It's Musical March Madness! The sprawling bracket — both a parody and a tribute to the NCAA basketball tournament, masterminded by MTV News' James Montgomery — takes the 65 biggest names in rock, splits them up into four regions, assigns them seeds and puts them up against one another in a single-elimination series of match-ups in a winner-take-all contest. We're leaving it to you to decide an actual champ in this field of 65. Over the next few weeks, we will present a series of polls that will allow you to vote for the match-ups presented in MTV News' Band Bracketology. You vote for the winners, we'll keep advancing the seeds and, in the end, we'll have some sort of champion. What will the winner receive? Little more than our esteem (as well as that of the fans) and some Internet bragging rights.
The second round is in the books and the Sweet 16 is set. Round two provided a number of stellar match-ups that went right down to the wire, setting up an intriguing round three. The voting will come fast and furious in the final rounds: The Sweet 16 will be presented today, with voting closing on Tuesday (March 30) evening. Wednesday, we'll present the Elite Eight, with voting closing on Thursday (April 1) evening. Finally, Friday will see the unveiling of the Final Four, setting up a weekend match-up that will deliver a final next Monday (April 5) — the same day as the NCAA basketball finals. Let's get the games underway!
(4) Vampire Weekend vs. (16) Tokio Hotel
The boys in Vampire Weekend eeked out a close victory against Phoenix in round two, while underdog Tokio Hotel steamrolled Radiohead. Could Vampire Weekend be the group that ends this year's biggest Cinderella, or are Tokio Hotel destined to go deeper?
(3) Owl City vs. (7) MGMT
In a heartbreaking, buzzer-beating tilt, Owl City managed to sneak past round two opponents Grizzly Bear in a match-up that saw a number of lead changes (it was the equivalent of this year's Xavier/Kansas State double-overtime romp). Meanwhile, MGMT convincingly topped Animal Collective, and were it not for Tokio Hotel's blitzkrieg, they would be the true Cinderella of this bracket. Can Owl City continue winning, or does its run end with MGMT?