Community > Spark_Garou

NBIceman posted...

I seem to have a knock for getting songs like that into those topics, as I remember Kamelot's Somewhere in Time being one of my first outs in one of the earlier topics because you said you'd just overplayed it in times past.

Quite right there. I heard that song randomly when looking for a video of the Dark Champion from the Sega CD Eternal Champions game... someone had uploaded the fight, but inexplicably replaced all the game audio with Somewhere in Time. I was instantly mesmerized by the song, the first symphonic metal track that I'd ever heard. Actually purchased an mp3 of it through Amazon to own the song legally and listened to it *so much*.

...And then a couple years later you nominated it and I was kinda over it by then. (I may or may not have shared this story at the time. I honestly have no idea what the write up was and don't have the time to go through the archives to find out, so I'll just say it now. Even if it's not new to you, it catches everyone else up.)

I really should listen to a full Kamelot album some time. "Somewhere in Time" and "Veritas" were both big hits, but I'm not sure I've ever truly bothered with even a second song from their respective albums.

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One song to end the night. Sorry about another four song day, but I'm temporarily refusing to eliminate any of the other songs I had marked for elimination... (at least one of them is unlikely to make it to 65 points, but its score is on an uphill trajectory and I don't want to eliminate it until I'm convinced I'm satisfied with its score.)

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???: Sayaka Yamamoto | BAD DAYS (5:41)
https://open.spotify.com/track/34r7c0vSVSBgCNUXVpxLhL
Nominator: @DanKirby [15 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 61.83
Final Score: 62.90

(First Impressions:

How much sadness do I have to take before my smile returns?

Yeah, I can work with that lyric. The rest of the lyrics about wanting to be with someone are... less suitable for my purposes, but one great lyric is more than most songs have. Other than that, this is a pretty good jpop song; it's not a favorite or anything, but I like it. Wouldn't mind hearing some other songs by her--I'm not convinced that I'd love any other songs, but she's a good singer & I like the genre, so I'm sure she has several other songs that I'd like.)

Hey, Ive gotten in fights and hurt people around me

Also a nice line. Definitely a song I like, though it feels like "I like this" is as far as I'd be willing to go with it. It's a good song with some really good lines with all the blunt sadness that I crave, but I never get obsessed with it or want to play it on an endless loop. One of those tracks that does everything right and still never quite reaches the heights that it probably deserves.

[Later: I'm not really sure why I'm not more strongly attached to this song. It's a very good jpop song and I enjoy it, but... I don't know. It's very much one of those songs where I really want to just say "I like this" and move on.]

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Snake5555555555 posted...

(It wasn't a coincidence!)

Thank you. <3.

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Three songs for the morning; two space related tracks (well, one space track and one that makes us think of space) & a double drop from Kopazzynth.

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???: Ayreon | Dawn of a Million Souls (7:40)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=141Eg1IsmeU
Nominator: @CJones [5 songs remaining]
Character: The Last Human and the Universal Migrator

Initial Score: 60.63
Final Score: 62.53

(First Reaction:

The Big Bang has created one soul, the Universal Migrator. The Universal Migrator
divides itself, and each Migrator flies off independently in search of a habitable planet
in order to breathe life into it. I follow the migrator that will eventually reach our
planet Earth.

Trippy. Not in a bad way.

I'm honestly not that into the story of flying through space and seeing the formation of planets... it's all a bit too cosmic and too abstract for me to form a connection with; but I do like rock operas and a trippy, space rock opera may not be my first choice of subject matter -but- it's a style of song I like performed in a way that I like with lyrics that are non-objectionable. I'll try to check out The Human Equation eventually, but it seems like a fairly long album (around two hours, IIRC), so I'd probably have to break it into multiple listening sessions. It's a bit difficult to find two hours straight to listen to music.)

It's a good song that I like (good guitar solo by the way), but I find it extremely difficult to connect with the story here... the dawning of the universe is just too abstract a concept to get my head around. It forces the song to stand entirely on its own merits and, as I've said repeatedly, I do like it--I just prefer my concept album songs to involve a concept that I'm able to get into.

[Later: Neat song. Rockin' guitar solos are always fun & the chorus is pretty catchy, but I think I'll likely prefer some of the songs from The Human Equation where the story is a little easier to connect with.]

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???: MycoLyco | Pink Oysters Before Dinner (6:08)
https://mycolyco.bandcamp.com/track/pink-oysters-before-dinner
Nominator: Kopazzynth [3 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 61.14
Final Score: 61.14

(First Reaction: A trippy space song that somehow reminds me of Pigs in Space. It's like the Swinetrek is floating through a warmhole--that's not a typo, I can practically hear Piggy & Strangepork arguing over the terminology while the Captain cowers in a corner begging to go home.

...this is a long song though, isn't it? Six minutes isn't really that long, but I feel like I've done enough exploring of the warmole [Editor's Note: That one was a typo] around the four minute mark and we're not even close to escaping. I sympathize with the captain (whose title is now in lowercase for no apparent reason) as I too wish to be out of this place. And then the song just kinda stops? I feel like it just fades out instead of building to an actual conclusion. Still, I think I like it--a trip through space with the Muppets is certainly a different thing to picture.)

How warm would a war mole makes his hole if war moles had warm wormholes?

[Later: ...I don't care how stupid this write up is, I'm sticking with it.]

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???: Minotaur Shock | Snapdragon (4:44)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBI-MnEAUNY
Nominator: Kopazzynth [2 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 61.00
Final Score: 61.00

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

Cautiously optimistic about this one! You nominated one of their tracks, Bats, at an earlier ranking and it got a really high score so this final nominated song could be a sleeper hit.

[After]

Not as immediately appealing as "Bats", but still a good song! It's another instrumental track that doesn't make me imagine anything specific, but it's... well something that I like more than most songs I've described that way, even though I lack a satisfying explanation besides "I like this".)

You seem to be very good at finding songs that I like yet cannot articulate a single thing I like about them. It's really impressive. Not thrilling from a write up standpoint, but impressive. Still, I feel like I should type something here, so...

*long silence*

...Is the album artwork supposed to look like an owl with humanoid legs? That's... something. (Though probably don't get any of us talking about owls right now. Long story, not relevant to anything).

*...*

*plays the song in its entirety again*

...Yeah, I literally cannot find anything to say about any of this. It keeps adding new instruments and overlaying them, but I have a hard time forming an opinion on it. It should feel overwhelming, but it doesn't? And I apparently like the effect, but not so much so that it gets a really great score or inspires any real thought. It's just another of those songs that I like and want to leave at "I like this".

....Well, I tried.

[Later: I dare say this write up was worse than rambling about warmholes, which is saying something.]

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I really don't like cutting this song since it was so nice for it to get nominated... but I feel fairly confident in its score, so I'm just going to get this over with:

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???: WOLFPACK | LYCANTHRO PUNK (2:43)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc65B72gCJ4
Nominator: @Snake5555555555 [9 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 59.003
Final Score: 59.003 [Upgraded to 62.70]

(First Reaction: Aww, giving me a wolf song as I soon as I take over the topic. You're sweet. And if that's somehow a coincidence, don't tell me--never correct someone when they think you went out of their way to do something nice.

Either way, I kinda wish I could make out, like, a single word in this song though. ...Well, I heard the word "crucify" in there somewhere, but that's the only word I feel confident in. Still, it isn't a bad song; for being "unrelenting, pure raging" hardcore music that I can't comprehend, it's actually not that harsh. I kinda like this and I think I might dig their general vibe.)

I really do appreciate the gesture and thought implied by this song, but I still can't make out anything here.

[Later: Well, I definitely get "mess with the wolf, mess with the pack", I think "time to pay you back" (or was it "time for payback?" close enough either way), and I definitely heard "crucified" somewhere in the early part of the song. I'm almost starting to understand this!

...And then I heard "Terrorsaur stays alive! There's too many things in my own fucking life!" and I'm pretty sure this song does not contain a tribute to Beast Wars' Terrorsaur and I question if I actually heard anything at all.

......but I totally want to give points for making me think of Terrorsaur. So in what is probably the dumbest source of extra points--and I say that knowing that the rabbit constantly gives points out for pool table references or photos--this is actually moving up a tier.]

[Later-er: ....I swear the second half of that is "There's too many things in my own fucking life", but I have no clue what the first half is. Definitely not Terrorsaur, but.... "??? There's A Light" might be part of the line? I don't know, I really can't get anywhere in this song. There's something about wolves and payback, I suppose that's good enough.]

[Still Later: Found the lyrics, finally! "Shadows are our sails of night and soon they'll take away your light".Though I swear the last time it's said, they go with "your fucking light" or something like that. Well, I like shadows... not as much as Beast Wars, but it's not a terrible lyric and one mystery has been solved.

Also the payback line was "time to payback" which feels like a sentence fragment. Either way, I do feel bad eliminating this song since it's so very wolf-y... but.. the more I look at the other eliminated songs, the more confident I feel in the score. ]

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???: Polaris | Nightmare (3:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_XhxONGEJc
Nominator: @BlackDra90n [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.29
Final Score: 64.81

(First Reaction:

What does it mean to be a captive
In the confines of your mind?
What does it mean to be a hostage
To the enemy inside?

I can work with this. The music itself is not a preferred style of metal (instruments feel a tad too loud and heavy, which is *the point* but also not quite what I want), but the lyrics are a high point and it does the typical thing of "actually it sounds nice during the choruses", so I'd say that I like it. Not.. not super strongly like, it's probably one of the earlier eliminations when we get to the "I like this" tier--but I do definitely like it.)

Actually, these are pretty tame instruments, so I'm really not sure how I found them overpowering to start with. The singer is also relatively clean with his vocals; it's definitely metal for most of it, but even at his growliest it's fairly easy to understand his lyrics. And about half the song is the very nice sounding chorus anyway, so it's hardly lacking in clean vocals. Good metalcore song with one really good verse, I like this.

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???: RIM | Sweet & Red (Amakute Akakute) (4:10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyGLou4XSCc
Nominator: @UF8 [10 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.35
Final Score: 63.333

(First Reaction: When this opened with so many "la la la"s, I was honestly starting to wonder if you were aiming for a low score or what; thankfully, the song very quickly breaks down with bursts of chaos and adds actual lyrics, so the intro (and outro) don't really hold the song back. The auto-translation of the lyrics also has some pleasingly twisted darkness to it:

If you're afraid of what you want, come here.
I'll give you a new body.
Before it breaks.

...I'm sure that's not how the line is meant to be read, but with the bursts of almost static in the more aggressive parts of the song, it actually *could* be. There has to be something at least a bit twisted to the song, given the sharp contrast between the fluffy "la la la" sections & distorted feeling ones. I think I like this one.)

Sliding into the very narrow gap between Metanoia and Vogue, it's this track! It's pretty neat; one good verse (even if I rather doubt that Google translate is doing it correctly), enjoyable shifting between light and dark, I like it. I still don't care for the la la la intro of the song, but it's short enough to not be a dealbreaker.

[Later: Some fun tonal shifts as the song switches between its two states. I like it. Interestingly, I kinda like the more relaxed parts which sound more childish and cute tonight. It's pretty neat the way the song's tendency to shift styles allows it be equally enjoyable in various headspaces.]

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NFUN posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jry5e4qN26o

Definitely an improvement! I wasn't initially sure about extending the song as much as they did, but the cheesy guitar solo is so delightful. At least 75 points, but it feels like the type of thing that would sneak into the low 80s.

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Four songs to start with, hoping to back back this evening with number five:

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Mr. Bungle | None of Them Knew They Were Robots (6:03)
https://youtu.be/qrXPvu6lYFY?si=lVl29FO-zBbVj9jb
Nominator: @NBIceman

Initial Score: 60.44
Final Score: 62.50

(First Reaction:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/82e0341e.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4dd3b124.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8a8c190c.jpg)

Of all the songs to go completely over my head, this is certainly one of them.

...

Right. So, there are allusions to the Fenris wolf, so I like that. And wolf packs. There are metaphorical wolves! That's... a thing I can say I like. Also metaphorical zombies and metaphorical self-immolation are bleak. I like bleak. And I do like to have a few of these very high IQ songs in the topic so I can try to challenge myself. I like the song, it's just probably about five steps over my head which means I likely won't go back to it quite as often as songs from higher tiers. I do like it though.

[Later:

The lyrics to "None of Them Knew They Were Robots" were written by Trey Spruance, who had the following to say about them:

"I just want to clarify that reference to Omega Point in NOTKTWR does not make the song 'about' that subject. Tipler's brand of scientific cryptotheology is just one of the elements taken into consideration in the song - I use it to help illustrate a point. Namely, that the reductionist tendency in physics/sciences springs from the same source as the worst religious Dogmatism. Gnostics would argue that both serve the Demiurgos, or False God - creator of the physical universe, who unwittingly conceals the True Hidden God while imagining himself to be The One. In any case, the reference to St. Augustine is not there to bash religion, but to help chart the linear history of where science and religion converge in their satanic pact (In the beginning was a Bang!). Most importantly, these images deal with the timeless tendency to overly-literalistic reductionism - how we render the universe to ourselves prematurely, and round out the edges to make it consistent with our beliefs. No area of inquiry is immune - we're lucky if we can penetrate any respective channel of 'human knowledge' deep enough to discover the three or four totally shit-upon luminaries who are sitting there dispersed through time in backed-up sewer-systems of brainbending superfluous nonsense.

...That paragraph had words in it. *nods*

I swear, I don't remember the band being like this when we covered "Disco Volante" at Rank the Tracks. It was weird and experimental, but I don't recall being nearly so lost... now I'm wondering if I even tried to pay attention to what that album's music was about or not.]

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???: Calva Louise | Oportunista (3:10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voGOkiJMO8w

Nominator: Murphiroth [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 49.229
Final Score: 50.26 [Upgraded to 54.00] [Moved Aside] [Score set to 58.41] [Upgraded to 59.85] [Upgraded to 60.0168] [Upgraded to 64.00? (treated the same as a standard 64.00)]

(First Reactions: [Before Listening]

Judging by the thumbnail, this is going to be loud, isn't it?

[After]

Well, the choruses are at least! There's a nice instrumental section which is pretty subdued and the verses have clear singing, but the chorus gives me a headache everytime it comes in & this is one of those songs where the majority is comprised of chorus reprisals... I do like the anger on display in this song as it's fun to scream at someone, but the chorus is just a bit too heavy & intense for me to enjoy the song on anything beyond an abstract "anger good" level.)

I do like that instrumental break in the song and it is somewhat enjoyable how angry she is... I still wouldn't call this song a favorite or anything, but I think I'm drawn to the anger enough this afternoon to move this song into the positive scoring zone.

[Later: I'm a bit more into this song than the first two times around. The anger is certainly appealing, but the lyrics feel a tad repetitive... "I wanna call you" is said 16 times throughout the song. It does create the sense that the singer is trapped in an endless loop with this fake friend, stuck going through the exact same motions of snapping at her, day after day... which isn't entirely a bad thing, but isn't quite what I want from my music.]

[Still Later: Another of those songs that I kept thinking about cutting and then deciding to keep at the last minute. I'm finally officially moving this into the Nebula; I enjoy the anger and I like the story, but I think this is just a bit below the 60 point tier.]

[Later, Once More: Another point to delay this elimination for another day or so. The lyrics about not being respected are far more relevant to me than I initially realized and even the way the song feels stuck in an endless loop is also relevant. I'm still not quite feeling convinced to move this up a tier, but I do want to consider the possibility a bit longer.]

[And Again: I like the lyrics, the anger pairs well with said lyrics, the endless loop nature of the song is painfully relatable, and I've now heard this so many times that it no longer gives me a headache. Moving this one up a tier.]

[Later, the Continuation: So, the good news: This song did help me process some emotions about things that I'm not going to get into, but it really did help.

Less good news: I'm having a harder time convincing myself to keep it around because now that I have processed the emotions, I don't...quite need the song as much as I did a little while ago? Like, right now... I don't quite want to listen to this as it reminds me of *things* that I'm trying to get over. But I'm only able to do so because the song helped. So do I give it a bunch of points for being helpful or fewer points because I don't enjoy listening to it as much as the moment? Odd conundrum. Also, I find my inner voice sounding like Mordin now. Odd sensation. Not pleasant. Not bad but not pleasant.]

[Final Note: Sorry, but I think the "not really interested in hearing the song right now" part won out in the end. It was definitely beneficial and enlightening though, so thanks for that.]

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*continued*

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???: Yakuza 0 | 24 Hour Cinderella (1:51)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhe7rcDUTeI
Nominator: @GavsEvans123 [6 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.00
Final Score: 60.0347 [Upgraded to 64.90]

(First Reaction: I like this song, but I have a feeling that when it comes time to actually organize the massive clump of exactly 60 point songs, this one will end up in last place while everything else gets at least a tiny fraction of a point (60.00000001 or such) to move it above this. It's sweet, oddly romantic, and has a fun music video... but the song is a bit short and he isn't the best singer, so I really can't see any version of myself moving this above the exactly 60 point marker. Still, I do like it; I have nothing against a simple fun time.)

Simple, cute, fun, and romantic are positive enough modifiers for this to fairly easily escape the bottom of the 60 point tier after all! I don't really have anything else to add here; not the biggest fan of the Yakuza series, so I'm disinclined to go off on a tangent about the games themselves, nor am I a big Cinderella fan that I'd want to talk about any version of her story. (I also don't especially dislike Yakuza or Cinderella, so there's not even an opportunity to fill time by complaining about them). Just a fun song that gets "I like this" status.

[Later: It's so sweetly romantic that I actually want to move this up quite a bit... but the button press sound effects are distracting. I wouldn't say they ruin the song, but I would say that it's much easier to cut this before the 65 point zone with their rapid drumming drowning out the song I want to hear. It gives me an easy out of "yeah, I'd move this up to the really like tier, but listen to that literal one note rapid drumming" in which I can both acknowledge that I really like it and feel justified in eliminating it because I probably won't come back to this track often since I do find those bits distracting.]

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BlackDra90n posted...

If you do here it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBURTj20HXI

Although admittedly I like the cover more.

I figured when that was the one you nominated, but I think it'll be fun to listen to the original. if I prefer the cover as you do, then the cover will seem better in comparison and we'll have something in common (which would be good) ; if I like the original, then I found a song I like which is also good. Kinda a win-win scenario from my perspective, so I'll add it.

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Four songs today. This one's my fault because I slept in and lost an hour and a half of work time. I tried to get up, but I couldn't keep my eyes open to actually accomplish anything. Factor in my indecisiveness (I'm somehow finding songs that I'm still not eliminating or officially giving at least 65 points) and four songs is the best I can manage tonight:

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???: FERNANDO VELAZQUEZ from "Crimson Peak" | EDITH'S THEME (1:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRi9KgffL3A
Nominator: @Snake5555555555 [10 songs remaining]
Character: Edith Cushing

Initial Score: 55.36
Final Score: 59.26 [Upgraded to 60.0346] [Upgraded to 60.56]

(First Reaction: Not bad, but I feel like it's a bit lacking in substance. My thoughts are basically "oh hey, this is a kinda neat orchestral piece and ohh, it's over already", with the song failing to inspire much thought beyond "kinda neat". I'd say that I kinda like it, but it needs to leave a bigger lasting impact if it's going to escape from this tier.)

Ooh, I'm suddenly finding myself drawn towards the cello in this song. This is actually really nice... I'm going to move this one up towards the end of the Nebula and see how i feel about it later, but I think this has pretty good odds of getting moved up a tier. It's definitely at least escaping the culling of songs that is currently happening.

[Later: I apparently moved this one up a tier without a single word. I was probably in a hurry that night, I suppose. Anyway, this is a pretty nice song... it's sad and wistful, which is always a plus, and I don't listen to much cello focused music. ....Likely because I don't often listen to instrumentals where the instrument would be more common. I like this.]

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???: I.......S | [da.data...aa]8 (1:16)
https://ikts.bandcamp.com/track/da-data-aa-8
Nominator: Kopazzynth [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.11
Final Score: 60.79 [Upgraded to 62.00]

(First Reaction: I have no idea how to put this. I don't like this, but I like it. The notes are like a jackhammer, monotonous and rattling in my skull. I don't like it, but somehow, I like the song even though it consists entirely of things I don't like being done in ways that I don't think I like. I don't get how this works or why I'm giving it a good score, but I apparently am, and I'm truly baffled by this outcome.)

I really don't know why I like this. I don't even know how I like this. But not only do I apparently like this, I seem to like it enough to give it a few extra a fractions of a point. I'm just as confused now as I was when I heard it the first time.

[Later: An inexplicable song that continues improving with each listen, even as I find it impossible to identify what I'm enjoying about it at all. Somehow this track works even though it feels like it really shouldn't and I fear that I'll never understand why, no matter how many times I listen to it.]

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???: King Stephen | Metanoia (3:52)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC0Sfsqkb6U
Nominator: @MacArrowny [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 50.50
Final Score: 55.168 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 62.40] [Upgraded to 63.33]

(First Reaction: ....Well, we're forty seconds in and I already really want this song to stop. Droning siren noises in the background AND a pulsing beat? That's... ya know, I didn't even realize you could overlay two monotonously repetitive beats to double the torture. I should probably thank you for introducing me to new levels of suffering.

...On the plus side, there are sections--several, lengthy sections--that aren't like this. Actually, there's a strech starting around 2:10 that is magnificent! With that choir backing the high-pitched notes, it's this Techno Gothic aesthetic that is so amazing and.... ohh, here come those parts I hate again. This song somehow manages to shift between an 8 point song an a 90 point song. I am sad that it does not spend as much time in the 90 point area as I'd like, but I cannot truly hate a song with a section that I love that much. Unfortunately, there's never going to be a satisfying score for this song... averaging the 93 that I want to give my Techno Gothic masterpiece with the 8 points I want to give the main song gives a result of "50.50" points which is not even remotely a satisfying answer. And yet, I don't really have a better one? I love that part, so I have to say that my feelings towards this track are more positive than negative... but wow, the main part of this song makes it really hard to admit that. It's like... "do we *really* have to give this positive points? The majority of this song is not just in last place, but so ridiculously far below next-to-last place that I don't have an analogy for this."

...So... uhh... thank you, I love it & thank you, I hate it. Here's an absolutely middling value that fails to represent anything at all.)

That Lion King nomination from Place really makes this song seem much better. Because while both tracks have a section of short lived beauty, this track itself is much shorter so we get to the good stuff in under eight and a half minutes. In fact, I could listen to this entire song twice in the entire time it takes for that song to get to the part I love, which helps refine my expectations. And while I'm not really a fan of the main part of the song, I do feel a bit better about it; it feels very "heavy" and I do like the crushing weight behind the song's repetitive droning. I think I'd actually say that I kinda like this song tonight. Though the score needs to be extremely precise because I want to slot it into a very narrow gap... I suppose I could rearrange some other song's scores, but it's more fun to have this incredibly precise numbers.

[Later: Honestly, I don't mind the main part of this song so much anymore. I know why I used to hate it since it's relying almost entirely on things I don't usually like, but knowing that those sections are fairly short & that one of my favorite moments of the entire topic is going to come up soon makes it easy to tolerate. I'll say that I've actually learned to like this song these days.]

[More Later: Raising this score just a touch so that it slots in less than a full point below Vogue, which feels right. This song has much, much, much higher highs than Vogue (and probably 90% of the topic to be honest), but Vogue's consistency gives it a slight edge over this track which--while I definitely am leaning to appreciate the harshness of its low points--is decidedly not consistent.]

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BlackDra90n posted...

I find it to be a bit catchy. Also this is a metal cover of an actual kpop song which is pretty cool.

Huh. Makes me slightly curious about the original version. Not sure I'll actually add it to ZA'LIST, but I'll think about it.

redrocket posted...

Impromptu Madonna Top 10 was unexpected. Lol, thanks for that. I have to admit though, my fondness for Vogue is largely tied to the video. Id say its a top 3 video from her. I will fight for this!

I can't picture a single other Madonna video in my mind, so I'll take your word about the other videos being worse.

...More seriously, Vogue certainly has an iconic video, I will give it that much.

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Two more songs to actually hit the five song target, starting with the long awaited song that started in next-to-last place:

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#C#

???: SiivaGunner - Super Mario Galaxy 2, Puzzle Plank Galaxy (2:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXz-oqGf3IU
Nominator: @paulg235 [10 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 19.49
Final Score: 12.96 [Upgraded to 40.00] [Upgraded to 56.19] [Upgraded to 60.01] [Upgraded to 62.99995]

(First Reaction: Well... I kinda hate the type of square dancing music that Puzzle Plank Galaxy reminds me of, I do not like the Woody's Roundup theme in the least. and mashing them together has created an odd sensation in which I'm not sure which of the components I dislike more. It's... I mean, it's not my most hated song ever or anything, but I think I do kinda hate everything about this song.)

Two bad tastes that taste worse together. The best part is the dead silence fake-out that gives hope the song may end after only a few seconds. Strangely, I do feel more tolerant of the Puzzle Plank Galaxy portion of the song which I may charitably describe as "not for me, but I don't care enough to hate it"... but I'm also much, much less tolerant of the Woody's Roundup theme which is somehow threatening to drag this down below the 10 point theshold. I'm not entirely sure why; none of the Toy Stories are a favorite film, but I don't particularly dislike the first three so I'm not quite sure where this overwhelming hatred is coming from. Either way, the intense negative feelings are enough to drop this song even further... which, since this song started in next-to-last place, is really not a great sign.

[Later: Huh, you know, I actually kinda like the Puzzle Plank Galaxy bits this time and I don't hate Woody's Roundup. I think... I'm going to go a bit wild with increasing the score and jump this three tiers to the 40 point category. While this is by far the happiest I've ever been to listen to the song, it's still a pretty long way from being great--combining something I kinda like with something I mildly dislike results in a concotion that struggles to reach the 50 point mark, but... well, for something that was next-to-last after both its initial listens, this isn't too bad.]

[Still Later: I... feel oddly happy that this song references his horse, Bullseye. *sighs* God, I'm getting sappy in my old age... just go up a couple more tiers.]

[Sillt Later: [Fluttershy} *sing-song voice* You~ like me.

[Luce] Stop it.

[Fluttershy] Y~ou like me.

[Luce] I told you to stop it.

[Fluttershy] I just think the audience should have a little context on why a reference to Woody's horse companion suddenly gave this song a bunch of extra points~.

[Luce] God, when did you start delighting in annoying people?

[Fluttershy] Who knows? Maybe I've spent too much time hanging around a bad influence. *wink wink* *nudge nudge*... *noticing that Luce is in her wolf form and her head is lower to the ground, she lightly boops her nose* Boop.

[Luce] ...

[Fluttershy] You're smiling~.

[Luce] I AM AND I HATE IT.]

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???: LCD Soundsystem | Great Release (6:36)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NFy1VJFDrZ4
Nominator: @ZaziGuado [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 43.59
Final Score: 51.0002 [Upgraded to 54.09] [Moved Aside] [Score set to 60.015] [Upgraded to 64.79]

(First Reaction: No, thank you.

...I should say something here, I know, but I... don't want to? This is one of those songs that is so fine that I have no particular reaction to it. I don't like it, but not strongly enough to complain. It's... fine. Fine, but no, thank you.)

I don't know. I can tell that the song is trying to be evocative and powerful, with its dramatic musical swells, but it never manages to inspire any actual emotion in me. The last lyric--"Someday dying will be a great release"--is nice, but it's not really up there with my favorite lines of the topic And... yeah, I wish I was able to connect with this because it sounds like there's a song I should love here, but I just... don't. I am moving it up a tier though because, while I'm not connecting with it, the *attempt* to form an emotional connection through music is performed admirably enough that I'd say I feel vaguely positive about the song.

[Later: And it feels like it should have a higher score
And it feels like it starts real slow
And it feels like this is repetitive
And it feels like it should have a lower score
And it feels like I've run this joke too far
And it feels... better than 53 points, to be honest

Well, this is getting a bit better with each listen, so perhaps I'd eventually connect with it if I gave it enough attempts.]

[Still Later: I don't know. I wouldn't say I like this, but... I don't know. I like it even though I don't like it.]

[One More Later: One of a few songs like the Barbershop where I keep saying I'll cut it before delaying things. But... I think I may be prepared to release this now, pun intended for once. For all the times I've heard this song, and as much as I've come around to liking it, I only remember it as the 'And it FEEEELLLLLLSSSS~" song, which is odd because he doesn't use the line that often. Looking at some lyrics--though I'll note no sources agree on what the lyrics are--the singer only does that four times? Strange how it feels like it's so much more prevalent than it is.

So, song. I like this now. I think the swelling instruments and power of his voice cause me to get drawn into the song, which is actually quite nice. But like the Barbershop, I feel my "listen to this every day and not eliminate it" phase has reached its actual conclusion and that it won't make it to the next level. Still, definitely held on for quite a while here and I'm putting it pretty close to the 65 point marker, so there'll almost assuredly be a few more songs that rank below it.]

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???: Madonna | Vogue (4:54)
https://youtu.be/GuJQSAiODqI?si=MW94nmOATMl34OvM
Nominator: @redrocket [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.00
Final Score: 60.0000001 [Upgraded to 63.3333]

(First Impressions: I'm not sure Vogue would be in my top ten Madonna hits...

Take a Bow is the best, I don't see that as a debate.

-

Into the Groove is a song I've never thought about, but I'm suddenly desperate to hear it. *drops everything to listen to it* Oh yeah, that's peak dancing Madonna. I suppose I could see myself taking it over "Take a Bow" depending on what type of song I'm looking for.

-

Open Your Heart might just take the third slot. Poppy and covered in enough metaphors that I can love it in spite of how sexual it is.

-

Borderline is just an inferior Open Your Heart, but that's still better than most songs. Also, can I just say how weird it is that Glee did a "Borderline / Open Your Heart" mash-up? They took an 80s Madonna song and merged it with an 80s Madonna song. The result sounded like an 80s Madonna song and nothing interesting happens when combining the lyrics. The hell was that even about? ...Also, I know I said this was the inferior song, but listening to it right now... I'm actually digging Borderline more than usual. Let's say this is in a tie with Open Your Heart.

-

Lucky Star, now that's a Madonna song I haven't heard in quite a while! That's another big one....Huh, I'm thinking about putting this over Borderline & Open Your Heart actually. Making a Top Ten Madonna songs list is harder than I thought.

-

Papa Don't Preach... it's one I wouldn't expect to have so high on my list due to its subject matter, but it's actually a damn good song & features Madonna at her most emotionally vulnerable. It has to be in the Top Ten, but how high up? ...Okay, let's just say nothing is ranked and just name my top ten Madonna songs, this list is never going to get finished & this wasn't meant to be difficult or time consuming.

-

Human Nature is a more obscure pick, but the lines about not repressing yourself & refusing to apologize... this song hits A LOT of the right notes for me."You punished me for telling you my fantasies, I'm breakin' all the rules I didn't make". I love this one. I don't think I'd place it over Take A Bow, but it's a hard call.

-

Art of Contrition, speaking of obscure picks, this is a really out there one that I was delighted to find when we covered "Like A Prayer" at Rank the Tracks. It's hectic, experimental, crazy, and broken. It is an EXPERIENCE and I am here for it.

-
-

...Okay, my top 8 is pretty easy to define and then I can't make up my mind. Material Girl is a classic, but a bit high-pitched and I'm not always in the mood for it. Cherish can work when I'm in a really sappy mood... I really like its verses, but the choruses are a bit too sappy sweet for me *usually* which causes that song to bounce wildly in terms of scoring.... though yeah, I do really like a good chunk of the song, so let's put that in as a solid #9.

That leaves Material Girl, Vogue, Like a Prayer, Like a Virgin, Dress You Up, and Secret to battle it out for tenth place. I'm kinda feeling Secret right now? Yeah. The top ten as of this exact moment:

Take A Bow > Human Nature > Art of Contrition > Lucky Star > Into the Groove = Papa Don't Preach = Open Your Heart = Borderline > Cherish > Secret

....yeah, that feels like the Top Ten Madonna songs. I'm good with that list.

*having listened to all of the named songs in their entirety--some multiple times--she realizes that she's wasted a lot of time that could have been spent ranking songs that were actually nominated Or at least talking about the nominated song.*

Right, right, you nominated Vogue! It's not a bad song. It might be the 11th best Madonna song--well, I'm not counting music from Evita as I haven't seen the film, so let's say it might be the 11th best Madonna song excluding songs from musicals. That's the most damning with faint praise write up I've ever given, but here we are. Ultimately, the problem with this song is that it doesn't do anything better than other Madonna songs. She has an older, more refined voice in this song than her poppiest 80s hits... but my two favorite Madonna songs also feature her older, more refined sound -so- it's competing directly against two songs it cannot remotely stand against. There's some lines about escaping from pain and becoming something else, but her solution to pain is dancing which kinda kills my connection to the lyrics... like the lyrics start off so strong--yes, desperation to escape the pain of life, to become "someTHING" and not "someONE", with a focus on imagination and breaking free of gender rolls! And the payoff is..."dance floor!"

My disappointment is immeasurable.

And then that spoken word section... man, I like spoken word sections, but this is just naming celebrities. The best part of this section was Glee covering it and changing the line to "Will Shuster, I hate you". And I don't even like Glee! This song is making me miss Glee's version of the song AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE GLEE'S VERSION OF THE SONG THAT MUCH.

...ya know, I'm starting to think 11th may be overvaluing this song a tad. Like, I enjoyed the song when I started---not a lot, but I was going to leave the writeup as "well, even third rate Madonna is something that I still like", but the more I type about the song the madder I get.

....Ehh...fine, take exactly 60 points. I do like it. It's catchy and I'm not sick of it even after all these years of hearing it on the radio. But wow, this is... very much not her best work.)

Well, it's a popular well known song that I haven't heard so many times that I'm sick of it. That puts it over Wayward Son & Eleanor Rigby at least. I can't really think of anything else to add here; it does get some points because I like hearing Madonna enough to carry it this far, but it's so far below my favorite Madonna songs that it has a pretty low ceiling.

[Later: I'm adding a few more points to this one, but I think I'll be keeping it below the 65 point threshold. I do like it, more than I'm usually willing to admit, but there are so many unsatisfying aspects to the song (the already mentioned trio of focusing on dancing, a disappointing and dull spoken word section, and the fact that there are so many Madonna songs I'd rather be listening to) that this song's time would come sooner rather than later. It's definitely further into the 60s than I was giving it credit for, but

*the write up trails off there without an end to the sentence or closing bracket*]

==============

Three songs to start the day. Plan is to set aside anything getting "at least 65 points" and cut whatever isn't getting to that point, then figure out what ranking everything wound up in:

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???: Nik Nocturnal and Ankor | Unforgiven (2:58)
https://open.spotify.com/album/3CizRZAh0zgebtDRkxVvlH
Nominator: @BlackDra90n [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.00
Final Score: 60.0000004 [Upgraded to 62.00107]

(First Reaction: I feel like it repeats "Unforgiven, I'm a villain" too many times--saying the line eight times in under three minutes is excessive--which is a shame because there are some damn good lines in this song.

I never asked for forgiveness
[...]
Come with me beyond, my unforgiven girls
Come cross the line with me, my unforgiven boys

What can I say, being true to yourself without apology appeals to me, as does the song serving as a rallying cry for others to join her. I do find it somewhat funny that for as many times as she claims to be a villain, she doesn't actually do anything villainous. I'm sure that's the point; that just being immature and not fitting in with their standards makes her a villain, I am occasionally capable of understanding things, but I think I'd like something at least evil adjacent if she's going to keep repeating that she's a villain.

...Still, this is another song that I like. Good concept and some good lyrics, I'd just personally prefer a bit more variety in said lyrics. But what's here is good.)

Good song with good lyrics. Feels like the type of thing where I can just say "I like this" and move along.

[Later: A few extra points. This is one of those songs in that "I'm sure there are still songs I like less than this, but I don't think I'll be taking it up a level" category... I like it, but it's getting a bit harder for songs that get the "say I like this and move on" treatment to hang around against all the songs I have a stronger attachment to.]

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???: QSound Labs | Starkey Cetera Virtual Barber Shop (4:33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HCFOF-5nUw

Nominator: @Place [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 32.98
Final Score: 53.00 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 60.003] [Upgraded to 62.14]

(First Reaction: Well I don't like ASMR, or barber shops, or audio bouncing from one ear to the other, or the buzzing of an electric razor (we like a lot of buzzing sounds, but very much not that sound), and there's barely anything musical here... I guess there's perhaps two or three notes from a guitar? And I'm of two minds on what to do here: I could give it a total of two points and make it the new last place song because I don't really acknowledge this as a song at all. Were I to select a piece of music to listen to, it would almost assuredly not be this because there is no music.

Alternatively, I could give it some token amount of points. Questions of musicality aside, it's a novel auditory experience and I'd like to encourage people taking chances on really unique nominations like this. I also don't really give points for historical relevance, but this track is truly ahead of its time, predating the whole ASMR fad. And most importantly, I don't hate it. I dislike it, don't get me wrong, but it could get away with being somewhere in the 30s? And these contradicting ideas both feel very accurate. It is something that absolutely must take last place (Finger is at least one, if not two, tiers above this in terms of how likely I am to willingly listen to it as a piece of music) & something that absolutely cannot take last place (I don't hate it).

...I am reminded of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's computer game, in which you must simultaneously have Tea and No Tea in your inventory. This is bending my mind and breaking the scoring system. ...Which.... I'm going to say that I like things that break me, so this somehow sneaks into the 30 point range?)

I am still baffled by this, but the door opening sound freaked me out and tricked me into believing a door was opening behind me certainly proves the quality of their technology. I'm going to... move this above the 50 point line, if only barely, because it's a novel enough experience that I feel... vaguely positive towards it tonight. Not very, but slightly.

[Later: An experience that has grown on me considerably since the first listen. I'm still not sure about calling this a song, but it's a unique enough experience that I'm going to... say I like this and move it up one more tier.]

[Still Later: This is such a unique nomination that it keeps avoiding elimination... I have no idea how many times I've listened to this as I got ready to eliminate it because it always felt like it was going to be the next drop, only to decide that it was interesting enough that I wanted to keep it around for one more day.... but I think I'll just give this an extra two points and call it. That electric razor sets my fur on edge and there's not really enough music here for me--I'm finally starting to get to a point where this track's novelty isn't always holding up. Also, I'm pretty sure I've heard this at least ten times and there are still a bunch of songs with only one listen, and if I haven't moved this song really far up by now than I probably won't ever do so. But I'll give it a few points--enough that I could still slot in more songs beneath it--and finally end my daily visits to this barbershop so that I may focus on other nominations before I wind up getting tired of this & dropping it back down the list. Farewell and arrivederci, barbershop.]

===============

*continued*

redrocket posted...

Does this usually happen during your rankings, or was this an unusually good set?

There are always some songs we get ready to eliminate and then choose not to, shuffling things around and messing up all the numbers in the topic as a result. It's pretty common for us to have to frequent audits to try to figure out where all the numbers went wrong due to poorly documented changes.

That being said, this topic is far more live than usual. Ideally, we like to get three listens in on each song before starting so the list has time to settle... since most songs here still have only one listen, there's incredibly little grasp on what the finished list will look like. Which leads to... well, this. I'm hoping the chaotic nature of never knowing what's going to happen is fun for some of the audience, but I'm happy with it even if it is more stressful than a typical, coherent ranking.

Though, also, yes, I'm pretty sure this topic has the highest percentage of songs to reach this tier level. I've never done the math, but it feels... off to like so many. Not in a bad way, obviously! Just, like, off from a statistical standpoint.

...So the answer your question, I 'unno.

Raka_Putra posted...

It's pretty apt to have Fluttershy show up to the bear song lol.

Also I'm glad that this clip has the context that it's a bunch of stuffed bears, because some clips didn't have the opening part and some people imagined actual, real bears and that's a very different mental image lol.

1: Thanks for being a good sport about her appearance. She was a bit... concerned about how talking to ourselves would look, so this actually helped.

2: Very glad for that context! I... imagine it would have less points if I didn't involve stuffed animals, though the mental image is still absurd enough that it may have wound up here anyway.

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CJones posted...

My roommate during my first year of college slept with a Teddy Bear.

He was quite successful after college, and I'm not, so I'm in no position to criticize his sleeping habits.

Honestly, that's kinda cute and I'm happy he was confident enough in his needs/desires to accept that instead of trying to deny it.

-

And... no other songs today as I've now been at this for two and a half hours without wanting to cut anything. This is what happens when you like everything. *briefly considers trying another signature shifty eyed emoticon* <|.< ...Like a scar or something. That almost might work, though it's still pretty similar... well whatever; point is, I may go back to the "just assigning scores and posting songs without giving an actual ranking number" thing for a bit because taking upwards of three hours per elimination is not exactly a tenable solution.

pyresword posted...

A lot of this makes somewhat more sense in the context of the show itself because basically the climax is timed to a specific event which is preceded by a lot of brooding and angst. Not that any of that necessarily changes the experience of listening to the song as its own thing.

That makes sense. I still haven't really seen the show; I saw the first season as it aired, but I didn't have a chance to see the second or third and just never got around to going back to it for whatever reasons.

-

Two songs to start the morning because I'm being *difficult* and likely moving a few songs up instead of actually eliminating them... again.

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#321: Paperclip Galaxy | Bengal Tiger (5:45)
https://squiggledot.bandcamp.com/track/bengal-tiger
Nominator: Kopazzynth [5 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.00
Final Score: 60.00

(First Reaction: I really like the part starting at the three minute mark. That's the trippy, space floating vibe I go for. It only lasts about 45 seconds before some knocking sounds wakes me up from my floating dream state, but it was a really good 45 seconds. I'm not interested in the rest of the track, but I think I'll say that the high points are enough that I still like the song anyway?)

I do really like that part. Trippy and floating in a weird, almost meditative way. Those 40 seconds are totally my jam! And there's also five minutes of other song here. ....Okay, I shouldn't be that dismissive. The rest of the song is fine. It didn't have any moments that I really liked outside of the space-like section, but it's not as though I wanted the song to go away or anything. It's five minutes of "fine song" and forty seconds of "amazing song" which I like.

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#C#

#320: Play It By Ear | Bears Got to Go to College (3:16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJtWj7cSH8Q
Characters: Dylan and Tyler
Nominator: @Raka_Putra [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.00
Final Score: 60.00000003

(First Reaction:

BEARS. GOT TO GET KNOWLEDGE. BEARS GOT TO GO TO COLLEGE. AND THEN BEARS BECOME YOUR WIFE. YOULL BE WITH THAT BEAR FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

...Sure, take the 60 points, I suppose marrying a stuffed bear is worth a pass to the "I like this" tier. It's not exactly my favorite comedy song, but that chorus is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of my life [pun not intended] and there's at least one funny line.)

I'm really not that big into bears, but I am big into stuffed animals and the last parts of the song do become so absurd that it's funny. The sudden shift to marriage is one of the funniest moments in the topic & I also like the discussion about dressing up the bear.

[Fluttershy] ...I don't like little hats. 0 bonus hat points for this song.

Either way, I like this song. Probably one of the earliest drops in the "I like this" tier because it takes quite a while for the song to reach the jokes that I find funny, but it's a pretty good pick.

[Later: [Fluttershy] Well, it was very rude of me to say I don't like little hats. I don't want to wear a little hat, but I wouldn't say I have anything against little hats themselves or the people and animals that might want to wear one.

[Luce] It's okay for you to not like something, Flutter. Especially since we didn't even remove points for the little hat? You just didn't give extra points.

[Fluttershy] I know, but it was still mean for no real reason. I was trying to be dismissive in a fun way, but I really don't like the way I sounded there.

[Luce] It's fine to clarify your thoughts. Just... try not to fall into a panic induced spiral because of... *shakes her head* just try not to fall into a panic induced spiral.

[Fluttershy] *after taking a moment to calm down* I know. I'll be fine. Thank you.

[Luce] Anytime, *tries to think of a cute nickname* ...Fluff ball.

[Fluttershy] "Fluff ball?" *blink*

[Luce] It was the best I could think of in a hurry!

[Fluttershy] Maybe you should think again? </.<

[Luce] Yeah, probably. Though I'll note you were more confused than bothered by it. *decides to quickly move on to the next song before embarrassing Fluffy any further.*

[Fluttershy] Fluffy?!

[Luce] Okay, okay, not Fluffy! *leaves things there, knowing that now's not a good time to try to work out why that nickname is so triggering*

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#322: The Legend of Korra | Greatest Change (5:15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us8hYVeOJZw
Nominator: @pyresword [2 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 53.03
Final Score: 53.03 [Upgraded to 55.00] [Moved Aside] [Set to 59.999]

(First Reaction: An emotional instrumental piece that doesn't resonate with me enough to inspire any actual emotion... for the first three and a half minutes. THEN the song decides to transition to "sweeping adventure" music and things finally start to pick up! Sounds of marching, feelings of trepidation, hope, the song really goes through a lot in a short period of time once you reach that point. Sadly, the opening part just failed to connect with me on any level, which is holding this back somewhat... when you have to wait for over half of a song's runtime for it to get good, it can be a bit hard to say that you actually liked the song as a whole.)

It's another "musical journey" song in which I don't like most of the steps on said journey. And sadly, this song has lower highs than some other similar tracks which makes it hard to hold onto. Perhaps if the song could have started three minutes in? Then the quiet emotional build would end fairly quickly and we could focus more on the grand adventure and soaring triumph that give the song basically all of its points.

[Later: Changed mind, this song's high points are strong enough to move it up to the "kinda like" level.]

[Still Later: I had thought this song would last longer when I moved it up to the "Kinda Like" tier, but we've already reached the point where I kinda like everything remaining. Either people are generally more in tune with what I like this year or I've grown soft in my old age and like most everything... either way, this song's time may be drawing to a close. The high points remain very high, but... ehhh... dammit, everytime I get ready to cut this song, I listen to it and as soon as we get to the good parts I move it a little further up the list. Fine, let's just put it... somewhere.]

[Even Later: I think this may have been the first song to have officially been moved off of the list entirely while I was trying to decide on a score. I feel like that's the moment this ranking started going off the rails as more & more songs got moved aside until we got into the predicament we're in now. And the thing is, I still don't really know what I want to do with this song. I don't think it can reach the 60 point tier, the part that I like consists of less than half the song. The 60s are for songs where I can just say "I like this" and leave the write up at that, but I cannot say that for a song where I enjoy less than half of it.

But that final stretch contains enough emotion that I don't want to eliminate it either. I think I'm going to settle on a score of 59.999, at least for now; because I keep getting ready to eliminate it and refusing to do so, so I will move this as far up as I can without actually taking it up another tier because there's apparently no way I'm cutting this song before the end of the tier anyway.]

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And we're done! 321 songs make it to the vaunted 60 point tier. Maybe I'm being too generous this year, but there were a lot of initially low scoring songs that I couldn't bring myself to cut and here we are. [Fun-ish fact, the song that was initially in #400th place is surprisingly still hanging around! A few songs that started in the low 20s are also somewhere In this pile.]

See ya in a couple days once this pile is a bit better managed.

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#325: Pat Metheny Group | Minuano (Six Eight) (9:26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0NGif5jZc

Nominator: @Place [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 53.60
Final Score: 53.60 [Upgraded to 55.60] [Set Aside] [Score Set to 59.58] [Upgraded to 59.635]

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

I'm not so sure about this one. Back when NFUN put up that album topic, we spent a not-insignificant amount of time playing with that "Boil the Frog" site (RIP) to try to find an artist similar to Pat Metheny Group since NFUN liked them, while still being something that at least one of us liked... we obviously never found anything. We weren't really a fan of PMG or any artist even up to three steps away from him in terms of musical similarity. Still, we haven't exactly heard many songs from them, so here's hoping this one fares better?

[After]

This is nice. I can't say that I'm really into it, but it's pleasant and i almost kinda like it. It's probably not the best sign that in a nine and a half minute long song that I never had any thoughts about anything it was doing, but I certainly didn't mind it or particularly want it to end. Sometimes that's the best we can hope for.)

Pleasant and vaguely tropical. I still almost kinda like it which may be the second most "damning with faint praise" reaction of the entire topic, but I've just never been able to get into Pet Metheny Group and this is the best I can offer.

[Later: Actually, I'm kinda into these vibes right now. They're pretty relaxing, while still being oddly upbeat for something so relaxing. I'll go ahead and move this one up a bit.]

[Still Later: This has some good relaxing on a beach vibes to it. I kinda dig it.]

[One More Later: And a very minor boost for reorganization purposes. I still don't quite feel like moving this up a tier, but it's quasi-relaxing, quasi-beach-y, "somehow reminding me of a muzak version of "Vola | We Are Thin Air""-y-ness puts it several marks ahead of where it was.]

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#324: Beyonce | Freedom (ft. Kendrick Lamar) (4:49)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FWF9375hUA
Nominator: Bane_Of_Despair [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 59.8079
Final Score: 59.648

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

I'm not a big fan of Beyonce (or, more accurately, I've never paid enough attention to her music to have any particular impression; I don't really care for Single Ladies or Run the World, but I acknowledge that she probably has some songs I like in her discography), but Kendrick's A.D.H.D. is one of the greatest songs of all time. But then I didn't really like the album of his that we covered at Rank the Tracks. So I have no idea what score this might end up with.

[After]

Considering Kendrick's counting down... is this nomination intended as a follow-up to your Josie and the Pussycats nom? Becuase that feels too oddly specific to be a coincidence, but also such a weird connection to make intentionally & the songs were nominated in separate post so I wouldn't be surprised if it was coincidental.

Back on topic, I want to like this song. Marching and fighting for freedom is important and the song has some great messaging--and some very powerful imagery in the video--but I'm still just... not really a Beyonce fan. I kinda like this, but that feels blasphemous. Can I say that I love the messaging and content of the song even if I'm not too into the song itself?

Kendrick's verse is the highlight, though that shouldn't be a surprise. I like the lyrical countdown (though I don't quite know if there's a symbolic reason for stopping at five) and I find his style more personally appealing.)

I continue to not have any particular feelings towards Beyonce's work. I know what this is a great song and I applaud its lyrics & importance, but the only section that I truly like is the part without her. Which makes it kinda difficult to move this up a tier, in spite of all the positives it has going for it.

===============

-

===============

#323: Mitsuharu Fukuyama - The Battle from the Dream (3:54)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79SJsgHjEwE

(Video contains Yakuza 5 spoilers, click at own discretion.)

Character: Kiryu Kazama

Nominator: NFUN [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 52.85
Final Score: 56.40 [Moved Aside] [Upgraded to 59.83]

(First Reaction: It's oddly pleasant for a battle theme, being quite tame and subdued. This does elevate it over all the battle themes that try to be epic, but also... kinda just leaves it as vaguely pleasant background noise. I don't know that I've ever been a fan of Yakuza's instrumental songs and this one isn't much of an exception; nice enough to get a positive score, but that's about it.)

"Oh hey, I don't like battle themes or instrumental music from the Yakuza series, finally there's an easy elimination! ...Oh crap, this is actually a good song and I kinda like this. Welp, so much for this one being eliminated either."

[Later: An unexpectedly nice song, though one I still don't fully click with. I always suspect this is going to be a very easy elimination to make, but as soon as it plays, I'm reminded of exactly how it's managed to survive so many times... it's odd in that I never remember the song, at all, after it's over so that I can keep being surprised by it in this way.]

===============

-continued, one more time-

Been a while since I posted the post-ranking ranking list (officially known as "ZA'LIST" for reasons that may or may not have made sense back at the first topic, but the name has become TRADITION and is not to be questioned now), so here's an update. If someone mentioned a song and I left it out, do remind me as I assure you it's a case of "bad record keeping" rather than me deliberately leaving anything off.

ZA'LIST 2024:

+++++++++++++++

SONGS:

Boomhauer sings Rap God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmmHoam7y5U

If System of a Down Were from India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi106DZJhuQ

Scene Queen | 18+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L57iEai79I

Scene Queen | Pink Rover

Lingua Ignota | All of My Friends Are Going to Hell

Elvenking | Seasonspeech

Caligula's Horse | Charcoal Grace (1 through 4)

Opeth | The Lotus Eater (8:51)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhohQNdSt7g

Opeth | Harvest (6:06)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAJY80FSFzM

Possibly give an extra listen to "Caligula's Horse | Salt"

-

ALBUMS:

Ayreon | The Human Equation

Coheed and Cambria | Vaxis Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind

(Technically I'm only supposed to listen to a few of the other tracks from near the end of the album that lead into the title track, but at that point we might as well just finish the whole thing. And while arguably I should do that *now* to get more context for the actually nominated songs, I feel like saving it as a post topic thing.)

EDIT: Removed random sentence that shouldn't have been there. (Extra Coheed tracks were listed under songs instead of albums and I somehow only deleted half of the old line.)

+++++++++++++++

-

Moving along, there are exactly five songs that I'm positive that I want to cut before the next tier. Pretty wild coincidence, but a very convenient one. Five drops right now, tomorrow will be a day off as I try to make sense out of the next tier which is now a crowded mess of "songs that have been listened to six or seven times as I refuse to eliminate them each day" and "songs that have not received a second listen yet" so it's going to take a minute...

...actually, let's just say two days off. That should give time to straighten things out before rankings resume on Sunday. For now, let's finish eliminating those that didn't make it to the "I like this" tier:

===============

#B#

#326: dinger | dinger box (ver. 5.0.0) (7:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLTKoN9GBHs
Nominator: @UF8 [11 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 59.48
Final Score: 58.00 [Upgraded to 58.45] [Upgraded to 59.59] [Upgraded to 59.633]

(First Reaction: Wow, that is a depressing decription for the video.

I'm sure I won't be able to live as myself if things continue like this. I thought so.
In that case, wouldn't it be better to just die? Set a time, decide what you want to do by then, and complete it. And wouldn't it be better to just lie down in the corner of the room and not move? The choice to live was so taken for granted that I realized it too late.
In the first place, what you hear from people who are still alive are some biased opinions. The only people alive are those who are happy to be alive, so don't ask them for their opinion of death.

....though, trying to complete some sort of goal before the time of your designated suicide is certainly more productive than I ever was back when I was suicidal. Which is making this even more depressing. On the plus side, dinger seems to still be releasing music (the last video was uploaded five days before I typed this), so I'm going to hope they're doing okay?

As for the song itself, it's... good, but I never get anything from it other than "this is a good instrumental track". It never triggers an emotional resonance with me, which is unfortunate, as I'm positive I've loved some of dinger's work in the past. Well, who knows, maybe I'm just too depressed from reading that video summary to focus on the music properly. We'll see if I can connect with it on a relisten.)

The description is still a bit rough. Since, as I mentioned (or will have mentioned? I'm tripping myself up on what order these are being posted), I've dealt with suicidal thoughts before when I was younger... let's just say that while I'm doing perfectly fine these days, the description hits a bit too close to things I once thought. [Again, doing fine now and quite actively want to live, please don't be concerned.] Perhaps thankfully, I can just focus on the song itself since the actual music doesn't really do anything related to the description.

The song, as best as I can tell, seems relatively fine? It's nothing I have complaints about, but you know how it is with instrumental music that I don't form a connection with, and this... doesn't quite hit for me. Which is sad because I'm positive I've really enjoyed some dinger music before this one. I still kinda like it, but it may wind up being the first drop at the 58 Nebula.

[Later: Better than I remember it being, though almost eight minutes of music that I don't have a strong reaction to might be a bit much... I'm going to move this score up a bit to slightly delay the elimination.]

[Still Later: I'll go ahead and give this one an extra point to slightly delay its elimination as well.]

[One More Later: Okay, one more delay to the elimination with a small boost to score for reorganization purposes, but I'm *relatively certain* this is actually falling this time.]

===============

*continued*

CJones posted...

I nominated Salt, from Rise Radiant, in the previous one of these. It was my highest rated song, at 87.

Ah, sorry, I seem to have forgotten that one. It's been a while. I should probably try relistening to it at some point here.

NBIceman posted...

The rest of the album, in particular the title suite, is the band at its best and is much more Graves-like. So I'd definitely recommend checking it out if you're wanting to hear more of them.

A word of caution, though - if Graves overwhelmed you emotionally (which I totally understand, because it's intentionally a very emotionally charged song), you might have a similar experience with the Charcoal Grace suite. There's some fairly heavy themes at work there

Thanks for the warning. I'll add it to the post-list and try to listen to it on one of my better days.

tazzyboyishere posted...

Love how it takes samples from corporate pop songs

Huh, I actually didn't know that about it. I doubt it'd impact the scoring, but I should probably see if I can find anything else about the song later.

===============

#328: Poe | Haunted (5:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgyRQheHgaU
Nominator: @xtlm [10 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 59.14
Final Score: 58.47 [Upgraded to 59.57]

(First Reaction: A good song that makes me want to listen to the full album, but I'm not quite fully clicking with it. I should; father issues are kinda my thing, as is pain & regret... this song embodies all of those things. And yet, while I'm incredibly interested in hearing more, I feel like I'm more intrigued by the song than actually enjoying it? I kinda like it, but it... it feels like something that needs the rest of the album than something I can enjoy on its own, I think.)

I'm haunted
By the lies that wove the web
Inside my haunted head

I do like that part of the chorus.

Time to gather up the splinters
Build a casket for my tears

Is also a particularly poignant lyric. And yet, I still never truly "click" with the song. Good lyrics, good subject matter, I don't have anything against her singing voice or the backing music track... it just never quite sparks a strong enough reaction in spite of the fact that it very clearly should.

[Later: I'm still not where I want to be in regards to this song, but I think I'll also give it an extra point so that it can join the 59 point songs.]

===============

-

===============

#327: Andy Loebs | Brain Freeze (4:10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jzlUOE2Jw0
Nominator: Kopazzynth [6 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 59.57
Final Score: 59.63

(First Reaction: Pleasingly odd. While it's always an abnormal song, it never goes hard ; or relies on noise ; or cacophony ; or ever stop being melodic, honestly. It's an easy, fairly relaxing, listen that still manages to be unique and play with sounds in an experimental way. Pretty neat song.)

I could use more songs like this, those that are pleasingly unique while still being relatively tame or relaxing. Which makes me feel like I should be giving this a bunch more points, but.. this score feels right at the moment?

===============

-

Okay, back later, sorry for the delays in responding to everything posted earlier today! You know how it is when you're running late, I'm sure.

I'll try to reply to everything tomorrow. With apologies, I'm running very late--I have something I need to do, like, now and I also need to make time to listen to a few songs over at VGMC before I miss the round so I'm in a rush.

So, something kinda weird here. My notes had "Primavera-Hana Furu Hi " as not being eliminated yet, so I'd been listening to & refusing to eliminate it for a while... and only noticed it was already eliminated when I went to eliminate it today. So the song is, inexplicably, officially un-eliminated & re-eliminated in the same post. Since it's being moved up, it takes over as the new #331.

Four and a half-ish eliminations since I'm counting Primavera's second elimination as part of my five-per-day target.

===============

#331: Yumi Tono | Primavera-Hana Furu Hi (3:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPE-9r4qkJc
Nominator: @MaxGalactica [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 20.00
Final Score: 55.033 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 59.21]

(First Reaction: Sorry, but this is the type of instrumental that I'm rarely into. It's very old-fashioned and stuffy, like a piece of classical music that I've never been able to get into--we'll talk more about that in another writeup, since this isn't really classical (at least, I presume, seeing as it was released this year). I find it impossible to find anything to say here because it's just really not for me; I'm sure her playing is skilled and I'm equally sure someone who actually understands music would be able to articulate why this is a great piece of art, but I just can't get into this.)

Actually, this isn't too bad. I'm not exactly raving about it and it's not quite my style, but this... I may actually kinda like it? I can't find anything I want to say about it, but... yeah, I think I'll experiment with moving this one pretty far up the list.

[Later: The second song that I lost shortly after moving it into the undefined "at least 58 point" category, losing trace of anything I may have said down here. Either way, I do kinda like this one... it's still not a type of music that I'm really drawn to, but it's pleasingly different compared to other songs on the list which has helped it survive significantly longer than I originally expected.]

[And Later: I do appreciate this and I also like that i'm becoming more tolerant to it over time. Going from "active dislike" to "kinda like" to "the high end of kinda like" is likely a good sign. While I doubt any of us will ever be particularly into classical or classical sounding music, this is probably a sign that we're getting better at dealing with songs that remind us of classical music, so... it may still be a year or two too early for a song like this, but thank you for kinda easing us into the topic.]

[???: ...Wait, this song was already eliminated? Curious. My notes have it as very not eliminated. Though that explains how I "lost" it... it got deleted after I posted it in the topic. Whoops. Well, either way now it has four more points than it used to! I... uhh... don't know that I should @ you a second time for such a minor difference, but you did say to notify you when a song was eliminated and this is... sorta... eliminated a second time? I dunno. This all went wrong somewhere, but it has more points!]

===============

-

===============

#330: COLIN STETSON from "Hereditary" | HAIL, PAEMON! (0:55)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ebVUtAGhiA
Nominator: @Snake5555555555 [11 songs remaining]
Character: Paimon

Initial Score: 53.44
Final Score: 55.15 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 59.50]

(First Reaction: I think I'll pass on studying too much about this film... horror is really not my thing and I don't think reading any more violent death is going to help me appreciate this song any.

So... song. I like how dramatic and overwhelming it feels, and being a theme for a demon is pretty sweet, but it's really short. I don't have enough time to really feel any dread or indulge in any demonic fantasy sequences because it's over almost as quickly as it began. I'm going to have this start just below the "kinda like" tier; I can see moving it up to the 55 point zone, but it's going to be hard for it to get above that tier.)

Moving this one up so that it can reach the "Kinda Like' tier at 55 points, but not all that far into the tier. I still like how dramatic and intense the song feels, but ending so quickly leaves me unsatisfied and it's getting harder to keep this around against songs that feel more complete. Still, it's certainly a unique approach to nominating a character theme and I do like the demonicness.

[Later: Dramatic low tones are always a plus, but while I do keep moving this song further up the list, it leaves me feeling a bit unsatisfied by the end which likely keeps it from reaching the tier.]

===============

-

===============

#329: Yuki Kanesaka | Gen'z Mood (1:36)
https://youtu.be/pAzkRiAAW54
Character: Gen Asagiri
Nominator: @TunnelScene [15 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 58.33
Final Score: 59.50 [Upgraded to 59.52]

(First Impressions: This is a very pleasant and slightly relaxing song, but I don't know... it feels a bit too bombastic with its chimes to be very relaxing and doesn't make me think of anything in particular. It's just "oh hey, this is neat" and then it ends so suddenly that it feels like the actual ending has been removed. It's... nice enough that part of me wants to move it up to the 60 point tier, but the sudden stop is so off-putting that part of me wants to keep it a bit below that tier as well. I think I'm going to open with a 58 point score here, see if I want to move it up later once its being judged directly against other "not quite 60 point" tracks.)

Well, "bombastic" isn't the right word at all... too "rapidly moving" to be relaxing, perhaps? And I don't know. I kinda like it, enough to keep it in the Nebula, but it feels like this song needs a little something... like it needs an extra minute to play around with instead of having such a brief runtime?

[Later: One minor boost to raise this an extra place. It really is a very pleasant song, but I can't help but feel something is missing... it's like the song is half relaxing & half playful, then ends before I have time to properly react to either half. I'm sorry, I feel like I should enjoy this more than I am, it's just not quite clicking with me.]

===============

*continued*

And I think I'll go with just two more songs tonight, to end at a total of five. I was going to do more, but a lot of songs that were scheduled to be cut have been given increased scores (including one going to exactly 60.00 points, which is not remotely helpful when everything is becoming clumped together at that spot) & I really want to look at Hades 2 to be quite honest. So I'm just going to say that two and a half hours of work listening to music is enough for today and treat myself to a new game; back tomorrow.

-

===============

#332: Caligula's Horse | Golem (5:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVC4nKZD8Wk
Nominator: @MaxGalactica [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 57.23
Final Score: 58.38

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

I recall being really into Graves back at the first topic, so cautious optimism?

[After]

For all the peace you'll never find
For all your little suicides
You turn and face the bayonets

I honestly don't get much of this song, but that seems like a good passage.

Ultimately, I don't think this song quite works for me. It's... not bad and I kinda like it, but I'm not grokking the story they're trying to tell and most of the lyrics aren't quite hitting... I do like the part I highlighted, but that's about it. Likewise, the music itself, I kinda like it but I'm also not really vibing with it either? We'll see how it goes when it's time for a Revised Score; I could just be down on the song because it's not immediately appealing like some of their other work and I can make more of an effort to try to figure out what the story here is.)

Golem is about how we all struggled with the weight of expectation through the pandemic

At no point did I get pandemic from any of the lyrics, but that could just be on me. I do kinda like this song and I don't want to eliminate it, but I feel like this song is partially carried by the fact that I want to hear more from the band than an actual attachment to this song. Like I said, they have at least one song that was a big hit (though partially held back due to how emotionally overwhelming it could be) and I like their style of prog metal, but this song is... not really a favorite. I'm going to move it into the Nebula because I like the band's sound enough that it's easy to justify, but I don't know that I can go much farther than that.

[Later: Well, it's not fair to say that this is getting points due to a pro-Graves bias. I'm sure that I do kinda like it on its own merits. Sadly, I just haven't been able to form a connection with it to carry it beyond this level.]

===============

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===============

#331: Alpha Wolf | Akudama (2:36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ENMe1rlA0M
Nominator: @BlackDra90n [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 50.10
Final Score: 53.616 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 58.50]

(First Reaction: I think I usually need some clean vocals somewhere in my metalcore for me to be able to appreciate it, but this is alright. There's some slight villainy to the lyrics which is a little appealing and, for being all metal vocals, his voice is easy enough to understand. It's a rather approachable entry into harder metalcore music... I just don't particularly want to enter harder metalcore music, so this is a bit of a miss.)

A somewhat fun level of anger and aggression. I don't know if this is at the 55 point level, but it's definitely closer to it than I originally gave it credit for.

[Later: Whoops, I accidentally lost this song sometime after moving it into the ill-defined "at least 58 points" category, so I'm missing any notes I may have originally written here. ...So, song: I kinda like this now! Enough to move it into the Nebula, though it may be a bit too metal for me on most days; fun song though. I enjoy all the references to decapitation more than I thought I would, so that's fun in a slightly worrying way.]

===============

Three songs to start off the morning. Not sure how many songs we'll go through tonight... might go for the full ten to try to get up to the 60 point tier faster, might play it safer and stick to five songs since there's currently a block of 21 songs at exactly 60 points [19 that only have Initial Scores at that point & 2 more that were ranked lower and have since been moved up] that need to be straightened out before I could post anything from that tier anyway.

...Kinda feel like "try to speed up to reach that point on the list, then take a day off to sort it out" is the more enjoyable option on my end, but again, we'll see:

===============

#344: death's dynamic shroud | Just to be Needed (6:12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2jXEtohMzc
Nominator: @PIayer_0 [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 57.33
Final Score: 58.347 [Upgraded to 58.357]

(First Impressions: I kinda like this one. I'd really like more variety in the lyrics and a shorter song since it doesn't feel like there's six minutes worth of ideas here, but I kinda like it.)

It's rather boring until just before the three minute mark, where we get a new vocalist and it basically switches to a completely different song. That section is really good; sadly, the lyrics then get stuck in a "just to be needed" loop. I think the title is dropped 35 times during the song? I have no idea how any version of me managed to avoid commenting on that... I know we said something about wanting more lyrics, but that's awfully vague for something like this. If I didn't know better, I'd think something went wrong and I listened to the wrong song entirely the first time around.

And while I could cut this song even further down--three minutes of intro & one line repeated 35 times are certainly things I've cut songs for before--this is a certain beauty to this track that I feel forces me to place it into the Nebula.

[Later: Wait, the added female vocalist in the part I like is Ariana Grande? That makes a lot of sense. I didn't recognize her, but she has a few songs I love, so that'd explain why I'm so much more attached to the bridge.

Anyway, this song does do a few things I quite like: There are some low tones towards the end (always a plus; definitely, definitely a plus [I may have watched some old Rita & Runt segments from Animaniacs and have now started mimicking Runt's speech pattern, but hopefully that will end here])) & Ariana Grande steals the show with her cameo, but I'm not quite feeling this as a 60 point song.]

===============

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#333: varra | fortnite ii (2:34)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow45zb_-ba0

Nominator: NFUN [9 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 58.00
Final Score: 58.349 [Upgradd to 58.358]

(First Reaction: A remarkably pleasant little tune.)

I've said that about a lot of songs that were eliminated before this song, but this one is nicer. ...I wish I had more than that, but I don't. This is just a very simple, joyous song that I enjoy enough to easily make it into the Nebula, but doesn't leave enough of a lasting impat to ascend to the next tier. I enjoy it while it's playing, but I can't say that I recall anything about it other than a vague, happy feeling.

[Later: Very minor boost for reorganization purposes. It's a fun song, but I think I need more than a general sense of "fun" To move this up too far.]

===============

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===============

#332: Yamamii | Utsuru Mainichi Finder (4:11)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zraqO_7Wg38
Nominator: @UF8 [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 57.49
Final Score: 58.35 [Upgraded to 58.36]

(First Reaction:

Troublesome, troublesome everything
I want it to end and be forgotten

There's something I want to do, but I don't know why, it's too heavy.
I'm free, but I'm not free. Those days will continue.

Bleak. I like bleak lyrics. The song... I kinda like the song. There are a lot of good lyrics here, but I'm not quite in love with any of them and it's not exactly my favorite music, but I do kinda like this.)

The instruments are nice and there's a lot of pain in the lyrics, but they're not exactly my favorite vocalist (though I certainly wouldn't call them bad or object to hearing their other work)... I'm thinking that I should move this into the early part of the Nebula. The lyrics are enough to carry this song above everything that's being excluded, but I don't know that I actually like the song enough to move it up a full tier.

[Later: "It's painful, it's painful, just living". There's a lot to like here in terms of lyrics, but I never quite click with any one aspect of this song enough to feel good about moving it up. It's unfortunate, but I think I'm okay with this one being the next to fall.]

===============

CJones posted...

I had Seasonspeech by Elvenking on my short list of candidates, but unfortunately I had to cut it. Luce, maybe add it to the post-list list?

Yeah, that's not a problem. I just added it to the list, thank you. Both for the song and for using my name. it's nice. (The name thing, I haven't listened to the song yet).

NFUN posted...

I chose it specifically because it was short and I remember that sometimes being a plus for you

That's fair. The Gracie Films logo came fairly close to winning last year and that was only around six seconds, I think? Some songs that are short feel so complete that they don't need more, while FJ: Lady End felt like I wanted more from it... and I'm honestly not sure why I felt that way. It seems like an arbitrary distinction, though one I stand by for whatever reason.

And two more:

===============

#346: Scardust (feat. Patty Gurdy) | Concrete Cages (7:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9El7fWOPpY0
Nominator: @FL81 [2 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 56.437
Final Score: 58.345

(First Impressions: [During the song]

This... subdued intro is throwing me off because the band & song title are causing me to expect some really loud metal. I'm just wating for the song to breakdown into something that Bane would nominate, but this is some quiet celtic music?

*partway through the singing* Okay, now it's picking up a little, but it's definitely softer than expected. I was waiting for screaming and some max volume drums, but this is a much milder style of metal than I thought it'd be.

[Post song thoughts]

Yeah, okay, this isn't bad. It does seem to go on longer than it should though; there's nothing wrong with seven minutes of song, but we just kinda start repeating choruses & instrumentals & more choruses & dadadadadada-I'm pretending to be an instrument look at me as we repeat ourselves some more. Like we could cut the last few minutes and lose absolutely nothing--....well, I wouldn't mind losing it, but I acknowledge the solo near the end as something that other people would miss.

Anyway, it's somewhat interesting? Folk metal isn't a bad concept and everyone here seems talented enough that I kinda liked it, pointlessly extended outro aside. There's a few bird similies and, well, any non-human metaphor is somewhat appealing automatically. And.. I dunno, I just kinda like it? It feels like a good choice, but it never really clicked. I'll admit that I could be undervaluiing it because it's so different from what I was expecting though, so we'll see what happens on a relisten where I know what the song is.)

Folk metal is fun enough that I'm going to move this up into the Nebula, but i do have issues with how the song doesn't end. Her dadadaadadada vocalizations border on parody. "Have no lyrics left to sing? Quick, one of you just repeat the same chorus over and over while the other one pretends to be an instrument!" and while it doesn't ruin the song, it does keep me from moving it up to the next tier. The song's from a good genre and is performed well, but held back by its refusal to stop after it runs out of material.

[Later: Yeah, I think I'd be happier removing around three minutes from the song. It's not that the outro is bad, I just feel like the song has run out of ideas by that point.]

===============

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===============

#345: Daisuke Achiwa - FJ: Lady End (0:29)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgTuPtltQEs

Nominator: NFUN [10 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 51.00
Final Score: 58.35

(First Reaction: Proving that there is such a thing as a song that's too short, there's this track that feels unfinished in its brevity. It's barely around long enough for me to acknowledge its existence and then stops abruptly; the note it ends on does not feel like the end of a song, making it incredibly unsatisfying in a way that other short songs aren't. I suppose it's nice enough for the brief time it exists that it should be above the 50 point mark, but it's so... unsatisfying that I can't imagine it going much further.)

"Ooh, how'd we ever have this song so low? I kinda love those opening notes and this is a deep, crunchy battle theme that I'm really in--oh, it's already over."

But... I think I do kinda like this. It's way too short, but I do enjoy what's here enough that it should be at least towards the high end of the "kinda like" tier.

[Later: A pretty great song, but it's just too short for me to properly get into which makes it a bit easier to cut than most of its opposition.]

===============

I know I said I wasn't going to redact any write ups this year, but I'm removing those with Raetsel for reasons. She knows what she did and still actively continues to do.

Three songs to start the evening, I should be back in a few hours with two more:

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#349: UMINEKO NO NAKU KORO NI | HAPPY HALLOWEEN MARIA (4:07)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9j29H387to
Nominator: @Raka_Putra [13 songs remaining]
Character: Maria Ushiromiya

Initial Score: 23.16
Final Score: 39.161 [Upgraded to 47.32] [Upgraded to 57.00] [Moved Aside] {Score set to 58.00]

(First Reaction:

Theres a little bunny made of cho-co-late, and
spinning roundnround, some pink CANDY!
Shortcake topped with strawberries

Food Song; next.

...alright, so only part of one verse is food related. Unfortunately, I'm not finding much to overcome my bias against that verse; the "ooh ooh ooh ooh" vocalizations are really not for me and while I appreciate how cute the character is portrayed, she doesn't exactly have the best singing voice. It makes the song a bit rough to get through; on the plus side, I do like Halloween & I like the references to dresses and animals, so it's not all bad. Just... not really for me, I'm afraid. )

Not as bad as I remembered. It's kinda cute? Not quite cute enough to reach the positive half of scoring, but it's a tier or two above where I had it. I still like the dresses and animals, and I'm less annoyed by food lyrics at the moment. Don't know why, but it's working in the song's favor, so I won't question it too much.

[Later: *several posts worth of text redacted*

Let's just say this song is catchy enough to be memorable, but references to bunnies and rabbits are a bit touchy at the moment.]

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#348: iwrestledabearonce | tastes like kevin bacon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrFTR9fucr8
Nominator: @xtlm [11 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 56.040001
Final Score: 58.0001

(First Reaction: This is different. I was prepared to write it off as being too hardcore screaming for me, but then we have a prolonged Bjork-esque interlude before going back to the screaming. I don't think these two sections go together, but the unexpected nature of the song means that I kinda like it? Not sure if that'll hold up, now that I know what it's going to do in the future, but the first impression is decent.)

The really metal parts of the song are definitely too metal for me; but I like the more melodic song that it transitions into and even the metal section has some cheesy 80s guitar for a bit, so there are definitely some high points to this song. I think I'll move this one into the Nebula... likely too metal to reach the next tier, but still officially a tier-ish above everything cut earlier.

[Later: ...This song always has a bunch of extra zeroes added to its score. I don't know if that's symbolic of anything, but it's weird. Not as weird as this song is, but still weird. ]

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#347: Genshin Impact - Bard's Adventure (1:47)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oofw4zlXcNg
Character: Venti

Nominator: azuarc [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 57.33
Final Score: 58.00015

(First Reaction: This song is nice enough. It doesn't make me think of anything in particular and it's pretty short, ending almost as quickly as it began, but it's still fairly nice. I'd say I kinda like it? Sorry for the short write up, but "short instrumental that didn't make me think of anything" doesn't really inspire much commentary.)

Nice enough to enter the nebula, but I'm still not getting any particular feeling from the song apart from a general sense of pleasantry. Which really makes it seem like it should be eliminated earlier, but I like it enough that I'm not going to, even if I have nothing to say about it.

[Later: I suppose this is kind of adventurous. It's not the strongest sense of adventure I've ever felt or very thrilling, but I somewhat get the song... feels like it's only half as long as it needs to be though.]

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Alright, three songs tonight because some rabbit decided to threaten to incinerate Fluttershy for having the audacity to want her opinion counted and I think we all need a little time to calm down.

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5MIINUST x Puuluup | (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (kll) midagi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htPAhtVgKsI
Nominator: @ZaziGuado [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 58.96
Final Score: 56.90

(First Reaction: A reasonably catchy song, but the lyrics about not doing drugs are... just okay.

I don't know drugs, I know soda and cider
I couldn't tell the difference between vitamin and speed

Like "good for you! But also, I'm not that interested in your sobriety*"? I don't know. It's not quite funny enough for me to take it as a comedy song--though the line about people in the front row being able to see through their pretending was humorous. I don't know; this may work better on a second listen where I don't bother with the lyrics and treat it as just a catchy dance song.

*I suppose you could read it as the opposite, in which they're denying drug use so heavily because they're just pretending to not be on drugs. But I'm honestly not into that reading either, so I don't think it would matter.)

I do like that the song is in Estonian, I don't think we've heard a song in this language before. And I really want to like this, but I just can't quite get into this song, no matter what angle I approach it from. I kinda like it, but I think that's all i can say in its favor.

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jaboukie - Goner (2:53)
https://youtu.be/bHJTSi_u_AY?si=0m254PRDOSHK3p3c
Nominator: @mcflubbin [9 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 59.13
Final Score: 56.16

(First Reaction: I actually kinda like this. The lyrics just keep repeating and the music doesn't do a lot apart from the instrumental break and yet... there's a deeper tone to the music that I find appealing, it's slightly static-y which is always a plus, and the extra lyrics in the outro:

Ain't no getting better
I'm trying
Isn't that enough?

are pretty good. I'm surprised how enjoyable this track is, since it doesn't seem like something I'd be into.)

Sorry, I'm having a harder time getting past the sheer repetition of "I'm a goner, ain't no getting better". That's basically on an infinite loop for most of the track; what's sad is that the song does get pretty damn good towards the end. Once the instruments ramp up their intensity & the vocals change, I start to get into the song a fair amount! But the song is already close to over by the time it gets good and the combination of "long section that i dislike" and "short section that I do like" feels... like something that ends around here in the Kinda Like tier.

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ClownC0re | Earth (2:04)
Nominator: @Murphiroth [8 songs remaining]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_rPd_ufK4

Initial Score: 53.27
Final Score: 56.50

(First Reaction: This is one of those songs where I really don't know what it was or how to react to it. It's fine, I guess? I don't dislike it, but... I don't know. My reaction is more "this song is a thing that happened" than anything specific or any real desire to listen to it again. I'm feeling like this one is probably below the 55 point mark, but I'll obviously listen to it again on another day and see what happens.)

I kinda like the sax playing at the end of the song and "The Earth is flat cause you are fat" is a pretty good line", but I don't think even those two high points combined are enough to get this song into the "Kinda Like" tier because I'm.... really not into whatever the rest of this is supposed to be.Also, it bothers me that this song feels so familiar; I know I've seen this video before, but I can't find any trace of this having been mentioned at even the standard Post Ranking Rankings, so I really don't know why I know this. Which just adds to the strangeness.

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#???: The Beatles | Eleanor Rigby (2:11)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuS5NuXRb5Y
Nominator: Bane_Of_Despair [14 songs remaining]
Character: Eleanor Rigby

Initial Score: 55.99
Final Score: [Set Aside] [Score set to 57.82]

(First Reaction: What Family Ties episode was it where the father references this song? What are the odds that I can Google "Family Ties Eleanor Rigby" and find out?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0577321/

Doesn't have the quote itself though. Does give me the episode name though and some additional trivia, like the fact that Eleanor Rigby is not featured in the film he saw making his joke a random nonsequitir. That's kinda funny.

*some further Googling later*

"Elyse, I'm crushed... How did we raise three children who don't care that Eleanor Rigby keeps her face in a jar by the door?"

Thank you! I cannot listen to this song without flashing back to that scene, but I couldn't recall the exact line.

As for something on topic... ehh... it's a song? I wouldn't say it's my favorite of their songs (and I'm not their biggest fan in the first place), but it's... so utterly omnipresent on every radio station I've ever listened to and throughout pop culture that it feels like something that just exists. It's here, but it's everywhere, so that almost goes without saying. I can't honestly say I like it because it's so completely played out that I can't feel much about it. I can't dislike it because it's as omnipresent as air. This is like submitting "oxygen" for a ranking topic. ; well, no, because we need oxygen. What's omnipresent and relatively pointless? "A single bit of dandelion fluff"? A tumbleweed?

The song exists, but I have no energy with which to analyze it. It no longer registers as music or lyrics. It's just an inate aspect of the universe which is here, existing, in a way that I can barely perceive.)

To be honest, my first reaction upon seeing how low a score I gave this was one of surprise. How could any version of me have possibly rated this song so low?? And then it played and I kinda agree with my hot take? "Carry On Wayward Son" died because it was my favorite song and I listened to it until I can no longer feel anything towards it. "Eleanor Rigby" died by being played everywhere for so long that I can no longer feel anything towards it. It gets a marginally better score because I've never played it on an endless loop, so it's not quite as overplayed as the Kansas song... but I don't think I like it enough to move it into the Nebula. I won't eliminate this right away because there's a chance that I may save this to be the first song cut when we reach the Nebula or possibly the last song cut before that point & I want to give this a bit more time before deciding on which side of the line it falls.

[Later: In a move that I'm sure will provoke everyone, I'm going to move this into a tie with "Song 2". The more I think about it, the less satisfied I feel with having Eleanor Rigby rated above or below that track. It's like:

Eleanor Rigby is a better song, so I should be giving it more points.

But I don't really want to listen to Eleanor Rigby, so it should have less points.

But Rigby doesn't have anything I hate as much as that "woo hoo"-ing, so it should have more points

But Song 2's instruments are more appealing than anything in Rigby, so it should have less points

& I'm just getting myself stuck in a loop, so I'm going to call this one a draw and move along.]

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New song should be added to the public spreadsheet and has a preliminary score on my master list. Thank you!

CJones posted...

Fun Fact, Wintersun started out as just one guy, Jari Menp, from Finland. He wrote everything and performed everything, except the drums. He used a programmable drum machine for drums. Which kinda explains why the drumming is so over the top. He was not restricted by the need for a person to be physically capable of doing it :P

That is a fun fact! Honestly, knowing that someone isn't playing it themselves, makes it a bit more endearing. I feel like "I can't actually play the drums, but I got a machine to do this cool thing!" is kind of a cute story, honestly.

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Two more songs to end the night. I had hoped to do more, but some stuff came up in real life and set me back two hours & I decided to spend way too much time trying to get lyrics for this first elimination.

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???: Hoshino Meguri -MegRi- | Tears of marionette (4:36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx-nqlENMbc
Nominator: @UF8 [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 57.334
Final Score: 57.334

(First Reaction: I'm not having any luck finding any lyrics for this one, so I can't try to comment on the story being told here. Without any context, I'd say that I kinda like this song? It has a great title and she has a fairly cute voice, but I don't think the song is enough of a banger that it works without the context of the lyrics. I'll see if I can figure something out by the time for the Revised Score. I could try taking pictures of the subtitles and translate those if nothing else, that's just not something I have time for at the moment.)

This is very time consuming and not going to work, but struggling to take pictures of the lyrics with Google Lens gives the following:

"The wind sings tree-lined road girl dreams"

...Well that didn't work. Trying again, I manage to get a better picture of the text:

"A tree-lined road where the wind sings, a girl dreams"

Now that's a sentence. So this does work, sorta. If I manage to get a good enough picture... This is a terrible plan.

"Her skin is white like porcelain and her eyes are a heavy color.
In the depths of the play, the beloved doll is waiting for her master"

And then I botch trying to get pictures and I'm four lines behind & need to start this entire process over. It wouldn't be so bad if YouTube would hide the bloody user interface while a video is paused, but they do, so it's impossible to get the text while the vid is paused. I have to hold the phone camera steady, at an angle where it can pick up the text, while watching the video to see when the subtitles change, while keeping one hand ready to pause the video the moment the picture is taken so that I can read & transcribe the photo without the video playing without me.

I have never made it to the fourth line of text. ...Oh hey, if I put it in theater mode, then the text winds up displayed below the progress bar so I can screenshot it! Yay! (Of course the text varies wildly depending on how good of an angle I get on it. My new translation says her eyes are yellow. And now instead of waiting in the depths of play, she's waiting in a mansion.)

Pursuing that beautiful illusion that fades into haze
I opened the door as if to be invited
Angel sleeping quietly
The wheel of destiny keeps spinning
Be guided, dream monkey

...well, I'm going to say that I botched the picture on that one, though I will say that I would totally listen to an album titled "Be guided, dream monkey". Okay, resuming from the botched line:

In a dream while being guided
Angel that descended
Wear white feathers and dance, dance
Memories that can't be touched by tears
What she chooses...

I wake up in the back of the mansion and the doll had a dream
A girl who calls me far, far away
Who are you?
A fleeting story...
If it's our fate that we can't be tied together, it's okay to be a dream
What makes those eyes wet? Miracle or pain?
A blessing that everyone wants
Thousands of wishes are spinning around
Like stars scattered in the sky
Just one angel
I'll sing that beloved name, I'll sing it
A praying girl spinning in a dance
What she chooses...

One bell that tells the time
One ringing
The girl will wake up

Angel sleeping quietly
The wheel of destiny keeps spinning
Let me be guided by your arms
Angel that descended
The tears that fall light up life
The memories being spun
What she chooses

"We finally met..."
Story of two people

Okay, I know these lyrics are not even remotely correct. Machine translation is spotty at best, my hands won't stop shaking long enough to get good pictures, and I'd rarely get the same line twice ("What she chooses" was once translated as "There's a girl, sir" when my hand was shaking way too much). Still, you can't say that I didn't try to make every attempt at getting some type of lyrics for the song.

Sadly, I think the only line I liked was the incredibly broken one about the dream monkey which is very much not the right lyric. With the lyrics failing to add anything to the song, I find my opinion remarkably unchanged. This still feels like a 57 point song & 57.334 conveniently slots it into the list exactly where I want to to be. Well. That was a bit of a waste of time, but I at least I know I persevered and did something, even if was stupid. That's... something.

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-continued-

Three songs to start the day:

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Hakushi Hasegawa | Sukuinote (3:47)
https://open.spotify.com/album/14XaMmLLFH2lzWri7DCUrV
Nominator: @tazzyboyishere [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 57.094
Final Score: 57.84

(First Reaction: Weird.

...I'm really tempted to leave it at that. It's not the only experimental song this ranking, I wouldn't even call it the most experimental, but it's... weird. I did actually find myself getting rather into the song by the last verse--I'm not sure if it actually did anything different at that point or not because I haven't been able to parse what it was doing at any moment. I can't recall what I liked or didn't like, all memories of the song evaporating instantly at the end except for a feeling that it was weird. I think I'm going to try 57-ish points to start with? I... liked the last section of the song, but I wasn't that into the earlier parts of it, so "kinda like" seems like a good compromise? Very much look forward to hearing this again and seeing if I can make any sense out of it the second time around.)

The song does seem to get more chaotic and static-y around the final verse, so I can see why that part was more appealing. Anyway, I do kinda like this song... it's not really one of my preferred styles of weird, but it does come together by the final verse. I think this is probably about as far as I take this one though; like I've said, this section of the list is oddly difficult to get arranged.

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Kole Hicks | Gwen, the Hallowed Seamstress (3:40)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJK0gG-WSUc
Character: Gwen

Nominator: NFUN [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 57.11
Final Score: 57.39

(First Reaction: It's nice. I like how it has a very different vibe to it compared to other nominations and there's a lot of focus on violins, or possibly some other stringed instrument/s. It's.. not exactly a preferred genre, so I feel like it's a bit below the 60 point tier, but it's a quality song that I kinda like and get why other people would love.)

*skims YouTube comments until someone else mentions a violin* Oh thank god, I don't tend to recognize instruments so I was really hoping that there actually was a violin here.

I do like how the song focuses primarily on the string section, as I don't think there are many nominations focusing on those instruments which helps this stand out a bit. But as it doesn't make me imagine anything and I have nothing to add other than "nice strings", I think it's about time to cut this one. Pun not intended, though I did realize what I was saying in time and chose to say it anyway, so maybe half-intended.

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Old School Runescape | The Fallen Empire (5:17)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFyARb7fWPY
Nominator: handsomeboy2012 [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 54.99
Final Score: 54.222 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 56.19]

(First Reaction: This is one of those songs where I want to like it, but I'm not quite there. I do like some ambient tracks, but this one doesn't inspire feelings of any particular environment so it feels like "good background music" rather than an experience that I'm likely to seek out on its own. Still, it's a good try.)

I'm starting to think I'm just not into the Old School Runescape OST. I certainly like the idea of exploring the remains of an ancient empire and this type of atmospheric exploration theme should be something I love, but I never quite get any specific images or vibes from the song and it falls squarely into the "good background music" camp. I'm sorry, this definitely seemed like a good pick in theory.

[Later: One of many, many songs that were moved aside because I didn't want to cut them, but also hadn't decided on a new score for them. I had kinda wanted to move this into the Nebula because I really want to get into an atmospheric exploration song like this, but while I'm trying very hard, I just... never manage to get enough from this song. It's good, but if I'm being honest, there are already several songs not making it into the Nebula that I'd likely take over this one & "I want to like this more than I do" isn't exactly a good enough reason to keep this around.

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Two more to end the night:

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Shiron | Code: Crimson (Extended Length) (5:33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF4XXQn97Mo
Nominator: @banshiryuu [11 songs remaining]
Character: Kureha (Sound Voltex)

Initial Score: 56.40
Final Score: 56.33

(FIrst Reaction: Not quite for me--this is perhaps the most heavy thumping beat in your first five nominations--but I don't really mind it? It's kinda nice to lose focus to; if I try to pay attention to what the song is doing at all, then the beat gets overwhelming in an unpleasant way quite quickly... but if I can manage to space out properly, then I kinda like it?

...Pretty sure that's the cruelest, most backhanded compliment I've given in any write up, but I do kinda like it!)

Not a song I'd ever seek out, but surprisingly nice if I can manage to get lost in a trance and lose focus. I really do kinda enjoy this, but as it gets harder and harder to cut songs, ones like this that I'm just less into start to fall by the wayside. There is a really nice break where the song drops its intensity and goes for some pretty piano music, but it's fairly short lived & the fact that the song could be doing something that I really like just makes me more disappointed how rarely it chooses to do so.

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Justin Bieber | Love Yourself (4:32)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyEuk8j8imI
Nominator: Raka_Putra [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 56.89
Final Score: 57.11

(First Reaction: Ohh, so the title is meant more as "go fuck yourself". This song is far more bitter and angry than I was expecting from the title. Song is... not bad; I do enjoy bitterness and break up songs, so a bitter break up is nice. I also understand that you have to censor things to actually get played on the radio, but... "You should go and love yourself" is just too tame for this to work as an especially angry or bitter song. I kinda like it, but I wish it had been allowed to go harder.)

The bitterness in the song is nice, but I dislike the bridge where he just "mm-mmm-mmm-mmm"s along with the instrumental and I'm never really all that into the song? It's very slow, there aren't that many lyrics, and his vocal performance is merely fine; I'll blame the song for being too subdued, but he never gets a chance to show any emotion or range. It's certainly not a bad song, and I like the idea of it, but I don't think this one'll make the cut.

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That puts us at 40 eliminations. If all goes according to plan,nominations will be closed in about 24 hours from now with the 50th drop. If you plan on using any left over bonus noms and need additional time, please let me know soon because they really do need to close eventually.

banshiryuu posted...

DJ Myosuke | Shadow Bang (2:34)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ_lLJrRm2M

Should be added to the sheet now, thank you!

Four more eliminations, I should be back in a few hours to make two more cuts:

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???: IOSYS | Bow Down, You Ignorant Fools! (5:25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5n9OsHTs3E
Character: Kaguya Houraisan
Nominator: handsomeboy2012 [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 56.44
Final Score: 56.44

(First Reaction: I kinda like this. It's a comedic Touhou song which is close-ish to being something that I like; the instrumental parts are enjoyable enough because I tend to kinda like the Touhou music I've heard, though I think I prefer the older and crunchier computerized music of the older games over this more modern sounding tune. And the lyrical parrs are kinda funny?

(KAGUYA!) x16

"Like I said, call me your highness not Kaguya."

(GUYA!) x16

"What the heck is Guya?"

I wouldn't say I'm a fan of the group chanting one word or name sixteen times in a row, but the fact that the main character is as annoyed by them as I am somehow makes it quasi-enjoyable. And I like the idea of the song, she's got a fun level of arrogance and it's villainous without doing anything too evil. Sure, she tells her followers to kill themselves and engage in some behavior I don't think I can mention on this site, but she doesn't seem to be actively forcing her cult to do anything & the vibe is more 'slightly unusual sex cult' than 'villain' & she's a fun enough character that I can work with this. But it never really gets beyond that "kinda like" stage. I kinda like the Touhou music, I kinda like the characterization, and I kinda like yelling at the idiots who can't chant properly.)

The chanting can get a bit annoying. It's funny that she's also annoyed by the chanting, but... well, it's one of those songs where I like almost all of the components, but they never quite gel into something I love.

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???: BotanicSage | RULES OF TEKKEN (4:42)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvJ7ZVz31GY
Nominator: @GavsEvans123 [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 56.37
Final Score: 57.00

(First Reaction: A chaotic mess that comes from throwing too many songs into a blender. I can't process what this song is doing because it's one of the most songs ever, the musical equivalent of a chocolate jalapeno mango smoothie topped with pop rocks and Velveeta cheese sauce. I'd say that I kinda like the song for the sheer audacity it has in even existing in the first place, but I think it's just too far out there to be something I'd likely come back to. Interesting experience though.)

Two main highlights to this song: First is the Live & Learn section. Live & Learn is another is song that I listened to way too many times and can't really get into any longer, so changing things up a bit lets it play on my Sonic Adventure 2 nostalgia without falling into the "I've heard this a million times" trap that actual Live & Learn would fall into. It's... well it's not great, but it's novel enough to hold my attention.

Second, the "it Has To Be This Way" section because that's just a great song and this manages to avoid ruining it.

But then the song does actively ruin the Devil Trigger part and I don't even care about the fourth song enough to even remember what it was. It's not bad, but when your mashup consists of two songs that I'd prefer hearing on their own ; one song that I've heard so many times that you have to drastically change it for me to even notice the song any longer ; and one that I'm completely apathetic to... well, let's just say the mixture isn't something I like enough to move up to the next stage. Still, pretty neat that something like this exists in the first place, even if it's not exactly for me.

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???: Wintersun | Winter Madness (5:08)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpoLe2v6MVo
Nominator: @CJones [6 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 56.0008
Final Score: 57.14

(First Reaction: The song itself is too intense for my blood, but I do find quite a bit to like in the lyrics here:

Winter, the realm of eternal ice
Snowfall and darkness descends upon the vales of time
Distant caress of the sun's fading light
The lands were painted white with the Winter's might

My hands are frozen
My mind is at the edge of madness
Oh how many nights and days
I've been lost in this land of sadness

Darkness, eternal misery, madness, unending sadness, an inability to judge time, the fading of that accursed sun... these lyrics hit a lot of topics that I enjoy rather quickly. And while I'm not as drawn to the guitar solo as you are, I'll admit that it's very skillful playing & a rather lighter sounding guitar that cuts through the intensity of the rest of the song, giving a much needed reprieve with a section that's easy to listen to.

I think, ultimately, I kinda like this track; the opening batters me so hard sonically that I thought I was going to strongly dislike the song, but the lyrics elevated it to "actually, not that bad" territory and the instrumental break moved it up to "kinda like".)

Great lyrics and a fun instrumental break, but songs with very pronounced drumming tend to struggle to hold my attention and the percussion on this song is just too intense for my blood. I'm sure there are still songs to come that I enjoy less than this--these lyrics are pushing so many of my buttons that this track has to be above the 56 point songs & there's little chance we've seen the last of those--but I... honestly don't see a world in which I move this up to the next tier.

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???: Cororo - Kumo no Kanata (2:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fbkUYlQi5U
Nominator: NFUN [13 songs remaining]
Character: Pilica

Initial Score: 52.90
Final Score: 56.50 [Upgraded to 57.12]

(First Reaction: This is another one of those songs that just never does anything for me, I'm afraid. It's fine. Fine in a more positive way than I usually use fine for these rankings, but... it's fine.)

Another day, another song that is considerably better than I remember. I'll try to type up some thoughts when this is actually eliminated as now I'm in a "well, now I desperately need to find something to eliminate" type scenario.

[Later: This is another of those songs that is close to doing something, but never quite gets there. It's kinda pretty, but it feels like it ends before it has a chance to really do anything... it's not like a two minute long song is that short, but somehow, I feel like this needs an extra minute tacked on to give it more of a chance to stand out. It's something that I keep liking more with each listen, but I don't really see it reaching the Nebula.

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Raka_Putra posted...

Man The Greatest Showman is...

It's a great entry point for people to get into musicals I guess, because most of the songs have a very modern pop sound. But it feels very Hollywood-formulaic, if you know what I mean.

Having never seen it or heard any other songs besides the one nominated, I'll have to take your word for it. "From Now On" didn't feel particularly poppy, as I'd be surprised to hear something with such a slow & sad buildup on the radio... though I suppose once the song picks up, the "let's just repeat a happy phrase endlessly" part certainly feels like modern pop music with its unwillingness to do anything but a memorable chorus repeated until the end of time.

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Four eliminations to start off the day. As stated, these aren't going to have ranking numbers until I'm done chopping things, so songs will be in no particular order for the near future:

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???: Royal Trux | Solid Gold Tooth (2:19)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtWCQaaR-NI
Nominator: @Tked [3 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 55.23
Final Score: 56.03 [Upgraded to 57.30]

(First Reaction: It's... I don't know what it is. It has a lot of laser sound effects and some vocals that I can't make out. Are they speaking words or just sounds? Would the answer matter? I don't dislike it, but it's.... some voices mumbling something that may or may not be in a human language while lasers are constantly fired. How many points is that worth? It's novel enough that I kinda like it, so 55 points? I guess? I'd like to make this write up longer, but I think I'm too baffled to actually say anything.)

I still have no idea what to make of this track. It's certainly something. Don't know if it's a good or bad something, but it's... something.

[Later: Yep, I still don't get this track and it's going to be the first unfortunate victim of the culling. While I'm reasonably confident there are songs remaining I enjoy less than this, it's not going to compare favorably against the songs in the Nebula (much less those beyond the Nebula) and it's time to let this one go.]

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???:: Blur - Song 2 (2:03)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXS89RFUlOY
Nominator: @paulg235 [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 19.5001
Final Score: 55.00 [Upgraded to 57.82]

(First Reaction: .....Oh God, it's that blasted "woo-hoo! woo-hoo! woo-hoo!" song. Not to spoil the ranking too much, but why do you have two horrible songs sandwiched between two great ones? I'm pretty sure no one else has such a massive scoring discrepancy between two nominations listed side-by-side and you somehow do this twice in a row. Are you trying to give me some type of whiplash by bouncing up and down the rankings so violently?

[Please take that as a joke, I am glad that you found at least two songs that I really enjoy and I'm also thankful for songs I hate. It just feels weird to react with "oh fuck, it's this song" and "oh fuck yeah, it's this song" back-to-back.]

As for the song... like, I get that it's a parody, but this feels terrible. I hate that woo-hoo'ing chorus and the verses aren't that much better.)

Hmm... actually I think I like the instruments here tonight. There's a lot of grungy, filthy shredding that I feel really drawn to. I still despise the shouting of "woo-hoo" and I'm not a fan of how abruptly the song stops, but those instruments... man, I quite like that. So, I'll tell you what we're gonna do here; were gonna temporarily move this up to the "kinda like" tier. Now, I may move it back down, but those instruments *might* be a valid enough reason to move the song even further up. I don't know right now. So, we're gonna drop this at exactly 55 points and reevaluate when the actual rankings start.

[Later: For those of you who don't want to check the order of paulg's nominated songs, this write up tells you that "Donkey Kong Country - I'm Nobody's Hero" & "DBZ- Cha-La Head Cha-La" are getting high scores, while the SiivaGunner song "Puzzle Plank Galaxy" started off as something I hated and is now somewhere above exactly 55 points. Spoiling that made more sense when paul was losing multiple songs in the opening post & I wanted to offer assurance that at least something was going to get points... but then I stopped hating those two songs and now this is all weird, but I'm not editing the message.]

[Later Still: I do honestly like the instruments in this song, but I also still hate the "woo-hoo" so... I think I feel okay with letting this one go next. It's been holding on for quite a while, but the 58.00~59.99 point songs have become their own tier & this does not rank amongst them. Like "Solid Gold Tooth", I'm fairly confident there are songs I like less than this remaining, but it's destined to be cut soon either way.]

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???: Date of Birth | dial m17 (5:10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22Li3Pmv-Cs
Nominator: @-hotdogturtle-- [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 55.5555
Final Score: 56.28

(First Impressions: It's a chill song. I kinda like it; can't find a lot that I want to say about it, it's just something I kinda space out and vibe with for a few minutes. Kinda cool.)

It's definitely chill. Is it the chillest song of the topic? I don't know. Maybe. It's definitely something that I kinda like and I'm never really disappointed to hear, but it never leave a very strong impression and there's no "thing" that I get particularly into. Chill background music is nice, but I can't see myself ever seeking it out to listen to on its own.

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???: Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell | Surrender (4:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LjNEkLlHEM
Nominator: @GavsEvans123 [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 55.84
Final Score: 56.17

(First Reactions: I kinda like this one. There's a richness and heaviness to the stringed instruments which is enjoyable and I like the idea of a more atmospheric nomination, but I never feel a strong connection to the song. It doesn't make me feel anything other than a general "this is nice" type vibe; and I feel I've said that about too many songs this ranking already, but it's really all I can think of to say here. It does everything right: good genre, good instruments, good weight and heaviness to it, and yet... it just doesn't resonate with me strongly enough or make me imagine any interesting scenarios for it to be more than nice.)

I wish I could tell you why this song isn't quite clicking for me. On paper, it seems to do everything right and I wouldn't say that I have complaints about it because I truly don't know what would make the song more appealing to me. With something like "Anchordeep", I can say "I would prefer more aqua in my aquatic ruins music" and at least I know what I meant. This song... "is". It doesn't feel like it's missing anything, it's not one of the songs that doesn't leave an impression, it just... is. Which is unsatisfying to type as it is for you to get as a write up, but it's all I've managed to come up with.

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Well, Robot Stop sounds better on Spotify so I'm un-eliminating it already. The sound is far more all-encompasing and metallic feeling & this is worth at least 58 points. I'm still not thrilled about the extended instrumental section, so I don't know that it'll go up an entire tier... but it's at least advancing to the "58 Nebula". I'll get into that after the next three eliminations.

I'm not sure if Big Fig Wasp would give it any extra points if attached or not. I do like that it removes the sudden end, but the lyrics are kinda repetitive and it's in this general "yeah, I kinda like this part too"... I appreciate that I can basically double the song's length by just letting it play (or extend further by keeping the album going), but I don't know that I like it enough that it would really boost the score any. (Okay, it just continued to Gamma Knife and I'll say a third consecutive song is a bridge too far and I'm starting to turn on the album now. Still, I am generally pleased that I have the option to extend the track to virtual infinity.)

Anyway, eliminations resume with the new #361, which is going to be another controversial cut:

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#361: Kansas | Carry On Wayward Son (5:23)
https://youtu.be/2X_2IdybTV0?si=WA7Yiv2USpkXxKKy
Nominator: @NBIceman [12 songs remain]

Initial Score: 55.00
Final Score: 55.12

(First Reaction: Something odd here. This song *should* be crippling me emotionally as there are a lot of memories tied to it, but it... doesn't? The first time I recall hearing this song was in Guitar Hero 2 which I played with "important person"--i've never given him a name in these topics, but I make frequent references to having lived with someone who was important and I've been working my way through our parting. The winning song at the second topic won because it helped process some of my greiving and I still talk *about* him regularly. So, you would expect this song to hit really hard. "If you can be destroyed by songs that relate to your time with him and this song is permanently tied to him, then this song must hit hard!" but... not really, no.

I suppose the trick is that while I first heard this song with him, I don't really associate the song with him. I enjoyed the song and listened to it quite a bit, both when I was with him & after we parted but tried to stay friends & even for a bit after that didn't work out. It's a song that I loved and listened until I got tired of & the circumstances that I first heard it are rather inconsequential to my feelings. ...And there's the rub; "listened until I got tired of". This is a track that I've already heard so many times that I'm not particularly interested in it any longer; sorry, this would have been a high scoring song once upon a time, but that time was.... well over a decade ago to be honest.)

I feel like I should have this song higher up due to its high quality and personal significance, but honestly, I'm just so over it that I don't think I actually want to listen to this again? There are definitely some nominations that I've heard a lot of times that I still absolutely love, but this.... already had its time as my favorite song. It's fine and I'll always kinda like it, but I fear there's nothing left in it here for me.

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-I think this one will also be controversial-

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#360: The Greatest Showman | From Now On (5:50)
https://youtu.be/iW2FUY3N-n0?si=wkMPwZXmq13xvUiM
Nominator: @redrocket [14 songs remaining]
Character: P.T. Barnum

Initial Score: 55.00
Final Score: 55.90

(First Reaction: I've never watched this, but there's enough talent involved that I've always been mildly curious about it. And this song is... fine. Perhaps the Ur Example this topic of the "kinda like" tier.

I kinda like Hugh Jackman's voice.

I kinda like the lovey-dovey lyrics.

I kinda like how it starts off slow and builds up energy as he regains hope.

I just kinda like everything here. Not wild about it, but I do kinda like it. Currently putting it exactly at 55 points as it seems the perfect candidate to introduce that tier.)

I really do kinda like this. The final part of the song can get a bit repetitive, but I do kinda like it.

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-the elimination may not be controversial, but my distaste for SOAD probably is-

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#359: Nekrogoblikon | Chop Suey! (3:34)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwIwT7TxPuI

Nominator: Murphiroth [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 55.23
Final Score: 56.15

(First Reactions: It's no Darkness, but it's not bad. It feels very disjointed though, which I'm sure is intentional, but it makes the song rather hard to get a grip on. Some melodic parts, some techno dance parts, and some extremely drum heavy metal blend together like cherry syrup and gazpacho. Which, you could probably do *worse* than dumping a very sweet syrup onto your ice cold tomato soup, but why did you do it in the first place?

...actually, why do I have the feeling that cherry gazpacho is a thing?

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/cherry-gazpacho

Well, at least it doesn't use cherry syrup. ....I mean, ha, I knew cherry gazpacho was a thing all along! Yes, I was making a very coherent metaphor about how this is composed of things that seem like they don't go together, but actually do, even though I personally don't like the combination. Yes, I definitely knew what I was talking about this whole time. *coughs*

...wait, this is a cover of a System Of A Down song? ....Well, the goblins did it better. Significantly better, I really do not like the SOAD version of this song. I'm tempted to add a few more points to the nominated song just because I have some new found appreciation for it... but the drums are still a bit too heavy for me in places and there aren't any lyrics I'm really attached to, so I'm going to keep this at the "kinda like" tier to start with.)

The melodic parts are fine, but I suspect I'd prefer another original song from the band rather than cover songs like this. It's neat that its so much better than the original, but a decent cover of a song that I strongly dislike is unlikely to be one of my favorites.

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And now in order to keep the topic moving, I'm going to take advantage of the "all rankings are placeholders" clause. The next several drops aren't going to be numbered because I'm hitting some terrible decision paralysis. I'm going to start listening to everything with less than 58 points and then either:

A: Give them somewhere between 56.16 to 57.99 points and eliminate them immediately.

B: Give them a placeholder value of 58 points, placing them in the "58 Nebula", a separate mini-tier for everything that I don't want to cut early on in this tier but don't actually want to move all the way to the next tier just yet. (These songs will be revisited after everything below the 58 Nebula have been culled to get actual scores)

C: Stop being stubborn and accept that some of these songs aren't even going to be cut during the 58 Nebula, skipping them up to the next tier.

Don't know how many songs will be culled before we hit 58, but ranking placements will officially be ??? until this phase of culling is complete. It's very "I know these songs are being cut in some order, but I won't know what that order is until it's finished". Such is the peril of doing the ranking completely live like this.

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#362: Yumi Tono | Primavera-Hana Furu Hi (3:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPE-9r4qkJc
Nominator: @MaxGalactica [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 20.00
Final Score: 55.033

(First Reaction: Sorry, but this is the type of instrumental that I'm rarely into. It's very old-fashioned and stuffy, like a piece of classical music that I've never been able to get into--we'll talk more about that in another writeup, since this isn't really classical (at least, I presume, seeing as it was released this year). I find it impossible to find anything to say here because it's just really not for me; I'm sure her playing is skilled and I'm equally sure someone who actually understands music would be able to articulate why this is a great piece of art, but I just can't get into this.)

Actually, this isn't too bad. I'm not exactly raving about it and it's not quite my style, but this... I may actually kinda like it? I can't find anything I want to say about it, but... yeah, I think I'll experiment with moving this one pretty far up the list.

[Later: Still not quite for me, but it's very... refined. I find this a pleasing enough alternative to everything else on the nomination list that I kinda like it, but as we rapidly approach a "I don't want to cut the next 39 songs I have marked for elimination" singularity, this song feels the easiest to eliminate. It's very neat and I appreciate it, but I think I at least slightly prefer everything in the massive deluge of songs that I'm refusing to cut.

(And no, the 39 songs bit isn't a joke. I keep adding more and more songs to a pile of "I'm not eliminating this tonight" which is making things difficult.)]

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#361: KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD | ROBOT STOP (5:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p_Si21ig7c
Nominator: @Snake5555555555 [11 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 55.201
Final Score: 55.09

(First Reaction: "My coffin's all I see, lately" is a tragic enough line that I kinda like the song, but the song itself honestly isn't doing much for me. It feels quite long for how few different lyrics there are and the second something interesting happens (the song breaking down and slowing to nothing) is the moment that it ends. I kinda like it, but I think it's a long way from being something that I can say I like without reservations.)

I'm not a fan of how long the instrumental section goes. It's a minor complaint to be honest as I still kinda like the song, but it's already becoming difficult to decide what songs to cut and having one section I find it a bit boring & an unsatisfying ending (I always get hyped to see where it's going to go as the song starts to break, only for it to just stop) holds this song back enough that I feel relatively okay with cutting it. Not good, obviously there are no easy eliminations at this stage, but okay enough that I can live with the decision.

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CJones posted...

this kinda reminds me of a less metal version of Protest the Hero.

Oh hey, I almost forgot about that band! "Blindfolds Aside" was a fairly big hit back at the first ranking (34th place, apparently)... I can't remember if I ever got around to checking out any of their other songs or not, but I know I at least thought about it back then. I should probably throw something of theirs on after the main ranking finishes.

NBIceman posted...

although I have seen an interpretation that the pills being talked about aren't so much medication as they are a destructive addiction that the protagonist can't stand to watch anymore, and that the "death" etc. being referred to is more metaphorical. Think you have to stretch your mind to see that one a bit, but I don't know - I've seen crazier song interpretations too.

I like alternative interpretations, but I find it really hard to make that one work.

And you need to take
Three pills each day
Otherwise the virus will surely gain
Travel through your veins
To your heart
To your brain
Ending all the life that you seem to know

Spinning that as "actually the pills are bad and the death I'm forcing on you is good" is... not impossible, but certainly a challenge.

ZaziGuado posted...

Since I'm at the bottom and it was cutting off two lines, it makes sense why I thought this. I just verified it now.

It's cool, it freaked me out a bit at first when I went to check. I actually had a post typed up wondering how I managed to lose two songs after I couldn't find them either... then I decided to check the Artist & Song tabs and was able to find them there, which was even more confusing. Took a while to piece together than Google's stupid insistence that you use the app is half-hiding the last two lines.

I'd like to fix that, but I'm not sure how... I suppose I could add two fake lines with all Zs for each category to guarantee they'd always be at the bottom of the list? I'll think about it.

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Three eliminations for now. I'll try to be back with two more later:

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#363: TISM | (He'll never be an) Ol Man River (2:23)
https://youtu.be/1-mLIdLZZeI?si=WleKdmJdVScMVdFX

Nominator: MarkS2222222222 [3 songs remaining]

Initial Score: Unranked [Later set to 49.89]
Final Score: 55.02

(First Reaction: I'm going to take a pass on this for a couple days and then revisit it. The band goes for shock value, and certainly shocked me, so mission accomplished? It's a serious condemnation of the media (and fans) obsession with tragedy and death; and... well, that's a bit of a heavier topic than I usually want to engage with. And the lyrics can get really repetitive:

I'm on the drug, I'm on the drug
I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix
I'm on the drug, I'm on the drug
I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix

I'm on the drug
I'm on the drug
I'm on the drug
I'm on the drug
Drug
I'm on the drug
I'm on the drug
I'm on the drug

And I have the feeling that this song is quite aggressively not for me. Still, I worry I may be being too hard on it; gonna give a couple days for the shock value to wear off and I'll revisit it for a first score then.

[Later]

Yeah, this thump-thump-thump-thump beat and oft repeated lyrics aren't for me. I'm cool with the song now that the shock value has worn off, but it's also not a genre I care for and the lyrics--while socially relevant--lack any lines that I'm especially fond of. With this type of pulsing club adjacent music, I really need some lyrics or story that I can fall in love with to overcome my bias against the style, and this just doesn't have any.)

I think I'm more in the mood for a challenging song like this today, so I actually kinda like it? I really do need a greater lyrical variety than this, but it's relevant & compelling in ways that I'm at least slightly drawn to. And really this needs to be a tier above all the songs didn't hit the 55 point mark, so I'll be moving it up a little ways.

[Later: Yeah, very early in the 55 point tier feels right for this song. I do kinda like it when I'm in the mood for something more... relevant to existence than my standard fare, but an oft-repeated chorus which just copies & pastes the same lyric endlessly is a bit of a rough sell to me even when I want to listen to something like this song.]

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*continued*

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#366: River Boy, Cult of the Lamb - Anchordeep (3:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-OWYrQ2pAE
Nominator: @paulg235 [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 54.13
Final Score: 53.40

(First Impressions: Cult of the Lamb wasn't a bad game. I generally enjoyed my time up to the original ending, though I felt no need to continue afterwards. I appreciate that they added so much free content after release, but things just felt complete after the final boss & the gameplay loop was already starting to feel a bit stale.

This song is also not bad. It seems to fit the area, being vaguely aquatic & ruins-y. I don't have any strong feelings towards it, but it manages to evoke images of areas that would be fun to play in, so that's neat.)

Vaguely aquatic, vaguely ancient, and sort-of nice to listen to. It's certainly the right genre as I would love an environmental aquatic song right now, but I never feel anything stronger than "kinda nice" and "vaguely adjacent to what I'm looking for" from it.

[Later: Well... I don't quite want to eliminate this, but I'm pretty sure there's no other song that I'd rather cut in its place. I've been sitting here for a while contemplating my options and no matter how I look at the list, this has to be the next cut. Sorry; I want to love this as it's so close to being perfection, but it doesn't lean into the aquatic theme as much as I wish it would.]

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#365: Kiss Kiss | Janet (4:15)
https://youtu.be/-2nFxVqNNkY?si=n2cjoTayKRE-Ra0d
Nominator: @NBIceman [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 52.2009
Final Score: 53.01 [Upgraded to 53.70]

(First Reaction: Yeah... denying someone their medication to murder them is a bit too realistic on the villainy scale to be fun, I'm afraid. Song is good and the fact that I'm so uncomfortable means that it's very succcessful at what it's trying to do, but I... don't think I'll be coming back to this one very often. Too dark in too realistic a way for me to have fun with.

I'm a bit disappointed this wasn't nominated for Johnbobb's villain topic though, I'd have liked to have seen his reaction to it. I think it likely would have played better for him than it does for me.)

I'm not a fan of how slow the intro is... taking almost a minute and a half before the song really starts feels a bit excessive. And I do appreciate the fact that the song is so dark that it succeeds in making me feel uncomfortable, but it's not an enjoyable type of uncomfortable and I'd generally rather not deal with evil this realistic. I'll be giving this one a tiny boost to its score, but I think this will probably be cut soon.

[Later: I did this one up a little bit further than I planned on, but... it's just a bit too far for me, I'm afraid. I can acknowledge that it perfectly accomplishes its goals, but I kinda dread listening to it each time it comes up and I'll honestly be a bit relieved when it's eliminated]

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#364: NURSE WITH WOUND | BRAINED BY FALLING MASONRY (12:26)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bcXdVubNrk
Nominator: @Snake5555555555 [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 54.77
Final Score: 54.19

(First Reaction: Huh. I was kinda bored until just before the six minute mark, when the song decides to get really creepy. Sadly, that stretch of the song only lasts a couple of minutes, but that was a really neat bit of song. The end of the song kinda devolves into unpleasant chaos with literal screaming and what sounds like a telephone the screaming people refuse to answer... and I know that section doesn't *want* to be pleasant and I do love some discordant noise, but that part really didn't work for me.

Still, it is somewhat interesting. Strange and varied enough that it doesn't feel likea twelve and a half minute long song. I'm going to try placing this right before the "kinda like" tier--it did have one section that I quite enjoyed and it's unique enough that I'd say my feelings are mostly positive, but I'm not quite sure it's at that "kinda like" level yet.)

Weird, varied, and occasionally spooky... but I don't know that it's something that I'm likely to listen to again. It's unique enough to stay close to that "kinda like" level and there are parts that I do like: besides the creepy part at six minutes, I do like how it starts around eight minutes in. It's very ominous and ghostly, which is quite a bit of fun. But the last part of the song is a bridge too far for me and I don't think I like the other parts of the songs enough that they can carry the song further than this.

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And so, 25 songs have fallen. We're now halfway to the "50 songs eliminated" deadline.

Spreadsheet will be updated in the morning, it's very late as I moved some more songs up that were supposed to be eliminated and I refuse to cut a song without listening to it right before it's cut, so I had to listen to all of these again (as well as some other songs that were also moved up on relistens and now I'm very tired).

3 eliminations now. There'll be another three later in the evening, so that we can end the night at 25 total eliminations:

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#369: Kemialliset Ystvt | He tulivat taivaan rist (3:37)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foEAQTF89fk
Nominator: @Tked [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 53.17
Final Score: 53.17

(First Reaction: "They came from the ends of the sky", huh? That does feel like an appropriate title for an alien song like this. Well, alien-like. This song reminds me of The Simpsons episode where the alien turned out to be Mr. Burns. It's very "I bring you love!" while glowing bright green. I like the way the song fades out towards the end, it's oddly kinda soothing. Let's all bask in the warm glow of Mr. Burns' warm glowing warming glow.

...I... really don't have a reaction to the rest of the song, so I'm going to go with a bit below the "kinda like" tier for my opening guess? It's an interesting sensation, but then I was never too fond of that particular episode of The Simpsons, so the association isn't really doing the song any favors. And I know "this song gave me flashbacks to the wrong episode of The Simpsons" is a really stupid thing to hold against a song, but that's kinda where I am right now.)

Bizarre and alien, but in ways that I don't exactly love. It does still feel incredibly "Glowing Mr. Burns"-y which is certainly a unique thing for a song to represent, but that's also not really a favorite thing to be imagining either. So... I do thank you for finding something this unusual and I congratulate the song for conjuring up some very specific images, but I don't think I like this all that much once the novelty wears off.

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#368: Alter Bridge | Blackbird (7:58)
https://youtu.be/ISBIht69fkE?si=vlNJxA4s_w3S1bPX
Nominator: @NBIceman [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 54.936
Final Score: 53.26

(First Reaction: I feel bad trying to critique a song created in memory of their dead friend, but I'm not really into this track. It's not bad or anything, but I can't quite connect with this particular type of tragedy--not that I haven't lost loved ones before, just... not in a way that lets me relate to this song. And if I can't connect to them emotionally, what I'm left with is an okay rock song that leaves me feeling bad about calling it okay.)

Emotional songs that resonate with me get really high scores; emotional songs that don't tend to struggle because while I want to connect with this and acknowledge it as a beautiful and moving tribute, I just... don't feel very strongly about this at all.

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#367: Rigl Theatre | Grad Erlija -Retrospektiva- (5:25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWUoM4F6fKI
Nominator: @FL81 [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 54.36
Final Score: 53.30

(First Impressions: Fairly nice, dance-y instrumental. It somehow makes me think of Russia, even though I'm pretty sure this isn't even a Russian inspired song, so I don't know where these vibes are coming from. Either way, it's.. I dunno, one of those "good songs that doesn't strongly appeal to me" type things? It's fun, it makes you want to get up and dance--well not me, but I'm sure normal people would want to dance to it--it's... well, it's nice enough.)

...I really don't like leaving write ups that brief, but I'm afraid that's what tends to happen around this area of scoring. If I had more of a reaction, positive or negative, I'd have more to say about it... this is just another for the "nice" pile.

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rwlh posted...

This description is on point (to me at least).

Yay, vague agreement!

Raka_Putra posted...

Damn, didn't expect Cell Block Tango to went out this early.

I get Chicago is popular, but honestly, I don't think I liked the movie soundtrack that much in general. I did kinda like Mister Cellophane and I enjoy the verses on "We Both Reached For The Gun" , but those were the only two tracks that really stood out. Though to be fair, I only saw the film once and that was a long time ago.

-

Three more eliminations for the night which, if you count the re-elimination of Announcement as a full elimination, sorta gets us up to a total of five?

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#372: WWE | Too Cool Theme (3:25)
https://youtu.be/7DTuUvIytoY?si=DFIJp7orhyp8ccYc
Character: Too Cool
Nominator: MarkS2222222222 [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 53.41
Final Score: 52.90

(First Reaction: I give some props for trying to capitalize on my WWE nostalgia, but this wasn't the song to do it with. I've never had any real emotions, positive or negative, towards Too Cool or any of its members. There was Rikishi (the popular one), Scotty 2 Hotty (known only for doing The Worm), and Brian Christopher who left so little impression that I legitimately cannot recall his ring name.

*eventually looks it up after several minutes of struggling*

"Grand Master Sexay".right, I do recall that now. How did Rikishi manage to avoid getting a terrible gimmick name as part of the group? I'm surprised Vince didn't change his name to something like "Tuphat Shaker" or "2phat4u" or something that, while not as lame as Grand Master Sexay, would have killed his career. He really dodged a bullet there.

Rikishi was, I suppose, a decent wrestler? He was never a favorite, but he seemed talented enough. He could function as a lovable goof and was reasonable as a villain... "I did for The Rock!" may be one of the most infamous promos ever, but I'm willing to blame that on the terrible script rather than Rikishi himself. He's fine; someone that I wouldn't mind appearing in the newer WWE games as another large wrestler (I like playing the big guys; a holdover from when large characters were overpowered by being immune to certain attacks in older games), but wouldn't be inclined to buy a season pass for. Earthquake, now there's a big man that I would pay good money to have added to my game, but I digress.

I suppose I need to discuss the song itself at some point and it's... fine? It's a really simple looping beat. It's inoffensive. It goes nowhere and does nothing, It's like a ten second song stretched out to three and a half minutes, but it's fine; it's instantly recognizable and fit the team well, so it's not a bad song. It's also not anything I'd ever choose to listen to. I'm thinking it's probably towards the middle of the "more positive than negative" tier? Like... I do have some positive feelings towards the era of WWE this song is from and it's memorable enough to stay positive, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself to move it up to the 55 point tier.)

I feel like I should have this higher because it is an instantly recognizable theme which is more than most current WWE wrestlers get, but my feeling is always a rather bland "oh yeah, it's this song". Like I know it and I can't imagine the group with any other theme, but I also don't actually like this much.

===============

-

===============

#371: Frank Zappa | Alien Orifice (4:10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UaKP1Vzxuo
Nominator: @Place [10 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 53.99
Final Score: 52.96

(First Reaction: I was looking forward to hearing something else by Zappa, but this didn't leave much of an impression.)

The artist and title always get me hyped up; Zappa's usually doing weird things and that's even when he's not going for something alien! I can't wait to hear this! And then it's... some electric guitar playing. Perfectly fine guitar playing, but not anything that I find myself drawn to. It also feels unnaturally long... I find myself checking to verify that this isn't one of the 10+ minute songs and I'm surprised this was only four minutes.

It's definitely not bad, but it's on the low-end of Zappa songs that I've heard.

===============

-

===============

#370: Zovi - How to Listen III: Open Ears hear the Multiplied (Building a Structure, Show Me Your Face, Multiplied) (11:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JloSherKsI8

Nominator: NFUN [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 38.26
Final Score: 39.16 [Upgraded to 53.00]

(First Reaction: Long song is long. The high-pitched, childlike vocals bother me and actively harm some otherwise decent sections. I enjoy what the music is doing around the 5:45 mark, but that voice bothers me enough that I can't focus on the instruments. At 7:45-ish, the song starts breaking down; it's a fairly neat effect, like being inside of a broken machine that's quickly running out of power. I don't know that I really like that section, but it's neat and novel enough to be interesting.

...Actually "I don't know that I like this, but it's neat and novel" could probably serve as a write up for the entire song. I might like the section around 10:30 when it starts getting more cacophonic, as that is a more pleasing type of strangeness? I don't know. This certainly feels like the longest song nominated, even though I know we have at least one twenty minute long song. I'm thinking that I didn't like this, but it's not bad and it's different enough that it was worth trying.)

This song feels endless, but it's not exactly bad. It's... occasionally strange in ways that I find pleasing, but only occasionally which isn't quite enough when the song goes on so long. When it started, I was feeling like "wow, I don't know why this is so far down! Surely, it's at least in the early 50s for novelties sake??" & then those vocals came in and it just... kept going. It's not a dealbreaker for a song to be long, but I have to be into it strongly enough that I don't want it to end--this would probably fare better if it were half the length.

[Later: Saying that "I like this" would still be a bridge too far, but I feel like i've learned to at least tolerate these vocals. I'd very much prefer a different singer and I still wish this song were half as long as it is, but... I am drawn to the madness tonight in a way where it feels like it'd be criminal to have this below the 50 point mark. I'm thinking around 53 points might make more sense; still a bit below the "Kinda Like" level, but still far above where I usually have it.]

===============

One and a half quick eliminations to start the day as I struggle to decide on further cuts. I had a full ten songs ready to go, but now I... don't want to get rid of most of them. I'll try to be back with more later this evening after I think about it for a bit.

===============

#374: Teten Maru | devilla6ue (2:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW-d2FNT1V0
Nominator: @UF8 [14 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 51.05
Final Score: 50.49

(First Reaction: I don't know. The lyrics probably tell a good story, but I can't find anything for them besides the "devil or angel" bit implied by the title and the song itself is just... fine. I'm not hearing anything here that lets it stand on its own without context, but it's vaguely cute and bouncy enough that I'd say I have positive feelings about it? Feels like a really short song though; I know it's over two minutes, but the abrupt stopping point makes it feel so much shorter than it is.)

Vaguely cute and bouncy is still all I can find to say on this one. It's.. not something I've ever considered dropping below 50 points, but I'm also at an absolute loss for anything to say about it and I find this to be a bit of a miss.

[Later: I don't think her vocal style is quite for me. I don't dislike her, don't get me wrong, but I'm just not really into her either. I'm sorry.]

===============

-

#373: RoughSketch | Announcement [52.36]

No new thoughts to the song. I wanted it moved to the early 50s and then I moved it to the early 50s and here it is.

Okay, two eliminations tonight for good reasons!

1: Every currently nominated song has at least a preliminary score! Not that those mean anything, but they have some basic thoughts typed up!

2: There are only three songs left with under 50 points! We're almost out of the negative zone and into the vaguely positive category.

3: Not related to the above, but I've had "Announcement" stuck in my head today and I'm raising its score to 52.36 points for now. So it's... semi-un-eliminated. Will it move up again? Who knows? No clue what placement 52.36 points gets you. I'll revisit it again when we get up to that point.

4: One song is being retroactively eliminated between "Growing Up" and the Magpie's song, I've changed my mind about one of tonight's eliminations (there was going to be three cuts, but... I don't want to remove one of them) so let's see if I can get these numbers fixed...

380: Growing Up

===============

Chicago - Cell Block Tango (6:14)
https://youtu.be/ly3ccyTI-Js?si=OrKIotNOeG8xsDkL

Nominator: Haste_2 [0 Remaining, unless more songs are nominated]

Initial Score: 39.26
Final Score: 46.00

(First Reaction: Honestly, I've never really cared for this song. It's one of those songs where I've never really gotten the appeal. It should be something I enjoy; theatrical, villainous, tells a complete story (or several stories), spoken word narration for the stories, but... I really don't like this. I've railed on repetition enough in my life and vocalizations can be a bit hit or miss (I love some, I hate some) &

Pop! Six! Squish! Uh uh! Cicero, Lipschitz!

Is definitely on the low end. It's repeated so many times that I find it grating; which, if the goal is to point out how a sound effect can drive someone to murder, the song is doing its job a bit too well. And the format is so dismally motonous; chorus-spoken word story-chorus-spoken word story-that I quite quickly grow bored with the entire concept of the song. There are a few good lines in the song:

Then he ran into my knife.
He ran into my knife ten times!

Is a personal favorite, but:

I guess you can say we broke up because of artistic differences (If you'd have seen it)
He saw himself as alive
And I saw him dead

Is also good. And I suppose I do like the concept of the song, but I just find it rather tedious to endure.)

Well, I suppose I would take this over the eliminated jazz song (sorry, Snake), so that would put this around 46 points? ...Sure.

===============

#378: Pikkie De Ekster

(Announcement is un-eliminated)

#377: Philosophy of the World

#376: Goblin Slayer

The song I originally planned on eliminating at #375 has been spared, which moves this track down a notch and becomes the last song to score less than 50.00 points (barring any further nominations that score very low):

===============

#375: Hans Zimmer | The Rightful King (11:45)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7rkHnM_XOc

Nominator: @Place [11 Remaining]

Initial Score: 34.66
Final Score: 49.00

(First Reaction: I like the part that's roughly between the nine and ten minute marks. The addition of the choir truly elevates the song; it perfectly captures the sense of a hero's journey in an incredibly short time. Sadness and fear, then the music swells with hope and optimism... and then it gets way too happy in a way that jarringly knocks me out of my emotional state. I don't think I like the transition to Circle of Life, it just comes too quickly for me. And I honestly can't remember the first nine minutes of this song because that point in the song is so great that it obliterates everything before it... shame Circle of Life had to come in and ruin the ending.)

A minute twenty into the song and I'm honestly a bit tired already. It's... ehh...

it then transitions into something that feels vaguely ominous, but... ehh... I don't really feel frightened. It's not working for me either.

Around four minutes in, the music seems to be building up for EPIC FIGHTS. I don't like epic fights.

Around five minutes and we get TRIUMPH and CELEBRATION and... I... also don't like the way it's celebrating? It's very quickly interrupted by more ominous darkness which... I... also dislike in this song. It's certainly going on a musical journey, but I dislike all of its stops.

And finally at around 8:30 into the song, we get to the good stuff! It's tinged with sadness and then the choir comes in, we get an awe-inspiring section which is emotional, powerful, easily worthy of placing in the mid-90s! I absolute love this section and--oh, we're doing Circle of Life now. Alright then.

...Which leaves a question: If a song has one minute that you really, really, really love and ten minutes that you quite actively dislike then how many points do you give it? I'm going to go with 49 points; I can't bring myself to raise this above the 50 point mark, but I would say that I prefer this over the already eliminated songs because there is a brief flash of absolute perfection.

===============

And normally I'd space these out more, but my tablet is about to die so I need to finish this and get it plugged in immediately, so the last two:

-

===============

#377: The Shaggs | Philosophy of the World (3:03):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thHcvTDGWvg
Nominator: @rwlh [6 remaining]

Initial Score: 48.30
Final Score: 48.30

(First Reaction: Bad, but in an endearing way. It's clear that no one involved in this has any idea what they're doing & their complete lack of musical talent has resulted in something so staggeringly avant-garde that it's almost enjoyable. I feel like trying to analyze the song at all would be missing the point. It's an e-x-p-e-r-i-e-n-c-e. Not a good one, but not entirely a bad one either.)

Charmingly bad is something that's fairly easy to cut. I mean, I am tempted to move it up, but... not really that tempted, if I'm being honest? If there was even one aspect of this that I actually liked: Lyrics, vocals, instruments; just one thing that I could grab onto ; then I might feel bad for cutting this song. Though I suppose the e-x-p-e-r-i-e-n-c-e would be ruined if there was any quality involved at any point in this song's production.

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===============

#376: Kenichi Suehiro | Goblin Slayer (3:19)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7KvlHNwIX0
Character: Goblin Slayer
Nominator: @MacArrowny

Initial Score: 47.15
Final Score: 47.15 [Upgraded to 48.697]

(First Reaction: Eh... it's fine? Latin chanting that I can't make out or find any information on, some over reliance on drums but at a low enough volume that I don't particularly mind, it's just... fine? I didn't have much reaction to this positive or negative, but it's... fine.)

This type of overly epic and dramatic music rarely does well, but this is probably one of the better examples of it? Usually they get near last place and comments about how they put me to sleep, but I don't find this song *boring*. I'm not a fan of it, but it's not boring or bad. Just another for the ever growing pile of songs that are "fine" in ways that don't inspire any significant reactions.

[Later: This is also one of the consistent songs. Sorry, but I don't think any of us are into this type of epic music, so it doesn't really matter what type of mood we're in. It's stylish enough that we never dislike it, but... yeah, I feel pretty comfortable letting this one drop. Though I'll give it a very, very minor boost to raise its placement slightly.]

===============

"All of My Friends Are Going to Hell" added to ZA'LIST ; Cell Block Tango added to main list. Place's recently added songs listened to once and given their preliminary scores.

One new song drops every posted song's ranking down by 1, letting us resume with the new #380. Five drops today, as I manage to get back onto schedule for a brief moment:

===============

#380: ORNETTE COLEMAN | GROWING UP (2:19)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKTl3NNa36o
Nominator: @Snake5555555555 [13 Remaining]

Initial Score: 50.127
Final Score: 47.18 [Downgraded to 45.00]

(First Reaction: Jazz isn't usually my jam and this... doesn't really change that. I don't mind listening to it, but I also don't really notice the music on any conscious level... it's just here in the background for a couple minutes and then ends. I suppose I'd say I like this more than the absolute nothingness that is an exactly 50 point song, but... not by that much? I'm sorry, I just listened to this a second time to see if it could do a better job of grabbing my attention, but it just doesn't.)

And we're apparently in even less of a jazz mood than usual this afternoon, as this song is slipping down a few spaces. Like I said, it's not bad, there's just something wrong with me where I never really notice or remember the song... it's one of the most "this song exists" songs I've come across, which i'm sure is blasphemy, but I just don't get the appeal.

[Later: And my interest in this type of jazz music sinks lower yet again on this third (or fourth) listen. I've tried with this song, but I really don't think I'm ever going to be into this genre to judge anything in this style fairly.]

===============

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===============

#379: Alfred Kwak | Pikkie De Ekster (2:08, though the first 18 seconds is Dutch creator commentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q15SlWEaSMA
Nominator: Kopazzynth [6 Remaining]
Character: Pikkie the Magpie

Initial Score: 43.22
Final Score: 47.00

(First Reaction: A jaunty little tune. Not bad, it's kind-of "bouncing along the sidewalk with a mischievous grin" music which is... not bad.)

It's another track where I want to find more to say about it, but "jaunty" is the only word that actually comes to mind. It kinda hops along quietly for a little bit and then fades away. It's certainly not bad, but it also feels a bit... short and basic for me to really call it good either. It's fine, just not very memorable.

[Later: And in a world in which I keep giving more and more points to songs so that I don't have to cut anything, I come to this song and... feel a bit bad that I don't enjoy it more than I do or have anything to say about it. The only words that ever come to mind are "jaunty" and "fine". Since I don't really feel negative about it, it's very close to being at the 50 point mark, but I think it's just a little half-step below that level.]

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===============

#378: RoughSketch | Announcement (3:33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP19Y_9IPL8
Nominator: @banshiryuu [11 Remaining]

Initial Score: 25.00
Final Score: 31.00 [Upgraded to 40.36] [Upgraded to 47.30]

(First Reaction: Nope. I don't like very pronounced beats and repetition, this is mostly one vocal sample being repeated while the background music thumps endlessly. I don't hate it, but it's... basically the exact opposite of what I want music to be?

...I'm afraid I really have nothing else to add to that. I guess some of the beeping sounds almost like lasers from generic arcade shooters, so that's something? It... yeah, this just isn't for me in any way, so "not hated" is really the best it could ever hope for.)

This song is a bit better than I remember! It's still not something I want, like, I wasn't exaggerating when I said this song is basically the opposite of what I enjoy... but the sheer harshness of the pounding beats isn't without its charms. When I want something really harsh and chaotic, I could see myself... tolerating it? I dunno. I don't think I'd ever say I "like" this, but I think it's a tier above the 20 point songs.

[Later: I... hmm... I do kinda like the harshness of the song. If we could just remove that pulsing beat, there's probably a solid song underneath it. I still feel like this is below the 50 point mark, but... I'd say this is more solidly in the "not for me" camp than "I dislike this" one.]

[Later Still: And I'll add a few extra points here. It's always going to be a bit rough trying to judge a song that is so antithetical to what i usually enjoy, but this is getting a bit closer to being something I enjoy. I'll say this is just below the 50 point mark?]

===============

*continued*

The rest of rwlh's songs have preliminary scores & writeups.

Only two eliminations today, there's some stuff Fluttershy really wants to do so we're taking an early night. Now to fix the numbering:

#387: Finger
#386: Makeba
#385: Star Spangled Man
#384: Welcome to the Black Parade
#383: Pandasan Youchien
#382: Telephone's Theme

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===============

#381: Lady Gaga/Fiki - Skibidi Bop Yes Yes Yes x Bloody Mary (3:03)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rTmVjPqK68
Nominator: @paulg235 [14 Songs Remaining]

Initial Score: 39.48
Final Score: 39.48

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

I have no idea what this is, but the title leads me to suspect you're aiming to find a legendary 0 point song, that which is so abominable that it cannot be valued at all and is said to just be a myth. I fear to click it.

[After]

Well, I don't hate it. I don't think I care for either of this mash up's component songs, but this is... fine? For a childish meme song, it's... not something I have the energy to actively dislike, which puts it above a fair number of other songs.)

I want to type something here, but I also don't. This song is just... something that exists. It's...existent.

[Later: Another very consistent song which I still have nothing to say about.]

===============

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===============

#380: LINGUA IGNOTA - THE ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS (9:11)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfnEYePSo6w
Nominator: @Johnbobb [9 Songs Remaining]

Initial Score: 41.14
Final Score: 41.19

(First Reaction: Slow and plodding, though I like some of the instrumental parts here. There's a heavy tone to them that is somewhat pleasing and the heavy, chaotic banging that starts around 4:20-ish is actually nice. I wouldn't want an entire song of that crashing, but used sparingly like this, it is fairly neat. I do wish they varied the banging up a bit.... it kinda feels like the same notes being played on the same schedule, so what starts as a burst of sudden chaos begins feeling rather routine by the end.

I'm fairly neutral about the spoken word sample at the end. I usually go for those, but the audio on it is so low that you can barely hear him and I... well, I'm just not interested in his speech about silence & hearing the dead. I wouldn't say I dislike having the sample at the end, but I didn't care for it either.... it's just sorta there. Which is sadly how I feel about most of the song; I never really dislike it, but the only part I like is the suddenly burst of harsh atonal music & somehow that even begins routine by the end of the song.)

Ehh... it's another long song that I think didn't need to be as long as it is. The fact that it does something I really like (chaotic crashing) and then repeats doing it so often that I become bored is a bit of a mood killer. I'm also not quite getting the spoken word section at the end, which is ultimately rather dull and only serves to drag out a song that had already gone on too long. Which sounds like I hate it, but I don't. It's fine, it's just one of those "this is fine" songs.

[Later:

I am incessant

I've noticed. Trust me. Either way, I have nothing to really add here. Maybe if it were half the length that it is, but I just find that I grow bored with each component of the song long before it ends and find it difficult to listen to the whole thing as a result. It's novel enough that I don't especially dislike it, but this is about as far as it can go.]

===============

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With our apologies, we'll be back tomorrow.

Spark_Garou posted...

Seven new songs have been posted, those will be added to the spreadsheets tomorrow. Which I think means the next elimination will be... provisionally #379

...379 - 5 + 7 is not 379 and it took me way too long to notice that. I'll fix the numbering tomorrow.

Progress Update: The five songs from JohnBobb's post, as well as "Once in a Lifetime" have Initial Scores and preliminary write ups. Seven new songs have been posted, those will be added to the spreadsheets tomorrow. Which I think means the next elimination will be... provisionally #379 again, with last night's five songs being moved back five numbers.

Pink Rover added to ZA'LIST.

Only one elimination today. I've listened to quite a few songs and they've all gained enough points that I don't want to eliminate them today, so after two hours of music listening & write up updates, there's only one song ready to go.

===============

#379: Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion | Telephone's Theme (2:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04GHisaUguM
Nominator: @-hotdogturtle-- [5 Songs Remaining]
Character: Telephone

Initial Score: 39.26
Final Score: 26.47 [Downgraded to 23.47]

(First Impressions: Twisted circus music. I like the parts that sound like synthetic vocals, those are quite nice... but the circus type instruments are a miss and I feel like nothing really happens in the song. We have the same "not really lyrics" that are just looped, followed by some monotonous circus music, followed by the looped vocals, followed by the circus, and it's all a bit... dull, by the end. I'm sorry, but as nice as that voice and the effects applied to it are, it's really let down by the rest of the song.)

I do like those vocalizations, but I kinda hate the actual music so I'm going to knock this down a tier. While it's not a long song, it feels like it runs out of things to do after about eight seconds.

[Later: This is basically 8 seconds looped for two and a half minutes. I think this might have fared better if it stopped after eight seconds because the song is rather over by that point anyway. Vocals that are reversed and distorted can only carry things so far and while I think it's a very novel nomination, it's another one of those songs that falls a little lower each time I listen to it.]

===============

NFUN posted...

I strongly disagree with you. Pandasan Youchien is absolutely not the ideal of a 23.07. It's the opposite; it's perhaps the only song I've heard where I'd think any score from 0 to 100 is 100% justified. 23.07 is a correct answer, but not the correct answer

Fair enough. I still find it fascinating how consistent it's been, don't usually see that from my rankings.

Snake5555555555 posted...

Last place T_T

I definitely was not expecting that but I get the explanation. I'd probably wager you wouldn't like Scene Queen's other work which all have very similar vibes of super girly pop mixed with metal and based around sexually empowering women.

Sorry, but something had to come in last and the more explicit songs have always been a bit dicey. I'll definitely listen to that 18+ song that was posted later though and see how it fares.

DanKirby posted...

Wasn't tagged, but I'm here anyway.

Oh geez, I'm sorry about that. I really don't know how that happened... I swear I remember typing out your name--I wasn't going to tag those who had used their nominations, so that list had mostly shortened versions of people's names (eg.Bane and Snake instead of their full names), but your name was already short and I didn't know if you had a preferred shortened version, so I typed your full name out... and... somehow deleted it while I was copying everyone else's full usernames in once I decided to tag them after all? That doesn't make sense, but I swear I remember typing yours out.

(This is as opposed to Iceman, who was definitely missed entirely. Went over the full list again and I'm fairly confident that you were the only two that were missed?)

Mega_Mana posted...

Wow. This is "Welcome to the Black Parade?" I thought I'd heard it before, but apparently not and I am underwhelmed by the hype.

Thank you! Considering the rave reviews it and the entire album had at Rank the Albums, I was pretty sure I was the only one that just couldn't get what the appeal was.

PIayer_0 posted...

I read all the extra nom notifications, but this has been going so fast for my brain that I'll just stick with my initial 4+4! Hopefully the powers above won't consider Minnie the Moocher to be too political...

That's fine. And I'm sure that song will be fine; putting aside my initial meltdown, neither I nor the song actually make any political comments beyond "yep, that homeless crisis sure is a crisis" & if that triggers the mods than we're in worse shape than I could have imagined.

-

All songs should be added to the public list, with Raka's additional character notes added. There was a brief internet hiccup that delayed things a bit, but I think it all got saved correctly this time.

List of post topic songs has been updated:

ZA'LIST 2024:

+++++++++++++++

SONGS:

Boomhauer sings Rap God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmmHoam7y5U

If System of a Down Were from India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi106DZJhuQ

Scene Queen | 18+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L57iEai79I

-

ALBUMS:

Ayreon | The Human Equation

+++++++++++++++

Though anyone with extra nominations could take those songs and make them actual ranking songs instead of post ranking songs, which is a weird coincidence I hadn't thought of. Well, that's unlikely and I'm neither encouraging or discouraging that outcome.

And our final drop of the night:

===============

#375: Wataru Ishibashi - Pandasan Youchien (3:16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAed_meyN-M

Nominator: NFUN

Initial Score: 23.07
Final Score: 23.07

(First Reaction: Why is this song not ending? How am I only two minutes into this song and why does it feel so much longer? Is this some type of torture device that disrupts the flow of time to prolong the listener's suffering?

meow, meow, Panda-san

Panda-san Is there a panda-san?
I wonder
if there is
a panda-san.

There aren't many pandas that meow. It's true. All the pandas I've
heard of don't meow , after all.

It only escapes last place by virtue of those lyrics at the end being kinda funny. I suppose I do like the idea of singing about a meowing panda.)

I still dislike this song. Way too many repetitions of "panda-san", they're not good singers, the backing music is not doing anything of interest... but it's almost cute & almost funny enough that I can't actually hate it. And there is quite a bit of meowing. I do like meowing.

[LATER: This is one of the most consistent scoring songs of the topic. It's always 23.07. It is the most 23.07 song to ever exist. It is the Platonic ideal of a very specific number and I think that's beautiful. Not beautiful enough to change its score, for that would destroy its beauty & also I quite actively dislike this song and don't want to move it up any further... still, it's better than The Black Parade! That's an accomplishment. Sorta. I mean, most people like Black Parade, so it'd be an accomplishment at their topics. And this song did have meowing. That's... a thing that got it some points.]

===============

EDIT: Nominator spreadsheet now has an extra tab with eliminated songs sorted by score. Pay no attention to one of mcflubbin's songs being oddly out of place on that tab; somehow the score section, which should have been blank, had an empty space in it which broke the formatting.

Oh right; I couldn't decide between CAPS LOCKING the titles or posting them like normal, so artists & titles are formatted however the nominator formatted them. They're just straight copy/paste jobs. <`.<

...still not quite there, but it's closer to a decent emoticon than the earlier attempts.

......right and I'm supposed to post how many songs participants have remaining, aren't I? Eh, I'll start that with tomorrow's eliminations since I already have these ready to go without that number included. Just count it as part of the LIVE EXPERIENCE that important statistics haven't been written down yet.

===============

#377: THE STAR SPANGLED SINGERS | STAR SPANGLED MAN (2:53)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go_Xzb3ZN4M
Nominator: @Mega_Mana
Character: Captain America

Initial Score: 37.81
Final Score: 23.99 [Downgraded to 21.00]

(First Reaction: Well, it's an unexpected nomination, I'll give it that much. This is a really good scene in the film--seeing Captain America reduced to being a mere propaganda figure was interesting and the ridiculous nature of this novelty song makes for a funny scene, but I don't think the song works without the context of the film. It's a bit too old-fashioned for my tastes and there's not really anything funny about the song itself, leaving it without much of a leg to stand on. Yeah, "Who'll hang a noose on the goose-stepping goons from Berlin?" is *kinda* a fun lyric, but... well, I give the scene from the movie an A, this just isn't something I like out of context.)

While not the worst song, I think this may be the one I was least interested in hearing a second time. All the comedy and drama come from things *around* the song rather than from the song itself; without context, this is just a somewhat forgettable propaganda tune; and yeah, I could give it extra points for its role in the film, how it's both funny & tragic seeing what the hero has been reduced to... but I don't really want to? Like, my reaction is "I dislike listening to this outside of the movie" and giving it bonus points feels rather dishonest to my feelings. I'm sorry, but I'm moving this one down a few notches; it's unlikely to end in actual last place since I don't hate it or anything, but.. I just don't like this.

[LATER: The lowest scoring character song! That's an achievement. Sadly, it's been on a constant downward spiral from the time it was nominated. I don't know. I like Captain America... or at least I like certain interpretations of the character. Someone who stands for what America should stand for and inspires people to do better, like a squishy Superman. I like crushing Nazis. I like novelty songs. I like the film the song is from--it's not half as good as The Winter Soldier, but it's a solid introduction to the character and accomplishes everything it needs to. But somehow, I just don't like this song and it slides a little each time I hear it. And while I could raise other songs' score to place them over this one, I think it's more "this song has too many points" than "the other songs eliminated tonight have too few points".]

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#376: My Chemical Romance | Welcome to the Black Parade (5:14)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRKJiM9Njr8
Nominator: @GavsEvans123

Initial Score: 23.56
Final Score: 20.00 [Upgraded to 23.00]

(First Reactions:

Back from when we covered this at Rank the Tracks:

1: The End.
2: The Sharpest Lives
3: Dead!
4: I Don't Love You
5: House of Wolves
6: Disenchanted
7: Blood
8: Teenagers
9: This Is How I Disappear
10: Cancer
11: Welcome to the Black Parade
12: Famous Last Words
13: Sleep
14: Mama

So... I found this song to be one of the absolute weakest on the album; and honestly, it wasn't an album I much cared for... Zero songs in my top 25 of that cycle and a mid-tier "11th/25" place for the album itself, with it only managing to get that far due to how weak I found that cycle of albums. (Were this added to "Rank the Albums 6", I'd likely have it in 23rd Place.)

...So, yeah. A bad song from an album that only manages to be mid against incredibly weak opposition. I'm... well, I'm not saying you should know how I vote in Rank the Tracks or use that as a basis for anything considering how my opinions fluctuate wildly, but it's... not exactly one of the songs from Rank the Tracks I was hoping to see again, we'll say. Unfortunately, I still dislike this song; I don't hate it, but as much as I'd love for a good comeback story about this song finally clicking with me after so long (see: my growing fondness for Streetlight Manifesto after many years of not liking them), I just... do not get the appeal of this song on any level.

It seems like something I should love. I love sad songs & I love concept songs, we've got a concept song about dying! And there's even a marching band feel to it, a marching song got really high marks last topic, why this should be the greatest song ever! And yet, the absolute best I've ever felt towards the song was complete apathy. I just... I don't know why; I'm completely disinterested in everything here. From the singing, to the story, to the instruments, I cannot even begin caring about a single aspect of this song. I suspect the only reason I don't hate it is because hating requires a level of emotional investment that I don't get from this song. I've tried; I listened to it three times for Rank the Tracks, again for Rank the Albums 5, and again here. It has had a lot of chances over the course of many months to connect with me and I think my opinion of it drops with each listen. Typically, the more exposed I become to a song, the more I like it & they eventually win me over from attrition... this song is somehow having the opposite result, moving from complete apathy to active dislike.

I know this is just me; this was one of the most beloved songs from Album Cycle #5. But I don't get it and I don't think I ever will.)

This song continues its bleak march towards becoming something I hate. It's still not there, but I continue being less interested in it with each listen and I still don't get the appeal to this.

[LATER: I'm never going to like this song, but I'll give it back three of its points. It's still a decent step above songs that I hate, even if I quite actively never want to hear this again.

...I'm mildly curious how the album had three songs worse than this, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it to see how it accomplished that.]

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*continued*

Thank you all, I'll add those songs to the sheet in the morning (and update the character notes on those songs.). That gets us up to 379 songs at the moment by my count, so we'll start with the songs provisionally in 379th through 375th place. Exact numbers will obviously change as more songs are added (especially if some wind up with lower final scores than these five. You know how it is with a live ranking.)

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#379: SCENE QUEEN | FINGER (2:33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kq1O9FM920
Nominator: @Snake5555555555

Initial Score: 20.98
Final Score: 3.00 [Upgraded to 18.56]

(First Reaction: ... Yeah... there's not a lot I can do with a song this sexually explicit. Some points for a pony reference and the "If God hated gays, the sex wouldn't be so good" line, but... well, it at least avoided the tiers of songs I hated, so that's something?)

....I didn't leave a number out. i just... don't want to listen to this, at all. Too explicit. Somedays I'm fine with that, somedays I'm not. Today is very much a "not" day and... well, that's about it really. Perhaps this song will be lucky enough to hit me on a day when I'm less bothered by its lyrics by the actual elimination, but this feels like a pretty solid tier below the other songs that were originally ranked below it (two of which I actually kinda like right now).

[LATER: So, these really low rated songs are getting a third listen due to timing shenanigans--the bottom 39-ish songs got "Second/Revised Scores" before I switched to this experimental speed format, so they're kinda getting the old treatment as I need to give them a third listen before I actually eliminate them. And this song is benefiting from getting the extra chance, though.... not that much of a benefit, if I'm being honest.

First, the good news: I'm less bothered by sexual content when I'm on this account. Honestly, we're all asexual, but I'm less repulsed by the thought. It's more of an "this does not interest me" than the absolute revulsion some feel. So, the lyrics are less of a dealbreaker than on the second listen.

Also, I honestly like the Bridge on this song. It's rather ethereal, the singing is prettier, and it's as though it came from a song three or four tiers above this one. And while it is obviously sexual, it's at least a bit less overt, which does make it more palatable. An entire song in that style would probably be in the mid-60s scorewise, even if they are just repeating one line.

The bad news: I still do not enjoy the verses or chorus. Like, at all. It's also dreadfully repetitive... the chorus consists of repeating the same lines twice, which isn't great--then we play the chorus in full five times and hearing those lines ten times in a two and a half minute long would be bothersome even if I did like them. The genre is also not something I'm into; it's not club music, but it's so... loud and aggressive. It's this hyper-aggressive, hyper-sexual, hyper-pop dance thing that I actively want to go away. I don't know that this is still the absolute lowest song in the topic, but it's... not great. When I'm against the lyrics, and the genre, and the repetition of the lyrics... there's... not really a polite way to say that I kinda hate this.

I do like the bridge though! So, it's hypothetically possible this band would have something I like. Just not this particular song. Very, very much not this particular song.]

[Slightly Later: Okay, now I can say it's the lowest song in the topic, unless someone finds something I really hate.]

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#378: Jain - Makeba (4:09)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryG4CSQ_aJE
Nominator: @paulg235

Initial Score: 17.94
Final Score: 19.03

(First Reaction: ...Yeah, I think I hate this. This chorus... that high-pitched "ooh-ee" and the way the lyrics just keep repeating. Make it stop. Please. I feel like mis-quoting Jesus Christ Superstar's Gethsemane.

"Now I'm sad and tired
Listen, surely I've exceeded expectations?
Listened for three minutes, seems like thirty
Could you ask as much from any other creature?"

...Which is amusing, but very much not where you want a train of thought to go. Honestly, the song isn't all horrible. Towards the end, it sounds like it's underwater. That's... novel enough to be worth a few points. And I can appreciate it being about a civil rights activist. I just... really, really don't want to listen to this again.)

And so we begin round two of listening, starting with the song that was officially in last place after the first round! Also of minor note, I just moved while on my vacation, so this is the first song to be listened to in the new apartment. Yay?

So... this song isn't terrible, but I'm still not not into it. That chorus is just so monotonous that the song very quickly burns through any goodwill built up by the verses. I do kinda like the verses--"you are the real beauty of human rights" is a decent line and I like the concept of honoring a civil rights icon--but repeatedly shouting "ooh-ee!" and dancing is not exactly a very compelling way to honor her. I am tempted to move this up to the 20 point marker because there are enough points that I kinda like, or almost like, that saying I "hate" it might be a bit too harsh... but when the song consists primarily of a chorus that I do hate, it's a bit hard to convince myself to give it even those few token extra points. I'll move it closer, up to 19 points, and reevaluate it right before its posted.

[LATER: Going to be brutally honest. My reaction to having to listen to this a third time was "please, no, don't make me endure this a third time. Please," and that honestly feels like it should be back in last place. BUT... that underwater section is pretty neat... and I like the idea of the song. It's enough to let it escape last place, though only just.]

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*continued*

NBIceman posted...

Oh, cool.

I wasn't on either list - do I have extra noms?

Oh, I really have no idea how that happened. I thought I was careful when going over the list. Anyway, you should have one; basically

Anyone who managed to get in the full 15 nominations (this should include you by my count) got 1 bonus.

11 to 14 regular noms, you get bonuses to reach a total of 15.

10 or less, including 0, gives you 5 bonus nominations.

Apologies again, I really don't know how I skipped past you on the sheet.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80758591

Pretty sure I tagged everyone, but the Ranking Topic is up. Added character notes to the remaining Pony songs (official and fan made) and tagged "Dawn of a Million Souls". Did not tag the Coheed and Cambria songs as being character songs for reasons discussed earlier. All current nominations have at least preliminary scores--I would have gotten the topic up this morning, but I wanted to get the last few basic scores in before posting the topic.

(Also, obviously, handsomeboy's last song was added to the sheet as well).