Ask the 'Creep: Do Year-End Lists Even Matter?

Posted by Matt Fox Comments
It's the end of another year, best-of and top 10 lists abound! You know you know best (certainly better than that bozo), and as far as you're concerned every opinion, save your own, is little more than noxious proof of the existence of the jerk from whence it came.

What's with all the animosity anyway? 'Tis the season of Yule, mes amis, that enmity isn't very 'It's A Wonderful Life'-y at all. Sure, most people have sub-horrific taste, we'll give you that, but even the most boneheaded of Terrans have the right to disseminate their opinions, regardless of how painfully inferior they are to yours.

Take me for example, as a representative for boneheads worldwide: I voted William Shatner as Most Vital Artist of 2004 for his album 'Has Been.' As much as I genuinely loved (and still dearly love) 'Has Been,' I confess half the fun of casting my vote was to rub a few feathers the wrong way, and delight in the thought of causing some eyes to roll, just as my eyes roll as I read lists of picks of all the safe bets, media darlings and predictable favorites I expect to read, year after year.

Until Beelzebub or Cliff Burton himself come to command Ronnie James Dio to annually bestow upon us the 10 best metal albums of the year etched in two concrete slabs, have your salt cellar ready when perusing year-end lists. No one really knows what the hell they're talking about. Except me, of course, when I tell you William Shatner is one of the most vital artists of the decade. Everything else is open for debate, discussion and derision.

And since you asked, here are my favorite albums of 2009 – not necessarily the best, rather the ones that grabbed my attention and piqued my interest after just one listen, demanding I become more familiar with them. In no particular order -- after the top four:

Propagandhi -- 'Supporting Caste'
Megadeth -- 'Endgame'
Voivod -- 'Infini'
Heaven & Hell -- 'The Devil You Know'
NOFX -- 'Coaster'
Vader -- 'Necropolis'
Behemoth -- 'Evangelion'
Outbreak -- 'Outbreak'
Napalm Death -- 'Time Waits for No Slave'
W.A.S.P. -- 'Babylon'

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Menyne Gate

Personally I find these lists useful up to a point. I try to listen to as much new music as I can but it's impossible to hear everything. I find that by collating the opinions of music journalists at the end of each year I can gauge how many albums I've heard & how many I like.
There may come a day when I've never heard of any bands from anyone's top ten but I'm still doing pretty well at the grand old age of 30 so I'm happy.

For what it's worth here's 10 albums I enjoyed greatly from 2009.

Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Them Crooked Vultures
Lamb of God - Wrath
Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue
Steel Panther - Feel The steel
DevilDriver - Pray for Villians
Muse - The Resistance
Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
Killswitch Engage
Prodigy - Invaders Must Die

Nile and Slayer just miss out.

Menyne Gate (Derby - UK)

January 12 2010 at 8:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply