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.

I’m flabbergasted by the idea that, as of this writing, the year 2000 is nearly 20 years ago. As much as I lionize the music I heard in high school, the music of my late 20s has been incredibly influential, perhaps professionally as well as personally. Thus, we don’t see much change from the original list.

1. Shiina Ringo, Shouso Strip
2. Cocco, Rapunzel
3. NUMBER GIRL, SAPPUKEI
4. SUPERCAR, Futurama
5. eX-Girl, Big When Far, Small When Close
6. Sleater-Kinney, All Hands on the Bad One
7. Idlewild, 100 Broken Windows
8. FEED, Make Every Stardust Shimmer!
9. Tomosaka Rie, “Shoujo Robot”
10. Sade, Lovers Rock

Other favorites from the year:

• Do As Infinity, Break of Dawn
• Yaida Hitomi, daiya-monde
• PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
• OBLIVION DUST, Butterfly Head
• At the Drive-In, Relationship of Command
• L’Arc~en~Ciel, REAL
• Bonnie Pink, Let Go
• MISSILE GIRL SCOOT, Fiesta!
• Smashing Pumpkins, MACHINA/The Machine of God
• m-flo, Planet Shining
• Juanes, Fíate Bien
• Emmylou Harris, Red Dirt Girl
• U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind
• La Ley, Uno
• Sinéad O’Connor, Faith and Courage
• Soundtrack, High Fidelity
• BBMak, Sooner or Later

At the time of its release, I was just glad All That You Can’t Leave Behind was not a continuation of Pop. The recent vinyl reissue of the album, unfortunately, reveals its shortcomings. Thus, it loses its original ranking in the Favorite 10.

Plot twist: I panned 2004’s How to Build an Atomic Bomb, but that album has endured far better than All That You Can’t Leave Behind. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Idlewild’s 1000 Broken Windows takes the spot vacated by U2.

Do As Infinity probably could have held onto its place in the Favorite 10 on the strength of “Raven” alone. At the time, most J-Pop I had encountered relied heavily on keyboards and drum machines, so a karaoke-ready band with crunchy guitars felt novel to me.

I can’t say I love Break of Dawn as much now. It’s rare that singles displace albums for the Favorite 10, but all three tracks on “Shoujo Robot” hint at an awesome album I wish Shiina Ringo and Tomosaka Rie recorded.

The extended list is really just all the titles that could have legitimately competed for that bottom spot on the Favorite 10.

Tags: at the drive-in, bbmak, bonnie pink, cocco, do as infinity, emmylou harris, ex-girl, favorite edition, feed, idlewild, juanes, l'arc-en-ciel, la ley, m-flo, missile girl scoot, number girl, oblivion dust, pj harvey, rewind, sade, shiina ringo, sinead o'connor, sleater-kinney, smashing pumpkins, soundtrack, supercar, tomosaka rie, u2, yaida hitomi