26 Comments
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Michael Anderson's avatar

REM wins all the brackets.

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Joe Wack's avatar

Duly noted.

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Michael Anderson's avatar

If you need some expert analysis on the pod that features REM, you know who to call.

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Joel Domoe's avatar

I like this format!

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Kathleen Hogan's avatar

Just voted!! I love you guys!! 💕

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Chris Jacobs's avatar

"agonized over them like killing puppies" -- yes, there were some difficult choices in there.

I find it interesting how upset some posters are over the votes garnered for their favorite/best known artists. (Guilty)

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The 80s-est's avatar

I think everyone, myself and Joe included, would do the picks a little differently if we just by ourselves picked the legends and songs based on just our own personal preferences. I was trying to knock out my own bias toward rock and Britpop by using the charts, but it still left popular artists out in the cold, and using the chart positions for the song choices leaves a bunch of awesome songs off the lists, too. Nature of the beast, I guess!

If I had endeavored to pick one song from each album, I'd be leaving out massive #1s in favor of #27 hits... I liked the idea John Bedwell had: 64 different brackets of 16 to pick the songs! 😂 We'd be voting for MONTHS, but what the hell?

--K

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John Bedwell's avatar

Why in the world was Dreams not a VH choice? I'm so sad :(.

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The 80s-est's avatar

Sorry, buddy! It was on my list!

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John Bedwell's avatar

I know it was... I blame Joe.

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The 80s-est's avatar

I wasn't saying it was Joe's fault! I meant it just missed the top 4!

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John Bedwell's avatar

You know in hindsight, there really was no way to create an adequate representation of VH songs if there was a limit of four. You should have created an VH bracket so we could choose which song represents them. I suppose we could say that about many of the other artists in the list as well... guess you better get busy 🤣🤣🤣. Seriously though, it doesn't matter which VH song is there, Journey is going to win it all😁.

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Genevieve's avatar

I’m in that timeless dilemma though: do I vote for the song most representative of THE ARTIST? Or of the 80s? Given the name of the podcast, I feel like it’s the latter. Are you guys going to share which of these songs you voted for and how?

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Joe Wack's avatar

I'm sure we will. It seems like a very us thing to do.

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The 80s-est's avatar

I am keeping track of my votes, yes! And I am voting 80-est, but that's just me trying to stay on brand! --Keith

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Alejandro Saya's avatar

Wait a minute, where's Roxette? 😂😂I ended up choosing the songs that still play on adult contemporary radio quite often... "Billie Jean", "Sussudio", "Free Falling"... And I must confess, I didn't know any of the ZZ Top or Elvis Costello songs, so I took a wild guess on those ones.

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Joe Wack's avatar

You should catch up on Elvis Costello. He's pretty good.

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The 80s-est's avatar

He IS good, but not the most legendary of legends in terms of worldwide renown, right?

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Alejandro Saya's avatar

Will do! Costello found a late worldwide recognition through the "Notting Hill" soundtrack and his rendition of the song "She", a classic for video montages on weddings!

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José A's avatar

I could get all het up about Stevie Wonder not being his own bracket, but I'll abide. Instead I'll genuinely ask if Cheap Sunglasses was an 80s song, lemme dig this up

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Joe Wack's avatar

And, look, you know I love Stevie. But his 80s output is just not the equal of the prior two decades. Witness how many people seem to voting for I Just Called to Say I Love You when Overjoyed is RIGHT THERE.

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Joe Wack's avatar

One of those where I believe it may have been on an album released in '79, but charted in '80.

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Michael Anderson's avatar

Phil Collins wins runner up in all the brackets.

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Deni's avatar

I'm baffled by the absence of Duran Duran's Rio and very disappointed by the omission of Pat Benatar's Invincible.

I probably would have mixed up REM a bit more and not just had two albums represented, but I also understand my bias. But seeing how End of the World is crushing it in the early voting shows how the lasting legacies are not always the biggest hits at the time.

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Joe Wack's avatar

You know, man, we were thinking in terms of hits. And these four REM songs were some of their most broadly popular. I know that you and Michael could come up with a dozen songs that are better/cooler.

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The 80s-est's avatar

I had lifelong Benatar and Duran fans choose my 4 songs out of the hits, and they agonized over them like killing puppies. 🤷🏼‍♂️ And beyond that Joe and I had to agree also. I know Rio was in the discussion. Invincible was also in the top 6. 🤷🏼‍♂️

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