I didn’t do my own list this year - other than a sort of best of my weekly playlists - because I’m not sure that these lists mean anything. You’ve put your finger on the problem - lists can be hive mind, follow the pack, listings of what marketing have decided we’re supposed to like this year.
Yet there is value in your own music list - several songs there I want to follow up on, so there is value when we can move beyond being a human algorithm.
I often fall into writing about matters other than the music, the performance, the song. There’s a place for considering wider personal and cultural issues, but the bedrock is music and a challenge for me - us as writers - this year is to focus more on Music with a capital ‘M’.
Yeah, I have zero illusions that these lists actually "mean" anything. But it's probably as close as I get to doing a year end "journal". It reminds me what was important to me over the course of 12 months.
As far as the "other than music" thing goes, I'm probably a bit of a stick in the mud about that. Obviously, most of the most important music writing in history is about all the peripheral stuff. Keith Moon trashing hotel rooms, John and Yoko, etc. I just think that stuff should be in interviews and thinkpieces, while reviews and Best Of lists should be more about tunes. But I lost that war a long time ago.
This year Spotify gave me the "compliment" that I only listen to my own playlists "because they're great!" Hmmm. I think they're mad I don't listen to what they want me to listen to.
Last year, I figured out a few things about Spotify's algorithm and how popular things are popular because they are popular. I bet that Lana del Ray song is "the best" because it was popular. I wrote a thing about how my top artist last year was not someone I ever chose to listen to. https://artiststruggle.wordpress.com/2023/03/20/how-to-be-a-spotify-top-artist/
Anyway - thanks for your (actually meaningful) lists!
You utterly captured my “Why TF is this popular?” -- and then I chastise myself for being old, and explain the answer to Why with Because it pisses off old people, same as it ever has (since the early 20th century dawn of popular mass-marketed music).
In addition to Lana Del Rey, other Q musicians (after all, it’s me, so, obviously) I mostly just can’t get behind for coldness (as I’ve come to think of it) include Bright Light Bright Light and St Vincent. And I’ve tried. Oh, how I’ve tried.
For me, The exemplar of this cold/Xanax overlay among non-Q folks is Bleachers / Jack Antonoff. I suspect I’m out on a limb to say so. But I’ve literally not recognized that tracks I liked a lot by people covering Taylor Swift were in fact cover songs. I later figured out it’s due to how to my ears Antonoff’s production covered the basic quality (the soundness, if you will) of her song. Of course Swift is no victim here, but I teeter away from her championing and popularizing and mainstreaming aspects of XanaxCore.
Having now read (skimmed the lists) of your entire post, I’m very glad I realized (halfway through writing my comment) that I dislike Olivia Rodrigo for other, non-Xanax, reasons and didn’t include her in that comment, although she’s presently my top Why?? Why do music writers love them??? of 2023.
Having a crappy voice , the -often sings out of tune- kind of crappy, without any audible creative compensating factors (Songwriting skill? Meh. Style? Older than the concept of teenagers. Some sort of finger on the pulse of Our Times? Are you kidding me???), I’m truly beyond being nice about how other people clearly love her.
Yeah, all of this stuff FEELS objective/obvious...until we're faced with the fact that perfectly reasonable people feel differently. I think Olivia Rodrigo is a real breath of fresh air. I've seen her hit a few off notes in TV performances and I hate the affected breathiness that so many young singers employ. But I think her pop smarts are undeniable. Like Swift, she seems like more of a craftsperson than your typical "idol" and I can see her doing ambitious things as she (and her fanbase) ages.
My final word on Rodrigo for now: What others hear as fresh, I hear as ancient. It sounds to me like contemporary recordings of the kind of stuff my college radio station music department rejected as passé when we were playing Talking Heads, The Cars, and even truly mainstream folks like Billy Joel and Meatloaf, at least a year before the American public at large glommed onto them.
Re: “Idols”: I am not anti-pop, nor anti pop stars. I don’t intellectualize about my love of the first half of the Beatles catalog, and still keep in mind that it was music targeted at teens and pre-teens. A much more current example, Demi Lovato’s Holy Fvck was my 2nd favorite album of 2022. I’ve also waxed rhapsodic about Swift’s good works beyond recordings (which I’ll spare you from, here). Just examples to illustrate, I’m not anti music that I’m especially not the audience for, and recognize many artists followed the Beatles template to successfully transform from teen pop hitmakers to deeper richer creators.
Those Lana Del Rey and Ice Spice songs are the musical equivalent of DeLillo's "most photographed barn" (ha, who's an insufferable white dude now, Fletcher!?!). I really look forward to digging in to your lists, even if only because, as noted, so many of the lists I've been checking out are really just the same list! Also, I know it's a cliche to question your picks, but I can't help myself... Panera Bread?!? Seriously?!? Their salads/produce have taken a serious nosedive through the COVID era and haven't found the bottom yet. Their earlier stuff was better!
I lived down the blcok from a Panera for 15 years, so it became like a second home to me. But I'm fully zware thT is not, in fact, "good". But that Napa Almond Chicken Salad ain't fucking around.
I've never actually read any Delillo. Is "White Noise" the place to start?
Righteous Gemstones was so good. Also What We Do In The Shadows is the best. If you want some hilarious, dry Aussie humor, "Fisk" on Netflix was a delight. And I don't usually watch "typical" sitcoms but we just started watching Abbott Elementary and it's legit hilarious.
What We Do in Shadows is kind of like It's Always Sunny for me--every time I watch it I wonder why I don't watch it more often. And then, for whatever reason...I don't. Only seen a few eps of Abbot Elementary, but same deal. Will definitely check out Fisk.
I didn’t do my own list this year - other than a sort of best of my weekly playlists - because I’m not sure that these lists mean anything. You’ve put your finger on the problem - lists can be hive mind, follow the pack, listings of what marketing have decided we’re supposed to like this year.
Yet there is value in your own music list - several songs there I want to follow up on, so there is value when we can move beyond being a human algorithm.
I often fall into writing about matters other than the music, the performance, the song. There’s a place for considering wider personal and cultural issues, but the bedrock is music and a challenge for me - us as writers - this year is to focus more on Music with a capital ‘M’.
Great post, thank you.
Yeah, I have zero illusions that these lists actually "mean" anything. But it's probably as close as I get to doing a year end "journal". It reminds me what was important to me over the course of 12 months.
As far as the "other than music" thing goes, I'm probably a bit of a stick in the mud about that. Obviously, most of the most important music writing in history is about all the peripheral stuff. Keith Moon trashing hotel rooms, John and Yoko, etc. I just think that stuff should be in interviews and thinkpieces, while reviews and Best Of lists should be more about tunes. But I lost that war a long time ago.
This year Spotify gave me the "compliment" that I only listen to my own playlists "because they're great!" Hmmm. I think they're mad I don't listen to what they want me to listen to.
Last year, I figured out a few things about Spotify's algorithm and how popular things are popular because they are popular. I bet that Lana del Ray song is "the best" because it was popular. I wrote a thing about how my top artist last year was not someone I ever chose to listen to. https://artiststruggle.wordpress.com/2023/03/20/how-to-be-a-spotify-top-artist/
Anyway - thanks for your (actually meaningful) lists!
Wow, I LOVED this post. I was actively nodding while reading. Might I steer people towards it in a future newsletter?
Of course! That's amazing. I'll be Finnegan Famous!
XanaxCore!!
Lololol!
Gotta love that!
You utterly captured my “Why TF is this popular?” -- and then I chastise myself for being old, and explain the answer to Why with Because it pisses off old people, same as it ever has (since the early 20th century dawn of popular mass-marketed music).
In addition to Lana Del Rey, other Q musicians (after all, it’s me, so, obviously) I mostly just can’t get behind for coldness (as I’ve come to think of it) include Bright Light Bright Light and St Vincent. And I’ve tried. Oh, how I’ve tried.
For me, The exemplar of this cold/Xanax overlay among non-Q folks is Bleachers / Jack Antonoff. I suspect I’m out on a limb to say so. But I’ve literally not recognized that tracks I liked a lot by people covering Taylor Swift were in fact cover songs. I later figured out it’s due to how to my ears Antonoff’s production covered the basic quality (the soundness, if you will) of her song. Of course Swift is no victim here, but I teeter away from her championing and popularizing and mainstreaming aspects of XanaxCore.
I suspect your mileage will vary. 🙂
Having now read (skimmed the lists) of your entire post, I’m very glad I realized (halfway through writing my comment) that I dislike Olivia Rodrigo for other, non-Xanax, reasons and didn’t include her in that comment, although she’s presently my top Why?? Why do music writers love them??? of 2023.
Having a crappy voice , the -often sings out of tune- kind of crappy, without any audible creative compensating factors (Songwriting skill? Meh. Style? Older than the concept of teenagers. Some sort of finger on the pulse of Our Times? Are you kidding me???), I’m truly beyond being nice about how other people clearly love her.
My Gauntlet. I guess. 🤷🏽♂️
Yeah, all of this stuff FEELS objective/obvious...until we're faced with the fact that perfectly reasonable people feel differently. I think Olivia Rodrigo is a real breath of fresh air. I've seen her hit a few off notes in TV performances and I hate the affected breathiness that so many young singers employ. But I think her pop smarts are undeniable. Like Swift, she seems like more of a craftsperson than your typical "idol" and I can see her doing ambitious things as she (and her fanbase) ages.
My final word on Rodrigo for now: What others hear as fresh, I hear as ancient. It sounds to me like contemporary recordings of the kind of stuff my college radio station music department rejected as passé when we were playing Talking Heads, The Cars, and even truly mainstream folks like Billy Joel and Meatloaf, at least a year before the American public at large glommed onto them.
Re: “Idols”: I am not anti-pop, nor anti pop stars. I don’t intellectualize about my love of the first half of the Beatles catalog, and still keep in mind that it was music targeted at teens and pre-teens. A much more current example, Demi Lovato’s Holy Fvck was my 2nd favorite album of 2022. I’ve also waxed rhapsodic about Swift’s good works beyond recordings (which I’ll spare you from, here). Just examples to illustrate, I’m not anti music that I’m especially not the audience for, and recognize many artists followed the Beatles template to successfully transform from teen pop hitmakers to deeper richer creators.
Those Lana Del Rey and Ice Spice songs are the musical equivalent of DeLillo's "most photographed barn" (ha, who's an insufferable white dude now, Fletcher!?!). I really look forward to digging in to your lists, even if only because, as noted, so many of the lists I've been checking out are really just the same list! Also, I know it's a cliche to question your picks, but I can't help myself... Panera Bread?!? Seriously?!? Their salads/produce have taken a serious nosedive through the COVID era and haven't found the bottom yet. Their earlier stuff was better!
I lived down the blcok from a Panera for 15 years, so it became like a second home to me. But I'm fully zware thT is not, in fact, "good". But that Napa Almond Chicken Salad ain't fucking around.
I've never actually read any Delillo. Is "White Noise" the place to start?
I think so. I also really liked Underworld, and I read but remember almost nothing about Libra.
Righteous Gemstones was so good. Also What We Do In The Shadows is the best. If you want some hilarious, dry Aussie humor, "Fisk" on Netflix was a delight. And I don't usually watch "typical" sitcoms but we just started watching Abbott Elementary and it's legit hilarious.
What We Do in Shadows is kind of like It's Always Sunny for me--every time I watch it I wonder why I don't watch it more often. And then, for whatever reason...I don't. Only seen a few eps of Abbot Elementary, but same deal. Will definitely check out Fisk.