05 Dec 2012
Guys, I don’t know if you knew this, but it’s list season! Yayy! And also, boo!
Lists are fun, but they’re also a drag too because people like to say things like, “What, no (insert moderately appealing, but mostly boring indie band here)? This list is irrelevant!” and those kinds of comments are the worst!
Anyway, speaking of things that are the worst: Rolling Stone Magazine released their Top 50 Grandpas Albums of 2012 list.
Listen, I like senior citizens. I’m totally cool with old guys releasing music. Hell, Levon Helm’s Ramble At The Ryman is one of my favorite albums of 2011 and Neil young’s Le Noise is one of my favorite albums from 2010. But Rolling Stone couldn’t possibly be more strident in their undying devotion to a lot of these old dudes. You’ve got Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Donald Fagan(!!!), Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Cliff, Leonard Cohen, Dr. John and Bobby Womack (better luck next year, Bill Fay). You also get a second wave of old dudes like Green Day (really guys, !Uno!?), The Dave Matthews Band (over/under on how many other publications will put Dave Matthews on their year end list: 0.5. I’ll take the under), Smashing Pumpkins and Nas. Now some of these people released great work this year and it takes a boomer magazine like Rolling Stone to give them their due because you know the Pitchforks of the world have a pretty narrow quota on who gets to make it on their list from the over 50 set.
But then you get to the top spot: The Boss. For people who’ve been reading Rolling Stone for the past, oh I don’t know, 40 years, this is like an act of self-parody. Of course Springsteen takes top honors. He is the lifeblood for that generation. He is the eternal Rolling Stone cover boy. Nothing else is happening in Rolling Stone‘s purview when Brooooooooooooooce is out there grunting and sweating and sharing a mic with little Stevie. Seriously, it’s like Bruce Springsteen is the only artist that exists to Rolling Stone – and they’re called ROLLING STONE, fer cyrin’ out loud.
Anyway, nice to see Japandroids, Killer Mike, Cloud Nothings and Dirty Projectors worm their way into the Baby Boomer parade. Also, I’m happy someone’s throwing that Passion Pit record a bone. It feels like people really jumped off the bandwagon with them. Gossamer is tight.
Here’s the list:
01 Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
02 Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
03 Jack White – Blunderbuss
04 Bob Dylan – Tempest
05 Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…
06 Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city
07 Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Here
08 Green Day – !Uno!
09 Japandroids – Celebration Rock
10 Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill
11 Mumford & Sons – Babel
12 Jimmy Cliff – Rebirth
13 Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
14 Best Coast – The Only Place
15 Dr. John – Locked Down
16 Cat Power – Sun
17 John Mayer – Born and Raised
18 Nas – Life is Good
19 Band Of Horses – Mirage Rock
20 Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
21 Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
22 Bonnie Raitt – Slipstream
23 Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
24 G.O.O.D. Music – Cruel Summer
25 Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos
26 Django Django – Django Django
27 Gary Clark Jr. – Blak and Blu
28 Beach House – Bloom
29 Dave Matthews Band – Away From the World
30 Azealia Banks – 1991
31 Taylor Swift – Red
32 Hospitality – Hospitality
33 Grimes – Visions
34 Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
35 Grizzly Bear – Shields
36 Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man in the Universe
37 Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
38 Titus Andronicus – Local Business
39 Passion Pit – Gossamer
40 Escort – Escort
41 The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter
42 Allo Darlin’ – Europe
43 fun. – Some Nights
44 Garbage – Not Your Kind of People
45 Rick Ross – Rich Forever
46 Muse – The 2nd Law
47 Todd Snider – Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables
48 The Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania
49 Amadou And Mariam – Folila
50 Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
