[TheNightGoes90]

After participating in the band versus band game, I thought it might be interesting to change the rules a bit in order to make it possible to distinguish between different eras for bands. For instance, few people would dispute Metallica's status as one of the most celebrated bands America has produced. At the same time, however, I doubt many of you have St. Anger in your CD changers. Bands change, and the best way to evaluate the production of a particular group at a particular time is to consider the albums they produce.

Here are the rules. I'll suggest two albums, and the person posting after me will pick one as the winner. The next matchup must include the winner from the previous matchup. If an album wins five consecutive times, it must be retired to the "Grasscity Music Hall of Fame." By the way, you might want to consider picking up copies of any albums that make it that far; considering the diverse tastes of people on this board, anything surviving five rounds is probably pretty damned good.

Also, you MUST explain your reasoning for choosing one album over the other. It might be something as simple as, "I don't like jam bands, so Phish can fuck off," but you have to give us something. If you disagree with a poster's choice, start another thread about the matchup so that we can discuss it in greater detail. If everything goes according to plan, we might end up with multiple interesting threads in this forum. Let's see what happens.

Okay, with apologies to the Black Eyed Peas, let's get it started:

Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind (1995)

v.

Thrice - The Illusion of Safety (2002)