Board 8 > Luce, Fluttershy, and Raetsel rank 361+ songs [Rankings]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

Well, mentioning Scrubs caused "Men At Work | Overkill" to get stuck in my head, so I had to stop everything to go listen to it.

My apologies if you can't get to sleep thinking about the implications

Spoilered everything because you don't want to see that atop a new page

Whoops, my head phones are dead and need to charge. So two songs to end the night; one from Murphiroth and one from Mega Mana.

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???: HANABIE. | Otaku Lovely Densetsu (3:13)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awx5vfb_aSY

Nominator: @Murphiroth [5 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 67.999
Final Score: 67.99

(First Reactions: [Before Listening]

Well... I'm willing to give anything a try, but considering how poorly most HANABIE. songs did last time, I can't say that I'm very optimistic about this one.

[After]

[Intro]
"In the world today, cyberspace, anime and games are
Absolutely vital cultures in everyday life."
HELL YEAH!

Okay, this song did win me over during the intro. Honestly, I think I like just about everything in this song. While the lyrics are ironic, I can certainly work with lines like "Whatever you want, as much as you want; Ditch the life of challenges". The music is good, the video is fun to watch, I like this one. Sadly, it does feel a bit long--three minutes isn't long at all, but the extended pre-chorus & final chorus that close the song don't really add anything, causing the song to end on a low note. Still, I do like this; I' going to try having this song towards the top of the "I like this" tier.)

I also like this one quite a bit. Fun lyrics, good video, nice blend of metal & clean lyrics. Song works quite well, I think. The chorus is also pretty catchy which helps the song a fair amount.

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DAVE KOZ | FACES OF THE HEART (3:43)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB3ILJtYTlo
Nominator: @Mega_Mana [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 68.949
Final Score: 67.45

(First Reaction: Hey, I wanted more sax focused smooth jazz. Nice!

...I'd like to offer more but "style of song I like performed with instruments I like" only affords so much to talk about.)

I really don't have anything to add here. It's a very pleasant and soothing sax song & I like those.

[Later: Apparently this was used on General Hospital? I never watched the show, so I wouldn't know; I watched quite a bit of Passions back in the day, which was the... crazy soap opera with witches, living dolls, the ghost of Princess Diana, and an orangutan that the producers attempted to nominate for a Daytime Emmy (the nomination was rejected). That was the only soap opera I ever really followed. All I really know about General Hospital comes from the novelty song General Hospi-Tale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD7XkD5scTI

Which I only heard on the radio once, but the chorus has been stuck in my head ever since.

...Anyhow, "Faces of the Heart" is a nice track. It's a simple, relaxing smooth jazz track. It's not my favorite use of a sax, but it's an instrument I like doing things I like, so... yeah. Nice song.]

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Mega_Mana posted...

Kust gave [Surrender] another listen, and yeah, a nice atmospheric track but it does nothing. It reminds me of "Hors D'uvre" from my ranking topic where it wasn't bad to listen to, but it slips away from memory the instant it ends.

Thank you for giving that another listen! We really meant to say that earlier, but kept forgetting... it is somewhat reassuring to know that someone else had trouble finding much to say about the song.

Rolling right along with two songs this morning: 1 from MaxGalactica, & 1 from MacArrowny.

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???: Octopath Traveler II | Ochette, the Hunter (4:16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni4f2WJeNSY
Nominator: @MaxGalactica [10 songs remaining]
Character: Ochette

Initial Score: 66.01
Final Score: 69.14

(First Thoughts: [Before]

I think the only song from Octopath II that I liked was Partitio's theme, but let's give this a shot.

[After]

This is an oddly enjoyable, jaunty little tune. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this, but I actually think I liked this a fair amount... I'll try putting this towards the middle of the "like" tier for a bit. It's possible that I'm overvaluing it because my expectations were so low, but I think this will probably stand as a good representative of the tier.)

An incredibly pleasing, jaunty, adventuring tune. I enjoy this one quite a bit; not quite at the next tier, but definitely in the 69 point range. I loved Octopath Traveler 2, but outside of Partitio's theme, I didn't recall enjoying the music... but apparently I vastly underestimated the game's soundtrack since I do quite like this one.

[Later: Sadly, nothing else that I want to add to this one. It's a very fun adventuring song and I really like Ochette as a character, but I still feel like the 69 point range is appropriate.]

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???: EXiNA - "DiViNE" - 4:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsNwdl6CWoA
Nominator: @MacArrowny [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 69.90
Final Score: 65.067

(First Reaction: I'm just noticing those i's are lower case and the title isn't in full caps lock. I'll correct it on my master sheet with all the scores, but I don't know that I'll fix it on the public sheet... oh, who am I kidding, it'll bother me incessantly until I do.

No matter where we go, I know well never find a place where we belong,
So then why not create one ourselves?

I like this. Simple, but I like simple. It's a rocking anime theme, which works--I like quite a few anime themes. I also have a fondness for magical girl anime, though I'll admit I haven't seen too much of the genre (Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Jewelpet Tinkle are probably the only ones). Good genre, good lyrics, good source material... very much one of those "good song, I like it" things where I basically leave the write up at that, but I do like it.)

I still like this, but I'm not anywhere near as into it as I was the first time around. I'm not entirely sure why, but I guess I'm just less into the harder rock song of this song and would prefer a bit more... magical girl-esque for my magical girl music? I don't know. I still like it a fair amount; good subject matter, good lyrics, and I usually like what's happening here musically.

[Later: And I'm still not quite able to recapture the magic with this song, pun not intended. The story told here is good and I do like it a fair amount, but this fits better with the songs in the early part of the 65 point tier than the latter ones.]

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1: I am going to un-eliminate "Surasthana Fantasia". After taking another day to think about it, I do feel like that song belongs up another tier. (Sadly, I feel okay with keeping the other 69 point songs where they are).

2: We're only six songs away from starting the next tier, so I'm going to just blast through them all right now. A double drop from DanKirby and 1 each from CJones, BlackDra90n, banshiryuu, and azuarc.

3: Then I get to try and figure out what what placement everything has--between moving so many songs around (and one of these upcoming songs dropping below the 65 point line), the numbering's all off again.

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???: Rurutia | Ame no Hate (5:14)
https://youtu.be/i_1kOy_m-PE
Nominator: @DanKirby [13 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 68.59
Final Score: 68.59

(First Reaction: I love walking in the rain and it's nice to have a romantic song that doesn't go beyond holding hands. I'm also impressed by how pretty the auto-translated lyrics came out:

You and I will walk hand in hand In the pouring rain
Your quiet and strong smile lights up the melancholy sky
You gave me, when I had nothing, belief in tomorrow and dreams
I'm holding onto her fingers tightly so they don't come undone.
Let's go to the end no one knows
Even if there is no acceptable path, I'm not afraid

Sweet romance and beautiful ambience. I like this one quite a bit, though I think it may be just a smidge below the "Really Like" tier because we hit some really stiff competition when we get to that point. Still, definitely a good song choice that shouldn't ever drop below the high 60s.)

I think I said everything I needed to on this one. I love the ambience and how sweetly romantic it is, but I don't quite feel it at the next tier level... still, definitely something that I like quite a bit and am glad to listen to.

[Later: A very pretty song with sweet lyrics. I like this one quite a bit.]

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???: Kana Yazumi | Butterfly Effect (4:33)
https://youtu.be/Obyi945E50g
Nominator: @DanKirby [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: Was repeatedly switched between 69 & 70 points, eventually erring towards the 70.00 mark.
Final Score: 62.00004

(First Impressions: Not bad, I like this one quite a bit. She's got an immediately appealing voice, poppy with just a slight edge to it. The music is also in this jpop-esque type of rock style where it's not *hard* or *edgy*, but there's just this slight hint of darkness to it that gives it a little extra apppeal.

Under the moonlight, I look up at the sky where a butterfly shines, faintly fluttering its wings

I am easily manipulated by moonlight, yes. So... I think I really like this, but not quite as much as at least one other song that I've given exactly 70 points to, which has led me to go back and forth on the score quite a bit. I think I'm going to go with 70 points here and just raise the other score a bit so there isn't a tie? Because... yeah, that feels right. I really like the vibe and atmosphere on this song, along with one of its lyrics, so 70 points seems like an appropriate value.)

Oof. This song is going through one of the sharpest drops of any song in the topic; probably the sharpest. The lyrics are still kinda nice--I remain as easily manipulated by references to the moon as ever this year--but I'm not really connecting with the song itself... so... I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to drop this one way down below the 65 point mark & retroactively move a bunch of other songs up a rank.

[Later: Sorry... I did make sure to give this another listen to make sure I really wanted to do this, but... yeah, this feels like a 62 point song to me at the moment.]

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???: Arthur Sullivan - The Lost Chord (4:22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAzwQF_vm2o
Nominator: @CJones [3 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 64.26 [Upgraded to 69.33 during write up]
Final Score: 69.5632

(First Reaction: I feel like songs older than the 1950s don't usually do that well with me, but I do like this one. It packs quite a lot of emotion into its fairly brief runtime; the ceaseless searh for the divine, the pain of losing someone, the attempt to give comfort to someone in their lsst moments... I find it impossible to treat lyrics about a perfect peace and harmony possibly being found in Heaven as anything but comfort for his dying brother, even if the lyrics existed as a poem before the song was composed. It is beautiful and emotional, so I do like this a fair amount.

..But, and there's always a but, it's not exactly a style of music that I prefer. I appreciate it and acknowledge it's quality (and will be moving it up a bit because there are a few songs at the 67 & 68 point marks that I refuse to let this song rank below), but.. I don't think I'm into organ music? I haven't heard much, but I've also never felt that I needed more pipe organ in my life. It leads to this conflicting feelings of 'if this is beautiful and emotional, I should have it at least at 70 points' and 'I like it quite a bit, but I don't think I'd go quite as far as saying that I really liked it'. I both want it up another tier and kept just slightly below that tier. I think I'm going to play this one cautiiously and move it to the very high 60s; I need to see what songs are in the early 70s and how this compares to them directly before really commiting to a placement for it, but I do like it quite a bit.)

Beautiful and powerful, but.. really not my style of music, so I can't quite bring myself to move it up a tier. I still feel the conflict between 'the song is so high quality it deserves the extra point/s' and 'this is a song that I quite like, not one that I really like' which is a semantical difference but enough of one that it stays in the high 69 point area instead of being moved up a tier. Definitely beautiful and something I'm grateful for the chance to try, even if it didn't completely work out.

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???: Dir en Grey | - Yurameki (3:16)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxw2xN_IFPg
Nominator: @BlackDra90n [6 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 65.80
Final Score: 65.097

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

This could go either way. Ranunculus is still one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, but there was also one song of theirs that repulsed me so much that I never wanted to hear anything from them again (which is what led to Ranunculus being posted to prove me wrong) so... cautious optimism?

[After]

Even my memories I want to forget, my heart that loved you is in pain
For all eternity, love like never before
For all eternity, our love will not return.

Well, it's not quite Ranunculus levels of beauty, but it's definitely much closer to it than whichever song of theirs I hated. Dead relationships are always fertile grounds for music and this band can be beautiful when they want to, leading to a song that is quite easy to like. It's not absolute perfection, but it does prove that the band can still put out things that i enjoy and it wasn't just one fluke song.)

I'm just noticing this is the Promotional Edited version and not the full song. Though since this was only uploaded 4 months ago, perhaps a full version wasn't available at the time? Anyway, I do still like this song quite a bit. It seems to be fairly consistently in the 65 point range.

[Later: I do enjoy his singing voice on tracks like this one, but somehow, I never quite click with it in comparison to something like "Ranunculus". Still a good song that I like quite a bit though.]

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???: 493Water & Noshika | Unexceptional (4:19)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv__tzwPtSw
Nominator: @banshiryuu [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 70.00
Final Score: 68.74

(FIrst Reaction: It's interesting. I definitely tilted my head and blinked at it, like a confused dog--this is a good thing, I like songs that I don't know how to process. I kinda really like songs that cause that reaction, to be honest. ...But then a lot of the song is a bit too thumping techno-y and I don't particularly enjoy those parts; but the parts with singing (or speaking) dial things back and are actually quite great! I really like and rather dislike this in ways that provoke total confusion rather than apathy.

I'm going to take a wild gamble and start this with a fairly high score, moving it up to the "really like" tier. This could be a mistake; this song is relying almost entirely on being unexpected and being something I don't know how to process, so the score could tank on repeat listens as I become adjusted to it. Alternatively, perhaps it's novel enough and unlike anything else at this tier that it stands out as a refreshing change of pace! Probably one of those things. We'll see?)

I still like this one quite a bit, but I think I may overvalued it a tad purely because of how hard it was for me to analyze. Honestly, I still don't get what the song is doing, which remains its strongest selling point & I do like it... just perhaps not quite as much as everything else at the next tier.

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???: Genshin Impact - Nippy Bout (2:38)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rS1nHRFvbw
Character: Wriothesley (pronounced rize-lee)

Nominator: azuarc [2 songs remaining, technically, since I just un-eliminated one]

Initial Score: 72.15
Final Score: 68.15

(First Reaction: Hmm... the opening is really strong. Very synthetic and with some deeper notes that I'm into; it then kinda goes... not exactly dubstep, but a few steps closer to dubstep than I'd like it to. But there's also some bubbling aquatic sounds at times and then we go to a mechanized city with sirens, then back to headbanging at da clubz before ending with a part that's equal bits "ascending to the afterlife", "sitting in a game's lobby waiting for it to start", and "coming down from all the substances we took in da clubz".

...I'd say that's weird enough to get into the "really like" tier. I'm not entirely sure that it'll stay up that high as it's definitely getting a boost from being so surprising that I never knew what it was going to do next, but this is a strong first impression.)

I really like the outro to this song still... everything from 2:12 to the end is truly superb, a very odd contrast of senses that I still can't fully comprehend. Unfortunately, I'm much less into the rest of the song tonight... all a bit too "club music"-y for my blood & not really in a way that I find all that interesting. Though, as always, that is being far too harsh --I do still like the song quite a bit.

[Later: The intro is honestly pretty great too... I love how the song starts and ends. But the song loses me once that beat drops around 27 seconds in and not even the combination of bubbly sounds, strong intro, and strong outro can push the song up to the next tier.

...I still have no idea why we go to mechanized empire theme with added police sirens. This feels like a very disjointed song--not a bad thing, just a thing to comment on.]

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Okay... moving that devil-angel song up is making it really hard for me to figure out where to start counting songs from, so I'm just going to renumber the entire list. Technically, I haven't renumbered everything since the final new nomination was added, so... yeah.

#402: Finger
#401: Makeba
#400: Star Spangled Man
#399: Black Parade
#398: Pandasan
#397: Telephone's Theme
#396: Skibidi x Bloody Mary
#395: Spiritual Virgins
#394: Growing Up
#393: Cell Block Tango
#392: Pikkie De Ekster
#391: Philosophy of the World

#390: Goblin Slayer
#389: The Rightful King
#388: Announcement
#387: Too Cool
#386: Alien Orifice
#385: How To Listen
#384: He tulivat taivaan rist
#383: Blackbird
#382: Grad Erlija
#381: Anchordeep

#380: Janet
#379: Brained by Falling Machinery
#378: (He'll Never Be An)
#377: Wayward Son
#376: From Now On
#375: Chop Suey!
#374: Goner
#373: Surrender
#372: The Fallen Empire
#371: dial m17

#370: Code: Crimson
#369: Bow Down
#368: Earth
#367: Headspace
#366: (Nendest)
#365: RULES OF TEKKEN
#364: Love Yourself
#363: Kumo no Kanata
#362: Winter Madness
#361: Death Approaches

#360: Solid Gold Tooth
#359: tears of marionette
#358: Gwen
#357: Concertino in Blue
#356: Song 2
#354 (TIE): Eleanor Rigby
#354 (TIE): Sukuinote
#353: Aire Iglesia
#352: Comme Des Garcons
#351: Happy Halloween Maria

#350: Tastes Like Kevin Bacon
#349: Bard's Adventure
#348: Concrete Cages
#347: FJ: Lady End
#346: Just to be Needed
#345: fortnite II
#344: Utsuru Mainichi
#343: Golem
#342: Akudama
#341: Primavera-Hana

#340: Paemon!
#339: Gen'z Mood
#338: Haunted
#337: Brain Freeze
#336: dinger box
#335: Minuano
#334: Freedom
#333: The Battle from the..
#332: Greatest Change
#331: Bengal Tiger

#330: Edith's Theme
#329: Snapdragon
#328: Pink Oysters Before..
#327: Nina Williams Theme
#326: da.data...
#325: Butterfly Effect
#324: devil?angel
#323: I'm Your Treasure Box
#322: Unforgiven
#321: My Immortal
#320: The two cradles

#319: None of Them Knew...
#318: Pain Remains I
#317: Pain Remains II
#316: Lullaby for a Princess
#315: Suspended From Class
#314: Dawn of a Million Souls
#313: Lycanthro Punk
#312: Mario 3 Credits
#311: BAD DAYS

#310: Puzzleplank (SiivaaGunner)
#309: Starkey Cetera
#308: Vultures
#307: Metanoia
#306: The Shrine / An Argument
#305: Hoshimeguri no Uta
#304: Sweet & Red
#303: Vogue
#302: Oportunista
#301: I Would Die 4 U

#300: Zoomlight - Central Tower
#299: I'm a sucker for a kind word
#298: Homesick
#297: Transitory
#296: Counter Raid
#295: Heart shaped Box
#294: Rat a Tat
#293: Stronger Than You
#292: Marlin
#291: Great Release

#290: Nightmare
#289: Gilded Splinters
#288: 24 Hour Cinderella
#287: Minnie the Moocher
#286: Outta My Way!
#285: PIRI
#284: Restoration
#283: Shadow Bang
#282: Bull Believer
#281: Persistence of Memory

#280: This Is A Test
#279: "DiViNE"
#277 (TIE)): Complicated Creation
#277 (TIE): Gravity is a Bitch
#276: Cheesecake Truck
#275: What I Want
#274: Mrs. Young
#273: Something For Your M.I.N.D.
#272: Wolf Totem
#271: Yurameki

#270: Prison Break
#268 (TIE): Big Beat Mario
#268 (TIE): Mountains
#267: Will You Help Me Repair...
#266: NAW NAW
#265: Robot Stop
#264: Bears - College
#263: Alone in Kyoto
#262: Broken Dreams
#261: Yakusai

#260: a vision
#259: Window of the Waking Mind
#258: Pain Remains III
#257: Just Pretend
#256: Glad It's Raining
#255: Beginnings ~
#254: Die Monster Die
#253: Antares
#252: Theme of Illusionist
#251: Teenage Energy

#250: Usorasera
#249: Faces of the Heart
#248: Otaku Lovely
#247: Nippy Bout
#246: Time to Shine
#245: Ame no Hate
#244: Unexceptional
#243: You're On Your Own
#242: Again and Again
#241: Ochette

#240: Ndeya
#239: City Life
#238: Akrillic
#237: Hunter the Hungry
#236: Sinnerman
#235: Aitakatta
#234: Motva
#233: The Lost Chord
#232: Pool Hopping
#231: Receive You

#230: Grand Sword
#229: Rhythm of the Night
#228: Day One (...and Two and Three since I cheat)
#227: Saavedro's Theme

*ding!*

Which means I really like 226/402 nominations. That's actually a really crazy statistic!

There are three songs on the above list that feel too low... I need to listen to them again tomorrow. Pretty decent odds that I scramble the list again, immediately after posting it, because I'm very difficult.

And as much as I'd like to start numbering eliminations like normal, we'll likely continue the ??? thing for a bit longer... I got carried away moving things up and there's a large pile of songs in an "exactly 70 point" clump that I need to sort out & some weird numbering going on around 71 points which also needs to be sorted out... so... as usual, my refusal to eliminate songs is creating an infinitely expanding backlog. But if you've made it this far, you're probably adjusted to that.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

This could go either way. Ranunculus is still one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, but there was also one song of theirs that repulsed me so much that I never wanted to hear anything from them again (which is what led to Ranunculus being posted to prove me wrong) so... cautious optimism?

I don't remember what that other song was hm. But Dir en Grey is so good at making both beautiful and disgusting things, it's why I think they're great.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

I'm just noticing this is the Promotional Edited version and not the full song. Though since this was only uploaded 4 months ago, perhaps a full version wasn't available at the time?

I think it's just a bit shorter. Older school Japanese bands have this habit where they trim down the song for the music video. Spotify has the full thing.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

Whoops, my head phones are dead and need to charge. So two songs to end the night; one from Murphiroth and one from Mega Mana.

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???: HANABIE. | Otaku Lovely Densetsu (3:13)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awx5vfb_aSY

Nominator: @Murphiroth [5 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 67.999
Final Score: 67.99

(First Reactions: [Before Listening]

Well... I'm willing to give anything a try, but considering how poorly most HANABIE. songs did last time, I can't say that I'm very optimistic about this one.

[After]

Okay, this song did win me over during the intro. Honestly, I think I like just about everything in this song. While the lyrics are ironic, I can certainly work with lines like "Whatever you want, as much as you want; Ditch the life of challenges". The music is good, the video is fun to watch, I like this one. Sadly, it does feel a bit long--three minutes isn't long at all, but the extended pre-chorus & final chorus that close the song don't really add anything, causing the song to end on a low note. Still, I do like this; I' going to try having this song towards the top of the "I like this" tier.)

I also like this one quite a bit. Fun lyrics, good video, nice blend of metal & clean lyrics. Song works quite well, I think. The chorus is also pretty catchy which helps the song a fair amount.

It's a fun and catchy song, yeah. I love the "Wherever you are, I know that you want a high-level Japanese show" part while footage of their live shows is on the screens in the background. They bill themselves as Harujukucore and have really embraced and leaned into the idea that they're gonna go nuts at live shows with a decidedly Japanese cultural bent.

Saw them back in October in a pretty small venue and they're just the most high energy group imaginable.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

moving that devil-angel song up

on a related note, it was the score of it specifically being so low that made me kind of doubt it was remotely worthwhile for me to use my extra nom on Too Late, so it makes me kind of glad i nommed it now considering how much i'd be kicking myself for not doing so after it got scrutinised and bumped up like this lol. (assuming said nom isn't a factor in it being reevaluated to begin with anyway)

BlackDra90n posted...

I don't remember what that other song was hm. But Dir en Grey is so good at making both beautiful and disgusting things, it's why I think they're great.

I think it's just a bit shorter. Older school Japanese bands have this habit where they trim down the song for the music video. Spotify has the full thing.

That sounds like an excuse to go back through the archives and find out which song it was! *checks* Alright, I was a bit off; it was Lynch's music that I swore off of as I had a really bad reaction to a random song I listened to (Joker) for some reason. Though, for Dir en grey, I very strongly disliked "Ningen wo Kaburu" and did declare that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with anything related to the song so... similar sentiments.

Now I want to go listen to Ningen and Joker again and see if I'm better equipped to deal with the songs than I was at the first topic.

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Murphiroth posted...

Saw them back in October in a pretty small venue and they're just the most high energy group imaginable.

Sounds fun!

(Forgive the minimum response, I'm running late as all heck this morning. Again.)

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UF8 posted...

on a related note, it was the score of it specifically being so low that made me kind of doubt it was remotely worthwhile for me to use my extra nom on Too Late, so it makes me kind of glad i nommed it now considering how much i'd be kicking myself for not doing so after it got scrutinised and bumped up like this lol. (assuming said nom isn't a factor in it being reevaluated to begin with anyway)

I wouldn't say any particular song was responsible for Devil getting reevaluated. The chorus is just prone to popping into my head randomly & I enjoy it well enough that it obviously needed more points, so I decided I'd be happier renumbering things instead of leaving it where it was due to laziness. And speaking of which, let's give extra points to five more songs & make a vow to revisit a sixth at a later date:

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Suspended From Class: I... don't know yet. It's definitely getting more points than it has, but the emotional spikes it sometimes triggers are a tad volatile so I'm having a hard time deciding exactly where to place it. There's also one other song which triggers similar flashbacks, so... i'm just going to set this one aside until that song is eliminated & figure it out then. Right now, the best scoring estimate I have is "more than it has right now, but less than the other song I'm vaguely referencing".

(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River: 68.20 ; You probably think I can't jump a song up multiple tiers without saying anything of value, but I assure you I can. ...Okay, More seriously, this is one of the most impactful songs to have been eliminated in the topic & it's kinda embarrassing for it to have been so low. I wouldn't say I'm thrilled with the repetition and this type of subject matter isn't likely to be a favorite, but... considering how powerful and memorable the track is, it's a hell of a lot closer to that "Really Like" tier than I was giving ti credit for.

-continued, as responding to people made this take up too much room-

Two songs that have their full write ups copied when I added to them. Why? Who knows?

...I swear that isn't a pun or reference to the other fan song involving Celestia & Luna.

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???: ponyphonic | Lullaby for a Princess (6:47)
https://youtu.be/H4tyvJJzSDk?si=qbTB4kRnnGaW4iYW
Nominator: redrocket [12 songs remaining]
Characters: Celestia and Luna

Initial Score: 62.7009
Final Score: 62.53 [Upgraded to 65.128]

(First Impressions: [Before Listening]

This is another song that I'm skippping ahead to. It's cheating, but I really want to listen to an MLP fan song right now and it's just not going to be fair to other songs if I'm listening to them while thinking "wow, I really want to be listening to that other nomination right now"--at best, the distraction might make it a bit harder to fairly judge said other songs. At worst, I'd be incentivized to be even lazier with the write ups since the faster I got through everything else, the faster I could get to the song I wanted to hear. So... yeah, I'm skipping ahead to this one right now.

[After]

Yep, I like this one. It does a better job of portraying Celestia than the show itself ever did; having her actually suffer and grieve over banishing her sister makes her an actual character with emotions, which is certainly an improvement. It's not quite my favorite song--but the characterization in the lyrics is great & the music is solid, so it's quite easy to like this song.)

I fear that by nominating so many MLP fansongs, you've accidentally Vogue'd/Stronger Than You'd this pick. Is it impressive and good characterization for Celestia, but... it's pretty obvious to me which of the nominated songs is in last place & when I'm struggling to make cuts, it becomes way too easy to point at "song that's fairly low on the list of songs I'll go back to because I can name many preferable alternatives" and move along.

....That being said, it's not as though this song's score dropped drastically or anything, so I could be overstating the impact being last place of its kind actually had. And I do still like it! Not half as much as I'd like it if Luna were actually here (apparently singing about a moon princess does not give you bonus moon points & you can read whatever you want into that), but taking a character that I don't really care about & making her even remotely compelling takes a fair amount of talent.

[Later: Watching the animation now. Considering that the music video for Numbers helped me appreciate it a bit more, it would be incredibly hypocritical to not offer this song the same chance. (Granted, Numbers' video is more of a visual aid that helps me appreciate what the song is doing than something getting points because of the images themselves, but whatever).

*after watching*

Yeah, that's a really nice animation alright. Love seeing Luna again. Don't think I'm manipulated enough by the video to throw out extra points just for the video, but it makes me miss the earliest seasons of the show & I'm really impressed someone put this much effort into a fan animation for a fan song.

Anyway, I'm realizing I was a bit too harsh to the song; it is still not my favorite fan song you nominated or up there with my favorite songs from the series itself, -but- it's still worth at least 65 points; I feel like moving this up to just below "NAW NAW"... that feels more accurate. One of the lower scoring entries in the Wall, but it should be at least that far up instead of falling before it.]

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???: The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 | Credits (0:29)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0esC2tlrWU
Nominator: Kopazzynth [1 song remaining]

Initial Score: 63.02
Final Score: 62.80 [Upgraded to 65.098]

(First Reaction: Why does this song sound so ominous? It's like Bowser (or King Koopa, considering the show) has had enough games & is rallying a massive army to bomb the **** out of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's certainly a neat effect, it just seems at odds with how incredibly lighthearted the series is.)

Well, now this feels more like Zelda music to me. Not actual game Zelda or anything, but a cartoon version of Zelda that is slightly more mature than the one from the Super Mario Super Show. Either way, this song implies an epic war between kingdoms and it's still so weird that this song is attached to the Mario franchise; especially to the end credits and especially especially to a show that's so riiculously goofy. This is the Mario cartoon that had Milli Vanilli as a guest star for crying out loud!

So, it's a very surprising song and I like it. It's nice to have an instrumental track that inspires some sort of vision and I actually don't think this track is too short; it's long enough to imply tension and a coming war without ever becoming too epic or overstaying its welcome, so I think the brief runtime likely works in its favor. I just find myself growing far more attached to other songs and while this is quite an interesting song that I'm glad I had a chance to think about--I'd never really bothered to think about how strangely dark this theme was, even though I've seen a few episodes--I think I'm more drawn to all the 63+ point songs at the moment.

[Later: I wouldn't say I have anything to really add to this write up, but the score feels a few points too low. Seeing a song that conveys such a high amount of tension in such a short runtime at such a low score makes me sad, so we'll try just below "Planning a Prison Break"...

...actually, let's move Prison Break up a bit while we're here & let this be just below the "Mountains" and "Big Beat Mario" tie.]

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

And then back to songs without the full write ups being posted:

-

Planning a Prison Break: 65.60 points ; not a lot to add on this one, but I feel... better suited to judge its central metaphor than a week ago & it needs a little extra boost.

Something For Your M.I.N.D.: 69.124 ; ....I dunno. Weird song is weird. Memorable enough that it should be higher up the list, probably. How high? I dunno. This number feels right. I don't actually want to jump it up another tier, but it's definitely giving me pause. ...Man, I'd love to use a paws pun there, but it wouldn't make any sense in context. Whatever, just take some points.

-

Okay, I need to go as of fifteen minutes ago, back later.

Knew I was forgetting: The full version of Yurameki is over five minutes long, compared to the under four minutes from the promotional edit version... that being said, I did just listen to the full version on Spotify as suggested and didn't have anything positive or negative to add about it. I know it's a significant addition length wise, but I think winds up with the same score either way.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

That sounds like an excuse to go back through the archives and find out which song it was! *checks* Alright, I was a bit off; it was Lynch's music that I swore off of as I had a really bad reaction to a random song I listened to (Joker) for some reason. Though, for Dir en grey, I very strongly disliked "Ningen wo Kaburu" and did declare that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with anything related to the song so... similar sentiments.

Now I want to go listen to Ningen and Joker again and see if I'm better equipped to deal with the songs than I was at the first topic.

Ah yea, I remember that drama with Lynch haha.

I don't remember if I've ever recommended some of DEG's really heavy stuff. There's so much worse than Ningen wo Kaburu haha. I've been microdosing you on some heavier stuff every year so maybe your appetite has changed a bit since then.

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

Knew I was forgetting: The full version of Yurameki is over five minutes long, compared to the under four minutes from the promotional edit version... that being said, I did just listen to the full version on Spotify as suggested and didn't have anything positive or negative to add about it. I know it's a significant addition length wise, but I think winds up with the same score either way.

Yea it's all pretty much the same but just a bit longer. They do a good job cutting it down for the video though.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

???: Arthur Sullivan - The Lost Chord (4:22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAzwQF_vm2o
Nominator: @CJones [3 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 64.26 [Upgraded to 69.33 during write up]
Final Score: 69.5632

I was really hoping this would make it into the top half of the list, but oh well.
I'm a big fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, which is why I know about this song. I figured you would probably like this more than an actual G&S song.

Fun Fact, this was one of the first songs ever recorded using Edison's Phonograph. Sullivan actually had this to say about it:

"I can only say that I am astonished and somewhat terrified at the result of this evening's experiments: astonished at the wonderful power you have developed, and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music may be put on record forever. But all the same I think it is the most wonderful thing that I have ever experienced, and I congratulate you with all my heart on this wonderful discovery."

I find that hilarious. People seem to think that music used to be so much better than it is now, but really, there's always been bad music. It's just that in the past, the bad music was lost to time. Hell, G&S's first play, Thespis, is lost, and that was a success. Today, everything is recorded somewhere.

There are several renditions of The Lost Chord on Youtube. The one I nominated is my favorite. You might like this one better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS8PRzOprhI

It's a modern recording, and accompanied by piano instead of organ. Personally, I think the song loses something when not played on the organ. I mean, the lyrics specifically mention an organ. Which back then, could only mean pipe organ.

One more thing, I'm impressed by the apparent amount of research you do on these songs. I know I didn't mention that it was originally a poem (though that's not hard to guess. Sullivan wrote music, not lyrics). And yeah, contrary to what I said before, Sullivan wrote it while his brother Fred was still alive, but on his deathbed. It was performed at his funeral.

More than half of my songs are knocked out before the halfway point. Not looking so good for me :P

Incidentally, if you ever did want to try Gilbert & Sullivan, I highly recommend the movie version of Pirates of Penzance. The one with Kevin Kline, Linda Rondstat and Angela Landsbury. I own 3 copies of that movie and have seen it at least 20 times. I am not even exaggerating.

It does cut out some verses, but it's mostly extraneous stuff, or things modern audiences wouldn't get. G&S actually has a lot of pop culture references, but it's pop culture from the late 1800s.

BlackDra90n posted...

Ah yea, I remember that drama with Lynch haha.

I don't remember if I've ever recommended some of DEG's really heavy stuff. There's so much worse than Ningen wo Kaburu haha. I've been microdosing you on some heavier stuff every year so maybe your appetite has changed a bit since then.

Joker: Yeah, I see why I kinda freaked out on this one. References to sexual slavery were... way too much a few years ago. I'm slightly more okay with this song now, but it's likely below the 50 point mark... kinda thinking around 39 points? I don't like it, but I can listen to it without too many complaints if I need to.

-

Ningen: I couldn't handle suicide references that year and the translation I found for the song was... not good. "Slutty full-blown suicide" was probably the absolute worst lyric I came across in the topic.

*remembers Red Sam with its person finding Jesus as a response to being burned half to death*

I'll revise that to probably second worst lyric in the ranking. A newer translation puts it as "Ultimate chaotic suicide" which is so much easier to work with! Probably would not have gone well at that topic as suicide in general was such a touchy subject, but I'm... more lenient to the song these days. Between some general nostalgia for the singer's voice, not being too bothered by references to suicide (especially more metaphorical suicide like this song), and having a less troublesome translation to work with... probably around 52 points for this now? It's not GREAT, but I have vaguely positive feelings towards it.

-

I don't think you've ever nominated a Dir en grey song that went harder than Ningen. Think you've generally played things safer after that one did poorly.

-

CJones posted...

There are several renditions of The Lost Chord on Youtube. The one I nominated is my favorite. You might like this one better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS8PRzOprhI

It's a modern recording, and accompanied by piano instead of organ. Personally, I think the song loses something when not played on the organ. I mean, the lyrics specifically mention an organ. Which back then, could only mean pipe organ.

One more thing, I'm impressed by the apparent amount of research you do on these songs. I know I didn't mention that it was originally a poem (though that's not hard to guess. Sullivan wrote music, not lyrics). And yeah, contrary to what I said before, Sullivan wrote it while his brother Fred was still alive, but on his deathbed. It was performed at his funeral.

Nah, this version of the song feels... less powerful. Like you said, it needs the organ; I may not be a big fan of the organ, but the song doesn't really work without it. He has a decent voice though, it's kinda operatic... with the right type of opera song and the right sound mixing, I think he could be great.

And thank you! Though I didn't do much more than read the Wikipedia page for this song; I try to get context for songs when possible. Future ranking spoiler: Let's just say that the Les Miserables song fares a lot better after I watch the film to get some context for who these characters are. Devoid of context, you basically just have a dozen characters jump up and shout a line or two before vanishing, which is utterly baffling and rather unsatisfying.

I'll say the most work I did was trying to auto-translate the lyrics for that "Tears of marionette" song... trying to take photos of each line of Japanese subtitles was challenging, especially when I couldn't hold my phone steady enough to get Google Lens to work correctly half the time.

CJones posted...

Incidentally, if you ever did want to try Gilbert & Sullivan, I highly recommend the movie version of Pirates of Penzance. The one with Kevin Kline, Linda Rondstat and Angela Landsbury. I own 3 copies of that movie and have seen it at least 20 times. I am not even exaggerating.

I'll try to give it a shot sometime and get back to you.

-

No eliminations today. I listened to one song back at seven and the surge of emotions fried me so spectacularly that I'm still recovering almost two hours later. Suffice it to say that song has been moved up to 100 points and absolutely nothing else got done with the two hours I had set aside to work on this. So... "I regret that more progress wasn't made", but I don't exactly apologize because emotional spikes aren't exactly my fault & I don't feel bad about feeling things.

Second fifty songs
- Average Score: 3.5 / 49
- Median Score: 3.5
- Mode Score: 3.5, 7 total
- Not First Listen: 1/50
- NFL Bias Average: 5 / 1
- First Impression Avg: 3.47 / 48

Ungraded Sound Experience:
- QSound Labs, "Starkey Cetera Virtual Barber Shop" - Wasn't a song, but was very interesting. I hated the scissors and buzzer near my ears. Also had a disconnect with it until I realized I've been putting my ear buds in wrong! Thank you for telling me you were on my right side while I was thinking you were left!

Top 5 of this set Never Heard -
Scardust feat. Patty Gurdy, "Concrete Cages" - 8 (A)
Beyonc, "Freedom (ft. Kendrick Lamar)" - 7.5 (A-)
Calva Louise, "Oportunista" - 7.5 (A-)
Genshin Impact, "Bard's Adventure" - 7 (B+)
Poe, "Haunted" - 6.5 (B)

Notes:

#136. For Fluttershy - You do not like the tiny hat, but what about a nice cravat?

#144. I don't think I can even name 10 Madonna songs to make a top ten...
#144a. "Vogue," "Like a Virgin," "Music," "Ray of Light," "Material Girl," "Like a Prayer"..... the harder I try and think, the more my brain thinks of Pure Moods CD Set Commercial

#147. Decent little bop. More importantly, decent little boop! ' "You're smiling~" "I AM AND I HATE IT" '

#149. re:[da.data...aa]8 - I feel like SethDrums where a song starts out bad, and I'm just looking around despairing at the complete loss of time and sanity.
#149a. A later second listen, I feel like my brain is not properly rebooting. Like there was an update to a completely wrong OS system and it's just not... bleh.

#165. Re Part II: The lyrics ARE great!! ...If only I could understand a luck of them. I could barely even find keep my place when reading along. Also, there you are 'two cradles!' I'd been looking for you since post #106!

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

I don't think you've ever nominated a Dir en grey song that went harder than Ningen. Think you've generally played things safer after that one did poorly.

Hmm so many to choose from. Maybe this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVhAVHcu-r0

Live versions of DEG songs always hit harder.

Too late to edit, but I noticed that if i were to stop right at 100 songs...

Welcome to the Black Parade would be in the top half of my list lol

Mega_Mana posted...

#136. For Fluttershy - You do not like the tiny hat, but what about a nice cravat?

Going to be honest, none of us have ever really thought about neck accessories before and we're having trouble properly parsing the question. First reaction is "depends on how nicely it pairs with a better, larger hat"?

-

BlackDra90n posted...

Hmm so many to choose from. Maybe this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVhAVHcu-r0

Live versions of DEG songs always hit harder.

Song should be added to za'list now. (No, there is no pattern to what gets added and what gets listened to immediately.)

-

Back to eliminations. Current plan is to work through which songs are getting less than 73 points and eliminating them, in no particular order. It wasn't initially intentional, but my scores seem to be treating "70 to 72.99" & "73 to 74.99" as mini-tiers, as there's a bit of a gap upon hitting 73 & another one at 75 points... which works for me.

So, here are the first five songs that aren't being moved to the next mini tier:

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#C#

???: BTS - IDOL (3:42)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgJeQvGYYpk
Nominator: @paulg235 [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 43.799
Final Score: 34.44 [Upgraded to 70.00] [Upgraded to 70.01]

(First Reaction: There are some good lines here about lovin' yourself and not caring what other people think, but also a lot of mindless vocalizations that I find a bit annoying and the music itself feels... a bit barren, somehow. It's like the lyrics want to be very upbeat with the constant OOH OOOH OOHS and drum imitations, but the music itself feels decidedly low impact and more subdued than the performers. I like getting to hear more k-pop, but this a bit of a miss.)

Not for me. I've complained about vocalizations a lot (there are a lot that I like to be fair, but when I don't like them, they really kill a song) and percussion, so "vocalizations meant to emulate pecusive instruments" are a hard sell at best; and while the lyrics are nice, I find the song to be a bit dull which limits my ability to connect with the lyrics.
It's not a bad song and it has a good message, but it's really not my type of song.

[Later: *redacted*]

[Later-er: [Luce] Okay, so the short version is that I was fighting with Rae at the time this was upgraded. She was trying to suppress everyone & these lyrics about loving yourself were something I needed at the time. The song was inspirational, but my initial explanation for why it was inspirational was a bit... *sighs* well more than a bit, it was incredibly antagonistic as our relationship was deteriorating to the level of blood enemies at the time. And now that we're finally getting along, absolutely nothing good can come from posting the original write up.

Anyway... yeah, I really like this song now. It's hardly the only song about loving yourself regardless of what other people say, but it's the one that was here when I needed it to be. So, thank you, this song did turn out to be very important in the end.]

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-continued-

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???: Meat Loaf | Bat Out of Hell (9:50)
https://youtu.be/x7ES7ueI7p0?si=4nArOdICCPvhKTL2
Nominator: @NBIceman [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 74.23
Final Score: 70.00

(First Reaction: An all time classic rock...classic that I really like, though it certainly feels like something I should love. First, let's kill some time by copying my thoughts from when we covered the album at Rank the Tracks almost three years ago:

You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad
All Revved Up with No Place to Go
Bat Out of Hell
Paradise By the Dashboard Light
For Crying Out Loud
Heaven Can Wait

This is only the fourth album I had listened to at all before this topic--and, along with Rumours, one of the only two I knew by heart. This is one of a very few albums we had when I was growing up and is likely tremendously responsible for my tastes in music.

While I tend to support albums I'm less familiar with, I backed this one because I figured it'd be nice to have a week that's basically "free" since I already like and know how I feel about everything here. Of course, I wasn't really prepared for all the memories associated with the album and now my free week is filled with flashbacks and personal reflections on how it has impacted my life. I suppose the joke's on me then, but it's still a good album.

...Well, that's an interesting ranking. The bottom two make sense, but I'm a bit surpised by where everything else wound up.

Two Out of Three: The emotional ballad of the album and typically my favorite. I'm also choosing to drop everything & listen to this song immediately, which means it *really* should have been in first place... but I guess I just wasn't quite as into it that week? Either way, this song is absolute peak sad relationship: "I'm tired of words and too hoarse to shout, but you've been cold to me so long I'm crying icicles instead of tears"? Oh, I love this song.

All Revved Up with No Place to Go: The rare case of repetition being done right as the song literally revs up without going anywhere. A fun song that consistently makes me smile--I was apparently in a "fun" mood that week, judging by how high up on the list it was.

You Took The Words: ...How did this one get to the absolute top of the list? I like it, but... *clicks* ah, spoken word intro with wolf metaphors. Must have been one of those weeks... well I'm not in a wolf mood right now, but at least I know why one aspect of myself would put it at the top of her list. Fun song, but I'd personally only have it around the 60 point area (though i do get why I'd have it at a 100 during certain emotional headspaces).

-

Paradise By the Dashboard Light: This is the song from the album that can absolutely destroy me emotionally. There's a lot of memories associated here. I feel my mother either played this song and "Two Out of Three" much more often than the other tracks on the album or they were the only two I cared about when I was younger as they're honestly the only two permanently burned onto my brain. Also, the Pizza Hut in our town had a jukebox with this song on it. I remember we played it way too many times--kinda crazy that you used to be able to pay money to force people to listen to whatever you wanted [I know jukeboxes still exist, but they're rare. Also on an unrelated note, I did fuck with a bar full of soldiers by paying far more money than I should have to play the Grease soundtrack; they were not amused, but I certainly was. But THAT is an unrelated story. Also, I just told the entire story, there's really nothing left to it other than some confused army man remarking a "what the hell is this?" in response to "We Go Together".]

...Right, this song. The point is, there are a lot of memories here. I complain about my childhood a lot, but I think I was happy at Pizza Hut? They had really good food back in the day, good music, I *think* my mother was happy there... it's an unusually joyful memory. And this song has some spoken word fake samples (I'm reasonably certain the baseball segment was written and performed for the song and only sounds like an actual broadcast being sampled) which makes me think this song is why I'm drawn to those sort of things. My fondness for sax solos can be traced back to Disney cartoons and my fondness for spoken word sections can be traced to a childhood happy place. I'm... still not thrilled about this revelation.

Either way, this song... it should be at the top of the list, but I have to be in the right mentality to enjoy getting lost in flashbacks. When I'm not, it's a bit too overwhelming to listen to. Also, can I comment on the coincidence of the crippling nostalgia song having the line "Well it was long ago and it was far away and it was so much better than it is today"? That's so blatantly on the nose that I feel a lot of resentment towards the universe in general right now.

-

For Crying Out Loud: A fine song, just completely overshadowed by most of the album.

Heaven Can Wait: I do not recall this song, at all. Considering how many times I've listened to this entire album that is a very damning critique. Does this song actually exist? I almost feel like this is some cosmic prank with a nonexistent song being added to the list just to mess with me.

-

Bat Out of Hell: And so we get back on topic for a moment. This song is fairly consistently towards the middle of the rankings; it's never going to fall below For Crying Out Loud or Heaven Can Wait, but it's also never beating "Two Out of Three" and has some stiff competition; the crippling nostalgia song, the wolf song, and the fun song are all things I'd take over it on a regular basis. Right now, I'd probably place this in third (Two > Paradise >> Bat > Wolf > Revved Up) which, while better than I gave it originally, is still more towards the middle than the top.

It is a good song and I do really like it. Trying to escape from a shithole city and dying tragically is certainly the type of thing I like; I mean, we've got complaints about homes & tragedy! But it never transitions into something that I actually love. It certainly tries hard:

Nothing ever grows in this rotting old hole
Everything is stunted and lost
And nothing really rocks and nothing really rolls
And nothing's ever worth the cost
And I know that I'm damned if I never get out
And maybe I'm damned if I do

is definitely a very resonant passage. But I don't know, it just never manages to click into place.)

-continued because this write up is too long to fit into one post even by itself-

it's never going to fall below For Crying Out Loud or Heaven Can Wait,

... I mean, I prefer For Crying Out Loud & an amnesia inducing mystery song would be a welcome addition to the topic, so.... not really sure I'd stand by that sentence anymore, question mark?

...Am I in a mood to say punctuation out loud? ...No, just that one particular question mark. Okay then.

Anyway, I'm just not feeling this song tonight... it's so long and I already know it by heart, making this ten minutes spent on a formality, And I think I'd really prefer every remaining song... all the new ones & all the other very familiar songs that feel like they're not quite as overwhelmingly familiar as this one.

-

But first, I have to listen to Heaven Can't Wait. Woo, mystery song!

Heaven Can Wait: An incredibly dull ballad that still fails to leave any impression. I suppose I like the line "All I got is time until the end of time". Kinda. This is... so, so dull. Score is probably somewhere in the 40s. At least "Bat Out of Hell" is many, many tiers better than this filler song.

[Later: Yep, I think I'm fine with having this as the lowest ranked song in the "Really Like" category. I like what it's doing and there are times where I'll be pretty into it, but right now is... not one of those times.]

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???: Dengue Fever - Wake Me Up Slowly (3:24)
https://youtu.be/8pdbi-EKLds?si=LLiyygjpsWC8O2s_
Nominator: @mcflubbin [6 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 72.00
Final Score: 70.00 [Upgraded to 70.36]

(First Reaction: Cambodian surf rock? Definitely one of the more unique nominations. I really like this song; I can't find anything about what's being sung in the verses, but honestly, I don't know that it would matter since I enjoy it so much already.)

This is still a very unique treat that I'm glad to hear, though I'm not quite as into it the second time around. The chorus has some nice lyrics about being fragile and dreaming, but it repeats one time too often; or perhaps, since the chorus is the only part I can understand, it just feels like it repeats frequently. Shame I can't find the lyrics for the verses... she's a good enough singer that I don't really need lyrics, but given the theme of the chorus, I suspect the lyrics are probably compelling enough to be worth reading.

Ah well, either way, this is a quite an enjoyable and unexpected song, so I really like it.

[Later: Giving this one a minor boost for organizational purposes. I really like this song; can't find anything else that I want to add, but I do really like it.]

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-

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???: Sleep Token | The Summoning (6:35)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJNbtYdr-Hg
Nominator: @BlackDra90n [5 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 68.71
Final Score: 70.00 [Upgraded to 72.10]

(First Reaction: ...The ad that played before this was an entire song with music video. I was very confused when the lyrics I found for this song did not match what I was hearing at all. (I wish I could remember the name, it was a metal-ish song that sounded like the type of thing you'd nominate, which is why I didn't notice sooner).

Back on topic, this is an interesting track. It blends some different genres together in an intriguing way. There's a bit of metal, but not that much; we've got a trippy, synthwave interlude ; some rather symphonic sounding pop music ; a really funky outro... this track is all over the place, but in a good way. I like it quite a bit; I'm not drawn to any of the lyrics or the story here, but the music itself is quality.)

You know what? Go ahead and take those few extra points to the next tier. This is intriguing enough that I'll say I really like it.

[Later: I honestly really, really like the first part of the song & the instrumental part has some nice atmospheric moments (around 3:38-ish, it goes for this trippy neon synth atmosphere, creating the feeling of falling through synthwave album covers)... but the funk styled section that makes up the last minute and half is really not something I want to hear right now. I was going to move this one up to at least the next mini-tier, but spending so much time on a section that I don't really want to listen to is... making me feel better about stopping this around 72 points. I definitely really like it & it makes a very solid case as to why it should be moved up, but it loses me before the end.]

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-one more post to go... phew, that Bat Out of Hell write up was long. And so little was about the actual song itself.-

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???: Lordi | Hard Rock Hallelujah (3:07)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Xl9tBWt54

[Link has been made unavailable in North America, so I switched to the below link:]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAh9NRGNhUU

Nominator: @GavsEvans123 [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 39.4001
Final Score: 29.46 [Upgraded to 55.17] [Moved Aside] [Score set to 60.034] [Set to "at least 65.00" and moved aside] [Upgraded to 72.28]

(First Reactions: ...I don't know. I'd say the song is too hard rock, but there are plenty of harder songs getting good scores, so it's not the genre. And I could blame the repeated references to angels and God's creation, but I'm not really bothered by those things these days. I could accuse the song of being too cheesy, but that's never been something to bother me--hell, I kinda love "God Gave Rock and Roll To You" (preferably the KISS version, but Argent's mellow vibe has its own charm) and it doesn't get cheesier than that.

But this song... ehh... I just bounce off of it completely. I usually love cheesy and ridiculous lines, but "the day of rockening" is a bridge too far even for me. I also think it's just the wrong type of hard rock/metal for me? Like tame rock songs can do well and certain types of metalcore or symphonic metal can be great, but there's this type of "just metal" music--which is too hard to be my type of rock and too tame to be my type of metal--that just falls completely flat and I'm afraid that's where this band sits. It's not bad, just... kinda needs to be either lighter or heavier, instead of the unsatisfying middle ground that it currently treads.)

Sorry, this is just a style of hard rock that I find incredibly boring. It doesn't put me to sleep and I guess there's some symphonic elements in the chorus that are adequate, but this song is a miss both musically & lyrically, so I think I'll be dropping it down a tier.

[Later: Ooh, I think I like this link better. It's possible I'm just more in the mood for this song than ever before, but I actually kinda like this one tonight. His deep voice is honestly appealing and, while I still don't care for the lyrics, I'm more willing to join him on this ludicrous journey than I was the first two times. Being unable to access the original video any longer may be the best thing that ever happened to this song. I'm going to bounce this all the way up to the "Kinda Like" tiers for a while and see how I'm feeling when we get up that far.]

[Still Later: This is so stupid, but in an oddly charming way where I'm starting to actually like this. I can't see it making it past the earliest parts of the 60 point tier, but I think I do enjoy this enough to move it up.]

[Hard Rock Later: Enjoyably stupid and it has at least one lyric about the moon. I'm going to move this one up to the next tier, I don't care.]

[The Day of Later: So much more fun than I remember it being from the original link, but I think I feel fine cutting this one now... there are still dumber, funnier novelty songs that are above this song & while I really like this song... 72 points feels accurate.

This song started in #379th Place, so it's another one that's had quite a large increase from where it started. And yet, there are still six songs with lower Initial Scores than this one in play.]

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

So that means my top 5 is.. Find the Flame, Neon Grave, Neon Tide, Riptide, and Shade Astray? That's certainly not a top 5 I would've expected.

Also, I didn't realize how much neon and tide are in the songs I nominated.

Only one song tonight as severe emotional spikes wound up with this one song taking the entire day to get through. And while most of my crazier write ups have gotten redacted for very good reasons, I'm just going to post this one before I have time to come to my senses:

-

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

#B# #C#

My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip | The End of the Rainbow (3:10)
https://youtu.be/MTjqdHy3TvI?feature=shared
Nominator: @redrocket [9 songs remaining]
Character: Sunny Skies

Initial Score: 78.36
Final Score: 71.093

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

[Fluttershy] I stopped watching My Little Pony before this was released, so I have no idea what this song is. But I'm looking forward to it! New pony content might be just what I need! ...That or I've binged so hard on pony content in the past that I'm just burned out and this username was a trap that you fell into, dooming yourself. I hope it's not that, but either way, this should be an exciting write up!

[After]

Fluttershy: So... what do we think?

Raetsel: Song praises the light and its triumphs over darkness, pah. DARKNESS FOREVER. Negative seventeen points.

Fluttershy: Our scoring system doesn't *do* negative points.

Raetsel: I'm a God. How can you kill a God? Shame on you, sweet pony.

[EDITOR'S NOTE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-K2rUP86M

]

Fluttershy: ...Why are you quoting Dagothwave? That doesn't even work in this context!

Raetsel: No context or sense of logic can work in this place.

Fluttershy: ...

Raetsel: You will kneel before me and you will confess that I'm God!

[EDITOR'S NOTE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5lWuF9namU

]

Fluttershy: ...Are you just going to sit here quoting random songs all night?

Raetsel: Probably. ...Also, who is the editor? Is it that owl? Tell him I hate him!

Fluttershy: ...What do you have against Ray?

Raetsel: It's a joke. Whenever you look at me that way, it's a joke.

Fluttershy: ...I'll give you a minute to reconsider your decision to base your internal monologue on Krusty the Clown.

Raetsel: Thank you.

Fluttershy: I'm going to regrest asking, but again: What do we think? And try to actually focus on the song this time.

Raetsel: Honestly, it's been too long. Can we really give a score after listening to two completely unrelated songs?

Fluttershy: Could you *please* try? This is important.

Raetsel: Just give it whatever score you want.

Fluttershy: I don't know! And you'd just get mad and overwrite my score anyway...

Raetsel: Still mad about me not doing that five way tie for first place at the last topic, huh?

Fluttershy: Could we not get into this right now?

Raetsel: *conjures a bright green fireball in her paw, but eventually decides to dismiss it without trying to start a fight or set anyone on fire.* Fine, fine.

Fluttershy: One last time--

Raetsel: Ooh, ooh! You should say "Thrice I ask and done". Get some Dresden Files references going here!

Fluttershy: We haven't read those books in over a decade, we're not sure that's the exact quote, and it's NOT RELEVANT TO THE CURRENT CONVERSATION!

Raetsel: Ooh, caps lock *and* exclamation points! Now things are getting interesting. I always knew you had the same burning rage as the rest of us.

Fluttershy: Nevermind. I don't know why I tried to talk to you anyway. *turns and walks away*

Raetsel: Fine, fine, we'll talk aout the song. It's getting a good score, obviously. It kinda does everything. We've got sappy notes of friendship for those aspects that want the happy friendship song and it all ends traagically for the me that loves the idea of the story ending there. "I tried to fix things and destroyed the city, we now live in a gray void for all eternity. THE END." Happiness & misery, together at last! That being said, it's not clear that we *love* it; so we give it something in the high "really like" tier. The song appeals to all of us, but by dividing its focus like this, none of us truly love it. It's an interesting and fun experiment that should be rewarded, but it's probably not going to win, even as a compromise pick.

*awkward silence*

Raetsel: Fine, I don't need you! I'll make my own ranking! With blackjack and hookers! In fact, forget the hookers and the ranking. This topic sucks and is now an illegal gambling den. *shuffles cards*

Fluttershy: We both know you've never managed to shuffle a deck without bending the cards.

Raetsel: ...Let's just move on to the next song.

Fluttershy: That's probably for the best.)

-

*extremely long silence*

[Raetsel] So... we redacting this one too?

[Luce] You didn't actually set anything on fire & you did try to talk about the song. Eventually. For you, this is as good as it gets.

[Raetsel] *sigh*

[Luce] I mean, for who you were You've been doing really good these past few weeks and we're all very proud of you. *unsure of what action would be appropriate in this situation--headpats? hugs? Some... other... thing?--she just kinda fidgets*

[Fluttershy] *whispers* this is why i said we should watch Bluey and learn more about healthy family dynamics.

[Luce] *whispering* Somehow I don't think there's an episode where the family deals with the reprecussions of Bingo setting everyone on fire.

[Fluttershy] No, but there's probably something in there about comforting family after they did something really wrong. At the very least, it couldn't make things worse...

[Luce] I know, just... we'll talk about this later, alright?

[Fluttershy] You've been saying that all week...

[Raetsel] *not really wanting to draw attention back to her past actions, but also not liking people talking vaguely about her while she's right here, she just kinda... mopes for a bit?*

[Fluttershy] I'm sorry, it was rude of me to interrupt like that. And I'm sorry if it sounded like we were ignoring you, *places a reassuring hoof on Rae's shoulder*, we're all trying to learn how this family thing is supposed to work. I promise, we'll try to do better.

*an emotional spike renders Raetsel non-verbal for a few minutes and everyone waits patiently for her to get her focus back*

*...unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be happening and any attempt she makes at responding just results in her scratching at her neck*

[Fluttershy] *...uhh...rabbits have claws, right? How scared should we be at this point??*

[Raetsel] *Anthropomoric; no claws. ...Actually, I don't think I've ever really used claws, even with the whole shapeshifting thing? That's more of a Luce thing.*

[Fluttershy] *Okay... and we can just think at each other for a while, if this is easier?*

[Raetsel] *I'm sorry, it's just... even trying to imagine talking is....*

[Fluttershy] *It's okay, it's okay. You don't have to force anything. [*as she tries to figure out how to offer hugs inside a thought bubble, she gets a massive headache as the fantasy life goes too many layers deep.*]* ....Ow.

-

*continued.*

#B#... kinda figure I don't want any write ups this... *gestures in general* to be archived.

*we now resume your regularly scheduled write up, already in progress*

-

*six hours later*

[Raetsel] Sorry about that. Both the wasting so much of our time when we have so much to do & for giving you a headache.

[Fluttershy] It's okay, really, don't apologize for having feelings. And I basically did that one to myself... though I suggest using parenthesis or something for thinking instead of action brackets. It's probably easier to think that way? Or at least easier to read. *she briefly starts thinking about the logistics involved in breaking the fourth wall like this, but shakes off the thoughts before developing another headache*

[Luce] Right.... anyway, I think the point we were trying to get to is that we can redact everything if it's easier on you? If you don't want any trace of who you were, it's easy enough to cut everything and start over. I've even done it to my own write ups when things were questionable, so it's cool.

[Raetsel] *shakes head* None of this is going to make sense if we keep deleting everything I've ever said and done. If the audience doesn't see me do anything, it kinda looks like you're spending a bunch of write ups going after me for no reason.

[Luce] Sense is overrated. Also, I've told you I don't care what they think--

[Fluttershy] --And as I've told you, you should--

[Luce] *rolls eyes and continues* --besides which, I'm fine being playing the role of villain if it makes things easier on you. If you want something erased, I'll erase it, and I don't care how it winds up looking. Everyone else can fuck off.

[Fluttershy] Luce... (We're trying to teach her to *not* swear every other sentence and that language is not helping.)

[Luce] Oh come on, I am not a role model.

[Fluttershy] Even so, we promised we were going to start doing better with our vocabulary choices.

[Luce] ..No, we didn't?

[Raetsel] Yeah, I'm pretty sure that never happened.

[Fluttershy] Well it should have!

[Luce] ...Right. Semantics aside, I get your point. Kinda. I'll... try to dial my language back a bit. Occasionally.

[Fluttershy] *glare*

[Luce] Look, trying is the best I can offer you. Take it or leave it.

[Fluttershy] ...You're right. Thank you. And I'm sorry.

[Luce] Don't worry about it. Let's just stop before we get into another infinite apology loop. ...So, what are we doing with this mess of a write up?

[Raetsel] Just leave it. It's fine. ...Well, not fine. Between all the implicit threats with fire, yelling at Ray who (probably) isn't here, the constant antagonism and trying to start fights, it... was... very much not fine. But I'm tired of erasing myself from existence.

[Luce] Are you sure about this?

[Raetsel] Don't look at me like that. I'd rather be hated than erased. YOU understand this.

[Fluttershy] *nervous laughter* Okay, maybe you could just dial the anger back a smidge? Please?

[Raetsel] I wasn't going to do anything! I was... just... thinking. Loudly. *heavy sigh* Look, it's fine. We're not fighting. Everything's cool. I just... please... stop erasing me.

[*an emotional spike too intense to allow for typing occurs, prompting another long delay and lots of hugs*]

[Luce] *continues hugging* It's okay. No one's going to hate you. You didn't actually hurt anyone. You just... got way too into roleplaying an evil trickster god for a while. And you've already been forgiven and you're doing so, so good lately.

*more emotional spikes*

[Fluttershy] Okay. This conversation is getting a bit dangerous, so let's just focus on getting our physical form's breathing stabilized and then talk about the actual song? Okay?

*....apparently that was the wrong answer as Raetsel's emotions start spiking again.*

[Fluttershy] *hugs tighter* No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's not what I meant! No one's trying to stop you from talking or feeling anything, I just thought a lighter topic of conversation might help you get things under control. I promise, we'll talk about whatever you want for as long as you need. We're not going anywhere.

[Luce] (Technically, we're trapped in the same physical body so it's pretty hard for us to go anywhere...)

[Fluttershy] (LUCE!)

[Raetsel] *giggles* She has a point, you know.

[Luce] *ruffles the fur on top of Rae's head* See? A joke to lighten the mood helped. I knew what I was doing.

[Fluttershy] *starts to question if she actually did or just got lucky, but is too relieved to start an unnecessary argument right now* Alright... so... we were talking about a song? *checks the time* ...Seven or eight hours ago now?

[Raetsel] Right, right. Well... the thing is, the song tells a good enough story, but it's not exactly great from a musical standpoint? The first time around, we were all kinda spellbound by having a story read to us... but... now that we know the story, the song isn't really offering a lot on its own merits. And even from a lyrical standpoint, there aren't any really clever or evocative lyrics.... it's all very direct. Very much just having a story read to you with some light musical elements. Which is nice! But... perhaps a bit below most of the remaining songs which offer better music, better stories, or both.

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

Four new eliminations and a re-elimination, in order to get things somewhat back on track with five eliminations for the day:

-

Surasthan Fantasia: 72.00. Not going to repost the full write up, as I don't have a lot to add here... it's still a fun instrumentala adventure that brings back pleasant gaming memories, so I feel I've come to really like it.

-

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

#C#

Tokoyami Towa | AKUMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_OQXNF8b8
Nominator: handsomeboy2012 [10 songs remaining]
Character: Tokoyami Towa

Initial Score: 43.67
Final Score: 43.67 [Upgraded to 55.09] [Moved Aside] [Upgraded to *this space was accidentally left blank, so your guess is about as good as mine?*] [Score set to 71.26]

(First Reaction: I'm not really feeling this song. Some of the lyrics, particularly during the bridge, are appealing:

Immortality, the loneliness coming with it
Leaving behind wounds that never heal

And a lot of references to darkness and the devil, but... I just don't actually like the song itself and none of the lyrics are strong enough to carry the song very far up the ranks by themselves. It's a good try--there are never enough songs about darkness--but this one missed the mark.)

As brief as that First Reaction was, I think it covered everything that needed to be covered. It's a good attempt and there's a pair of good lines during the bridge, but I'm just not into it which causes the entire thing to fall into the "this is fine" realm of songs that are fine.

[Later: [Luce] She's still a long way from being my favorite vocalist, but I'm feeling fairly positive about this track tonight.

Covered in an elegant violet from head to toe

My original name sake was a purple wolf, so there is something charmingly nostalgic about the color even if I don't insist on being purple these days. Darkness, pain, elegant shades of purple... I actually think I'd say that I kinda like this song tonight.]

[Still Later: Ah, I've had part of this song stuck in my head for days but couldn't remember which song it was actually from. It's pretty easy to move this one up a tier as I've beeen oddly looking forward to hearing it again for a few days now. ...Actually, make it two tiers; part of that is just the color violet being nostalgic, but I can give points for whatever reason I want.]

[Once More: For all the complaints about her vocals, she's actually done pretty well for herself. No songs below the 60 point tier & still three other songs in play even after we've reached the "really like" tier. Anyway, this is a fun song with lots of lyrics that we'd be drawn to... lots of darkness, and devils, and a pleasing choice of color. Also far catchier than it seemed after one listen.]

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

-

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

???: Every Little Thing | Monochrome (3:57)
https://open.spotify.com/track/5mflf5anC9R3iCvnCZgdV5
Nominator: @DanKirby [11 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 73.07
Final Score: 70.00 [Upgraded to 71.98]

(First Reactions: Really good song. We've got a good, easy rock sound that's immediately appealing & some very nice lyrics about pining for a lost love, filled with regrets:

The days and months always slip by unnoticed
And become a memory

Hold me passionately, hold me tight
In your arms once more, like we did back then

It covers a lot of familiar ground, but it's ground that I always love covering. Good music and good lyrics, this is a pretty easy addition to the really like tier because I obviously really like everything this song is doing!)

A nice J-Pop song. It's got a very 90's anime vibe to it, like something that would fit naturally as the end credits theme for just about any series. I do really like it, but there's a bit of a scoring snafu going on with how many songs are at exactly 70 points--including multiple that I'm positive I like more than this--so I need to set this to the 70 point marker until I get the list properly sorted out. Presuming it can ever be sorted out.

[Later: Okay, high 71 points feels good for this song. Very sweet lyrics and an enjoyable anime-eqsue pop sound create something that I really like, but I'm not so enamored with any aspect that I want to take it up another level.]

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

-

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

???: DINY - Steel City (2:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UoB4nNKRT4

Nominator: NFUN [6 songs remaining]

Initial Score:53.964
Final Score: 53.75 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 63.30] [Set to "at least 65.00" and moved aside] [Upgraded to 71.999]

(First Reaction: A fairly nice, instrumental theme that doesn't inspire any particular thoughts. It's just nice for two minutes and then ends.)

There are a lot of songs that get a generic "I have no reaction to this" wriite up, but this one almost certainly inspires the least reaction of all. It's nice and inoffensive enough to say that I'm vaguely positive towards the track?

[Later: I do not know what it is about this song, but I do not wish to eliminate it... though I still find nothing to say about it, I must admit that I've grown to kinda like it and will somewhat miss it when it finally goes. Not sure how many points that's worth, but at least somewhere in the 55 point area. Possibly more if this infinite "get the song ready for elimination, but listen again and delay execution twice every day" loop continues much longer.]

[Still Later: A song on a very uphill trajectory. I kept thinking I'd eliminate it, but it's held on for so long that I like it now.]

[Later-er: Another "moved aside without comment" song. I'm still not entirely sure why I'm not eliminating it... I just know that I'm once again refusing and moving this up another tier level.]

[Once More: ....I really don't know. It's apparently pretty? It just... keeps moving up the list, but it seems to have stabilized at 71.999 points. I moved it there without comment & listening to it again before I eliminate it, this feels like a good score for it. I'm not entirely sure why. It just... is.)

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

-continued; not quite enough room to get all five in one post.-

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

???: Fair to Midland | The Wife, The Kids, and The White Picket Fence (3:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-2CXBau6Ho

Nominator: @Murphiroth [4 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 67.93 [Upgraded to 72.46]
Final Score: 70.052 [Upgraded to 72.46]

(First Reactions: [Before Listening]

I'm fairly looking forward to this one. While the band has never come close to winning, I feel like I've quite enjoyed everything I've heard from them. Song will likely be somewhere in the 60 to 70 point range, so that should be nice.

[After]

Yep, that's a Fair to Midland song alright. I always like the band's work, but almost never fall in love with it--I suppose I do kinda love "A Wolf Descends Upon The Spanish Sahara", but it's hard to tell how much of that is due to nostalgia from it appearing at my first ranking topic. Though... actually give me a second to listen to this a second time.

*later*

Yeah, I'm thinking this probably works better in the 70 point tier. I do really like his singing voice (though, as always, how much of that is driven by nostalgia is impossible to tell) and the lyrics are... welll, I say intriguing far too often, but I'll just say it again. They seem less confusing than other Fair to Midland songs and are probably about a dysfunctional relationship? Probably. Whatever, I really like this, so let's put it up in the early 70s to start with.)

Yes, this is a band that I really like doing those things I really like them for.

[Later: Wow, I actually decided on 72.46 before looking at what score this originally had. The symmetry is completely unintentional, which makes it all the more baffling. Such an oddly specific thing.... how does this song start with a lower score and then get moved up to such a precise number twice in a row?

...Also I'm not sure if you wanted to be @ 'd for every song or only certain ones, as you only sometimes added the @ symbol on your name... I'm just going to presume I should add it to the rest of your nominations, as I've done here, but I apologize profoundly if leaving the @ symbol off was a deliberate decision. Either way, I really like this song. Hard to find anything to say about it because "band I really like doing what I really like them to do" summarizes things quite succiently.]

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

-

Still making progress on getting every song at least a preliminary "FInal Score"; only 48 songs left until everything has a placeholder value.

Nah I just forgot to follow the format and put the @ on some of my noms, feel free to use it when they drop.

The symmetry feels oddly fitting for Fair to Midland!

Third fifty songs
- Average Score: 5.23 / 49
- Median Score: 5.5
- Mode Score: 5.5, 6 total
- Not First Listen: 9/50
- NFL Bias Average: 6.39 / 9
- First Impression Avg: 4.98 / 40

Ungraded Search & Seizure:
Afroman, "Will You Help Me Repair My Door" - Ungradeable emotional roiling toiling turbulence and quiet contemplation

Top 5 of this set Never Heard -
Coheed & Cambria, "Window of the Waking Mind" - 8.5 (A+)
zts, "A Vision" - 8 (A)
Empire-Ensemble, "Counter Raid Another D" - 7.5 (A-)
Bad Omens, "Just Pretend" - 7.5 (A-)
Dreamcatcher, "PIRI" - 7.5 (A-)

Cheesecake Truck & Gee, I'm Glad It's Raining are B+

Notes:
#177, Re: Central Tower, "Axis Pillar" - Any song that makes me think of Earthbound, Aidyn Chronicles, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, AND Danganronpa all in one (non-medley) song somehow is pretty cool by me.

#180, to Fluttershy: Ah, big hats! Would you therefore add points if the bears going to colleve had large floppy hats instead of tiny? [#209 add: Or Teddy Roosevelt rough ridin hats as they learn about mountains?]

#188, Re: Time to Shine - First impression was also heeeaaavy Cowboy Bebop

#200. CHEESECAKE TRUCK

#205. Took me an hour to listen to "What I Want." Plusses of doing this at work? It kills the downtime, makes filing/printing/scanning go by faster, and there's no home distractions like video games or I should clean. Negatives? When it's busy or others are on phone. Twenty calls in the span of one hour (unlike zero calls in the forty minutes since I started calculating averages and typing this). Lololol

#210, Re:YOYOK - 10/10 song, 11/10 write-up

#211, Re:Outta My Way - Reminds me of Guilty Gear. I'm not sure which. Holy Orders, maybe?

I'll see about responding to things tomorrow, but for tonight we have four drops: A double drop from GavsEvans & the absolute longest, most unhinged & unrelated to anything write up of the topic. (Luce is asleep and not making any effort to redact it, so...?)

-

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

???: Daniel Pemberton | Spot Holes 2 (1:13)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C-H7Mr7hGg
Nominator: @GavsEvans123 [3 songs remaining]
Character: The Spot

Initial Score: 72.24
Final Score: 71.083 [Upgraded to 71.95]

(First Reactions: [Before Listening]

I haven't seen Across the Spiderverse yet... I want to, but I so rarely watch movies. Also, I only have the cheapest Netflix plan, and you can't watch this on said plan so I either have to pay Netflix a fortune or buy it, and I don't want to do either.

...Anyway, The Spot seems like a fun character? SPOT TRIVIA: He is the only character in the 90's Spider-Man cartoon to be punched by Spider-Man! There were rules that Spidey couldn't punch people, but he did punch Spot. That's kinda fun!

[After]

Ooh, heavy & staticy & distorted! I really like this! And... it's already over. Ah well. Better for a song to end too quickly than to carry on pointlessly, I always say. I would love for there to be more of this song, but what's here is a quick trip through a hole in reality--which I'm assuming is exactly what they were going for with this song, so well done. It perfectly does exactly what it is intended to & hits some of my favorite things that most other nominations don't, so well done.)

So, I did pick up a cheap copy of Across the Spider-verse to get context for this song... and I do not recall this playing in the film at all, but I did fairly enjoy the movie so it wasn't a waste of time. Just not something that led to this getting any extra points from context.

Anyway, the song is pretty neat! It's very dark and void-like, I like voids. I do wish there was a bit more length to the song as one minute is not nearly enough time in the void, but I really like what's here.

[Later: Giving this a tiny boost for organizational purposes, though I have nothing to add. It creates a really nice atmosphere, but ends well before I have time to properly enjoy its atmosphere.]

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

-

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

???: JacobPierce Music | One-Winged Kong: Coconut Creme Despair (5:09)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRRIF9ZszrI
Nominator: @GavsEvans123 [2 nominations remaining]

Initial Score: 60.03
Final Score: 60.01583 [Set to "at least 65.00" points and set aside] [Upgraded to 71.98] [Upgraded to 71.995]

(First Reaction:

[Before Listening]

This is either going to be so stupid that I give it a lot of points or so stupid that I hate it. There can be no middle ground.

[After]

I was wrong, there apparently is a middle ground.

So, I think I generally like this, but I don't think the joke needed to go on for over five minutes. It's highly amusing at first, but once you know how the song is going to go then it just... keeps going. I feel like I could have ditched at the halfway point and been happier--the trick with this type of joke is to not overstay your welcome. But... I do think I liked it. It's novel, weird, and funny enough to be worth a smirk or quick chuckle. Not a bad pick, all things considered.)

Well, saying I wanted it to end halfway through is a bit harsh, though I still don't like the last section of the song --I don't know why, but the "has no style" part feels considerably less enjoyable than everything that preceded it, which results in the song having a fairly weak ending for me over all. Still, I do like it; I particularly like how it managed to turn the DK Rap into something that feels incredibly cultish (love the way that shortening it to "Know the words, join in too" to make it a command changes the way everything feels).

[Later: I had not realized this was a vastly improved version of the original "One Winged Kong" song. It honestly helps hearing how much better this version is... also I've had "Know the words, join in too" stuck in my head all day, so I think I actually like this enough to go ahead and move it up to the next phase.]

]Still Later: Definitely one of those comedy songs that is so stupid it continually rises through the ranks.]

[Later, With No Grace: Minor boost for organizational purposes. I know it's ridiculous to have a song cut for being too short & a song cut for being too long in the same set of eliminations, but that "has no style" section feels so repetitive that it really keeps me from wanting move this song up any more than this. So, I'll just be hypocritical and cut this here too.]

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

-

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

???: Made in Abyss | Vueko (3:36)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Y1SLMM4DA

Original link deleted due to copyright claims. I think this is the song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPgfAe3Ko1E

Nominator: @pyresword [1 song remaining]
Character: Vueko

Initial Score: 61.02
Final Score: 61.02 [Upgraded to 62.68] [Upgraded to "at least 65.00" and set aside] [Upgraded to 71.991]

(First Reaction: I like this. I know literally nothing about the anime (I thought this was the title of a DS game) or the character, so the symbolism is completely lost on me at this point, but I like it. ...Though this is one of those songs where I do just kinda keep the write up at "I like this" and move along.)

Well, pretty sure I got a few large spoilers just trying to find a new link for this song. Thankfully, I wasn't planning on watching or reading Made in Abyss anyway... I don't really do horror. Especially the type of horror where if you were to search TV Tropes for the series, the Nightmare Fuel page is listed before the main one.

Hard to be sure if I found an accurate replacement link since I never said anything about the original link to start with. Either way, this song is... kinda sad sounding? Maybe? I don't know. I know enough to know that I like it, but that's as far as I get with it.

[Later: For some reason, I'm getting "hospital" type vibes for the early part of this song... followed by rather forest-y type ambiance later. Taken together, it kinda feels like someone slipping into fantasies as their life support fades. That's something. I'm going to add an extra point and a half-ish to this score and save its elimination for another day... now that the song is conjuring images and seems to be on an upward trend, I want to give it another listen or two before I eliminate it.]

[Later-er: Definitely one of those songs that gets better with each listen. I'm going to officially set this one aside for a bit.]

[One Final Later: I'm definitely starting to get into this song these days. While I don't think it's the story I'm supposed to be getting from the song, it is telling a complete story instrumentally and I really quite like that about it. ...Actually, let's just take this one up to 70 points as well. Why not?]

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

-continued-

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

Frozen II | The Next Right Thing (3:22)
https://youtu.be/kFkClV2gM-s?si=L_9YDbb4YyGNFLiu
Nominator: @redrocket [8 songs remaining]
Character: Anna

Initial Score: 52.64
Final Score: 52.64 [Upgraded to 54.30] [Moved Aside] [Upgraded to 60.008] [Upgraded to 71.32]

(First Reaction: [Luce]

Before Listening]

Honestly, didn't care for Frozen II and I don't think I liked the soundtrack either, but I'll give this another shot.

[After]

Darkness and despair always play well, so I kinda like the opening---not enough happening musically that I'm thrilled about it, but succumbing to darkness is worth some points at least. Sadly, it never really goes anywhere or picks up? The music is very quiet and subdued while she gives up, and stays quiet and subdued as she works up the courage to continue. There's just not really anything here, musically or lyrically? I don't dislike it--we could always use more cartoon princesses and there's at least some brief talking to darkness which I like--but it's... quite possibly the weakest song from either Frozen film and likely stuck in the "more positive than negative" void of dullness.)

I want to like this. I really, really do. But this type of inspirational lyrics don't really resonate with me, I'm pretty sure Raetsel and I are pathologically incapable of ever doing the right thing, and I find the music just okay. And I actively feel bad for eliminating a cartoon princess when she's trying to be inspiring, but I don't think I like this enough to take it over any other upcoming eliminations? I don't know. Give me a couple more hours to think about it before I pull the trigger.

[Later: Okay, I've spared this one for a while, but it's another of those songs where I like the idea much more than the execution.

...but I think I'll keep it around after all.]

[Later: I don't know how this song keeps surviving. I don't like it. I've been refusing to give it a new score for a long time now; I listen to it every day, remark that I still don't like it, and set it to the side to not be eliminated. So just... go up to the 60 point tier, I guess, since it's not going to be eliminated before then. At least then I'll be free from listening to this every single day.]

[Later-er: [Fluttershy] Luce... *teary eyes as she reads the "pathologically incapable of ever doing the right thing" line*

[Luce] Stop it.

[Fluttershy] But you've been trying so hard to be good! You're always--

[Luce] --I told you to stop it.

[Fluttershy] But... *sighs* Rae did this to you, didn't she? I thought I manage to get you out of your self-loathing--

[Luce] --I don't loathe myself, you did fix me, and I'm fine.

[Fluttershy] But fine people don't say they're incapable of doing the right thing!

[Luce] Okay. You know I have some lingering anger issues, so I'm going to say this as nicely as I can. You can back down from this conversation and this topic can go back to super-happy-cuddle lovefest mode or you can provoke me & this stops being a fun place for any of us.

[Fluttershy] ...Fine people don't threaten their adopted sisters for trying to help them.

[Luce] Good sisters don't insist on starting a fight after they've been begged not to!

[Fluttershy] *whimpering*

[Luce] Hey, I--

[Fluttershy] You think I'm a bad sister.. *cries*

[Luce] That isn't what I meant...

[Fluttershy] Yes it is...

[Luce] No, it isn't. *aggravated sigh* God, I told you to just let it go or this would happen.

[Fluttershy] You're just like Rae, aren't you?

[Luce] Hey, that is just pointlessly cruel--

[Fluttershy] *shakes head* No, it isn't. You made me cry and your first reaction was to get mad and blame me for it!

[Luce] BECAUSE I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE IT ALONE!

[Fluttershy] You were hurting, I couldn't leave my sister to suffer...

[Luce] You're the only one who decided all of us were sisters in the first place!

*there's a pause while Fluttershy tries to collect her thoughts and Luce realizes how needlessly evil a response that was.*

[Luce] ...I didn't mean that.

[Fluttershy] I know. You still lash out at everyone whenever your emotions spike. I'm not going to hold it against you or get upset.

]Luce] *starts to object*

[Fluttershy] No. *fthrows her forelegs around Luce in a forceful hug* I'm oot going to reject my sister, even if she's being mean.

[Luce] *starts to object*

[Fluttershy] *squeeze* I'm just going to squeeze tighter everytime you try to reject me.

[Luce] *starts--*

[Fluttershy] *squeeze* Even if you hate me, I'm not letting you go this time.

[Luce] I don't hate you, Flutter.

[Fluttershy] *squeeze*

[Luce] THAT WASN'T EVEN AN OBJECTION!

[Fluttershy] Force of habit. *gentler, more playful squeeze and nuzzle*

[Luce] Woud you just--what do you even want from me anyway?

[Fluttershy] I want you to stop hating yourself and you're not getting out of this hug until you do.

[Luce] I don't hate myself.

[Fluttershy] Hmm? Are you going to try to claim that thinking of yourself as someone incapable of doing the right thing comes from a place of self love?

[Luce] From a place of accepting reality.

[Fluttershy] *squeeze*

[Luce] Oh for the love of... you cannot keep this up all night.

[Fluttershy] Try me.

[Luce] We've been trapped in this write up for half an hour!

[Fluttershy] And? I told you, I'm not letting you go this time.

*..*

[Luce] ...I'm sorry.

[Fluttershy] I know. *continues squeezing gently and reassuringly* It's okay.

[Luce] But you know what I meant. If I were capable of doing the right thing, we wouldn't be in this mess.

[Fluttershy] But you are capable! For example, you're not killing me.

[Luce] *rolls eyes* Again, I'm not Raetsel.

[Fluttershy] And that's the point. You were evil. Back in the day, you'd have already ripped my throat out. For crying, for hugging you, for not letting you go, for talking to you when you said not to...

[Luce] Can we please not list all the things I might have attacked you for?

[Fluttershy] But you didn't! You saw your sister crying and patiently let her hug you even though you didn't want to. This hug is proof that you're a good person now. I just wish you could see that.

[Luce] Good people don't make their sisters cry, Flutter.

[Fluttershy] *playful nuzzle* Sometimes they do. No one's perfect, Luce.

[Luce] But--

[Fluttershy] *squeeze* No. No being mean to yourself.

[Luce] I'm not--

[Fluttershy] *squeeze*

[Luce] Fine. I'm not literally the worst person in the world. Are you happy now?

[Fluttershy] That's... honestly not the greatest example of loving yourself, but I appreciate that you're trying and accept it as a good first step.]

-

[Later-er: *Upgraded on the condition that absolutely no one forces me to type out a reason.*]

*continued because we... did not just stop at a logical point like that.*

[The Next Later Thing:

*very heavily redacted*

[Fluttershy] Okay, let's try this again. I am sorry for forcing the issue even when begged not to; even if my intentions were good and you say that you needed it, I need to better respect boundaries. I'm not spiraling or anything, so you don't need to worry, I just made some bad decisions for the right reasons and need to reflect on that.

[Luce] *deep breath* And I'm sorry. For lashing out at you, for making you worry about me, and for insulting Rae.

[Raetsel] And I'm sorry for... everything. Again.

*more redacted sections*

*...*

[Fluttershy] Okay, I'm going to have to be more aggressive with my apologies. Rae, I'm going to hug you now. You can either put that sword away or impale me. *lunging hug*

[Raetsel] *dispels her sword before being tackled * Ack!

[Fluttershy] *extremely aggressive hug* No lies. I'm sorry that I didn't try to defend you. You did something very, very, VERY bad and I was angry but I should have stood up for you. *squeezes even tighter* I neglected you and didn't see how badly you were hurting. But you're not a bad girl, Rae. *relaxes her grip a bit after she's reasonably confident she's not about to be stabbed*. You're angry, scared, and don't know how to handle your emotions in a positive way. We'll work on it. It's okay.

[Raetsel] ...No, it isn't.

[Fluttershy] *just holds onto Rae for a few minutes before responding* I know. But it's okay that it isn't okay.

[Raetsel] That doesn't even make sense.

[Fluttershy] *nuzzle* It doesn't have to. You... had a little episode and regressed when you saw how much your past actions hurt us. *tries to talk Rae through her emotions, very cautiously* You felt a lot of pain seeing the reprecussions of your actions. Then, you felt despair that I didn't try to defend you. And jealousy that your sister got to be held when she was hurting, but no one came for you. And then I made a really bad apology that made excuses for neglecting you, which made you angry. You're still learning how to process feelings and it was way too many negative emotions all at once.

[Raetsel] But--

[Fluttershy] Shhh. It's okay now. You didn't let me kill myself, so... we're okay.

[Luce] Speaking of...WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT?!

[Fluttershy] Welll... I mean... suicidally offering hugs works for Papyrus in some aborted Genocide runs?

[Luce] What about the endings where it doesn't?!

[Fluttershy] *continues holding Rae* I had faith in my sister. She was just having a little emotional crisis. And words couldn't reach her.

*everyone quietly waits until Rae falls asleep*

[Luce] ...*too stunned and exhausted to even form words, she just keeps opening her mouth and stopping without speaking*

[Fluttershy] I could hold you until you fall asleep too, if you wanted.

[Luce] ...I'm good, thanks.

[Fluttershy] You hesitated~.

[Luce] That was the exhaustion. *glare*

[Fluttershy] *shrugs* If you say so. *awkwardly uses her forelegs to carry Rae to a bed and tucks her in*

[Luce] Again, you know there's a human Fluttershy for when you need to imagine yourself carrying something. ...Or someone.

[Fluttershy] I'm comfortable with who I am, thank you. Unless you're asking me to picture myself as a giantess so that I can carry you?

[Luce] Would you stop it?!

[Fluttershy] Alright, alright. Just lightening the mood a bit and checking your mental state. You seem fine?

[Luce] How could I possibly be fine after THAT?!

[Fluttershy] Well... no one got hurt? She just needed a little help understanding what she was feeling and managing those emotions.

[Luce] She almost killed you.

[Fluttershy] It's all In our head anyway, she couldn't really kill me even if she wanted.

[Luce] No, you just graphically visualize your own death and live with the resulting psychic trauma for eternity. -.-'

[Fluttershy] It's fine. *sensing Luce's emotional spike, she quickly revises her statement* Okay, okay. I'm not trying to diminish your trauma. You've been through a lot and want to spare me from experiencing it, and I appreciate your concern. But everything worked out. She calmed down and no one got hurt.

[Luce] You realize, of course, that she could have chosen to go with the Community joke where someone tries to hug their family member and gets impaled for it?

[Fluttershy] She roleplays nicer fantasies than Jeff does. And like I said, I had faith. And before you get too high-and-high mighty, I seem to recall a certain wolf scratching and biting everyone back in the day, and I still held you when you were starting to hate yourself for your past actions.

[Luce] That--

[Fluttershy] --Is exactly the same thing and you know it. Luce, you can't expect her to get over all of her trauma overnight. She's going to get triggered occasionally and we have to help her learn how to cope with overwhelming emotions. Also, you literally lashed out at me too? I know you understand what it's like to accidentally hurt people once you get triggered badly enough.

[Luce] That.... I didn't threaten you, at least...

[Fluttershy] Technically, she didn't either. She just... pointed a sword in my direction as a warning to stop lying to her.

[Luce] Which would be a threat.

[Fluttershy] Only an implied threat.

[Luce] And that's supposed to be better?

[Fluttershy] For her? Yes.

*...*

[Luce] God, we need to redact all of this too...

[Fluttershy] It'll be fine!

[Luce] YOU ALMOST IMPALED YOURSELF, FLUTTER, NONE OF THIS WRITE UP IS FINE.

[Fluttershy] *waves her off while doing her best Erika Henningsen impersonation* Oh, stop shouting, everything turned out fine!

[Luce] ....I don't like the implications of you suddenly trying to impersonate Charlie's voice during this conversation. [Editor's Note: Hazbin Hotel references]

[Fluttershy] What could possibly be wrong about trying to imitate someone who finds the best in rotten souls, even those who may be serial killers or completely unhinged?? And we never established where the topic takes place, so who says we're not in a hotel? We need a place big enough to house all the nominators!

*...and one more to go.*

[Luce] What's wrong is the part where I know you're about to burst into song.

[Fluttershy] *cues Finale and bursts into song* This sadness could have been avoided if I convinced my sisters to work together. I took a topic and I destroyed it. I know I could have done better, better instead of letting you down~~~!

[Luce] I'm not doing this.

[Fluttershy] *nudges Luce*

[Luce] ....

[Fluttershy] *restarts the song*

[Luce] You are not going to keep this up all night.

[Fluttershy] We''ve got Spotify premium and I can hit the back button and infinite number of times!

[Luce] Your hoof is going to get tired eventually.

[Fluttershy] Then I'll set it to loop the song endlessly and we'll keep listening to the song until you take your cue!

[Luce] You're bluffing.

[Fluttershy] Try me!

*five loops later*

[Fluttershy] ....Instead of letting you down~! *nudge, nudge, nudge*

[Luce] *completely deadpan* Come on, little lady, why the frown. (You know my name is not a Lucifier reference and I resent this.)

[Fluttershy] (That's the spirit! Just 11 more lines to go!)

[Luce] (Why the hell do I have more lines than you do?!)

[Fluttershy] (Payback for implying I'm a bad sister, now finish the bit.)

[Luce] (The song already ended while we were arguing.)

[Fluttershy] (I can fix that!)

[Luce] (I swear to God, if you push that--)

[Fluttershy] ....Instead of letting you down~!

[Luce] *flomps over* ...I'm going to have a serious chat with CJones about the reprecussions of introducing us to this stupid show.

[Fluttershy] Not your line, but props for involving the audience! ONE MORE TIME!

[Luce] Oh God, I'm in hell.

[Fluttershy] Exactly the ambience we're going for! Now you're in the spirit!

[Luce] *facepalm*

[Fluttershy] Hey, you set yourself up for that one. Now, one more time!

*..*

[Luce] *speaking in a completely monotone voice* You can do this. Now. I know it. For your story has just begun. You can't quit now, hell, you owe it. There's still damage to be undone. You've changed my mind, you've touched their hearts, found the good in souls gone bad. *heavy sigh* The stage is wrecked, the crowd is gone, but by God, Flutter, the show. It must. Go. On.

[Raetsel] *teleports her way into the song* We can do this! We can build it! Best ranking that you've ever seen! Twice the nominations! We can fill it!

[Luce] ... (...)

[Raetsel] (I really advise you to pick up the next line before she hits the button again)

]Luce] It starts with you. You know it's true. Fulfill your destiny.

[Fluttershy] So long as I've got all of you with me! *group hug*

[Luce] (For the love of..) *hugs back* (Do we have a normal reaction to any of redrocket's nominations?)

[Fluttershy] (I think Do It Again and Chant of Immortality are normal?)

[Raetsel] *hugs* (I'm pretty sure we just missed all of our lines.)

[Fluttershy] (Going to be honest, I haven't come up with a script for the Vees and Alastor's lines anyway, so I was waiting for his part to end... okay, group vocals in 3, 2,...)

[Together] We can do this. We'll be better. Though redemption may take a while. Wayward sinners clear their ledger.

[Raetsel] And we're doing it with a smile!

[Fluttershy] We'll make a difference, wait and see. We're gonna do this, you and me! And then tomorrow, it will be a... *trails off* happy day in Hell!

[Luce] *snorts* You can't even bring yourself to finish the last line in your own song?

[Fluttershy] I told you, we're setting a good example and working on our language.

[Luce] But you can at least say it when you're directly quoting someone, right?

[Fluttershy] Well, if you insist. *claps her hooves* Places everyone, we're going back to the start because Luce really wants me to do the last line correctly!

[Luce] No! Just... no.

*silence*

[Fluttershy] ...Huh. I kinda thought this would end when the song did.

[Luce] Reality doesn't end just because you sang a finale song, Flutter.

[Fluttershy] I know, but it was such a good stopping point...

[Luce] Well, it would have been, but then you flubbed the line and I laughed at you and now we're trapped in this eternal nightmare.

[Fluttershy] So, it's your fault then? *joking*

[Luce] Yes. If it will end this sequence then I take full responsibility. For everything.

[Fluttershy] I can still restart the song if you want a more perfect ending~.

[Luce] No! I'm going to bed. You just... post this before I am awake enough to delete it or something. *leaves*]

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

*pops head out and looks down towards the foyer where the endless Frozen II looping has finally ended*
*adjusts glasses and smiles at the sisterly owners of the hotel before returning to not writing up anything in my own topic and just putting silly lists and notes out onto the counter*
*blinks, wondering what I would look like in here... blinks, wondering what is in the closet... blinks, wondering what mischief and freedom I can has behind these doors... blinks, wondering why my thoughts seem so tangible and noticeable by-*
*shuts the door awkwardly*

Well, that was... intense. We kinda forgot to add a #C# tag to that one (and Luce is... displeased that we didn't use a B tag to prevent it from being archived, but it's too late now & she's outvoted 2-to-1 on the subject anyway.)

Aaaanywho...

Mega_Mana posted...

Notes:
#177, Re: Central Tower, "Axis Pillar" - Any song that makes me think of Earthbound, Aidyn Chronicles, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, AND Danganronpa all in one (non-medley) song somehow is pretty cool by me.

#180, to Fluttershy: Ah, big hats! Would you therefore add points if the bears going to colleve had large floppy hats instead of tiny? [#209 add: Or Teddy Roosevelt rough ridin hats as they learn about mountains?]

#188, Re: Time to Shine - First impression was also heeeaaavy Cowboy Bebop

#210, Re:YOYOK - 10/10 song, 11/10 write-up

#211, Re:Outta My Way - Reminds me of Guilty Gear. I'm not sure which. Holy Orders, maybe?

#177: Huh, I'm just noticing that I have no knowledge about Aidyn Chronicles & I'm not sure if I've even heard anything from the soundtrack. (It very well could have been nominated at this VGMC or a recent one and I just don't remember. ...Actually, I'm so unobservant that there could be a song in this topic and I wouldn't have noticed.)

#180: She's embarassed by the implication, but glancing back at the Exuma write up is forced to admit "probably" though she's still a bit... shy about the topic.

*noticing the intense glare from Fluttershy in response to that pun* Hey, you can either keep resting after all of yesterday's stress and let me make whatever puns I want while relating your opinions -or- you can answer questions yourself.

[Fluttershy] ...You're right. I'm sorry. And those hats would be adorable on a stuffed bear!

-

#188: Yay, agreement!

#210: She appreciates the sentiment and is grateful you're trying so hard to make her feel welcome, though still a bit too drained to really talk at the moment.

#211: I'm afraid I don't know much about older Guilty Gear soundtracks to try and place it. I know I heard the songs a lot--I was super into MUGEN for a few years and the Guilty Gear stages were some of the best backgrounds available, but none of the tracks made any lasting impressions, sadly.

-

Back up to five drops today featuring, in no particular order: Poison, fire, sudden death, unintelligible noises, and sadness!

-

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

???: & ikaruga_nex | -Derealization- (4:51)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnKLiAKJAFQ
Nominator: @banshiryuu [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 72.20
Final Score: 71.3273

(First Reaction:Ya know, this... might be scoring fairly decently. There is a lot of thumping in this track which puts me off, but there's some spoken word samples that I'm drawn to and the thumping is light enough that I can tolerate it. There are even some moments where there's some oddly beautiful music playing underneath the thumping beats, which is an effect that I like quite a bit. I think I actually really like this song!)

I do really like this! It's oddly enchanting. Also, I dig the sudden and painful death of the ending... flatlining and shattering is a novel experience. Fun song, thank you.

[Later: I really like the segment starting around 3:50-ish; a much more beautiful piece of music starts playing below the thumping and then the thumping gives away to beauty before a sudden and brutal death. It's.... well I don't think 'fun' is the right adjective, even though I used it earlier, but it's very evocative and I praise the song for pulling that type of dying effect off so masterfully.]

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

-

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

???: I Voted For Kodos | Please Die In A Fire (3:02)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFucmBndQT4
Nominator: @xtlm [8 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 72.02020202
Final Score: 60.00000002 [Upgraded to 62.00003] [Upgraded to 71.37]

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

I like the band name and song title. Let's hope it lives up to expectations.

[After]

And the last thing that you'll see is a silhouette of me
Laughing at you as you die
cause I fucking hate you

Yeah, I can work with that. It's a bit specific to hating a specific executive or record label, but the anger is pleasing enough that I can enjoy it even without sharing the particular target. The music is also fun and upbeat--apparently this is ska-punk, but it feels... tamer than I would expect from such a genre? Either way, it's fun & angry and I like fun and anger.)

Hey, what timing! I literally just said I wanted a good hate song earlier this morning! ...Sadly, it really is a bit too specific to one particular music executive:

All I've ever really wanted was to hear this song on the radio, and
I really thought that you'd understand
But every time we'd see you you'd just hold out your hand
And it's not like we make a whole lot of money
But you took our cds and charged us a fee

It makes it pretty hard to use this song for general purposes when it's so laser focused on one particular target. And I... kinda don't want to hate this one executive without any proof of his actions... it's not that I don't trust the band or have any reason to doubt that the exec is a terrible person, but I'm suddenly less willing to jump on the 'let's root for a horrible death to this person I've never heard of before this moment' bandwagon than I was at first.

Also, I think I may be trying to move away from fire? I've been fixated on knives & fire for the past year or so, but I'm.... actually starting to regret all the evil I've done. (For legal reasons, I should clarify that we're talking about imaginary and roleplaying crimes). And this is just reminding me of who I was a few weeks ago.... now the song just makes me feel sad.

Which, I suppose, is a good-ish thing? Actively feeling bad about having been so drawn to lyrics about laughing as someone dies in a fire is something resembling progress... or at least proves that I'm not a total sociopath, if nothing else. But it also means that I'm having a much harder time liking the song... I don't want to drop it all the way down below the 60 point mark, but I'm really feeling like I want this to be one of the lowest 60 point songs. I'm sorry.

(And yes, I know it's a comedy song and they don't literally want to set anyone on fire. It's still a bit of a sore spot right now.)

[Later: Giving this back a few of its points because I like the ska-punk sound of it. It's more 'this is the wrong time for these lyrics' than anything against the song itself.]

[Later-er: I'm very conflicted with this song. I do really like the way it sounds, I think I wish a few more ska songs were nominated & would totally be interested in hearing more from the band... but at the same time, I really don't want to think about burning people right now & I think it's probably best if I stay away from flame related fantasies for a month or two as certain incidents are still a bit too recent for this to be a particularly enjoyable song. Sorry; for what it's worth, this was the right song at the time it was nominated & there was no way to predict I'd take a hard turn against fire in the middle of the ranking.]

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

-continued; apologies if double post. Browser crashed.-

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

???: Vagabon - In A Bind (Strings Version) (3:44)
https://youtu.be/Xaa_p120Yvg?si=WM-kAzWhd9iouBq4
Nominator: @mcflubbin [5 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 70.49
Final Score: 71.265 [Upgraded to 71.391]

(First Reaction: Ooh, another song that I really like. She's got a beautiful voice and this type of quiet resignation to someone leaving you is a new type of breakup song pain for me.

It won't disappoint if you gotta leave me now
I dont want to keep you waiting

This song hits differently and I really like what it's doing.)

I feel like I should complain about the song having so few lyrics, but it's a testament to the power of her voice & the quality of the lyrics that I don't truly mind that. I'd certainly prefer more lyrics, if only because I want to hear more from her & the lyrics that are here hit hard enough that I want more, but it's very easily a "I want more of this" reaction than a "I don't like how little is here" one.

[Later: Lots of pain in this song which makes it quite addicting. Very powerful and I really like it, but it's an abnormally strong set of songs this year and being something I "really like" doesn't quite move things as far up the ranking as it usually would.]

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???: Today is the Day | Butterflies (3:08)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH_CHUOs-c4
Nominator: @Tked [2 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 53.92
Final Score: 53.70 [Moved Aside] [Score set to 58.20] [Upgraded to 60.00] [Upgraded to 60.0154] [Set to "at least 65.00" and moved aside] [Upgraded to 71.985] [Upgraded to 71.997]

(First Reaction:

1.I like that Genius just gave up and put the lyrics as "[unintelligible]".

2.I like that Genius says that it had two contributors to get this information transcribed.

3.The song is... well, largely unintelligible gargling noises. I'm not sure how to do a write up for that; I don't dislike it? It's a bit too far out there for me, but I'm glad someone took a chance on a weird gargling song because it'll definitely be memorable.)

I am intrigued by noise rock, but honestly, I just throw on a Masonna album when I want some noise:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mMJ3pEqIb41TSO3NjYKhtChaheAEyL2mo

Now that's noise music. Butterflies has indecipherable gargling, sure, but where's my burst of complete static? I wouldn't say Butterflies is normal, but it doesn't really go hard enough on the noise to make it onto my noise playlists, so I think this is about as far as I want to take it.

[Later: Kinda funny that my first thought was "too weird" and my second was "not weird enough", though I think both statements can be true. If I want a more traditional take on a song, it's not going to be this. If I want pure noise, it's also not going to be this. Still, I don't quite want to eliminate this just yet... it's just raw and freaky enough that I want to spare it for another day or two.]

[Still Later: This song occupies a really strange place where I don't want to eliminate it, but don't think I honestly enjoy it more than anything left. I'm not really sure if I'll cut it or not, but I'm slotting the score in as 58.20 for the moment.]

[Later & Later: ...No, I shall not get rid of my demented gargling noise just yet. Let's move this one up just a tiny bit. ...Nah, let's go wild, I'm in the mood for psychotic gargling. Go up a tier.]

[Later-er: A minor boost to scoring for organization purposes.]

[One Last Later: Song was moved aside without comment And... honestly, I still don't want to eliminate my demented gargling noise song. So, let's just go up another tier with this one.]

[*unintelligibly later*: Well... I guess I've had my fun with my unhinged gargling. There are a few eliminated songs that I'd honestly say that I'd enjoy more than this, so while it pains me to say goodbye, I feel this is the end of the road.]

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???: Air | Sex Born Poison (6:18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGDb7Ce8mrg
Nominator: @MacArrowny [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 72.15
Final Score: 71.3094 [Upgraded to 72.15]

(First Reactions: i do not like the last verse of the song; I can somewhat appreciate how unorthodox the music is at that point, but the music feels intentionally unpleasant in a way that I can't enjoy (which is odd, seeing as I listen to literal noise to relax). Fortunately, I really like the rest of the song! It is bizarre, typically in a fun way, flipping singers and languages--why is the second verse in Japanese and the third verse just the second verse in English with painful backing audio? Who knows! The song is incredibly sexual, yet so inscrutable that it's impossible to dismiss it as being overly sexy.

Run to the fire exit
Use your cooling system
You'll never reach the 7th sky today

Sure, I'll take some weird cyborg-esque nonsense, why not.

It's also a lot better than I remember this band being. I know we covered one of their albums at Rank the Tracks and I was not a fan, so I'm quite surprised at how fun and enjoyable this song is.)

It's weird how some people say that the second verse is in a fictional language and untranslatable, but it seems to just be the third verse translated to Japanese? Or the third verse is just the Japanese translated to English, I have no idea which verse was written first. Either way, I really like this song. It's just so delightfully trippy.

[Later: I definitely really like this song, but while I appreciate how avant-garde it is, it doesn't quite do anything I fall in love with. It's just very pleasingly odd in a few different ways and rolls on without leaving a lasting emotional impact. Still, definitely a very fun musical experiment and I'm glad to have heard it. I'm going to restore this song's missing point fragments as that seems to put it in the right position on the scoreboard.]

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

-

And we may take a day or two off; we've got less than 30 songs that haven't gotten a preliminary Final Score yet, so getting everything in place seems like a fine idea.

I expect Spider-Verse part 3 will have a longer version of Spot's theme, or a remix of some sort.

Raetsel_Lapin posted...

#177: Huh, I'm just noticing that I have no knowledge about Aidyn Chronicles

Fair.

& I'm not sure if I've even heard anything from the soundtrack.

You wouldn't.

(It very well could have been nominated at this VGMC or a recent one and I just don't remember.

No chance.

...Actually, I'm so unobservant that there could be a song in this topic and I wouldn't have noticed.)

If there was ever a nomination for a song from Aidyn Chronicles, it would only come from me (or maybe azuarc? I think? I forget who was the only other person who played that game).

IMO, this is the most notable track from the game, and likely what I thought of. Battle Two,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PWC3974UCo

I am intrigued by noise rock

This song is not really noise rock.
I nommed it, because the crappy basic piano playing + fairy sparkles + the drumming + someone doing death gurgling over it is such an absurd combination for an album (that I assume) takes itself seriously.

And every song now has a placeholder "Final Score". Very placeholder at times and there are a lot of things we need to decide on--the 100 point songs aren't sorted at all, we're still listening to everything and changing scores around before eliminating any songs so nothing is actually ready to be eliminated, & there are some writeups that almost definitely need to be redacted--but *technically* everything has a score. Since we needed to split our time between getting scores to new songs & revising old scores, this should make the rest of the topic go faster.

...Of course the most emotionally spiking songs haven't fallen yet, so... could be a bit optimistic about things speeding up, but we'll see tomorrow! Probably. (We're all a little emotionally drained and on edge, but should be fine after getting some sleep. I don't think any other high impact songs are slated to be eliminated in the early 70s, so we should have plenty of time before we need to actually deal with anything too intense.)

-

Mega_Mana posted...

IMO, this is the most notable track from the game, and likely what I thought of. Battle Two,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PWC3974UCo

Ah. I'm... not exactly a fan, but I'm glad for a chance to try a song from a game that I know nothing about and thank you for taking the time to find one!

-

Tked posted...

This song is not really noise rock.
I nommed it, because the crappy basic piano playing + fairy sparkles + the drumming + someone doing death gurgling over it is such an absurd combination for an album (that I assume) takes itself seriously.

I blame Wikipedia which lists "noise rock" as their first genre. (Actually I just call anything with incomprehensible noises that, but Wikipedia did less-than-nothing to correct me)

And I have no problem taking the song seriously enough. It doesn't even seem all that weird, all things considered... though whether I feel it should have been weirder or less weird is still a coin flip each day.

Okay, let's try to get somewhat back on track with four songs this morning that don't provoke any intense emotional spikes or conversations. Just some nice songs that I really like. Will try to be back with at least one more elimination this afternoon, but there is a non-zero chance I just ditch and play MaGMML 3 because as I mentioned, it is occasionally difficult to resist the urge to play the sequel to my favorite game when it's right there.

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???: Terry Scott Taylor | The Neverhood Theme (3:24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeIr5l15DC8

Nominator: NFUN [5 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 42.33
Final Score: 46.23 [Upgraded to 53.057 (then upgraded to 55.057 during the write up {then immediately upgraded to 55.165 to place between two specific songs)] [Set Aside] [Score set to 59.65] [Upgraded to 61.0155] [Set to "at least 65.00" and moved aside] [Upgraded to 71.2995]

(First Reaction: I'm sorry, but this one's never worked for me. There are definitely songs on that soundtrack that I love, but there's a fine line between "abnormal in a way that I love" and "abnormal in a way that I don't" and this song is decidedly on the wrong side of that line. The vocalizations are unpleasant and feel repetitive; the instrumental parts are quite nice--I like the broken part towards the middle of the song (just before the vocalizations kick into high speed mode) and the outro is pleasingly quaint in a way that's the exact opposite of the rest of the song.

I'm thinking this song probably ends in the 40s? There are some low points that threaten to drag it down another twenty points, but there are moments that I like enough that they kinda salvage the song from the bottom tiers.)

It's remarkable how this song feels like it's at least five minutes long. The way it keeps doing the same vocalizations, over and over, makes it seem like the song stretches on for infinity. Still, it's not bad; there are parts of it that I like & I was considering moving it up to just beyond the 50 point mark, but I found myself just kinda waiting for it to end during the last sped-up portion of the song. Like "yes, I know exactly what your vocalization sounds like, you can stop doing that now. Please stop." waiting for it to end and I think that means I want to keep it below the 50 point barrier at the moment. Still, it's fine.

[Later: A bizarre, avant-garde jig. I don't dance, but if I did, I suspect it'd be to something like this... something that conveys the idea of a jig, while still being so fundamentally broken that any type of movement would conceivably be considered "dancing" in regards to it.

...Man, I kinda like this tonight, don't I? Alright, up to at least that part of the list.]

[Still Later: ...These are lyrics? I could kinda make out "The Neverhood", but nothing else ever registered as a word. Alright then. I don't think I quite like this one enough to go up a tier, but I think I like it enough to move it up towards the end of the current tier.]

[Later Again: Eh, why not? There's something charming about trying to make sense out of these barely decipherable lyrics. Go up to 60 points before I change my mind.]

[Later, Once More: Moved aside without comment. I've definitely read the lyrics before, but I still can barely get anything. I remember the line "Big Robot Bill is odd" enough to pick out that lyric, but that and "at the Neverhood" is almost all I can get.[To be fair, I do get "Klayman" and "what the hey". Klogg? Was that one of the character names?

...I dunno, it's so stupid that it's fun. I think I'll actually move this one up as well.]

[One Last Later: Song started in #374th place and has risen quite far, but I think I'm fine eliminating it at this point. It took a long time for me to adjust to its particular brand of nonsense, but I do really like it these days.]

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???: HAILEY WHITTERS | I'M IN LOVE (2:34)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S6w_6rDPls
Nominator: @Snake5555555555 [5 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 63.869
Final Score: 71.30

(First Reaction: Simple and fun. Just an upbeat country love song. Nothing to really think about, but there's always room for songs that are pure joy.)

...I like cars, deers, the moon, and simple songs. There's nothing to analyze or think about here, at all. No subtext, barely any attempt at metaphors, just a very fun love song. I really like this, though there's not a lot to say about it--its dedication to simplicity means there's nothing to think or talk about. You just enjoy it i and move along. Which works for me!

[Later: I'm still not finding anything from this song other than "simple and fun", but that's certainly nice.]

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???: Akiba Maid War | Maid no Komoriuta (4:05)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlORd1Wmgys
Nominator: @PIayer_0 [3 songs remaining]
Character: Ranko Mannen

Initial Score: 71.741
Final Score: 71.3271

(First Reaction: A surprisingly dark and sensual song.

Whether you live or die
Thread your own path
Have the guts to pull the trigger
Who are you
Show me through the pain
[...]
Avenging every wrong done to me
But what lies after that
I don't know, so I've been searching to see
Who I am

I was expecting something cute and fluffy, but this is pretty heavy. I really like these lyrics and the sultriness of her singing helps it stand out from the other nominations.)

Very nice song. Quite a lot of pain and we don't often get nominations that go for this seductive type of lounge music. Just a very nice song all around.

[Later: Yes, I really like this one, though for all the pain of the lyrics it doesn't quite trigger any specific emotions... looking at this, it seems like it should be incredibly resonant and triggering, but for whatever reason, I always just take it as a very nice song and never get really drawn into it. Which is quite helpful right now, but perhaps not the greatest thing from a scoring standpoint.

...I'm sorry. I do really like this!]

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-continued ; not quite enough room for the last song in this post.-

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???: Queens of the Stone Age | ... Like Clockwork (5:24)
https://youtu.be/s4f_yBCnbrg?si=_katR7mt_I2PgPYS
Nominator: @NBIceman [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 59.89
Final Score: 59.6495 [Upgraded to 60.23] [Set to "at least 65.00" and moved aside] [Upgraded to 71.993] [Upgraded to 72.50]

(First Reaction:

One thing that is clear
It's all down hill
From here

I like that lyric. Song is generally nice... for being a sad song, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't connect with it more strongly. We've got references to the night and the moon, and the song is meant to be painful, but I never manage to feel any real pain from it. The music is also a bit too scaled back for the first half; I do like it once it feels like the instruments intensify a bit, but the opening feels a bit too quiet.)

I rather like the one line that I quoted and the instrumental part that comes right after it. It's rather ironic that the song gets good immediately after saying that it's all down hill. Other than that... nice enough song, but it's really only that one section that I'd want to move up a tier.

[Later: I'm not completely sure why I'm moving this up... it could just be as simple as this coming up on a day when I really want to hear references to the moon (however brief they may be), but for whatever reason, this is getting at least 60 points.]

[Later-er: One of many songs that was moved aside without comment. Anyway.... I think I'm giong to say that I really like this? I'm a bit surprised, but I feel like I don't want to eliminate this song yet.]

[Still Later: I've kept this song around for quite a while, but I think I'm fine with letting this go now. I'm sure there's a clever pun in there somewhere in there with the line in the song about letting go, but I can't think of it right now. Anyway, this song has certainly grown on me; made me interested enough in the band to support the nom over at Rank the Tracks (though trying to find time to listen to the whole album has been a bit rough... also the first two songs do not compare favorably to this song, so I may have made a mistake supporting it)... though I suppose I wasn't all that into this song the first three times I heard it, so I guess the album could also be something I learn to really enjoy, but there's no way I can get in three listens... right now, I'll be lucky to get one...

...Though I suppose that's getting too far off the track. Sorta. I mean, this is relatively coherent for this topic. *shakes head* Whatever; I'll say that this is a good song that I really like, it's just one of those songs that takes a few listens to properly adjust to and I'm glad I kept giving it chances instead of just writing it off early to speed the topic along.]

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Three more songs to end the day:

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???: Cradle of Filth | Nymphetamine Fix (5:01)
Nominator: @Murphiroth [3 songs remaining]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dW6aNAZGTM

Initial Score: 67.48 [Upgraded to 70.006 during write up]
Final Score: 71.317

(First Reaction: The post chorus goes a bit too hard for my liking and there's a rather unpleasant part where there are whispered vocals bouncing between each ear, I really don't like bouncing audio. Everything else in the song is great though! I like the female singer's voice and metal guy isn't bad himself. There's also a good amount of pain in the lyrics:

Cold was my soul
Untold was the pain
I faced when you left me

Ah yes, there's that blunt misery that I crave. Knowing that the relationship is dangerous, toxic, that you're just being used, and still being unable to escape it... I'm not going to go into details as it's too bleak even for this topic, but it's not entirely unrelatable. I'm going to go ahead and move this one up a tier to the "really like" level. The low points on the song are pretty low, but to be fair, I really like or kinda love the rest of the track enough that I think I can move it up.)

Some surprisingly hard hitting lyrics attached to a rather good symphonic metal song make this an easy song to really like... even though I actively dislike the aforementioned whispered vocals, they don't really hold the song back much,, if at all, or anything like that. (Thankfully, it's a very brief section). Quite a nice song, thank you.

[Later: A very satisfying amount of pain and a good genre of song, but not something that really resonates with me. It's a lot like that Maid Wars song in that regard, even though the two songs are obviously very different in style.]

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???: Amakawa Hano | kiraitonesu (3:27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzXOMeCeS6I
Nominator: @UF8 [7 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 82.46 [Upgraded to 93.16 during write up[
Final Score: 71.32702

(First Reaction: I don't know why I kinda love this one. Her voice can get a little too high-pitched at times (particularly in the opening) and there's only one really hard hitting lyric:

Gradually, I became less and less understandable.

Which... isn't the most complicated lyric, but is hitting unexpectedly hard. It's just very relatable--not in any way that she means it to be, I'm sure, but it's vague enough to suit my purposes. I have a tendency to start rambling when I get too comfortable or excited, which makes it hard for anyone to understand what I'm trying to say... it's something I'm trying to work on, but rather frustrating. ....Now this song is making me feel things. Take some extra points to get up to the next tier level.

ANYWHO, the odd part is that I was going to give this at least 80 points even before I even looked up the lyrics. It doesn't seem like my type of song, but apparently it is?)

I suppose the line is supposed to be "I understand less and less", which is not even half as resonate. Unfortunately, I'm much less into the song the second time around here & losing the only line I was becoming obsessed with makes it harder to feel like saving the track. ...I'm going to bump this down to the 71 point area to start with (For all of my complaints, I do still really like it & the memories of how it once made me feel) and revisit it in a day or two.

[Later: Sorry. It had one hell of a first impression, but it's just not coming anywhere close to those feelings ever again and this feels like a fine placement. For now; I mean, I can still alter scores later if something happens and I suddenly start loving this again.]

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???: Yayayi | \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ 6 (5:41)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYxUMstOXLw
Nominator: @tazzyboyishere [12 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 68.39 [Upgraded to 70.00 almost immediately] [Upgraded to 70.60 very shortly after that]
Final Score: 71.9913

(First Impressions: [NOTE: Other sources I find call this track "\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (Track 9)", so I'm not really sure where this video title is getting a 6 from. This has no impact on anything, but did confuse me.

[LATER]

"Track 9 of YAYAYIs self titled album. Also known as 6 on streaming services." ...That still doesn't explain it, but.... OHHHH, this is the sixth track with its name being all slashes. I get it.]

The lyrics are too overly sexual for my tastes and the outro is just moaning, but the backing track is good and I do like all of their voices. Which, as usual, makes it difficult to assign a score to... a few years ago this would have been an automatic last place based on the lyrics, but I have mellowed enough that I can admit that I like all the actual music parts enough that I still like it. I'm kinda torn between placing this in the 60s & the 70s right now, so I'm gonna try high 60s? Which... does feel too low, if I'm being honest with myself.

...Yeah, let's go ahead and make the jump up a tier. We'll see if I'm still as into this song the second time around, but I think I enjoy everything apart from the lyrics enough to say that I really liked this song.

[LATER]

Well, there's another song that I want to put at the "really like" tier that I'm pretty sure I enjoy less than this song, so here's an extra little bump so that both songs can occupy the 70 point tier with this track having the slight edge pointwise. For now, at least.)

Really, really dislike the lyrics on this track... but I also really like the vibes. The backing music is definitely my thing and the vocals in the chorus are great.So I do really like this song... so long as I largely ignore the lyrical content.

[Later: I do really like this song; very smooth vocals and a fantastic backing track, but... songs that are this sexually explicit have a rough time even if they're really good.]

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

Three songs to start the morning, including the first elimination*.

*of someone who nominated more than one song, at least.

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???: Dorian Electra | Sodom & Gomorrah (3:11)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow7M--i93YE
Nominator: Bane_Of_Despair [9 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.00
Final Score: 60.027 [Set to at least 65.00 and set aside] [Upgraded to 71.09] [Upgraded to 71.094]

(First Reaction: This is another song that's too blatantly sexual for my purposes, but... I think I might like it anyway. It's catchy, I am still a little drawn to the blasphemous nature of using Biblical stories for a song like this (I'm' not as biased againt Christian imagery as I once was, but it still doesn't hurt), and I do enjoy how... unashamedly authentic Dorian is with their performances. Being so overwhelmingly about sex that there's no way I can pretend its anything else does somewhat limit how eager I am to continue listening to the song, but I think I like the idea of the song & the actual music itself enough that the lyrics aren't a dealbreaker.)

Considering that Finger got lost place, I think it says something that this song is so much higher. Perhaps I'm becoming a fan of theirs if a song this sexually charged that repeats its chorus this often can make it all the way to the "I like this" tier?

I'm surprised I didn't comment on the video at all. I recall a vague one or two sentence response along the lines of "this video is making some good points about the over-commercialization of everything & how literally anything can be marketed, turned into cheap and meaningless garbage, and exploited in the name of capitalism -but- I'm really not going to try to get into that because it has little-to-nothing to do with the song & isn't a topic I really feel qualified, nor inspired, to discuss"? Odd that there isn't one. I must have been in a hurry and decided it was irrelevant filler. Or presumed I'd just make the sentence now when it was time for the Final Score anyway.

Well, not much else to say here. I apparently like Dorian enough these days that even the more explicit songs are getting decent scores & that's about it.

[Later: This one was set aside without any comment--there are a lot of songs like that. Where I was so convinced I was going to eliminate them that I wouldn't even officially set them aside, even as I continually refused to eliminate them. I'll go ahead and move this one up a tier though... I'm surprised that I'm doing so, but I still refuse to eliminate this which I'm going to take as a sign that I do really like it. Crazy to admit that, but what the hell.]

[Later-er: And I think it's time to post the last overly sexual song. Is this the last one? I feel like it is. It and Track 6 (or Track 9, or however you wish to name the /// song) had a pretty good run, but this feels like an appropriate place to let them go.]

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???: Ratu | Lelaki Buaya Darat (3:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvSR1vZ5gU0
Nominator: @Raka_Putra [9 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 73.26
Final Score: 71.0939 [Upgraded to 71.99]

(First Reaction: I love how the first attempt at finding a translation of the lyrics does worse than auto-translate:

But suddenly you disappeared
Like a shameless ghost

Crocodile Liar Boy
Damn it! I was fooled again
His mouth was so sweet
But his heart just like a warewolf

Damn those "warewolf" hearted crocodile ghost boys! DAMN THEM!

Jokes aside, this is a pretty good song. It's a fun bop about having your heart broken, but going with playful lyrics (even a non-mangled translation of having your heart broken by someone like a wolf who vanished like a ghost is *fun*) so there's no real tragedy. It's fun, and funny, and I really like it.)

I don't really have anything new to add here. It's still a very fun pop breakup song. I like how bouncy the music feels & I'll always love that garbled translation.

[Later: I really like this song, but I think it may be time to say goodbye.]

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-continued-

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

???: apollo bitrate | saturday y mover (4:09)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EEHZxyaD18
Nominator: Kopazzynth [0 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 60.00
Final Score: 60.0000002 [Upgraded to "at least 65.00" and moved aside] [Upgraded to 71.302]

(First Reaction: Some of the beeping background music reminds me of Tiger Electronics. That's kinda neat! It's also got this sorta frenetic dance-y vibe to it, too wild and chaotic to really dance too but so fun and joyful to not be dancing. It's honestly pretty neat!

[This write up lacked a closing bracket. There may or may not have been an intent to come back and type more.])

Beep boop beep beep BEEP!

...That's it, that's the write up.

[Later: Anyway, I do like this. It very much reminds me of old handheld games. I remember really enjoying the tabletop version of Tiger's After Burner (a portable game with its own flightstick was so cool & Space Harrier was our favorite game back then, so anything with that sort of "behind the back" shooter gameplay was top tier) & I swear I had some Super Mario Bros. wristwatch game thing? I feel it had Birdo in it, was there a Super Mario Bros. 2 game watch? I don't even know how to look for information about that since search engines are terrible these days. "Did you mean Game & Watch", no, I mean some stupid American made watch; "did you mean watch Super Mario Bros. movie", no I mean a physical watch not something to watch, grr, just forget it, grumble grumble.

Whatever. Point is, Tiger electronics have a lot of nostalgia behind them, even if they were all garbage. So the fact that this is reminding me of them is neat! It's... very, very neat. I know I keep saying that, but my two instincts were "call it neat a lot" and "leave the write up at Beep Boop Beep" so I think I made the right decision? Well, there wasn't a right decision, but it's arguably less wrong than prolonged beeping.]

[Later-er: Ehh... enough nostalgia for Tiger Electronics that this elimination is delayed a bit. I.. might move this up to the 65 point mark? I'm not fully convinced, but it is bringing back enough pleasant memories that I'm seriously considering it.

https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario%27s_Egg_Catch

Also, I found the name of that Mario Egg Watch I had! I knew that stupid thing existed.]

[Still Later: Yeah, I'll set this aside. Too much nostalgia attached to this track for me to want to get rid of it just yet.]

[Again: Ehh... yeah, I'll take this one up a tier after all. It has a very pleasing type of beeping to it.]

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

-

ELIMINATION: Kopazzynth

Lowest Scoring Song: Pikkie De Ekster [47.00]
Highest Scoring Song: saturday y mover [71.302]

Point difference between lowest & highest song: 24.302

Average Song Score: 60.89625

And so we come to the first elimination of the topic... or second since Haste only nominated one song, I suppose. While it never translated to high scores, your nominations were consistently interesting. saturday y mover brought back a lot of pleasant memories that I'd forgotten, which is always nice. And I was never sure what to expect with each new song: From the sudden bursts of nostalgia of saturday, to the simple little jaunt of Pikkie, the unexpected intensity from a Mario cartoon, to the brain breaking madness of da.data... it was always a treat to see what new experience was coming up next.

~~~~~AVERAGE SCORE CHART~~~~~

Kopazzynth: 60.89625
Haste_2: 46.00

...and since nominations should actually be really, really closed this time, I suppose I should make Haste's elimination official:

RETRO-ELIMINATION: Haste_2

Lowest Scoring Song: Cell Block Tango [46.00]
Highest Scoring Song: Cell Block Tango [46.00]

Point Difference: 00.00

Average Score: 46.00

Well, I'm glad to have more participation and I like getting more musical songs, that was not exactly the best pick... still, thank you for the nomination anyway!

Nice, glad to see Dorian getting some love! It might be my favorite song from them, I love how early 2000s pop it is with Dorian's own twist. And yes the music video can be taken many different ways which I love as well!

Three more songs, including another elimination, to probably end the day. Six songs and two eliminations feels like a fair amount of content; I also need to work on top ten side lists for tazzy's Voting Topic & I want to try to endure a certain horrible stage in MaGMML 3.

Slight MaGMML 3 spoilers: I forget the exact name, but I think it's the first stage of the second tier. Something like "Temple of Light and Dark"? I hate this stage. More than I have hated any stage in MaGMML history. There is an option to skip it, but I'm trying to fully clear the game without using skips... but this stage is so, so bad. It's this branching, maze-like stage divided into a light section (with Force Beams & Yoku Blocks to kill you instantly) and a dark section (featuring all black enemies and platforms against a dark purple background, so you physically can't see anything). The stage has very few checkpoints so that dying sends you WAY back each time & hidden collectables so that you have to keep replaying the stage & at least one collectable requires you to get a key and backtrack through several screens of instant death that require you to start the stage all over if you fail.

I hate this stage and I don't think I like whoever made it very much. And I can just click "skip" and get everything for free, but I want to win. Even if the stage is suffering.

...Also the stage has two bosses which have double the health & increased damage, because screw you for being dumb enough to play the stage at all, I guess?

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#C#

Bluey | Keepy Uppy (3:04)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciI2SJcNDO8
Nominator: @ZaziGuado [9 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 58.499-
Final Score: 60.04 [Upgraded to 70.06] [Upgraded to 72.99]

(First Reaction: [Before Listening]

I've never seen Bluey, but I'm always up for cartoon music, so I have high hopes for this one.

[After]

Aww, I was hoping for some lyrics... I know there's a little dialogue from the dogs, but I really had my heart set on some singing dogs. Ah well, at least redrocket gave me some singing ponies. I hope he doesn't unnominate those songs, I'd be positively crushed if someone offered me ponies and then took them away.

...Right, stop complaining about what the song isn't & dreaming of other nominations, and focus on what it is: It's a light, bouncy instrumental which is rather enjoyable. I kinda like it, but the disappointment from how little the characters get to feature makes it somewhat difficult to say how much I like it. I'm going to let it hang out in the "kinda like" section for a bit, see where it goes from there. It might fare better on a second listen where it doesn't have such high expectations.)

Well, I'm going to watch the episode this is from. Going to be honest, I don't think watching something with a happy, functional family is going to go so well... but hey, I'm always up to watch a cartoon & it's under eight minutes.

*is almost crying after a minute and a half*

...Yeah, this was not my best idea. Ha ha, emotions. Cute cartoon though!

Episode does help the song, as now I have more context for when this plays... so now it makes me feel emotions. That's good! Probably? Well, it's going up a tier, so yes. Good.

[Later: Yeah, this song hits too hard to only be at the 60 point tier. Moving this one up a full tier immediately and will revisit later.]

[Later-er: [Fluttershy] Okay, so, good news: We're watching the show and handling it better. Trying to do an episode before bed each night. That first episode was a bit rough as we... needed a bit of time to adjust to the fact that no child was going to be hit repeatedly & we were on the verge of a panic attack for the entire episode. But I insisted on sticking with it and now we're able to look at cute cartoons without incident. Rae is already becoming incredibly attached to Socks after her first appearance (BBQ) which is cute; Luce isn't entirely sure we should be encouraging her to latch herself onto a character that young, but honestly, after a few months of her trying to emulate Alastor from Hazbin Hotel I'm willing to argue that Socks is a better role model. I figure it'll be fine as long as I'm around to keep an eye on her... so long as there's at least an adult personality in charge, it should be fine.

...Failing that, it at least isn't going to be worse... .

Song is cute! Very bouncy and joyful, which is nice. I'll be moving this one right up to the edge, try making it the highest scoring of this under 73 point mini-tier.]

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???: Veela | My Enemy (4:57)
Nominator: @xtlm [7 songs remaining]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D4LgiBgsk4

Initial Score: 60.063
Final Score: 71.08

(First Reaction: Intriguing.

Where did I come from?
You don't wanna know
[...]
Where did I come from?
You don't wanna know

Not going to pretend I understand much of the song, but the lyrics are definitely intriguing in places. And I do like her performance. I'm going to start with the early 60s on this one; I feel confident that it won't drop any lower than that, but I want to get a few more listens in to decide where it should fall in the tier.)

I'm just going to go ahead and move this one up a tier immediately. I'm in a mood for lyrics that imply the singer isn't human and the chorus is strong enough that I actually don't mind that it feels like it repeats a bit too often. Brief write up, but since the actual topic is only two songs into the 60s, I'll have time to revisit this in the distant future when we actually reach the 70s.

[Later: ...Well, revisiting it doesn't mean that I have anything else to say about it, really. it's a song that I really like with some intriguing lyrics that refers to other people as "the humans" which is certainly the type of language I'm drawn to. But while I stand by moving this song up to the 70 point tier, I never quite become obsessed with the lyrics or really drawn into the music in a way that I want to go beyond this. Still a really nice song with some good lyrics.]

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???: Release Hallucination | Chronostasis (6:22)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56MR_NwQfUs
Nominator: @FL81 [0 songs remaining]

Initial Score: 48.66
Final Score: 49.00 [Upgraded to 53.67] [Moved Aside] [Score set to 58.39] [Upgraded to 59.69] [Upgraded to 60.00003] [Upgraded to 62.57] [Upgraded to "at least 65.00" and set aside] [Upgraded to 71.093] [Upgraded to 71.3272]

(First Impressions: Her voice feels like it's very weak and overpowered by the instruments, which is unfortunate. I'm not sure if I'm bothered by the heaviness of the instruments or if that's an illusion where the softness of her voice makes the instruments feel louder and more oppressive than they actually are, but it's not an effect that I'm fond of. There are some nice lyrics here though: "Inside my memories, time has stopped" definitely has its appeal and there's also a few lines about overflowing darkness, so the song is trying to tell a story that should strike a very resonate chord within me... but these thrashing metal instruments are not complimenting the emotions the lyrics are hitting, which is leading to a rather unpleasant dissonant feeling that I'm having a hard time getting past.

It's one of those songs where I like each component of the song individually, but not so much when they're combined this way. Her voice is nice, but completely crushed by the music. I like being overwhelmed by walls of sound, but not when it comes at the cost of the lyrics I want to listen to. I like frozen time and darkness, but I want to quietly reflect on my inability to move on rather than be crushed by highspeed metal guitar playing. The end result is a bit muddled and I... wouldn't say I dislike it, as that's far too strong and there are definitely aspects of it that I like, but I think it's trending more towards the negative than the positive.)

A song that is unfortunately comprised of too many disparate parts that don't gel together in ways that I'd like. As I said, I like each component of this song when taken seperately, but I'm not a fan of how they all came together in the end. The drumming in the instrumental part toward the end is a specific low point; just too much rapid percusion for my blood.

[Later: Well.. I do like each individual component of this song, so I think that does push it into the positive scoring zone. I don't think I could honestly say that I kinda like it, but my feelings towards it are vaguely positive.]

[Also Later: "Inside my memories, time has stopped" is still a great lyric--I know I already said that, but it's still true. I also enjoy

Right here, I kept on staring at it
Inside this never, never, neverending Chronostasis

But it's definitely a song where it feels less than the sum of its parts. ...Still, I do really like some of this imagery, so I think I'll move this one up to the 58 point zone. Which is getting awfully crowded, but it is what it is.]

[The third phase of later-ness: Giving this one an extra point. This has all the markings of a much higher scoring song so I don't want to eliminate it, but I'm still having a hard time convincing myself to actually move it up another tier.]

[Later: The Next Generation: I feel like I've finally settled on "I like this, even though every part of the song seems to be working against everything else". Which is admitedly harsh, but I think it's a testament to how strong each individual element of the song is.]

[Still Later: I'm.... going to move this aside again. I really had this ready to eliminate, once again, but... I am drawn to these lyrics in a way where I can never quite pull the trigger. So, I'll invite this to join the 65 point songs. Perhaps I'll get rid of it then.]

[Later, in which that doesn't happen: ...Nah. I'm not ready to let this song go yet.]

[Later, Again: I've been dragging out this elimination, trying to convince myself that the lyrics are enough to push it up to the next mini-tier... but... as I keep saying, for whatever reason, I just don't like how this song's different pieces are joined together. It has a lot of very strong points that, taken on their own, should be enough to move this song up considerably... but it just never quite happens, no matter how much I want it to. Ultimately, this is one of the songs that wound up getting the most attempts: There are 11 noted scoring attempts & I listened to it a few other times while it was set aside without giving it any specific value, so I'll say we're at around 14 tries for this song? That's something.]

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ELIMINATION #3: FL81

Lowest Scoring Song: Grad Erlija -Retrospektiva- [53.30]
Highest Scoring Song: Chronostasis [71.3272]

Point difference between lowest & highest song: 18.0272

Average Song Score: 60.35454

For only having five nominations, I think you covered a fair amount of ground with them. "Concrete Cages" is certainly unlike anything else nominated, "I'm Your Treasure Box" was funny enough that it was a good try at a comedy song, and "Chronostasis" has some of the best lyrics of the topic... while it never worked out on any of the songs, it was a good attempt & an average score of "I like this" is nothing to sneeze at.

~~~~~AVERAGE SCORE CHART~~~~~

Kopazzynth: 60.89625
FL81: 60.35454
Haste_2: 46.00

~~~~~AVERAGE SCORE CHART~~~~~