Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - Explanation Of Nomination Process

Right now we're in the voting phase for 1984 songs. Any song released in 1984 is automatically eligible to be voted for.

In addition to songs that are in their first year of eligibility, there is a nominating process. This nominating process takes place during the first 24 hours after the end of the previous year's vote.

Each voter is allowed to nominate 5 songs that:

A. Haven't been voted in previously
B. Haven't been nominated for this year's vote yet
C. Are not in their first year of eligibility
D. Are not automatically nominated as a result of last year's vote

There are certain conditions that would allow a song to be automatically nominated for the next year's vote.

A. A song was involved in, and lost, a tiebreaker vote. Tiebreaker votes happen at the same time as nominations so that we don't lose a day to the tiebreaking process.

B. A song came within 1 vote of induction in the previous year's vote. Songs are eligible for this type of automatic nomination as often as it applies to their situation.

C. A song was in it's first year of eligibility (this year = 1984), got more than 3 votes, but failed to gain induction. Songs are only eligible for this type of automatic nomination once.


This year you are allowed to vote for any song that was first released in 1984. You are also allowed to vote for any song that has been nominated for this year's vote. This process is currently closed. You can find a list of eligible songs posted recently (earlier today) by Tahvo with 5 songs Tahvo missed posted by myself shortly thereafter.

Each voter can vote for 30 songs. There are no restrictions on how many new songs or how many old songs you can vote for. When votes are compiled, 25 songs are voted in. If there is a tie, as many as 28 songs can get in without a tiebreaker.

2010 Song Project - 3/31/2011

Date: Thursday 3/31/2011
Songs Cleared Today: 99
Songs Remaining To Be Cleared: 2603
Last Song Cleared (Alphabetical Order): "French" by Tyler, The Creator
Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 21
Total Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 203

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1984

1984 is yet another ridiculously stacked year. It's not like this is going to get any easier in the future, but it's going to be more and more difficult to get older songs voted in.

Here are the songs from 1983 that I feel are worthy of Hall Of Fame Induction, ranked in order of preference:

Metallica - For Whom The Bell Tolls
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
Prince and The Revolution - When Doves Cry
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes To Midnight
Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days
Tina Turner - What's Love Got to Do With It
Pretenders - Middle of the Road
U2 - Pride (In the Name of Love)
Metallica - Fade To Black
Prince and The Revolution - Let's Go Crazy
Van Halen - Panama
Don Henley - The Boys of Summer
Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark
The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.
Madonna - Like a Virgin
Van Halen - Jump
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Cold Shot
Metallica - Ride The Lightning
Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown
Tears for Fears - Shout

Willie Nelson And Ray Charles - Seven Spanish Angels - I had never heard this song before I youtubed it today and it's fantastic.

The Cars - You Might Think
Madonna - Material Girl
The Replacements - Unsatisfied
Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane
Willie Nelson - To All The Girls I've Loved Before
Run DMC - Rock Box

2010 Song Project - 3/30/2011

Date: Wednesday 3/30/2011
Songs Cleared Today: 143
Songs Remaining To Be Cleared: 2702
Last Song Cleared (Alphabetical Order): "Fast Car / Slow Traffic" by Paul Weller
Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 29
Total Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 182

2010 Song Project - 3/29/2011

Date: Tuesday 3/29/2011
Songs Cleared Today: 132
Songs Remaining To Be Cleared: 2845
Last Song Cleared (Alphabetical Order): "Draggin' The River" by Blake Shelton
Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 25
Total Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 153

2010 Song Project - 3/28/2011

Date: Monday 3/28/2011
Songs Cleared Today: 129
Songs Remaining To Be Cleared: 2977
Last Song Cleared (Alphabetical Order): "Dancing On My Own" by Robyn
Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 26
Total Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 128

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1983

Here are the songs from 1983 that I feel are worthy of Hall Of Fame Induction, ranked in order of preference:

U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday - My favorite U2 song

The Police - Every Breath You Take - My favorite Police song

U2 - New Year's Day
Talking Heads - Burning Down the House
New Order - Blue Monday
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Pride And Joy
David Bowie - Modern Love

Bob Marley And The Wailers - Buffalo Soldier - Marley is under-represented in the Hall and this is one of the last worthy songs he released.

ZZ Top - Gimme All Your Lovin'
Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart

Elvis Costello and The Attractions - Everyday I Write the Book - I'm not sure why the voters in this project don't support more Elvis Costello songs.

The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another - It seems like every year has one legitimately great one hit wonder song.

Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil - I'm supporting a Motley Crue song. This will not happen often if ever again.

John Cougar Mellencamp - Authority Song
ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man

Metallica - Seek And Destroy - Metallica's first song to stand a chance at induction.

Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time - It's not her most famous song, but it is her best.

The Police - King Of Pain
U2 - Seconds

The Kinks - Come Dancing (This song was previously considered last year, so it's not eligible for voting in 1983)

2010 Song Project - 3/25/2011

Date: Friday 3/25/2011
Songs Cleared Today: 135
Songs Remaining To Be Cleared: 3106
Last Song Cleared (Alphabetical Order): "Cinco De Mayo" by Marnie Stern
Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 24
Total Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 102

2010 Song Project - 3/24/2011

Date: Thursday 3/24/2011

Songs Cleared Today: 96 (with 10 songs added (The Social Network OST))
Songs Remaining To Be Cleared: 3241
Last Song Cleared (Alphabetical Order): "Boyfriend" by Best Coast
Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 22
Total Number Of Songs Advanced To Second Round: 78

I seem to be consistently retaining 40% of the songs during this initial evaluation. When combined with the first round matches I'm doing at the same time, that means that my new method of evaluating songs will eliminate 80% of all songs in the first round versus the previous method which eliminated 50% of all songs. When factoring in the additional songs that won't be involved in the Top 500 process because they didn't make it past the qualifying round, I should be able to get this year's project done sooner than anticipated.

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1982 - The Vote So Far

Here are the current standings for 1982 (note: this is based on my count and may not be 100% accurate):

IN:

13 Votes:

Iron Maiden - "Run To The Hills"
Michael Jackson - "Beat It"

"Beat It" doesn't surprise me, though I am surprised that it has more votes than "Billie Jean".

"Run To The Hills" leading the vote in it's debut year is extremely surprising. It's not that it doesn't deserve the honor, but a heavy metal song from Iron Maiden that the average music fan has never heard of leading a class that included some of the best pop songs of the 1980's? Very surprising and very cool.


12 Votes:

Grandmaster Flash And the Furious Five - "The Message"
Michael Jackson "Billie Jean"

"The Message" is the first truly great rap song (an argument could be made for "The Breaks") and "Billie Jean" is widely considered to be one of the greatest pop songs ever made.


11 Votes:

The Clash - "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" - I'm not surprised that it's going to be voted in, but I had no idea it was going to be so much more popular than "Rock The Casbah", a song I find to be inferior but the Clash's only truly big hit. I imagine "Casbah" will get voted in as well, but if not "Should I Stay" is a fine representation of "Combat Rock".


10 Votes:

Duran Duran - "Hungry Like The Wolf"


9 Votes:

Electric Light Orchestra - "Evil Woman"
Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"
Lou Reed - "Perfect Day"
Michael Jackson - "Thriller"

This set of songs should close the book on Judas Priest, Lou Reed and the "Thriller" album. We'll probably see another ELO song at some point. "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" is the only other song of theirs that I'd consider voting for personally.


8 Votes:

Modern English - "I Melt With You"
Prince And The Revolution - "Little Red Corvette"
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"
T. Rex - "20th Century Boy"
Violent Femmes - "Blister In The Sun"

1982 was a big year for Prince as well as Michael Jackson. One-hit wonders Modern English and Soft Cell make their first and last mark on the Hall. Violent Femmes have a few other songs worthy, but I doubt they'll get another song in before it's all said and done.


7 Votes:

Afrika Bambaataa - "Planet Rock"
Prince And The Revolution - "1999"
Roxy Music - "Virginia Plain"
Santana - "Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen"
The Animals - "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"
The Penguins - "Earth Angel"

Another classic old school rap song and Prince's "1999" mix with a quartet of long overdue classics that are finally getting into the Hall.


6 Votes:

Billy Idol - "White Wedding"
Dexy's Midnight Runners - "Come On Eileen"
Roseanne Cash - "Seven Year Ache"
The Clash - "Rock The Casbah"
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Foxy Lady"
Willie Nelson - "Always On My Mind"

Three rookies, two classic country songs and a long-time pet project of mine are currently on the ballot with no tiebreaker required, but with voting still open, this could change.


ONE VOTE BACK:

Bachman- Turner Overdrive - "Takin' Care Of Business"
George Thorogood And The Destroyers - "Bad To The Bone"
Jerry Jeff Walker - "Mr. Bojangles"
The Doors - "Love Her Madly"
The Jackson 5 - "I'll Be There"
The Monkees - "Pleasant Valley Sunday"

"Bad To The Bone" is the only rookie on this list. If it gets nominated again in the future it will probably get in. The rest of the songs seem like they all have a really good shot at getting in sometime in the future if the can't get over the top this year.

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1982 - My Nominees

This year I nominated these songs:

Elvis Costello - "Radio, Radio" - One of my favorite songs, but clearly not something anyone else wants to vote for, at least not at this point. I'm the only person to vote for it so far, so unless it receives a ridiculous amount of votes at the last second it'll be retired from my nominee queue for awhile.

Pink Floyd - "Welcome To The Machine" - This one fared a little bit better, gaining 3 votes so far. The current vote total needed to get induction is 6 (there are still 4 more voters from last round yet to vote this round, so that total may go up), so while there's some interest in this song (just like "Us And Them"), it's not something that needs to be brought back again immediately.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Foxy Lady" - Things are looking good for this Hendrix classic, though they could look better. With 6 votes at the moment, "Foxy" would gain induction without needing a tiebreaker, but it's at the bottom of the voting, so it's far from a sure thing. It is gaining a lot of ground, so if it doesn't make it in this year, I'll nominate it again next year.

Santana - "Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen" - Santana looks to be very close to securing their first song in the Hall as it currently has 7 votes. This is my favorite Santana song and the most famous song of Carlos' career until "Smooth" came around and ruined his reputation forever.

T. Rex - "20th Century Boy" - With 8 votes so far, "20th Century Boy" is a lock for induction this year and it's about time. Outside of Bowie, there haven't been many glam rock songs inducted into the Hall. Also, I feel as though we've done justice by Marc Bolan and T. Rex with this song inducted along with "Bang A Gong (Get It On)".

2010 Song Project - 3/23/2011

2010 Song Project Report - 3/23/2011 - I cleared 125 songs today, leaving 3337 songs left to review in the first round of Phase 2.

Album Reviews 3/22/2011

2010 Song Project Report - 3/22/2011 - I've decided to combine the first round of the tournament with the audition round. This should speed things up considerably. I cleared 116 songs today, leaving 3462 songs left to review in the first round of Phase 2.

Album Reviews 3/21/2011

Drowning Pool - Drowning Pool - Brain dead sludge metal, as expected.

Godsmack - The Oracle - A note to Godsmack: If you're going to rip off Metallica, at least have the common sense to not rip off the lowest point of their career, the "Load" / "Re-Load" / "St. Anger" era. This album did have one song on it that I liked: "The Oracle" a solid heavy metal song where Godsmack had the human decency to not let Sully sing during the entirely instrumental song.

Clay Aiken - Tried & True - An album of standards. It's not like Clay doesn't do a good job singing them, but it's still an album of standards, and that has never interested me.

Miley Cyrus - Can't Be Tamed - A decent pop album. Most of the songs are rather unremarkable, but a few are actually pretty good. Not exactly my usual speed, but not as unpleasant as I expected it to be.

3OH!3 - Streets Of Gold - Lame frat boy hip hop / pop. This is some serious lowest common denominator stuff here.

Bret Michaels - Custom Built - A below average country rock album with no notable songs.

The Jonas Brothers - Jonas L.A. - Boring kiddie pop. I'd say more, but reality has already been far more harsh to these kids than I ever could be.

Sully Erna - Avalon - This album suprised me. Sully Erna is apparantly much better at ballads than he is singing metal songs with his band Godsmack. Of course, it still isn't all that great, but at least it wasn't horrible.

Alter Bridge - AB III - Another dreary neo-grunge album from Creed minus Scott Stapp.

Hinder - All-American Nightmare - A hair metal revivalist album that alternates between treacly ballads and horrible screaming fits. The difference between this and other hair metal revival bands is that this album isn't fun in the least.

PHASE ONE COMPLETE - March 21st - 3:40 PM



2010 Song Project Report - 3/21/2011 - I finished the remaining 10 albums today and completed Phase One of the 2010 Song Project. I had time left over at the end of the day, so I began Phase Two. The final number of songs identified for Phase Two consideration is 3618. After just under two hours of Phase Two, there are still 3578 songs remaining to be evaluated.

2010 Song Project - Explanation

I've made several references to my 2010 Song Project, so I figure I should explain what that is in case anyone is curious.

The past two year (2008, 2009), I've put together a list of the 500 best songs from each year and a list of honorable mention songs. I intend to do this every year I can.

The first phase of this project involves listening to as many albums as possible from a given year. I get my album lists from Metacritic (http://features.metacritic.com/features/upcoming-album-release-calendar/) and the All Music Guide newsletter. I also download Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist every month (http://www.blalocksirp.com/), which is a great source for under the radar songs. The final source of new music is the year-end best of lists produced by Pitchfork, Spin, Rolling Stone and any one else who puts out a list. Each year, my evaluation process has involved approx. 700 albums released the previous year, plus the play lists and countdowns. As I listen to each album, I flag the songs that think are worth listening to more than once and mark them down in a spreadsheet. The rest, I never listen to again (sorry, Black Eyed Peas).

Phase two begins once all of the content from 2010 has been listened to. In past years, I would face each song off head to head with another song in a tournament format, but since this process took too long and created too much hassle in phase three, I've decided to have the first round of the tournament be more of a qualifying round. Basically, I'll listen to every song and determine if I think it has a shot of making the final list of 500. If it doesn't, I'll remove it from consideration. I hope to eliminate more than 70% of the previously flagged songs using this method.

After the qualifying round, I will stage the tournament. The tournament will determine the #1 song of 2010, but more importantly, it will lay the groundwork for figuring out the entire 500 song countdown list. The reason for this is the simple logic that the only song that could have defeated the #2 song of 2010 is the #1 song of 2010 and so on. By keeping track of which songs the #1 song defeated in the tournament, determining the #2 song is a simple matter of determining the best song directly defeated by the #1 song. After #2 is decided, #3 is decided by comparing the best song defeated by the #2 song to the best remaining song defeated by the #1 song. This process continues until all 500 songs have been determined. It seems complicated, but after the first 25 or 30 songs, I'm only adding 2 or 3 songs to the process when I add each song. The process of determining songs #2 through #500 is Phase 3.

Since I didn't have a qualifying round the previous two years, Phase 3 was a very long process and involved a lot of songs that only barely merited consideration for the final list. This delay, coupled with another change that I made to speed up the process (I had previously listened to every song on every album from start to finish whereas now I make my decision on a song as soon as I can tell if I like a song or not), caused my Best of 2009 list to be delayed until August of 2010. I hope to have this year's list ready sometime in the early summer.

I intend to complete Phase 1 of my 2010 project on Monday (March 21st) and start the qualifying round of Phase 2 on Tuesday.

I've posted my 500 best songs list for 2009 on this blog. If you're interested in my best of 2008 list, leave a comment and I'll post it as well.

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1982 Nominees

Aerosmith - Back In The Saddle
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You)
Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care Of Business
Badfinger - Day After Day
Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead
Bill Cosby - Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)
Bob Dylan - Desolation Row
Bob Dylan And Johnny Cash - Girl From The North Country
Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move
Chicago - Wishing You Were Here
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend
Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Dave Clark Five - Glad All Over
David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
David Bowie - Golden Years
Def Leppard - Saturday Night (High N Dry)
Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough
Desmond Dekker & The Aces - Israelites
Electric Light Orchestra - Can't Get It Out Of My Head
Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman
Electric Light Orchestra - Hold On Tight
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Radio Radio
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Gary Numan - Are Friends Electric
Grateful Dead - Sugar Magnolia
Hall And Oates - Rich Girl
Hank Williams Jr. - A Country Boy Can Survive
Ike And Tina Turner - It's Gonna Work Out Fine
James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
Janis Joplin - Cry Baby
Jerry Jeff Walker - Mr. Bojangles
Johnny Burnette And The Rock And Roll Trio - Train Kept A-Rollin'
Joni Mitchell - Help Me
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Kiss - Strutter
Lou Reed - Perfect Day
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Saturday Night Special
Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'
Otis Redding - I've Been Loving You Too Long
Patti Smith Group - Dancin' Barefoot
Pink Floyd - Echoes
Pink Floyd - Welcome To The Machine
Rainbow - Man On The Silver Mountain
Randy Newman - Louisiana 1927
Rick Springfield - Jesse's Girl
Ringo Starr - It Don't Come Easy
Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache
Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
Santana - Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
Sly & The Family Stone - Dance To The Music
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
Stray Cats - Rock This Town
Suicide - Ghost Rider
T. Rex - 20th Century Boy
Ted Nugent - Stranglehold
The Allman Brothers Band - In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
The Amboy Dukes - Scottish Tea
The Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
The Beach Boys - Surf's Up
The Chantels - Maybe
The Damned - New Rose
The Doors - Love Her Madly
The Hollie - He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother)
The Isley Brothers - It's Your Thing
The Jackson 5 - I'll Be There
The Jam - In The City
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Foxy Lady
The Kinks - Shangri-La
The Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday
The Penguins - Earth Angel
The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
The Shirelles - Mama Said
The Silhouettes - Get A Job
The Staple Singers - Respect Yourself
The Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
The Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs
The Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore
The Youngbloods - Get Together
Three Dog Night - Joy To The World
Tommy James And The Shondells - Mony Mony
Van Halen - Runnin' With The Devil

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1982

Here are the songs from 1982 that I feel are worthy of Hall Of Fame Induction, ranked in order of preference:

The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go
Michael Jackson - Beat It
Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun
The Jam - Town Called Malice
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message
Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City
Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
George Clinton - Atomic Dog
Prince and The Revolution - Little Red Corvette
Billy Idol - White Wedding
Modern English - I Melt With You
George Thorogood - Bad To The Bone
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Prince and The Revolution - 1999
The Clash - Rock the Casbah
Toto - Africa
Michael Jackson - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross
The Kinks - Come Dancing
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Violent Femmes - Gone Daddy Gone

Album Reviews 3/18/2011

Album Reviews:

Soulja Boy - The DeAndre Way - Braindead ring-tone rap with inane lyrics and the absence of the quality hooks that made his earlier albums at least tolerable. One of the worst rap albums of 2010.

Charlie Wilson - Just Charlie - A solid R&B album, but no stand-out songs.

The Plain White T's - Wonders Of The Younger - An inoffensive pop-rock album in the Matchbox 20 tradition. "Rhythm Of Love" is the only memorable song, though.

Tank - Now Or Never - An average R&B album. I know that sounds like a BS review, but I don't have anything else to say about albums that sound exactly like one another. There's nothing wrong with them, but they're not outstanding either. The only song I'll remember from this album is a cover of "I Can't Make You Love Me".

Avant - The Letter - I know it sounds like a broken record, but this is an average R&B album. In fact, this album is almost the exact same album as Tank's. They are both in the same genre and they both have the same number of songs. Also, the only notable song on this album is the last song, which is a cover of Toto's "Africa", which works remarkably well.

Volbeat - Beyond Hell - Above Heaven - A surprisingly melodic heavy metal album (I almost labeled it as alternative rock on my WMP genre tag), "Beyond Hell - Above Heaven" features a lot of solid songs (and a couple notably bad duds) and is an overall solid album.

Taio Cruz - Rokstarr - A lame pop album. This produced #1 songs? I'm really glad I don't listen to Top 40 music anymore. It must be absolutely abysmal.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today - I'm going to have to disagree with the critics who love this album. It's an average indie album with a few great songs on it. I don't think it's likely to put any songs on my year-end countdown.

Nellie McKay - Home Sweet Mobile Home - Another excellent album from one of my favorite singer-songwriters. Not every song is a classic, but the sum is greater than it's parts.

Women - Public Strain - A decent, but not spectacular shoegaze album with a few notable songs.

Jewel - Sweet And Wild - A solid effort, but far from Jewel's best album. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be another country music album from her because I honestly can't tell the difference between "country music" and the type of music Jewel has always made if the singer isn't using or faking a Southern accent.


2010 Song Project Report - 3/18/2011 - I finished 11 albums today, bringing my 2010 total down to 10. At my current pace I'll complete this phase of the project on Monday. Unfortunately (for me), I've saved the worst albums for last, so Monday is going to suck. A lot.

Album Reviews 3/17/2011

Keith Urban - Get Closer - A dull country album. Easy to listen to, but nothing dynamic that deserves further attention.

Loreena McKennit - The Wind That Shakes The Barley - By happy coincidence I ended up listening to this album of traditional Irish / Celtic tunes on St. Patrick's Day. LM's a great singer and while some of the songs dragged on too long, overall it was a solid album.

Twin Shadow - Forget - A solid indie rock album that starts to drain in the last few tracks.

Darkwater - Where Stories End - An average heavy metal album, neither great nor awful.

Lloyd Banks - H.F.M. 2 (Hunger For More 2) - LB is an excellent rapper and this album is filled with great hooks and packed with guest stars, making for one of the better rap albums of the year.

Take That - Progress - "Affirmation" was an alright pop song, but mostly this was exactly what I expected from the re-formed boy band minus Robbie Williams.

David Guetta - One More Love - A surprisingly good pop / R&B album with a couple songs that might make the year-end countdown, especially "Sound Of Letting Go".

Jazmine Sullivan - Love Me Back - An average R&B album.

JLS - Outta This World - Lame boy-band garbage.

Miguel - All I Want Is You - A below average R&B album.

Mitchel Musso - Brainstorm - A lame pop album. There's not much else to say about some of these albums. At this stage, it's very rare to be surprised by the lack of quality.


2010 Song Project Report - 3/17/2011 - I finished 11 albums today, bringing my 2010 total down to 21. At my current pace I'll complete this phase of the project on Monday.

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1981

Here are the songs from 1981 that I feel are worthy of Hall Of Fame Induction, ranked in order of preference:

Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure
R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
The Clash - This Is Radio Clash
Rush - Tom Sawyer
The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts - I Love Rock'n'roll
The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Phil Collins - In the Air Tonight
The Human League - Don't You Want Me
Squeeze - Tempted
Black Flag - Rise Above
Devo - Beautiful World
Rick James - Super Freak

Album Reviews 3/16/2011

New Reviews:

James Blunt - Some Kind Of Trouble - A decent singer/songwriter album, but nothing stands out as being more than just average.

Julie Christmas - The Bad Wife - A sensational metal / alt rock album from a female vocalist whose style is equal parts Tori Amos and Maynard James Keenan.

Maserati - Pyramid Of The Sun - An excellent instrumental rock album that only falls a couple songs short of perfect playback status.

Place Of Skulls - As A Dog Returns - A solid heavy metal album, but no tracks that stand out.

Shonen Knife - Free Time - A Japanese girl group singing surf punk songs in a blend of English and Japanese. I have no clue why this works, but man does it ever.

Summer Camp - Young - A solid dream pop EP from start to finish.

Susan Boyle - The Gift - Susan Boyle does an outstanding job covering Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" and an adequate job covering Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Unfortunately, the rest of the album is boring Christmas music.

Trill Fam - All Or Nothing - This is basically a label mix tape featuring several different artists each contributing a couple songs. Some of the songs are solid while others are dull.

Underoath - Disambiguation - Loud heavy metal noise, though some songs are tolerable.

A Day To Remember - Disambiguation - Loudy and noisy, but whiny like an emo band instead of badass.


2010 Project Progress Report - 3/16/2011 - I completed the initial review of 10 albums, bringing the total down to 32 albums. I currently anticipate completion of this phase of the project on next Monday, March 21st.

Album Reviews 3/15/2011

New Reviews:

Hail Of Bullets - On Divine Winds - Screaming metal noise, and not in a good way.

Trapt - No Apologies - A welcome break from the death metal crap I've been sampling lately. That being said, just because the music is more melodic and easier to listen to doesn't mean that it's any good, which Trapt isn't.

Yann Tiersen - Dust Lane - A pleasant but mostly obtuse piece of electronica.

Avey Tare - Down There - Promising at times, but mostly disappointing.

Senses Fail - The Fire - Generic emo with no distinctly great songs.

Good Charlotte - Cardiology - Not as irritating as their usual output and "1979" was alright, but for the most part this was a dull pop punk album.

Cassandra Wilson - Silver Pony - A sleepy live performance jazz album. Certainly not a bad album, but not really to my tastes.

Cradle Of Filth - Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa - Imagine if death metal singer screeched wildly with backing from 80's (non-hair) metal guitars and machine gun drums. You'd think it would be awesome. It isn't.

Helloween - 7 Sinners - A Dio knockoff that's better than I expected it to be.

I Blame Coco - The Constant - Today's best album by a long shot, I Blame Coco reminds me of Metric and the album is fun from start to finish.


2010 Project Progress Report - 3/15/2011 - I completed the initial review of 10 albums, bringing the total down to 42 albums. I currently anticipate completion of this phase of the project on next Tuesday, March 22nd.

Album Reviews 3/14/2011

Best Of 2010 Project Progress Report - 3/11/2011 - I completed the initial review of 13 albums, bringing the total remaining albums down to 62 total. I currently anticipate completion of this phase of the project as the end of this week / early next week.

New Reviews:

Pimp C - The Naked Soul Of Sweet Jones - A boring "gangsta" rap album focusing mainly on how sexually irresistable Pimp C must be. One track does feature a nice guest appearance by Drake.

The Creepshow - They All Fall Down - When I first saw the name of the band I assumed it was another lame death metal band desperately wanting to be The Misfits. It turns out that they're an extremely competant punk band in the spirit of Be Your Own Pet. The songs where the female vocalist sings lead vocals are the best, but overall it was a very fun album.

Toby Keith - Bullets In The Gun - This album was about what I expected when I saw that Toby Keith came up on the queue. It wasn't as bad as previous Keith albums, but it still wasn't very good.

All That Remains - For We Are Many - Death metal noise. I must hear 100 albums a year with the same grunting vocals / loud drums combo and it almost never amounts to anything worthwhile.

Darius Rucker - Charleston, SC 1966 - Rucker continues to prove himself to be the kind of versatile artist who can make boring, predictable music across a variety of genres.

Die Antwoord - $0$ - A weird hip hop / world music album. A couple of the songs hit just right, but mostly it's just odd.


Best Of 2010 Project Progress Report - 3/14/2011 - I completed the initial review of 10 albums, bringing the total down to 52 albums. I currently anticipate completion of this phase of the project as the end of this week / early next week.

Future Rock Legends - Projects - Voting Idea

One idea that I've been thinking about (I'm not suggesting it be implemented for this project, but I find it to be an interesting concept) is to have the voting for this type of project run similarly to the way the Baseball Hall Of Fame voting is run. There are aspects of the Baseball Hall Of Fame voting that wouldn't work well with this type of project (eliminating players who don't get a certain number of votes, voting on a yes/no basis rather than a Pick 30 basis), but I think it would be interesting to consider the impact of a Senior Committee type voting system could have on this type of project.

In the Baseball Hall of Fame voting, players are eligible 5 years after they retire. They then have 15 years of eligibility in which they must either be voted into the Hall or no longer be eligible for regular induction. They could still be considered for induction by the Senior Committee, but the number of inductions by this committee is significantly lower than the regular Hall.

Songs would still become eligible 25 years after they were first released. They would then have 15 years to make the Hall of Fame before they got bumped to the "Early Influences" or "Senior Circuit" or whatever we'd want to call it. Every year voters would select a set number of songs from the currently eligible songs and a set number of songs whose "eligibility" had expired. A balance that favored currently eligible songs (25/5, 20/10) would help ensure that voters took the expiration deadline seriously. The deadline would make it less likely that songs would be forgotten when a flood of new songs became eligible every year.

The existence of the "senior circuit" would allow for the possibility of overlooked songs getting a second chance, though it would be much more difficult for songs to get into the Hall this way. The selection process could involve, for example, every voter getting to nominate 3 songs and then every voter getting to pick their 5 favorite from the nominees with the top 5 vote getters gaining induction.

Again, it's way too late in the project to even consider something like this, but I think it's an interesting idea for any future projects of this type.

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - 1980

Here are the songs from 1980 that will be added to my queue if they're not voted in this year:

AC/DC - Back In Black
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
The Clash - The Magnificent Seven
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
U2 - I Will Follow
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia
Billy Joel - It's Still Rock And Roll To Me
Devo - Whip It
Judas Priest - Living After Midnight
Rush - The Spirit Of Radio
The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me
Devo - Freedom Of Choice
Rush - Freewill
The Pretenders - Brass In Pocket (I'm Special)
Bruce Springsteen - Hungry Heart
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song
Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
Joy Division - Dead Souls
Bruce Springsteen - The River
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Dolly Parton - 9 To 5
Neil Diamond - America
Blondie - Call Me
Billy Joel - You May Be Right
AC/DC - Hells Bells
Dead Kennedys - Kill The Poor
Pete Townshend - Let My Love Open The Door
Kurtis Blow - The Breaks
Daryl Hall & John Oates - You Make My Dreams
Elvis Costello - High Fidelity
Willie Nelson - On The Road Again

Future Rock Legends - The Song Project - My Queue

Before I begin, I want to let anyone reading know that the quantity of songs that I feel have been "snubbed" are more a reflection of how massive a project this is rather than an insinuation that the voters in this project are making the wrong decisions. While there are a few selections that I personally find silly (if it wasn't the first video played on MTV, would anyone really remember "Video Killed The Radio Star"?), it's impossible to say that Song A from this list should be in while Song B from the inductees list should be out.


My Queue (Updated Through 1979, in alphabetical order by artist):

AC/DC:

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
T.N.T.
It's A Long way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll)

I'm concerned that a lot of the Bon Scott era songs will get overlooked now that the twin smash hits from Back In Black are getting voted in.


Aerosmith - Back In The Saddle - A low priority, but in my mind, this would close off their 70's era music.


Allman Brothers Band - Midnight Rider


The Animals:

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place

Two leftover classics from the British Invasion


Aretha Franklin - Think
Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care Of Business
Barry White - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe


The Beach Boys:

Help Me, Rhonda
Barbara Ann

No brainers, really.


The Beatles:

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Across The Universe
Hello, Goodbye
Baby, You're A Rich Man
Back In The U.S.S.R.


Bill Withers:

Use Me
Lovely Day


Black Sabbath - War Pigs - This would close out Black Sabbath in my mind. This song has been very close for the past few years. A few more votes would push it over the top.


Bob Dylan:

Masters Of War
Maggie's Farm
Forever Young
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Hurricane - Possible 1980 Induction
Shelter From The Storm
Desolation Row


Bob Marley And The Wailers:

I Shot The Sheriff
Get Up, Stand Up


Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band:

Old Time Rock & Roll
Hollywood Nights


Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Badlands - A personal favorite.
Buzzcocks - What Do I Get
Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move
The Cars - Moving In Stereo
Cheap Trick - Dream Police

The Clash:

Career Opportunities
Janie Jones
London's Burning
White Riot
I Fought The Law - Possible 1980 Inductee
The Guns Of Brixton
Safe European Home
(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
Clampdown

To say the least, I think we need more Clash songs in the Hall. Specifically, we need some representation from their first two albums. The problem is that these songs don't get much radio play relative to their big hits, so a lot of people don't know about them.


Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry - Possible 1980 Inductee
The Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles - Possible 1980 Inductee
The Doobie Brothers - Listen To The Music

The Doors:

Roadhouse Blues
L.A. Woman
Love Me Two Times


Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time


The Eagles:

Already Gone
Heartache Tonight
Take It Easy


Earth, Wind & Fire - Shining Star
Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman
Electric Light Orchestra - Can't Get It Out Of My Head


Elton John:

Crocodile Rock
The Bitch Is Back
Candle In The Wind


Elvis Costello & The Attractions:

Radio Radio
(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding
Oliver's Army
Watching The Detectives
Accidents Will Happen


Elvis Presley - Love Me Tender - How did we miss this one?


Eric Clapton:

After Midnight
Cocaine


The Faces - Ooh La La - AKA "I Wish That I Knew What I Knew Now, When I Was Younger"

The Fiv
e Man Electrical Band - Signs


Fleetwood Mac:

Landslide
Gold Dust Woman
Don't Stop

"Landslide", in particular, should be in ASAP.


George Harrison - What Is Life - The definitive George Harrison solo song, IMO.

Golden Earring - Radar Love
Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band
Grand Funk Railroad - Some Kind Of Wonderful

The Grateful Dead:

Truckin'
Casey Jones

I'm not a big Deadhead, but these two are absolute classics.


Iggy Pop - The Passenger
Ike And Tina Turner - Proud Mary
The Jackson 5 - I'll Be There
Jackson Browne - Running On Empty
The James Gang - Funk #49


The Jimi Hendrix Experience:

Foxy Lady - A great song with one of the most well-known guitar hooks of all-time.

Fire

Crosstown Traffic
Manic Depression

The Hall absolutely needs more Hendrix, ASAP.


Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come


Joe Cocker:

With A Little Help From My Friends
Feelin' Alright

Both songs are better than the originals.


Johnny Cash - Man In Black
Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi - The only Joni song EVERYONE knows.


Led Zeppelin:

Communication Breakdown
When The Levee Breaks
What Is And What Should Never Be
Dazed And Confused
Over The Hills And Far Away

In particular, "Communication Breakdown" was a hard rock gamechanger and way ahead of it's time, while "When The Levee Breaks" represents one of the high points of the entire blues rock sub-genre.

Lou
Reed - Perfect Day

The Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See - They're not exactly a big name classic rock act, but "Can't You See" is one of the best overlooked songs of the 70's.

Moby Grape - Omaha
Neil Young - The Needle And The Damage Done
Pat Benatar - Heartbreaker

Paul McCartney - Maybe I'm Amazed - The best Paul McCartney solo song. By a mile.


Paul Simon:

Slip Slidin' Away
Still Crazy After All These Years


Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do


Pink Floyd:

Us And Them
Welcome To The Machine
Have A Cigar

Queen:


Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Fat Bottomed Girl
Somebody To Love - This one in particular is the most deserving Queen song.


Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation - Somewhat obscure, but an essential punk song.

Ringo Starr - It Don't Come Easy - One of the best Post-Beatles songs and VASTLY superior to anything Ringo sang with the Beatles.

Robert Palmer - Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)
Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story


The Rolling Stones:

Street Fighting Man
Get Off Of My Cloud
Time Is On My Side
It's Only Rock N Roll (But I Like It) - The best of the bunch.
Shattered


Roxy Music - Love Is The Drug
The Runaways - Cherry Bomb
Rush - Closer To The Heart
Sam The Sham And The Pharoahs - Wooly Bully

Santana - Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen - I just noticed that we don't have any music by Carlos Santana in the Hall. That doesn't seem right.

Sly And the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Stealers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You

Stephen Stills - Love The One You're With - A great song, but don't live your life based on the philosophy this song sells unless you want to be miserable.

Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
The Steve Miller Band - Take The Money And Run
The Steve Miller Band - Jet Airliner

The Stooges - Search And Destroy - The best song that's not in the Hall of Fame.

Sweet - Fox On The Run
T. Rex - 20th Century Boy
The Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
The Talking Heads - Take Me To The River
Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever
Ted Nugent - Strangehold
Television - Marquee Moon
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - American Girl - Possible 1980 Inductee
Tom Waits - I Hope I Don't fall In Love With You
Traffic - Dear Mr. Fantasy
Van Halen - Runnin' With The Devil
The Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes
Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson - Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys