This list will change as my mood changes. If an album makes it to the top ten, it generally means I own it, can play it twice in a row without cringing, and love over 90% of the songs on it. That my friends, is a huge call.
This is why only two albums have made the top ten so far, 'Eternal Nightcap' by The Whitlams and 'Cowboys From Hell' by Pantera.
Two tracks are on my top 10 songs, the brand new 'Idioteque' by Radiohead from their 'Kid A' album and 'Charlie No. 2 (Buy Now And Pay Later)' by the Whitlams from 'Eternal Nightcap'.
This list is the result of my deliberate digging into my too-large CD collection to find previous favourites to see if they still stack up. Metallica's 'And Justice For All' failed the test. I hate the production on it, it sounds like a drum machine and two layers of live guitar.
So far Powderfinger hasn't managed to come close. 'Double Alergic' is good but no-where near top ten. I'm trying out 'Internationalist' next week. I've got some Bjork ('Post') in my bag for the way home.
OK, why all this crap?
Well, I watched 'High Fidelity' a few months ago. It's a love story hidden beneigth a thin layer of comedy and record collection geekness. I really enjoyed it, but more importantly it got me thinking about music again.
I've been thinking I've not had time to really 'listen' to music any more. I don't (and can't) pay attention to just the music anymore, I have to be working or filling the time with something 'useful'.
I want to try to listen to music again.
That and the movie is riddled with Top 10s and it just sounds so hard. It's a fun challenge.
News!
Funnily enough, now that the RIAA has the ability to ask for royalties from net broadcasters, it's asking the same for radio shows that also broadcast on the net. They'll effectively have to pay royalties on songs they play twice.
Makes sense? Unfortunately I think it does. Especially for commericial radio stations making money from the music. The last few years has been a free ride for them on the net.
There are two types of music out there these days. Free music, and commercial music. A lot of the time they are of the same quality, but they're not seen as so. Will they ever merge? Probably not.