In the midst of some late night Googling, I managed to find a list I wrote at the end of 2001. Remember Yahoo Groups? Neither did I, but all that shit is still live and searchable.
Top 3 Albums
1. Rondelles "Shined Nickels and Loose Change"
2. King Brothers "s/t"
3. The Screws "Shake Your Monkey"
(of course the White Stripes, Von Bondies, Detroit Cobras and Clone Defects, but I wanted a non-Detroit list)
(I haven't listened to Rondelles, King Brothers or Von Bondies in over ten years. Screws held up on a listen within the past six months. Stripes, Cobras and Defects are all still classic)
Top 3 Shows
1. White Stripes anywhere (East Coast, West Coast, Craig Kilborn, DIA, Letterman Soundcheck)
2. Deniz Tek, Scott Morgan, Ron Asheton (finally heard Stooges songs performed by people who know what they're doing)
3. Mooney Suzuki w/ Soledad Brothers @ Magic Stick (oh yeah, it rocked)
(I played drums for the Mooney Suzuki at the Magic Stick show...it was fun, one night only)
Top 4 45's
1. Hentchmen "Teenage Letter" D-wrEcked-hiT
2. White Stripes "Party of Special Things to Do" Sub Pop
3. The A-Frames "Plastica" SS Records
4. Happy Supply "Camera Song" Popsick Records
(I wholeheartedly stand by this list, I just might re-arrange the order today)
Top 4 Albums I'm Waiting for in 2002 (and've already heard in 2001)
1. Mooney Suzuki "Electric Sweat"
2. The Go "Free Electricity"
3. Soledad Brothers "Steal Your Soul and Beg Your Spirit to Move"
4. Brendan Benson "Lapalco"
("Free Electricity" never came out and I managed to get the Soledad album name incorrect)
Best Bands I Just Heard About This Year
1. DNA
2. The Last Poets
3. Fabulous Counts
(What a great year. Wow.)
Best T-Shirts of 2001
1. A suitcase full of unworn "Detroit Tigers 1984 Champs" in 6 different styles, at a flea market
2. Carrie from the Von Bondies giving me a Gories t-shirt
3. "Another One Bites the Dust" from the Detroit Lions 1980's season
4. Faded blue "Detroit College" ringer with a cool "DCB" logo, I'm thinking Detroit College of Business
(Any one of these would be a list topper in the past ten years. T-shirts are drying up.)
Best New Cities
1. Wallace, Idaho: with the Stardust Motel and a pawn shop that specializes in stuffed polar bears and bitching leather jackets
2. Nottingham, England: our show was the best of the tour, the city was beautiful, and went dancing with scads of beautiful girls, got sad, wrote about it
3. Detroit, the new Seattle
(The Detroit comment actually made me laugh out loud. That one's got legs.)
Predictions for 2002:
-NWA declares bankruptcy, MC Ren living on the streets
-Disgruntled NYC scenester bombs the Magic Stick in Detroit, eliminating any and all local bands
-NME staff personally fellates the Strokes and prints the pics to prove it
(I thought it was hilarious that NWA was both an airline and a rap group. Surely someone else made the correlation earlier and better than I)
In terms of a digital footprint, I'm actually quite impressed by how little I'm embarrassed by this list. I was nineteen years old and the idea of a blog was still unrealized. Let's hope I feel the same way about everything written here in another thirteen years.
