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In case you've never heard me talk about this before, I despise "best of" lists. They are the height of arrogance & insecurity, & it's breathtaking how many people cede their own opinions to whatever authority they deem reliable & trustworthy. It makes sense - you want to believe that what you like is the "best" - why else would you like it? When there's something you like that one of those authorities doesn't like but you enjoy, you call it a "guilty pleasure." But the truth is, there is no objective "best" when it comes to things like an opinion. If you enjoy it, it's good, by definition. If you like it best, it's the best. But somehow imagining that that imparts on it a universal quality is foolish at best & pathetic at worst.
So too these "best of" lists come across as pretentious at best & ludicrous at worst. Imagine thinking that in any given year, with everything that is created, you can decide what's "best" when you may not enjoy a particular genre of music or when you cannot possibly have listened to more than a fraction of what's been released. Even if it's a magazine or website that has its own genre critics, & the list is somehow made democratically (because opinion is democratic?), the result is a mishmash that the contributors themselves don't really agree on.
So too these "best of" lists come across as pretentious at best & ludicrous at worst. Imagine thinking that in any given year, with everything that is created, you can decide what's "best" when you may not enjoy a particular genre of music or when you cannot possibly have listened to more than a fraction of what's been released. Even if it's a magazine or website that has its own genre critics, & the list is somehow made democratically (because opinion is democratic?), the result is a mishmash that the contributors themselves don't really agree on.
Just tell us your favorites. Don't pretend you know what's best. You don't. You know what you consider the best. That doesn't make it the best for me. Or even for the majority of people.
On Twitter recently, after Peter Jackson's Let It Be remake came out, there were thousands if not millions of posters who gave their unsolicited opinions (it's Twitter after all) about the Beatles, especially the ones who desperately needed whoever scrolled past to know that they hated the band. One person wrote with a sniff, "Let me know when there's a seven hour documentary about the Monkees." This person did not like the band that a majority - a vast majority - of music critics would call the greatest band in the world. The best band in the history of rock & roll. To me, the fact that just one person dislikes something automatically means it's not the best. How can it be? You have to start qualifying it - "best among top critics" or "best among fans" - but it just proves my point: it's just a popular opinion. I find it odious that one needs to pretend it's universal & objective.
Which is my way of telling you, tonight on Self Help Radio, there's no "best of" 2021. There's just lots of music I liked this year. & I probably listened to a lot more new music than the average person did in 2021, but I also didn't listen to a lot of music in genres I don't really care for. I would imagine those people would be very irritated if I called my list "best" & what they liked best didn't make it.
This has gone on too long but I also want to say that my list is far from comprehensive. I still have several dozen albums I really need to listen to. There's a good chance that many of those would make this list of mine. My apologies. Especially to me. Apologies to myself! I am totally missing out.
Tonight on 90.7 fm KBOO Portland, also on kboo.fm, from midnight to 3am, some - most? - of my favorite music of 2021. I wish you had a radio show so you could share what you liked best. As long as you didn't lie to the world & tell us it was the "best of the year."
On Twitter recently, after Peter Jackson's Let It Be remake came out, there were thousands if not millions of posters who gave their unsolicited opinions (it's Twitter after all) about the Beatles, especially the ones who desperately needed whoever scrolled past to know that they hated the band. One person wrote with a sniff, "Let me know when there's a seven hour documentary about the Monkees." This person did not like the band that a majority - a vast majority - of music critics would call the greatest band in the world. The best band in the history of rock & roll. To me, the fact that just one person dislikes something automatically means it's not the best. How can it be? You have to start qualifying it - "best among top critics" or "best among fans" - but it just proves my point: it's just a popular opinion. I find it odious that one needs to pretend it's universal & objective.
Which is my way of telling you, tonight on Self Help Radio, there's no "best of" 2021. There's just lots of music I liked this year. & I probably listened to a lot more new music than the average person did in 2021, but I also didn't listen to a lot of music in genres I don't really care for. I would imagine those people would be very irritated if I called my list "best" & what they liked best didn't make it.
This has gone on too long but I also want to say that my list is far from comprehensive. I still have several dozen albums I really need to listen to. There's a good chance that many of those would make this list of mine. My apologies. Especially to me. Apologies to myself! I am totally missing out.
Tonight on 90.7 fm KBOO Portland, also on kboo.fm, from midnight to 3am, some - most? - of my favorite music of 2021. I wish you had a radio show so you could share what you liked best. As long as you didn't lie to the world & tell us it was the "best of the year."
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