Arrested Development # 1 in Voice poll: what were voters thinking??

To Bring You My Love was another record that I couldn't understand all the acclaim for. It's a solid record, but I prefer Dry, Rid Of Me and Stories From City

It's fun, funny, smart, has great music, Speech is engaging, three good hit singles, gets a little monotonous toward the end, but "Fishin' for Religion" made great sense to me as a little high school kid.

here, have a dollar.

"Do you ever listen to it?" I'd ask. Somewhat sheepishly, every one allowed as how he or she didn't. And this unenthusiasm is reflected in our results. The support for 3 Years . . . just about duplicated that of our 1989 winner, which was not only a soft-edged rap debut, but a soft-edged rap debut beginning with the numeral 3: De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising got 1070 points from 255 voters, 3 Years . . . 1050 from 253. De La Soul, however, attracted only 89 voters, Arrested Development 97, so that Arrested Development averaged only 10.8 points per supporter, the lowest ever for a winner; in recent years Nirvana got 12.8, Neil Young 12.3, De La Soul a flat 12. Clearly, a lot of people voted for this album because they felt they should, not necessarily as a racial or genre token but simply to reward the band for taking on the thankless burden of rap reform.

nah, the dropout is actually, you know, good.

Wilco 11.58
OutKast 11.65
Kanye 11.53

They're extremely close, and well above the anemic 10.8 that AD scored. This supports Xgau's theory that people voted for AD because they felt that they needed to, whereas the votes for Kanye were more of an enthusiastic statement of preference. He'll be remembered more fondly in ten years than AD were.

I've only heard two or three Arrested Development songs in my life ("Revolution" placed in P&J as a single, but I'm damned if I can remember anything about it). "Tennessee" really is quite pretty and odd - the "horseshoe" break - if not exactly arresting, and wasn't much like anything else out there in 1992, hip-hop or otherwise. I remember Chris Norris writing in the Bay Guardian about how he'd just come back to town after a romantic breakup, and he found the words and attitude of "Tennessee" soothing. (I wish I'd saved the piece, since Chris was exact as to which lyrics he drew sustenance from.) This hardly had anything to do with whether or not Arrested Development was good for hip-hop. And none of the voter comments that Xgau printed were "I voted for this because it's better than that gangsta shit" or anything of the sort. Not too many voter ballots were printed; Evelyn McDonnell voted for both "People Everyday" and "How I Could Just Kill a Man."

So, to sum up: Damned if I know.

My number single was Kris Kross's "Jump," my number one album was Midi, Maxi & Efti, my number one video was En Vogue's "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)," and my number one EP was Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged EP, which got into the Top Ten and therefore onto the print list because of my vote! So who says you can't make a difference?

Yeah, but I had what Geto Boys were copying already.

I didn't have waht AD was copying.

Oh, wait, I did already have Sly & The Family Stone.

xpost...

Tennessee? Tennessee?

A GAME OF HORSESHOOOOOOOOOES!

It's fun, try it on a friend sometime.

i'm goin huuuuuungraaaay works too

I remember loads of people (reviewers and just people I talked to) specifically talking about the album as being refreshing because it wasn't gangsta rap, so I don't agree.

Rather, 3 Years, 5 Months... was the sort of album that a lot of rock-critic types c. 1992 liked the sound of, and admired. And for sure a lot of them did like and admire it, 97 out of 253, which is ridiculously strong, 38.3% (in comparison, Wilco won with only 28.9%, Moby with 27.4%, Kanye 30.9%, Stankonia 37.5%, Love and Theft 37.6%). In Pazz & Jop terms that's big support, hardly explainable by dutifulness or lack of competition or grudging approval. People liked the thing, maybe on average not as much as the Wilco people liked Wilco, but note: There was a much bigger percentage for Arrested Development. AD reached more people.

The voting pool has expanded so much in the past few years that it renders this data irrelevant. The real key is points-per-voter, and AD's are paltry. And the fact that there were no quotes about the album in the comments just proves that no one had anything to say about it, not the sign of a beloved winner.

um, while I have no doubt comments were scarce, what xgau chooses to put in the comments section proves nothing.

I don't understand all his recent love for that moldy peaches girl tho

I should really learn to ignore Mr. Snrub, but...no.

Unplugged [Chrysalis, 1993]
Let the record show that they loved the people so much that with all deliberate greed they "rearranged" half of their biggest and only album for quick resale. Let the record show that to stretch the material to full-price length they basted on a fashion sermon and seven as-I-would-say "versions." And let the record show that the people understood their spiritual needs so poorly that the resulting live and MTV-approved product lingered a mere 12 weeks on the charts, never rising above 60. The revolution will be hard, brothers and sisters. C

The correct answer for best album of 1992 was Automatic People by REM.

thanks for making my point for me--the point being that comments were scarce. (he did actually include a couple, for the record.)

Yesterday, I would've said 5 years of pre-major label Too Short and Ice T, but after having dinner last night with someone who really clued me in on what their lyrics were generally based around, I see the light now.

Still ain't buyin' it though.

he actually turned around on Speech when he went solo! Made the dude's second album Hoopla an Honorable Mention and gave it a 7 in Spin.

You mean Petestrumentals? I like it, its relaxing/chill/downtempo-y hip-hop. Its not incredible or anything, but its very warm-blanket comfortable.