Rock music website Antiquiet has written an article on Tool Madness, which was our recently-completed contest/tournament/search for the Greatest song the band has written. The article features an interview with yours truly, and some tricky questions by author Kevin “Skwerl” Cogill. So head on over and read the article on Antiquiet! §

Here it is: the winning song in Tool Madness 2011, the song that has been voted “the Greatest Tool song” by you, is … “Lateralus”!

“Lateralus” beat out runner-up “Third Eye” convincingly, collecting nearly twice as many votes as the older song. Looking at the picks that you filled out back when this all started, it turns out that 509 of the 1621 ballots had picked “Lateralus” to win it all, while only 141 thought “Third Eye” would. And there was a last-minute upset: “10,000 Days” beat “Sober” for the third-place trophy, showing that the band did not peak back in the early 1990s.

And speaking of your picks, of the 1621 people who submitted valid picks for the Final 4, the official overall winner is … Josh Abbott. Josh wins some fleeting notoriety and a mention of his Twitter feed; send him a congratulatory note at @LiverFluke. Complete results are on the Tool Madness page; more data will be posted later this week for you data-lovers.

A grand total of 93,557 votes were cast in the tournament. I heard from many of you that you had fun playing along. It seemed like a fun way to pass some time while waiting for there to be any actual Tool news. Glad you all enjoyed the Madness! §

With the fourth round of Tool Madness now over, there are only the Final 4 songs remaining. Sure looks like popularity has not been the key to being great; the four songs were ranked #1, #3, #9, and #10 in their brackets.

Only a few matchups remain; we should have a winner this week. And not just a winning song; back when this all started, 1621 of you filled out your picks for the Final 4 and the championship rounds. We’re posting results of those ballots to the leaderboard page, which will be updated daily throughout this final week. Of all the submissions, 35 people picked the Final 4 correctly.

Of the four winning songs last week, three received fifty-something percent of the vote. “Lateralus”, on the other hand, defeated “The Grudge” with over 78% of your votes. Will be interesting to see how this all ends.

A total of 82,965 votes have been cast in Tool Madness so far. Onwards! §

As the second round comes to a close, there have now been over 61,000 votes cast in Tool Madness! Of the sixteen matchups, two ended in ties! Also, the radio singles were not all shoo-ins as you might have expected; “Stinkfist”, “Schism”, “Ænema”, and “Forty-Six & 2″ all received less than 53% of the vote in their matchups. Also worth noting: the Lateralus bracket is represented by the songs seeded #1 through #4, suggesting that at least on that album, the most popular tracks are also the most highly-regarded.

No covers and no segues made it to the Sweet 16. Only two title tracks remain in the competition: “Lateralus” and “10,000 Days”.

One #1 seed (“Vicarious”) was eliminated. All four #2 seeds are still contenders. The only #3 seed to be eliminated is “Ænema”. The lowest surviving seed is #10-seed “Third Eye.” For more, load up Tool Madness. §

The second half of the second round is over; a complete roundup of the round (a “round roundup”?) will be posted this week. Most notably, the end of the second round had a tie matchup, just as the first half of the round did. “Rosetta Stoned” and “Right in Two” will have a tiebreaker before we move on to the Sweet Sixteen. “Schism” squeaked past “Reflection”, and looks to have some even more serious competition in the next round. “10,000 Days” dispatched #1-seeded “Vicarious”, showing again that being a radio single won’t be enough to get you to the finals.

Next up are tiebreakers for the last round. Check out all the action on the Tool Madness page! §

It’s been a wild ride in the first half of the second round of the Tool Madness tournament. As you vote for the Greatest song by Tool, there has been much interesting discussion, both on the Opinion forums and on Twitter (you are following us @thetoolpage, right?). Here’s a breakdown of what’s happened:

So far, the second round has featured eight matchups, and only in three of them did the winner get more than 60% of the votes. Not surprising, as many of these decisions were very hard for voters. “Forty-Six & 2″ edged out Grammy winner “Ænema”, in a contest so close it could very well go a different way if we voted on it again next month (which we probably won’t do). At least it held on to a 1.5% lead in the final twelve hours of voting; “Undertow” and “4°” were locked in a much closer battle, which will be resolved by a tiebreaker at the end of the second round.

“Ænema” became the first #3 seed to lose, and the second title track (it’s basically the title track) to lose. “Eulogy” became the first #2 seed to lose. Many of you foresee a #1 seed losing sometime soon. Tool Madness continues! §

The first round of Tool Madness is over. You can see the updated bracket for the quick hit of results, but here’s some deeper analysis:

34,919 votes were cast! There were many blowouts, owing largely to the fact that there were so many segue-type tracks.

Of the 32 matchups, there were 15 songs that won with more than 90% of the vote. The biggest loser was “Useful Idiot”, getting only 1.2% of the vote against “Ænema.” The lowest percent of votes for a traditional song went to “The Gaping Lotus Experience” (5.9%).

Only 5 songs won without reaching 60%. The closest battle by far saw “Undertow” defeat “Opiate”, with only 52.5% voting for the winner.

Also: every #1, #2, #3, #6, and #9 seed advanced. All four #8 seeds were upset by the #9s. The only #4 seed to lose was “Swamp Song” (defeated by the only #13 to advance: “4°”). The only #5 seed to lose was “Parabol” (defeated by the only #12 to advance: “No Quarter”).

Expect more close ones and more upsets to happen as we go forward. The Madness continues! §

Today is the final day to submit your picks for the Final 4 in the Tool Madness tournament. If you haven’t already, head over to the Tool Madness page and take a stab at it! §

The first round of matchups in the Lateralus & Salival bracket has ended. No real surprises here, though the not-often-played “No Quarter” is the first #12 seed (and the first cover) to advance. “Reflection” steamrolled over companion song “Disposition”, so through three quadrants of the bracket, we have yet to see a #8 seed advance. The remaining losers this round were two segues, two introductory songs, two instrumentals, and the cover of “You Lied.”

Complete scores, your ballot for the Final 4 (open for just a few more days now), and voting on the latest matchups, are on the Tool Madness page. §

The first round continues down the right side of the bracket this week, and judging from the ballots you have all cast predicting the Final 4, there are a few heavy favorites and a few unpredictable matchups coming. More details, a chance to pick the Final 4 (still open!), and your opportunity to vote on the latest matchups, are on the Tool Madness page. §

The first-round matchups in the Ænima bracket are now over, and the Tool Madness tournament marches on. As expected, all of the six segue tracks from Ænima were soundly defeated, though “Die Eier von Satan” was the only one to at least put up a fight. Interesting to see that the Salival version of “Pushit” moves on, leaving the original album version behind, though it was not a blowout. The only other song that will not move on is “Jimmy”, which only received a quarter of your votes versus “Third Eye.”

More details, and your opportunity to vote on the Lateralus matchups, are on the Tool Madness page. §

As of yesterday evening, you can now fill out a Final 4 ballot for Tool Madness. Who knows, maybe we’ll have a prize announced before this is all over. A lot of people have already signed up; fill yours out while you still can!

The matchup between the songs “Undertow” and “Opiate” was actually tied after a few hundred votes, but one finally pulled ahead. “Swamp Song” vs. “4°” also had a winner yesterday. To find out who won, and to vote on the next matchups, load up the Tool Madness tournament! §