Not more lists...

July 2, 2003 12:39 AM

Rocklist.Lists may not be everyone's thing, but I love this stuff. Not the prettiest of sites but Julian White has collected End of Year music polls from many different publications, ranging from the now-defunct Select to the Village Voice to The Face. The NME Readers Poll (Pop Poll) is one my favourites. Bjork was 1993's most Desirable Human Being which I find a little strange - much happier with 1990's choice. Aahh Betty Boo...
posted by jontyjago (7 comments total)

Lists of Bests compiles "best of" lists across all media, and does it extremely well.
posted by waxpancake at 6:28 AM on July 2, 2003

I've bee through two copies of the book Dave Marsh made of this list. The man has exquisite taste. Plus the book helped me get a girl once.
posted by jonmc at 6:29 AM on July 2, 2003

Pshaw...Dave Marsh can't be trusted. Anyone who dismisses, wholesale, the entire output of the Grateful Dead shouldn't be formulating any opinions about music.
posted by ghastlyfop at 9:52 AM on July 2, 2003

jonmc, I've read Marsh's Springsteen books and know of his personal conneciton. As a huge Springsteen fan, I completely agree with his placements of BTR, Darkness, and The River. But how is it possible that neither Greetings nor Wild made their years' lists at all???
posted by billsaysthis at 9:55 AM on July 2, 2003

Well, billsaysthis, as good as the songs on those records were, Bruce was still being molded as some kind of neo-folkie which did not fit him well, hence the thin production and somewhat awkward arrangements. Plus there were a couple clunkers ("The Angel") compositionwise.

ghastlyfop, I don't hate the dead with the passion marsh does, although he does have some insights about them, more about their audience than the dead themselves but still. They have a couple good tunes, but once you turn 18 and get past your "load up a bong, turn on Shakedown street and say wow that's deep" phase, it becomes a bit ridiculous. So I'd have to at least somewhat agree that the Dead are quite a bit overrated.
posted by jonmc at 10:25 AM on July 2, 2003

Oh, they're certainly overrated, and I'm by no means a Deadhead, but I'd have to disagree about the songs--Garcia/Hunter and Barlow/Weir have written some fantastic songs. "Stella Blue" is one of the most haunting, beautiful songs ever written.
And live, anyway, when they were good, they were transcendentally great. On an off night they were downright unlistenable. That's the thing--their appeal, at least to their many hardcore fans, isn't in getting baked and listening to "Shakedown Street" or "Touch of Grey." Which, funny enough, has always been the misconceived mainstream lynchpin for Deahead derision.
But I've always found the whole cultish fan base alternately fascinating and embarrassing. But it really is interesting that bands like the Dead and Phish could play enormous venues and collect hordes of fans with nearly zero support from the mainstream star-making machinery. If anything, there's really is some weird integrity to that.
posted by ghastlyfop at 1:08 PM on July 2, 2003

ghastly, I think Marsh is pretty close to the mark regarding the Dead's recordings. I'm a fan but would see them live any day before listening to a studio LP. And you're wrong, wrong I say!, about Bruce's first two masterpieces.
posted by billsaysthis at 6:51 PM on July 2, 2003