Green Day Defeat Paramore In Musical March Madness Championship

It's all over but the shouting (and there's still plenty of that): Green Day are the champions of MTV's 2011 Musical March Madness tournament,knocking off an upset-minded Paramore in Monday's title game to claim the crown.

In a contest that was waaaymore thrilling — and higher scoring — than the actual NCAA basketball championship game, the guys in Green Day jumped out to an early lead, then held on for dear life as Hayley Williams and company staged a furious second-half comeback ... one that, ultimately, fell short as polls closed at midnight. All in all, more than 120,000 votes were cast in the matchup, and Green Day ended up winning by fewer than 2,500. It was a nail-biter, a squeaker, and it came down to the wire. In other words, it was everything you could possibly want in a title game.



And, in Green Day, we have everything we could possibly want in a champion. After an ugly opening-round loss in last year's MMM tournament, the pop-punk veterans committed themselves to redemption, and tipped off the 2011 competition by blasting Adam Lambert in round one. Focused, Green Day then took out their frustrations on fellow heavyweights U2 and Blink-182, before surviving scares from Panic! at the Disco in the Elite Eight and Disturbed in the Final Four. And now, having bested Paramore, they stand atop the MMM mountain ... battle tested, redeemed and, ultimately, triumphant.

So congratulations to Billie Joe, Tré and Mike, who join last year's champs, Coheed and Cambria, in the annals of Musical March Madness history. Your trophy is being engraved as you read this. And congrats are also in order for Paramore, who showed grit and determination on their road to the championship game — besting foes like My Chemical Romance, Tokio Hotel and Linkin Park — but just didn't have enough left in the tank to take the title.

In fact, congratulations, and our sincere thanks, to all the fans and all the bands who took part in our Musical March Madness tournament. Your votes, comments, tweets and Facebook campaigns not only helped MMM shatter records, but genuinely impressed us, too. If there were a trophy to give all of you, we'd gladly pay to have it engraved.

So, that's a wrap on the 2011 Musical March Madness tournament ... it's been quite a ride, filled with thrilling highs and crushing lows, shocking upsets and last-second heroics. And, after millions of votes, thousands of arguments, 63 matchups, six rounds and three weeks, it's Green Day who reign supreme. And if your favorite band fell short, well, there's always next year, right?