On Lists

I've been saying for a little while now that I'm going to put together my Best of '08, and its done, but before I post it (on Monday) I thought I would just comment on lists in general by addressing what I think are a few common complaints other people have about these year end compilations.

... a warning before you get reading this is (basically) a rant about "indie-kids" and people who hate indie-kids... for the record, I like Barack Obama (yes, I just compared myself to Obama and yes, I'm about to try and justify it -- but, in all fairness my grandma had Tyra on yesterday and she compared Wayne Brady to him so, I don't feel so bad). I feel like there is some type of middle ground we can strike here...

Complaint #1: The lists are all the same.

First, no they're not... they're similar... don't be a drama queen (or king). A lot of artists show up on more than one list, in fact, a few artists (Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver in particular this year) will show up on just about everyone's list, and you know why? Because they're really good albums. So if you haven't heard them let me be the five hundredth person to say, you really should hear them. If you have heard them they may not be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but they're very good and you need to chill out a little when other people (particularly people who haven't heard them before) freak out because they're really good (and they don't sound like Franz Ferdinand - or whatever else is cool these days...).

Second, a lot of people are sheep. I mean, people like music for different reasons (entertainment, art, it makes them feel better, its something to do), but, most people (I think) have/use the same sources for new music (radio, pitchfork, stereogum, etc.) which produces similar lists. That said, with more new bands, blogs, music network things, I think these lists are becoming increasingly diverse...

Complaint #2: The list only include really obscure artists/bands.

I think a lot of people will look at a lot of year end lists and say to themselves "how can ten bands I've never heard of have put out the best ten albums of the year"? I would explain it this way...

My year end, best movies of 2008 might look like this:
1. Batman
2. Ironman
3. Wall-E
4. Up the Yangtze (which, turns out, was actually released in 2007)
5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
6. Vicki Christina Barcelona

But, I'm not really all that into movies ... I don't spend much time watching them (I've seen maybe 30 - 40), let alone reading about them, discussing them. Something like Up the Yangtze - which was a terrific movie - I only came across by a fluke recommendation of a friend, and, also, its not this year so it probably shouldn't count.

I'm not that into movies, I'm not up on the latest movies, and naturally my list is pretty narrow. So, the lesson is: the more into something you are, the more you are going to acquire specialized knowledge of the subject area, the broader your contributions are going to be. And sometimes, and you know who you are, these lists are ways for bloggers/indie-music-snobs to prove that they know more different/cool bands than other people... feel free to call me on it if I ever fall into that category.

Complaint #3: The lists aren't/can't be objective.

Uhhhh .... yeah. So what? Everyone has their own opinion (whether or not they are well founded, or strongly supported is another story), but its really a waste of time complaining about #1 or #2. If you're interested in getting the best/most objective look at what's going on there are a couple of great opinion aggregators out there (see: metacritic, also - stereogum's "Gummys" are also a pretty good) that give a good overview of what's gone on in music this year. If you've made complaint #2 to someone recently, those two are good places to start.

If you've made complaint #1, find people that you like reading that your taste matches up with, and check out what they recommend (see the sidebar).