The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...1966
One year ago yesterday, I excitedly posted about an idea I had to celebrate March Madness. 16 albums. One year. One winner. What was the best album released in one of the greatest years for music – 1967. We did it like a region of the March Madness bracket. 16 vs. 1, 15 vs. 2, 14 vs. 3 and et cetera until we got down to our final match where the 1-seed, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, took home the grand prize. You can read the finale post here. The entire Music Court event was extremely fun. Do you know why? Because you all voted and made it awesome. We had several votes per poll and therefore received close battles and true blowouts (which you will also see during the March Madness tournament itself. And guess what?
We are doing it again! We are traveling back in time one year and exploring what was the best album released in 1966. Did you know that Texas Western won the NCAA men’s tournament that year. It was actually a very memorable tournament. The all-black starting five of Texas Western defeated an all-white starting five for Kentucky in the championship game and continued to open up possibilities of black athletes everywhere.
During the same year two bands from California released two influential albums. One was released by a couple of simple surfer boys turned complex musical composers – their 11th album. The other, a debut, featured protest, protest, and protest. Before we get to a preview of round #1 let’s go over some of the rules. Yes, I am copying this from my post last year!
I have ranked 16 albums from 1 (meaning the best) to 16 (meaning the 16th best on our list). Yes, 1-16 will have tremendous albums and your favorite may not be included. Many albums were released in 1966 and it is very hard to choose the best (1-16) but I am trying. There is no genre discrimination. If I feel that the album was the best, it will be on our list.
The tournament will see four match-ups in the form of polls two days a week. So, today, below, you see the one seed vs. the sixteen seed. It is a little taste of the tourny. Tomorrow we will do three more match-ups. You vote for your favorite. You have until the end of the first round (March 21 ) to vote. After the first round I will tally the votes and we will move onto the elite eight and then the final four and then the finals. Here are the rough dates of when everything will be posted.
March 14 (Tomorrow: 2 vs. 15, 3 vs. 14, 4 vs. 13)
March 19: (5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, 8 vs. 9)
March 23: Elite Eight (First two matches)
March 26: Elite Eight (Last two matches) Voting for Elite Eight ends April 2
April 2: Final Four – Voting for Final Four ends April 9
April 9: Finals – Voting ends April 15 and winner is crowned.
REMEMBER: THIS WILL ONLY WORK IF YOU ALL VOTE!!! Keep track of the schedule and VOTE VOTE VOTE!
ROUND 1 Preview
#1: Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys vs. #16: Buffalo Springfield by Buffalo Springfield
It is not an easy choice. While Pet Sounds is widely considered as one of the most impactful psychedelic explorations ever (ranked #2 of 500 albums in Rolling Stone’s Top Albums Ever), Buffalo Springfield’s eponymous first album did feature Neil Young and Stephen Stills rocking out together for the first time (even though they were unhappy with the release). So will we have a rare first round upset or will Michigan State beat LIU (oh I mean Pet Sounds vs. Buffalo Springfield). It’s time to make your voices heard. Vote!
The Music Court 
Reblogged this on Is It Possible To See It All and commented:
A fun game to play
I came here from John Phillips’ blog. This is such a cool idea!
Thanks! I’m so happy John shared this post. I can’t wait to post up the next few battles today. I’d love to hear your feedback on the albums!