Musical Madness

You may prepare for the end of October by buying your winter clothes, starting your Christmas shopping, studying for your finals, working, or even getting your Snooki or Situation costumes ready for your big Halloween party. The end of October for you is about preparing for social gatherings and winter weather.

But for me the end of October has always meant something completely different. The end of October is not exciting to me because of a change in climate, it is not exciting because of social gatherings, it is not exciting because of poorly made costumes or haunted houses, and it is not exciting because I'm studying or looking for a job. The end of October has always excited me for two reasons: some of the best music releases of the year are coming out and college basketball is about to start. I don't need to put on a disguise or costume to enjoy a Midnight Madness or a great new indie album, I don't need a social gathering to watch Super Tuesday or to listen to a new album on Spotify, I don't need to study basketball and I do not need to labor to enjoy music. The start of college basketball and the new music of the fall give me hope that no stupid costume or futile social gathering could ever give me.

The struggle for me though has always been finding people who share my love of College Basketball AND my love for music. The people who really love basketball usually only love Mainstream Hip-Hop and the people who really love my music usually detest that people who dribble a ball get such acclaim. Music and sports have been divided by an invisible iron curtain of class, elitism, ego, and social awkwardness for so many years that it seems like it is not even worth trying to fix or even worth trying to talk about. The people who really love music and the people who really love music believe that they are such polar opposites that it would seem like there is no way that someone besides me could have a unique love of both College Basketball and music.

I am not giving up hope on finding my soul mate though. I am not giving up on finding someone who knows Maryland's RIP and knows how to rip "Welcome Home" on an electric guitar. I am not giving up finding someone who could watch a game at noon and get home from a concert at midnight. I am not giving up on finding common ground between even the most different people in the world. I am not giving up because it never really makes sense to give up. Ninety years ago women were not able to vote, but now they are able to do just about anything they want. Sixty years ago African Americans and white people were segregated, but now you we have an African American President (Breaking News!) Compared to segregation and suffrage this is a rather small "issue" especially for the post racial politically correct society that of 2011. If we can find a way to look past color, to look past class, to look past even the most horrid details of our past, and to always move forward why can't I come up with a way for a way for sports lovers and music lovers to come together? The person who said the sky was the limit must have forgotten about those footprints on the moon.

One thing that music lovers and sports lovers have in common is a love of madness. Sports lovers love March Madness. They love the thrill of filling out a bracket, they love the thrill of trying to watch four to five tournament games at once, they love watching "Cinderella" climb from the ranks of the unknown to the Final Four, and they love being a part of something that is so much fun. Music fans also love a different kind of madness. They love the madness that is discovering a new band, the madness that is seeing that band perform live, the madness that is sharing music with their friends, and the sheer madness that is playing this music. Even though it seems like music lovers and sports lovers are polar opposites they have the unique common ground of madness.

Now that we have a common ground it is time for us to come together. The way for us to come together is to combine our love for madness and create a musical version of March Madness. The brackets that usually have Carolina and Duke as a one seeds will now have an indie band and a hip hop artist as one seeds. The regions of the basketball bracket that are usually North, South, East, and West will now be Mainstream, Indie, Hip-Hop, and Metal. It will be a bracket not only for the people who love sports but also a bracket for the people who love music. If you love life you will probably end up loving this bracket.

Here is how "Musical Madness" works:

Different albums will be matched up against each other. The album you think is better advances to the next round.

The best hip hop album, the best Indie album, the best mainstream album, and the best metal albums will all advance to the Final Riffs (the musical version of the Final Four) and from there we will determine our ultimate album of 2011.

There are 64 total albums that will make the cut. Sixteen albums will make the cut from each region/genre.

The sixteen mainstream albums will consist of the sixteen best selling albums of 2011.

The sixteen hip-hop albums will be sixteen critically acclaimed 2011 hip-hop albums

The sixteen indie albums will be some of my personal favorites and some of the other critically acclaimed indie albums from 2011.

The sixteen metal albums will consist of the sixteen critically acclaimed 2011 metal albums.

After you submit your bracket to me I will see who gets the most votes (who most people have "winning" in their bracket) and that team will move on to the next round. I will try to do this until I can come up with a consensus musical champion.

Now that you have ground rules it is time for you to see the match ups. It is time for you to fill out your bracket and progress American social relations. Or you can just tell me I am crazy. Yeah that is probably what you'll end up doing.

MAINSTREAM REGION (1 vs 16 plays winner of 8 vs 9, etc.)

(1) Adele: 21
(16) Foo Fighters: Wasting Light
(8) Various Artists: Now 37
(9) Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday

(5) Bruno Mars: Doo Wagons and Hooligans
(12) Britney Spears: Femme Fatale
(4) Jason Aldean: My Kind of Party
(13) Taylor Swift: Speak Now

(6) Justin Beiber: Never Say Never Remixes (EP)
(11) Rihanna: Loud
(3) Mumford and Sons: Sigh No More
(14) P!nk: Greatest Hits

(7) Chris Brown: F.A.M.E.
(10): Katy Perry: Teenage Dream
(2): Lady Gaga: Born This Way
(15) Lady Antebellum: Need You Now

Housekeeping notes: The 1 versus 16 winner will play the 8 versus 9 winner, the 5 versus 12 winner will play the 4 versus 13 winner, the 6 versus 11 winner will play the 3 versus 14 winner, the 7 versus 10 winner will play the 2 versus 15 winner. This process just keeps going on and on. Personally I think my pick here is either going to be Rihanna or Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters are the closest to my music taste but they do not make me shamefully dance in my room like Rihanna. This is going to be a close call.

INDIE REGION

(1) Bon Iver: Bon Iver, Bon Iver
(16) Girls: Father, Son, Holy Ghost
(8) Foster The People: Torches
(9): Andrew Jackson Jihad: Knife Man

(5): Radiohead: The King of Limbs
(12): Trophy Scars: Never Born, Never Dead
(4): Frank Turner: England Keep My Bones
(13): Manchester Orchestra: Simple Math

(6): Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues
(11) St. Vincent: Strange Mercy
(3): WU LYF: Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
(14): Beirut: The Rip Tide

(7): Destroyer: Kaputt
(10): TV on The Radio: Nine Types of Light
(2): The Dear Hunter: The Color Spectrum
(15): Yellowcard: When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes.


HIP HOP REGION:

(1): The Weeknd: House of Balloons
(16): Kanye West and Jay-Z: Watch The Throne
(8): Tyler, The Creator: Goblin
(9): Shabazz Palaces: Black Up

(5): Raekwon: Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang
(12): Lil B: I'm Gay (I'm Happy)
(4): Saigon: The Greatest Story Never Told
(13): Atmosphere: The Family Sign

(6): Curren$y: Weekend At Burnie's
(11): Lupe Fiasco: Lasers
(3): Big K.R.I.T: Return of 4eva
(14): The Cool Kids: When Fish Ride Bicycles

(7): DJ Quik: Book of David
(10): Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2
(2): Frank Ocean: Nostalgia, Ultra

(15): Lil Wayne: Tha Carter IV

METAL REGION

(1): The Devin Townsend Project: Ghost
(16): Born of Osiris: The Discovery
(8): Between The Buried and Me: Hypersleep Dialogues
(9): Boris: Heavy Rocks II

(5): Septic Fish: The Great Mass
(12): The Black Dahlia Murder: Ritual
(4): Unexpect: Fables of The Sleepless Empire
(13): Ash Borer: Ash Borer

(6): Hands: Give Me Rest
(11): Mitochondrion: Parasignosis
(3): Protest The Hero: Scurrilous
(14): August Burns Red: Leveler

(7): Decapitated: Carnival Is Forever
(10): Symphony X: Iconoclast
(2): Opeth: Heritage
(15): Dream Theater: A Dramatic Turn of Events

And with that we have all four regions of our sixty-four team musical madness. So fill out a bracket with your friends who love music and your friends who love sports. Their is nothing that brings together people like a little madness. And their is nothing that causes more madness than winning. So pick a winner by the end of the year and I will announce it on the site. Hopefully I was able to create a sports and music Utopia for you.