SPIN's Top 40 Albums of '08
We like to play hide-the-ball when it comes to the top spot of these year-end lists, but after Rolling Stone's top albums of 2008 rundown -- and SPIN's very own during the year of Cookie Mountain -- there's no surprise (but maybe a little nostalgia) to this shit here. TV On The Radio put out an album this year, and it is good, but their swelling stature and base of deferential enthusiasts is making the band start to fulfill some of those "America's Radiohead" tags in more ways than one. Of course, there are outliers: no Skeletal Lamping, a love of the UK ladies (Kate Nash, Duffy), Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's first inclusion, and a big yes to Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (yay) and Black Kids and Chinese Democracy (lol).
40 Chairlift - Does You Inspire You
39 Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
38 Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
37 Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
36 Lykke Li - Youth Novels
35 The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
34 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
33 El Guincho - Alegranza
32 The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
31 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
30 Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
29 Nas & DJ Green Lantern - The Nigger Tape
28 Metallica - Death Magnetic
27 The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed
26 R.E.M. - Accelerate
25 Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
24 Duffy - Rockferry
23 Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks
22 Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
21 Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
20 Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
19 Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
18 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
17 The Roots - Rising Down
16 My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
15 Beck - Modern Guilt
14 Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
13 No Age - Nouns
12 Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War
11 Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
10 MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
09 Coldplay - Viva La Vida
08 Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
07 Deerhunter - Microcastle
06 Santogold - Santogold
05 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
04 Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life
03 Portishead - Third
02 Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
01 TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Read the reasons at spin.com.
Posted at 11:08 AM by amrit in Year-End List
Tags: TV On The Radio
The simple fact that Black Kids is above the Raconteurs invalidates this list.
Score = 6
WHAT!!!!! NO ALOPECIA????? I AM SO FUCKING INDIE!!
Score = 12
no I just like Why?
Score = 0
The list reads like a hybrid of Pitchfork and Downs Syndrome.
Score = 28
This reads like "I read Pitchfork this year and I feel like I'm supposed to like a lot of these albums, even though I don't get them, but I also keep the fact that I'm 35 and still listening to 90s music from seeping through, and also, have you guys heard of this brand new band called TV on the Radio? I swear they've never put out an album before. They're new! They're the NEXT BIG THING!"
Score = -16
This list reads like "I read Pitchfork this year and I feel like I'm supposed to like these albums, even though I don't get them, and I can't keep the fact that I'm over 35 from seeping through, and by the way, have you guys heard of this NEW band TV On the Radio?! They're the next big thing! Have they put out any other albums before?"
Score = -29
Drew, it's like anyone over 35 should jus lissen to springsteen and die!!!!! RiGHT???? Do they let peoplez that old go online? Like WHATEVZ
Score = 0
worst list yet.
Score = -21
2008 was the Crystal Clear Pepsi of music.
Score = 13
regardless of the many 'what-the-fucks' the list will undoubtedly garner, the simple fact that fucked up is number 4 is pretty awesome
Score = 4
at least somebody finally included miles benjamin anthony robinson
Score = 4
did oracular spectactular come out this year? i thought it was 2007
Score = -2
2008 was the Crystal Clear Pepsi of music.
Score = 2
OK, since someone felt the need to make this point twice, let's dissect... A) what the hell does this mean? and B) you're talking about Crsytal Pepsi right? There was no "clear" in its title despite its deliciousness... Or perhaps your [sic] was intentional and what have you. Pray tell?
Either way, I don't get it.
Score = 3
go sell some jello pops and learn how to spell crystal, bill.
Score = 1
Go back to editing your web page, ZAP! This isn't 1996. http://www.rayehollitt.com/gladiate/PGladiate.html
Score = 0
you really wanna mess with someone in a unitard like that, buddy?
Score = 2
that guns n roses album must be fucking great. it sure is making a lot of these important year end lists.
Score = 0
......yawn.....
Score = 2
According to Wiki, MGMT's album was released digitally in '07, but not on CD until Jan. '08
Score = 3
thanks
Score = -1
The absense of Kanye West's album on many of these lists is quite refreshing.
Score = 9
Any list without Torche's "Meanderthal" at #1 sucks balls.
Score = -10
While I'm not necessarily a fan of the "any list without ____ is invalid" line of thinking, I will agree that Torche's Meanderthal was the best album of the year and that there's been an overwhelming glut of group-think type lists. Yes, Dear Science was good, oftentimes great, but it wasn't perfect. The production is the star, but the vocal work has really lost its lustre.
This was a banner year for metal (Torche, Harvey Milk, Disfear, Nachtmystium and, if you count them, Black Mountain), but it seems like nobody was paying attention and were to busy unnecessarily getting on the Vampire Weekend backlash bandwagon, sniffing TVOTR's jock strap or blowing their wads all over that overrated Fleet Foxes LP (the EP, however, was incredible).
Grow some balls indie rock America.
Score = -2
I hear you, Carson. There really is either an (a) anti-metal bias when it comes to these lists (b) people don't know the material or (c) folks just don't dig it. Torche, Disfear, and Nachtmystium are all in my top 10...
Score = 0
You're right, I have no balls. I'm still waiting for a list to show some love to The Walkmen, Burial and Crystal Stilts...such a pussy.
Score = -1
Cult of Luna > Torche
Score = 0
im pretty sure they named vampire weekend aoty in feb
Score = 1
i was thinking it too thus i was shocked that it was not top 5... it is certainly better than coldplay
Score = -4
love that LIl Wayne gets the number 2 spot. totally freaking awesome. but the rest of the list could be reconfigured.
Score = -6
Clarification: Crystal Pepsi was a disgusting gimmick. The commentary hinges on the fact that you know this.
Score = 5
Uh, I'd just like to uh, say that the Black Kids album is really, really awful. It's like...bad.
Score = 7
Duffy + Oasis + Kate Nash = epic FAIL
Score = -1
one thing these lists make painfully aware every year is how limited of a scope musical interests remain even in this day and age. sad.
Score = 1
well if MGMT's album is eligible because of a digital '07 release and a physical CD release in 2008 then that makes In Rainbows eligible and it would still be better than all the crap on this list. 2008 was a HORRIBLE year for music. compare all these lists to the lists last year...it's like comparing lobster to a can of tuna
Score = -4
spin is a magazine for all kind of music fans. i'm not surprised about the list.
Score = 1
how is the raveonettes, lust lust lust album not on anyone's list of best 2008 albums?
Score = 1
I know, its completely ridiculous. The Raveonettes are fucking amazing and they get no love from anyone. Fuck all of you.
Score = -2
That's another one that was released originally in 2007 (in the UK). I don't know if that's why people aren't counting it, but maybe. Anyway, fantastic album.
Score = 0
wait.... no cut copy? no walkmen? no m83? no hercules and love affair?
terrible.
Score = 3
Still no love for the Walkmen. That should change with Pitchfork's list.
Score = 2
Will Fuck Buttons ever get the nod they deserve?
Score = 2
I must be the only one that thinks the new TVOTR is insanely cheesy and lame.
Amazing for the band though, second spin cover. Nice.
Score = 1
2008 was a great year for music!
Score = 1
are you insane??? 2008 was the worst year of this decade for music. except for 02 maybe, is it 03. this year sucks compared the the amazing 07.
Score = 0
This is also Chairlift's first inclusion. Yay!
Score = -1
is that paragraph english? What the hell are you saying?
Score = -2
FINALLY SOME WOLF PARADE!!!!
and what the hell is everyone loving lil' wayne!?
Score = 7
I think tvotr is the most overrated band...They have a couple of good songs here and there but most of their shit is just annoying. Anyone have my back on this?
Score = 4
Wow. Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams is nowhere to be found on any of these lists.
Score = 2
The biggest problem with lists is that people adjust their order based on the fact that something is going to be made public. Is Spin full of hipster writers trying to appeal to their mainstream fanbase or are they writers with mainstream taste, trying to hang on to indie cred by picking predictably popular indie records?
Score = 0
A) The Nigger Tape is weird choice as the token mixtape
B) You'd think after putting VW on the cover before the damn record came out, they'd be in the top 10.
C) Not getting the Dear Science #1 thing
Score = 1
I'm happy with all the press TVOTR is getting and I'm also anxiously awaiting the inevitable hipster backlash.
Score = 0
Oh..... Now I remember why I stop subscribing to SPIN.
Score = 1
Gutter Twins.......Yes
Score = 0
I think what we are coming to realize that 2008 was pretty lame overall, and these even worse lists are doing nothing to help it. But early 2009 is allready setting us up for new Andrew Bird, AC Newman, and Decemberists, so I'm stoked to start a new.
Score = 4
wheres the love for malkmus?
Score = -2
CONOR OBERST??!!
Score = 2
Hah, the indignation against TVOTR is great. Now that people have heard of them, you don't like them, I get it. You're the same people who go to shows and stand like statues, arms crossed just to say you were there before anyone else had ever seen Band X. Please go away and stop ruining music; the art world has plenty of room for pretentiousness.
Score = -2
it's just that tv on the radio's earlier material was so much better: dark and spacious, catchier. it seems like they aren't risking as much on dear science, or there isn't as much angst. the only songs i can really dig are "dlz" and "shout me out." but they deserve their fame.
Score = 0
Fennesz, Grouper, and Leviathan. We need not argue list-making semantics any further.
Score = -1
Yup. No Black Mountain. This list immediately means nothing.
Score = -4
does anyone else think ghosts deserves some recognition on these lists anywhere?
I personally think it's Reznor's best stuff since the fragile.
Score = -2
lil wayne and santogold both trumped mgmt? really, spin??
they're still showing tv on the radio a lot of love, i see.
Score = 1
also, made of bricks came out in 2007 ... OOPS.
Score = -1
I love seeing the beginnings of the massive backlash against TVOR! It's great. You get to see how aggressively unoriginal people strive to maintain an image of originality.
I have no qualms about continuing to bemoan the total lack of Shearwater...
And I'm glad they have Wolf Parade too. I think At Mount Zoomer was mostly misunderstood and poorly evaluated.
MGMT put out a pretty fun album, but I am pretty surprised by the high rankings. I'm not upset about it, really, cuz I enjoy the album, but I just really didn't think of it as top 30 material, much less top ten.
Score = 5
gang gang dance is the album of the year...nuff said
Score = -2
I don't think people are commenting how Dear Science is overrated based on these "mainstream" publications praising them, it's just that it's not as good as Cookie Mountain or Desperate... I freaking loved those albums, this one is good but not in the same level as those.
Score = 0
"Of course, there are outliers: no Skeletal Lamping"
wait, that's supposed to be bad?
but still, spin lsot me with the Gun and Roses album, the hot chip album at #10 (it was okaaaaay) and lil wayne at #2....their alst year list at least was decent...
Score = 0
Where is the Hold Steady's album??? Does anyone agree with me that it is by far the best album of the year?!!
Score = -3
yes
Score = 0
Does anybody agree with me that your "best album of the year" is totally subjective to your own musical tastes, musical past, the emotional impact it had on you, the people who told you about the album, your view of the artists themselves, the credibility of the album?
I would never claim that my favourite album of the year "IS THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR". I find it hilarious that people still want to cry foul, though. I mean, some albums are actually better than others, but take a bunch of really good albums, it's pretty damn hard to pick one that was the best for everyone on this fucking website when we all have different interactions with albums. So can we stop being fucking ridiculous now?
Go whine about the Stereogum one, you voted for it.
Score = 6
"TV On The Radio put out an album this year, and it is good, but their swelling stature and base of deferential enthusiasts is making the band start to fulfill some of those "America's Radiohead" tags in more ways than one."
...You do know what Stereogum named as the best album last year, right? Hypocrisy much?
I think the "deferential enthusiasm" jab is a bit unfair. Maybe it's just me, but I just don't see TVOTR as being a critical darling on the level that Radiohead is (except maybe for Spin, who's given them album of the year twice now). I've seen far more people whining about them being praised than actual praising. They've made three albums in total, which have all been reviewed well. The same could be said for many other bands.
Dear Science wouldn't have been my choice for album of the year, but it's certainly not bad at all. Like someone not far above me said, many people seem to forget that lists like this are subjective. It's kind of fun (to a point) to pick them apart according to your tastes, but just because the #1 album on any given list isn't your absolute favorite doesn't mean that everyone else in the world has shitty taste and there's some big hype conspiracy at hand. And Dear Science being #1 on two separate lists doesn't prove anything but that Spin really loves TVOTR. Big deal - every music publication has its pet bands that can do no wrong. If you have issues with that, find a publication that likes the same bands that you like.
That was all a long way of saying TVOTR are pretty good (and are not crazily overhyped, as some seem to believe), so people should save their vitriol for music that actually deserves to be shit on.
Score = 0
More like SPIT in my face.
Am I right guys?
Score = 0
Not that I think Third is a bad album, but the album placing third is kinda forcing it, don't you think?
Score = 0
Once again, no love for The Walkmen. You & Me is an incredible album, and I have been disappointed to see them being passed over on these lists (not that I personally put much stock in them, but others do). I was, however, pleasantly surprised to see them at # 10 on the Gummies list. Way to go, Stereogum.
Score = 2
Agreed. Plus, you know Pitchfork will join the fun. And I believe one or two other lists did give them some 40th or 30th-ish placement on their list. As frustrating as Pitchfork can be, they really do mostly get the best of the best on their list.
Score = 0
where is SHEARWATER's ROOK on all these lists? That is one of the top 5 albums this year EASILY!
Score = 3
THE KILLS! Midnight Boom.
jesus
Score = 1
I agree The Raveonettes need some loving although it is good see Portishead do well. This year did blow ass for music. Coldplay needs to go away for a long long time. Forever would be preferable. I agree with the Kills comment. They deserve the top ten easily. That album was just so awesomely dirty. And if Girltalk Feed The Animals doesn't catalyze an immediate dance party, you're probably hanging out with Helen Keller. Only By The Night wasn't that good and I like Cardinology a lot more than I probably should but I love it...oh well there is always next year...
Score = 1
best list yet, due mainly to the lack of Kanye on there. that guy is such a piece of shit and 808s and heartbreaks is SOOOOOOO bad!
Score = 0
I second the call for Cut Copy.
Score = 0
The real joke with all of these list (here come the haters) is the mandatory inclusion of Fleet Foxes rather mediocre record. I must admit I did make a point of not reading Pitchfork this year, so maybe that's why I don't get it. Missing from the list- Q-Tip????
Coner Oberst makes his best record yet???, and where is the love for bands like Glasvegas & The Last Shadow Puppets here. I wonder if they auction of these spots for $$ to the labels. Like #1 will cost you 500k while number 39 is only 25k. I mean this list do help sell records. I don't agree with most of this "hipster wannabe" (is that redundant?) list. Seriosly what is the obsession with Fleet Foxes, I own the record and I have tried and tried and tried- I have heard everything they are doing done so much better. I think the Fleet Foxes must be the 60's band for hipsters who are too hip to listen to 60's music? Is that it, maybe?
Score = -1
TVOTR are a critics' band let's face it, and it's this kind of overrating reviews that drives this sorta band away from regular listeners' symphaty.
Hipsters of America, please turn your eyes to rock & roll and at least try to acknowledge bands like Dr. Dog's effort to keep us from evil brightly-colored-tight-pants-wearing-ecstasy fiends with no talent.
Dr. Dog - Fate should be right on top of any of this shit of year's lists.
Score = -2
thrice > torche > cult of luna
Score = -1
Some suggestions that are missing from the list:
Dead Confederate, "Wrecking Ball"
Q-Tip, "The Renaissance"
Bottomless Pit, "Hammer of the Gods" (this one may have been very late '07)
Score = 0
Where is "Fate" by Dr. Dog??
Score = 1
THE BLACK KEYS attack and release???
Score = 0
I think what it comes down to is the fact that music is not that interesting as it was in the late 70's or early 90's. So it's not so much about the list but more about the fact that most bands with exceptions of a few SUCK. So the lists will never be right until people start creating something different than the tired old format that is derived from so much that it has lost its focus and revolution. Blame it on mainstream media for being too shitty that they have to target indie bands or blame it on indie bands that market themselves to teen soap operas and car commercials. Either way it's boring and so are all of you. I just see douche bags at shows and annoying chatty girls. UGHHH
Score = -1
Stop reading Pitchfork if you hate us so much. Bitches.
Score = 0
You put "Love in This Club" and Jeezy in your Best Songs of 08 list. You shouldn't even be allowed to post here.
Score = 0
I have to defend Fleet Foxes. It is easily one of the best albums I have ever owned. It is beauty. You are wrong.
It is nice to see Wolf Parade finally.
Are the Killers inelligble? Cuz its turning into on of my favorites and it definitely beats the living crap outta Oasis.
Bon Iver needs top 10 status, as does Vampire.
My Morning Jacket is my #2 this year, after Fleet.
Something is to be said about listenability, which is why I like MGMT and the Killers.
Score = 1
i think there was a lot of good music released in 2008. you music snobs need to relax your sphincters and enjoy the music rather than trying to build an image around it.
Score = 0
Am I the only person in the world who is surprised and saddened to see that Giant Sand has been left off every year-end list? This is a mystery to me. "Provisions" got all kinds of great reviews when it came out and it has been one of my favorite albums all year, but everyone else seems to have forgotten about it. Maybe next year. I guess the good people at Spin have just been too busy listening to that Coldplay album.
Score = 0