2002 in music.

Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American won 2001 and you should all feel bad about that. Let's see who wins 2002. Weird year.

Billboard chart-topping albums of 2002:
Creed - Weathered (cont. from 2000)
Alan Jackson - Drive
Jennifer Lopez - J to tha L O: Remixes
Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept
Soundtrack - O Brother Where Art Thou
Various Artists - Now Vol. 9
Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come
Ashanti - Ashanti
Kenny Chesney - No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems
Big Tymers - Hood Rich
Musiq Soulchild - Juslisen
P. Diddy - We Invented the Remix
Eminem - The Eminem Show
Nelly - Nellyville
Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
Toby Keith - Unleashed
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Dixie Chicks - Home
Disturbed - Believe
Elvis - 30 #1 Hits
Faith Hill - Cry
Santana - Shaman
Eminem - 8 Mile Soundtrack
Jay Z - The Blueprint 2
Shania Twain - Up!

Billboard chart-topping singles of 2002:
Nickelback - How You Remind Me (cont. from 2000)
Usher - U Got it Bad (cont. from 2000)
Ja Rule - Always on Time (cont. from 2000)
Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule - Ain't it Funny
Ashanti - Foolish
Nelly - Hot in Herre
Nelly - Dilemma
Kelly Clarkson - A Moment Like This
Eminem - Lose Yourself

What are your top three albums for 2002? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:
1. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
2. Engine Down - Demure
3. Weezer - Maladroit

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN MUSIC • forum.chorus.fm

 

What could I vote for this year that would piss @phaynes12 off as much at Bleed American?

JK, none of my picks are winning this year.

 

remainder of the top 15:
4. Agalloch - The Mantle
5. Pedro the Lion - Control
6. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
7. Isis - Oceanic
8. Desaparecidos - Read Music/Speak Spanish
9. Clipse - Lord Willin'
10. David Bowie - Heathens
11. Oasis - Heathen Chemistry
12. The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
13. Kathleen Edwards - Failer
14. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
15. Damien Rice - O

honorable mentions:
Alexisonfire - Alexisonfire
Audioslave - Audioslave
Bad Religion - The Process of Belief
Beck - Sea Change
Between the Buried and Me - Between the Buried and Me
The Black Keys - The Big Come Up
Brendan Benson - Lapalco
Bright Eyes - Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Chevelle - Wonder What’s Next
Coheed and Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
Foo Fighters - One By One
Frou Frou - Details
The Get Up Kids - On a Wire
Glassjaw - Worship and Tribute
Goo Goo Dolls - Gutterflower
Guided By Voices - Universal Truths and Cycles
High on Fire - Surrounded By Thieves
Hot Hot Heat - Make Up the Breakdown
Hot Water Music - Caution
Jerry Cantrell - Degradation Trip
Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
Justin Timberlake - Justified
Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing
Mastodon - Remission
Mewithoutyou - A to B Life
Muse - Hullabaloo Soundtrack
My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
Pearl Jam - Riot Act
Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things
Sigur Ros - ( )
Sonic Youth - Murray Street
Sparta - Wiretap Scars
Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
System of a Down - Steal This Album!
Thrice - The Illusion of Safety
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - The Last DJ
Twothirtyeight - You Should Be Living
Ugly Casanova - Sharpen Your Teeth
The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
Warren Zevon - My Ride’s Here

stuff to check out:
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
Belle and Sebastian - Storytelling
Dillinger Four - Situationist Comedy
Jay Z - The Blueprint 2
Nas - God’s Son
The Roots - Phrenology
Sleater Kinney - One Beat
Talib Kweli - Quality

 

I'm not mad I'm laughing

 

I think you'd be mad if this won:

 

oh absolutely lol.

 

it or MCR probably will lol

 

1. My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
2. The Used - The Used
3. Frou Frou - Details

This is where we get into the golden era of music for me. All three of these are in my top 10 of all time.

Bullets is just perfection to me. I love every second of that album. The raw production matches the aggression and passion in the songs perfectly and the vocal performance is second only to what he'd later do on Revenge. The horror movie inspired storytelling in the lyrics is just the cherry on top of an album that seems like it was designed for me. Every song sounds unique while still coming together as a cohesive whole. "Drowning Lessons" and "Demolition Lovers" are as good as music gets.

Over the years as The Used put out progressively worse music, my appreciation for their debut just continued to grow. Bert's vocals are incredible and he probably had my favourite scream in all of music. One of the best albums ever made to ruin your voice trying to sing along to.

Imogen Heap is my favourite female artist and I think Details is her best work. Gorgeous vocals/melodies, great lyrics and otherworldly production. Honestly I can't get enough of the sound of this album, I've been listening to it for almost 20 years now and it still blows me away. It feels wrong to have it at number 3 since it would be an easy first place in almost any other year.

Honourable mentions;

4. Damien Rice - O; Another album that's really worthy of a top three spot. One of my favourite singer/songwriter albums ever, fantastic songwriting throughout and Lisa Hannigan's vocals are a perfect compliment to Damien's.

5. Eminem - The Eminem Show; The last Eminem album I'd call great but I still really love most of this, you just have to pretend "Drips" doesn't exist.

6. Gareth Gates - What My Heart Wants to Say; Hugely nostalgic album for me, I'm pretty sure this was the first album I ever bought myself and I had it on repeat for months. There's not many albums I know as well as this one and I still think it's a pretty good pop album and really love his voice.

7. mewithoutYou - [A-->B] Life; Not quite as complex as their later work but the level of pure emotion on this is amazing, Aaron Weiss has one of my favourite voices ever and he goes so hard on this album. It's a cathartic listen.

8. Busted - Busted; Another one of my first albums and my first favourite band. They were what really got me interested in music honestly. The singles "Year 3000" and "What I Go to School For" were massive in the UK but I've always been much more fond of the album cuts. The band, and especially Charlie, would go on to make much better music but I still love this album.

9. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends; Listened to this for the first time in a while recently and I still think it's a ton of fun. Love the melodramatic layered vocals and lyrics. Never really got into anything else they did but this is a gem.

10. Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things; Gorgeous indie pop album, the melodies, vocals and lyrics are all wonderful. Jenny Lewis at her best.

11. The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee; I'm a sucker for a concept album and this one does it very well, following the story of a couple moving to Tallahassee to try and save their marriage. The lyrics are really well done and the songwriting is great throughout.

12. Coheed and Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade; This one's a little bit inconsistent for me as I never got that into the back half but it has some of their best songs, especially "Time Consumer". Love Claudio's voice on here.

13. Thrice - The Illusion of Safety; Only recently got into this album and I think it's one of their most consistently fun releases, the energy and aggression is infectious. "Deadbolt" lives up to the hype.

14. Carissa's Wierd - Song's About Leaving; Gorgeous layered music with depressing lyrics. It's a really good sad listen. Really love the mix of piano, strings, soft guitars and male/female vocals.

15. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia; A bit inconsistent for me but it has some great songs and production. "Trains", "Lips of Ashes" and "Blackest Eyes" are highlights.

 

1. Bright Eyes - LIFTED
2. QotSA - Songs for the Deaf
3. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

 

Just going to leave this here for the moment

 

thank u

 

STOP THE COUNT

 

@JM95's post counts as a vote for the Spider-Man soundtrack, no take-backs.

 

...
2. Ice Age soundtrack
3. Spy Kids 2 soundtrack

See you all same time next week.

 

1. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People

If I so dare as to call pitchfork indie rock it's own subgenre, I would have to put this album at the very top of its respective best of all time list. Unbelievably special record. I still remember the first time I heard the instrumental into KC accidental to open the whole thing. Mindblowing.

2. Bright Eyes - LIFTED

Best Bright Eyes album by a not insignificant amount. The lyrics, the songs, the arrangements, the mix...it's all knocked completely out of the park. For so long part of the Conor Oberst hype was how young he was and this is the one where that reputation is really earned - just an unreal record for anyone to make let alone at 22.

3. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

Was very close to honorable mentioning this because I really don't want it to win, but I've gotta vote honestly. Is it a ball of cheese? Yes. Is it spotty in the second half? Yes. But I think this was the first time an album ever came out that felt like I was the target audience. A really crazy feeling at 13/14.

Honorable Mentions:

Ozma - The Doubble Donkey Disc I'm writing this and realized I missed Rock and Roll Part 3 for whichever of the last two years it should've counted for. They got a lot of mileage out of being the default Weezer opener for 3 years, but the songs still really hold up for me particularly on that album and this one. An underrated band overall.

Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things Fantastic record, easily their best. Spectacular Views was my favorite song ever for a bit and still ranks pretty high for me.

The Get Up Kids - On a Wire I love the get up kids. They are the best emo band of all time.

Northstar - Is This Thing Loaded? "Northstar is the greatest band ever" - Taking Back Sunday via sticker on the front of the CD. It wasn't true then and certainly isn't now, but it was maybe the greatest marketing move in the history of scene music. There are some absurdly good songs here, particularly toward the beginning.

Desaparecidos - Read Music, Speak Spanish It's crazy this was the same year as Lifted. The lyrics get a little repetitive by the end, but the theme is good and the sound and songs are generally awesome. Plus this goes down as one of my all time favorite CO lines: "Take the cash from my hand hear the register sing, the roar of the lion logo on the screen - he is hungry, I should buy some popcorn."

Weezer - Maladroit It's still probably the third best Weezer album. Ironic the degree to which people hated that it didn't sound like Weezer and were excited for Make Believe to be a return to form. The disparity in the quality of the two albums almost couldn't be greater.

The Starting Line - Say it Like You Mean It One of the better pop punk records there is. Best of Me, 20 years later, still might be the peak of the genre.

Dashboard Confessional - MTV Unplugged 2.0 Probably shouldn't count, but if you are 30+ and on this website and didn't play the shit out of this at the time I don't believe you.

I fucking loved the Coheed album, too, even if it's not something I want to go back to often.

 

Good lord there are a lot of good records this year. A lot of stuff I love that I'm not going to be able to vote for.

 

I'd forgotten about that Sigur Ros album. Need to relisten to the Interpol album too - it's definitely good but I haven't quite clicked with it on previous listens.

 

Now we are heading into the super formative musical years for me
1. Something Corporate - Leaving Through the Window
2. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
3. The Used - The Used


ALSO
Eminem - The Eminem Show
The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way
Pepper - Kona Town
Hot Rod Circuit - Sorry About Tomorrow
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For the Deaf
New Found Glory - Sticks and Stones
Styles P - The Gangster and the Gentleman
Cam'ron - Come Home With Me
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Midtown - Living Well is the Best Revenge
Reel Big Fish - Cheer Up!
Goldfinger - Open Your Eyes
Box Car Racer - Box Car Racer
Thrice - The Illusion of Safety
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Glassjaw - Worship and Tribute
Allister - Last Stop Suburbia
Home Grown - Kings of Pop
Good Charlotte - The Young and the Hopeless
Sum 41 - Does This Look Infected?
Simple Plan - No Pads, No Helmets Just Balls!
The Get Up Kids - On A Wire
Atreyu - Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses
Avril Lavigne - Let Go
Alexisonfire - Alexisonfire

 

1. Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
2. Sparta - Wiretap Scars
3. Minus The Bear - Highly Refined Pirates
---------------------------------------------------------
4. Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
5. Pearl Jam - Riot Act
6. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
7. Oasis - Heathen Chemistry
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way
9. Finch - What It Is To Burn
10. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
11. Glassjaw - Worship And Tribute
12. The Used- The Used
13. Weezer - Maladroit
14. Foo Fighters - One By One
15. Our Lady Peace - Gravity
16. Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
17. Thrice - The Illusion Of Safety
18. Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
19. Good Charlotte - The Young and The Hopeless
20. Beck - Sea Change
21. System Of A Down - Steal This Album!
22. The Roots - Phrenology
23. Nada Surf - Let Go
24. Matchbox Twenty - More Than You Think You Are
25. New Found Glory - Sticks And Stones
26. Mastodon - Remission
27. Guided By Voices - Universal Truths And Cycles
28. Chevelle - Wonder What's Next
29. Audioslave - Audioslave
30. Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People

Honorable Mention:
Against Me! - Reinventing Axl Rose
The All-American Rejects - The All-American Rejects
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
The Apex Theory - Topsy-Turvy
Bad Religion - The Process Of Belief
The Black Keys - The Big Come Up
Box Car Racer - Box Car Racer
Breaking Benjamin - Saturate
CKY - Infiltrate. Destroy. Rebuild.
Coheed and Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade
Counting Crows - Hard Candy
Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
David Bowie - Heathen
The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
Disturbed - Believe
Doves - The Last Broadcast
Feeder - Comfort In Sound
Filter - The Amalgamut
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies
The Get Up Kids - On A Wire
Goo Goo Dolls - Gutterflower
Green Day - Shenanigans
Hot Hot Heat - Make Up The Breakdown
The Juliana Theory - Love
Justin Timberlake - Justified
Korn - Untouchables
The Libertines - Up The Bracket
Linkin Park - Reanimation
The Mars Volta - Tremulant EP
mewithoutYou - A To B Life
Midtown - Living Well Is The Best Revenge
Mudvayne - The End Of All Things To Come
Muse - Hullabaloo Soundtrack
My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been (Live)
OK Go - OK Go
Papa Roach - lovehatetragedy
Phantom Planet - The Guest
The Promise Ring - Wood/Water
Ryan Adams - Demolition
Seether - Disclaimer
Sigur Ros - ( )
Silverchair - Diorama
Simple Plan - No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls
Something Corporate - Leaving Through The Window
Sum 41 - Does This Look Infected?
Taproot - Welcome
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - The Last DJ
Underoath - The Changing Of Times
Unwritten Law - Elva
The Vines - Highly Evolved

Checking Out in Full for First Time:
Alexisonfire - Alexisonfire
Between The Buried And Me - Between The Buried And Me
Bright Eyes - LIFTED or The Story Is In The Soil...
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Damien Rice - 0
Desaparecedios - Read Music / Speak Spanish
Engine Down - Demure
Frou Frou - Details
Hot Water Music - Caution
Jurassic 5 - Power In Numbers
Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing
The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
Pedro The Lion - Control
Pepper - Kona Town
Rilo Kiley - The Execution Of All Things
Rush - Vapor Trails
Sonic Youth - Murray Street
The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
Stone Sour - Stone Sour
The Streets - Original Pirate Material
Vanessa Carlton - Be Not Nobody
The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretends To Like Me Is Gone

 

1. My Chemical Romance - I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
2. Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things
3. The Used - The Used

4. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
5. Against Me! - Reinventing Axl Rose
6. Something Corporate - Leaving Through the Window
7. Glassjaw - Worship and Tribute
8. Home Grown - Kings of Pop
9. The Starting Line - Say It Like You mean It
10. Sum 41 - Does This Look Infected?

 

I also am up for stopping the count now lmao

 

The first My Chem album is fine and all and a fun listen at times, but kind of shocked it's receiving 1st place votes.... they are nowhere near the fully formed version of themselves that they are on their next two albums. And the production irks me a bit.

 

This is definitely an interesting take and one that I respect for sure. Coming on late to the party with Three Cheers.. and then coming BACK to this one is probably influencing my take on it. I just thought they sounded like kids with a bad sound engineer in comparison.

And the exact opposite with The Used - they arrived fully formed, and like you said, just got worse.