Why Do Most Top 10 Albums of the Year Lists Suck?

I hate Top 10 Albums of the Year Lists.

Whenever I see these lists, it seems to be done by people in a musical black hole. Self-important music critics who think the world ends and begins in the world of lo-fi indie music and whatever their small group of friends enjoy. They seem to be done by people who have been forced to listen to music as a career that sucks and, because of that, they pick the best of the worst. Pitchfork Media, this is going straight after your pampas asses!

On their "news" page, The Arcade Fire warrants a headline and the mention of a noise rock concert is headline worthy as well. For the love of god, who is Microsastle and why is their CD GOOD? Because it replicates 50s and 60s pop? If you wanted regurgitated music, why not just pick up some 50's and 60's pop, take a gun, and simply do the world a favor?

But I digress... I digress in hatred.

So, who's their Top 10? I'll list the band name and albums:

10: DJ/rupture
Uproot

09: Hercules and Love Affair
Hercules and Love Affair

08: M83
Saturdays=Youth

07: Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend

06: TV on the Radio
Dear Science

05: Deerhunter
Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.

04: Cut Copy
In Ghost Colours

03: No Age
Nouns

02: Portishead
Third

01: Fleet Foxes
Sun Giant EP/Fleet Foxes

The overall trend? It seems to be of indie/pop/shitty bands that garner little or no respect in the mainstream community and caters to indie socialites and music-holes who think iPod's are the embodiment of all that is "hip". This list fails for more reasons than one, and yes, I know that music is subjective and one mans love is another's scorn.

But who are these bands? Seriously, who? I've never heard of ANY of them! Not a whisper, not a hint, not a trace! I don't heard them on TV, on the radio, burning up charts, anything. I don't see them on end-caps at FYE, articles in Rolling Stone, indie-rock mags with them on the cover, news articles, or people at work talking about them. Then again, more than fair enough to say, I never see bands such as Amon Amarth, Wednesday 13, or Meshuggah making headlines, but save Wednesday 13, they all made it to the Top 100 on Billboard despite no airplay or real mainstream coverage. That's largely beause the metal world is it's own little community, it's own little close-nit area of the world where people go to forums and discuss the music they know and love.

Then again, I did state that the metal world has had albums by seemingly no-name bands to 90% of America crack Billboard this year. Is the indie rock/pop world that much larger? Is it that they can name the best albums, but aren't buying them as much? What's the deal here? What the hell am I missing?!

Is the problem that I am simply out of the loop here? Is it that I just have my own personal head in my own collective bubble of music that is exclusively metal and punk, and only listen to what I think is good and what my friends think? Honestly... yes and no. My friends taste in music is pretty different (I think DevilDriver's last album was shit, my friend loves it), and I do listen almost entirely to metal and punk, save Johnn Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Garbage, and a few others. At the same time, I am easily able to scoff at a lot of music without taking much in (The Fray? Why, why, why do people like them?).

I think there is a massive disconnect with music critics, self-important or otherwise, and the people they cater too. Chuck Klosterman, a man I both respect and scorn at the same time for his love of metal and calling Slayer "Black Metal" (say that to a die-hard fan and watch us squirm in pain), wrote that he has to listen to anything and everything for his job, and in turn his love for hair metal and 70's-early 80's metal (like I said... he thinks Slayer is "black metal") is mixed with bands you and I may never have heard off. To quote Ron Jeremy, "After a while, it takes a while to get me excited." So with a lot of music critics, to hear something "different" even if it isn't "good", qualifies it as being "good" on that alone.

Not only that, but I also hate it when they say it's the "Top 10 Albums of the Year", as if it's the be-all, end-all list of music that year. Why not be honest? "Top 10 Albums of Indie Rock/Pop", "Top 10 Albums of Bands 99% of the Human Population has never heard of, but we think are incredible", or even the more honest, "Top 10 Albums We Think Are Superior to Everything Ever Made Because it's on iTunes and, thus, HIP".

So, look for my "Top 10 Metal and Punk Albums of 2008".... if I can find 10 albums.