Battle of the Bands: First Round Match-Ups

The Velvet Underground & Nico

Some of you will remember that back in this post I laid out a plan for a Battle of the Bands competition that will air on my radio show, Dr. John's Record Shelf, starting this Fall. In several subsequent posts, I mapped out the brackets for the competition, and now I've selected songs that will be used in the head-to-head match-ups. Remember that one of the rules is that a song can only be used once, which means I had to balance whether it was worthwhile to use a group's biggest hit in the early rounds as opposed to saving it for when they might be facing stiffer competition. For groups who were less prolific or less popular, it makes sense to shoot off the big gun early, because they might not otherwise advance. Does that make sense? By the way, I've lined up several independent judges to participate, but could use a few more-- if you'd like to try, let me know and we'll see what we can set up. So, here are the songs selected for round one in the Northeast Bracket:

Velvet Underground, "Sweet Jane" vs The Monks, "Boys Are Boys"
Lovin' Spoonful, "Summer in the City" vs The Fugs, "Slum Goddess"
Three Dog Night, Mama Told Me Not to Come" vs The Nazz, "Open My Eyes"
The Turtles, "You Showed Me" vs New York Dolls, "Looking for a Kiss"
Steely Dan, "Reelin' In the Years" vs The Remains, "Why Do I Cry"
The Rascals, "Groovin'" vs Flying Burrito Brothers, "Christine's Tune"
Raspberries, "I Wanna Be With You" vs Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, "Sylvia's Mother"
Cowsills, "Indian Lake" vs Blood, Sweat & Tears, "You Make Me So Very Happy"

Comments are welcome, as always, though I don't imagine I'll make any more adjustments at this point. I'll post the other brackets over the coming days.