Final Thoughts

[if anyone is stumbling across this little project for the first time, 1) it's basically done, but I'll leave it up as long as the google lets me, and 2) you're probably better off reading forward in time rather than backward, as that's the way I wrote it, and I tend to assume that's the way you're reading it.]

               So here we come to the end of this little project.  I doubt I have much to say in way of wrapping-up: I’ve covered some 61 years of music in varying degrees of thoroughness, and I don’t feel capable of making too many sweeping generalizations.  I will say this: we (or they, since it was before my time) were better off in the days when artists would release a bunch of 30 minute albums (sometimes 2-3 times a year) than in the modern CD-era pattern of a single fussed-over 70 minute disc every 2-3 years that’ll then be mined for singles until the next one is ready.  The longer albums have gotten (and the longer the gap between them), the slower music seems to advance.  So, contrary to boomer nostalgia, it’s not that late-‘60s music was better than subsequent generations, but rather two trends combined to make 1966-1971 a period of tremendous musical expansion: namely, music had shifted to album-oriented formats, but at the same time, albums were still short enough that those albums progressed really quickly.  It’s not a coincidence that the subsequent comparable periods of musical excitement saw a resurgence of rock artists returning to the single format (the late 70s punk/New Wave era & the early ‘90s alt-rock boom).  Album-focused music only seems to advance slowly, probably because, esp. with longer albums, artists are more narrowly focused on their own creation, and less interested in constantly engaging with the musical world around them.  Chinese Democracy is probably the extreme example here: not that Axl was maybe ever likely to produce a masterpiece, but fussing over his album for over a decade guaranteed disappointment, while artists who could just churn out a bunch of off-the-cuff albums, like the Stones & Beatles (and a host of lesser but still excellent bands) gave themselves space for spontaneity & experimentation to creep in.  What this means for the new singles era, I don’t know, but the explosion of internet music means there seem to be fewer big universal trends than in, say, the early-to-mid-60s, when all non-jazz/non-country pop music (whether UK or US or Jamaica, soul or rock) sounded very similar. 

                I will say, though, that one thing this project gave me a newfound appreciation for is how the last 12 years of music really have progressed:  going in, I tended to treat 21^st century music as a single wave, but now I can hear the rise & fall of different styles much more clearly.  So there was folk-pop of the Shins/New Pornos variety early on, then a Brit-pop/dancepunk resurgence, and lately an Arcade Fire-driven rise in ‘stately’ indie-rock, along with a steady rise of indie-folk.  Still, we seem due for a new punk rock to really get things going again, as there’s very little in way of ‘rock’ out there in the underground amid all this prettiness. 

                At the same time, I’ll freely admit that, being in my 30s already, I may be too far gone to appreciate whatever that will be.  I have, at least, developed a theory of why you lose interest in new pop music as you get older, which has nothing to do with being too old in-and-of itself (though listening to teenagers angst about teenage love loses its relevance, for sure).  But my theory is that whenever you start listening to music becomes your point of reference, and everything you hear from before or after that time you filter through that context.  So as you listen back, you hear the elements that led to your reference point, and as you listen forward, you hear how that reference point led to those new sounds.  And the more you listen, the more everything new you hear you hear as the sum of influences you’ve already absorbed.  It’s not that there’s nothing new under the sun, but rather that things never sound as new as when you first started out.  Even those artists at the beginning of my project could be heard as an evolution from the country/blues or jazz sounds from just outside the margins of my collection.  And the alt-rock I started with certainly I can hear now as derived from the 70s classic rock & 80s punk that preceded it, though I can still remember hearing it when it sounded like the freshest thing out there.  Context is in a sense the enemy here: you’ll never be able to hear something as entirely new, but rather just the thin coat of freshness applied to a sum of influences.  So someone who’d never heard, say, TV on the Radio, can listen and be blown completely away by the newness, but I listen and I think “there’s a lot of late-70s Bowie in here, a touch of Radiohead, some Prince, etc…”  I’ll still appreciate it as well-constructed, but I’ll never have the shock-of-the-new.  I suppose in theory someone could make a wholly influence-free music, but frankly it’d probably be hard for anyone to do that, and even harder for anyone to genuinely enjoy that, as opposed to simply nodding their head respectfully at the accomplishment.

                But anyway: final thoughts on the project.  For anyone looking to try this themselves, I’ll say that the most fun was in the periods where I had the least sense of how the pieces fit together, for me especially the 1980s and 2001-2004 or so.  Waves of boomer nostalgia meant that I had a pretty good sense already of the musical story of the 1960s & 70s (though the early 70s peaked earlier than I thought, with the quality period ending already by ‘72-73).  But I explored the 80s band-by-band, acquiring, say, a heap of Prince records, then some Hüsker Dü, and then some New Order, so didn’t have a good sense of how the pieces all fit together.  Similarly, poverty & lack of internet access meant that I didn’t hear much new music at all ’01-04, and then acquired a bunch in a single lump, which again I hadn’t parsed chronologically.  And probably the least revelatory period was ’05-’11, which was too recent in my memory to have many surprises, and also too recent in history for me to have had a chance to separate key albums or trends I’ve missed from those that were utterly inconsequential.  Therefore, my collection is probably thinner for the last half-decade or so.  

                I can also talk about bands which have risen in my estimation, though giving the subject a full treatment would take too much time.  Certainly I’m more interested in the early Rolling Stones than before, and realize more how innovative Jeff Beck was.  Into the70s, I realize more & more how much I love Mountain (and the first new album I purchased after completing 2011 was Mountain’s Nantucket Sleighride).  And it’s more and more clear that Hüsker Dü may be one of the most important bands of the last 30 years, just in how their sound shaped so much of alt/indie after them. 

                So finally, attached is the list of all my Albums & Songs of the Year(s).  In theory my favorite album & song of all time are on the list below, though I’m not going to attempt to single them out (and they’d probably change if you asked me to pick them again tomorrow).  I will say that there’s a very good chance that my 2^nd favorite song & album are not listed there, as there were definitely some years where picking a single favorite song or album was just about impossible (and there are a few years where I just picked two).  Conversely, there were some years where I picked a best album and/or song simply out of obligation, so some of these are not so much personal favorites as they are the best of a weak lot in a given year.  But a couple of things are interesting to note.  First, Bob Dylan is the big winner here, with 5 albums of the year, head and shoulders over the Stones and R.E.M. tying for 2^nd with only 3 albums each.  Second, there’s no clear winner on the songs front, as no artist got more than 2 songs picked.  This isn’t too surprising for me, though.  A lot of my songs of the year came out of single-focused genres like soul, and there are just a lot more contenders for song of the year.  After all, making a great album takes a  lot of skill, craft, & determination.  It’s relatively easy to just rely on lucky inspiration to put out a great 3-minute single. 

                So that’s it.  It’s been a fun ride, and now I have the challenge of figuring out how to listen to music more like a normal person again (albeit with a newly-gained sense of context for music in its time).  I fear I’m turning into the kind of person who listens to music on shuffle now…  I welcome any suggestions for what my next music listening project should be.  There’s a non-zero chance I’ll post something at the end of 2012, though I’ll have lost some of that sense of context.  Anyway, thanks again to anyone who sent me music for this project, and thanks to everyone for reading along with me.

Signing off.

Albums of the Year

1954: Miles Davis - Bags Groove

1956: Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners

1960: Louvin Brothers - Satan Is Real

1963: Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

1964: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

1964: The Beatles - A Hard Days Night

1965: Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home

1966: Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde

1966: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

1966: The Beatles - Revolver

1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?

1969: The Kinks - Arthur: Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire

1970: Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young) - Déjà Vu

1971: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

1971: The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

1972: The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street

1973: Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy

1974: Big Star - Radio City

1974: Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks

1976: Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

1977: The Ramones - Rocket To Russia

1977: Wire - Pink Flag

1978: Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town

1978: The Rolling Stones - Some Girls

1979: The Clash - London Calling

1980: The Clash - Sandinista!

1981: Rush - Moving Pictures

1982: Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

1983: R.E.M. - Murmur

1983: Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

1984: Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime

1984: Prince - Purple Rain

1985: The Mekons - Original Sin

1986: R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant

1987: Prince - Sign 'O The Times

1988: The Pixies - Surfer Rosa

1989: De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising

1989: The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

1990: Uncle Tupelo - No Depression

1991: Nirvana - Nevermind

1992: R.E.M. - Automatic For The People

1993: Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

1994: Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

1995: Radiohead - The Bends

1996: Beck - Odelay

1997: Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind

1998: Elliott Smith - XO

1999: Blur - 13

2000: Deltron - Deltron 3030

2001: Daft Punk - Discovery

2002: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

2002: The New Pornographers - Electric Version

2002: The Roots - Phrenology

2003: The Electric Six - Fire!

2004: Lateef & The Chief - Maroons: Ambush

2005: Gorillaz - Demon Days

2006: The Roots - Game Theory

2007: LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

2008: The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

2009: Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years

2010: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

2011: The Black Keys - El Camino

Songs of the Year

1954: Elvis Presley - That's All Right

1959: Dave Brubeck - Take Five

1960: Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want)

1963: The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me

1964: The Beach Boys - Wendy

1965: The Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

1966: The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Mono Version)

1967: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze

1969: The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter

1970: John Lennon - God

1972: Yes - Roundabout

1973: Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston

1974: Gram Parsons - $1000 Wedding

1975: Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road

1976: The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop (Single Version)

1977: David Bowie - Heroes (Single Version)

1978: Parliament - Flash Light

1979: Buzzcocks - I Believe

1980: Rush - The Spirit Of Radio

1980: Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

1981: The Specials - Ghost Town (12" Vers.)

1982: The Clash - Straight To Hell

1983: New Order - Blue Monday

1984: Prince - Purple Rain

1985: Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All

1985: The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

1986: Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears

1987: Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine

1987: The Replacements - Alex Chilton

1988: Public Enemy - Don't Believe The Hype

1989: The Mekons - Empire Of The Senseless

1991: Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

1991: Primal Scream - Loaded

1992: Sugar - Hoover Dam

1993: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance

1994: Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

1995: Neil Young - I'm The Ocean

1995: Pulp - Common People

1996: Dr. Octagon - Earth People

1997: The Beta Band - Dry The Rain

1998: The Coup - Me And Jesus The Pimp In A '79 Granada Last Night

1999: The Flaming Lips - Waitin' For A Superman

2000: Deltron - 3030

2001: Bob Dylan - High Water (For Charley Patton)

2001: Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

2002: Cornershop - Lessons Learned From Rocky I To Rocky III

2003: Outkast - Hey Ya!

2004: Ursher, Lil John, Luda - Yeah 

2005: Dangerdoom - Old School Rules Feat. Talib Kweli

2006: Jarvis Cocker - Running The World

2007: Wire - 23 Years Too Late

2008: The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

2009: The Flaming Lips - Watching The Planets

2010: Gorillaz - Stylo Feat. Bobby Womack & Mos Def

2011: Trent Reznor - Immigrant Song feat. Karen O.