A different look at 2008 in music

(Been looking through the 'Draft' pile on my blog for stuff that I abandoned. This one's a little overdue, but, as always, I'm looking to get all of you out of your staid 'whatever's-on-the-radio-that's-what-I'll-listen-to'. Remember, the people want what the people get. That's not good - that's not how greatness is revealed to us.

Damnit.)

I've decided that I'm not going to do a traditional "Best of 2008" in music for a simple reason - I didn't buy Dear Science by TV on the Radio and therefore won't have a number one pick.

What I am going to do instead is do a "Top Albums, Acts or Styles" that I became aware of this year, regardless of date of issue. Also, I'm going to do a "Top Albums, Acts or Styles" that I re-acquainted myself with this year.

Things I discovered a love for the first time this year

• Bishop Allen
• African music
• Le mystere des voix bulgares
• Ornette Coleman
• Sonny Rollins
• Off the Coast of Me and Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places- Kid Creole and the Coconuts
• The Style Council
• Mario Biondi and the High Five Quintet
• Forever Breathes the Lonely Word - Felt
• Tommy: The Wedding Present 1985-1987 - The Wedding Present

Things I rediscovered a love for this year

• Off the Wall - Michael Jackson - kicks Thriller's ass any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
  
• The Rolling Stones' 1980s studio work - OK, forget "Start Me Up" (wait, we can't - it's encoded on our DNA) - but the rest of these 4 albums make a case for working waaay past what society might think are your "valid" years.
  
• Radio KAOS - Roger Waters - Waters got the conceptual stuff in the Pink Floyd divorce of the 1980s and Gilmour got the musicality. But this one has a good deal of interesting melodies to go along with the story. If you jumped off (a building) after hearing The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, dust it off and try this overlooked album from 1987, the year closest to the awesomeness that is 1984.
  
• Gold, Volume One - The Bee Gees - my very first vinyl album. Dad got it for me. Dad would go on every year to Jimmy's Music World, then The Wiz and finally Tower Records (4th and Broadway - we miss you, stah!) to bravely ask for the increasingly outlandish shit I would ask for. I owe him huge for 1983, when he had to get me The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and Abacab. Hope 2 grandkids are enough.
  
• Mid-period Genesis (as well as Phil Collins' output from that time) - 1976-1982 for the band (stop before 1983's Genesis, please) and the first three solo Phil joints.
  
• Brighten the Corners - Pavement. Along with Yo La Tengo's I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One, the album that brought me back to music with a vengeance in 1997. I will personally guarantee your money on these two.
  

Never Too Early to Start Talking About This, I Say

I would like to start something, if you don't mind. We're just starting 2009, which is the end of the "oughties". Which means, that's right, the decade began in 2000, which means that the millenium began in 2000 - WHY-TOO-FRAKKIN'-KAY, babe.

Now being the math teacher/math administrator/math lover that I am, I understand the intelligentsia that say (in a snooty blue-blood sneer), "Well, Muffy, since there was never a year zero, the first year was 1, the 10th year was 10, that's the first decade." Well, yes, that's empirically true. BUT, it throws everything off. When the leadoff digit changes for the first time in a thousand years, that's cause enough for celebration. Simply put, the whole "no year 0" is only a problem once. Let it go.

Anyway, look how it works out. The 1960s - began in 1960 and ended in 1969. Nice; neat. The 1970s - 1970 to 1979. The 1980s - well, they began in 1977 and ended in 1992, but that's a personal thing.

And so , the 2000s began on 1/1/2000 and ends 12/31/2009. Which means what, kidlets?

Best of the year AND best of the decade lists.

So, over the next few weeks, I'm going to start raw lists of best comics, movies, TV and music. Caveats - if a show began in 1999, but did the majority of its work in the 2000s, it's in. Comics - mixed bag: runs, one-shots, arcs, minis and all that good stuff on a level playing field. Music - we're going with acts AND albums. Movies? Who knows - I've had kids for most of this decade.

Made-to-Order Playlists - 11/23/2008

(Here's another playlist from my project to gain good karma so I can continue to mentally slay the bus cretins. More to follow - I need all the help I can get; there's sooo many bus cretins.)

"5 David Bowie songs that Lou Reed should do covers of", submitted by Chad Nevett

"This is Not America"
"Fashion" (and Lou, please phrase 'the' better than "thuh-uh")
"Blue Jean"
"Breaking Glass"
"Dancing in the Street" (duet with wife Laurie Anderson)

A Quick One While I'm Here

As I was on the bus, feeling very...uncharitable towards my fellow man, I took solace, as I always do, in my beloved iPod. And to combat the feelings of misanthropy toward the cretins, um, people, I decided to give back to you, dear reader, in the following way.

You make the playlist. That's right, you title a list - themed, of course (we're literary here!) - and I'll create it from my library.

It could be - "10 Great Guitar Rave-Ups from the 1980s", "12 Songs the Beatles Couldn't Do on Their Best Day" or "15 Terrible Songs from Otherwise Great Albums".

Tell your friends. List early and list often.

Have fun!!