dotty blah: Green Day's Reign On Shaky Ground In Musical March Madness

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Green Day's Reign On Shaky Ground In Musical March Madness

Evanescence and Paramore battle it out in the first #1 vs. #2 matchup in MMM history; Elite Eight voting ends tonight at midnight ET!
By James Montgomery

Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong
Photo: Getty Images

There are still a few hours left before polls close in the Elite Eight of MTV's Musical March Madness, and it looks like every second — and vote — is going to count. Because, as we predicted on Wednesday, we've got more than a few epic encounters on our hands, as the remaining eight bands slug it out for a spot in the Final Four.

And, really, with matchups that include Paramore vs. Evanescence, Green Day vs. Adam Lambert and the MMM grudge match to end all MMM grudge matches (that would be Coheed and Cambria vs. Tokio Hotel), well, we'd expect nothing less. Things have been wild, to say the very least.

Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Musical March Madness interactive bracket!

And so, with Elite Eight polls closing tonight at midnight ET, we figured we'd bring you up to date on all the back-and-forth battles. And they're basically all back-and-forth battles at this point. Shoot, even the My Chemical Romance/Metallica tilt seems destined to come right down to the wire. So here's where we stand with just a few precious hours left.

East
We thought the MCR/Metallica matchup had the potential to be a blowout, and for a while, it looked like those predictions would be correct: MMM heavyweights My Chem surged to a huge lead over road-weary Metallica, though, as the hours wore on, Hetfield and company dug deep, and have been staging a furious comeback ever since. As of this afternoon, they still trail MCR by a fairly sizable amount (something like 12,000 votes), but the gap is closing by the minute. Do they have enough left in the tank to overtake My Chem, or will Gerard and the boys make MMM history and advance to their third-straight Final Four? We'll just have to wait and see.

West
There's a huge upset brewing out West, as #11 Adam Lambert has got defending MMM champs Green Day on the ropes. Somewhat surprisingly, this matchup has seen more votes cast than any other in the Elite 8, as the Glambert Nation has shown up in full to support their man. Barring a tremendous rally, it looks like Green Day are going to have to relinquish the trophy, which, given the fact they never bothered to pick it up in the first place, should actually be quite easy. Sort of like Lambert's dominance up to this point.

East
The biggest MMM rematch in years — 2010 champs Coheed and Cambria once again facing off against eternal MMM bridesmaids Tokio Hotel, in a battle wrought with historical tension — has, instead, turned into a massacre. Though fans of both bands have been lobbing accusations of cheating (as much a MMM tradition as the trophy itself, it would seem), we've been monitoring this one closely ... and, Tokio fans, you're seemingly home free. With hours left, Tokio are pasting Coheed (to the tune of some 440,000 votes) and seem destined to return to the Final Four. Then again, as we've learned in the past, you can't count Coheed's Children of the Fence out — but sufficed to say, they've got their work cut out for them if they want to help their favorite band advance. Just keep it clean, folks.

Vote for your favorite band, discuss and share on Facebook and Twitter in the MTV Musical March Madness interactive bracket!

South
The first #1 vs. #2 matchup in Musical March Madness history has most definitely lived up to the advance billing, as top-seeded Evanescence and #2 Paramore have been slugging it out since polls opened. Early on, this one was as close as double digits though, as it stands now — with nearly 2 million votes cast — it's Ev who hold the lead (we see you, Amy Lee!) Does the Para-clan have one more rally left in them, or will Evanescence run the table and become the first-ever #1 seed to make the Final Four? The hour is growing late, though we suspect this one isn't over just yet.

There are just hours remaining in the Musical March Madness Elite Eight! Can you lift your favorite band to the Final Four? Or, alternately, bring them back from the brink? Get voting, time is running out!

MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness tournament reaches the Elite Eight! Voting runs until midnight ET on Thursday, March 29, and winners are determined by fan votes, so if your favorite act is still alive, it'll be up to you to guide them to glory. You can rally the troops on Twitter using the hashtag #MMM or by downloading one of our custom badges — but get ready, it only gets more difficult from here on out.

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