Song Showdown: Dukey's Revenge

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
02/15/2016 at 13:00 • Filed to: song showdown

In true Oppo tradition, we bring back the one song we’re contractually obligated to include in all Oppo song battles.

Let’s start by getting caught up on some results. Unfortunately due to work I wasn’t able to add in the results from last week’s rounds into any of the showdowns, so here’s the full week recap:

Johnny Cash absolutely destroyed Nine Inch Nails for the best version of Hurt, taking it by a margin of 33 votes. In retrospect I wish I’d used the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which was actually influenced by Cash’s cover (a band playing a song influenced by a different artist’s cover of the band’s song. That one needs a flow chart to keep straight), but while it may have swayed some voters it probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome.

In part one of a Chili Peppers doubleheader, the Chilis took an upset victory over Stevie Wonder, winning by seven votes. Their attempt to go undefeated died in the second half of the doubleheader though, as Ohio Players were able to successfully defend “Love Rollercoaster,” despite the Chilis getting the kazoo vote.

And finally, the Foo Fighters just barely edged out Roky Erickson on Roky’s song “Two Headed Dog,” winning by just two votes. This is the one outcome I was saddened by, because, as I said in the comments, Roky’s guitar and vocals are dirty as fuck and I love it.

The Friday showdown, a battle between !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , still has two hours to go and is nearly deadlocked, as Journey currently leads by a single vote.

For those of you who weren’t around two years ago, Arch Duke ran a competition of his own, titled “ !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ,” an attempt to find the best driving song......... “in the world.” Ram Jam’s “Black Betty” beat out 63 other songs to earn the title, but comments throughout made one wonder if Spiderbait’s version of the song was swaying voters into the Black Betty camp.

Or, in some cases, away from the Black Betty camp...

I attempted to solve the problem with the first round of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! But, after three days of voting, we solved bupkiss.

So now, with no third party candidates to steal votes, and no Tom Jones to send potential voters running in terror (I was going to add a link here, but y’all don’t deserve that), we shall finally, once and for all, put the debate to bed: Ram Jam or Spiderbait.

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Ram Jam - (1977)

Spiderbait - (2004)

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There’s just two hours to get your votes in on the battle between Journey and Rise Against, so if you haven’t voted on that one you best get in there now.

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DISCUSSION (12)

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Dusty Ventures
02/15/2016 at 13:18

There can be only one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ram Jam

Dusty Ventures > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
02/15/2016 at 13:42

How many devices have you voted from so far? #Rigged

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Dusty Ventures
02/15/2016 at 13:48

Ram Jam is underrated across the board. They’re actually kind of Montrose-ey in most of their other recordings, though - not swamp-bottom blues rock so much.

tromoly > Dusty Ventures
02/15/2016 at 13:50

Wikipedia + YouTube = finding out Ram Jam didn’t write the song, rather it’s an old African-American worker’s song, some believe it to be written by a guy named Lead Belly though first recorded being sung by a group of prisoners in Texas. The more you know.

Birddog > Dusty Ventures
02/15/2016 at 13:51

I never heard Spiderbait’s version. I like it but not enough to vote for it.

Ram Jam

Baeromez > Dusty Ventures
02/15/2016 at 13:56

Ram Jam all day!

Hey Dusty, can I make a suggestion for a showdown? The live version of Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘Astronomy’ from Some Enchanted Evening vs. Metallica’s cover off of Garage Inc . They’re both soooo good.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > tromoly
02/15/2016 at 14:04

I see in your first video someone is being a wanker about “real” versions of songs. It’s like knowing that Hendrix didn’t write Hey Joe, though - earliest definitive version of which people were actually aware, with significant musical development from the original... it’s a Ram Jam song as we know it. That’s just how it is.

tromoly > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
02/15/2016 at 14:37

Eh, didn’t watch the video to be honest, only listened to it.

Still, it’s pretty neat to learn the origins of where a song came from.

Leadbull > Dusty Ventures
02/15/2016 at 15:42

TIL Arch Duke owns like 13 electronic devices.

Dusty Ventures > Leadbull
02/15/2016 at 15:58

I’m guessing he broke into the school computer lab

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Dusty Ventures
02/15/2016 at 17:35

Hoccy > Dusty Ventures
02/16/2016 at 08:06

Ram Jam’s Black Betty was on one of the first CD’s I ever listened to (along with other similar music), and is one of the songs that defined my taste in music. SpiderBait is okay I guess.

Also, you need the long version:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2ZOTtG7v…