The List Thread

[Wayback]

List: Great Mustaches in Rock History -
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getback/31211/great-moustaches-of-rock/

[RGMike]

(I took the opportunity of being on the RS website to poke around a little. Was surprised by how many familiar names from the 70s are still on the masthead: Kurt Loder, Anthony DeCurtis, Jonathan Cott, Greil Marcus, Charles Perry, David Fricke (who'll probably die there), and Ralph Steadman (gardening) and Raoul Duke (sports), too.)

RS has a gardening editor ??  hydroponic gardening, no doubt.

[RGMike]

List: Great Mustaches in Rock History -
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getback/31211/great-moustaches-of-rock/

what? no Burton Cummings? it's an outrage, I tells ya!

[urth]

(I took the opportunity of being on the RS website to poke around a little. Was surprised by how many familiar names from the 70s are still on the masthead: Kurt Loder, Anthony DeCurtis, Jonathan Cott, Greil Marcus, Charles Perry, David Fricke (who'll probably die there), and Ralph Steadman (gardening) and Raoul Duke (sports), too.)

RS has a gardening editor ??  hydroponic gardening, no doubt.

I think that's kind of an inside joke, or maybe a means of keeping Steadman on the payroll. Ralph Steadman is one of Hunter S. Thompson's sidekicks and his longtime illustrator. (The "Raoul Duke" that follows Steadman in the masthead is a pseudonym for HST.)

[Gazoo]

Duke!

[RGMike]

That great pop music critic, Stephen King, names his 10 Best Albums of 2008 in his monthly EW column. Note that only 4 out of 11 (there's a tie at #1) have gotten any KFOG airplay afaik.

10. James, Hey Ma (I didn't know they had a new album out this year)
9. Randy Newman, Harps & Angels (ditto)
8. Lindsay Buckingham, Gift of Screws (King says it sounds like mid-'70s F.Mac; if so, why did KFOG ignore it?)
7. Al Green, Lay it Down
6. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (well, duh, it'll be on many lists and is the presumptive Grammy winner. King says he doesn't think they sound like U2 -- is he deaf?)
5. Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal
4. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals
3. James McMurtry, Just Us Kids (is KPIG playing this?)
2. AC/DC, Black Ice
1. (tie) Buckcherry, Black Butterfly; and Pretenders Break Up the Concrete (King says "Love's a Mystery" is his favorite song of the year).

[Gazoo]

Yikes: I had no idea Nos. 10 through 7 existed!

I didn't listen to enough new music to post a legitimate list, but here are some albums I enjoyed this year:

Jason Mraz, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It
Bill Popp and the Tapes, My Lonely Mind
B-52s, Funplex
Coldplay, Viva la Vida
Jefferson Starship, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty

At some point this month I'll spend a couple hours at a Virgin Megastore catching up on other recommendations, including a couple King suggestions.

[Wayback]

List of Top 25 Teen Idols of All-Time (but not including Sinatra, Elvis, Beatles, Paul Anka, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Sherman, Andy Gibb)...
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/listoftheday/104315/the-top-25-teen-idols-of-all-time/

[Wayback]

List of the Top 40 Christmas Albums of All-Time:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/23093/chart-watch-extra-the-top-40-christmas-albums/

[RGMike]

List of the Top 40 Christmas Albums of All-Time:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/23093/chart-watch-extra-the-top-40-christmas-albums/

Yikes. I love Xmas music; I collect it -- the more unusual the better. But that's a scary list. Fie on Mannheim's Trans-Siberian SteamOrchestra. (*shudder*)

[Tinka Cat]

List of the Top 40 Christmas Albums of All-Time:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/23093/chart-watch-extra-the-top-40-christmas-albums/

Yikes. I love Xmas music; I collect it -- the more unusual the better. But that's a scary list. Fie on Mannheim's Trans-Siberian SteamOrchestra. (*shudder*)

I agree ---

'tis the season ... to barf all over my keybd.

[ggould]

List of the Top 40 Christmas Albums of All-Time:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/23093/chart-watch-extra-the-top-40-christmas-albums/

The Phil Spector album not even on the list?

[urth]

List of the Top 40 Christmas Albums of All-Time:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/23093/chart-watch-extra-the-top-40-christmas-albums/

Yikes. I love Xmas music; I collect it -- the more unusual the better. But that's a scary list. Fie on Mannheim's Trans-Siberian SteamOrchestra. (*shudder*)

The key characteristic of those albums is that they're the most popular (aka biggest selling) Christmas albums of all time. Which means that by definition, they're going to be bland, hackneyed, and anything but unusual. I own exactly one of the albums on that list: the Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Christmas album that's at #15.  And most of the rest I wouldn't even consider buying--Celine Dion? Kenny G? Any of the aforementioned Trans-Mannheim Siberian Roller records. The fact that the Spector record *is omitted* just underscores what that list is about--quantity, not quality. (Although it's a shame that it hasn't sold the requisite 1.5M copies it would have taken to get on the list, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.)

ETA: I've just added a couple words that I left out when venting my spleen initially. Changes marked with asterisks in the penultimate sentence.

[Tinka Cat]

List of the Top 40 Christmas Albums of All-Time

I own exactly one of the albums on that list: the Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Christmas album that's at #15. 

I have that one, plus the Nat "King" Cole record. I'd consider the top Elvis record, but the rest are off the radar.

[urth]

List of the Top 40 Christmas Albums of All-Time

I own exactly one of the albums on that list: the Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Christmas album that's at #15. 

I have that one, plus the Nat "King" Cole record. I'd consider the top Elvis record, but the rest are off the radar.

And I'd consider those two, as well as the Sinatra album(s) that also didn't make the list due to insufficient sales, to be true classics and worthy of inclusion on a "greatest Christmas album" list. Celine Dion? Not so much.