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Welcome back, my friends, to the "Battle" that never ends.
We're so glad you could attend. Come inside! Come inside!
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This is 'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' ('BOTB') where you listen to different recordings and vote for the one you like best. A new Battle gets posted on the 1st of each month and on the 7th, I place my own vote, tally 'em all up and announce the winner.
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Friend? Foe? Stranger? No matter, ALL are welcome. So pull up a chair, pour yourself 24 oz. of DOG BITE High Gravity Lager (or the poison of your choice) and turn it up to Eleven!
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[NOTE: Links to the first year of 'BOTB' (#1 - #24) can be found at the very bottom of this page.]

Saturday, September 7, 2019

BOTB RESULTS: SEPT. 1, 2019 (Or, GUNS 'N' ROSES VERSUS THE ZONE)

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STMcC’s Vote On '2019, September 1st: Battle Of The Bands' (BOTB) - Or, Guns 'N' Roses Versus The Zone - And The Final Tally:
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First of all, as always, my sincere thanks to each and every one of you who displayed your loyalty to the Battle Of The Bands blogfest by stopping by, listening, and taking the time to cast a vote (aka bote). I appreciate you all.
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The Battle took place HERE and it was between 'Welcome To The Jungle', a #7 Billboard hit in 1988 for Guns 'N' Roses, and 'Johnny's Gone' by The Zone, which is a band you never heard of until you met me, because it was my Cousin's former group. My Cousin was the principal songwriter and lead vocalist.
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This was a reasonably good contest, but despite being a major underdog, The Zone didn't have a lot of trouble beating up on Girls 'N' Roses. How come that? Well, this might be a clue:
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"...the loudness of Guns N Roses which is just noise"
~ Birgit
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"I agree with Birgit that Guns ‘N’ Roses just sounds like a lot of noise"
~ Julie
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That makes three of us. I also think 'Welcome To The Jungle' is a helluva lot closer to "noise" than it is to "music". I might have fallen for that nonsense when I was 17 years old, but that was a long, long time ago. However, I did enjoy making fun of the Girls in the comment section. 

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What a buncha sweethearts!
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Guns 'N' Roses = 6 votes
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The Zone = 10 votes
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Our resident psychic, Carnac The Magnificent, correctly predicted this major BOTB upset. Maybe he really *is* psychic?! ...Nah.
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
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I received some feedback and input from some voters regarding my plan to take a BOTB hiatus for the rest of 2019, and I appreciated that. Having given it greater consideration, I feel it might be more prudent for me rather to revert to a once-a-month BOTB schedule and see if that's enough of a break for me. 
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Therefore, beginning now, I will be posting Battles on the first day of each month. And although I won't be featuring a BOTB installment of my own on the 15ths, I WILL still be around to cast my botes on All Y'all's Battles. Just as Debbie posts only on the 15ths but still votes in BOTB rounds she's not participating in, I will do likewise, but with the participation dates reversed.
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Thanks again, Everyone. And I'll stop by to check out your new Battles in about a week and a half from now. (Hopefully I'll have found employment by then.)
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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Sunday, September 1, 2019

2019, SEPT. 1: BATTLE OF THE BANDS (Or, GUNS 'N' ROSES VERSUS THE ZONE)

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...Or, SEPTEMBER SWAN SONGS - Part 1 Of 2.
(I like the ring of that.)
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BATTLE OF THE BANDS (BOTB)
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Yes, it's time once again for Battle Of The Bands (BOTB).
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Alright, let's get on it. Let's get ON this thing!...
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But first, an announcement:
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I'm planning to take a (possibly very extended) hiatus from BOTB. I thought about reverting back to once-a-month Battles, but the way things are right now, I think I need a full-on break. Plus, I only have time for one blog, and I'd *REALLY* like to finally get all of my old product reviews posted at my blog [link> 'Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...'. (Please feel free to read my stuffs there and leave comments. As always, my policy is to respond to everyone who takes the time to write something to me.)
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I want to reiterate that (I think) I am not quitting BOTB. I plan to post another Battle on September 15th and then take a break - a break that may last until 2020. Everything is kind of fluid right now; I'm playing it all by ear. But please know that even when I'm not posting my own BOTB installments, I'll still make it a point to vote and leave one of my trademarked snarkcastic comments on All Y'All's BOTB posts
[Lucky you, eh? ;^)
I'll still be participating as a voter and a smart-assed commenter
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2 of my 3 cardinal rules of BOTB:
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1) Don't use a Top 40 hit {*'Welcome To The Jungle'*} against a cover of the same song.
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2) Don't use a famous musical artist {*Guns 'N' Roses*} against a relatively unknown musical artist {*The Zone*}.

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But I've been a Maverick since the beginning of BOTB, and none y'all would respect me if I didn't exit BOTB in the same fashion.
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So, I'm using two songs - one by a very famous Rock group, and one by an obscure Rock group - and the themes are Los Angeles and the idea of a "jungle" as a metaphor for that infamous city.
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First up is the famous Guns 'N' Roses and their massive hit 'Welcome To The Jungle'. Here's what the experts have said about it:
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The title and lyrics came to Axl [Rose] when he was visiting a friend named Tori near Seattle.
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Seattle is "a big city, but at the same time, it's still a small city compared to L.A. and the things that you're gonna learn. It seemed a lot more rural up there."
~ Axl Rose
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Removed from Los Angeles, Axl was able to reconnect with the feelings he had on arriving in the city [L.A.] in 1982 as a wide-eyed, 20-year-old escapee of rural Indiana, drawn to the bright lights of Hollywood like so many other dreamers before him. He wrote of the struggle for survival in this place.
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“It was a very telling lyric,” Slash says. “Just the stark honesty of it. If you lived in Los Angeles, and lived in the trenches, so to speak, you could relate to it. And knowing Axl, I could relate to exactly where it was coming from.”
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Rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin summarises the song as "about Hollywood streets; true to life."
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Girls Guns 'N' Roses rule in "The Jungle".
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Welcome To The Jungle - Guns 'N' Roses
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bDD914rahc


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When the singer / songwriter for The Zone sang in 'Johnny's Gone' that "He's walkin' through the jungle like strollin' through the park", the park he may have had in mind was Penmar Park in Venice, [Los Angeles] California, which was located directly across the street from the house he grew up in:
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[link> Two Dead, One Wounded in Penmar Park Shooting
Two people were killed and one other was wounded Wednesday afternoon when a gunman opened fire in a reportedly gang-related shooting at Penmar Park in Venice, police said.
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Dead man in Penmar Park ("The Jungle", Los Angeles, CA.)
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"Uuh! Aah! Dig!"
~ 'Johnny's Gone'
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Johnny's Gone - The Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLpYMuG6d_A


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Carnac The Magnificent [0-1]: "Does a Catholic bear pope in the woods?"
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Question: Will The Zone beat Guns 'N' Roses?
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Alright now, “you know the gig”... I welcome you (whether I know "you" or not) to vote for your favorite of these songs in the comment section below. And feel free to tell us WHY you chose one song over the other.
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After voting here, I suggest - actually I insist - you pop over to the blogs of the other 'BATTLE OF THE BANDS' participants to see which songs they have chosen and vote there alsoVote your vice...   Vice your voice... 
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Voice Your Vote...
TOSSING IT OUT by clicking HERE
MIKE'S RAMBLINGS by clicking HERE
THE SOUND OF ONE HAND TYPING by clicking HERE
@ JINGLE JANGLE JUNGLE by clicking HERE
@ THE DOGLADY'S DEN by clicking HERE
@ CHERDO ON THE FLIPSIDE by clicking HERE
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As I've done in the past, I will continue to return to my 'BOTB' blog bits on the 7th and 21st of each month to post my own votes and announce the winners in the comment sections.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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