the 2026 tournament will be march sadness, 90s edition

Our very first tournament was March Sadness. We selected 64 of what we thought were the saddest songs of the College Rock era (roughly 1980s-1990s), put em in a bracket, and the Official March Xness Selection Committee wrote all the essays for the first two rounds before we thought it would be fun to ask some friends to play instead. So from the Sweet 16 onward, we had the model that you’ve come to expect about March Xness, 64 essays by 64 writers about 64 songs. So for our tenth anniversary we thought we’d return to March Sadness as a theme, this time focusing on the 90s.

Also for our 10th anniversary we made a print anthology, Hit Repeat Until I Hate Music, which includes 40 of our favorite essays from previous tournaments with some bonus content too. Give it a preorder here?

Here are the 64 writers and the songs they selected:

  1. Brian Zitelman, Third Eye Blind, The Background (1997)

  2. Cicily Bennion, Ben Folds Five, Brick (1997)

  3. Andrew Schumacher Bethke, Belle and Sebastian, Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying (1996)

  4. Abigail Myers: Gillian Welch, By the Mark (1996)

  5. Timothy Gager, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Under the Bridge (1991)

  6. Nanette Donohue, Tori Amos, Winter (1992)

  7. Melissa Fite Johnson, Celine Dion, My Heart Will Go On (1997)

  8. Cheryl Graham: Kate Bush, Moments of Pleasure (1993)

  9. Brian Oliu: No Doubt, Don’t Speak (1995)

  10. Erin Keane: Guns ‘n’ Roses, November Rain (1991)

  11. Kimberly Nelson: The Wallflowers, One Headlight (1996)

  12. Moira McAvoy: Goo Goo Dolls, Iris (1998)

  13. Amy Barnes, Lee Ann Womack, Little Past Little Rock (1998)

  14. Chris Daley, Liz Phair, Divorce Song (1993)

  15. Jenny Johnson, Morphine, Cure for Pain (1993)

  16. Susanna Donato: Ani DiFranco, You Had Time (1994)

  17. Chris Keller: Wilco, Via Chicago (1999)

  18. Gabriel Palacios: Michael McDonald, Lonely Talk (1991)

  19. Melissa Faliveno: Counting Crows, Round Here (1993)

  20. Jendi Reiter: Lauryn Hill, Ex-Factor (1998)

  21. Jamison Crabtree: Elliott Smith, Between the Bars (1997)

  22. Allison Renner: Billie Myers, Kiss the Rain (1997)

  23. Philip James Shaw: Nick Cave, Nobody’s Baby Now (1994)

  24. Ron Hogan: Annie Lennox, No More I Love You’s (1995)

  25. Lela Scott MacNeil: Alanis Morrissette, Uninvited (1998)

  26. Lydia Pudzianowski, Backstreet Boys, Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely (1999)

  27. Jeremy Bennett, REM, Country Feedback (1991)

  28. Kay Keegan, Foo Fighters, Everlong (1997)

  29. Silas Hansen, Cranberries, Linger (1993)

  30. Elana Levin, The Black Crowes, She Talks to Angels (1990)

  31. Aaron Wolfson, Neutral Milk Hotel, The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 (1998)

  32. Casey Powaga, Bonnie Raitt, I Can’t Make You Love Me (1991)

  33. Kathleen Rooney, Patty Loveless, You Don't Even Know Who I Am (1993)

  34. Leah Mensch, Bob Dylan, Tryin to Get to Heaven (1997)

  35. John Linstrom, Peter Gabriel, “Here Comes the Flood” (1990 acoustic version)

  36. Megan Campbell, Skid Row, Wasted Time (1991)

  37. David Turkel, Tom Waits, Hold On (1999)

  38. Austin Grossman: Lisa Loeb, Stay (I Missed You) (1994)

  39. Chelsea Biondolillo, Mazzy Star, Flowers in December (1996)

  40. Jennifer Gravley: Nirvana, Sappy (1993)

  41. Samuel Rafael Barber: Silver Jews, The Wild Kindness (1998)

  42. Mo Daviau, Cat Power, Metal Heart (1998)

  43. Margarita Campbell, Eric Clapton, Tears in Heaven (1992)

  44. Laura Musselman: Bone Thugz-N-Harmony, Crossroads (1999)

  45. Erin McReynolds, Crash Test Dummies, Superman’s Song (1991)

  46. Erin Langner, Mariah Carey, Without You (1993)

  47. Emma Allmann, Blink-182, Adam’s Song

  48. Barry Montgomery: Grandpaboy, Lush and Green (1997)

  49. Erin Dorney: Paula Cole, Where Have All the Cowboys Gone (1996)

  50. Emily Podwoiski, Des’ree, I’m Kissing You (1996)

  51. Annie Zaleski, Kristin Hersh, Your Ghost (1994)

  52. Drew Krewer: Fiona Apple, On the Bound (1999)

  53. Emily Costa, Soul Asylum, Runaway Train (1993)

  54. Andrew Arthur, Sinead O’Connor, The Last Day of Our Acquaintance (1990)

  55. Ryan Carter: Gin Blossoms, Hey Jealousy (1992)

  56. Danielle Deulen: Sade, No Ordinary Love (1992)

  57. James Charlesworth: Collective Soul, The World I Know

  58. Camellia-Berry Grass: Sammy Kershaw, Yard Sale (1992)

  59. Amy Rossi, Vince Gill, Go Rest High on that Mountain (1994)

  60. M. L. Krishnan: Savage Garden, To the Moon & Back (1996)

  61. Keith Pille, The Jayhawks, Bottomless Cup (1997)

  62. Jason Thayer, Bush, Glycerine (1995)

  63. Brittney Uecker, Mineral, Parking Lot (1996)

  64. Danielle Geller: Portishead, Roads (1994)

We’ll post the bracket up when we have it, usually in December. Until then here are the Youtube playlist and the Spotify playlist (courtesy of dparker326)