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SPIN Top 40 Of 2003

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For those interested in lists:

40 Electric Six "Fire"
39 The Jealous Sound "Kill Them With Kindness"
38 Basement Jaxx "Kish Kash"
37 The Raveonettes "Chain Gang Of Love"
36 The Thrills "So Much For The City"
35 Brand New "Deja Entendu"
34 My Morning Jacket "It Still Moves"
33 Lucinda Williams "World Without Tears"
32 Kings Of Leon "Youth And Young Manhood"
31 Spiritualized "Amazing Grace"
30 Cat Power "You Are Free"
29 Joe Budden "Joe Budden"
28 Drive By Truckers "Decoration Day"
27 Bubba Sparxx "Deliverance"
26 The Postal Service "Give Up"
25 The Darkness "Permission To Land"
24 The Rapture "Echoes"
22 Ms Dynamite "A Little Deeper"
22 Pretty Girls Make Graves "The New Romance"
21 The Mars Volta "Deloused in the Crematorium"
20 The Libertines "Up The Bracket"
19 Atmosphere "Seven's Travels"
18 Ryan Adams "Rock and Roll"
17 Dashboard Confessional "A Mark, blah blah blah..."
16 Blur "Think Tank"
15 AFI "Sing The Sorrow"
14 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists "Hearts of Oak"
13 Belle & Sebastian "Dear Catastrophe Waitress"
12 Dizzee Rascal "Boy In Da Corner"
11 Metallica "St. Anger"
10 Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"
09 Missy Elliott "This Is Not A Test"
08 The New Pornographers "Electric Version"
07 Thursday "War All The Time"
06 Jay-Z "The Black Album"
05 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever To Tell"
04 50 Cent "Get Rich or Die Trying"
03 The Strokes "Room On Fire"
02 Outkast "Speakerboxx/The Love Below"
01 The White Stripes "Elephant"

20 Best Singles of 2003 (by Charles Aaron)

20 Beyonce/Jay-Z "Crazy In Love"
Jane's Addiction "Just Because"
19 T Rumschmiere "Monstertruckdriver"
18 !!! "Me and Guiliani..."
17 Electric Six "Danger! High Voltage"
16 The Darkness "Growing On Me"
15 Joe Budden "Pump It Up"
14 AFI "The Leaving Song Part II"
13 Wayne Wonder "No Letting Go"
12 The Donnas "Take It Off"
11 Dizzee Rascal "I Luv U"
10 The Strokes "12:51"
09 Nas "Made You Look"
08 Queens of the Stone Age "No One Knows"
07 Panjabi MC "Beware of the Boys"
06 Justin Timberlake "Cry Me A River"
05 R Kelly "Ignition (Remix)"
04 Outkast "Hey Ya"
03 The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army"
02 Eminem "Lose Yourself"
01 50 Cent "In Da Club"

I find the albums list in particular very mystifying. I had a very different year, to say the least.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Thing I'm amazed by #1: How the hell did that Metallica record rank so highly? That record had terrible reviews, it had no hits, and as far as I can tell, most of Metallica's fans didn't really care about it.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i could care less about the content of the lists themselves, but i'll register my annual complaint. i got this in my mailbox in late november, which means they probably had to close the issue in early october at the latest. and presumably they had to have a working list in place sometime before that. and at that point: HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY KNOW?

― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha I think the entire editorial staff of Spin lurks on ILM!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Such as?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, exactly. That makes the top ten rankings of Missy and Jay-Z particularly suspect - they could not have possibly spent that much time with those records.

I hate list making as a rule. I think the thing about SPIN's list this year is how I really couldn't have predicted a lot of this stuff - it doesn't make much sense to me, and it makes me feel very out of touch with their target demo (which is fine, but it does feel weird cos there was a time when I was 16/17/18/19 and their year end list made total sense to me).

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

08 Queens of the Stone Age "No One Knows"

WTF, this is a 2002 release -- and not even late 2002, it was popular in the summer.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Charles Aaron is high or something.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Matthew, I'm love and hate w/r/t listmaking. I love dissecting lists like this, and I love thinking about what would be on my own lists, but when it comes down to actually making my list, I'm riddled with self-consciousness and doubt, plagued by apples-and-oranges problems, and can't get over the whole arbitrariness of the endeavor.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Such as?

Just look at the albums on the list! White Stripes, Radiohead, Dizzee Rascal, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Outkast, Missy Elliott, The Strokes, The Rapture, Spiritualized, Bubba Sparxx, Basement Jaxx, Electric Six, Joe Budden, Ms Dynamite... The only thing missing is Sean Paul.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

how are those records "exclusive" to ILx?

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

waitaminit - is that new Missy album even out yet???

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Why did I think that Charles Aaron was black until I saw a picture of him last week? (Oh right, probably because when I read SPIN in high school and college, I couldn't imagine that a white person would champion so many hip-hop singles. Jeez, what does that say about me...)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I think they're ILX memes

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

how are those records "exclusive" to ILx?
we called dibs.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, Dan, I'm not sure that it's a total ILM list. If it were, Ned Raggett Reads the Almanac would at least be in the top 20.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

oh please.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

:-P

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

(and yes I know you're all kidding.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Are people really listening to these records? Who? I have no idea. I'm not being snotty about this. I really don't know. I've never heard about these people in any context other than lame culture-mag coverage.

39 The Jealous Sound
36 The Thrills
35 Brand New
34 My Morning Jacket
32 Kings Of Leon
23 Ms Dynamite
19 Atmosphere
15 AFI

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Those lists are pretty decent, methinks. Metallica is a head-scratcher though. Obviously, I'd pick some different things, but it's not horrible as far as these things go.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

My point was not that those records are exclusive to ILM. My point was that ILM is very scornful of most music mags out right now (ESPECIALLY Rolling Stone and Spin) and therefore the strong overlap between Spin's editorial staff and how I perceive the ILM hivemind amused me.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

The Jealous Sound is Blake from Knapsack's new band (sounded good live, their EP was extremely limp and watered-down).

AFI is a nu-punk band.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:44 (twenty-one years ago)

36 The Thrills

This is my friend Brian's #1 of the year. That said, I hadn't even heard of them until he told me that a few weeks ago.

34 My Morning Jacket

I think I've heard our friends in Lexington talk about them, maybe? Emily, at least.

23 Ms Dynamite

The United Kingdom to thread.

19 Atmosphere

Of those eight that you mention, Atmosphere probably gets the most ILM love. See: Nate Patrin.

15 AFI

Yeah, okay, good point. But I think the kids know them. I was driving past the Riviera (the biggest non-arena venue in Chicago) a month or two ago and got stuck in traffic as this show was letting out. I looked up at the marqee and said WHO THE FUCK?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Alot of kiddy-punk types I know listen to AFI. They're OK. The other bands I'm not sure about.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

This will probably be the least offensive best of 2003 list I'll see. I have a lot of the albums, and ten of my favorite singles of the year are on the singles list. They give more props to pop-punk than an ILM list would.

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Why did I think that Charles Aaron was black until I saw a picture of him last week?

Really? I've been reading Charles Aaron's writing in SPIN since I was a young teen, and I always thought of him as being a super-white guy. I'm not even sure why - something about his writing makes me think of nerdy white grad students.

I always thought that Sasha Frere-Jones was a woman up until fairly recently.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

My Morning Jacket is good, probably not Matthew's cup of tea though. Too many classic rawk influences (Young, Pink Floyd)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh. Uh.. Is Spin still a magazine?

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Just for clarity - I've heard My Morning Jacket, Atmosphere, and Ms Dynamite (she was on SNL with Queen Latifah). I'm just a) totally underwhelmed by them and b) unaware that they have any real following outside of media/writer types.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Re Charles Aaron, I just thought he was a super-nerdy black guy.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure, but aren't The Thrills that band from the UK who are like some kind of bastard child of The Eagles and the Beach Boys? I think they were on Conan a month or so back, and I was really bored by them.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Atmosphere and AFI were packing out shows long before anyone wrote about them nationally

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

The Thrills are Irish, I believe.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Brand New and the Jealous sound ditto. they're all, whaddaya know, internet bands, more or less.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

intie rock

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Are Brand New emo, Matos?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Thursday? Yeah Yeah Yeahs?

Ouch.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I've only heard five albums on this list (in order: Outkast, Radiohead, Metallica, The Mars Volta, The Rapture). Of those, I like three and hated two.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, so are the Jealous Sound. AFI are gothy and Atmosphere are hip-hop.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Spin was bought out as a front for the CIA's covert psychic spy program about 10 years ago. SPIN = Subversive Psychic Intelligence Network.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

um, no offense, Phil, but your tastes are, how we say, *specialized*

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I have yet to hear Atmosphere but my brother wants to have about 5,000,000 of their babies. AFI is kind of fantastic.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Atmosphere are fucking great, you should really hear them.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Matos, Mr. #1 ListMan, I'm interested in your general thoughts. (Not kidding at all.) I've always really really enjoyed Charles Aaron's writing, but lists in general are wonky.

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

haha Jeanne it'll have to wait because I'm editing you right now!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

As a sometimes defender of Ryan Adams, I have to say that album is atrocious.

― bnw (bnw), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

The Dizzee Rascal pick is actually pretty interesting, considering the album won't be released in the U.S. until 2004.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm interested, Matos, because, seriously, this year didn't excite me much, and the list above re-assures me in my "eh"-ness. Christ, what the f* is up with rock? Don't get me started on punk. Okay, now go back to editing me.

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

As a psychic intelligence network, SPIN can look into the future to gather information. Look at Chuck Klosterman's predictions for 2004 to see what I'm talking about. I believe he is one of their most talented operatives.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

(Which reminds me, I'm curious to see how the Notwist are going to fare on lists this year, seeing as how quite a few people ranked the import on their 2002 lists and others may ultimately consider it a 2002 album.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Jealous Sound is the only band on there that I've never actually HEARD OF, though I have no idea what some of those (other?) emo bands sound like. Here are the ones that I had no idea anybody cared about:

39 The Jealous Sound "Kill Them With Kindness"
36 The Thrills "So Much For The City"
35 Brand New "Deja Entendu"
31 Spiritualized "Amazing Grace"
22 Pretty Girls Make Graves "The New Romance"
16 Blur "Think Tank"
11 Metallica "St. Anger"
07 Thursday "War All The Time"
Jane's Addiction "Just Because" (which I don't think I've ever heard)
19 T Rumschmiere "Monstertruckdriver"
12 The Donnas "Take It Off" (fine, but just another Donnas track, I thought -- was this actually a hit or something? I must've missed it.)

I like that Rumschmiere album myself, though damned if I could tell you what its "single" sounds like. Most pleasant surprise on both lists, I think, is Joe Budden. But where the hell are Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz, David Banner, Ying Yang Twins, the Youngbloodz, Turk and/or any Southern hip-hop at all beyond Outkast and Bubba Sparxx, in what was probably crunk's biggest and best year ever??? How odd.

I have nothing against AFI, who are kind of catchy in a goofy way.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Also in the issue:

Top 10 Reissues

10 The Moles "On The Street/Rare & Weird"
09 Television "Marquee Moon"
08 Aphex Twin "26 Mixes For Cash"
07 Miles Davis "The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions"
06 The Allman Brothers Band "Live At Fillmore East"
05 New Order "Retro"
04 Neil Young "On The Beach," "American Stars & Bars"
03 Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime" (box set)
02 Bjork "Live Box"
01 Led Zeppelin "How The West Was Won"

Band of the Year: Coldplay

Revival of the Year: Women rock the main stage (Distillers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Donnas)

Trend of the Year: "Mainstreamo"

The Rest Of The Best

Eccentric Geniuses of the Year: Outkast

Video of the Year: Johnny Cash "Hurt"

Best Anti-Corporate Rant of the Year: Conor Oberst disses Clearchannel

Class-Action Suit of the Year: Fans sue Creed for sucking.

Movie of the Year: School of Rock

Live Band of the Year: Metallica

TV Show of the Year: Punk'd

DJ of the Year: You (iPod)

Most Desperate Grab For Relevance (Or: Weirdest Children's Book Promo: Madonna/Britney kiss at the MTV awards.

Surgical Footage of the Year: Jack White's broken finger.

Pet Rock of the Year: Friendster

Credibility Move of the Year: Justin Timberlake

Flops of the Year: Smash Mouth "Get The Picture," Robbie Williams "Escapology" (US sales only), Fischerspooner "#1," Everclear "Slow Motion Daydream," Live "Birds of Prey," Sugar Ray "In The Pursuit of Liesure," Third Eye Blind "Out of the Vein"

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I was hoping the iPod would make album of the year a la "Your Hard Drive" in 2000, but nope.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha, except for Robbie Williams and Fischerspooner, those "Flops of the Year" read like "These bands were popular in 1997. How dare they continue putting out albums!"

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

WTF with EVERYONE snubbing Ween's Quebec? Not just SPIN.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I like 27 of the records on this list (I haven't heard some and that 27 is taking you crazies' word on Dizee Rascal)

I think pretty much all of those singles are good songs, except for the couple I haven't heard.

Now, maybe this aren't THE BEST records of the year but that's not a bad batting average.

I think Pretty Girls Make Graves is the sellout emo punksters that bring the John Hughes soundtrack noise for Hot Topic kidz. That album grew on me alot.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't heard that PGMG album, but I liked the first one a lot. Still a little surprising to see them on the list, though, since I don't seem to recall their move to Matador being accompanied by much hype at all. I mean, I saw more ink spilled on their debut for Lookout! But I also don't read SPIN.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm just curious why two of the singles ("Lose Yourself" and "No One Knows") came out last year (and have the same guitar riff, wtf?!), a la the White Stripes' winning Album of the Year in '02 for an '01 release. or as C. Klosterman puts it, "for the third time in three years, [Jack White] and his fake sister have unleashed the best record on earth." Yeah, and two of those times were with the same album!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Spin's operatives' psychic implants sometime malfunction, causing them to confuse time streams.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't they try to pull a "well, it was released on a major label in 2002" with White Blood Cells last year? They certainly can't say that about Eminem or the Queens of the Stone Age.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

12 The Donnas "Take It Off" (fine, but just another Donnas track, I thought -- was this actually a hit or something? I must've missed it.)

Yeah, Chuck, it was their big hit -- video for it and all. They had a second single, but it didn't do much.

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

but the Donnas record was '02 as well! fuck, that's three!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

and timberlake

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

and nas

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

but "Cry Me a River" was an '03 single from an '02 album--I don't think that's true of the Donnas song.

and, yeah, Nas, duh--I forgot about that. gimme a fucking break!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

2002 is the new 2003.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, "cry me a river" was released as a single in december of last year (it was on my p&j ballot). it's totally fine for spin to list it, but it's another example.

and the missy record only made the list cuz they EXPECTED to like it, which is lame.

on the whole the spin list didn't bother me. even though the blender one is better.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

and i like spin, i do, but that whole fred durst article? fucking weak!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

and andy greenwald, i love you too, but you know yr allowed to write about non-emo bands, rite?

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"That record had terrible reviews, it had no hits, and as far as I can tell, most of Metallica's fans didn't really care about it. "

Oddly enough, it got good to great reviews in all the big mags (RS,Spin, & Blender), which I feel means that once again, rock crit has its oversized head placed up it's much more oversized ass waaaaaayyyyy too far.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

you can put any track, regardless of its single-release status, on your P&J ballot, though.

I'm 3/4 through Andy Greenwald's book; it's terrific.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

i'll get around to reading it eventually. it's just funny tho, cuz when i read blender or spin i don't even need to see a classification on the band -- if he's got the byline, i know what it is!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Is that Andy Greenwald book out? I tried to find it but couldn't, and my mother, who works in a bookstore, couldn't find it either.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, it's out.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

(oh man, major x-post)

Matos -- "Lose Yourself" and "Cry Me a River" both at least have the benefit of being released in late 2002. ("Lose Yourself" didn't come down from #1 until February; "Cry Me a River" peaked around the same time.) But they can't even make excuses for the QOTSA song!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

or the Nas song

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Who wants to bet that Guided By Voices end up on the Magnet best of list?

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

("major x-post" because I was trying to track down chart data, dammit! I thought I was safe in throwing out all my Xeroxed Hot 100s from 1991-93 a few years ago, but not if Billboard keeps all of that to themselves!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Charles, that's a foregone conclusion!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

The GBV greatest hits disc deserves to, it's all (or most) of the GBV you'll ever need in one easy-to-swallow dose.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

easy-to-swallow

Cue Matos retort ... now.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Fischerspooner also was 02. Mid 02.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Cue Matos retort ... now.

I know, I'm pitching underhand right now.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, I'll let that one slide, but thanks for thinking of me! :-)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I bought the Fischerspooner record in early 2001 after hearing it as part of an installation at PS1. I'm not bragging, though. I'm not really crazy about it aside from two of the songs.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

but Fischerspooner didn't come out in the U.S. till '03, by which time its potential star had sunk pretty frickin' low anyway....

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

(Jeanne, check yr email)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it(Fischerspooner) came out twice. It got launched in the UK first, and flopped. Then it launched in the US, and flopped.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

sounds right to me!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to be a party pooper, but why do so many people on here always worry so much about The Exact Year That Records Came Out? Isn't it obvious that lots of records might not hit you until a few months AFTER they come out? Which is why literal release dates don't matter in Pazz and Jop; also, if your deadline was October last year, you'd automatically miss stuff that came out in the two months after that, right? I mean, I have no love for Spin, and couldn't care less about defending them, but this kinda thing always just seems NITPICKY to me.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I never understood why they didn't just make the Fischerspooner guys record a new album and hope for a single rather than push an album which quite obviously had nothing that was going to be a radio/MTV hit.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, it's really weird to keep trying to release the same set of 10 songs three or four years in a row. Aside from the Kylie remix, have they done anything?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:43 (twenty-one years ago)

They mowed my lawn. They got some ribbon candy and twenty-five cents to buy some moon pies.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, I'll let that one slide, but thanks for thinking of me! :-)

As a gesture of gratitude, I'll let you borrow all my Fading Captain series 7 inches! ; )

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

They've partied...HARD.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

More whining about 2002 albums: Personally, I'm kinda pissed that the Justin Timberlake and Sean Paul albums (the latter of which I still haven't heard, but lots of other people did!) DIDN'T make this list, since 2003 was pretty clearly the year they had impact. (Ditto maybe T.A.T.U., who you'd think would've at least deserved a *single.*)

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know, I don't understand the dissing, it seems so obvious, pretentious arty band call act in a way which music press deem pretentious and arty and music press act boorish and hate them for it, so fucking predictable.

And the Kylie remix and Emerge fucking rock!

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to be a party pooper, but why do so many people on here always worry so much about The Exact Year That Records Came Out?

Well, it's just a logic thing. If it's a Best Of 2003 list, shouldn't everything be from 2003 for it to make sense at all?

I do think that in the interest of fairness, records from the last month or two of the previous year should be allowed, but that sort of thing should be made clear somewhere in the introduction.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I was pretty surprised that Timberlake didn't make their Top 40 albums list. I was even more surprised that Beyonce got snubbed from that list, and had a very low placing in the singles category. B got robbed!

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:50 (twenty-one years ago)

There is some kind of implied time window with these type of lists though. It can't just be the totally subjective 'When did the record hit for me?' - because obviously you shouldn't include, say, a record from 20 years ago that you finally got around to hearing this year. (Well maybe you could get away with it if it was reissued, but not otherwise.)

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, it's one thing for them to have been released last year and made their impact this year--it's another thing for them to have been released AND made their impact last year and then get shoehorned into this year's list.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

O Nate is right. If the "when did the record hit for me" thing was a rule, I'd have to put a bunch of Squeeze albums on my hypothetical year end list.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder if "No One Knows" was a Spin typo for "Go With The Flow".

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, "Lose Yourself" placed SECOND on last year's P&J singles (and "No One Knows" eleventh, and "Made You Look" 21st)--it's not as if those songs were unknown quantities even in, say, October, which is when I think they put those lists together. Either way, it looks fucking lame.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

obviously it makes sense when something carries over--cf. Thriller winning P&J in '83, or even Spin naming Coldplay band of the year--they're not MY band of the year, but it's a legitimate choice. but "Lose Yourself" or last year's White Blood Cells as album of the year 18 months after it came out AND MADE ITS IMPACT (and placed fourth in P&J) isn't the same thing AT ALL.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Surprised that Evanescence didn't make the list since I think they did more for the goth revival than AFI. And, as a friend said, "They rocked harder than 10 St. Angers."

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:00 (twenty-one years ago)

my left toenail rocks harder than St. Anger

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

they got pigeonholed in the "women who rock" article instead, jeanne. (unjustly, i might add)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Lose Yourself" (which didn't hit til November or December, right?) does indeed seem weird, but hey, it's Charles Aaron's list, not mine. I forget what those Nas and QOTSA songs sound like; I'd say, if they were still on the Billboard charts in January (which they were), which means Charles was hardly the only person discovering them in 2003, then they're fair game if he wants them to be. And Bob Xgau voting for "Rock the Casbah" a couple years ago was a lot weirder. Anyway, if anything, rock criticism is way too anal-compulsive in general about release dates these days, so more power to anybody who isn't. It's not like we work for the record companies, after all -- Their release dates shouldn't set our agenda; our tastes should. (Wow, I NEVER use the editorial "we." What the hell got into me?)

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

(actually, it probably doesn't. but it's fun to think it does!)

the very idea of that "women in rock are back!" article makes me do a whole-body cringe

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Unjustly because you don't think she rocks, or because they are a very dude-centric band with a girl singer? Or...?

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Looking back on the reissues, where's that deluxe "Harder They Come" soundtrack. That seemed one to (me at least) to be the best excuse for those Universal deluxe albums yet.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, aren't you the guy who discounted Joe S. Harrington's P&J ballot because none of the records were "new"?

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, as long as we're making exceptions....

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

>um, no offense, Phil, but your tastes are, how we say, *specialized*

My tastes are, but my listening isn't, really. Well, not totally; I don't listen to the radio, ever, but I watch MTV every day.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

On the other hand -- and I guess this is Matos's point, which makes sense -- that Eminem single or White Stripes album basically strikes of Spin covering their stupid asses, since they'd missed the records (assuming they did, I forget) the year before. The obvious solution would be to run the poll LATER. But they're so obsessed with being FIRST (just like all the magazines who only review albums the week that they came out) that being SMART doesn't matter to them, I guess. (Actually, I wonder if it's an advertiser-driven decision: i.e., getting the lists into the store while people are still doing Xmas shopping. I have no evidence for this, but it wouldn't surprise me.)

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

unjust cuz evanescence deserved to make either the albums or singles lists!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

>>Chuck, aren't you the guy who discounted Joe S. Harrington's P&J ballot because none of the records were "new"?<<

Nah, the stupid fuck didn't list any record labels for all those 25 year old albums, and I didn't want to waste my time looking them up, basically. If you're gonna be a moron, at least DO YOUR WORK, you know?

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think the Eminem thing is about them "covering their asses" - SPIN has been worshipping Eminem for the past three or four years now. I'm pretty sure that every one of his albums have made their year end list, mostly in the top 10.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

>I don't think the Eminem thing is about them "covering their asses" - SPIN has been worshipping Eminem for the past three or four years now. I'm pretty sure that every one of his albums have made their year end list, mostly in the top 10<

Exactly. So they couldn't afford to miss this one. Which was my pint. (Though I bet it had more to do with THAT SONG than with Eminem. It's not like ever single he's ever made has placed on their lists, right?)

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

that's pretty much it, Chuck. I mean, I have a year-end thing coming up too but I'm in the more privileged position of having most of the year instead of 3/4 of it behind me to make sure stuff gets covered. (well, actually, "what gets covered" depends on what my writers decide to cover, but you know what I mean.) so no, I don't envy Spin that way at all. but it seems so egregious to have "Lose Yourself" or White Blood Cells on those lists way after the fact--everyone knows those artists are Spin-endorsed because they're on the fucking cover every other month!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost, obviously

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyway, maybe the reason I'm not being so kneejerkedly anti-Spin this time is because at least, unlike last year, they didn't fill up their list with Janes Addiction/Weezer/Audioslave/Chili Peppers/Or-Whoever type '90s alt-rock hasbeens. Which is an improvement of sorts.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, how obscure were Harrington's picks?

Judging by his Top 100 Greatest Albums list, he seems pretty obsessed with canonical boomer rock.

Also: I misunderstood your implication of "covering their asses," sorry.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Except for Broadcast and the still-sorta-undecided Tenth Slot (it was Lyrics Born for a while, but now I'm considering changing it to MF Doom's Viktor Vaughn Vaudeville Villain or Sean Paul), all of my Top Ten albums of '03 are on the list. (They have my top eight, though my #1 is ranked pretty low.)

Good to see !!! on the singles list, but no Junior Senior = TRASH.

Matos: you only have one toenail on your left foot? What the hell?

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

that Harrington list makes the Rolling Stone 500 look like . . . a decent list!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe Charles Aaron was considering the fact that "Lose Yourself" won an Academy Award in 2003. That could be part of the reasoning.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Nate, I'll show you when I come to Mpls for Xmas, it's really gnarly!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

>Chuck, how obscure were Harrington's picks?<

I forget, but not especially, I don't think. I mean, I think he even put the Sex Pistols on there. So the list was not only a dumb music-sucks-these-days statement, it was also completely boring about it.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

haha Joe S. Harrington in boring shockah!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Re: Women Rock the Front Stage

I didn't even bother to address this earlier in the thread because this is the Donnas', what, SIXTH album. And the Distillers' THIRD. AND BOTH bands have been selling out and headlining shows in clubs for years. That and it's a stupid fucking thing to say to begin with. "Women In Rock are Back." Fucking die, please. But it doesn't piss me off half as much as Stone's insistence to put Eve, Mary J. etc. on the cover of this year's Women In Rock issue. For fuck's sake, change the issue to WOMEN IN MUSIC. Drives me NUTS.

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

And by the way, I fully intend on putting Cyndi Lauper's new album on my Pazz & Jop ballot because it's the most beautiful-zany thing that's hit my ears all year.

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

(I don't know why the hell I decided that this thread needed that last post.)

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Um, not to defend Joe Harrington, but these are hardly "canonical":


15. The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get-Joe Walsh
16. Slayed?-Slade
18. Bridge of Sighs-Robin Trower
28. Fool for the City-Foghat
49. Thick as a Brick-Jethro Tull
55. Straight Shooter-Bad Company
57. Lights Out-UFO
63. Frampton Comes Alive-Peter Frampton
70. Starless and Bible Black-King Crimson
71. Flat as a Pancake-Head East
76. They Only Come Out at Night-Edgar Winter
77. All American Boy-Rick Derringer
80. Molly Hatchet
81. Dreamboat Annie-Heart
82. Little Queen-Heart
86. Montrose
90. Klaatu
91. Brain Salad Surgery-Emerson, Lake & Palmer
92. Hair of the Dog-Nazareth
94. Mirror Stars-Fabulous Poodles
100. Not Fragile-BTO

Most of them are actually pretty good, too.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, I wasn't putting down the records at all! But that list is generally boomer rock icon stuff...

(Hey Jeanne, I'll check that record out based on your recommendation just now, so hey, good thing you posted it here.)

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

And if some of things aren't quite canonical, they are definitely staples of classic rock radio.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

If you ask me, Head East, Nazareth, Foghat, UFO, Rick Derringer, and the Fabulous Poodles (none of whom has ever made any Top 500 boomer-album list in Rolling Stone, I guaranfuckingtee) aren't nearly icons for ENOUGH people. (But hey, you didn't.)

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:35 (twenty-one years ago)

And I WISH classic rock radio would play "Mirror Stars" (or even "Cherry Bomb") sometimes!

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, jet down to FL, as I'd heard both of those on some classic rock station down here this morn.

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Jeanne, the issue was women who rock, which isn't the same as women in rock.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I just read that article about women/rock, and it was actually kinda sad because it was mostly a negative piece about how low the sales figures of women-led rock bands are aside from Evanescence, and it was only vaguely hopeful that things were going to get better soon.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm slightly pissed that Kelly Osbourne and Good Charlotte didn't get some kind of "we totally didn't notice how great they were until radio shoved - and continues to shove thanks to the recently released power ballad - one group in our face and the other re-released the album with an ugly new cover and this horrible duet with her dad" '02 in '03 action. But both qualify for pazz'n'jop folx, you heard it from the man!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:34 (twenty-one years ago)

also 6 of my top 10 albums (so far) are in their 40 so I shouldn't complain even though most of the other 34 albums are total ass. And they missed MY '02 in '03 votes, Northern State and tATu! also Liz Phair, which is probably cuz she tried to break up with Klosterman in that interview. And I'm sure Greendale would have made the list if Alan Light was still at the helm.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:40 (twenty-one years ago)

These are the ones I kinda like (many of them with many reservations), for whatever it's worth:

40 Electric Six "Fire"
38 Basement Jaxx "Kish Kash"
34 My Morning Jacket "It Still Moves"
29 Joe Budden "Joe Budden"
28 Drive By Truckers "Decoration Day"
27 Bubba Sparxx "Deliverance"
25 The Darkness "Permission To Land"
24 The Rapture "Echoes"
19 Atmosphere "Seven's Travels"
15 AFI "Sing The Sorrow"
14 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists "Hearts of Oak"
12 Dizzee Rascal "Boy In Da Corner"
10 Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"
06 Jay-Z "The Black Album"
05 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever To Tell"
03 The Strokes "Room On Fire"
02 Outkast "Speakerboxx/The Love Below"
01 The White Stripes "Elephant"

Haven't decided on Missy yet. Like 50's birthday song just fine.
Bubba Sparxxx is the only one that will make my top ten, probably.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:47 (twenty-one years ago)

And oh yeah, I liked the Raveonettes' EP, but their album bored me.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:49 (twenty-one years ago)

my six or seven (haven't decided on the Rapture yet) are in that list. Though I'm surprised Radiohead and the Darkness got yer approval (though you did say reservations - the Darkness are kinda funny but seem pretty one-dimensional compared to the groups they rip from. Though I guess the Rapture do too). Electric Six should totally make yer list! Any album that opens with "Dance Commander" and "Electric Demons In Love" and ends with "I'm The Bomb" and "Synthesizer" should be in a top 10.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Oops, Radiohead was totally a mistake! I have NO use for that thing!

The Darkness are way marginal, but I like how some melodies remind me of old Scorpions/Boston/Night Ranger proto-pop-metal stuff. Their songwriting kinda sucks, they don't take enough guitar solos, and the Tiny Tim dork is way better singing in a lower register. That said, I definitely find hooks all through that CD that I respond happily to.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't find them "funny" at all, though. Even Ted Leo is funnier.

― chuck, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Electric Six would easily be top 20. (So would Dizzee Rascal, probably.) And I absolutely, totally agree with this, for both bands: "the Darkness...seem pretty one-dimensional compared to the groups they rip from. Though I guess the Rapture do too." (Maybe the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ted Leo, and Drive By Truckers do too, actually--at least if you're talking Au Pairs, Thin Lizzy, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Well, okay, maybe not Au Pairs. Their second album really did suck.)

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:04 (twenty-one years ago)

i really really wanted to like that rapture album.but i don't like it so much. house of jealous lovers and that other one where he sounds like robert smith really set me up to love it, but i never want to play it.oh well.

― islandscott, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Does Thursday even have a fanbase? They don't seem popular enough for mainstream radio fans to care, or indie enough for indie fans to care.

If all it takes to make Spin's top 40 is cop a Neil Young line for a hook, I need to start a band, post haste!!

― dieblucasdie (dieblucasdie), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I second islandscott on the Rapture album. I love Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks, but Echoes just didn't do it for me.

― dieblucasdie (dieblucasdie), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Thursday are very popular, especially among mall-punk/nu-emo/whatever kids. And Winona Ryder, supposedly.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, so latebloomer, forgot about that crowd. Viva MTV2!

― dieblucasdie (dieblucasdie), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Nick Catucci gave the Thursday album four stars in Blender! He's also written every positive Evanescene article ever! (to be fair I like every Evanescence single I just haven't heard the album).

I gotta admit I'm digging Decoration Day a lot more than the cheapo Lynyrd comp called What's Your Name? that I've got. Compared to the Darkness and Rapture guys, Karen O, Patterson Hood and Ted Leo are definitely NOT as monochromatic and empty.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

neither are Mike Colley and Jason Isbell for that matter.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"50's birthday song"!!

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

COOLEY. my bad (and I've met the guy too! when the DBTs played in town I gave them a copy of my ticket, which was for the Drive-In Truckers).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Oops, Radiohead was totally a mistake! I have NO use for that thing!

You couldn't have made more of a mindfuck if you tried! Let it slip in your ballot and then deny ever having thought about it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

>>I'm digging Decoration Day a lot more than the cheapo Lynyrd comp called What's Your Name? that I've got<<

Anthony, I can only chalk this up to your famous "rhythm section problem." (And remember, DBT's considerably less alt country but still not danceable enough previous album topped my list last year, unless you count bands from 25 years ago.) (Also, I didn't compare Ted Leo, etc to Darkness, etc; I compared them to Thin Lizzy, etc.)

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

WOAH. I just realized that they hated on "Re*Ac*Tor" in the reissues deal! It's WAY better than American Stars'n'Bars!

Yeah judging bands on more than their rhythm section IS my problem, Chuck.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Ted Leo as Thin Lizzy? What the hell? I need to give that a second listen. Did I give up on it before I discovered some "Bad Reputation"-style ass-stomper near the end of the record or something?

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

here's the tracklist for What's Your Name? which along with "Freebird" is all the Lynyrd I've heard. I like the album plenty but I like Decoration Day more (though the Lynyrd album picks up near the end). My favorite song on it might be "Simple Man," which like my preference of Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" over STP's "Unglued," probably means I'll take big-ass drama over glorious rhythm sections that only Chuck talks about reverently.

1. That Smell
2. Workin' for MCA
3. Call Me the Breeze
4. Mississippi Kid
5. What's Your Name?
6. Simple Man
7. Things Goin' On
8. I Need You
9. Swamp Music
10. Sweet Home Alabama

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

ignore that picks up near the end part. the Lynyrd album kinda goes up and down, really.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

and up again.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I think he means the Pharmacists as Thin Lizzy, Nate. And as that boring-ass Ted Leo solo EP implies, he NEEDS them.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

What, no "Tuesday's Gone"?

And yeah, that's what I was getting at, too, with the Pharmacists. I didn't feel like typing the whole thing.

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, that's what I meant. Ted himself is more like Joe Jackson or Paul Weller or somebody. But the band's Lizzy rips are really blatant in a couple songs. And that EP was indeed horrible.

Drive By Truckers have yet to write a song as good as:

1. That Smell
2. Workin' for MCA
3. Call Me the Breeze
5. What's Your Name?
6. Simple Man
10. Sweet Home Alabama

Wittier lyrics, more engaged singing, fuller guitars, sadder beauty. More at STAKE. Not just a better beat, though they swung as hard as any rock band ever. But they were an album band, Anthony. You should buy their albums. The first two are a really fine place to start.

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I kinda figured they were an album band. I'll put 'em on my xmas list. And hey, remember that a year ago I was giving you shit for the DBTs! Drawl-By Truckers' Southern Fetish Opera I think I called it. Needless to say, I've been wrong before.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:02 (twenty-one years ago)

did spin do the 10 best albums you haven't heard list? Just curious to see what made the list.

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

no more, Jonathan.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I doubt Dizzee'd be on the list as an import if they had done the Ten You Haven't Heard list.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Nah, I disagree -- the Dizzee album's huge. Top ten pazz and jop, I bet. Top 20 at least. Which means (wow, I just thought of this!) it might WIN in 2004, if it carries over enough votes from THIS year....

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

are you serious?! I don't believe it.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, you sound like me talking about Basement Jaxx, the Avalanches, and Daft Punk two years ago! and they finished 13, 11, and 25, respectively.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:19 (twenty-one years ago)

There are plenty of promo copies out there, Michaelangelo. At least there seem to be. And it will get a VERY high point to voter ratio; the people who like it seem to LOVE it, as much as any 2003 album.

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:19 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, well, ditto the Avalanches. I still don't think it'll make top 10 and I certainly don't think it will win in '04.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I can see it do well on Pazz & Jop, but I still think SPIN would have put in the "Top 10 Albums You Haven't Heard" list, since you're talking about PROMO COPIES here.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I dunno, maybe I'm wrong. I usually think people overpredict these dance-cult things, but I can totally see it finishing higher than, say, the Rapture or Basement Jaxx (and not only because they're not nearly as good, but let's not get into that). Actually, though, the lower it finishes (and it will ABSOLUTELY finish), the MORE chance it has of carrying over its votes to the year of its domestic release.

Avalanches TOTALLY surprised me! I'd barely even heard of them!

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not *predicting* it'll win in '04, mind you; just saying it's a possibility. There are 400 or so more days worth of records to compete with! It just never occured to me that it might have a SHOT at winning that year, and that finishing twice is a foregone conclusion.

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

it will certainly place, just not top 10. I'd be amazed if it did that well. there are just too many people in the midwest (and elsewhere, right) that'll give all their fucking points to Elephant.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)

also, what rock were you living under that you'd never heard of the Avalanches?

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

there are just too many people in the midwest (and elsewhere, right) that'll give all their fucking points to Elephant.

because it's a good album that's been released in the midwest?

also, what rock were you living under that you'd never heard of the Avalanches?
yeah, I even knew they sucked by then!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I bet Outkast will beat Elephant (which could place as low as third, behind Radiohead as well), though.

I heard the NAME Avalanches. Somebody in Canada had pitched me the record. I just assumed it was, like, a popular in Canada thing. I still don't understand what's so great about that album, so maybe that's got something to do with it. But obviously, many disagreed.

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I figured they were about as important as Dirty Vegas or something!

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Go play in the traffic, Anthony.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

That's what I'm doing HERE!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"Simple Man" is the bomb.

I like that Spin's singles list had "No Letting Go" and no "Get Busy" (they're both great, but I like Wayne Wonder's song better).

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

well, considering how BAD most electronic music is, I don't actually blame you, Chuck!

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I figured they were about as important as Dirty Vegas or something!

That's like saying that Geddy Lee isn't as important a bassist as Quiet Riot's!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

actually it's more like assuming GTR isn't as important as Quiet Riot.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Me I'm gonna go to a bar and (I'm not making this up) work on updating the pazz&jop letter and list of voters over several Stellas. I've been procrastinating all afternoon, if you couldn't tell.

(By the way, I do think White Stripes DESERVE to beat Outkast and Radiohead -- and *maybe* even beat Dizee Rascal; thats a close one. But what I want to win and what I think will win are two different animals. Of course, most albums that I want to win won't even place.)

And most EVERYTHING music is bad, Michaelangelo. Why should electronic stuff be any different? But I love lots of it, as you know. Or you should.

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

my left toenail rocks harder than St. Anger

Don't you have 10 toenails?

― Nick H (Nick H), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Matos is cloven-hoofed!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:48 (twenty-one years ago)

and there's nothing wrong with being a satyr!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Except the social stigma of satyriasis

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I know you love lots of it, you fucking freak (sez the guy with one toenail)! I just don't blame you for thinking that off the top, though god knows the Avs' presentation, not to mention the kind of reviews/talk it got, would've indicated otherwise to ME if I hadn't already been aware of what they were doing. I mean, "It sounds like a ravey Paul's Boutique" and "they used 1000 samples" doesn't exactly scream "crap big beat" to me.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Matos -- please tell me you stopped to look it up when you listed the BJaxx/Daft Punk/Avalanches PnJ rankings upthread.

Neither the White Stripes or Outkast records are as good as those bands' previous records, but are both FAR better than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot/Sea Change/WhateverthatFlamingLipsalbumwascalled, so I say Pazz and Jop is looking better this year!

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

come on, Chris, you *know* I had that shit memorized.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I like Elephant fine. OutKast I'm not so sure about. either way, hell yes they're better than YHF and Sea Change. that's not the point I was trying to make, it was that I thought Chuck's expectations for Dizzee seemed awfully high.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

You suck.

The Flaming Lips rock.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

BornonthEfloor: Flops of the Year: Smash Mouth "Get The Picture," Robbie Williams "Escapology" (US sales only), Fischerspooner "#1," Everclear "Slow Motion Daydream," Live "Birds of Prey," Sugar Ray "In The Pursuit of Liesure," Third Eye Blind "Out of the Vein"
BornonthEfloor: damn they're pretty hard on fischerspooner....
Hotel Opera: whoever said it's just blind 1997 hate is right
BornonthEfloor: fair enough but all those album are pretty big flops
Hotel Opera: yeah but almost none of them are follow-ups to big hits or personal bests so it's kind of weird
Hotel Opera: i mean really you could make a more convincing case for "St Anger" or "American Life" or "Results May Vary" being relative flops
BornonthEfloor: shit yeah
BornonthEfloor: wheres american life?
BornonthEfloor: thats the biggest flop of the decade so far
Hotel Opera: yeah
Hotel Opera: i think she just lezzed it up to make everyone forget
Hotel Opera: and it worked apparently!
BornonthEfloor: hehe yup
Hotel Opera: i want to paraphrase this in a post but i'm feeling lazy so i think i'm just gonna cut-and-paste these last few IMs into the thread
BornonthEfloor: "i will regain my credibility by doing a gap commercial with missy elliott, if that fails i will have to put into action operation: make out with britney spears"
BornonthEfloor: you know thats been her fallback plan for a few years
Hotel Opera: haha yeah
BornonthEfloor: and she's finally had to use it
Hotel Opera: they almost did a record together on Britney's last album but it didn't happen, i guess she wasn't quite desperate enough at that point
BornonthEfloor: at that stage she thought ironically wearing britney spears t shirts was enough

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:02 (twenty-one years ago)

my comments were entirely unrelated to your sparring with Chuck; I just wanted to throw that out there.

The Lips record, even though I can't remember what it was called, is my favorite of those three, but I like Elephant and Love Below/Speakerboxx better, though Elephant's apparent coronation somewhat perplexes me since it seems clearly inferior to White Blood Cells to my ears.

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Coming to this late, but charting the Missy album so high is kinda like an insult to her other albums (even though I like it more than I did a few days ago) - as if the very idea of Missy is enough to send her into the top ten regardless of the quality of the output. Maybe she's being rewarded for her numerous guest apperances (ditto for Jay-Z?).

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I definitely prefer Elephant's shooby-dooby-doo's to White Blood Cell's clang-clang-clang.

And if that doesn't make sense, tough shit!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, the Spin list. 10 of the 15 or so record I'm considering for my own top 10 are on that list, though my two faves finished fairly low.

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)

so far, my top ten is looking pretty ho-hum. the usual suspects i'm afraid. groovski, wonwons, gaby kerpal, katatonia, etc. i'm getting as boring as spin in my old age.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Holy shit! I wrote close/preen HTML style and it actually did it!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:16 (twenty-one years ago)

my own top ten is nothing fantastic either, believe me. between the book and the move and getting settled into the job and having the job keep me really really occupied I've barely had time to keep up.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)

am i allowed to vote for my brother? the cd he gave me at thanksgiving is really great. although, i don't know when it originally came out.it's on some belgian label but he made me a cdr of it so technically it's from this year i guess.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Postal Service but not Death Cab? Nutty.

Nice to see Ted Leo and the New Pornographers on the list, at least. I suppose I'll have to wait until Pazz & Jop for some Decemberists love...

― Nick Mirov (nick), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i only truly love that groovski album and heck that came out last year. not that anyone knows or cares. and katatonia i love to pieces but i always love them to pieces. no real surprises.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 02:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I may be living in my own little world, but I would have thought that either Deerhoof or KaitO (not both...working the same territory) would have made the list. Does Spin still have a "top 10 that weren't so popular" list?

Glad to see that Moles reissue mentioned by Spin. BTW, even the record label doesn't know what the mixes on it are. It looks like Richard Davies re-mixed it as well as re-mastering...some of the versions are very different. What a strange thing to do.

― dlp9001, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 03:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a bad feeling the Spin list will look better than P&J tops, maybe.

Meanwhile I gotta bump something from my list to make way for blink!

This year was fucking great for albums.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 03:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i am only interested in 2004 records at this point.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 03:25 (twenty-one years ago)

is the Blink album that good Sterling? I'm hungry for more pop-punk myself. Last year I think that's all I had and this time I'm dry.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I suppose I'll have to wait until Pazz & Jop for some Decemberists love...

It will get plenty from PFM, nick. (unfortunately ;) )

― scott pl. (scott pl.), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 03:58 (twenty-one years ago)

In a perfect world, The Love Below would place in the top 5, and Speakerboxxx in the top 25.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 04:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Vice versa

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 04:42 (twenty-one years ago)

You, sir, are high.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 04:42 (twenty-one years ago)

in a perfect world, neither would have ever ben released.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 04:50 (twenty-one years ago)

it's like trans, except with critical acclaim not coming 20 years later.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

also spin are aware that there are other rappers in the south besides outkast, right?

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 04:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Spin makes certain crucial omissions -- now whatcha gonna do? ACT A FOOL

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 05:02 (twenty-one years ago)

And most EVERYTHING music is bad, Michaelangelo. Why should electronic stuff be any different?

cf. "Supersonic"

(Anthony - all I know is my special time with my little collection, but two words - Street. Survivors. I Never Dreamed out of You Got That Right. Manna from heaven.)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 05:10 (twenty-one years ago)


Chuck -- Just out of curiosity, how do you see Bubba, the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lucinda, and 50 Cent placing on the albums poll?

― Josh Timmermann (Josh Timmermann), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 05:54 (twenty-one years ago)


Oh, and Liz Phair?

― Josh Timmermann (Josh Timmermann), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 05:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Postal Service but not Death Cab? Nutty.

I don't find this nutty at all. I can't imagine SPIN harbors a whole lot of love for a band like DCFC, esp. with a record that's good but ultimately not that exciting or that different from their other albums (which didn't get attention from SPIN, either).

Add that to the fact that the Postal Service record got way more hype (esp. w/ that readymade PR hook = "see, he mailed it to the other guy, and then the other guy mailed it back...) and LOTS of crossover appeal, with both the indie-rock and electro-pop audiences. I have a couple friends who aren't into Death Cab at all (I mean, have barely heard the band) who like the Postal Service. Dude, even Matos likes the record!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I suppose I just have a hard time pinning down the Spin aethestic/demographic-targeting (unless the aesthetic really is "being lazy and then jumping on the bandwagon just early enough to pretend like you built the bandwagon"). Okay, fine, they're not big on DCFC, most likely for the "good but ultimately not that exciting or that different from their other albums" reason. But then why play up that Jealous Sound record, which to my ears falls under the exact same heading of good but very nearly identical to everything Blair Shehan has ever done (cf. Knapsack)? I guess I'm just baffled, even though I know full well how these lists get compiled...

― Nick Mirov (nick), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 09:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Of course Spin's list will look better than the (ugh) Pazz and Jop poll! Pazz and Jop is a poll y'see. So OF COURSE it's all gonna be really obvious choices.

I don't understand why everyone cares about the damn thing. It's not like it's ever surprising at all.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

blah blah CANON blah blah

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

anthony, for pop-punk love get the new offspring (it's surprisingly good)

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Records from this list that I've heard:

21 The Mars Volta "Deloused in the Crematorium"
16 Blur "Think Tank"
13 Belle & Sebastian "Dear Catastrophe Waitress"
11 Metallica "St. Anger"
10 Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"
08 The New Pornographers "Electric Version"


Records from this list that made my top 10:


13 Belle & Sebastian "Dear Catastrophe Waitress"
10 Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow, I didn't even know there was a new Robbie Williams album.

― scott m (mcd), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

can i just say that i think 'in da club' is totally, utterly overrated?

― maura (maura), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

it's like, big deal, you got shot nine times, can you at least sound AWAKE on your record

― maura (maura), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I totally agree as far as his album goes, Maura -- I mean, OPEN YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU RAP, MORON! (Though my 12 year old kid sez, "Dad, that's 'cuz he got shot in the face!" I mean, the guy was more legend than artist to begin with; to pre-teen boys, he's like an invincible built in super hero who JUST CAN't DIE. Which is INTERESTING, maybe, but it doesn't make his music any better.) What I like about "In Da Club" (MAYBE my # ten single, no higher than that) is that its chorus is both the catchiest and most popular birthday song since "Happy Birthday to You," which last time I checked was the most popular song in the entire English language. The beat is okay too (Frank Kogan told me it reminds him of a spy movie or something), but honestly, the chorus is all I care about. The verses are completely irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. So: Overrated? Definitely. But still good.

― chuck, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the birthday theme of the intro to "Step In The Name of Love" more than the birthday theme of the intro to "In Da Club".

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

3 of the albums made my top 50. Radiohead [#1], Dizzee Rascal [#4], and Outkast [#48].

Surprisingly, I've actually heard most of the rest of the albums.

And what I like about 50 Cent is his lack of enunciation. He's very soft, melodic, nearly legato, the words blend together like water. It's such a contrast to his image. What I don't really care for, is basically, everything else about him and his music.

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I also like the backing track on "In Da Club" better than on any of his other singles. The string section and stuttering guitar work create some bounce and tension where "Wanksta" and "P.I.M.P." just become mind-numbingly repetitive.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

step in the name of love is definitely >>> in da club.

i would like to hear just the backing track of in da club as the new 'law and order' theme, i think

― maura (maura), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Agreeing with Chuck and Maura here -- first time I heard him this time last year I was puzzled as to how this guy was supposed to be the new cool Eminem protege when there was nothing there...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

number of these albums I've never heard: 26.
number of these albums that made my top ten list: 0.
post in which I give up my claim to be any kind of knowledgable music critic: this one.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i've heard 4 out of 40, Haikunym! and none of those are making my list. but i've never called myself a music critic. more of a part-time crank.(i have heard most of the singles though. and i'm gonna need lists like those when i make up my singles list so that i remember what came out 10 months ago. sean paul will probably be in my top 1 and 2. that part is easy)

― scott seward, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah I started out
just to get the free CDs,
then got pretentious

in 2004
I will leave it all behind
SO looking forward....

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

you iz gud riter tho. do it for fun or free.too many bad riters. i am too lazy and shy to ask for free stuff. plus, i don't like people bugging me.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

thanks scott very much
I'm okay but no "genius"
(as you've been lauded)

I will keep writing
but will stop being obsessed,
SPENDING ALL MY CASH

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

MAURA I KISS YOU

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

haha 7 of these albums are in my provisional top 10!!

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i am so "spin"

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

"Spin" is so YOU

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

re: Melissa's 2003 top 50 - will this be published on Quicksilver Shapeshifter? [PS Melissa, don't forget about J.Greenwood Mixing It special on Friday - with replay online for 7 days]

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

trife and i argued for like TWO HOURS over this list last night, and now i cant even remember why.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

re: Melissa's 2003 top 50 - will this be published on Quicksilver Shapeshifter? [PS Melissa, don't forget about J.Greenwood Mixing It special on Friday - with replay online for 7 days]

Yeah, I'll publish it fairly soon. I'm just a bit lazy about rounding up all the album covers and such.

(And of course I'll be listening to Radio 3 on Friday.)

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

everyone needs
a trife to argue this list
about! but I don't.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree that 50 Cent is tremendously overrated. The only time I like "In Da Club" is when Beyonce does it, and the only time I like 50 Cent's vocals is on that one bootleg mix with "Wanktsa" vocals over Devo's "Whip It." It's amazing how he sounds kinda sharp and lively with the Devo music, and on the original he sounds as though he's a narcoleptic.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Oddly enough I like "In Da Club" more every time that I hear it. Though "Step In The Name Of Love" is way, way, way better. I'm trying to get my band to cover it.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 4 December 2003 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

and though yeah 50 Cent is overrated every song I hear has at least one line that makes me glad it exists. Particularly "I love you like a fat kid loves cake."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 4 December 2003 02:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I like "In Da Club" just fine, but where the hell did he steal that "Go shorty, it's yer birthday" bit? It's been nagging me ever since I first heard the song. I KNOW I've heard it somewhere else, like several years ago.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Thursday, 4 December 2003 04:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i can't imagine this is what you're thinking of, snrub, but it's kinda vaguely like this novelty 45-rpm record my parents bought me for a birthday a long time ago in which someone who lived on the moon and was named zoom or something like that sang, "hey [my name], it's your birthday, it's your big day today!" and since my name is two syllables like shorty, the coincidence is that much more stunning!

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 4 December 2003 05:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I just have to make one quick post and then we can put this puppy to sleep...again. I finally got my SPIN last night and I read Charles Aaron's piece on the ladies rockin' the stage, and I reiterate that the man is an excellent writer. His critique on Brody Dalle at the end of the story was spot-effing-on. So please ignore my ire way up on this post.

― Jeanne Fury (Jeanne Fury), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I think 4 of my top 10 are on this but I don't know what my top 10 is yet.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:29 (twenty-one years ago)

HAHAHA!!! Don't you folx remember? The guy from Blink 182 goes "go trig boy, it's your birthday!" in American Pie while Jason Biggs dances in front of the webcam.

Ok, maybe they both reference something else, but that's where I first heard the phrase at least.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Did it have to come from something? I feel like I've heard people use the "Go _____, it's your birthday" since high school, maybe, and figured it was derived organically.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it was a 2 Live Crew song.

― bnw (bnw), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm pretty sure that bnw is OTM as far as widespread cultural disemination is concerned. I'm convinced I heard it before the 2 Live Crew explosion in an old-school hip-hop track but I can't remember what it would have been.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I refuse to believe it wasn't invented by Mark Hoppus when improvising for the film American Pie. Sorry you're all just wrong.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

anthony you are like an archetype.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

actually i'm amazed you and trife didnt get along better when he was posting.

― fiddo centington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

>>It sounds like a ravey Paul's Boutique" and "they used 1000 samples" doesn't exactly scream "crap big beat" to me.<<

Nah, it screams "what a big lie" -- and it was, since the Avalanches album sounded way more like run-of-the-mill humorless diva house than *Paul's Boutique," no matter how many records it subtly sampled.

― chuck, Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

"diva house"? Are we talking about the same Avalanches or have I just never really paid attention to them? (The stuff I remember was dense sample-happy big beat that seemed to viscerally connect with everyone who heard it except me.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:38 (twenty-one years ago)

It FELT more like diva house than big beat (which can really rock). People made a big deal about all the samples, as if the samples (most of which weren't recognizable anyway) made the music FEEL any different (which samples often do). It's like they took a thousand samples and used them in the most uninteresting way possible! (Then again, I haven't played the damn thing in two years, so maybe I'm confused, or I'd think differently if I heard it now. But I doubt it).

― chuck, Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

i just heard the avalanches album for the first time a couple weeks ago! i bought it used. it was okay, but it already sounds old. as in dated. but even when it came out it must have sounded a tad too little to late, no? mebbe there was a 1 or 2 week window when it sounded sorta fresh. or maybe the people who really loved it had never heard the decade and a half worth of stuff that sounds similar? but somehow i doubt it. fatboy and chem bros fans musta been jonesing for something similar is my guess.

― scott seward, Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

It's funny, I was just checking that Avalanches record for the first time in a loooong time a day ago, and it struck me as sounding weirdly dated already too. It doesn't sound bad - a few of those tracks are pretty great - but yeah, it feels very stale.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Compared to, I dunno, M/A/R/R/S or *Paul's Boutique* or "Adventures of Grandmaster Flash" or S-Express or KLF or Coldcut or Double Dee & Steinski or Todd Terry or DJ Shadow or Edelweiss on Kon Kan, the record just sounded so fucking SERIOUS. And people acted like Using A Whole Bunch of Samples was a new thing, which it wasn't. At. All. (Well, maybe the QUANTITY was. But then again, I don't like Steve Vai or Joe Satriani, either, you know? Lots of notes as such: who cares?)

― chuck, Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought me and Trife got along fine Jess!

I just bought this issue cuz of the John Mayer/David Cross singles review thing and SPIN is so all over ILX's jock. They even did the Year In Fred Durst Craziness!

And Chuck is OTM re: The Avalanches. I found it incredibly hard to give a shit about any track for more than 10 seconds.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:06 (twenty-one years ago)

hee-hee, i was gonna mention everything you just listed, chuck. even edelweiss. people who really love the avalanches will no doubt tell us why all that stuff is beside the point or something. it's really not bad. just lacklustre in parts. i'll take any one song off of my major force box-set over that whole album though.

― scott seward, Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Some bits from the Avalanches record would sound good if they were less busy, and had some good MCs rhyming over them. "Two Hearts In 3/4 Time," for example.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I am not going to try to figure out my personal top 10 of the year until I actually get to the end of the year, but the ones from that list I have heard more than once are

33 Lucinda Williams "World Without Tears"
30 Cat Power "You Are Free"
21 The Mars Volta "Deloused in the Crematorium"
16 Blur "Think Tank"
10 Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"
05 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever To Tell"
01 The White Stripes "Elephant"

Cat's a little laconic for me, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs could have stood to wait until some more early-EP-quality material came along, but I like the others fine. I would love to hear the Spiritualized and the Outkast, but not too concerned about missing all the rest of it.

― Dave Vinson (Gaughin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I recall liking some bootleg thing I heard where Avalanches used "Like a Rolling Stone" better than anything on their album.

(As for being "dated," though, I dunno, I tend not to acknowledge that adjective. If music is good, it stays good. If it sucks, ditto.)

In related news: Hey, what ABOUT that "bootleg" fad, huh? Where the hell did THAT go??? (No worries; in seven years it'll be back again, and people will claim like always that it never happened before.)

― chuck, Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Apparently it still exists, it's just mostly a continuous mix/live club thing.

The Avalanches' appeal to me isn't the "wow lookit all the samples" approach as it is the general "every genre can be pop" feel to it. It's just a great-flowing album where so many disparate pieces just seem to fit perfectly. And "serious" is the last word I would ever, ever consider when thinking about "Frontier Psychiatrist" or "Two Hearts in 3/4 Time".

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The Avalanches completely turned me off with "Frontier Psychiatrist". It just didn't appeal to me AT ALL (which is odd because you'd think that track in particular was tailor-made for me).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I know that "everything fits together all neat" sounds kinda like a lazy way to put things but Since I Left You is probably my #1 example of "how to create a cohesive album-as-entity"

Dan, "Frontier Psychiatrist" is like the everything-goes-haywire moment where every convention of the album gets ratcheted up to obsessively bombastic levels -- Since I Left You's "House of Blue Leaves" sequence. The rest of it's a lot subtler.

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(Funny thing: a stand-alone version of "Electricity" was released as a 12" single about a year before the rest of the album was released. Makes me wonder if they ever extracted or constructed single versions of any other tracks; even the "Frontier Psychiatrist" single sounds like it's about to switch into "Etoh".)

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, one of the interesting things to me about Since I Left You is that, yes, they used over 900 samples or whatever and so it feels so dense -- but some of the same samples (the whinnying horse or the "since I left you" vocal) recur throughout the album, which to me makes it feel a lot more centered and soulful than if every track was throwing 20 different genres into a stew (although that would probably be an interesting album in its own right).

I totally adore "Two Hearts in 3/4 Time."

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Y'all some PROG mutherfuckers lemme tell ya

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, whereas a lot of sample-filled music feels like a visual collage, with wacky juxtapositions of various media, the Avalanches (with the exception of "Frontier Psychiatrist," probably) feel more like a bright, messy painting: big streaks of different colors that are distinct from each other but also just look like a huge, multihued splash on the canvas.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

(Anthony, I've been worrying about my prog tendencies lately! I was trying to make a mix CD along the lines of Nate's Challenge, and I kept getting drawn to like 12-minute tracks and justifying them for their "mastery"!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

(I don't think that post about painting is going to help me, either!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 4 December 2003 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Obv focusing on the amount of samples used is missing the point whether you like *or* hate The Avalanches! The point is the sonix! And the "diva house" parts are the best parts!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the Spin list more when there were only 20 albums. These big lists seem to just pick every decent album released that year.

― Shmuel (shmuel), Friday, 5 December 2003 08:52 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...
07 Thursday "War All The Time" In my opinion this was the best album of 2003 and so far 2004, who cares if it was released last year.

― Xeropunk4life, Friday, 23 April 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Way to tell 'em.

― sLeeeter kinney (Leee), Friday, 23 April 2004 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree! That's why Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has been my #1 album each year since 1967!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 23 April 2004 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...
you suck

― tegan, Tuesday, 22 November 2005 00:28 (nineteen years ago)

tegan i luv u girl, hear good things about pirates, email me back plz!

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 01:14 (nineteen years ago)


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