Never mind the Oscars, here's the Pazz And Jop Poll:

February 13, 2001 4:43 PM

Never mind the Oscars, here's the Pazz And Jop Poll: which for some reason seems to have more cred than other music end-of-year lists. A double whammy for Outkast, and critical vindication for Eminem? What did they get right, what did they leave out, and what do these big crit-fests prove anyway?
posted by freakytrigger (34 comments total)

I don't know whether to be chuffed or pleased that I own just about every album on that list, and would rank them in about that order (with a few major changes, but still...) either I'm getting old or... I don't know!
posted by cell divide at 4:56 PM on February 13, 2001

Sheez. I buy a lot of CDs, and I have two albums from their first three pages.
posted by kindall at 5:26 PM on February 13, 2001

Aw, there's some stuff on there I can't believe--but that's part of the fun of these lists, and Pazz and Jop at least has more interesting things to ract t than most. But still, "The Friends of Rachel Worth" at #17? That just has to be people who want you to know they were into the Go-Betweens the first time around--like giving an Oscar to someone because he made good movies twenty years ago. Steely Dan? Shelby Lynne? 'mon.

And no major surprises. Jill Scott, maybe. I'm a little surprised to see Travis as high as they are, but I think they deserve it. Grandaddy seems like a token indie-cred pick. I can't believe Modest Mouse, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Supergrass and Cat Power aren't much higher. I can't believe Lou Reed and Neil Young are on there at all. And won't someone just KILL Belle and Sebastian?
posted by rodii at 5:31 PM on February 13, 2001

What's wrong with Belle and Sebastian?
posted by corpse at 6:39 PM on February 13, 2001

They're like everything I ever hated about the Smiths, plus a fun-ectomy. Other than that, nothing.
posted by rodii at 6:42 PM on February 13, 2001

corpse: just for the record, I'm with you. I don't get how anyone could hate Belle & Sebastian. Pretty melodies and good lyrics, what's not to like? I don't get why people call them a downer, either. I'm always picked up by songs like "Expectations" and "The Model".

They all sing really softly and timidly most of the time-- is that why some folks cast them as a too-precious, depressing indie band?

Please, rodii, reserve your hatred for bands that deserve it, the crap dominating the radio like Orgy and Eve6. Even if Belle & Sebastian don't meet your tastes, surely you can recognize that their work has merit. I don't care for Lou Reed myself, but I wouldn't debate his value as an artist (or his right to exist).
posted by wiremommy at 7:41 PM on February 13, 2001

Whoa, I just read the top albums list more closely. The new U2 is on there? On the first page, no less? Never mind. This list is not for me.

Hey though, while I'm here in a music thread, check out this awesome animated video to a great single, "Clint Eastwood" by the Gorillaz (hip hop 'supergroup' featuring, among others, members of Blur and Cibo Matto). Too bitchin'.
posted by wiremommy at 7:49 PM on February 13, 2001

i'm vindicated by my beloved at the drive in being up on the list.
posted by sugarfish at 10:13 PM on February 13, 2001

Repaired Gorillaz link

(you put a <br>)
posted by cCranium at 6:23 AM on February 14, 2001

There ya go, wiremommy. Everyone draws the line somewhere. :)

(B&S fans--it's just arguing about music. It's *supposed* to be over the top. All in fun. No actual death wished on anyone.)
posted by rodii at 6:38 AM on February 14, 2001

Oh, by the way, props to freakytrigger for the Sex Pistols reference. They shall always live in our hearts.
posted by rodii at 6:39 AM on February 14, 2001

Reading the list, I was alternately filled with glee over favorite bands being included (Elliot Smith! Dandy Warhols!) and filled with dread over suddenly, with age, not knowing who all the bands were (The Glands? Giant Sand?), which would have been unthinkable only five years ago.

Then everything was wiped out with red-rimmed murderous rage when I saw Nelly Furtado on the list. It's testing rodii's assertion that no actual death is being wished on anyone.
posted by Skot at 10:39 AM on February 14, 2001

Nelly Furtado is to the 21st century what Pearl Jam was 10 or so years ago. If you've got enough money and power backing you, you can buy a place at the top of the music charts (or you can just be President).
posted by websavvy at 11:18 AM on February 14, 2001

rodii, you had me all the way up to the Belle and Sebastian comment. Their top 10 picks weren't too bad, but the rest were just way out of whack. And how the hell was Everclear so high up on the list? Not that I was ever a fan, but these last two albums were some of the worst crap I've ever heard.

At least we in SF have Noisepop coming up to cleanse us of corporate-whore rock.

posted by mzanatta at 11:43 AM on February 14, 2001

I guess this shows how far off I am in music taste. Outcast seems to ride just another new fusion wave like Rage against the Machine did.

I lost my interest in pop music a while ago and I haven't bought too many albums last year. No forcefield's Lee's Oriental Massage and Fugazi's Red Medicine were the best of what I did get. I guess it would figure, since the year before the best album for me was easily Mr. Bungle's California.
posted by john at 12:49 PM on February 14, 2001

Outkast is riding a fusion wave? They've been critically acclaimed since their first album, which I think was in 1994. They were the first big Southern hip-hop act.

(Glad to see Neko Case ranked as high as she was. Mmmm, Bloodshot Records. And I had none of the first seven albums, some of which I'm going to pick up now. Although not the U2 album. Geh.)
posted by snarkout at 1:14 PM on February 14, 2001

The new U2 album is, um, actually rather good. (Then again, I liked Zooropa, so what do I know?)

Who are Pazz and Jop, anyway, and why should I care what they think? They obviously live in a completely different musical ghetto than I do, since I've never even heard of a good three quarters of the bands on their list, and exactly three of the albums I drooled over last year showed up on their 41-page monster...

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 1:34 PM on February 14, 2001

OK...Why don't we make own list (top 5, top 3)? I spend over a $100 a month on CD's so I'd be interested to hear some suggestions. To make it even more interesting-what are you listening to now? What has really captured your ears lately? Doesn't have to have been released this year...
(And would this subject be better suited to MetaTalk?)

posted by black8 at 1:42 PM on February 14, 2001

The Slow Poisoners!
posted by wiremommy at 2:06 PM on February 14, 2001

Doesn't seem like a really appropriate piece for Metafilter.

I'll just say that Amazon Recommendations get better and better the more stuff you rate, with the possible exception being that they'll list multiple works by the same artist on the same list, which I really don't need. As somebody blogged a while back, "Amazon Reccos + Napster == Creamy musical goodness."
posted by dhartung at 2:08 PM on February 14, 2001

Snarkout,

oh well, I never heard of them. I just dled a few songs from napster, including Mrs. Jackson and they seemed cookie-cutter to me. But like I said, I don't like most pop music.
posted by john at 10:03 PM on February 14, 2001

Fair enough, John. I just read a lot of music reviews, so I knew who they were. (They got a fair amount of attention in the mid-nineties, when they and Goodie M.O.B. were the first two "Southern sound" acts to achieve national success, although "Mrs. Jackson" is the first song of theirs I can actually remember hearing on the radio.)

Looking at the list again, I think Sleater-Kinney placed too high; I was disappointed by "All Hands on the Bad One", even though there are a couple of great songs.

Can anyone fill me in on who Jill Scott is? She's the only person in the top ten I've absolutely never heard of.
posted by snarkout at 7:52 AM on February 15, 2001

Oddly, Jill Scott's album and website are named: who is jill scott. You've got to love the shy, demur, self-effacing POP STAR.
posted by MarkAnd at 8:12 AM on February 15, 2001

[Mars] The new U2 album is, um, actually rather good. (Then again, I liked Zooropa, so what do I know?)

Mars, you know that Zooropa is one of the top 10 best albums of all time and that it's U2's second best ever (behind only Achtung Baby).

[Wiremommy] The new U2 is on there? On the first page, no less? Never mind. This list is not for me.

Ahem... I don't get how anyone could hate U2. Great songs and good lyrics, what's not to like? I don't get why people call them a downer, either. I'm always picked up by songs like "Elevation" and "Mysterious Ways".
posted by daveadams at 10:42 AM on February 15, 2001

Dave,

I think it's just shows you how individual taste is. Music needs to fit my mood so most of the time I can't stand to listen to stuff like U2.

Of course, for me I can tolerate a lot of it depending on the conditions. It's like going to a party and the only thing in the kegs is Bud. However, if that same party is playing Greese music and Boot scoot boogie all night I won't be able to justify the free beer factor.
posted by john at 1:28 PM on February 15, 2001

Jill Scott = Erykah Badu with a sense of humour and sans turbans.
posted by Dreama at 2:34 PM on February 15, 2001

But the turbans are the best part!
posted by snarkout at 2:41 PM on February 15, 2001

I don't listen to radio much so I never heard Nelly Furtado, but I stumbled on nellyfurtado.com (via Stewart) tonight, and she seems interesting. (" I know what it feels like to sing on the top of a mountain as if God is pumping Abraham straight into me from heaven.") What is she?

Giant Sand, yeah.
posted by rodii at 8:27 PM on February 15, 2001

Dave, I think it's just shows you how individual taste is. Music needs to fit my mood so most of the time I can't stand to listen to stuff like U2.

john, I totally agree (not about the U2 part ;) ). I was simply spoofing wiremommy's comments about another band.

Hey, it's fine if you don't like "stuff like U2," but it is an Indisputable Fact that Achtung Baby is the greatest rock album ever recorded. ;)
posted by daveadams at 8:30 PM on February 15, 2001

rodii: She's a reasonably talented studio singer who's in desperate need of a stage presence. Pop music, mostly inoffensive. She's easily compared to Natalie Imbruglia.
posted by cCranium at 7:42 AM on February 16, 2001

daveadams, your trolling tactics are simply unacceptable. Achtung Baby is a fine album and all, but to tout it as an Indisputable Fact that it is the greatest ever recorded is to spit on the actual One True Greatest Album Ever Recorded, Who's Next. Emoticon that! ;)
posted by Skot at 3:38 PM on February 16, 2001

It's London Calling, actually.
posted by rodii at 4:04 PM on February 16, 2001

Wrong...Van Halen 1!
posted by black8 at 4:36 PM on February 16, 2001

Wait a minute now, aren't we mixing categories? daveadams' claim was that "Achtung Baby" was the "greatest rock album ever recorded", while Skot's talking about the "One True Greatest Album Ever Recorded."

Hmmmmm.

-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 5:33 PM on February 16, 2001