Niv and the Exploration

[SweeneyToad]

This set of songs had some interesting debuts: Billy's Little Trip; the rap crew Emergency Pizza Party; as well as the goth metal band Cranial Biffida.

EPP was my old rap crew! Good times!!

MC Wreckshin!
I really enjoyed EPP. "ughuuhghhhh" was a great record.

Hahah ty! That was a really fun album to make and my first attempt at making beats. It was part of the RPM Challenge to make a full length album in the month of February, still my favorite album title we ever came up with lol

[sleepysilverdoor]

Whaaaat that was you? I remember that! You kicked my entry's butt in "I want to get on it" . Maybe two of them, I don't remember if surf train surf industry was me. Surf rock manufacturing facility was.

[SweeneyToad]

Whaaaat that was you? I remember that song! You kicked my entry's butt in "I want to get on it" . Maybe two of them, I don't remember if surf train surf industry was me. Surf rock manufacturing facility was.

HA nice! We made that song about an obscure NES game (but one of my childhood favorites) called A Boy and his Blob. We had a lot of fun performing that one live back in the day. I'm going to have to go back and listen to that fight now.

[Niveous]

Day 39
(48.9% done)

Welcome to 2007. I made it through 180 songs today which was pretty good. Was it my favorite batch. No, Was it a bad batch? No. This was a set of songs without a lot of extremes. Take for instance, Masterhyde. He's a rapper and all his raps are smooth and clean. His first song "The Shelton with Sunspots" was good but it also felt like the rap version of mallsoft, like it could have been used in an advert for a timeshare. Just a lot of songs in this bunch that I didn't hate but didn't love. Debuts during this time included the rapping cyber squatter Eric B; LML; Mike Lamb; Spinlock. This group also included the second Achewood fight, "...Dude and Catastrophe". Fun fact- MC Frontalot's song from that fight ended up as DLC in Rock Band. That was wild back in the day to have a Songfight song in a video game.

Cringe: Eight Legged Oedipus' "Georgia's Hand". The song is made so well but I hear the lines "She screams 'fifteen is a woman' if you know what I mean" & "She'll be my girlfriend and I'll be her rapist" and I cringe hard.

Here are today's GEMS:

• Livin' At The Corner Of Dude And Catastrophe by Billy's Little Trip feat. Paco
• Livin' At The Corner Of Dude And Catastrophe by MC Frontalot feat. Brad Sucks
• Livin' At The Corner Of Dude And Catastrophe by Several Thousand Dollars in Motion
• Livin' At The Corner Of Dude And Catastrophe by Those Meddling Kids
• Glutton by Emergency Pizza Party
• Glutton by Glenn Case
• Glutton by PiGPEN
• Glutton by Stylon Pilson
• Glutton by ZeaLous1 feat. DarkHeart
• Georgia's Hand by Glenn Case
• Georgia's Hand by Robots do the Work
• The Shelton With Sunspots by Papercut Brigade
• The Shelton With Sunspots by Thornberry
• A Woman On Paper by Anti-M
• Pink Ribbon by Chuck the Bear
• Convalescence by Klownhole
• Convalescence by Paco del Stinko

[fluffy]

Whaaaat that was you? I remember that song! You kicked my entry's butt in "I want to get on it" . Maybe two of them, I don't remember if surf train surf industry was me. Surf rock manufacturing facility was.

HA nice! We made that song about an obscure NES game (but one of my childhood favorites) called A Boy and his Blob. We had a lot of fun performing that one live back in the day. I'm going to have to go back and listen to that fight now.

I can't believe A Boy and his Blob is considered obscure. It got the cover story on Nintendo Power with a full strategy guide when it came out.

[SweeneyToad]

Whaaaat that was you? I remember that song! You kicked my entry's butt in "I want to get on it" . Maybe two of them, I don't remember if surf train surf industry was me. Surf rock manufacturing facility was.

HA nice! We made that song about an obscure NES game (but one of my childhood favorites) called A Boy and his Blob. We had a lot of fun performing that one live back in the day. I'm going to have to go back and listen to that fight now.

I can't believe A Boy and his Blob is considered obscure. It got the cover story on Nintendo Power with a full strategy guide when it came out.

It also got a sequel like 20 years later on the Wii, so maybe it wasn't that obscure in hindsight. But I did just go back and read through that review thread and nobody knew what our song was about so I guess it was at least obscure to the songfighters at that moment in time.

[Niveous]

Before I start my listening for Day 41. It's time for....

NIV'S HALFWAY CELEBRATION!!!

Day 40
(50.2% done)

I've made it halfway through the archive! Yesterday's listening included some solid fights. It's funny that during yesterday's listening, I stumbled upon my SF Top 200 of 2007 list which is still floating around on the internet. Does 2020 Niv agree with 2007 Niv? Not on everything. But that list is still pretty cool because gathered up a bunch of quotes and photos for all the songs on the list.

I'm going to jump ahead to the GEMS for the day and then do a little look into the first half of the archive.

GEMS:

• Get A Life by Doctor Worm
• Get A Life by LML
• Get A Life by Your Money Wasted
• House of Hodgman by Big Crouton
• House of Hodgman by Jim Tyrrell
• House of Hodgman by Wes Davis and the DesMLs
• tw3rp by Gert
• tw3rp by Melvin
• tw3rp by Spinlock
• Couldn't Have Been Worse by Closest Dark Vepun ind.
• Couldn't Have Been Worse by The Darkest Daves
• Couldn't Have Been Worse by The Hell Yeahs
• Couldn't Have Been Worse by Masterhyde
• Gray Rainbow by Queen Anthony's Lace
• King Me by C Hack
• King Me by Henrietta
• King Me by Hostess Mostess
• Ten Lies by King Arthur
• Ten Lies by Wes Davis
• Clause 5, Sub-Paragraph d) by WreckdoM

So, who have I given the most GEMS to in the first half of the archive. I'm not sure. If I just whip up a quick pivot chart of all the GEMS, the answer is:

sonofsupercar: 12
Johnny Cashpoint: 11
State Shirt: 11
Abominominous: 10
Frankie Big Face: 9
Jute Gyte: 9
Deshead: 8
Hostess Mostess: 7
Josh Woodward: 7
King Arthur: 7
Luke Henley: 7
Max The Cat: 7

Which feels kinda consistent with my tastes, though I'm a little surprised by the Josh but I can't deny he makes some good tunes. The problem with that list is it doesn't include the associated acts. For instance J$ gets 1 more for Tiny Paws of Fury and FBF gets one more for Mellified Man. When I'm done with this whole project, the Associated Acts list will definitely become a priority to better interpret my raw data.

I'm not going to do the same type of list for Okays and Trash. Let's keep it positive.

593 GEMS (9.3%)
4231 OKAY (66.7%)
1490 TRASH (23.4%)
27 MISC. (The repeats from the nostalgia fights, things that didn't play, weird issues, etc.)
So, I still feel like most of Songfight's archive is okay. I listened and the song was fine. About 1 out of every 10 songs I hear, I really like and would play outside of the context of this project. And then there's almost a quarter of the archive which I would never want to hear again. That's not a bad score in the long run.

Okay, I've done enough playing around with this stuff for now. I have songs to listen to. Couple of big fights to get through today (Sugar Shaker; We Were Not Meant To Be; Late To A Funeral).

[Lunkhead]

That breakdown is eerily similar to Jonathan Mann's 70/20/10 rule:

https://youtu.be/M-f-e_RLhUw?t=142

[fluffy]

27 MISC. (The repeats from the nostalgia fights, things that didn't play, weird issues, etc.)

I hope you’re posting about these over in the quality control section! A lot of them might be fixable.

[Niveous]

That breakdown is eerily similar to Jonathan Mann's 70/20/10 rule:

https://youtu.be/M-f-e_RLhUw?t=142

I had never seen that before. That's great and an amazing accurate coincidence.

[Niveous]

Day 41-42
(52.5% done)

Feels like a while since I have done a day. Actually, I listened to about 150 songs on Friday, then got caught up in watching SF Live and hanging with my children. Then I was sick yesterday so I picked back up with everything today. I only made it through 11 fights but that's nearly 300 songs! This set of tunes included Thank God for Memphis which was the live fight for Song Fight Live 2007: Rebels & Trebles. It happened in Georgia and I didn't get to go. There was also the Sugar Shaker fight which was the "make the dance hit of the summer" challenge. There are also some Sugar Shaker music videos out there. I didn't watch them. Maybe they'll land on the Songfight YT. This set of songs also included We Were Not Meant to Be, which was based around Dinosaur Comics. The debuting acts in this group of songs included Adam Adamant; The Weakest Suit; Embers of Autumn; and the Worldly Self-Assurance (the mighty supergroup of Glennny, Frisbee, Furrypedro & Melvin). Lord of Oats was also running around here. I don't think I have ever told the story of meeting him. So, we had been FB friends for years but never did a lot of talking. If we had, I would've realized that at some point he moved to Brooklyn. He shows up at Sidewalk on one of the nights were I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to help run the open mic. He comes up to me and introduces himself and I draw a total blank who he is because I'm in work mode. Felt so bad but once I realized, I was happy to meet him.

Oddity: It's weird that in Thank God for Memphis, you get live and studio versions of songs but with different artist names (Andre Was Here At Hoblit/ Hoblit Was Here At Midnight; Flvxxvm Florvm/ Jeff "Flapjack" Robertson). At the same time you have Caravan Ray as Lyricburglar where he was trying lyrics from the lyric threads and using them. Lots of duplications...

Here are the GEMS:

• Evil April by The Hell Yeahs
• Evil April by Renwick
• Ran Away to Paris by My Chemical Blumpkins
• We Were Not Meant to Be by The Air Kick Pigeon Band
• We Were Not Meant to Be by Luke Henley feat. Andrew Ryder
• We Were Not Meant to Be by Set Fire
• We Were Not Meant to Be by Sixthline and BCB
• The Sugar Shaker by calc0s
• The Sugar Shaker by Caravan Ray
• The Sugar Shaker by i.p.
• The Sugar Shaker by Melvin
• The Sugar Shaker by The Seamus Collective
• Late To A Funeral by i.p.
• Late To A Funeral by The Worldly Self-Assurance
• Late To A Funeral by WreckdoM
• That's What She Said by HEY DAVE!
• Ottoman by Renwick
• Ottoman by State Shirt
• Ottoman by Steve Durand feat. Bridget
• So Weird by Billy's Little Trip
• So Weird by The Special Relatives
• So Weird by State Shirt
• Anomaly by State Shirt
• Thank God for Memphis by The Anchors
• Thank God for Memphis by Chris Cusack
• Thank God for Memphis by MC Wino
• History of My Broken Heart by add

[j$]

For instance J$ gets 1 more for Tiny Paws of Fury and FBF gets one more for Mellified Man. When I'm done with this whole project, the Associated Acts list will definitely become a priority to better interpret my raw data.

Oh blimey, good luck with that, with my "associated" back catalogue. I was trying to work out how many songs I'd posted, and realised I'd forgotten so many "hilarious" pseudonyms that it would be nigh on impossible. I am sure there are more associated acts songs than things posted as "j$". For instance, you posted really liking little smokes' "Galaxies Floating ..." I wrote and played on that (along with Andy Balham, Sarah Beanz and Steve Durand on that particular song) .. people seem to be able to tell it's me when I even sing backing vocals, so maybe it's obvious, but not to these cloth ears!

j$

[Niveous]

I definitely will be enlisting help from everyone when it comes to the Associated Acts list.

And yes, you have a very noteworthy voice so it easy to say- isn't that J$ on that song.

[ken]

Jeff "Flapjack" Robertson

Thank you for jogging my memory of this moment. It was certainly one of those "you had to be there" kind of Song Fight Live performances. Also, clearly, if you remember then you weren't there.

Good times.

[Jefff]

Jeff "Flapjack" Robertson

This stirs something in my lizard brain, but all I can come up with is a sling blade voice saying "They call me flapjack".

[jb]

Jeff "Flapjack" Robertson

This stirs something in my lizard brain, but all I can come up with is a sling blade voice saying "They call me flapjack".

It's definitely connected to my sister Casey, who is off her god damn rocker quite frequently, shouting "MORE FLAPJACK" constantly during the show after his set. I'm not certain that he was even the one who said flapjack originally, but... you know... Casey...

JB

[Niveous]

Day 43
(53.9% done)

I've officially listened to 500 fights in this exploration, as this set included the "And Counting" fight. I also made it through the Night Terrors fight which was supposed to be scary. I was not a big fan of that fight. There were no big debuts during this time period. It was just 170 or so songs with some I enjoyed and a bunch that I didn't.

Oddity: Caravan Ray and his performing LOINFRUIT.

Here are the GEMS:

• A Friendly Reminder by Big Seed DNA
• A Friendly Reminder by veGetar Ianra Ge
• How Much Will You Give Me? by Klownhole
• How Much Will You Give Me? by Senza Valore
• My Darling Ruin by add
• My Darling Ruin by Spinlock
• Baby, Be Quiet by Jeff Travis Henderson
• Baby, Be Quiet by Pop Quiz Chicken
• Night Terrors by Adam Adamant
• Night Terrors by Ross Durand
• Maki by Melvin
• And Counting by Asteroids 57801-57900
• And Counting by King Arthur

[sleepysilverdoor]

I am honored! Asteroids! That song barely got any votes for some reason but I was super stoked to be part of it. It was me, Pete and...someone else. Melvin maybe?

[Niveous]

Melvin on Bass/ Vocals/ Tambourine

[Paco Del Stinko]

Niv - Any idea how many fight winners or ducks made it to your gems list? S'pose it doesn't matter, as it's all your personal preference and both winners and ducks alike may not have deserved their tallies anyway. Just a thought.

[j$]

Melvin on Bass/ Vocals/ Tambourine

Well, there's a song I can happily skip then

j$

[Niveous]

Niv - Any idea how many fight winners or ducks made it to your gems list? S'pose it doesn't matter, as it's all your personal preference and both winners and ducks alike may not have deserved their tallies anyway. Just a thought.

Good question! This is a perfect time to look at that seeing as I just reached fight #500.

Fight winners that I gave GEM scores to: 134

Spoiler

• The Last Words of Cotton Wool by Kissing Contest
• Flood Victim by Nil
• Eternity Without You by The Shortcakes
• Repair My Heart by Miss Mary Ellen
• On A Line by Frankie Big Face
• Black Hole by The Shortcakes
• Run Free by The Shortcakes
• 120 MPH by Kompressor
• Dad I'm Changing by Metalmags and her Dad
• Red Robot by Milwaukee Youth Center Choir
• Down To The Atom by Duboce Triangle
• Video Night by Milwaukee Youth Center Choir
• Rot To Fill by The Pickup Artists
• Grandfather Sword by Hostess Mostess
• Stuck Down A Mineshaft by Real Frogs
• Poison Pill by Raised By Wolves
• Funny Enough For You by Frankie Big Face
• Totally Digging Your Mom by Abjure!
• Polaris by Klownhole
• I Think It's Killing Me by 2 from 14
• Gonna Be Your Man by MC Frontalot
• Unless I Change My Mind by Jim of Seattle
• Unless I Change My Mind by Visionary
• Bad Attraction by Brad Sucks
• Need Stilts by Glenn and Rachael
• What We Need More Of Is Science by MC Hawking
• Accelerator by A Kid Named Ace
• Stand In The Circle by Omphaloskepsis
• More Than Soup by Starfinger
• Please Don't Call Me Ken by Doctor Worm
• Feathers by Lonbobby + M0bo1d
• Dirty Chucks by A Kid Named Ace
• Cosmic Confirmation by The White Hat
• Tomorrow's Almost Over by Lemon Party
• Race To Seven by Forty Second Songs featuring Novox the Robot
• Direct to Helmet by Carol Cleveland Sings
• Martians are Going to Eat Us by Madi, Singer/Songwriter, Age 7
• Fire Bomb by The John Benjamin Band
• Crinkle Binkle by Frankie Big Face
• Romantic Cheapskate by MC Frontalot w/ Badddspellah
• Deuce by Revel Yth
• Lizard Wizard by Pompeii
• Nicely Toasted by Abominominous
• Zombie Son by The Frontalittle Squad
• Lucky Man by Abominominous
• Take a Pill by Glenn Case feat. Eddiebangs
• Fight the Sea by Josh Woodward
• Hold This For Me by The Hell Yeahs
• There Are So Many Possibilities by Puce
• Snooter by Josh Woodward
• So Kind Stacey by Pompeii
• Say the Word by The Def Author
• Less of You by c.layne feat. Revel Yth
• A Day in the Life by The Befores
• WTF by Redcar
• Quentin Tarantino by R. Mosquito
• In The Ditch by The Hell Yeahs
• Five Minutes by Josh Woodward
• I'm With Steve Now by Gyre feat. Emma Lee
• As Icons of my Youth Fall Silent by Forty Second Songs
• Hero Points by Abominominous
• Laugh Riot by Loyalty Day
• Tri-State Area by The Cow Exchange
• I Thought I Loved You by Sven Mullet
• Left/Right by Hobbes
• I Am Tempted by Josh Woodward
• Dark All Day by Glenn Case and the Half Racks
• Piece of My Heat by The Def Author
• The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter by Puce
• Things To Do In New York by Fifteen Years
• I Wish I Was So Sure by R. Mosquito
• Fell Out of the Sky by State Shirt
• Ninja Gang by The Frontalittle Squad
• When it Snowed by Null Dynamo
• Prep School by Max The Cat
• Naked on the Meach by Jim Tyrrell
• Failure and Regret by Deshead
• Hollywood Fantasy by Loyalty Day
• Dog Boy Hits the Skids by Eight Legged Oedipus
• Bite Size by Mellified Man
• Gallows Hill by Josh Woodward
• Punk Bartender by WreckdoM
• Our Love Violates Corporate Policy by Minty Handy
• Pig Sticker by Minty Handy
• Everybody Now by Ants (Invisible)
• Oh Britney by Sell Crazy
• Ancient by sonofsupercar
• Baseball Vs. Opera by Hostess Mostess
• Honeymoon in Polynesia by roymond
• Scissor Kick by Johnny Cashpoint
• I'm Not Impressed by Puce
• Crossroads by Loyalty Day
• What's in it for Me? by Loyalty Day
• Policy of Rape by Southwest Statistic & Puce
• Happy Life by Shovel Sitting Down
• Rattle by Japantown Three
• Attack of the Show by The East Bay Acolytes
• Prayer for Pancakes by Luke Henley
• Welcome to ______ by Jim of Seattle
• Brimming With Tears by Melvin
• We All Need Love by Jordan Seavers
• Fresh Dog by MC Frontalot
• The Red Door by Anti-M
• Five Nights in Britain by Tiny Robots
• S____ Rock by Luke Henley
• Don't You by Steady Eddy Steady
• Butterfly Massacre by Luke Henley's Heartland Choir
• Clouds Were Touching the Ground by Jordan Seavers
• Not Like That by MC Kohlz & DJ TJ Maxxx feat. KB Noize and Dolla Jen'ral
• Capsaicin by The Cow Exchange
• It Never Happened by Max The Cat
• Peppermint Patty by Jim of Seattle
• Bad Cat by Gert
• Saving Throw by The Frontalittle Squad
• Had It Up To Here by roymond
• Cable Beach by Ben Krieger
• Proud! by Deux Freres
• Onomatopoeia by Those Meddling Kids
• Exclamation Point by Starfinger
• All Tan by The Bewells
• Ignorance Is Bliss by The Seamus Collective
• Robot Baby by Jordan Seavers
• Wedding Song by Billy's Little Trip
• Livin' At The Corner Of Dude And Catastrophe by MC Frontalot feat. Brad Sucks
• Glutton by Emergency Pizza Party
• Georgia's Hand by Glenn Case
• Pink Ribbon by Chuck the Bear
• House of Hodgman by Wes Davis and the DesMLs
• Evil April by The Hell Yeahs
• We Were Not Meant to Be by The Air Kick Pigeon Band
• The Sugar Shaker by The Seamus Collective
• Late To A Funeral by i.p.
• Late To A Funeral by The Worldly Self-Assurance
• My Darling Ruin by add

That's 134 out of 532 winners I have made it through so far.
25% of the winners are GEMS. Only about 8% are TRASH.

Ducks is a little harder. We don't have the vote tallies for all the fights before the Let's Get Naked fight. Kind of surprising, there are only 575 ducks left when you remove those.

Ducks that I gave GEMS scores to: 12

Spoiler

• So Aggravating by King Arthur
• Happy Machine Ankle by Stelloscuro
• Zombie Son by Jim Tyrrell
• Zombie Son by Roy Castle
• Influential Film by @eclectic spOOns
• Glutton by PiGPEN
• Glutton by Stylon Pilson
• Couldn't Have Been Worse by Masterhyde
• Late To A Funeral by WreckdoM
• Thank God for Memphis by The Anchors
• How Much Will You Give Me? by Senza Valore
• And Counting by King Arthur

The fact that that Stylon Pilson song is a Duck is a crime.
So, I only gave GEMS to 2% of the Ducks. 41% Trash. So, most Ducks have been OKAY.

Great question, Paco!