2002-12-31 | LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I PRESENT TO YOU, THE MOMENT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.....

THE TOP 25 ALBUMS OF 2002 THAT I'VE HEARD SO FAR:

25. Non Phixion "The Future is Now" (Landspeed)

24. KHM "Game" (Number 6)

23. Thirstin Howl III "Skilligan's Island" (Landspeed)

22. Superjoint Ritual "Use Once and Destroy" (Sanctuary)

21. Sum 41 "Does This Look Infected?" (Island)

20. (tie) Coldplay "A Rush of Blood to the Head" (Capitol)

20. (tie) El-Producto "Fantastic Damage" (Def Jux)

19. the Soundtrack of our Lives "Behind the Music" (Republic/Universal)

18. Genius/Gza "the Legend of the Liquid Sword" (MCA)

17. RHCP "By the Way" (Warner Brothers)

16. Drive By Truckers "Southern Rock Opera" (Universal) ~originally came out in late 2001, but got re-released "properly" in 2002~

15. Pinback "Blue Screen Life" (Ace Fu) ~came out in 2001, but didn't get any sort of airplay 'til 2002 (i think)~

14. DJ Shadow "Private Press" (MCA)

13. Various Artists w/Rollins Band "Rise Above: 24 Black Flag songs to Benefit the West Memphis 3" (Sanctuary)

12. Rocket From the Crypt "Live From Camp X-Ray" (Vagrant)

11. Beck "Sea Change" (Interscope)

10. Doug Martsch "Now You Know" (Warner Brothers)

9. Sage Francis "Personal Journals" (Anticon.)

8. Sixtoo "Duration" (Cease and Desist)

7. Alias "The Other Side of the Looking Glass" (Anticon.)

6. Ash "Free All Angels" (Kinetic)

5. Chokebore "It's a Miracle" (Pale Blue)

4. the Roots "Phrenology" (MCA)

3. Queens of the Stone Age "Songs for the Deaf" (Interscope)

2. Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" (Warner Bros.)

1. And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead "Source Tags and Codes" (Interscope)

Most Dissapointing and Overrated Album of the Year: Eminem "The Eminem Show"

Most Disgusting Trend: Emo, and bling bling style Rap about cars, honeys, and jewelry.

Most Unjustly Unnoticed New Revolution: Underground rap featuring mcs who are more poets then gangstas, most notably anything on Anticon Records, which destroys 99 percent of hip hop you hear on the radio or see on tv, or read about in magazines.

Biggest surprise in my top 25 albums: My top 4 albums are all major label releases.

Amount of bands/artists on top 25 that I've seen in concert: Only 4/25-Genius/Gza (with Wu-Tang Clan); RFTC; Chokebore; and Phillip Anselmo of Superjoint Ritual who I saw when in concert as the singer of Pantera.

Nit-picking with two from my top 25: I really would like to see Beck work with the Dust Brothers again and release another Odelay type album, and I really would like the Flaming Lips to do something slightly more like the Soft Bulletin. But I am completely happy with both of their 2002 releases. They constantly blow me away with their consistent brilliance.

Number of bands in the Top 25 who started off in Hawaii: 2-Chokebore and And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

Number of bands/artists involved in other projects: 12-Genius/Gza (Wu-Tang); Doug Martsch (Built to Spill, etc.); RFTC (Hot Snakes, etc.); Chokebore (B.Balthazar); Flaming Lips (Christmas on Mars); Alias (Deep Puddle Dynamics); Queens of the Stone Age (Desert Sessions, etc.); DJ Shadow (who knows); Superjoint Ritual (Pantera, Down, etc.); KHM (Kool Keith, Masters of Illusion, etc.); El-P (producer for Zach De La Rocha, etc.); Non Phixion (Ill Bill, etc.)

Record company representation on Top 25 breakdown:

Interscope: 3

MCA: 3

Warner Brothers: 3

Anticon: 2

Universal: 2

Sanctuary: 2

Landspeed: 2

Island: 1

Vagrant: 1

Pale Blue: 1

Kinetic: 1

Capitol: 1

Ace Fu: 1

Cease and Desist: 1

Number 6: 1

Def Jux: 1

Independent Labels: 12

Majors: 14

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