listing
When I was young, my parents had a book called The Book of Lists.
It was a favourite for bedtime reading - lists about baseball players, presidents, actors, science, criminals, and animals.
In the tradition of the best striptease, the lists suggested a story, but only a hint. My imagination was required for the rest. Nothing was more captivating to my adolescent mind than the list of the people who had died during sex or the list of the most popular positions for intercourse.
Around the same time, Billy Joel released the album Storm Front with the song “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” a song that lists dozens of historical events over the course of his life to that point - piecing together the political and cultural history of the world.
My dad loved this song and I remember him telling me that lists were where it was. That wasn’t necessarily where the money was, but people liked reading them.
Even though I was proof of that, it never clicked. It still hasn’t, really. But I remember it all the same.
The end of the year is the time for lists. Top Movies, Top Plays, Top Albums, Top Books, Best Moments, Worst Moments, People to Watch, People Who Broke Through, People Who Died, Biggest Disappointments, Biggest Surprises, Man of the Year. All are being published now.
Some, like David Akin, like them.
Others, like Felica Day, hate them.
Except when they like them.
But she can admit it.
READING LISTS TODAY
The other day I was reading NOW Magazine’s year in review issue.
If one isn’t careful, it can be a devastating experience. One’s ego and sense of self-worth can be ground to dust by painfully hip writers with more enthusiasm than the mulcher man once the Christmas trees start coming down.
Just such a thing nearly happened this morning at miwcasa reading their various 2008 Top 10 Albums of 2008 lists.
In total, they review 80 albums. I don’t have a single one of them. (This includes the 10 worst albums of the year, as well.)
They have a list of the Top 10 concerts of 2008. I didn’t attend one of them.
So, what am I missing? Heidi Happy, for one. About her, Tim Perlich writes:
Straight outta Lucerne, Priska Zemp (aka Heidi Happy), Switzerland’s tastiest export since Emmenthal, creates her career-best work that somehow…..
…….blah blah blah.
I can understand why one hates lists when they’re used by hipsters to show off their extreme, encyclopedic knowledge of their given topic.
That’s okay, I guess. We all do it in some fashion or another.
MY LIST
I’ve never done a year-end list before. Never done a top album list.
I added a lot of music to my collection and after reading the NOW stuff I wondered, since I didn’t have anything on their lists, what were my top albums of the year?
My favourite album released this year was Only by the Night by the Kings of Leon. It’s rare to find an album now that is listenable all the way through. This one achieves that. I hadn’t much like their previous release, Because of the Times, and their show last year at the Kool Haus (which is neither cool nor a house, discuss) didn’t do much for me. But Only by the Night has won more than a dozen cover-to-cover listenings in the three months since I bought it.
The last album to do as well was the Shins’ Wincing the Night Away.
Rather than do a “top albums of” list, I’m going to do a “most listened to” list.
This list has been taken from my main iTunes library. It includes listens on my main computer and iPhone. It does not include stuff listened to while at work. Also, back in April, my iTunes library got corrupted and I lost all the information prior to April 20, 2008.
Rank, “Song,” Artist, Album, Play Count
1 “Right Moves,” Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Bonus Track Version), 43
2 “I Summon You,” Spoon, Gimme Fiction, 38
3 “Sex On Fire,” Kings of Leon, Only By the Night, 35
4 “Magnet’s Coil,” Sebadoh, Bakesale, 34
5 “X Offender,” Blondie, Blondie, 33
5 “Wall Of Fire,” Peter Elkas, Wall of Fire, 33
5 “Phantom Limb, The Shins, Wincing the Night Away, 33
8 “Everything In Its Right Place,” Radiohead, Kid A, 31
9 “Make a Little Noise,” Joel Plaskett Emergency, Make a Little Noise EP 30
10 “(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister,” The Stone Roses, Stone Roses, 29
11 “High Fidelity,” Elvis Costello & The Attractions, The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years, 28
11 “Teen Age Riot,” Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation, 28
13 “Hide and Seek,” Imogen Heap, Speak for Yourself, 27
13 “Karate Man,” The Super Friendz, Sticktoitiveness, 27
15 “Bastards of Young,” The Replacements, Tim, 26
16 “Bees,” Caribou, The Milk of Human Kindness, 25
16 “New York City,” Cub, Come Out Come Out (Remastered Extended Version), 25
16 “Punk Rock Girl,” The Dead Milkmen, Beelzebubba, 25
16 “To the Dogs or Whoever, Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Bonus Track Version), 25
16 “Rumors,” Josh Ritter, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Bonus Track Version), 25
16 “Driver 8,” R.E.M., And I Feel Fine… The Best of the I.R.S. Years, 1982-1987 (Collector’s Edition), 25
16 “Anyone Can Play Guitar,” Radiohead, Pablo Honey, 25
16 “Girlfriend In a Coma,” The Smiths, The Very Best of the Smiths, 25
16 “Waterfall,” The Stone Roses, Stone Roses, 25
25 “Good Man,” Josh Ritter, In the Dark: Live At Vicar Street, 24
25 “Bye Bye Bad Man,” The Stone Roses, Stone Roses, 24
YOU’VE READ THIS FAR?
Your reward:
Josh Ritter - “Right Moves”
Kings of Leon - “Sex on Fire”
Billy Joel - “We Didn’t Start the Fire”