1997: The Bracket

Cast your vote to determine The Champion of 1997.

[1997thebracket]

I am a guy + radiohead enjoyer + someone who has never watched a single anime in his life but out of respect for it beating OK Computer, I watched Revolutionary Girl Utena and I have to say with full confidence that it's one of the greatest things I've ever watched. Very ahead of its time. 👍👍

Congratulations on keeping an open mind and experiencing something truly unforgettable! I’m so glad this humble tourney could bring any of our worthy finalists into a new home. Utena is a one of a kind piece of media, the sort that rearranges your brain chemistry for the best; I wholly believe this will add enrichment to your life!

[1997thebracket]

"This bracket will lead you to me, one day."

So impressed was she by him that the little princess vowed to become the Champion of 1997 herself! But was that really such a good idea?

The votes are in, and the answer is: yes! Much like in the dueling arena, Utena has triumphed over powerful adversaries week after week and emerged as our Champion!

Congratulations to Revolutionary Girl Utena! 🌹

Thank you to everyone who voted in 1997: The Bracket!

[1997thebracket]

Ok computer yeahhhhhh

I made this instead of thinking of a reply.

[1997thebracket]

Round 6 - FINALE

The winner takes all! Which piece of media deserves to be the Champion of 1997?

Revolutionary Girl Utena vs Radiohead's OK Computer

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Radiohead's OK Computer

Voting ended onDec 15, 2023

Revolutionary Girl Utena: If it cannot break its shell, the chick will die without ever being born. This sentiment, originally found in Hermann Hesse’s 1919 novel Demian, features during a repeated sequence in the 1997 anime Revolutionary Girl Utena. Hesse is far from the only reference to philosophical, surrealist, or heavily symbolic text in the show, which trades in visual metaphor and multi-layered subtext. Revolutionary Girl Utena follows the story of Utena Tenjou, a young orphan who aspires to princehood-- challenging or outright circumventing the place of gender in that aspiration-- and is entangled in a series of duels centered around a girl named Anthy Himemiya. Written by Kunihiko Ikuhara, Chiho Saito, and Yōji Enokido (known collectively as Be-Papas) and soundtracked by J.A. Seazer and Shinkichi Mitsumune, the show has an instantly recognizable style, combining lush fairytale visuals and French-inspired architecture with a choir that functions as a sort of Greek chorus to the internal worlds externalized in combat. Utena is a story about many things, arguably all things, taking a surgical scalpel to adolescence and using the flat of the blade as a paintbrush, leaving a deeply human, visceral work of art in its wake. It has been massively influential on feminist, queer & sapphic, and otherwise gender-deconstructive or gender-subversive modern media. Smash the world's shell! For the revolution of the world!

Radiohead's OK Computer: I go forwards, you go backwards, and somewhere we will meet. By the middle of the decade, Radiohead was weary of the ubiquity of their 1993 hit Creep; although the record that followed it (The Bends) was a lusher, more evolved album than their first, it had failed to produce a distinctive enough image for the band to undo what Creep had done. The song threatened to define the band entirely to those outside their devoted following. In 1997 the band swung for the fences with the haunting, abstract OK Computer. It was a move their label cast immense doubt on at the time, and its success then and now would cement Thom Yorke and his bandmates as soothsayers of a sort, draped not in bohemian silk robes but in white hospital sheets. It's an album that speaks to the future with dread more than wonder, that critics described as "nervous almost to the point of neurosis," but marries the uneasy experimental soundscapes with poetic, surrealist, and increasingly prophetic songwriting regarding the parallel lives we lead with technology. Featuring the singles Karma Police, Paranoid Android and No Surprises, OK Computer is hailed by many as the band's magnum opus: it's certified double Platinum in the US and five-times Platinum in the UK, and in 2014 it was included in the United States National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

[1997thebracket]

We still have a chance! Let's go Blur ST

It's not over until it's over!

[1997thebracket]

Ok Computer 👍

More than OK, some would say!

[1997thebracket]

They're both great albums but only one has Let Down 👍

Underrated, I've heard!

[1997thebracket]

Someone ranted on the 90s music colosseum about The Tourist and basically ctrl-c + ctrl-v because that anon is so real.

https://youtu.be/XWBsLZHvieU?si=N77PgRILSYjkDeeP

Watch this video before you vote for Blur ST.

The Radioheads strike back!

[1997thebracket]

Blur sweep!!! Beetlebum clears all of ok computer

So far the post replies lean heavily OKC while the ask box leans heavily Blur ST!

[1997thebracket]

In Rainbows is better. Come on blur st!!!

I didn't realize until looking up the release year moments ago that In Rainbows was released exactly ten years after OK Computer (1997 vs 2007.) This is an interesting comparison point, if/when relevant-- where are members of our bracket a decade later? (By gods, where are the Crayola Mini-Stampers? I heard Surge moved to Norway. Good for him.)

[1997thebracket]

WOO-HOO!! Lets go blur!!

The Blur fans are in the inbox! I repeat, Blur in the box!

[1997thebracket]

Come on now, self titled isn't even the best blur album of the 90s

The blog owner is fair and impartial! But may or may not put on a pair of Groucho Marx moustache-glasses to defend Blur 1997's honour.

If you are earnestly seeking justification: Beetlebum, Death of a Party and Essex Dogs are among Blur's fan-favourite tracks, while Song 2-- somewhat divisive though it may be-- is objectively their biggest hit outside of the UK, and the tournament selection was primarily based around observable success metrics and legacy. Whether there were bigger albums, films, shows or products in the decade is largely irrelevant as this is 1997: The Bracket and not '90s: The Bracket (that would be fun, but a much bigger undertaking!)

[1997thebracket]

Round 5 - SEMIFINALS

It's the battle of albums and anime in 1997! Which will be the last album standing?

Blur's Self-Titled vs Radiohead's OK Computer

Blur's Self-Titled

Radiohead's OK Computer

Voting ended onDec 8, 2023

Blur's Self-Titled: And when she lets me slip away… Some bands make their debut with an eponymous album (Placebo did the year before, as would Albarn's second great success Gorillaz) but Blur knew that declaration of self-actualization was worth saving. Blur (1997) is the fifth studio album by the acclaimed English pop-rock-alternative-shoegaze-anything that'll stick-band of the same name, fronted by 90s coverboy Damon Albarn. The album brought us the singles Beetlebum and Song 2, the former of which debuted at #1 on the UK charts, and the latter of which would properly break in the US and give the band the footing on American soil they'd previously missed. Woo-hoo! Despite its mainstream success-- the album is certified Platinum, and saw greater success alongside their American alternative peers than any album prior-- Blur (1997) has a distinctly more experimental sound than their Britpop classics and explores rougher indie production sentiments. Guitarist Graham Coxon centers his widening musical tastes and produces some of his proudest work, while Albarn has stated that the track On Your Own may be regarded as the first taste of Gorillaz-before-Gorillaz. Although it would not be the end of the road for the band's internal turmoil and eventual reconciliation, it would come to represent an era of growth and emotional authenticity in their music.

Radiohead's OK Computer: I go forwards, you go backwards, and somewhere we will meet. By the middle of the decade, Radiohead was weary of the ubiquity of their 1993 hit Creep; although the record that followed it (The Bends) was a lusher, more evolved album than their first, it had failed to produce a distinctive enough image for the band to undo what Creep had done. The song threatened to define the band entirely to those outside their devoted following. In 1997 the band swung for the fences with the haunting, abstract OK Computer. It was a move their label cast immense doubt on at the time, and its success then and now would cement Thom Yorke and his bandmates as soothsayers of a sort, draped not in bohemian silk robes but in white hospital sheets. It's an album that speaks to the future with dread more than wonder, that critics described as "nervous almost to the point of neurosis," but marries the uneasy experimental soundscapes with poetic, surrealist, and increasingly prophetic songwriting regarding the parallel lives we lead with technology. Featuring the singles Karma Police, Paranoid Android and No Surprises, OK Computer is hailed by many as the band's magnum opus: it's certified double Platinum in the US and five-times Platinum in the UK, and in 2014 it was included in the United States National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

[1997thebracket]

Round 5 - SEMIFINALS

It's the battle of albums and anime in 1997! Which will be the last anime standing?

Revolutionary Girl Utena vs Princess Mononoke

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Princess Mononoke

Voting ended onDec 8, 2023

Revolutionary Girl Utena: If it cannot break its shell, the chick will die without ever being born. This sentiment, originally found in Hermann Hesse’s 1919 novel Demian, features during a repeated sequence in the 1997 anime Revolutionary Girl Utena. Hesse is far from the only reference to philosophical, surrealist, or heavily symbolic text in the show, which trades in visual metaphor and multi-layered subtext. Revolutionary Girl Utena follows the story of Utena Tenjou, a young orphan who aspires to princehood-- challenging or outright circumventing the place of gender in that aspiration-- and is entangled in a series of duels centered around a girl named Anthy Himemiya. Written by Kunihiko Ikuhara, Chiho Saito, and Yōji Enokido (known collectively as Be-Papas) and soundtracked by J.A. Seazer and Shinkichi Mitsumune, the show has an instantly recognizable style, combining lush fairytale visuals and French-inspired architecture with a choir that functions as a sort of Greek chorus to the internal worlds externalized in combat. Utena is a story about many things, arguably all things, taking a surgical scalpel to adolescence and using the flat of the blade as a paintbrush, leaving a deeply human, visceral work of art in its wake. It has been massively influential on feminist, queer & sapphic, and otherwise gender-deconstructive or gender-subversive modern media. Smash the world's shell! For the revolution of the world!

Princess Mononoke: Cut off a wolf’s head, and it still has the power to bite. Princess Mononoke is a critically acclaimed animated film created by globally renowned director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, released in 1997. The film tells a complex environmental story, set in a fantastical ancient forest based on late Muromachi period Japan; we join a young warrior, Ashitaka, who becomes embroiled in a conflict between the inhabitants of the forest and a mining town encroaching on their land. At the heart of the story is San, a human girl raised by wolves, and Lady Eboshi, the leader of the mining community. Princess Mononoke is admired by Ghibli and non-Ghibli fans alike for its beautiful hand-drawn animation and its exploration of the themes of nature, industrialization, and the delicate balance between the consistent push of humanity and the weariness of a long-surviving environment. It was the highest-grossing film in Japan for 1997, and also held Japan's box office record for domestic films until Miyazaki’s 2001 release Spirited Away; for many, these films also filled a long-existing gap for skillfully-crafted Japanese animated films appealing to the wider Western market.

[1997thebracket]

Yeahhhhhh compterrrrrsssss societyyyyyy

Would you believe OK Computer was very nearly out round one?

[1997thebracket]

Evangelion

[1997thebracket]

Round 4

Revolutionary Girl Utena vs Men In Black

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Men In Black

Voting ended onDec 1, 2023

Revolutionary Girl Utena: If it cannot break its shell, the chick will die without ever being born. This sentiment, originally found in Hermann Hesse’s 1919 novel Demian, features during a repeated sequence in the 1997 anime Revolutionary Girl Utena. Hesse is far from the only reference to philosophical, surrealist, or heavily symbolic text in the show, which trades in visual metaphor and multi-layered subtext. Revolutionary Girl Utena follows the story of Utena Tenjou, a young orphan who aspires to princehood-- challenging or outright circumventing the place of gender in that aspiration-- and is entangled in a series of duels centered around a girl named Anthy Himemiya. Written by Kunihiko Ikuhara, Chiho Saito, and Yōji Enokido (known collectively as Be-Papas) and soundtracked by J.A. Seazer and Shinkichi Mitsumune, the show has an instantly recognizable style, combining lush fairytale visuals and French-inspired architecture with a choir that functions as a sort of Greek chorus to the internal worlds externalized in combat. Utena is a story about many things, arguably all things, taking a surgical scalpel to adolescence and using the flat of the blade as a paintbrush, leaving a deeply human, visceral work of art in its wake. It has been massively influential on feminist, queer & sapphic, and otherwise gender-deconstructive or gender-subversive modern media. Smash the world's shell! For the revolution of the world!

Men In Black: Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow. Men in Black is a sci-fi comedy, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, which would go on to spawn a franchise after the success of the 1997 film. It centers around a secret government agency known as the Men in Black, tasked with monitoring and regulating extraterrestrial activity on Earth; these agents, notably our protagonists Agent J and Agent K, protect humanity from aliens living among us and ensure the world remains oblivious to their existence. The franchise was praised by critics and audiences alike for its unique screenplay, action sequences, and the humor and chemistry of the lead actors. Over the years, Men in Black has expanded to include multiple sequels, an animated series and spin-offs, all contributing to its enduring popularity as a cheekier take on the sci-fi genre.