2002 in music. • Page 4

One record I should have shouted out, but it was marked as 2003 in my iTunes: Failer by Kathleen Edwards. Wouldn't make my top three, but definitely in that next tier.

 

The real question is do you listen to Rock Vocal Power every time you play the album? The Cookie Monster at the end still make me laugh.

 

Ha, not every time, but it's still pretty funny. Some superb burns aimed at Creed (the "pickle-in-mouth technique"?!) and Kid Rock ("The ever-popular 'Hey I can't sing, so run me through the computer'), and I think "the Cookie Monster" is a nod toward Korn.

 

1. Box Car Racer
2. Taking Back Sunday- TAYF
3. Eminem- The Eminem Show

 

1. Sigur Ros - ()
2. Talib Kweli - Quality
3. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
4. thrice - the illusion of safety
5. Minus the Bear - Highly Refined Pirates
6. Audioslave - Audioslave
7. Pearl Jam - Riot Act
8. Coheed & Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade
9. Sparta - Wiretap Scars
10. Coldplay - Rush of Blood etc

2003 is going to be brutal

 

@phaynes12 don’t count this post.

fucking Wikipedia sucks for this this so much shot missing.

1. No Warning - Ill Blood

I don’t care about the rest. No Warning is number 1. Probably my favorite hardcore record ever. A stone cold classic.

This show was so sick.

 

This was an insane year

01) SILVERCHAIR - Diorama

Honestly, any of the top 7-8 albums on this list could have been #1 for me but this album wins based on how unexpected it was. Completely ditching any pretense of grunge, Daniel Johns emphasized his bombastic arrangement and songwriting chops to construct an almost theatrical masterpiece. Seriously, this shit is so tuneful and joyous that it's almost impossible that this was the same band who wrote songs like "Freak" and "Tomorrow".

02) BAD RELIGION - The Process Of Belief

I still think this is the best Bad Religion album (yes, even counting their late 80's/early 90's output). A huge intoxicating rush with big melodies and hooks and a tripe-guitar attack.

03) COLDPLAY - A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Not much needs to be said here as the run of songs on this record is incredbile. The back half is almost as good as the hit-filled first half. As a whole, the band just took Parachutes and did everything bigger and better.

04) OUR LADY PEACE - Gravity

Partnering with Bob Rock these Canadian stars made their most streamlined and commercial album to date. If you're going through a breakup this is an excellent soundtrack.

05) GOO GOO DOLLS - Gutterflower

Speaking of breakups, this is Johnny Rzeznik's divorce record. Less ballad-heavy that Dizzy Up The Girl this is the last great Goo album as both Johnny and Robby perfectly balance their love of the Replacements with their (then) newfound status as a big rock band.

06) QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - Songs For The Deaf

Took me a while to get into this when it came out but it's such a fucking cool and groovy record. The balance of 3 singers definitely keeps it interesting and the riffs are huge.

07) GREENWHEEL - Soma Holiday

I've seen love for both Fuel and Matchbox Twenty on here and Greenwheel were like if those two bands combined forces. This is another excellently crafted pop/rock record that never went anywhere due to the cluttered landscape of modern rock radio at the time. Fun fact: Melissa Etheridge covered their song "Breathe" and won a grammy for it.

08) HOME TOWN HERO - Home Town Hero

Before Aaron Bruno was AWOLNATION he was in this excellent fuzzy rock band. Big rock songs and big hooks.

09) UNWRITTEN LAW - Elva

Going beyond their typical skate-punk style, UL gave us a record that was stylistically all over the place while being routed in their SoCal sleeze punk.

10) TRAPT - Trapt

This is a controversial one, I know, but I was a huge Incubus guy in 2002 and Trapt was a logical extension. Their singer is obviously a dickbag but these are some excellent nu metal influenced rock songs big on melody.

11) INTERPOL - Turn On The Bright Lights

It took until Antics to make me an Interpol fan but as a guy who grew up in a NYC suburb and has lived in NYC for 15 + years, this was an excellent late night soundtrack to city life in the early 00's.

12) SYSTEM OF A DOWN - Steal This Album

Once Toxicity was huge, there was a bootleg album labeled Toxicity II floating around the internet. System was displeased with the quality of the recordings since they were demos so the band revised and re-recorded to officially release. Honestly, this plus Toxicity would have made for an awesome double-album as SOAD's quality control is so good.

13) PAPA ROACH - Lovehatetragedy

A lot of nu metal bands shit the bed in 2002-03 with their follow-ups and Papa Roach suffered a similar fate which is a shame since this album is much better than Infest and injects some 70's-style punk energy into their sludgy melodic attack.

14) RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - By The Way

Using Californication as a template, this is RHCP's most tuneful offering with some incredibly impressive guitar work by Frusciante. Word is that Flea was jealous he hogged the overdubs on this album but I think that was to its benefit as there are so many beautiful guitar lines here.

15) THE APEX THEORY - The Apex Theory

Like System Of A Down, this band was made up of 1st generation Armenians based in LA. Unlike SOAD, their approach to music is more colorful crafting a skitterish, jumpy take on rock. They unfairly got lumped in with the nu metal crowd (didn't help that they were on Ozzfest's second stage) but this is one of the great lost treasures from this era.

16) TAKING BACK SUNDAY - Tell All Your Friends

Nothing that I can say that hasn't already been said. TBS touched a nerve on so many online teens with a bitter yet funny take on relationships and the singing/screaming dynamics.

17) MAROON 5 - Songs About Jane

Crazy that this is the same band who would later make pap like "Moves Like Jagger" but here we are. Songs About Jane was an excellent R&B-infused pop/rock album which was SEVERELY uncool at the time. It's held up really well over the last 20 years.

18) WEEZER - Maladroit

A bit of a darkhorse in the Weezer discog since there isn't much of a narrative or personality to it but Maladroit is Rivers taking is often-talked about love of Kiss and injecting some big riffage into his power-pop.

19) SUM 41 - Does This Look Infected?

A much better front-to-back listen than All Killer No Filler. Similar to Weezer, Sum 41 finally made good on their boasting of metal influences by crossing that with their hooky pop-punk.

20) GOOD CHARLOTTE - The Young And Hopeless

For those not on message boards at the time, this album and band were extremely controversial with scene purists. I think a lot of it stemmed from bitterness as this album was just flat out more dynamic, well-written and frankly better than lots of the paint-by-the-numbers pop/punk. Joel and Benji Madden were influenced by punk but also hip-hop, Britpop and Top 40 which shows here.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

CHEVELLE - Wonder What's Next

A streamlined Tool/Deftones album which led to a two-decade career of cranking out tasty rock-radio post-grunge songs.

HOT HOT HEAT - Make Up The Breakdown

Probably the first of the pre-Killers retro new wave that I heard of, this album is still a blast.

ANDREW WK - I Get Wet

Released in 2001 outside the US, this finally saw a proper release in 2002 and it's an insanely fun hybrid of big theatrical stadium rock and slick pop production.

THE ALL AMERICAN REJECTS - The All American Rejects

Killer and sticky-sweet emo-flavored power pop.

FEEDER - Comfort In Sound

Big in the UK, Feeder tragically lost their drummer to suicide before this album. Comfort In Sound functions as songwriting therapy with some beautiful sad melodies.

INJECTED - Burn It Black

Another band lost to rock radio's D list, a great hooky rock record produced by Butch Walker

BUTCH WALKER - Left Of Self-Centered

Speaking of Butch, this was his first proper debut which even he himself describes as "spotty".

SPLENDER - To Whom It May Concern

More polished pop/rock with so much gloss it shines.

MATCHBOX TWENTY - More Than You Think You Are

My favorite MB20 album from front to back with Rob Thomas delivering some of his stickiest songs to date.

SPOON - Kill The Moonlight

This is where my Spoon fandom mainly starts as Britt Daniel proved he simply cannot write a bad song.

TRUST COMPANY - The Lonely Position Of Neutral

The speed at which Linkin Park became a band to ape is kind of amazing when you consider Trust Company were recording this album before Hybrid Theory was even a year old. They used the same producer who emphasized the harmonic-driven emo-tinged approach to their drop D attack.

 

Should also call out the Audioslave s/t which I think is really solid but runs a bit long (I definitely tend to forget a lot of the back half).

 

The back half of that album is stronger than the first imo. Shadow of the Sun, I am the Highway, Getaway Car, and the Last Remaining Light are my favorite tracks on the album.

 

I WANT to revisit this record, but I'm feeling a bit hesitant that it won't hold up so great.

"Shhh... (Hope Diggy)" is such a jam .... I remember it so well because at HFStival 2002 in DC, they played the video for it on the jumbotrons seemingly between EVERY band that day.

 

Whole thing definitely still holds up in my opinion. They toured with Andrew WK and the disgraced Lostprophets on the MTV2 tour that spring.

 

That trust company record is awesome.

 

Tracks 1-8 are excellent in my opinion. I think they could have cut two songs or saved those for bonus tracks for other markets in order to make it a more concise listen (like Out Of Exile is).

 

This probably dates the album the most but it's still hilarious.

 

I feel like the Coldplay album is a front runner. They need to reissue that with all the B-sides and remaster them all.

 

It doesn't quite maintain my attention for the full album but it's still seriously good. Some days I think Without You's my favourite Silverchair song.

 

It’s so funny. And he skewered the right targets!

 

I asked my wife which album she prefers and she said The Used.

 

i don’t count your posts anyways

 

there are three albums very close and then everything else

 

Clipse- Lord Willin'
Sum 41- Infected
Against Me- Reinventing Axl Rose

 

So that’s why Supreme Clientele didn’t win?

 

only possible reason

 

1. Minus the Bear - Highly Refined Pirates
2. Meshuggah - Nothing
3. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

 

Absinthe Party is a tune. I’m gonna go out that on.