‘Lists’ archiveList Mania! Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Guitar Songs
Like I’ve said before, I like Rolling Stone. It’s mainstream, it has pop tarts – and “The Hills” girls – on the cover too much, but, really, any magazine that employs Matt Taibbi is cool with me. One thing about the Rolling Stone – it loves itself some lists. But hey, don’t we all? The magazine put out a list of the 100 best guitar songs of all time and, like all lists, you can nitpick and bitch about certain things, but overall, it hits the right spots. Here’s the top 10: (more…) Bad Album Art: Were They High? Or Hi-larious?
Interestingly enough, Troutman is actually a pretty influential funk/R&B musician from the late ’70s, who headed the group Zapp, before branching off on his own and working with Bootsy Collins and many other funk luminaries, before capping his career by singing the chorus on Dr. Dre and 2Pac’s “California Love.” Man, you set out to make fun of a guy, and it turns out he’s pretty cool. Life’s a bitch sometimes. Though, I would like to know what facets Roger is trying to portray on that album cover. I’m guessing, from top left: High, posing for an album cover, high, high, getting a blowjob, high. Just guessing. There’s some real gems in this bunch too: Foster Edward’s Orchestra, “What’s Next?”; Ali and His Gang Vs. Tooth Decay (featuring guest announcer Howard Cosell!); Little David Wilkins, “King Of All Taverns”; Steve Warren, “Reflection” (he’s standing by a mirror and the album’s called “Reflection” … GET IT?!). There’s so many fantastic covers, it’s hard to pick out favorites. One minor disappointment, though, is that my favorite one of the bunch, Cody Matherson, “Can I Borrow a Feeling?” is fake according to Snopes.com. Damn you and your urban legand busting. Though, the story does have a cool connection with “The Simpsons” so it can’t be all bad. Hat tip to commenter Torp for sending this jewel our way. ‘The Wire’ – Best Show Ever? … Indeed
So much has been written about “The Wire” and its untimely demise – fawning tributes, depressed deconstructions – that there’s not much left to say besides the obvious. It was the best American television show to ever run. It may not have been the most important show (I’d say “All In The Family” and “The Cosby Show” had more immediate cultural impact), but it certainly is the best written, most carefully constructed, dense and thoroughly engrossing show ever made. Best Albums of 2007 - Vague Panther
So, apparently you can’t start a music blog without having a top ten list of the past year’s best albums. Even if it’s about a month too late. That’s what Editor-in-Chief The Stranger claims… but relax, the Vague Panther’s list is clearly the best. Best Albums of 2007 - The Stranger
2007 started off fairly slowly, but ended up as a very strong year for indie music. I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing, but a lot of my favorite releases came from an extended indie family (I’m fairly sure that Leslie Feist has dated, toured with or lived with almost every one), and more surprisingly, not a single hip-hop or electronic artist made my list this year. With the advent of iTunes, I feel like music has returned to a singles-based model, but was pleasantly surprised to find more true albums (not collections of random songs) come out in ‘07. Without further ado, here are my picks for the best of 2007: |
