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Posts Tagged “pointless listmaking”

pointless listmaking

This Summer In Concerts: Lists, Lights, And Lots Of Robert Plant And Alison Krauss

Apparently this past weekend was "National Run Your Listicle-ish Summer Concert Preview" for many of this nation's finer newspapers, as my RSS feed was stuffed with "top five" and "top 10" lists of tours and festivals from newspapers around the country. While they're distinct in their regional biases (the Seattle Times rundown is festival-heavy; the USA Today one sticks with nation-storming stalwarts) the writers share one thing in common: they really really like Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Or at least want to sort of feel like they're at a Led Zeppelin show. Highlights of five summer show previews after the jump. More »

11:45 AM on Mon May 12 2008
By Maura Johnston
483 views, 6 comments

Latest by Clevertrousers: Can I just say that Chicago puts on some of the best free shows in the county? As a New Yorker this vexes me greatly. Big up to Mike Orlove! more »

pointless listmaking

Stephen King Opens Up iTunes, Finds Yet Another Listicle Lurking Underneath

A year ago, Stephen King published a list of his top 25 rock songs in Entertainment Weekly, and he's gone back to the "list of my favorite things ever" well with a list of the 20 songs that are most-played in his iTunes library. (Because when you're a famous writer, thin concepts like this can be spun as "a glimpse into the exciting work lives of the wordsmithing elite" instead of "narcissistic laziness.") In what's no doubt an effort to make as much ad revenue as possible off King's seemingly endless columnist contract and rein the horrorsmith in editorially a bit, EW has forced him to present his list to the clicking public in the form of a photo gallery. I can just see it now: "OK, Steve, we have to cut this blurb down from 400 words to 25 for space reasons! (And also because we want people to click on the next picture without being scared of being confronted by another impermeable block of text.)" List after the jump. Oh, and in case you're wondering, his repeated listenings to a Tony Orlando and Dawn track are OK because it "sounds like a lost Jimmy Buffett song"! More »

12:00 PM on Thu May 8 2008
By Maura Johnston
850 views, 16 comments

Latest by tigerpop: King's list is almost as bad as Bob Lefsetz'. Almost. Big points for "Tube Snake Boogie" making the top spot--though I could have sworn it was "Tube Steak Boogie," which is actually only 10% more revolting than the real title. more »

pointless listmaking

MTV UK's "Ultimate 50 Popstars" Reveals Ocean-Sized McFly Appreciation Gap

Sometimes there are music-related lists that you come across that are so silly, and so obviously street-team-aided in their construction, that you just have to share them. (Especially on news days that have Tokio Hotel's TRL debut as their "highlights," ahem.) So behold MTV UK's "Ultimate 50 Popstars" list, which was voted on by "the fans"—a surprising fact when you realize that both Jojo and Jessica Simpson apparently have big enough fanbases to have cracked its lower reaches. The list itself is an early-oughts-heavy grouping of pop kids from now (Leona Lewis (No. 27), Justin Timberlake (No. 4)) and then (Britney Spears (No. 1), TLC (No. 32), S Club 7 (No. 18)) that makes little sense, although it does allow U.S. readers to be reminded of the fact that they really do like McFly (No. 2! Seriously!) and Busted (No. 17) on the other side of the pond. And that they prefer the freaking Pussycat Dolls (No. 29) to the Sugababes (No. 36), a piece of trivia that should make any poptimist shudder. List after the jump. More »

10:45 AM on Tue May 6 2008
By Maura Johnston
395 views, 8 comments

Latest by Halfwit: @Rob Murphy: I'd always written it off as an urban legend (well, Mtv legend), but apparently the "cute one" (with the terminal disease) actually HAD a terminal disease, and died pretty young. more »

pointless listmaking

Yahoo! Ranks Hair Metal Bands, Causes Me To Pull My Hair Out

Any list of the best and worst "hair metal" (sigh) bands that has Ratt on the former list and Skid Row on the latter (did dude never hear Slave To The Grind?) automatically seems suspect to me, and the two lists proferred by Yahoo! "list guy" Rob O'Connor—topped by Guns N' Roses and Poison, respectively—continue to disappoint throughout, although I'm glad that they're providing post fodder on a slow Friday. Kiss on the best list and Extreme on the worst list? The New York Dolls as a "hair band"? The freaking Scorpions ranked higher than Enuff Z'Nuff, Faster Pussycat, and L.A. Guns? Calling out bands for having lots of rotating members while praising Axl Rose? Rob and I apparently agree on the suckiness of W.A.S.P., but I chalk that up to the theory behind broken clocks being right now and again, too. Full lists after the jump. More »

1:30 PM on Fri May 2 2008
By Maura Johnston
848 views, 25 comments

Latest by Wasp vs Stryper: Also, what is up with the lack of Britny Fox and Tangier on this list? I specifically remember ripping out photos of both bands from Kerrang and Metal Edge and Hit Parader when I was younger - and gravely upsetting more »

people who have more money than you

The Young Music Millionaires List: Being The Son Of A Beatle Really Gives You That Added Boost

I'm not sure what the motivations behind making these lists were—maybe they just want to turn everyone off of feeling like they need to pay for music ever again?—but the UK's Sunday Times has released its lists of Young Music Millionares and Britain's Top Music Millionaires, and boy do they make me feel crummy about my bank balance. Perhaps fittingly, given these tough times for the biz, topping the Young list is George Harrison's son/Wu-Tang collaborator Dhani (pictured), who seems to have something of a head start on his competition and is worth £160 million, while behind him is Vanessa-Mae Nicholson (£32 million), a violin player who calls her music "techno-acoustic fusion" and who turns 30 this year so if this list was made after her birthday she wouldn't even make the big list, where the bar for entry is £125 million. Also in the top ten of the under-30 list: the three non-Chris Martin members of Coldplay, each of whom is worth £30 million (Martin is 31 so he's disqualified from the big board, alas); Karen Elson and Jack White, who bring in a combined £25 million; Katie Melua, who I mainly know as "that woman who did that stupid underwater concert stunt" but who parlayed that into an £18 million fortune; Amy Winehouse, whose presence on the list causing everyone to break out the "at least crack is cheap" jokes; and, separately, Joss Stone and Craig David, which just goes to show you that at least the Brits are loyal. Both lists after the jump, if you want to get really depressed (just thinking about how big the pile of money Andrew Lloyd Webber is sitting on is not helping my morning). More »

10:00 AM on Fri Apr 25 2008
By Maura Johnston
523 views, 4 comments

Latest by Chris Molanphy: Craig David?! I loved that guy's 2001 album and all, but...what in Her Majesty's name is that guy doing in 2007-08 to earn him 10 million pounds? Are the publishing royalties on "Rewind" and "Fill Me In" really that lucrative? more »

pointless listmaking

Just How Much Can A Sad Song Say?


A lot, judging by the way I got vaguely bummed out while reading The Walrus' survey of the 31 saddest pieces of music to be put to tape. Bookended by the Band ("Rockin' Chair") and Brahms (Horn Trio Op.40., Second Movement), the list runs the gamut as far as genre and reasons to be sad, with guaranteed tear-jerkers like "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "It's Not Easy Being Green" nestled among tracks that are bummers for aesthetic reasons as well as those relating to subject matter (hello, "Tears In Heaven"!). And there are a few curveballs on the list, particularly the theme from Growing Pains—which, despite being slightly over half a minute in length, is full of enough references to crying and death for Paul Isaacs to call it "odd and heartbreaking." Full list after the jump. More »

3:15 PM on Tue Apr 22 2008
By Maura Johnston
860 views, 53 comments

Latest by GrioirDoibin: Billy Bragg-- "Levi Stubb's Tears;" and a traditional Irish trilogy: "Carrickfergus" (Van Morrison nails a great version), "The Butcher Boy" (Sinead O'Connor's version from the film of the same name gets the job done) and "Peggy Gordon." more »

pointless listmaking

Three Genuinely Terrible Songs From Three Genuinely Great Albums

MSNBC has a piece about "terrible songs from great albums." Immediately, we decided it was bullshit. "Long And Winding Road" sucks, sure, but is Let It Be a classic album? Isn't it frequently considered the Beatles' worst? Even though Maura wasn't like "'My World' isn't terrible" in my IM window , who thinks Use Your Illusion II is the GNR album to grab? (I wouldn't know, I don't buy albums with "Estranged" on them.) "Endless, Nameless" wasn't even on my cassette copy of Nevermind, and plenty of people love it. Calling just one song on Synchronicity embarrassing seems like a cheat, and I think "EXP" is cute as hell. So here are a few truly disgusting tracks from otherwise excellent albums.

More »

3:00 PM on Thu Apr 17 2008
By Anthony Miccio
2,268 views, 88 comments

Latest by Chris N.: I've listened to "Moby Dick" approximately one kajillion times. The studio version, anyway. more »

pointless listmaking

Guitar School Reveals "Top 25 Riffs Of All Time," Flatters Ghosts Of Jimi, Dimebag

"Smoke On The Water" features the best guitar riff of all time, according to a poll conducted by the British music school Guitar X. As you'd expect from a list based on the opinions of young guitar students, you've got some Hendrix, some Angus, three from Slash in the Top 10. But two Frusciantes? A Dimebag? A Knopfler? The full 25 after the jump. More »

2:45 PM on Wed Apr 2 2008
By Anthony Miccio
2,609 views, 17 comments

pointless listmaking

"Entertainment Weekly" Makes A Grab For Those Indie Rock Pageviews

Well-versed in the knowledge that nothing gets people clicking around Web sites like a photo gallery, nothing gets people arguing on the Internet like a slightly specious list, and no demographic has more work-hours time to click on said photo galleries and argue over said lists than the knowledge workers who proclaim themselves lovers of the nebulously defined genre "indie rock," Entertainment Weekly has put together a photo gallery/list called "The Indie Rock 25," which assigns one album to each of the 25 years since 1984, a year that was apparently defined by the Replacements' Let It Be. There are some arbitrary rules (no solo acts, albums that came out on an indie overseas but a major in the U.S. are OK), some arbitrary picks (see: Bright Eyes in 2005), lots of white dudes (cf. 1993: Ultimate Alternative Wavers over Pussy Whipped? Really?), and an obligatory mention of Radiohead, whose stature in "indie" probably wouldn't exist were it not for the major-label machine of 15 years ago but I'll probably be stuck arguing that until I'm blue in the face. Full list after the jump. More »

4:45 PM on Thu Mar 20 2008
By Maura Johnston
891 views, 25 comments

Latest by tigerpop: @graeffufighting: Srsly. The Hot Rock is good, but wasn't nearly as defining as The Woods or Dig Me Out. @kisskisskiss: They had to mention BTS, but There's Nothing Wrong With Love came out in 1994, and they had to pick a more »

pointless listmaking

A Helpful Idolator Reminder: Brush Your Teeth Right Now

No, that's not John Denver with a crazy busted grill. It's very old-school David Bowie, heading up a Top 10 list that reflexively made me go gargle with Listerine. More »

1:25 PM on Tue Nov 27 2007
By jharv
3,587 views, 7 comments

pointless listmaking

Has The Guardian Finally Come Up With A Best Albums List It's Impossible To Argue About?

'Course not. But while it may or may not be the biggest list of "must hear" albums ever assembled, the size of the project The Guardian has undertaken this week certainly makes the inescapable "100 Greatest Whatever" list look lazier than usual (at least until you start reading the entries, then we're back on listy terra firma). More »

2:00 PM on Mon Nov 19 2007
By jharv
1,111 views, 7 comments

pointless listmaking

Idolator Presents Its Picks For The Most Important Musical Act Of The Decade

It's hard fighting the urge to argue over this goofy Guardian-approved list of the musicians that "dominated" each decade. (Elvis, Dylan, Bowie, Madonna, and Cobain? Really? OK. Whatever.) Clearly, we need to help writer Graeme Thomson in "finding the next influential name on the list" by deciding on our own candidate for the current decade's slot. So we turn it over to you, the commenter academy, to choose our official pick for the most important musical whatever of the first decade of the new millennium. More »

1:30 PM on Tue Nov 13 2007
By jharv
1,503 views, 18 comments

Latest by layladylan: What, no Tay Zonday? "Chocolate Rain" FTW. more »