Spin, America’s Snottiest Mainstream Music Rag™, and Rolling Stone, America’s Grumpy-Old-Man-iest Music and Whatever Else They Damned Well Feel Like Publication™, just posted their best albums and best singles lists, respectively, and there aren’t really too many surprises. Spin goes out on a limb with their #1 slot, awarding Against Me’s New Wave “Best Album” honors. It’s a good CD, but the choice smacks of a certain “we’re down with the mall-rat Hot Topic punk-rock haircut emo kid crowd, please buy our magazine” desperation that Spin, in their insecurity, descends to a lot of the time. Other than that, you couldn’t get a more same-old, same-old two through ten:
10. The White Stripes – Icky Thump
9. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
8. Jay-Z – American Gangster
7. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
6. Radiohead – In Rainbows
5. M.I.A. – Kala
4. Kanye West – Graduation
3. LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
1. Against Me! – New Wave
Actually since they seem to just be averaging out a lot of other lists, they’re pretty much on target there, although Icky Thump should probably be at like #30.
Rolling Stone‘s best songs of the year crowned Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys” #1, and it’s a kind of random pick off American Gangster, but that’s no problem compared to their #2: Randy Newman’s “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country,” a soul-crushingly awful pseudo-political ramble that makes me want to become a Republican and go hunt cute cuddly animals just to express my sheer fury at the universe for creating such terrible crap. Wanna join me? Watch it here:
This beats “Umbrella”?!! Anyway here’s their whole Top Ten:
10. UGK – “International Player’s Anthem”
9. M.I.A. – “Boyz”
8. Bruce Springsteen – “Long Walk Home”
7. Amy Winehouse – “Rehab”
6. Lil Wayne – “Dough is What I Got”
5. Bright Eyes – “Four Winds”
4. Justice – “D.A.N.C.E.”
3. Rihanna – “Umbrella”
2. Randy Newman – “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country”
1. Jay-Z – “Roc Boys”
Most of these are pretty familiar territory, other than the Bright Eyes track: from Cassadaga, this sees the Omaha combo in full-on Americana territory, with a swinging, violin-led sound behind the angry lyrics: “The Bible’s blind, the Torah’s deaf, the Koran’s mute/If you burned them all together, you’d get close to the truth.” The video, in which a crowd turns against the performers, makes me really uncomfortable: