Tuesday, March 05, 2019

The Top Ten 2019


It has been an annual birthday tradition of mine to list my top ten favorite bands of all-time. Every year, I reflect on how this list might have changed over the past 12 months - based on which bands I still listen to the most and connect to the most on a personal level. Analyzing this latest list, I offer the following notes:

  • My musical tastes for the most part seem to be permanently stuck in the '70s. That maybe has something to do with me being born in '71. Or maybe there was just a lot of great music in the '70s.
  • While I consider myself a fan of many genres of music, there's still nothing that lights my fire like '77 punk.
  • The Ramones keep rising on these lists. It's not like I ever didn't appreciate the greatness of the Ramones. But the more I go back to all of those records, the more awestruck I am by how well they hold up. 
  • Still nobody on the list from post 2000. Maybe I need to do a separate write-up for that sometime.  
  • I'm kind of surprised that there aren't more power pop bands on this list. Material Issue is holding it down! 
  • Bands that just missed the cut: Undertones, Sex Pistols, The Who, Kinks, Real Kids.

On to the list:
1. The Clash
2. AC/DC 
3. Ramones
4. Material Issue
5. Buzzcocks
6. Husker Du 
7. New York Dolls 
8. Rolling Stones 
9. Generation X   
10. Dictators   

With each advancing birthday, I used to wonder if a window was closing for me doing this blog to be "age appropriate". In more recent years, it has occurred to me that it always be age appropriate for me to write about rock n' roll. With any luck, I'll still be reviewing records when I'm 90. And I'll probably still be stuck in the '70s.


 -L.R.

9 comments:

  1. you review them when you're 90 and i'll still be reading them

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  2. Where did Cheap Trick finish?

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  3. Cheap Trick probably somewhere around #25, I reckon.

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  4. I'd put CT in the #10-15 range. Surprised The Replacements didn't make the cut. A case of burnout?

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    1. Replacements would be right there in the 10-15 range for me, although they did used to be higher. Have always been more of a Husker Du guy.

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  6. I love most of the heavy hitters from the Twin Cities scene. Despite their later success, I think you could make a case for Soul Asylum being underrated. Say What You Will, Made To Be Broken and Hang Time are on the same level as any 'Mats disc. ...And The Horse They Rode In On doesn't get the same attention as GDU, but there are some sleeper gems contained within like "Grounded" and "Gullible's Travels."

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    1. Soul Asylum is massively underrated. Especially all the pre major label stuff.

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  7. I echo your sentiments on the Ramones. Pleasant Dreams, Subterranean Jungle and Too Tough To Die have been in heavy rotation for the past six months. Glad I was able to see them once, even though the show was lackluster.

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