Silly List Slogs: Chuck Eddy's Favorite Album Of Each Year (That I Own)

No book has had a bigger effect on my life than Chuck Eddy's Stairway To Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums Of All Time. I was already an excruciatingly opinionated, sardonic, published music critic by the time I found it at used bookstore in Boston during a college road trip. But Stairway was (and remains!) an invigorating read that showed just how much humor, irreverence and idiosyncrasy was capable - and often missing - in rockcrit. It was neither resolutely against conventional wisdom (Led Zeppelin's IV was number one), nor devoted to it (Teena Marie's Emerald City was number nine). The traditional canon established by commercial and critical consensus was something you could take or leave, case by case - assuming you were capable of making your own case.

Shortly after devouring the book, I used the new ethernet link in my dorm to look up all things Eddy, who was then the Village Voice music editor, and interacting regularly with rockritics.com. I eventually reached out to the guy, and got my first non-local music criticism published at the Voice in 2002 (a Desperacidos rave in which I got the capital of Nebraska wrong). A friend (one of two I made in town because they couldn't believe someone was posting on rockcritics.com from State College, PA) said there was a place online, named ILXor, where people argued about Chuck Eddy reviews. And so began the journey of making internet acquaintances and such that led me to employment, romance, interstate moves, and owning several Jimmy Castor Bunch albums. It didn't make me who I am today, but the book (and Eddy's co-sign of my writing) was a big-ass domino in the domino effect of my life, especially as far as the proper nouns go, and I'm forever grateful.

Proof I'm no mere copycat, though: Chuck has published mega-lists of his favorite albums for most years, and it rarely resembles my own personal canon (at least once I was post-pubescent and paying attention for myself). It's not that I don't like the up-to-150 albums a year he celebrates on his website. It's that I haven't heard most of them. I want to decrease that ignorance, casually, in the years to come, so I'm posting which album I own (or know I love and want to own - don't see much Henry Threadgill in the racks) that ranks the highest on each annual list. Assuming anything I have made the cut. We'll only go 50 years back, cuz that's nice, even number. And while I haven't posted many of my own retrospective lists (yet!), I linked where I could.

1975: Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes, Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes (his #1 album of the year, my #5)

1976: Michael Hurley, the Unholy Modal Rounders and Jeffrey Frederick & the Clamtones, Have Moicy!, (his #1 album of the year, my #17)

1977: Sex Pistols, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (his #2 album of the year - just above Rumours, my #2 - just behind Rumours)

1978: Blondie, Parallel Lines, (his #2 album of the year, my #10 or so)

1979: Michael Jackson, Off The Wall, (his #2 album of the year, my #20 or so)

1980: Prince, Dirty Mind (his #4 album of the year, my #6)

1981: Prince, Controversy (his #17 album of the year, my #30 or so)

1982: The Fall, Hex Enduction Hour (his #1 album of the year, my #4)

1983: Madonna, Madonna (his #3 album of the year, my #20 or so)

1984: The Three Johns, Atom Drum Bop (his #8 album of the year, my #15 or so)

1985: John Cougar Mellencamp, Scarecrow (his #1 album of the year, my #15 or so)

1986: Beastie Boys, Licensed To Ill (his #2 album of the year, my #10 or so)

1987: Madonna, You Can Dance (his #3 album of the year, my #3)

1988: Public Enemy, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (his #24 album of the year, my #4)

1989: Henry Threadgill Sextett, Rag, Bush And All (his #19 album of the year, my #25 or so)

1990: LL Cool J, Mama Said Knock You Out (his #3 album of the year, my #8)

1991: Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill (his #17 album of the year, my #21)

1992: The Ramones, Mondo Bizzaro (his #48 album of the year, my #15 or so)

1993: Liz Phair, Exile In Guyville (his #34 album of the year, my #30 or so)

1994: Beck, Mellow Gold, (his #87 album of the year, my #25 or so)

1995: Rancid, ...And Out Come The Wolves (his #13 of the year, my #20 or so)

1996: Weezer, Pinkerton, (his #53 of '96/'97 combined, my #4 of '96)

1997: Cornershop, When I Was Born For The 7th Time, (his #46 of '96/97 combined, my #20 of '97)

1998: Outkast, Aquemini, (his #4 of '98/'99 combined, my #10 of '98)

1999: Eminem, The Slim Shady LP, (his #60 of '98/'99 combined, my #30 or so of '99)

2000: Jill Scott, Who Is Jill Scott? (his #45, my #25 or so)

2001: The Distillers, Sing Sing Death House (his #136, my #14 of '02)

2002: Northern State, Dying In Stereo (his #15, my #4)

2003: Outkast, Speakerboxx/The Love Below, (his #11, my #25 or so)

2004: Jill Scott, Beautifully Human (his #28, my #20 or so)

2005: M.I.A., Arular (his #1, my #11)

2006: The Rakes, Capture/Release (his #14, my #25 or so of '05)

2007: Chromeo, Fancy Footwork (his #59, my #20 or so)

2008: Portishead, Third (his #24, my #15)

2009: Allan Touissant, The Bright Mississippi (his #16, my #1)

2010: Robyn, Body Talk (his #10, my #2)

2011: Electric Six, Heartbeats And Brainwaves (his #95, my #3)

2012: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Americana (his #53, my #2)

2013: None of the 10 or so albums I have from this year make his Top 150

2014: D’angelo, Black Messiah (his #20, my #6)

2015: Jazmine Sullivan, Reality Show (his #36, my #1)

2016: A Tribe Called Quest, We Got It From Here... (his #87, my #4)

2017: None of the 10 or so albums I have from this year makes his Top 150.

2018: None of the 10 or so albums I have from this year makes his Top 150. makes his 150

2019-2021: He hasn’t published his Top 150s.

2022: Oneida, Success (his #41, my #18)

2023: nothing from my Top 30 made his Top 150.

2024: nothing from my Top 23 made his Top 150.

It should be noted I'm still trying to catch up on the albums of the '10s in general, not just the ones Chuck Eddy liked. But his lists are as good a place to start as any.

If you leave this post with questions - so many questions! - feel free to ask them at anthonyisright at gmail dot com. I'll do my best.