... differently.

Well I think this might be one of the best covers ever from one of the best cover bands (ok, they had a few originals). Nothing wrong with paying tribute to The Kinks.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you the REAL Van Halen with....You Really Got Me.

Classic - Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin (1-1)
Epic - Freebird, Lynyrd Skynyrd (3-1)
Arena -
Trendsetter -
Love Song -
One-Hit Wonder -
Party -
Crossover -
Cover - You Really Got Me, Van Halen (4-10)
Anti-Establishment - Fuck Tha Police, N.W.A. (2-10)

I think as someone said earlier, we will see more square pegs/round holes picks as time moves on.

solid

That's the impact of Superstition though. It was such a big hit, that Stevie Wonder basically left R&B and became a Pop singer. Now if you want to argue that for most of us, we think of Wonder as a Pop singer rather than R&B, I'll grant you that. But, R&B and Pop are definitely not the same category.

Look at Aretha Franklin, she is R&B, she isn't Pop, but she has had some pop hits. I can't go into others since we're still drafting.

Working on 5.1...

That's all I'm trying to say.


That's the thing though - I hope the voters will reward round pegs in round holes, I know I will. to me you have a much weaker "team" if you are fitting square pegs in round holes... the guys with the most round pegs in round holes will immediately jump ahead of those jamming things in anywhere... that's part of this game, otherwise you'd just get 10 picks without any categories - to just ignore the categories pretty much should hurt you with the voters, especially if you do it repeatedly.

I'm trying to argue that voters will see Stevie Wonder as a Crossover and go "Huh?"... that's all i'm saying...

I've been a fan of your picks, so i'm anxious to see.

That was my first thought. Seeing as how I'm planning a wedding, it's on my radar, but I wouldn't have thought to pick it. Mainly I would have assumed there are people like Wade that definitely know the song but don't recognize it by name.


This is in the same line with the Cash pick. Great songs, definitely from a specific genre, but in their time they were ground-breaking in their mass appeal. We'll see how it plays out.

I do think of Superstition a crossover, not a round peg/square hole at all. I just think it had game-changing potential elsewhere.

after further reflection I probably could have waithed here, but I think this song is so fresh in my mind because I am getting married this year.

He's just gotta hope that people read the song title reaaaallllyyyy slloooowwwwwlllly.

No shame in having it on the roster at all, Lathum. A beautiful song, and takes care of a female slot (snicker).

Yeah, I can see that. Down here in Memphis, we're far mor familiar with Wonder's R&B stuff than most people are. Also, I think age helps here as well, if you're still in your 20s, you probably remember Wonder for stuff like "I Just Called" and dreck like that.

and I think this board is still mostly folks in their 20's (like me), so that's part of my thought.

Great pick by Subby. VH has a few of those that could have gone into that slot.

I'm hitting refresh obsesivly because I love my next pick

Subby's such a tease.