FA Cup of British Rock - Round of 16 / Match #3

These are the ground rules: 16 teams, each represented by a musician or band who happens to be a supporter. You, our fair reader, vote on who advances. Use whatever criteria you wish: favorite team, favorite band, prettiest uniforms (looking at you Elton), etc. Ballot stuffing is not encouraged, but will be tolerated, because we’re just as corrupt as the real FA. Voting for the Round of 16 will close on Sunday, July 20.

Round 3 is a little like Round 2 in that one guy probably couldn't get the FBI—oh, oops. FA, Britain, etc... MI5—to properly hide him. The other probably couldn't get arrested, which is saying something because he's from Liverpool.



Eric Clapton. Deity. West Brom fan.

-vs-


See, told you that you wouldn't know. Lee Mavers, he fronted The La's and he's an Everton supporter.


Gonna be hard to find some solid parallels between Eric Clapton and West Bromwich Albion unless kids in England were tagging "Jeff Astle is God" on bridges and buildings throughout the Sixties. Or maybe the Baggies were also so torn over their love for Patti Boyd Harrison that they all smacked themselves up to the gills before the 1970 League Cup Final. Even then, losing 2-1 to United and failing to win dick since isn't really akin to recording Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. But here we are, with Slowhand and West Brom. You could make an argument that both have been less than stellar since the mid-Eighties. West Brom's record unquestionably bears that out; and nothing Clapton has done in ages can touch what he did from the time he was in the Yardbirds to his early solo career, possibly up to but not including Backless in '78 (sure Clapton won six Grammies for his Unplugged record, but he thought it was so piss poor that he originally didn't want it released). But now that West Brom has earned promotion, maybe they've got "The Core" of a solid team so they can "Let it Rain" goals on their opponents and stay up in the Prem "Forever Man." Yes, I should be punched in the kidneys for that.


Tell me there isn't a pro-Liverpool F.C. bias on this site. Really, it's pretty easy to do because I don't think anyone has ever denied it. But if somehow that fact was lost on you consider the following: Sir Paul McCartney is an Everton fan. Okay, so for this contest we take a pass on the Beatle as the Evertonian of choice in favor of whom? Ian Astbury? Nope. Ian Ball? Eh-eh. It's not even an Ian. Instead we give you Lee Mavers of The La's. So they are a one-hit wonder, but at least they did it twice. Huh? "There She Goes" charted on two separate occasions. On top of that, it might be one of—if not the—best pop songs ever about heroin (please, VU isn't pop). She calls my name. She pulls my train. Pulsing through my veins. So no, it's probably not a fucking love song. Anyway Mavers got disillusioned and what seemed like a promising start ended up being largely insignificant. If that doesn't sound like every Everton season since about 1990... Save for maybe '04-'05 when they made the Champions League, and the handful of seasons where they fought off relegation by finishing 17th, but you get the point.

Anyway, who do you love? West Brom and God [MP3 link], or Everton and some guy [MP3 link] you probably couldn't pick out of a line-up (and seeing how he's a Liverpudlian, you might have to at some point. Zing!).