“Entertainment Weekly” Decides To Celebrate The Holiday Season By Writing About Music
Music coverage has been rather light in the post-David Browne era at Entertainment Weekly, to say the least. To be frank, their non-celebrity music coverage is moribund at best, usually gathering as much print space as the stage section does. It almost feels like an afterthought. Heck, I wasn’t even sure who they’d tap to come up with the mag’s 2008 year-end lists, but Leah Greenblatt and Chris Willman answered the call with Ten Best Albums and Five Worst Albums lists, and the mag threw in a list of singles for good measure. (I’ve always liked the fact that EW publishes worst lists, even though the criteria for “worst” often seems more ephemeral, cross-referencing expectations with actual quality. I think that’s an OK measure of “worst” as far as it goes, but I’ve never as intrigued by the music worsts as I am by the movie or book picks.) TV On The Radio’s Dear Science tops Greenblatt’s list, while The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive tops Willman’s; complete rundowns after the jump.
THE GOOD: These are easily some of the most diverse lists you’ll see out there. Why, Greenblatt’s best and worst lists are almost half female and half African-American! I love “Live Your Life,” and I’m glad to see it on here. Also good to see Q-Tip and Erykah Badu representing, although I won’t hold my breath for the hat-tips to translate into sales. THE BAD: About that No. 1 single. Does anybody really think that “Love in This Club” was the No. 1 song of the year, chart prowess aside? I sure don’t. Also, I’m not a Fleet Foxes hater like some around here, but “White Winter Hymnal” has never struck me as much of a “single.” And speaking of singles, I think that MGMT record is a good pair of them. Overall, I’m not one to really say someone should or shouldn’t be on these lists, but I do think it’s funny that Dave Sitek appears in the best (Dear Science tops Greenblatt’s list) and worst (Scarlett Johansson’s Anywhere I Lay My Head tops Willman’s list) sections. THE WHAAA?: This has more to do with EW.com than anything. I get so tired of them burying their content in gallisticles [tm], those slow-operating gallery-based listicles that bring them crazy page views but bring me nothing but endless frustration. I hate them so much and it seems like they make up half of EW.com’s content these days. Gross.
Leah Greenblatt: BEST 1. TV on the Radio, Dear Science 2. Beyoncé, I Am…Sasha Fierce 3. Santogold, Santogold 4. Robyn, Robyn 5. Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Pt. One (4th World War) 6. Coldplay, Viva La Vida 7. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular 8. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago 9. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III 10. Sigur Rós, Med sud í eryum vid spilum endalaust
WORST 1. Janet Jackson, Discipline 2. Duffy, Rockferry 3. Shwayze, Shwayze 4. Vanessa Hudgens, Identified 5. Terrence Howard, Shine Through It
Chris Willman: BEST 1. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive 2. Robyn, Robyn 3. Bob Dylan, Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series No. 8 4. Mudcrutch, Mudcrutch 5. Q-Tip, The Renaissance 6. Lee Ann Womack, Call Me Crazy 7. Coldplay, Viva La Vida 8. Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer 9. Sheryl Crow, Detours 10. TV on the Radio, Dear Science
WORST 1. Scarlett Johansson, Anywhere I Lay My Head 2. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy 3. Mamma Mia! Soundtrack 4. Panic at the Disco, Pretty. Odd. 5. Pussycat Dolls, Doll Domination
Singles (Leah Greenblatt and Simon Vozick-Levinson): BEST 1. Usher feat. Young Jeezy, ”Love in This Club” 2. Hercules and Love Affair, ”Blind” 3. M.I.A., ”Paper Planes” 4. Leona Lewis, ”Better in Time” 5. Fleet Foxes, ”White Winter Hymnal” 6. Estelle feat. Kanye West, ”American Boy” 7. Pink, ”So What” 8. Lykke Li, ”I’m Good, I’m Gone” 9. Ashton Shepherd, ”Sounds So Good” 10. T.I. feat. Rihanna, ”Live Your Life”
WORST 1. Framing Hanley, ”Lollipop” 2. Busta Rhymes feat. Ron Browz, ”Arab Money” 3. Saving Abel, ”Addicted” 4. James Taylor, ”Hound Dog” 5. Jason Aldean, ”She’s Country”
