Musicwhore.org Music and memory

A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.

Instead of providing an extended list for 1993, I rag on a number of critical favorites from the year. I’ve mellowed out about Björk’s Debut and U2’s Zooropa, but Siamese Dream and janet. are still overrated.

1. Duran Duran, The Wedding Album
2. Bill Frisell, Have a Little Faith
3. John Zorn / Naked City, Absinthe
4. Judy Dunaway and the Evan Gallagher Little Band, Judy Dunaway and the Evan Gallagher Little Band
5. Spiny Norman, Crust
6. The Love Gods, Hujja Hujja Fishla
7. Michael Nyman, The Piano
8. Wayne Horvitz / Pigpen, Halfrack
9. Clannad, Banba
10. Emerson Sting Quartet, American Originals: Ives / Barber String Quartets

Other favorites from the year:

• Kate Bush, The Red Shoes
• Emmylou Harris, Cowgirl’s Prayer
• Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
• Cypress Hill, Black Sunday
• Digable Planets, Reachin’
• U2, Zooropa
• Julee Cruise, The Voice of Love
• Sting, Ten Summoner’s Tales

This time, I’m providing an extended list, and it demonstrates where I was as a listener and where I am.

That Favorite 10 is stuffed to the gills with some really avant-garde titles, the kind put together by a young person trying to be more cosmopolitan than his peers.

The extended list includes music that would have been ignored by the person who compiled the Favorite 10.

My younger self would have scoffed at my older present self for deigning to include hip-hop, and my older self would tell my younger self to examine what social pressures may be coming to bear for his opposition.

Younger self would complain about how hip-hop culture is fetishized by his ethnic cohorts, which older self would acknowledge but caution against succumbing to the racial dynamics of the country.

Younger self would have no idea what older self would be talking about, since younger self hadn’t yet moved to he Mainland US to see these dynamics in action.

All that to say maybe I’ve been resistant to hip-hop because the music that most appeals to me is made predominantly by upper middle class white men.

Tags: bill frisell, charles ives, clannad, cypress hill, digable planets, duran duran, emerson string quartet, emmylou harris, evan gallagher, favorite edition, john zorn, judy dunaway, julee cruise, kate bush, michael nyman, naked city, pigpen, rewind, samuel barber, spiny norman, sting, the love gods, u2, wayne horvitz, wu-tang clan