Band Madness

March Madness in its many forms is upon us -- including plenty of webpages trying to get in on the fun of bracketology. One of the more interesting and longstanding ones out there is 'Band Madness,' where a field of 512 popular bands are pitted against each other in point and click combat.

Last year this tournament ended in web-battle royale where Nine Inch Nails pretty much laid waste to Pink Floyd, so much so that Trent Reznor and company have been officially "retired" from the competition in the hopes that perhaps someone else might get a chance to win.

It's a simple deal -- look at the choice of bands, click to vote, and then come back next week and do it again. It takes some time, and there plenty of moments when you're presented with a match up featuring two bands you've never heard of (as well as the eventual point where you realize your favorite group has somehow not made the list of contenders) -- but if you've got the music geek gene in you somewhere, this site has just what you need.

Like all March tournaments, the early rounds feature some incredible mismatches (The Beatles vs. Big and Rich) as well as some complete headscratchers (at the time of this posting, Hootie and the Blowfish were having a considerable amount of trouble with the full court press being applied by ..The Cure) -- but as you get deeper into the thing you'll find a couple of places where choosing one band over another is not only tough, but emotionally distressing as well.

Or to put it another way -- It was tough, but in the end I simply had to vote for P-Funk (sorry, James).