Blame it on Bad Brackets (Bayside Bracket) Bracket

Feeling spontaneous, so our Bayside bracket starts tonight!

For those who are new to the concept, these are randomly generated brackets (no seeding!) where we go from album to album and put the songs from an album against each other. We vote on each matchup until we have a winner for each album. Those songs will then face off in a Champions bracket to decide the best overall Bayside song! Same rules as the other brackets:


Rules:

1. Voting will take place over 10-24 hour period, depending on how close the matches are (if there's a wide margin too far to beat, the round may be run ruled to not waste time).

2. You must vote on every match in a round. If you don't, your votes don't count. Just reply to this thread with your choices. I will not vote unless there is a tie needed to be broken.

3. Feel free to discuss why you chose one song over the other and why you like that song. It's what keeps these fun!

4. I avoid byes into rounds if I can, but sometimes it's necessary. These are randomly generated; I do not pick them.

5. Once your votes are counted, there are no vote changes. Choose wisely before posting!

6. The King John Rule: Only participate if you've heard these songs. You are welcome to look them up and listen beforehand, but if there's evidence you haven't heard them before or you're just voting to help/hurt a song your votes will not count.


And the most important rule of them all: Have fun and stay respectful of each other.

 

These are the rounds we will be voting in, in the following order:

Sirens and Condolences
Bayside
The Walking Wounded
Shudder
Killing Time
Cult
Vacancy
Extras (miscellaneous)


BAYSIDE FACE OFF:

SIRENS AND CONDOLENCES
-----

Round 1


1) Kellum vs. Alcohol and Alter Boys

2) Poison in My Veins vs. Just Enough to Love You

3) If You’re Bored vs. Masterpiece

4) A Synonym for Acquiesce vs. Guardrail

5) How to Fix Everything vs. Talking of Michelangelo


First round bye: Phone Call from Poland

Round 1 starts now!

 

Will dive in tomorrow

 

Alcohol and Alter Boys
Just Enough to Love You
If You’re Bored
Guardrail
How to Fix Everything

 

Some very tough matchups here for me. Love pretty much every song on the album, and they've all seemingly ground on me. The ones I was iffy on at first became well liked over time.

1) Kellum vs. Alcohol and Alter Boys

I like Kellum, but it always felt a bit more generic than the others. Probably my least favorite on the album.

2) Poison in My Veins vs. Just Enough to Love You

To be honest I like the EP version of Just Enough to Love You more. Poison in My Veins is hard to beat for me regardless.

3) If You’re Bored vs. Masterpiece

This one is so tough. It really depends on my mood. Masterpiece is better when I'm more energetic and/or angry. If you're bored just hits a spot when I'm feeling more down or angsty. Masterpiece gets enough love already, being the only one from the album still in live shows and the only single. So I'll give this one to If You're Bored. Love the guitar work and rhythms.

4) A Synonym for Acquiesce vs. Guardrail

The intro to Guardrail might be one of my favorites of all time.

5) How to Fix Everything vs. Talking of Michelangelo

Another really tough one. Basically just going by which one sounded catchier to me at this moment when I played them in my head. ToM is awesome too. The final chorus gets me every time.

 

Great post. This band means a ton to me so I love reading people’s thoughts on different songs and why they chose what they did.

 

Will jump in at Walking Wounded if I remember to!

 

Need to revisit Sirens and three brackets for bands that I like going at once is a challenge, but I've been waiting for this bracket for quite some time.

 

Please do!

 

I’ve been waiting for this bracket for a while myself. A little bummed that I can’t actually vote, but I’m excited to see how this all plays out regardless.

 

Alcohol and Alter Boys

Just Enough to Love You

If You’re Bored

Guardrail

How to Fix Everything


EDIT: I see one of the voters above me has the same ideas

 

Kellum - 0
Alcohol and Alter Boys - 3

Poison in My Veins - 1
Just Enough to Love You - 2

If You’re Bored - 3
Masterpiece - 0

A Synonym for Acquiesce - 0
Guardrail - 3

How to Fix Everything - 3
Talking of Michelangelo - 0

 

Choosing between some of these songs feels like I'm choosing favorites between my (made up) children. Bayside is my favorite band (I got the Bayside logo done as my first tattoo almost 12 years ago), and Sirens is my favorite album.

1) Kellum vs. Alcohol and Alter Boys

Alcohol and Alter Boys is one of my favorite songs to see Bayside play live. There's an excitement that I feel whenever I heard the song's beginning sound and drum beat that I don't get from many other songs.

2) Poison in My Veins vs. Just Enough to Love You

If I were a few years younger I'd certainly choose Poison, but I think that the lyrics in Just Enough resonate more with me now as an almost 30 year old adult than the lyrics in Poison.

3) If You’re Bored vs. Masterpiece

Masterpiece was the first Bayside song I ever heard, I'm never not going to pick it (unless it comes up against the next song I'm about to choose...)

4) A Synonym for Acquiesce vs. Guardrail

This song is hands down my favorite Bayside song. I've never been someone whose had a huge group of friends, and just like what Anthony says so many times I feel more comfortable by myself (ie the empty fields) than in rooms filled with friends (or other people).

5) How to Fix Everything vs. Talking of Michelangelo

Okay, this is the toughest choice. As I'm writing this I still don't know which song I should choose.

5 minutes later - I chose How to Fix because I was ready to take that big step.

 

My reaction when I see everyone choosing Guardrail over A Synonym for Acquiesce:

 

Love these detailed posts! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

 

I'm glad someone likes them! Especially because I'll definitely be explaining every choice I make in this bracket.

 

Looking forward to it. I’ve never really said any one band is my “favorite,” but Bayside are right up at the very top for me and have been for a long time now, so I always enjoy reading thoughts on different tracks, records, etc.

 

1) Alcohol and Altar Boys
2) Poison in My Veins
3) Masterpiece
4) Guardrail
5) Talking of Michelangelo

This is probably overall my least favorite Bayside album in 2019, but it's still full of bangers. What a band.

 

Kellum - 0
Alcohol and Alter Boys - 5

Poison in My Veins - 2
Just Enough to Love You - 3

If You’re Bored - 3
Masterpiece - 2

A Synonym for Acquiesce - 1
Guardrail - 4

How to Fix Everything - 4
Talking of Michelangelo - 1

 

1) Alcohol and Alter Boys

2) Just Enough to Love You

3) Masterpiece

4) Guardrail

5) Talking of Michelangelo

 

Alcohol
Love
Bored
Guardrail
Michelangelo

 

Alcohol
Poison
Masterpiece
Acquiesce
Michelangelo

 

I've been calling for a Bayside bracket forever, so thanks for running this. Bayside isn't my favorite band, but they're probably in my top 3-5 and I do believe they've been THE most consistent band in the past 15 years that I listen to. They just never let me down and I love each and every single one of their albums (yes, even you Cult).

I love Sirens, but it's probably the one Bayside album that I revisit the least. A lot of the lyrics, which were not written by Anthony, have aged really poorly in my opinion

Kellum - these songs are both fantastic but Kellum doesn't deserve to get shut out
Just Enough to Love You
If You’re Bored
Guardrail (I love synonym but I think it goes on for way too long.)
How to Fix Everything

 

Alcohol and Alter Boys
Poison in My Veins
Masterpiece
A Synonym for Acquiesce
Talking of Michelangelo

 

Alcohol and Alter Boys
Just Enough to Love You
Masterpiece
Guardrail
Talking of Michelangelo

A couple tough ones this round!