The Worst A Cappella Group Finals: Chord on Blues Face New Challenge
Let’s be honest: There’s no way Penn’s Chord on Blues can lose this tournament. Including them was necessary, but it also spoiled the curve, as it were. We want to make these finals interesting, however, so we’re going to… hmm… “tweak” the rules:
The Worst A Cappella Group in the Ivy League Tournament Finals
Penn’s Chord on Blues vs. **THE COMBINED BADNESS** of Cornell’s Absolute A Cappella and Dartmouth’s Cords
When: Right now through Monday at noon
Where: After the jump
It’s the only way.
Our first finalist and #1 seed needs no introduction. Plug your ears for Penn’s motherfucking CHORD ON BLUES:
There are very few good things about our second finalist, the #3 seed, Cornell’s Absolute A Cappella. Still, we’ve used advanced calculus to determine that there is no way they, or any other individual competitor, can beat the C.O.B. alone. So our second finalist is actually two teams: Absolute and the previously eliminated #4-seeded Dartmouth Cords. You are to judge them as one steaming aggregation of dung.
Cornell Absolute A Cappella:
Dartmouth Cords:
And IF the Cornell/Dartmouth combined badness defeats the C.O.B., well, we’ll figure out who the real tourney winner is… later. Remember, voting runs through the weekend and ends Monday at noon.
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November 2nd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
chord on blues (oh i get it, cordon bleus) was bad enough already, check out this ‘humor’ video about the oregon trail they made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3feIgr_zX8
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
of that video wasn’t enough of a train wreck here’s another ten minute’s worth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6hQBVSooWQ
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:09 pm
They FINALLY removed the videos!!! IvyGate, hopefully you’ve learned from Chris & Nick (Vayner days) to back up your YouTube postings…..so???
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Just kidding, it was my crappy connection.
Billy actually did a good job (the kid in the grey shirt). The other lead singers should be shot.
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:15 pm
So during the whole tournament I wasn’t actually watching the videos because I figured they weren’t actually that bad, it was just that IvyGate hates all a capella. But then I actually listened to these three, and WOW. They’re really awful. Maybe I’m alone here, but I actually think that Cornell group might be worse (alone) than Penn, which granted is terrible. That Cornell lead singer is awful… and WONDERWALL? Are they in eighth grade? This contest is fantastic.
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:00 pm
I think if you look at some of the other videos by the Dartmouth group, it’s a bit unfair that they’ve made it this far. The N’Sync video is corny, but that’s sort of their schtick, and they have a real good version of ‘Pinball Wizard’
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:15 pm
CHORD ON BLUES or bust
November 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I did just vote for Chord on Blues, but the Cornell one is pretty terrible.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Boy, I’m alone in thinking that Dartmouth is the worst? I just hate, Hate, HATE it when a guy in an all-male a capella group starts singing falsetto and/or dancing and a bunch of stupid whores in the audience cheer loudly.
I’m not normally the type to call any group of women “a bunch of stupid whores” – I’m not! – but I’ve seen this SO MANY TIMES!!
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:41 pm
The fact that we’ve made it this far is wonderful. Really. Look, the N*Sync Medley sucks, but that’s the point: it’s supposed to suck.
It’s N*Sync, for crying out loud. We knew what we were getting ourselves in to. When a group of your peers, all male, sings a series of songs from one of the least-respected musical groups of our generation, you have to realizes the intrinsic irony that lies within.
But we weren’t singing it ironically. How could we? The moment that an a cappella group realizes the hilarity/futility of it’s own endeavors, and starts to sing for the ironic value alone, is the moment that a cappella becomes silly and disappointing to watch. And watching a cappella is what it’s all about, really.
And consider this: if we hadn’t gotten up there and decided to sing this song, live, in front of a large group of people, completely seriously (and with sweet-ass dance moves), then you wouldn’t have been able to watch and laugh at us making fools of ourselves.
Where would we be then? Didn’t you enjoy watching the video? If you did, even a little, our job is done.
ps “h11″ is right, the ‘Pinball Wizard’ video is awesome, as are our other videos. Check ‘em out on tha YouTube.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:43 pm
I wish Final Cut had videos on Youtube.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
it must be chord on blues, even if i know three of the band’s members.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Considering that only 100+ people have voted on this site and we sold out all three nights of our fall show for a total of 512 tickets, that says a lot about the selection and credibility of this site. For a more accurate depiction of all these groups who put their time and effort, check out http://www.chordonblues.net
Jimmy
Wharton 08
Chords 08
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:39 pm
considering that there have only 100+ who have voted on this site (and maybe know about it) and that chords sold out 2 out of 3 nights this fall for a total of 450+ tickets, it says a lot about the accuracy and credibility of this gag site. For a more complete picture of all three groups, go to their website or see them in concert rather than take a random recording someone made with terrible audio
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:41 pm
oh yea a site with a sad excuse for a broken comment box is really nice.
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:28 am
At least chord on blues has reached a level of badness that is interesting to watch. Almost charming. The others are both bad and boring.
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:34 am
i actually watched other dartmouth cords on youtube after watching their nsync performance… and they’re pretty entertaining! got to give them credit.
sure, the nsync singing wasn’t the best, but at least it was bearable. i couldn’t get through all of penn’s chord on blues. my ears can’t take that kind of discord.
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:20 am
you guys really suck. i’ve watched your ‘humor’ videos too. also terrible.
November 3rd, 2007 at 12:13 pm
I have to say, I was skeptical about the Dartmouth Cords until I saw Pinball Wizard… it was pretty good (actually comparable to one of the best groups at Yale).
However, a group is only as good as its worst performances, and as slightly-humorous as the N*Sync medley is, two of the three soloists are about as dreadful as they get. I know my a cappella group wouldn’t have even called back the first or third soloist… they were dreadful.
But, to go back to what I was saying before, a group that can do a good Pinball Wizard should not be in the finals for worst Ivy a cappella group… it just doesn’t make sense.
Wonderwall was pretty awful though…. and don’t get me started on the Penn Chord on Blues. Oh lord.
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Dear Yale,
No one cares.
Love,
Dartmouth
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:50 pm
To our victims who made this possible: HAHAHAHAHA! This made me cry laughing. I’m sorry you guys hated it that much, but you have to admit this whole predicament is hilarious.
To Dan Bueno: I think you’ve finally given Chords a marketing angle! How many shows could they sell out being the William Hung of Ivy a cappella? Your comment is a revelation for the group.
To those who care: It was meant to be stupid humor. We were only arguably sober.
To the Chords who never believed we would accomplish this: I hate to say I told you so, but…
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
the tragic nature of chord on blues’s performance of harder better faster stronger is even mroe evident when you watch other groups perform the same song. go ahead. youtube it.
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I’ve been watching these videos all week, and the Cords are so much better than the other two, it’s a joke. The song choice was questionable, but I sort of buy the irony analysis above; also, their voices keep cracking but it works somehow.
The Chord on Blues deserve to win just based on name, but their performance is crushing. Chord on Blues in a walk.
November 3rd, 2007 at 4:32 pm
I like Final Cut. All of the other groups take themselves way too seriously.
November 3rd, 2007 at 5:25 pm
for the record, there IS one a cappella group i saw once that i really liked at penn – the inspiration. they dont have much audio or video but here’s like a 2 minute audio sample of one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcescV-97aw) great song. It ends before the soloist, who is unbelievably good, breaks into his falsetto, but whatever. I think this is when a cappella actually works as a technique — with r&b or soul, essentially. seeing a bunch of people just go “dum diddy dum diddy dum” to impersonate a guitar, on the other hand–why? how? anyway, if someone can find more audio or video of this group, they’re really good.
November 3rd, 2007 at 6:17 pm
jim newell doesnt care about white people
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I am always dismayed when I see people getting off on insulting student groups for their attempts to create something. Rather than trying to find all of the typos in the school newspaper and having online contests for worst a cappella group, why don’t want ever feel like praising or trying to find the best group? think of how members of these groups, especially those specifically targeted (soloists) feel reading this public blog. think about how inaccurate these random youtube videos are as representations of their actual talent. back off.
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Why don’t you go make your own blog which is suited to that? If you didn’t notice, the point of this one is not to highlight the virtues of the ivy league schools and their virtuous students. For example, ivygate might write about you.
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:52 pm
I think the whole point here is to LAUGH AT YOURSELF. The whole Ivy League thing is really quite ridiculous- so much of everything in our lives is ridiculous. I really can’t stand it when people take themselves so damn seriously. Not to mention the fact that we are Ivy Leaguers, and as such are pretty goddamn sheltered and privileged… a few mean comments on a blog? Really?
And I don’t know what it’s like elsewhere, but everybody bloody well worships a capella over here, so it’s really quite refreshing to see a little negativity thrown their way. Oy.
November 3rd, 2007 at 10:43 pm
I’ve had this question for a while, someone PLEASE ANSWER IT:
What happened to Ivy Leak Blog?
Love, Princeton 2009
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
yeah, but we actually have really good groups over here. chord on blues is SO TERRIBLE. seriously guys, don’t delude yourselves
November 4th, 2007 at 12:45 am
@princeton2009:
IvyLeak folded because it was godawful.
November 4th, 2007 at 1:10 am
@ yale’11: well said; couldn’t agree more.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:49 am
@please be kinder
You are incorrect. These groups are fucking legion, and they are a plague on the Ivy League — and maybe the entire nation. I suffered through at least 500 hours of shitty a capella concerts in college, and if I can spare the children of tomorrow the same fate, then I’m doing my part to make the world a better place.
November 4th, 2007 at 10:28 am
While I normally would go straight to the Chord on blues, I feel compelled ot point out through contrast exactly HOW bad the D’Chords performance of the N’Sync medley is. Compare to Northwestern’s Purple Haze: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ER0xAt3EjGo
I can only imagine the images that these finalists would suffer if they had synesthesia.
November 4th, 2007 at 11:18 am
don’t kid yourselves… Chord On Blues is the next Youtube phenomenon. the number of votes here and views on youtube are skyrocketing
November 4th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
The Chords might be the awesomest group ever 99.9% of the time. With the 1st and 3rd soloist, however, I don’t see how that could be true. Plus, if you’re going to be ironic and poke fun at N’SYNC, then you’ve got to perform it without highlighting the vocal limits of 2 of your members. Otherwise, the only thing ironic about the performance is that you think your soloists are good while the audience listens to evidence to the contrary. I hear that deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure sings a mean pinball though!
November 4th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I never knew what people were talking about when they said they didn’t like the new editors. But now I do… this contest is really lame.
November 4th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
darmouth cords aren’t that bad… shitty first soloist but tons of groups have weak soloists. their other stuff is fine – certainly not the “worst a cappella group” in the ivies. chord on blues, on the other hand, is horrible. just a tip: if you’re going to “dress up” please get the same color blue shirt for your performances. it’s not hard, trust me.
November 4th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Honestly, nothing could be worse than Absolut A capella. But I’d rather not watch them/talk about them… it’s not funny, it’s just depressing.
November 4th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
jim, why must you embarrass our alma mater so?? that chords link is just painful to watch.
November 4th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
While Absolute absolutely sucks, pairing them with the Chords still doesn’t bring it to a level close to the CoB’s. I understand the humor in the Chord’s performance and have to give them credit for such a lack of shame. The CoB’s, on the other hand, seem to actually take themselves seriously. Any a cappella group that does that can’t get much respect.
November 4th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
To repeat everyone else, the Chords video sucks but to state something no one has yet thought about … maybe the sound quality of the video was bad because it was a handheld? Yea not every group has the millions of dollars like Off the Beat to professionally produce their sound for them.
I really want to win this tournament but I also encourage you not to put down CoB when you’ve never heard us live.
Regards,
Perry
CoB ‘10
November 4th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I actually think the Cords weren’t too bad. They sucked in that video, but most college a cappella groups are mediocre. Absolute A Cappella really takes this mediocrity to a whole new level, however – I actually really wanted to vote for it plus the Cords, but what swayed me is that the Cords actually redeemed the combination somewhat. In a head-to-head, there is no question in my mind that this Absolute A Cappella performance kicks the Chord on Blues’ ass when it comes to suckitude.
November 4th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Re: IvyLeak. Andy Guess and Marc Zawel (both Cornellians) decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.
November 4th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
woo woo Andy Guess rocks Inside Higher Ed.
November 4th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Perry’s right- I was at the show, and they sounded a hell of a lot better live.
Blue shirts FTW though!
November 5th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Yeah, to echo the previous comments, Chord on Blues DID sound much better live, and Jimmy does a mean “Semi-Charmed” by Sublime.
I’d also like to point out that, in their defense, I’m pretty sure they had been pre-gaming that performance since around Noon. So what they lacked in talent, they also lacked in professionalism :)
November 5th, 2007 at 3:14 am
YO
The Dartmouth Cords are awesome, in my unbiased opinion. It’s hilarious that we’ve made it this far, we’re seriously honored, I mean, the first job of any performing group is to entertain, right? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???
Seriously, though, if you’re curious about just how “bad” we are, check out our other videos on Youtube (particularly Pinball, as aforementioned, and Footloose are two that tend to be pretty popular), and judge us based on our entire body of work, not just one song. Please and thank you.
November 5th, 2007 at 5:54 am
Yeah… the cords don’t suck, that performance is just crap. Cords on blue are the clear champion.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
i like the dartmouth cords. that guy who sings the first solo is so cute!
November 5th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
That comment was obviously made by the scrawny white guy himself.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:31 am
Chord on Blues isn’t so bad, saw their new show last weekend, this video is awful but they r actually good aside from that terrible vid
November 7th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
“Semi-Charmed” is a 3EB song, ducky.
And Jimmy is awesome.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Thanks for the publicity!
Come to the concert:
this Friday (11/9), 8pm
at Statler Auditorium
November 8th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Seen Absolut in concert – they are terrific!!
The lead singer is one of the BEST!!!
November 8th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Seen Absolut in concert – they are terrific!!
The lead singer is one of the BEST!!!
November 8th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Seen Absolut in concert – they are terrific!!
The lead singer is one of the BEST!!!
November 16th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
The Absolute concert was freakin ridiculous! They rock my world. Thank God no one takes this site seriously.