Cheers & Jeers: End of 2008 Edition

CHEERS first to Kissing Suzy Kolber, from which I stole this blog post gimmick.

JEERS to this Metallica pic, which never fails to make me laugh.

CHEERS to Homer Simpson for his recent charity work.

JEERS to this rusty tailgate.

CHEERS to Indie 103.1 for recently premiering worldwide exclusive tracks from Prince (via Jonesy!) I really dig "Crimson and Clover."

JEERS to low US album sales in 2008. The confluence of a weak economy with the ever-evolving digital download market model meant that "Tha Carter III" claimed the top-selling spot with total sales of 2.88 million -- the lowest total since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. [To put that in perspective, a Backstreet Boys album was the best-selling album of 1999 with sales of 9.44(!) million.]

CHEERS to MTVmusic.com. It's far from perfect, but I can't complain when this, this and this is free to enjoy on-line whenever I want.

JEERS to the MTV censored edit of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," and its subsequent seepage into mainstream US radio play. I caught this version on the radio and was very turned off by the overall muddying of what was once a pristine Diplo beat (it's the version where the gunshots in the chorus are replaced by non-gun popping sounds).

Feel free to add your own in the comments...

2 comments:

Stroker Ace said...

CHEERS to the BBC and VH1 for making the always interesting Classic Albums series. I could watch those things all day, even if I don't know the band they're covering.

CHEERS to the acoustic version of "Knife" by Grizzly Bear.

JEERS to the non-acoustic version.

CHEERS to Metallica for making an incredibly complex metal album where each 7+ min epic contains so many tempo and melody changes (not to mention Lars' drum fills) that lesser bands would have split it up into 3 perfectly acceptable songs. Very dense and very good.

JEERS to Metallica for making an incredibly complex metal album that is impossible to hum along to. I wish it was a little more pop and a little less chip on their shoulders.

Matt G said...

I think I know where you're going with the Album Sale jeer, but as we're all fans of (illegally) downloading music, we're part of that jeer.

Maybe JEER those 2.9 million people for actually buying an album. I dunno, I suppose you had to work that fact into your end of year gimmick.