#331 Best Album of 1989 Tournament: Week #16 Wrap-Up
Hey folks!
Another week over, and while all the expected winners won, boy we had another real close call. PRESIDENT YO LA TENGO defeated CROSSROADS by one vote, but that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. PYLT led for nearly the entire match, sometimes by as much as ten votes, but with about fifteen minutes left, CROSSROADS surged ahead, and at one point was leading by, IIRC, three votes. Then there was a literal last-minute push by the YLT fans, and it recovered just enough ground to take the win. I said last week on Bluesky that I forecasted a possible upset here, and while it didn’t happen, I think my instincts were correct.
IMPORTANT(?) NOTE
I said last week that tomorrow I would have another special Best Album of 2001 edition of the newsletter. Well, I spent the first half of last week in extreme pain from a toothache, which resulted in an emergency tooth extraction on Thursday. (The filling in the tooth began to impinge on the nerve. Even less fun than it sounds!) Anyway, I wasn’t in any mood or condition to listen to anything, so I’m a little behind, and I want some more albums under my belt before I publish another listening guide. So look for it next week? Probably? In the meantime, I looked at my 17 favorite albums of 2001 here, and then I presented 24 albums from 2001 that you, the readers and voters, loved but thought were obscure. Please give those a read and consider at least sampling some of what you see there!
THE BEST ALBUM OF 1989 PREDICTION BRACKET TOP 20
Not a whole lot goin’ on this week, the fourth week of the Prediction Bracket Top 20. CORNY remains #1 for a second week, and Breathe! Breathe! Breathe! Breathe, You Bracket! and Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Picks switch places to #2 and #3, respectively. The biggest mover was I'll Believe in My Bracket (Or I'll Be Leavin' You Tonight), up 4 notches to #14; as you can see from the dearth of blue boxes, not a lot of new upward movement. We have two debuts, but they’re re-debuts: i Doolittle Deep Listening and We Are The Brackets Gone Wild! both return (at #15 and #18) after dropping out last week. While movement upward was minimal, we had some big drops, the biggest being Drink Milk (down seven to #17) and That one Turtles sample that got De La in trouble (down nine to #15). We had two debuts, so that means we lost… just one? Okay, you weird chart. Say goodbye, for now, to 5 Feet High and Guessing, which debuted at #20 last week then dropped off this week. Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars!
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
On Monday, #20 Julee Cruise, FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT defeated #45 The Beautiful South, WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH, 91-52. (143 total votes, +39)
On Tuesday, #5 Nine Inch Nails, PRETTY HATE MACHINE defeated #69 Love and Rockets, LOVE AND ROCKETS, 123-36. (159 total votes, +87)
On Wednesday, #28 Yo La Tengo, PRESIDENT YO LA TENGO defeated #37 Tracy Chapman, CROSSROADS, 78-77-1. (156 total votes, +1)
On Thursday, #12 New Order, TECHNIQUE defeated #53 Operation Ivy, ENERGY, 121-50-2. (173 total votes, +71)
On Friday, #21 Lou Reed, NEW YORK defeated #44 Soundgarden, LOUDER THAN LOVE, 106-45-1. (152 votes, +61)
NEXT WEEK’S MATCHES
Monday, September 15th: #2 Beastie Boys, PAUL’S BOUTIQUE vs. #66 Bob Dylan, OH MERCY.
Tuesday, September 16th: #31 Ministry, THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE vs. #34 Bonnie Raitt, NICK OF TIME.
Wednesday, September 17th: #15 Madonna, LIKE A PRAYER vs. #79 EPMD, UNFINISHED BUSINESS.
Thursday, September 18th: #18 Kate Bush, THE SENSUAL WORLD vs. #47 Kirsty MacColl, KITE.
Friday, September 19th: #7 The Stone Roses, THE STONE ROSES vs. #58 Boogie Down Productions, GHETTO MUSIC: THE BLUEPRINT OF HIP HOP.
Thanks for reading and subscribing!
Kent