10. White Stripes "Elephant"
9. Jack Johnson "On and On"
8. Johnny Cash "American IV: The Man Comes Around" (LATE LATE LATE 2002)
7. Audioslave "Audioslave"
6. Outkast "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below"
5. Michelle Branch "Hotel Paper"
4. Bob Marley & the Wailers "Live at the Roxy May 26, 1976"
3. Jane's Addiction "Strays"
2. Radiohead "Hail to the Thief"
&
1. Evanescence "Fallen"

It may be Emo, but "The All American Rejects" is a good CD. Same w/ Evanescence and the new Finger Eleven

"Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" was the only album that really did it for me. Everything else was either "meh", "bleah", or worse. Though I wouldn't have minded listening to Audioslave...

show offs

If those were the best 10 albums of the year, then that should tell us something about the overall quality of 'music' being cranked out these days.

Some random thoughts:

1) I work in radio, so I feel qualified to say this: Depending on the radio anymore to let you know what's good out there is like depending on the UN to help you wage a war in Iraq. (teehee, THAT ought to get em riled up!)

2) I try not to engage in arguments about what's good/bad/indifferent, because the bottom line is it either makes you shake your booty, or moves something in you, or it doesn't.

3) I am impressed with Farkers ecclectic taste in music and may print out some of the more rock-oriented stuff and check it out on the Internet.

4) If you are complaining that there is no good music out there, YOU ARE NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH TO LOOK FOR IT (see #1)! Go to the Internet, Kazaa, satellite radio, there's BOUND to be something out there for you!

5)Finally, my nominations (off the top of my head):
-- The Strokes, Room On Fire
-- Blink 182 (self-titled). Seriously, this album will suprise you!
-- Jet, Get Born

I would also like to check into "Hail to the Thief" and the Kings of Leon, but you know the story, so much music, so little cash.

They got #1 right. I don't give a crap/never heard of the rest.

Beatles - let it be naked
The new steve miller greatest hits

Strapping Young Lad - SYL
Tomahawk - Mit Gas
Superjoint Ritual - A Lethal Dose of American Hatred
Mondo Generator - A Drug Problem That Never Existed
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes for Cash

there are more that i want, but i am po, and i hate the riaa. but some music is too good to pass up. i hope the artists get their 15 cents out of that 15 bucks i spent.

Everytime you burn a CD, the RIAA kills a kitten.

The only two good albums I bought this year were:

Zwan - Mary, Star of the Sea
NOFX - The War on Errorism

The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers

I have only bought 2 CDs this year.

1. Adelayda - Room To Breath which was an absolutely great local band . They could loose all the flash crap on their website, but not that many complaints.

2. Live in the X-Lounge 6 - An acoustic CD produced by a local radio station, WRAX, of popular bands who decides to donate their time to do songs for this CD. All the profits from the CD goes to charity.

Besides that, absolute crap has been put out this year for the most part.

I have only bought 2 CDs this year.

1. Adelayda - Room To Breath which was an absolutely great CD by a local band Adelayda's Website. They could loose all the flash crap on their website, but not that many complaints.

2. Live in the X-Lounge 6 - An acoustic CD produced by a local radio station, WRAX of popular alternative bands who decides to donate their time to do songs for this CD. All the profits from the CD goes to charity.

Besides that, absolute crap has been put out this year for the most part.

/forgot to close the tags; havent slept yet tonight

Almost forgot, D4 6Twenty

Tomahawk-Mit Gas

Let's see...I purchased maybe one CD this year, and that's only because Target had the White Stripes "Elephant" for 10 bucks. I like them, so sue me. The only other two albums I enjoyed was Radiohead's "Hail to the Thief" and my favorite for this year - The New Pornographers' "Electric Version." Extremely catchy songs.

Other opinions/observations:

I can't see what everyone loves about Outkast. I tried to like them, I really did. I'd rather listen to old school Motown, thanks.

The Strokes new album sounds like a retread of their debut album.

The Darkness - I can't take them seriously. I guess I'm not supposed to?

Haven't checked out Ryan Adams' "Love is Hell" EPs yet, although I want to, because a bleak Ryan is a good Ryan.

/also an alt-country fan

This was "too mainstream" on that other forum I post on, but I bet you nobody will have heard of half the bands on my list here:

1. The Postal Service - Give Up
2. Damien Rice - O
3. Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
4. The Decemberists - Her Magesty
5. The Jayhawks - Rainy Day Music
6. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
7. Iron & Wine - The Sea & The Rhythm EP
8. Death Cab for Cutie - Translanticism
9. Grandaddy - Sumday
10. The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium
11. The Stills - Logic will Break Your Heart
12. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
13. Kathleen Edwards - Failer
14. Ryan Adams - Rock & Roll
15. Guster - Keep it Together
16. The White Stripes - Elephant
17. Steve Burns - Songs for Dust Mites
18. Travis - 12 Memories
19. Kenna - New Sacred Cow
20. Junior Senior - D-d-Don't Don't Stop The Beat

The Postal Service is a great group and their album is by far the one I've listened to most this year.

Also, I can't believe that this list linked has Nelly Furtado on it. She's crap crap crap.

John Mayer belongs nowhere near a year-end list either.

Radiohead does, but not #3.

The rest of the list is at least somewhat agreeable and understandable to me.

WAIT: Ryan Adams hopelessly overrated?! Bullocks. More like John Mayer and Nelly Furtado. This person's list is far too mainstream and dance-oriented.

10? Let's see, in no particular order:

Dropkick Murphys - Blackout
Linkin Park - Meteora
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Take a Break
Offspring - Splinter
Jedi Mind Tricks - Visions of Ghandi

Well, it seems that 5 is all that comes to mind. Nonetheless, a year where all of these bands release good albums is good enough for me.


Oh, and most Disappointing?

Rancid - Indestructable... I almost cried.

definitely agree with VeggieGuy, it didn't get much better this year than The Postal Service. steal it if you have to.

Bought only 3 'New' cd's this year:

Johnny Cash American IV
Audioslave
'Kill Bill' soundtrack.

Can't think of anything else worth buying.

In addition to lots of great albums already listed, I'd like to add Josh Kelley's "For The Ride Home."

I just want to throw out the shins - chutes too narrow, no one mentioned it yet, there was plenty of good music put out this year if you actually cared to look for more than 5 minutes.

facts: I've been listening to that a bit. For some reason it's not picking up for me yet as a "holy crap, this is good" work.. Guess I need to keep listening.

Also, I imagine the Johnny Cash box set would be in my top 5 if I had actually heard it yet. I'm not ashamed to say I cried when the man died -- American Recordings (the first one), Uncle Tupelo's "Still Feel Gone", The Jayhawks' "Tomorrow the Green Grass" and Whiskeytown's "Faithless Street" were revelations for me and have influenced my own music.

What My_Velouria and DecepticonScourge said. BNL are the only musicians out there that I pay money to listen to.

Actually, rare to even use the term "musician" with so much of the crap that's out there. Running your mouth while your drum box blasts through a sub-woofer isn't music.

There are too many people that want to be this guy in this thread...





/your favorite band sucks

Sevendust and A Perfect Circle put out some decent stuff this year.

The first nine...

Grandaddy-"Sumday"
Lifeguards-"Mist King Urth"
Super Furry Animals-"Phantom Power"
Grandpaboy-"Dead Man Shake"
The Sailors-"Turning the Other Cheek"
Guided by Voices-"Earthquake Glue"
The Polyphonic Spree's album, but I can't remember the title.
Fountains of Wayne-"Welcome Interstate Managers"
The New Pornographers-"The Electric Version"

and number one....
The self-titled EP by The Touched, an insane 6-song terror ride by 4 youths who DIDN'T have a rich dad to start their careers. OK, it's the band I drum for, but who else am I supposed to promote? Like the music business isn't self-serving and whorish?

This year we saw three of the greatest cd's of all time and one of the worst:

good: Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Black Label Society
hella bad: Metallica

Other than that, it was basically the Year of the Dork. Too many whiny little nerds with bad hair and bad clothes whining about how dorky they are. Why are these people getting signed instead of getting wedgies??

btw I know all the bands veggieguy listed and they're all part of the aforementioned dork revolution.

I second Death Cab, Muse, Postal Service, Stephen Malkmus, etc. But more importantly:

The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site: great music, great live shows, and I'm not just saying that cuz I'm from Winnipeg

The Twilight Singers - Blackberry Belle: Greg Dulli, formerly of the Afghan Whigs, still makes me swoom

Also worth listening to are The Unicorns, Hot Hot Heat, Boards of Canada, the new Belle and Sebastian, and the new Guided by Voices.

Lets see if I can remember the cd's I got this year.

Breaking Benjamin - Saturate
Evanescence - Fallen
Unloco - Becoming i
Lacuna Coil - Comalies
Graver's Paradise
Metropolis 2002 Compilation cd
Limp Bizkit - Results May Vary
Orgy - Candyass
Rammstein - Sehnsucht
Deadsy - Commencement


Breaking Ben is definately my new favorite band. I can't wait for their second album and for them to go on tour again.

Best of 2003........Outkast by a mile.


All of you "I only listen to Indie music" folks can suck it. I am tired of your whining. This is not 1988 and Indie music is not a lifestyle choice.....it is farking music, and mostly bad music. The reason it is released in Independant lasels is because it is not good enough for a sweping audience. The fact that nobody has heard of a band does not make them good.

Also, Radiohead one day will make a statement..."We fooled you all, we were trying to make wanna-be alternatie fools think we were making something great and we were just making crap....We got rich as Midas in the time-being and you are all idiots. I am going for a stroll in my drive through humidor....get off my lawn."

* that should be "swoon" - i'm typing this in the dark

/me gives a shout out to all the indie rock hipster farkers and farkettes!

CRAP!! I forgot one!!! Sloan's "Action Pact!" Great, rockin' fun album from north of the border. The sound's so good, you'll forgive Canada for Nickelback. And Barenaked Ladies. And Our Lady Peace. And The Tragically Hip. And Bryan Adams. And Celine Dion. And, okay, everything that happened after Neil Young.

I think it may have come out last year but the Audioslave album kicks arse. Rock On!

My top 10, with reasons (it's quite long).

10. Grandaddy - Sumday
09. Strokes - Room on Fire
08. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
07. British Sea Power - The Decline Of British Sea Power
06. Fog - Ether Teeth
05. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan...
04. Cat Power - You Are Free
03. Damien Rice - O
02. Daniel Johnston - Fear Yourself
01. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

I am have a bunch of others but these are all I can think of right now.

Ween - "Quebec"
The Disco Biscuits - "TranceFusionRadio" (1, 2, and 3)
The New Deal - "Going, Going, Gone"

I downloaded everything this year, which wasn't much. I will carry on the tradition next year too.
FARK the RIAA!

Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance

The top of my list has to be Sleep's 'Dopesmoker'. Sure it was recorded a long time ago by a band that doesn't exist anymore, but this is the first time it was released with the right mix, and no edits. It was originally released as Jerusalem, in a shorter and badly mixed form.

All I can say is they were the only band that could make a song over an hour long, use only 5 riffs and get away with it. Its the single heaviest album since Black Sabbaths first album.

the people saying there was no good music released this year just aren't trying hard enough, dammit. i acquired over 200 albums this year. sure, some weren't so hot, but plenty of them were nothing short of amazing. you just have to go beyond the radio and mtv. they don't play music. they play advertisements. here are a few 2003 releases that i think are essential:

jan jelinek and the exposures-la nouvelle pauvrete
basement jaxx-kish kash
stereolab-instant 0 in the universe ep
prefuse 73-onewordextinguisher/extinguished ep
jaga jazzist-the stix
notwist-neon golden
my morning jacket-it still moves
the rapture-echoes
manitoba-up in flames
high llamas-beet, maize & corn
ellen allien-berlinette
galleon-so i begin
broadcast-haha sound
outkast-speakerboxx/the love below
fourtet-rounds
the shins-chutes too narrow
the strokes-room on fire
m83-dead cities, red seas and lost ghosts

CRAP!! I forgot one!!! Sloan's "Action Pact!" Great, rockin' fun album from north of the border. The sound's so good, you'll forgive Canada for Nickelback. And Barenaked Ladies. And Our Lady Peace. And The Tragically Hip. And Bryan Adams. And Celine Dion. And, okay, everything that happened after Neil Young.

My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

MMJ rules. There aren't many albums I come across where I enjoy every song.

Anthrax: We've come for you all
Overkill: Killbox 13
Iron Maiden: Dance of Death

Tentative list since there are a couple albums I still need to check out, but:

1. Haujobb - Vertical Theory
2. Dave Gahan - Paper Monsters
3. Front 242 - Pulse
4. Massive Attack - 100th Window
5. ThouShaltNot - The White Beyond
6. Statemachine - Short and Explosive
7. OSI - Office of Strategic Influence
8. Wolfsheim - Casting Shadows
9. Opeth - Damnation
10. Melotron - Sternenstaub

in no particular order-
Ween
The Books
The Shins
Radiohead
Broken Social Scene
Dropkick Murphys
Kings of Leon
Pinback (EP)
Lost In Translation ST

Right on Gooch. Anthrax and Iron Maiden really put out some of the best music they have done in a while this year. can't say I've heard Killbox 13 yet, but I am a longtime fan of Overkill. I must have seen them live over 20 times, and every show was great.

Ben Harper - Diamonds on the Inside