Music coverage has been rather light in the post-David Browne era at Entertainment Weekly, to say the least. To be frank, their non-celebrity music coverage is moribund at best, usually gathering as much print space as the stage section does. It almost feels like an afterthought. Heck, I wasn’t even sure who they’d tap to come up with the mag’s 2008 year-end lists, but Leah Greenblatt and Chris Willman answered the call with Ten Best Albums and Five Worst Albums lists, and the mag threw in a list of singles for good measure. (I’ve always liked the fact that EW publishes worst lists, even though the criteria for “worst” often seems more ephemeral, cross-referencing expectations with actual quality. I think that’s an OK measure of “worst” as far as it goes, but I’ve never as intrigued by the music worsts as I am by the movie or book picks.) TV On The Radio’s Dear Science tops Greenblatt’s list, while The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive tops Willman’s; complete rundowns after the jump.
THE GOOD: These are easily some of the most diverse lists you’ll see out there. Why, Greenblatt’s best and worst lists are almost half female and half African-American! I love “Live Your Life,” and I’m glad to see it on here. Also good to see Q-Tip and Erykah Badu representing, although I won’t hold my breath for the hat-tips to translate into sales.
THE BAD: About that No. 1 single. Does anybody really think that “Love in This Club” was the No. 1 song of the year, chart prowess aside? I sure don’t. Also, I’m not a Fleet Foxes hater like some around here, but “White Winter Hymnal” has never struck me as much of a “single.” And speaking of singles, I think that MGMT record is a good pair of them. Overall, I’m not one to really say someone should or shouldn’t be on these lists, but I do think it’s funny that Dave Sitek appears in the best (Dear Science tops Greenblatt’s list) and worst (Scarlett Johansson’s Anywhere I Lay My Head tops Willman’s list) sections.
THE WHAAA?: This has more to do with EW.com than anything. I get so tired of them burying their content in gallisticles [tm], those slow-operating gallery-based listicles that bring them crazy page views but bring me nothing but endless frustration. I hate them so much and it seems like they make up half of EW.com’s content these days. Gross.
Leah Greenblatt:
BEST
1. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
2. Beyoncé, I Am…Sasha Fierce
3. Santogold, Santogold
4. Robyn, Robyn
5. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Pt. One (4th World War)
6. Coldplay, Viva La Vida
7. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
8. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
9. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
10. Sigur Rós, Med sud í eryum vid spilum endalaust
WORST
1. Janet Jackson, Discipline
2. Duffy, Rockferry
3. Shwayze, Shwayze
4. Vanessa Hudgens, Identified
5. Terrence Howard, Shine Through It
Chris Willman:
BEST
1. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
2. Robyn, Robyn
3. Bob Dylan, Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series No. 8
4. Mudcrutch, Mudcrutch
5. Q-Tip, The Renaissance
6. Lee Ann Womack, Call Me Crazy
7. Coldplay, Viva La Vida
8. Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer
9. Sheryl Crow, Detours
10. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
WORST
1. Scarlett Johansson, Anywhere I Lay My Head
2. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy
3. Mamma Mia! Soundtrack
4. Panic at the Disco, Pretty. Odd.
5. Pussycat Dolls, Doll Domination
Singles (Leah Greenblatt and Simon Vozick-Levinson):
BEST
1. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, ”Love in This Club”
2. Hercules and Love Affair, ”Blind”
3. M.I.A., ”Paper Planes”
4. Leona Lewis, ”Better in Time”
5. Fleet Foxes, ”White Winter Hymnal”
6. Estelle feat. Kanye West, ”American Boy”
7. Pink, ”So What”
8. Lykke Li, ”I’m Good, I’m Gone”
9. Ashton Shepherd, ”Sounds So Good”
10. T.I. feat. Rihanna, ”Live Your Life”
WORST
1. Framing Hanley, ”Lollipop”
2. Busta Rhymes feat. Ron Browz, ”Arab Money”
3. Saving Abel, ”Addicted”
4. James Taylor, ”Hound Dog”
5. Jason Aldean, ”She’s Country”
I’m sorry, but “…Sasha Fierce” is not the #2 album of the year.
@Rob Murphy: I haven’t heard all of it yet (I know I know!), so I can’t comment, but most people I know seem to agree that it’s a major disappointment.
I wish there was a “most disappointing” list. I’d like to nominate the Gutter Twins and the Breeders.
Hurray for the double Robyn love. I think it’s the best American-released album of the year, but since it was also the best Swedish-released album of 2005, I can see how one’s ardor for it could have dimmed in the intervening time.
@Lucas Jensen: Maybe there was some kind of editorial mix-up? Maybe Greenblatt submitted her list with “2. Knowles, [please look up]“, and some website contractor in Uzbekistan googled “Knowles”, and Beyonce’s name obviously was the first one to come up?
Also, LOLZ on Willman’s total link-bait “Worst” list.
@whoneedslight: ha – i just revisited that breeders record to see if it makes the cut. i love you, kim & kelley, but i gotta be honest – it just didn’t get much burn this year.
@Rob Murphy: panic at the disco so does not deserve to be on there, and especially not in a ‘more worst than the pussycat dolls’ context.
@Lucas Jensen: I consider myself a Beyonce fan but it was a big disappointment.
I figured there might be at least two or three people who agree with me about “Love in the Club”, might as well be these two.
I think I meant “google bait” or something like that, but I think everyone got that. I love the thought of some editor saying “we’re not getting enough page views! more mentions of ‘Scarlett Johansson’, ‘Chinese Democracy’, ‘Mamma Mia!’, and ‘Pussycat Dolls’!”
@Rob Murphy: @Lucas Jensen: @Nicolars: Basically, once those two awesome singles (I’ve decided I like them both about equally) run their course, the album’s more or less dead. Which makes it the anti-B’Day, which got better the longer they promoted it.
Kudos for the Shwayze diss.
@Chris Molanphy: oh, i don’t know. ‘halo’ is pretty great. and i suspect ‘diva’ will be somewhat inescapable over the coming months.
Wait, for “Chinese Democracy” to be Google bait, wouldn’t there have to be someone Googling it?
@Chris Molanphy: While I agree this one isn’t nearly as good as B’Day, I think her ballad singing has gotten much better. “Halo” and “Disappear” especially are awesome.
@Maura Johnston: The Halo/Diva combo A-side will rule the first half of 09, make no mistake about it, but at the same time I love “B’Day” so much more because it was so damn wacky (and… fierce?). The album features a song sung to her vagina! What’s not to love??
And while I don’t really care about Fleet Foxes, I do remember “White Winter Hymnal” being released as a single over in Europe (I think on Bella Union), so I guess it counts.
@Maura Johnston: Seriously! I’m listening to “Pretty Odd” a lot lately, and it’s growing on me, in an adorable, “young 20-somethings try to be The Beatles, with a little early Queen” kind of way.
Nice to see love for Robyn, Hercules&LA, and a diss for Duffy, as well as the final confirmation that I’m going to have to check out that Bon Iver record once and for all.
@Maura Johnston: @Varina: I put Pretty. Odd. on my “Best of ’08″ list (which I already “leaked” to Maura but haven’t posted elsewhere yet for various reasons) at #10, and yeah, I love the sound they put together on that record. Does not deserve to be on that “Worst” list. Also, great cover art.
@ChrisWillman: Haha! Pow!
What about Dylan showing up on this list? Does it count as a new release if its a collection of uncollected et ceteras?
EW seems to be ok with it, but they shoulda vetoed it on the grounds that Stay Positive isn’t nearly as good.
@Rob Murphy: Cool. I feel like people write the band off in part because of the Wentz Factor. Animal Collective and Of Montreal get all weird and experimental and get praised for it, and tons of bands use Beatles influences, but Panic does it and they get automatically dissed, whereas I find them to be kind of charming.
Granted, I have my own prejudices about bands based solely on looks/interviews, and not music, but I get lame and take offense in some situations.
I know I’ll get flagged for this but I like the choruses on “Buzzin” and “Hollywood” as Scarlett’s “falling down” with bowie.
Hey, another list claiming to represent the contemporary pop music zeitgeist that has absolutely no metal or hard rock on it! Awesome! (Oh, wait, Chinese Democracy was one of the five worst albums of the year. Never mind.)
@bess marvin, girl detective: A Town With No Cheer was one of my favorite tracks of the year. Also, that ‘five worst singles’ list just made my gonads shrivel. James Taylor singing Hound Dog?!