Looking At 2007 (So Far) From The Chat-Room Perspective

July 2 is the official midpoint of the 365-day year, with 182 days passed, and 182 days to follow. With that fact in mind, your guest editor decided to try to discover the best music of the year so far. Any rock critic hack can look through the Metacritic top-rated list,Pitchfork‘s Best New Music list of the year, or the popularity gauges supplied by Billboard and iTunes. But the voice of the people is not always heard, so I took my mission to where the most dedicated music fans can be found–the chat rooms of meebo.com:

(Identifying chat nicknames altered and “ASL” requests removed. Also, the MIMS and T-Pain chat rooms were visited as part of this survey, but the content was unpostable, even here.)

First stop, the official chat room of A Fine Frenzy, a.k.a. Tori Amos 2.0:

idolatordan: i’m writing for a music website, and i’m trying to get some opinions about the best music of the year so far. anyone have anything to say? xxxx34: i would say it has to be t-pain idolatordan: anything in particular by t-pain? favorite song?

[silence]

idolatordan: anyone else have a favorite CD from this year? guest2134: ANY GIRL WANA HAVE FUN WITH A 25 M ON CAM OR VOICE, FEEL FREE TO PM guest3231: i dont want to chat with a ugly girl guest9767: not a cd, but i’ll take a vote for rock, and hiphop idolatordan: any band or rapper in particular? guest9767: not really

Next up, the official chat room of Christian pop-punks Relient K:

guest8870: linkin park idolatordan: their new one is your favorite this year? guest8870: their last album has been my fav so far

guest3498: my opinion is, i dont like the hip-hop, rap music this year. the lyrics are trashier then ever, the music videos are terrible to watch. idolatordan: sure, i can understand that. is there anything you’ve liked? guest3498: well, im into alot of Christian rock/screamo bands such as Demon Hunter, Project 86, Disciple, Skillet, alot of those, and I really like them. disciple came out with a great album, Skillet also. idolatordan: which one would you say is your favorite, if i might ask? guest3498: hmm..well, thats a tough one, but I’d have to say Disciple comes out as my favorite. idolatordan: did you happen to hear any of these bands this year? arcade fire, the field, the national or lcd soundsystem? guest3498: umm afraid not. idolatordan: not a problem. just wondering. thanks for your help!

Finally, the “Arcade Fire fans” chat room:

idolatordan: I’m a writer for a music website, and i’m trying to get some opinions about the year in music so far.

[silence] idolatordan: anyone here? idolatordan: anyone?

[silence]

Chat Rooms [Meebo.com]