***DEFINITIVE YEAR-END WRAP-UP***
2003 was a weird year. I got a graduate degree. I finally saw the inside of two of my favorite music publications by interning there. My first piece was published in the Village Voice. I got my first VIP concert tickets for being a "music writer." Professionally, not a bad year. (Though I am currently unemployed so....) But personally, I'm in the same exact place I was in in 2002! It hardly feels like a year has gone by at all. A bad date here; a strange, furious public make-out session there; a few hardcore middle-school-style crushes in between. But no real, great romances or heartbreaks. So it's weird when I look back at the CDs that swelled my collection this year or the singles that were ubiquitious on MTV because they have no boy residue on them. There is no album this year that I'll never listen to again because it is too painful. (Oh 1994 how you ruined Portishead's "Dummy" for me! Ditto to you 1999, for ruining the Blur song, "Tender!" It is probably a good thing that I had all of my CDs stolen in 2001 because anything I bought while living in London in 1998 is imbued with too much sadness to ever listen to again!) No, 2003 will go down in my personal history as the year that every record could stand on its own. Just music, no romantic history.
That doesn't mean that the following records and songs aren't important to my personal history. Just like I will always be reminded of my little LES apartment when I am eighty years old every time I smell pickles (thanks, Katz's Deli!), I will always remember Shaya shakin' it like a Polariod picture in my cramped living room while changing the lyrics to OutKast songs to have her name in them ("Sha-Ya!"). I will always be 25 and wearing pajamas in my parents' house when I hear R. Kelly rhyme "ignition" with "kitchen" because my dad gave a monologue on Thanksgiving about how he thinks that is an ingenious rhyme scheme. When my kids are listening to an oldies station and they are playing that infectious Chi-Lites horn sample from the opening to "Crazy in Love," I will be transported to the basement of Lit where Beth and Jen and I danced with sweaty abandon near Julia Stiles and the dudes from the Darkness and even all of the cool-ass rock critics in attendance knew all of the words and sang along.
So to hell with romance, that's so last century. It was a good year and here are my picks:
BEST ALBUM:
10) You Are Free- Cat Power
9) Up the Bracket- The Libertines
8) Chutes too Narrow- The Shins
7) Hail to the Thief- Radiohead
6) Room on Fire- The Strokes
5) Speakerboxxx/The Love Below- OutKast
4) Dear Catastrophe Waitress- Belle and Sebastian
3) Fever to Tell- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2) Chain Gang of Love- The Raveonettes
and my NUMBER ONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Elephant- The White Stripes
Honorable mentions:
Permission to Land- the Darkness, The Decline of British Sea Power- British Sea Power, Her Majesty- the Decemberists
BEST SINGLE:
10) Crazy in Love- Beyonce
9) Vanessa From Queens- Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
8) Blackout- British Sea Power
7) Danger! High Voltage!- Electric Six
6) I Believe in a Thing Called Love- the Darkness
5) 12:51- the Strokes
4) Ignition (Remix)- R. Kelly
3) Beware the Boys- Panjabi MC featuring Jay-Z
2) Seven Nation Army- The White Stripes
and my NUMBER ONE SINGLE OF THE YEAR: Hey Ya!- OutKast
Honorable mentions:
Reptilia- the Strokes, Where Is the Love- Black Eyed Peas, Saint Simon- the Shins, Billy Liar- the Decemberists, Why Can't I?- Liz Phair, It's My Life- No Doubt
You'll notice one glaring omittion: The Artist Formerly Known As My Boyfriend, Ryan Adams. Critics drooled over his new, derrivative, boring album. He made the lists of all three major music magazines. My little boyfriend has finally hit the big-time! I'm not one of those fans who desert their favorite artist just because they got too popular. Ryan should be popular. He's a great songwriter. He's good at being a ROCK STAR. He's cute as all hell. Shit, he should have been big after Heartbreaker or even Gold. But for America to jump on the Ryan bandwagon when he puts out his most sub-par album ever is just disheartening. People, where were you when he was good?
2003 was a weird year. I got a graduate degree. I finally saw the inside of two of my favorite music publications by interning there. My first piece was published in the Village Voice. I got my first VIP concert tickets for being a "music writer." Professionally, not a bad year. (Though I am currently unemployed so....) But personally, I'm in the same exact place I was in in 2002! It hardly feels like a year has gone by at all. A bad date here; a strange, furious public make-out session there; a few hardcore middle-school-style crushes in between. But no real, great romances or heartbreaks. So it's weird when I look back at the CDs that swelled my collection this year or the singles that were ubiquitious on MTV because they have no boy residue on them. There is no album this year that I'll never listen to again because it is too painful. (Oh 1994 how you ruined Portishead's "Dummy" for me! Ditto to you 1999, for ruining the Blur song, "Tender!" It is probably a good thing that I had all of my CDs stolen in 2001 because anything I bought while living in London in 1998 is imbued with too much sadness to ever listen to again!) No, 2003 will go down in my personal history as the year that every record could stand on its own. Just music, no romantic history.
That doesn't mean that the following records and songs aren't important to my personal history. Just like I will always be reminded of my little LES apartment when I am eighty years old every time I smell pickles (thanks, Katz's Deli!), I will always remember Shaya shakin' it like a Polariod picture in my cramped living room while changing the lyrics to OutKast songs to have her name in them ("Sha-Ya!"). I will always be 25 and wearing pajamas in my parents' house when I hear R. Kelly rhyme "ignition" with "kitchen" because my dad gave a monologue on Thanksgiving about how he thinks that is an ingenious rhyme scheme. When my kids are listening to an oldies station and they are playing that infectious Chi-Lites horn sample from the opening to "Crazy in Love," I will be transported to the basement of Lit where Beth and Jen and I danced with sweaty abandon near Julia Stiles and the dudes from the Darkness and even all of the cool-ass rock critics in attendance knew all of the words and sang along.
So to hell with romance, that's so last century. It was a good year and here are my picks:
BEST ALBUM:
10) You Are Free- Cat Power
9) Up the Bracket- The Libertines
8) Chutes too Narrow- The Shins
7) Hail to the Thief- Radiohead
6) Room on Fire- The Strokes
5) Speakerboxxx/The Love Below- OutKast
4) Dear Catastrophe Waitress- Belle and Sebastian
3) Fever to Tell- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2) Chain Gang of Love- The Raveonettes
and my NUMBER ONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Elephant- The White Stripes
Honorable mentions:
Permission to Land- the Darkness, The Decline of British Sea Power- British Sea Power, Her Majesty- the Decemberists
BEST SINGLE:
10) Crazy in Love- Beyonce
9) Vanessa From Queens- Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
8) Blackout- British Sea Power
7) Danger! High Voltage!- Electric Six
6) I Believe in a Thing Called Love- the Darkness
5) 12:51- the Strokes
4) Ignition (Remix)- R. Kelly
3) Beware the Boys- Panjabi MC featuring Jay-Z
2) Seven Nation Army- The White Stripes
and my NUMBER ONE SINGLE OF THE YEAR: Hey Ya!- OutKast
Honorable mentions:
Reptilia- the Strokes, Where Is the Love- Black Eyed Peas, Saint Simon- the Shins, Billy Liar- the Decemberists, Why Can't I?- Liz Phair, It's My Life- No Doubt
You'll notice one glaring omittion: The Artist Formerly Known As My Boyfriend, Ryan Adams. Critics drooled over his new, derrivative, boring album. He made the lists of all three major music magazines. My little boyfriend has finally hit the big-time! I'm not one of those fans who desert their favorite artist just because they got too popular. Ryan should be popular. He's a great songwriter. He's good at being a ROCK STAR. He's cute as all hell. Shit, he should have been big after Heartbreaker or even Gold. But for America to jump on the Ryan bandwagon when he puts out his most sub-par album ever is just disheartening. People, where were you when he was good?
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