It's become an annual rite of passage in the music business.
Every year, the trade papers are filled with stories about how this year was worse than last year. If the music execs were hoping we'd get so tired of reading that story that we'd start to ignore it — you know, 'the boy who cried wolf' routine — it hasn't happened. Instead, the tearing of clothes, the wailing, and the gnashing of teeth have only reinforced the idea that there is no good music being made these days so you might as well not buy any of it. That's genius level marketing if I ever heard it.
It's also bullshit. 2008 was a great year for music, just like 2007 before it. I've already counted down the Best Songs of 2008, so now let's take a look at the albums.
The first thing I need to say about this list is that a lot of great albums released in 2008 didn't make it. This is just my Top 10. There was plenty more where this came from. In order to make the process of narrowing down the list just a bit more manageable, I opted to exclude compilations, live albums, re-issues, and EPs.
That means David Gilmour's excellent Live in Gdansk was excluded, as was Glen Phillips' wonderful EP Secrets of the New Explorer. Both are worthy of mention owing to the repeated listens I gave each throughout the year. As for what did make it, we've got jazz and we've got blues. We've got Southern rock veterans, British rock titans, and standard bearers of the ancient Seattle sound.
10. The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia: I guess this is me showing my age. I grew up on Screaming Trees and Afghan Whigs and am an outspoken, unapologetic Mark Lanegan fanboy. Saturnalia is a bit uneven but the strength of the good (the opening trio) makes up for an occasional lesser cut.
9. Coldplay - Viva La Vida: I wonder if this album was all part of Brian Eno's evil plan to get U2 to hunker down and make something great. Bono is a competitive sort who likes the idea of fronting the biggest band in the world. I don't know if Coldplay holds that title, but their collaboration with Brian Eno yielded a surprising and fantastic record. Coldplay sound much less emo and a lot more anthemic this time out and it suits them well. The opening 1-2 of "Life in Technicolor" and "Cemetaries of London" and the closing "Death And All Of His Friends" frame the album brilliantly.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Glen Boyd
Nice list Josh. We shared two: Mudcrutch and Coldplay. I also agree that Burnett should get a producer of the year nod, but equally as much for his work on John Mellencamp's Life Death Love & Freedom as on BB King's latest (which I heard too late to include on my list). Anyway, nice list.
-Glen
2 - Glen Boyd
...I still think '07 was a better year though. ;>)
-Glen
3 - Josh Hathaway
Thanks, Glen. I'll need a little separation from the '08s to really compare it to the '07 (if such an exercise is worth doing at all). Right now I'd lean towards the '08s but I think time has a lot to do with that. It might be worth comparing the lists in about six months and seeing how I feel then.
4 - zingzing
there is no reason on earth that a "best of 2008" has to be topped with oasis and counting crowes. there just isn't. ok, there's nostalgia. but really, really?
i like the gutter twins album, but pretty much only because i love greg dulli so much it hurts. as it should. or at least he would like it that way. poor guy. he wants my sympathy as well. such a complex cat.
5 - Josh Hathaway
There is a reason if you listen to both of the records. This ain't a vote for August or Definitely Maybe. Those are both fantastic records. They're two of music's best kept secrets. When all the fanfare died and the next big things were rolled out, these guys went back to simply making great records. I stand by both, enthusiastically and unapologetically.
6 - Mark Saleski
i'll definitely give some backup in the Counting Crows....i really wasn't sure what to expect but geezuz, it's a great record.
7 - Josh Hathaway
I seem to remember a FML where you admitted to liking the Oasis, too.
8 - Mark Saleski
yep, that surprised me too.
on the other hand, the Gutter Twins make me wish i was deaf.
9 - zingzing
well, i'm not saying the gutter twins are any afghan whigs. it wasn't even that great an album. again, it's nostalgia.
i haven't heard the counting crows album, but i can imagine it, and i'd bet my imagination isn't too far off. i've heard the oasis, and just as my imagination figured, it's not my cup of tea. but cups of tea are like asses or something.
i'm not asking you to apologize for your picks. it's pure opinion, so there's no way to even start to do that.
but, in the year of fuck buttons, there is NO excuse. really, this is a pretty retro-oriented list. which is fine. it is what it is. makes you pause though, doesn't it?
10 - Josh Hathaway
It doesn't really give me pause. When I was putting this together I was more interested in the differences I saw between the artists and the eras represented than I was by any sort of "retro" orientation. Again, I didn't "fix" my ballot or anything. I just called them out as I heard them. No excuse needed.
11 - zingzing
you misunderstand. this list is (and had better be) a reflection of your taste (at least this year). and that taste harkens back to bygone eras, but especially the early 90s. "retro," in this case means the past, not "retro-rock."
the only band on this list that was formed during this decade (other than 90's rock supergroup the gutter twins,) would be the black keys, which is itself a retro-oriented blues rock band.
i'm not saying anything bad about the list, or really making any judgment. i'm just saying what it is. and that would be a list coming from a person who (judging by this list) obviously graduated high school in, oh... about 1994?
you seem to like bands that peaked around then, and the rest are styles that peaked in popularity around that time.
but the "best of 2008," in some ways, should be about what makes 2008 2008. the albums that set the tone, or reflected the tone most precisely, that took steps forward or perfected that which came before. a lot of the albums on your list may be likable, but they won't be remembered for having come out in 2008. in fact, people will probably find them to be anachronisms.
12 - Tom Johnson
The best of 2008 is whatever each person decides it is, zingzing. You are being ridiculous analytical about a list talking about someone's picks of favorite albums of the year. Is he not supposed to pick the albums he enjoyed this year the most and instead pick the albums he thought others might have enjoyed more than he did?
As for your typical best-of list, like what Pitchforkmedia and other hot media outlets put together, you would be much harder pressed to remember the majority of the acts on those lists two or three years out. The ones you do remember will be acts like these - ones that continue to put out great music and build a fan base that supports them. Go back and look at any year-end list and you'll find yourself looking at a bunch of names that were hot-topics at the time but today make most people scratch their heads, including many that thought they were great at the time.
A personal best-of list is about the music that you predict will stand the test of time with you. What you are talking about is the most boring, meaningless kind of list - just a who's-who of the year, not actually the music that you really cared about.
13 - Josh Hathaway
Tom, you said pretty much what I was going to say. This is not ESPN's "Who's Now." This is not about trying to be trendy or elitist or prove my cool. Fuck that. I'm with Duke Ellington: 'There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.' Those were my criteria: Good music and 2008. The rest is fuckin' nonsense.
14 - Matthew T. Sussman
"This is not ESPN's "Who's Now.""
I know. This one's actually compelling.
15 - Josh Hathaway
Bless you, Matt Sussman.
16 - Mark Saleski
zing just wanted the thrill of typing "Fuck Buttons".
(i have to admit, that was kinda fun!)
17 - Josh Hathaway
I like flinging fucks as much as the next guy and "fuck buttons" is a fuckin' great phrase.
18 - zingzing
(please note that i'm not trying to insult anyone with this rant. thank you.)
the funny part about this is i'm saying that josh here apparently stopped listening to new music with any enthusiasm in the mid-90s. i was trying to be gentle about it, but i suppose in criticizing the list instead of the listener, i ended up sounding more rude. i certainly wasn't trying to be rude. cat's out of the bag now, but let it be known i didn't want to be so blunt about it.
now as to tom's "The ones you do remember will be acts like these - ones that continue to put out great music and build a fan base that supports them" thing, that's certainly true. of course it is. hard to argue against that. but counting crows, oasis, bb king, mudcrutch, rem, et al, are not putting out albums that push the envelope or take any strides forward. they're all in holding patterns, releasing pleasant, but fairly inconsequential music that their built-in audience will gobble up and the rest of us will ignore as old hat. the acts may be remembered, but only with nostalgia, and these new albums will only be so much concert fodder.
they're nothing really new, and other than the copyright date on the back, nothing about these albums says "2008."
it's all fine and good that if these are your favorite albums of the year. i'm not against the publication of this article or any such thing, but i'm not going to be congratulating you on your taste. in fact, i'm decrying it. there's no adventure here.
and it's not about trying to prove your cool or be trendy or elitist. it's about going to the cutting edge of music, where it actually is fresh and new. that may not be to your taste, but that would be the point i'm making. the best music of 2008 is that with new ideas to explore, where it's challenging and takes chances. the stuff that actually makes it NEW rather than just a retread. i'm not finding much of that in this list.
i was just trying not to say all that. so i apologize in advance, but i was pushed into it. again, i'm not trying to insult anyone, i just disagree.
19 - Matthew T. Sussman
So, TRIO would have been one of your Best Albums Of 1982?
20 - zingzing
josh: "I like flinging fucks as much as the next guy and "fuck buttons" is a fuckin' great phrase."
and a great band. who put out the best album of 2008. hence, "the year of fuck buttons."
they take grinding noise and somehow make it into gorgeous, epic, euphoric pop music. and the whole album builds in intensity to glorious crescendos of absolutely stunning and dramatic beauty. it's no small feat, and no one has ever done anything quite like it.
rave on, fuck buttons.
21 - Matthew T. Sussman
Hobbies include: skiing, scrapbooking, pushing Josh Hathaway's fuck buttons
22 - zingzing
matt, trio were actually pretty good. if you're talking about the "da da da" group. obviously, there have been many trios. but yeah, they had a way with minimalism that, if not quite entirely original, was certainly ahead of its time in the pop world. there's much more there than just "da da da," if you bother to dig through their catalog.
but no, the fact that they've been in a series of commercials does not equate to being in "the best of" anything. but i think you knew that. clever boy.
23 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
I have to go with Tom on this one. If it was anything more than a personal "best of" list then I would vomit because Oasis & Coldplay are perhaps the worst examples of music that will/have stand/stood the test of time. Coldplay is just f*cking horrible...
24 - zingzing
leave it to the big guppy to say a part of what i'm saying without an ounce of political correctness.
25 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Glad I could be of service...