Battle of the Bands Update

The Kinks

We had a double dose of Battle of the Band contests on Dr. John's Record Shelf last night, determining four groups that will advance to Round 2. The goal, you may recall, is to determine the greatest British (or Commonwealth) band of the era 1960 to 1974. The winners, all from the Empire Bracket were the Kinks (seeded no. 2), the Bee Gees (3), Jethro Tull (6), and Badfinger (7)-- all favorites in their respective match-ups.

The losers, in order, were the Creation (15), the Mindbenders (14), Thin Lizzy (11), and King Crimson (10). The only one of these matchups that was close was Tull over Lizzy by a 4-3 margin; the Bee Gees and Badfinger posted cofortable 5-2 margins; while the Kinks scored a perfect 7-0 victory. Here's the list of songs played this week: "Living in the Past" by Tull; "The Rocker" by Lizzy; "Lonely Days" by the Bee Gees; "A Groovy Kind of Love" by the Mindbenders; "Baby Blue" by Badfinger; "The Court of the Crimson King" by King Crimson; "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks; "How Does It Feel to Feel" by the Creation.

These results mean that Jethro Tull will meet the Bee Gees, and the Kinks will meet Badfinger, in Round 2 sometime next Spring. As of this week, we are halfway through Round 1, which will finish up sometime before Christmas.

Badfinger

This week's winners join the Band, the Troggs, the Easybeats, Buffalo Springfield, Free, Manfred Mann, the Rolling Stones, Mott the Hoople, The Who, Sweet, the Moody Blues, and the Tremeloes in moving into the next round. If you'd like to cast a vote for upcoming pairings, you can find the full brackets here, here, here, and here (just leave a comment here with your selections-- you can vote for some or all of the pairs).