Best Band Of The 1990's: Bracket Challenge
We kick off a new bracket challenge to determine the very best band of the 1990's.
Well kids, it’s time for another interactive bracket challenge. For this installment, I am following the advice of my friend and fellow Substacker,
who suggested we try to use the next edition of the Bracket Challenge to determine the very best band of the 1990s.With a bit of research, some help from Matty B, and a fair amount of good old fashioned guesswork, I managed to cull a list of 32 bands and seeded them in the fairest way I could muster.
The rules themselves are pretty simple, but must be adhered to. We are only voting on the quality of a band’s work from 1990-1999. Any recorded work not included in those years should be omitted from your calculations. For example, looking at number one seed R.E.M., one is only able to look at their 90’s output in assessing their might for the decade. Murmur is awesome, but must be set aside. Same goes for every band on the list.
There are no solo artists on the list, and all of the acts traffic in some form of guitar based rock music. I tried to keep things in the indie rock and alternative rock genres to avoid muddying the waters with hip-hop, techno, nu-metal, and the defining sound the era; butt rock.
For the first two rounds, we’ll be featuring four matchups in each post. You’ll have three days to vote on each matchup. As we get into later rounds, we will trim the number of contests per post as well as allow readers more time to vote.
Let’s get to our first set of matches.
Cheers,
Matty C
***Remember judge these bands on their 90s material only.***
Round One - Part One
Jaws Is Your Champion!
Jaws has been crowned the winner of our Steven Spielberg Bracket Challenge. It may seem anti-climactic for the number one seed to cruise to the crown, but it had to put down vaunted classics like Schindler’s List and even Raiders Of The Lost Ark to claim the championship.
Spielberg Classics
What Am I Making is ad-free and currently operating wihtout any paywall to keep access open to all of our readers. This work is powered solely by paid subscribers. Please consider a paid subscription today. As a way to celebrate the fun we’re having with the
Steven Spielberg Bracket Challenge: The Final
What Am I Making is ad-free and currently operating without any paywall to keep access open to all of our readers. This work is powered solely by paid subscribers. Please consider a paid subscription today. The poll that I recently posted on the greatest film in the Spielberg canon sparked a great deal of a discussion and a ton of questions. You’ve all c…
The one band that didn't make it that I would argue should be on the list is They Might Be Giants ("It's a brand new record for 1990.")
I'm in for this 100%. Looking forward to the votes and your breakdown of your agreement/disagreement with the results.
And for me personally, I'd be curious to know how you came up with the seeding. There are a few bands in here that are obvious, and some I've honestly never heard of. If anything, I hope to gain some new insights on bands that clearly are good enough to be among the 32 subjectively best bands of the decade that some of us might be discovering for the first time.
Great project idea!