USA TODAY's Top 40 Albums

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
I'm not even going to debate their banal choices, but did anyone else notice that in today's print edition, Appetite For Destruction was presented with its original Robt. Williams "rape" cover? Have we come so far, USA TODAY?

(The web version is here, but you won't find the picture there.)

Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, that's the most boring list ive ever seen. and i was somewhat hopeful at the automatic disqualification of Sgt. peppers. oh well, it's USA today. i dont depend on them for accurate journalism of any kind.

Felcher (Felcher), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

They omit "concept albums" but include The Who Sell Out. They disqualify Sgt. Pepper's as part of some attempt to distinguish it from other lists, then rattle off Revolver and Pet Sounds in rapid succession. They use the most hackneyed write-ups I've ever seen. And they axe James Brown but include Greendale.

I'm not angry. I'm laughing.

nate detritus (natedetritus), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

It's funny because they say concept albums are disqualified and then say this for Greendale:

The latest in Young's long series of daring concept albums spins a cinematic yarn about a small-town family coping with a murder.

Also, isn't Ziggy Stardust as much a concept album as Tommy?

Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 5 December 2003 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

By citing Neil Young's "long series of...concept albums" they reveal their ignorance of what a concept album actually is -- I'll bet that they include all of his albums focusing on a specific style (eg; "Everybody's Rockin' ", "This Note's For You") in that "long series".

Are Warren Zevon and Johnny Cash's last albums "concept albums" because all of the songs are about dying? What to make of Andrew WK? Or, for that matter, 99% of hip-hop? .

Nom De Plume (Nom De Plume), Saturday, 6 December 2003 00:06 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.goldderby.com/NewImgs/pundents/EdnaGundersen.jpg

Edna Gundersen, pop music critic at USA Today, has been covering music for 25 years, first in Texas, next in Washington, D.C. (after joining the national newspaper in 1986) and, since 1991, in Los Angeles. Gundersen has covered the Grammys for 16 years with varying degrees of success in predicting winners, possibly because wishful thinking tends to interfere with accurate readings of the voting body's politics, cluelessness and bad taste. She's had far better luck bagging interviews with music's top guns, most recently Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, U2, Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney. High points in 2001 included interviews with Bob Dylan and George Harrison. Rock bottom? Covering 'N Sync's song-and-dance circus at the Rose Bowl.

spittle (spittle), Saturday, 6 December 2003 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

she's listening to straight outta compton in that photo.

keith m (keithmcl), Saturday, 6 December 2003 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I get the feeling Edna Gunderson answers questions in the affirmative using the word "yaaah".

nate detritus (natedetritus), Saturday, 6 December 2003 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

You betcha!

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 6 December 2003 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

ten years pass...

http://ajr.org/2014/09/05/total-bloodbath-usa-today-journalists-recount-layoffs/

They laid off their pop music critic and others:

“They gave me all of five minutes and dismantled 11 years of work,” she said. “I had 15 minutes before they locked me out of my computer. I was trying like crazy to copy all of my contacts before I got locked out. “

Lopez was one of 60 to 70 employees laid off this week at USA Today in a move the company attributed to a need to cut costs in the face of declining print advertising revenue.

Gannett Co. recently announced it was spinning off its flagship national paper and 81 other newspapers into a company separate from its broadcast properties. The company said about half of those laid off worked in the newsroom, amounting to 8 percent of the total editorial staff.

Edna Gundersen @EdnaGundersen
Follow
Today is my last day at USA TODAY, after 30 years. I was laid off this morning, along with several great colleagues. Onward.

curmudgeon, Monday, 8 September 2014 04:29 (eleven years ago)

vicious.

RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 8 September 2014 13:42 (eleven years ago)


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.