Well, here it is! A “best of” list for 2008. This list will probably change when I start finding all the albums that came out in ‘08 that I missed or neglected. Oh well! Here it goes, folks.
Jimmy Buffett - A1A
OK, so this is gonna be a little different. So far here we’ve seen nothing but reviews of punk albums, with a bit of ska and one acoustic solo effort by a punk frontman to shake things up. But dammit, this is a blog about music of all sorts, and so we’re going to talk about this album.
So I think just about everyone on Earth knows who Jimmy Buffett is. He’s the guy who, as of 2008, makes a ridiculous amount of money playing songs about getting drunk on beaches to white, middle- and upper-class suburbanites while they sit on lawns at overpriced venues and pretend they’re the kind of wandering, carefree troubadours that Buffett sings about. You have probably heard “Margaritaville” at some point in your life, and every now and then you might see a new album on the “New Release” chart, probably with some silly, punny title. You scoffed, more likely than not.
Probably surprising to some of you, but this was not always the picture of Jimmy Buffett and his career.
[Editor's note: this is, I think, the longest entry thus far.]
Bad Religion - Suffer (1987)
I’m going to start this blog with a review of an incredibly important album to any fan of modern punk rock. Well, this is less a review, since the last thing the Internet needs is another review of an undisputed classic, and more just writing on why this record is important.
Note that this is in no way objective. Suffer is my favorite record of all-time.
Previous to this 1987 release, Bad Religion were a well-known and well-liked L.A. hardcore band, but not the legends of punk they are today. They had released an excellent self-titled EP, an incredible first album (1982’s How Could Hell Be Any Worse?), and one completely out-of-left-field LP, the prog-rock Into the Unknown. During the recording of that album, the band had largely broken up. The future didn’t look bright for Bad Religion. (more…)
