#28: Rolling Stone: Best Albums of 2009

Mmm-kay.

In the name of transparency and continued sharing, here are two more year’s-end lists from Rolling Stone: the top 25 albums of 2009 as decided by the magazine, and the top 10 as chosen by their readers.

Eddie’s reflections to follow.

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Best Albums of 2009, as “chosen” by Rolling Stone magazine:

{asterisks denote Rock Band qualification}

1 | U2: No Line on the Horizon*

2 | Bruce Springsteen: Working on a Dream*

3 | Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix*

4 | Jay-Z: The Blueprint 3

5 | Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown*

6 | Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca*

7 | Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

8 | The-Dream: Love vs Money

9 | The xx: The xx*

10 | Sonic Youth: The Eternal*

11 | Mastodon: Crack the Skye*

12 | Drake: So Far Gone Mixtape

13 | Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion*

14 | Girls: Album*

15 | Wilco: Wilco (The Album)*

16 | Mos Def: The Ecstatic

17 | Bob Dylan: Together Through Life

18 | Bat For Lashes: Two Suns

19 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz!*

20 | Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest*

21 | Franz Ferdinand: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand*

22 | Levon Helm: Electric Dirt

23 | Monsters of Folk: Monsters of Folk*

24 | Raekwon: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Pt. II

25 | Miranda Lambert: Revolution

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Best Albums of 2009: Rolling Stone Readers’ Poll:

1) Pearl Jam , Backspacer*

2) Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown*

3) Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster

4) U2, No Line on the Horizon*

5) Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion*

6) Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest*

7) Wilco, Wilco (The Album)*

8) Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz!*

9) Bruce Springsteen, Working On a Dream*

10) The Dead Weather, Horehound*

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Some good news here and some bad.

The good:

1)  Almost every album overlaps on both lists, meaning that the magazine and its readers are a shared demographic from an Opinion standpoint.  We can say the most popular/recognizable music magazine in America, and its many readers, are (mostly) unified in their celebration of these (mostly) rock-oriented albums.

2) The magazine has given us a number of lesser known artists to check out: Phoenix (again!), The Dirty Projectors, The xx, Mastodon, and Girls, to go along with celebrated indie-type rockers like Grizzly Bear, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Monsters of Folk.  Get to LALA.com and listen up!

3) The readers give love to PEARL JAM!  All righty!  Not only did Backspacer win the album poll outright, but their lead single, “The Fixer”, won reader’s poll #1 Song of the Year.  On the one hand, that means most people reading Rolling Stone are in their 30s.

On the other, Pearl Jam deserves it. Backspacer is widely acknowledged to be their best album in a decade, and I completely agree.  Track for track, it’s the best you can hope for from Seattle’s best (or at least, Seattle’s Still Alive).

4) Finally, 25 Greatest perennials are again represented with U2, Bruce Springteen (and the still UNCREDITED E Street Band), Green Day, and Wilco all getting nods on both lists.

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The Bad:

1) Rolling Stone the magazine doesn’t have Backspacer in their top 25.  It almost seems like an oversight — the message boards are in conniption fits over the slight, partly because the RS review rates Backspacer higher than many albums on their own list.

The pissery is justified.  Take it from me, an utter Springsteen/Dylan homo: Working on a Dream and especially Together Through Life are not better albums than Backspacer, really by any definition of the word.

Working is The Boss in his comfort zone.  It’s good; it isn’t great.  Worthy of appreciation, not so much adulation.  I don’t mind it on this list — but the #2 album of 2009?  That’s a serious eye-roll, and a typical gash at RS’ credibility.

Dylan’s Together Through Life up there is far more criminal.  I bought it.  Have listened to it maybe twice.  It’s a classic ‘hey neat, aw, who cares’ album.  Jann Wenner and his three 60 year old buddies threw that in as a favor.

2) Just to prove I’m not picking only on those fellas:  I’m a U2 fan, obviously.  I believe in their latest album, obviously.

But the #1 Album of the Year?  Generous, bordering on disconnection.  Sales were lukewarm.  There wasn’t one hit single.  Many critics loved it, but many more are tired of the U2 love-train and just aren’t on board.

I believe it’s their best since Achtung Baby.  Which SHOULD make it the best album of the year.  But realistically:

Putting U2 and Bruce at the tippy top is the kind of old-school buddy buddy shit that makes the next generation bolt for the door.  It makes people angry; it makes them hate on U2 and The Boss.  Which is just a bummer.

Come on, guys.  There’s justified praise, and then there’s overdoing it and looking tin-eared.  Show a little balance.

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All in all?

I like the reader’s Top 10 over the magazine’s Top 10!

Not usually my reaction to these things; their list just smells better.

That said, the overall scope of the magazine’s rankings take care of many underdogs, many new acts, and a fantastic overview of who’s making noise in the recent world of popular rock.

And if it brings U2 and Bruce to a handful of new listeners?

That’s not so bad, really.

They sure don’t fucking suck.

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This is Eddie Varese, telling you to go to Lala.com and play a new album.

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