Better Late Than Never: The Year In Music 2001
Jan 29 '02
The Bottom Line Thank God that it's over. We'll rejoice if 2002 is half as bad.
2001 was a year where tragedy unfortunately ruled in more than one sense of the word. And no, George Bush’s inauguration was not such an event. Fresh, innovative sounds were as prevalent as booze in Amish country, or trash on the streets of Toronto. Which means in essence, that they did exist, you just never saw them. It was quite ironic in such a vacuous annum for music that the most appropriate line came from the band that the hype machine couldn’t help groping to death, The Strokes, in their initial single, “Last Nite”: ”People, they don’t understand…” There is no doubt that, like any other money-making venture, that the music industry is a business. But very rarely in the annals of modern industrial history has a single industry preyed on the weaknesses of its’ target audience, as the music industry did in 2001 through the production of consistently mediocre, lukewarm material. Worthy albums did exist, but to find them it took someone with the sharp investigative talents of a Remington Steele or Chief Wiggum to unearth such deserving talent. Thank God I fall somewhere in between.
TOP SOLO ARTISTS
Pete Yorn
Bob Dylan
Ryan Adams
John Hiatt
John Mayer
For the first time in any year since 1997 (ironically the last year Dylan released a new album; James Taylor won the Grammy for best Pop album that year), singer/songwriter types put a dent into the latest fad, this time delivering a well-deserved shiner to those who caused them to barely tread water in the last half-decade, the radio-friendly pop outfits who multiplied like mosquitoes in a swamp once Britney Spears gave the world a peek at her lusty navel. The years worthy solo material lied in an intriguing, diverse group of youngbloods and grizzly legends whose music may have differed stylistically (though not drastically), but displayed a zeal and vigor so defined in their music that their intent was obvious: to kidnap Lou Pearlman.
Pete Yorn stepped out as one of the year’s prime new talents, an uber-talented poster boy who we had jammed down our throats until we figured out that the hype machine actually got one right. John Mayer probably deserved just as much press as Yorn did, but his guitar-soaked debut, Room For Squares, went unduly overlooked. John Hiatt returned to old form with the help of his old backing band, The Goners; The Tiki Bar Is Open might be his best record in over a decade. Ryan Adams caught a lucky but unfortunate break; his single “New York, New York” was transformed into a makeshift anthem after the events of 9/11, though naturally the songs content was in no relation to the tragedy, merely his own. Amongst all that, the stunner of the year belonged to Bob Dylan, whose Love and Theft record not only wreaked of happy vibes, qualifying it as Dylan’s most upbeat album in years, making it listenable to legions of people who normally wouldn’t touch a Dylan album at gunpoint, but also one of Dylan’s best within a catalog stocked with must-haves.
TOP GROUPS
The Beatles
U2
Radiohead
The Strokes
P.O.D.
If general trends were not evident in the weekly Billboard charts, one would be able to perceive the lack of industry disparity through the fact that one of the year’s best-selling albums by a group came from a band that split 32 years ago, and that currently would feature only half of its’ original lineup, due to the ravaging effects of cancer and mentally unstable assassin types. The Beatles sold just short of 3 million copies of their “1” disc in 2001, finishing between the likes of Britney Spears and Usher (who let him in?) in terms of units sold, and fifth amongst groups that play their own instruments. The Strokes would have won in any other recent year by default, by virtue of the fact that their sound is only derivative of a sound that nobody else bothered to rip off yet, but U2, though they didn’t officially release their album in 2001, rode the momentum of one insanely successful single, at least two other modestly successful ones, and a colossal tour that marked their return to the spotlight and the form that made them famous in the first place, back to the peak of the rock world.
TOP SINGLES
”Elevation” - U2
”Alive” - P.O.D.
”New York, New York” - Ryan Adams
”Untitled” - Smashing Pumpkins
”Camera One” - Josh Joplin Group
SPECIAL MENTION
”What Is Life” - George Harrison
”City Of Ruin” - Bruce Springsteen
Makeshift anthems were the name of the game following September 11th, and they came in all shapes and sizes. Springsteen’s performance of City Of Ruin at “The Tribute To Heroes” telethon may have been the most somber, eminently human moment following 9/11, a moment that silenced the good part of an entire nation, and Harrison’s What Is Life become a double paradox to many on the event of Harrison’s death in December.
Those in the know knew of Ryan Adams far before New York or his new album, Gold, was released, looking back to his tumultuous days with alt-country rockers Whiskeytown, or even his stellar debut, Heartbreaker. His video for New York was rightfully kept intact as a keepsake for the New York City we knew before the tragedy. P.O.D. took an unusual route to their fame, emerging from a Christian scene that suffers from a vicious musical double standard, through a style made popular by bands less famous for their nobility and chivalry than their rudimentary actions. Alive became the anthem for the resilient, and since you could mosh to it, the kiddies dug it too. My sleeper winner in this category, though, is the Smashing Pumpkins last hurrah, Untitled, a song that qualifies under the criteria due to the fact that it didn’t see an official release until the bands’ greatest hits package came out in November. Untitled was a blast of unbridled energy, a four minute respite that reminded us of all that was good about the Smashing Pumpkins, even as they began to fade under the weight of a stampede of pre-adolescent girls, ones that obviously weren’t there to see them.
TOP ALBUMS
The Lillywhite Sessions - Dave Matthews Band
Love and Theft - Bob Dylan
”The Green Album” - Weezer
Morning View - Incubus
The Tiki Bar Is Open - John Hiatt
The year’s second best album was one that never even made it to store shelves, one whose place was taken by an inferior replacement, though sales didn’t reflect it. In stark contrast to its’ “replacement” Everyday, The Lillywhite Sessions (reportedly being brushed up for an official 2002 release after being sprung on the Internet) was a dark, mopey album full of semi-literate drunks, broken relationships, and a general disdain for all that sucks. Infinitely more accomplished and musical than Everyday, Lillywhite was shelved because RCA didn’t like the album’s tone, but I wonder, would fans have not bought the album just for that simple reason? It is Dave Matthews after all, the Billy Graham to many a drunken frat boy across this nation. Call me the town skeptic, but the album would have sold regardless; it was either completely ingenious or completely shallow on RCA’s part. If it does get released formally, RCA will be singing all the way to the bank.
2001 found Weezer and John Hiatt jumping back into the fray with stellar outings, and Incubus splitting from the formula, making a distinctly new record, rather than “Make Yourself Again.” But it was good old Mr. Zimmerman who really dropped the bomb on us. Love and Theft was an inspired concoction of old-time blues, rockabilly, country, and even a little swing, as evidenced by one of its’ best cuts, “Summer Days.” A revelation from front to back, it showed us all that Bobby D has plenty left in his tank.
TIME’S UP (aka the “Quit Wasting My Time Already” Award)…
Kid Rock
Mariah Carey
Lenny Kravitz
Live
Courtney Love
Michael Jackson
Mariah makes the list through the tireless efforts of the gossip parade, who revamped and reiterated the story of her rabidly uninteresting “personal collapse” to the point of absurdity. Shows like Entertainment Tonight and Extra should be indebted to her, because her story managed to pay off both show’s hefty catering bills for the weeks during the incident. Live also managed to release a tepid fifth album, which suffered from a lack of inspiration all the way down to the title itself. I guess lead singer Ed Kowalczyk wasn’t having much luck with his meditation. And in the meantime, he forgot to get a haircut. Lenny Kravitz also released a wickedly dull album in 2001, one that featured a lead single that owed just as much to Mick Jagger than to Lenny for being completely vapid and lifeless. Throw us a bone, buddy. (And extra thanks to Lenny for helping Mick make THE SAME SONG on his album.)
Kid Rock didn’t seem to be interested in showing us any of his vast musical talents on his new album, Cocky; the only thing he did seem interested in was finding out how many times he could name-drop himself and pat himself on the back at the same time. Once again, Courtney Love put on another brain-numbing exposition when she sued former Nirvana band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic for attempting to put a greatest hits package. Grohl and Novoselic rightfully countersued her just for being blonde. This year’s Mr. Stultifying goes hands down to the Freak of the Nation himself (or itself), Michael Jackson, who is now so translucent that Glidden is licensing out the rights to rename the off-white shade of their paint after him. Go away. Just please, go away. We already have enough disturbed people on television with Tom Green occupying the airwaves.
THE “YOU SHOULD KNOW MORE ABOUT ME” or “MORE PLEASE NOW” AWARD…
David Mead
Freedy Johnston
David Gray
Michael Penn
Josh Joplin
Three vets are right at the top of this list, Freedy Johnston, Michael Penn, and David Gray, who have released 15 combined albums since 1989, with only a minor blip on the radar screen registering from Penn’s “No Myth” single in ’89 and ’90, until Gray hit it big with White Ladder in 2000. All three are stellar songwriters and performers, though none of the three are exactly alike. Penn, husband to Aimee Mann and brother to Sean Penn, has released four albums of well-orchestrated pop numbers, the most recent of which came in 2000, with his MP4 disc. Johnston has been around since 1990, and since has released six records of workmanlike folk-rock in 11 years. His most recent came in 2001, Right Between The Promises, a fair display of his abilities, but I would start with 1994’s This Perfect World. The most publicized of the three is David Gray, who broke through with the mega-smash Babylon in 2000, after being shunned by numerous record labels throughout his career. Gray’s music is lyrically stunning, and his breakthrough, with the help of celebrity fan Dave Matthews, is nothing short of well-deserved. Former Dylan hanger-on Joan Baez even called him the best lyricist since Dylan himself. That’s some nice company.
The two youngsters in this category, David Mead and Josh Joplin, both share a fondness for the old-school pop song. Joplin came to the forefront with a modest hit, Camera One, a song that could have easily been told as a story had it not been set to music. He references Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan in his music, a good sign that Joplin has his intentions in the right place, and his debut album, Useful Music, shows it. David Mead’s most recent album, 2001’s Mine and Yours, benefited from the knob-twiddling of one of the most underrated producers in the game, Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, who shows a definite talent behind the board outside of his duties as a songwriter and band member. Mead is a performer with a keen sense of the past; he incorporates instrumentations that beckon back to groups of the mid-60’s and 70’s, alongside his strong acoustic prowess and a knack for clever lyrics.
THE “WHO REALLY GIVES A BLOODY RIP” AWARD…
Jennifer Lopez
Aaliyah
System of a Down
Rap in general (Jay-Z vs. Nas, etc.)
MTV
No disrespect whatsoever to the deceased, but what exactly was the big deal with Aaliyah? Her funeral was right up there with the likes of Princess Di, which made me wonder if I had missed something altogether, being the musical snob that I am. To me she sounded like just another pretty voice, one of a parade of vocally talented female R&B stars, but all the publicity surrounding her untimely passing seemed dreadfully blown out of proportion. Like the quote says, “A single death is a tragedy, but a million deaths is a statistic.”
Jennifer Lopez, Hip Hop, and MTV can be thrown in the same boat of credibility, meaning pretty much, that they all have none. Jennifer, along with a slew of other insipid poster children, have become the ruination of MTV, indicating that the once-ballyhooed network for the cutting-edge generation has become nothing more than a vehicle for the whims of record execs who prey on the likes of uneducated teens with money to burn. Even their weak, repeated attempts at original programming have been insulting; The Real World, once the torchbearer for the network, has stooped to the level of utter political correctness. And Hip Hop has disintegrated, at least in the mainstream, into an amalgam of poorly placed party beats and loops of generational soul and R&B hits. It’s current bottom line is, “How much bling can we stick in a video?” The recent tiff between Jay-Z and Nas was nothing short of unqualified hilarity. The credibility that both had, both slim and now fading for the latter, is now officially undeserved. And thanks to System of a Down for making some imaginatively placed noise on their recent album. You had us fooled there for a while.
THE “STOP PLAYING ME NOW AT RISK OF PHYSICAL HARM” AWARD…
Train (“Drops of Jupiter”)
Lifehouse (“Hanging By A Moment”)
Alien Ant Farm (“Smooth Criminal”)
Coldplay (“Yellow”)
Dave Matthews Band (“The Space Between”, and soon to be, “Everyday”)
Staind (anything)
Radio sucks. We all know that. End of discussion.
THE “HANDS DOWN, MOST ANNOYING TREND OF THE YEAR” AWARD…
The presence of so-called “modern rock” hits on pop radio (not that I really listen to any pop radio station to begin with) not only causes them to sound horribly misplaced, but it also jeopardizes the future of music radio by blurring genre-based lines to the point where anything could go in the way of crossovers. Country radio is already thinly veiled as pop music with a twang, and many modern rock stations inadvertently moonlight as part-time rap stations; this latest trend shows a complete disregard for any kind of moderation. God help us all.
MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUM OF 2002
Guster
Weezer
Cracker
Wilco
Another sign that the apocalypse is around the corner, the so-called “greatest band in America,” Wilco, couldn’t even find a single record label to release their new album, after Warner/Reprise threw them out without even giving Jeff Tweedy a farewell cigarette. Nonesuch Records was the first party to step to the plate and take the no-brainer opportunity to release the record, which they will do in April. Cracker reunites in 2002 with a brand new effort, after releasing a greatest hits album that reportedly may have sunk to the bottom of the Dead Sea. And Rivers Cuomo of Weezer decided that it would be a wise idea not to wait five years to release a new album this time, so Rivers and Company are in the studio banging out a new record for release this year, an album that is to “rock harder” than the last one. I guess it’s time to put the lighters away. And finally, the world’s most underrated band, Boston’s Guster, plans to put out their fourth album sometime in 2002, an album that is to find bandmates Ryan, Adam, and Brian getting down with their bad selves. With a few funky time signatures thrown in for good measure.
FOND FAREWELLS
George Harrison
Smashing Pumpkins
Catatonia
Jason Newsted
Everclear
Kirsty MacColl
Rest In Peace, Catatonia and Kirsty MacColl, both of you appeared just in time for me to discover you and then disappear again. You provided us all the initiative that we need to stay away from alcohol and speedboats, respectively. Nice timing, Jason Newsted, your bailing will cause you not to be associated with the complete sellout of the greatest metal band in the last 20 years. Art and the boys from Everclear finally got their message through to us: Bad Families are Bad. We’ll see you down the line. I know the Smashing Pumpkins officially split late in 2000, but the release of their Greatest Hits album caused me to rehash my sorrow. Q101 misses you. Just ask Robert Chase. And last but certainly not least, a farewell and good night to George Harrison; it’s too bad nobody admitted that you were their favorite Beatle until after you died.
THE EPILOGUE
If the year in music 2001 were a scientific phenomenon, it would have blown about as much as Hurricane Andrew. And caused AT LEAST as much mental bereavement, if not damages (though EMI would beg to differ). I think that we can confidently say this much: “It can’t get any worse.” Hopefully.
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Afterglow34
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Member: Luke Rush
Location: Waukegan, IL
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About Me:
Wannabe Ubiquitous Rock Handclap and Background Vocal Guy.
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