Tis the Season for "Best of 2006" Lists

Posted at 11:00 AM on November 28, 2006 by Hans Eisenbeis (4 Comments)

For almost 40 years, the Village Voice published a wide-ranging annual poll of the best critics making their best recommendations about the best music of the year. It was always framed by a mind-bending, tongue-twisting, occasionally inspiring dissertation by Bob Christgau, the self-described "Dean of Rock Criticism." Like any "best of" list, its usefulness—to regular folks like us—came down to a memory jog: Oh, THAT was released this year? I forgot about that!

Anyway, that all got shot to tarnation last year when the Village Voice got bought by angry populist carpetbaggers from Arizona, who wanted to retrench the paper as a local lower-Manhattan weekly circular rather than the second-most-recognized brand name in American print.

The rest of this dramatic and breathtaking story, after the jump.

Everyone knows print is dead anyway, right? So in gleefully self-promoting fashion, the kids over at Idolator have puffed up the historical importance of the Pazz & Jop poll only to decry its sacrifice at the hands of the Voice's new owners.

Why? Glad you asked! To announce that they have more or less decided to hijack the idea.

Pazz & Jop was a godsend for those in need of intelligent cultural criticism, a bellwether of the musical tastes of the nation's critics, and a testament to the power of the independent press.

It's oddly disorienting to find Idolator enthusiastically unsnarky about anything, so this should be good news. If only we could shake this feeling that people who most needed the poll were those who wrote it and read it-- the critics of the powerful independent press.

Oh, and by the way: Check out The Current's "Best 89 Albums of 2006," here. You can vote for your faves too. Critics? We don't need no stinkin' critics!

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Comments (4)

Every year, I collect hundreds of "best of" lists. Here's this year's collection, just starting to bloom:

http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2006.cfm

Posted by Rex | November 28, 2006 7:16 PM

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Cool site. Thank you!

Posted by mentoring programsprofessional | February 16, 2007 3:59 PM

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Cool site. Thanks:-)

Posted by kendrion | February 16, 2007 4:01 PM

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I just want to say thank you for taking the time & effort for put this web page together!

Posted by Lillian | March 22, 2007 12:15 AM

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