Wow, talk about shooting fish in a barrel. The WORST music of the year? Where does one start? At least Jim DeRogatis, our favorite critical crank, is restricting his list to things that have had some public exposure – in fact, much of his list is recordings that might not be genuinely BAD, but which are far short of the hype that preceded or accompanied them. So major disappointments is perhaps a better description of his list.
A lot of the worst music just never makes it onto the radio or into the press. You may find that hard to believe when you hear, say Janet Jackson trying to peddle her soft-core porn-pop on the radio, but as bad as that is, there are things that cross my desk that are even worse. I mean, at least bad pop music is competently put together; but the DIY trend that has allowed us to hear so much great but off-center indie rock also means you have to wade through piles of CDs and MP3s made by the truly incompetent. And while some of them are good for a quick laugh, most just make you want to shoot the mailman.
So I wouldn’t actually do a “worst of” list – what would be the point? It’d just be mean-spirited to trash the middle-aged shopkeeper in West Orange who sent a CD with his country song responses to 9/11, even if he seems to think that all the songs need is exposure and he’ll be lionized as America’s Next Great Songwriter. Plus a list like that would require me to actually listen repeatedly to the various contenders to determine who makes the list and who doesn’t. It’s bad enough that I have to occasionally hear Janet Jackson.
You don’t always control what music you end up hearing – what did you hear in 2008 that you really wish you hadn’t? Leave a comment.
John Schaefer has hosted Soundcheck since the show’s inception in 2002. He has also hosted and produced WNYC’s radio series New Sounds since 1982 (“The No. 1 radio show for the Global Village” – Billboard) and the New Sounds Live concert series since 1986.
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