The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I miss 3 titles.

Please bring back the 3rd fight.

I concur. Do you concur Doctor?

OK. Let me clue you guys in on something.

In the beginning there was narbotic. He rarely posted on the boards. He updated the site on a random basis. He vanished into thin air. The site under his control ran his way with apparent disregard for the wishes or concerns of the participants. It was a little like a runaway train with no driver. And it worked. Really well.

Now there are the fightmasters. They cannot command the mystique of narbotic, no matter how hard they try, for they came from within the community. However, they do have a similar attitute that the site works best when it does not go in and out with the tide or cater to the whims of individuals who may be here today, gone tomorrow. Confident in their belief that the site works best when ruled with an iron fist, they resist even the slightest hint that this is a democracy.

Hence, the surest way to slow the fightmasters down in making changes of this magnitude is to create the illusion that by doing so, they are bowing to public pressure.

A word to the wise. Let the revolution begin.

Spud's so angry. Just look at his scowling avatar.

Do not pretend to know when I am angry and when I am not. Only I will decide when I am angry. You saying that I am angry makes me want to be not angry, just to spite you. Got it, punk?

uh...so..can we have two fights? Can we have four? Just one? more than four? Not three.....




muwhahahaha. You will subcomb to my evil genius.


Or not.



Or will.

there are 3 fights. there are the 2 official ones. and there's the Jim fight.

jack shite wrote:there are 3 fights. there are the 2 official ones. and there's the Jim fight.

So there are.
However many fights is neither here no there, it's the mojo that counts, and this place has MOJO in vast quantity.

This is neither a complaint or a suggestion - it is a musing. Please post in the 'Musings' thread

j$ wrote:This is neither a complaint or a suggestion - it is a musing. Please post in the 'Musings' thread

yes, it is pretty a musing.

As a non-fighter my opinion is not highly relevant, but as a songfight appreciator here's my observation.

When there were three fights it seemed to me that the distribution usually went like this:

Title A: 45%
Title B: 35%
Title C: 20%

So a lot of the time one fight would have very few fighters. Very often one of the titles would appeal to only a few fighters (Baba Ganoush, Jimmy Hat, Trailblazin', for example). A lot of times that minority fight seemed to attract people who had gimmicky ideas for that title.

That's not always bad, but the most obvious examples (like "Adam and Steve" and "Deuce") seemed to lead to generally uninspired songs with one song clearly outshining them all.

As a person who is more interested in getting good music from songfight rather than wanting to help songwriters get better, this can be annoying. I like to find artists I like and hear good songs by them rather than hear them come up with a clever concept for a fringe title where the finished song might not be so interesting by itself after the first listen.

So I'm saying (from my point of view) there is a good argument for only two titles.

Songfight seems on the verge of needing three titles (in order to not have 50 people in one fight) and being better off with two titles (produce better songs).

But I must say some of the 3-title fights were pretty evenly distributed and all titles produced good songs. I have a mixtape of the first 3-title fight (Red Zero, Save a Pony From the Glue Factory, That's Not What I Need) that I listen to all the time in my car.

So, you know....discuss!

(Disclaimer: songfighters I really like: Glenn Case, Puce, The Hell Yeahs, Brother Machine, Dylan Nau, MC Frontalot, Abecedarian, Dr. Worm, C. Layne, JBB, Sober Irishman)

MalachiConstant wrote:So a lot of the time one fight would have very few fighters. Very often one of the titles would appeal to only a few fighters (Baba Ganoush, Jimmy Hat, Trailblazin', for example). A lot of times that minority fight seemed to attract people who had gimmicky ideas for that title.

Jimmy Hat had 13 songs. Baba Ganoush had 10. Trailblazin' only had 5 but none of them were gimmicky. Anyway all fights, small or large, attract people with gimmicky ideas. Go listen to 'Ninja Gang'.

This concept that good titles = more fighters is erroneous. You are not taking into account seasonal variations, holidays, exam times etc

the most obvious examples (like "Adam and Steve" and "Deuce") seemed to lead to generally uninspired songs with one song clearly outshining them all.

I thought three of the four A&S songs were great. And produced one of the best Songfight songs in the last year, by A-Bomb. The Deuce fight is equally good. Perhaps you need to broaden your opinion of what constitutes a 'good song'?

(Disclaimer: songfighters I really like: Glenn Case, Puce, The Hell Yeahs, Brother Machine, Dylan Nau, MC Frontalot, Abecedarian, Dr. Worm, C. Layne, JBB, Sober Irishman)

Yes, that explains a lot.

I personally hate two fights during January / February because as last year there are a lot of people milling around / finding their feet after a term at college / with new musical toys to play with after Christmas. It would better serve everyone if we had three fights at this time of year, because it means that people who listen can give each song more attention, rather than speeding through/skipping/not listening properly.

In the Summer, when people are too busy enjoying the weather, falling in love, finding better things to do, that's the time for two fights.

All of this is moot, as it's entirely up to the fightmasters.

You are right that 30-50 submissions per week is a difficult crossover number. There's no way around it but to stop moaning and do some reviews!

not much to say that hasn't been said, but it does suck big if you submit to a fight with 4 other entries because you don't get the same # of reviews as the other fights. At least with 2 fights, there are more reviews, and it's the reviews I'm after. And psychologically, when you are in the 5 song fight, and the other fights are like 20 each...it hits you kind of....{sniff}.., well...hard....


That all said, J$ seasonal variance proposal is a good one. Solid logic there.

something.

Once again, I love that the Fightmasters created a thread called Complaints and Suggestions and then get mad when people suggest stuff or tell them that the more they suggest, the less likely it is that the suggestion will materialize.

Go Fightmasters go!

It'd be kinda neat if there was the same title for both (all three, mf) fights one week, and the submitteer had to say "put me in blue."

frankie big face wrote:Once again, I love that the Fightmasters created a thread called Complaints and Suggestions and then get mad when people suggest stuff or tell them that the more they suggest, the less likely it is that the suggestion will materialize.

Go Fightmasters go!

And we love that you love it. Now we are getting somewhere!

In reality, Frankie, I had hoped that my second post in this thread would clearly indicate that I was just posturing, trying to build up the mystery and controversy surrounding the fightmasters, perhaps even injecting a little of the chaos so beloved by you.

As the poll shows (no, I haven't looked at it - I would never look at it in a million years - it's very existence offends me /posturing), there is not exactly a mandate on this issue, even if George might read it as such, were he in charge here

frankie big face wrote:Once again, I love that the Fightmasters created a thread called Complaints and Suggestions and then get mad when people suggest stuff or tell them that the more they suggest, the less likely it is that the suggestion will materialize.

Go Fightmasters go!

The forum's called "Complaints and Suggestions", not "Complaints and Suggestions that will be listened to carefully and adopted if enough people show that they endorse the suggestion."

i also think that change needs to be initiated by the fightmasters, after implied, long, negotiated discussions between the 2 of them, and not from some knee jerk reaction to what a few vocal folks say, sometimes repeatedly.

factions create fractions. it's nice to have someone in charge that can weather the weather.

15-16 puzzle wrote:

frankie big face wrote:Once again, I love that the Fightmasters created a thread called Complaints and Suggestions and then get mad when people suggest stuff or tell them that the more they suggest, the less likely it is that the suggestion will materialize.

Go Fightmasters go!

The forum's called "Complaints and Suggestions", not "Complaints and Suggestions that will be listened to carefully and adopted if enough people show that they endorse the suggestion."

Oh Brother. That is one of your weaker retorts.

I'm not saying the site should be run by public opinion or ideas should be adopted just because a bunch of people post them here. I'm just saying that it's pretty discouraging to have an area of the board set up for the purpose of making suggestions and then tell people their suggestions will never ever be taken seriously.

Plus everyone knows you'll be back to three fights in a matter of weeks.

frankie big face wrote:

15-16 puzzle wrote:

frankie big face wrote:Once again, I love that the Fightmasters created a thread called Complaints and Suggestions and then get mad when people suggest stuff or tell them that the more they suggest, the less likely it is that the suggestion will materialize.

Go Fightmasters go!

The forum's called "Complaints and Suggestions", not "Complaints and Suggestions that will be listened to carefully and adopted if enough people show that they endorse the suggestion."

Oh Brother. That is one of your weaker retorts.

I'm not saying the site should be run by public opinion or ideas should be adopted just because a bunch of people post them here. I'm just saying that it's pretty discouraging to have an area of the board set up for the purpose of making suggestions and then tell people their suggestions will never ever be taken seriously.

Plus everyone knows you'll be back to three fights in a matter of weeks.

No! Never!

*screech*

*being dragged away from keyboard frothing from mouth etc*

Meh, they can't all be gems.

I think there's a difference in saying "This is not a democracy" (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) and saying "We never take suggestions seriously."