I thought we could have a bit of fun with the NCAA basketball tournament upon us once again. The original idea was to take 4 of the largest musical genres and narrow it down to the 16 best bands or artists in that genre. Super easy right?

Wrong. This was an impossible task. The wife and I spent a good portion of Tuesday evening picking artists and seeding them to the best of our abilities. Some of our favorites didn’t even make the final cut. Many of our favorites are going up against each other or face certain demise in the first round. We tried to keep the personal biases as little as possible, but of course we made some decisions based on our personal likes and dislikes. In the future, remind me to be more specific in theme.

I’ll set up polls in each round. To keep from completely swamping everyone’s Facebook and Twitter timelines, I’ll post the polls here and put a link up at the start of each new round on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Give me a follow!

We could not find a way to include only 16 in each bracket so we had to have “play-in” games. The Pop Region saw Journey fight it’s way in by a 82%-16% margin. The Rock / Alternative Region was a bloodbath with Green Day coming out victorious over Rage Against The Machine 92%-8%. The Country Region had Tim McGraw taking out Tanya Tucker 79%-27%. The only close match-up was in the Hip Hop / R&B Region where Usher took out my girl Alicia Keys by 1 vote.

So here is what you all came for — the final 2016 March Music Madness bracket. Some big names didn’t make it and I know you may have issues with the seeding – Go easy on me. The first round of voting will start Thursday March 17 and voting will close Saturday at 5pm. The second round will begin on Sunday. This should be a lot of fun!

Links to the first round polls are under the bracket.

 

 

POP REGION

1 MJ vs 16 Journey

8 Mariah Carey vs 9 Christina

5 Prince vs 12 Bruno Mars

4 Whitney vs 13 Britney

6 JT vs 11 ABBA

3 Beyoncé vs 14 BSB

7 Adele vs 10 T Swift

2 Madonna vs 15 NSYNC

 

HIP HOP / R&B REGION

1 Tupac vs 16 Usher

8 Dr Dre vs 9 Boyz II Men

5 NWA vs 12 Lionel Richie

4 The Temptations vs 13 Snoop

6 Eminem vs 11 Marvin Gaye

3 Wu-Tang vs 14 Jay-Z

7 Mary J Blige vs 10 Stevie Wonder

2 Notorious B.I.G. vs 15 John Legend

 

COUNTRY REGION

1 George Strait vs 16 Tim McGraw

8 Alabama vs 9 Merle Haggard

5 Johnny Cash vs 12 George Jones

4 Patsy Cline vs 13 Miranda Lambert

6 Dolly vs 11 Reba

3 Willie vs 14 Loretta Lynn

7 Waylon vs 10 Garth

2 Hank Williams, Sr vs 15 Carrie Underwood

 

ROCK / ALTERNATIVE REGION

1 Beatles vs 16 Green Day

8 Metallica vs 9 Guns N Roses

5 Jimi Hendrix vs 12 NIN

4 Queen vs 13 The Ramones

6 AC/DC vs 11 RHCP

3 Led Zeppelin vs 14 Foo Fighters

7 Van Halen vs 10 Pink Floyd

2 Nirvana vs 15 Billy Idol