2021 Bracket Battle: Battle of the Fake Bands

Each year, as we plan the annual SolarWinds Bracket Battle, we seek to find a premise that is inspiring, worthy of spirited and fulsome debate, a topic that will motivate y’all to campaign and cajole… We’ve had mythical creatures and sidekicks battle it out. We’ve chosen the ultimate useless superpower and crowned the Captain of Captains.

This year, we think we’ve picked a doozy … And so, without further ado and for your consideration, we present the 2021 SolarWinds Bracket Battle:

Battle of the Fake Bands!

For what could be more controversial than music? Our love, or lack thereof, of music is deeply rooted in the fabric of who we are. Our life stories are supported by long-running personal soundtracks, songs, and bands that hold special places in our hearts and minds. And while there are plenty of epic bands we could have stocked this bracket with, we felt we would go one step further into controversy and focus on bands that never actually existed.

From the small to the silver screen, we picked 33 FAKE bands of varying genres and skill level to go head-to-head, playing for their lives to see who will be named victorious by the ever-knowledgeable, ever-opinionated THWACK^® community.

Here’s a quick reminder on how this whole thing works:

 Match-Up Analysis:

• For each Battle of the Bands match-up, we’ve provided short descriptions of each band. Some of these require a trip on the way-back machine
• Anyone can view the bracket and match-ups, but to vote or comment, you must have a THWACK account.

Voting:

• Again, you must be logged in to vote and trash talk
• You may vote ONCE for each match-up
• Once you vote on a match-up, click the link to return to the bracket and vote on the next match-up in the series

Campaigning:

• Please feel free to campaign for and debate the worthiness of your favorites (also, feel free to post pictures of bracket predictions on social media)
• To join the conversation on social media, use the hashtag #SWBracketBattle
• There’s a PDF version of the bracket available, so you can print and track the progress of your favorite picks

Points:

• Each battle you vote on will earn you 150 points which means you can earn upwards of 4,000 points overall to be spent in the store.
• Points will be rewarded once the match up has closed for voting

Schedule:

Voting for each round will begin at 12:00 a.m. CT and close at 11:59pm on the dates listed on the Bracket Battle home page.

• Play-in battle opens TODAY, Mar 29
• Round 1 OPENS Mar 31
• Round 2 OPENS Apr 5
• Round 3 OPENS Apr 8
• Round 4 OPENS Apr 12
• Round 5 OPENS Apr 15
• The Last Band Standing will be announced Apr 22

If you have any other questions, please feel free to comment below and we’ll be sure to get back to you!

Happy Bracket Battle, all! And may your favorite FAKE band survive to shred another day.