I noticed that Subpop Records is coming up on its 20th birthday. That means in one year, Subpop can legally purchase alcohol. And in seven years, Subpop can overdose on heroin.

This day should be marked as possibly the greatest in music history. 41 years ago, music, dare I say the world, was changed forever. On May 16, 1966 Pet Sounds AND Blonde On Blonde were both released. On the same fraking day. This should become a national holiday, or at least move the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame inductions to this day. How did Bob Dylan and Brian Wilson give the world two of the five greatest albums ever released on the same day? That’s like Citizen Kane and Rocky coming out on the same day. Or Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky being born on the same day. My mind is sufficiently blown.

This one is long overdue, but I was just listening to it while cleaning the house.
Electric Six — Senor Smoke
Kicks all kinds of total unconditional ass!
See it was so good I couldn’t even keep the two word review to two words.

40. The Secret Machines Now Here Is Nowhere
39. Gretchen Wilson Here For The Party
38. The Thrills Let’s Bottle Bohemia
37. R.E.M. Around The Sun
36. Ambulance LTD Ambulance LTD
35. The Walkmen Bows And Arrows
34. Brides Of Destruction Here Come The Brides
33. Tift Merrit Tambourine
32. Probot Probot
31. Chingy Powerballin’
30. Cake Pressure Chief
29. Toots & The Maytals True Love
28. Nancy Sinatra Nancy Sinatra
27. Holly Williams The Ones We Never Knew
26. A Perfect Circle eMOTIVe
25. Nellie McKay Get Away From Me
24. Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand
23. Challenger Give People What They Need In Lethal Doses
22. Slum Village Detroit Deli: A Taste Of Detroit
21. Elf Power Walking With Beggar Boys
20. Todd Snider East Nashville Skyline
19. Ludacris Red Light District
18. Elliot Smith A Basement On THe Hill
17. Snow Patrol Final Straw
16. Nas Street Disciple
15. Handsome Boy Modeling School White People
14. Von Bondies Pawn Shoppe Heart
13. Badly Drawn Boy One Plus One Is One
12. Jesse Malin The Heat
11. Pat Green Lucky Ones
10. Bowling For Soup A Hangover You Don’t Deserve
9. Drive-By Truckers The Dirty South
8. Brian Wilson Smile
7. The Hives Tyranosaurus Hives
6. Prince Musicology
5. Green Day American Idiot
4. Killers Hot Fuss
3. Kanye West The College Dropout
2. Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose
1. TV On The Radio Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

The guy that lived in my apartment before me forgot to cancel several magazine subscriptions. I have enjoyed the free offerings of Time and Entertainment Weekly. Then one day a magazine shows up wrapped in gray plastic. I thought “whoo-hoo, free porn.” Actually it was Out. The vast majority of the issue was dedicated to gay marriages. Then came the article titled “Is Madonna Over?” I began to wonder, if a gay publication is questioning Madonna’s staying power, then it may truely be the end. Then I decided the just recycle this article every time she releases a new album.

10 Ludacris Chicken N Beer
Chris Luva Luva has the Midas touch (he can even make a Missy Elliot song listenable). He drops phat beats, catchy hooks and damn entertaining lyrics. DTP Records is gonna be huge.
9 The Darkness Permission To Land
Putting the cock back in rock. I laughed these guys off when I was first made aware of them. It’s refreshing to see a band that is not afraid to be big, loud and over-the-top. Best of all, they get it.
8 Bubba Sparxxx Deliverance
This may have been the most pleasant musical surprise of 2003. The Mathis boy went in a different direction with his follow up and picked the right fork in the yellow wood. This one sounds much more Southern.
7 The Twilight Singers Blackberry Belle
This album is like a night out at a bar. It’s Loud. It’s smokey. It’s fun. It’s scary. It’s sexy. It’s dirty. It keeps bumping into you. It tries to charm you. It reminds you of why you came to the bar in the first place, to get drunk.
6 White Stripes Elephant
This was an album of the White Stripes being the White Stripes, but throwing a couple of changes in (such as Meg on lead vocals) just to make you wonder what else is to come.
5 Damien Rice O
An album you can put on in the background and kind of ignore or sit down for a listen and let it sink in. Most enjoyable either way.
4 Drive By Truckers Decoration Day
Southern boys singing about being Southern, even when they aren’t directly singing about being Southern. The best band to come out of Athens in a long time.
3 Jesse Malin The Fine Art Of Self Destruction
A New York bar owner singing about drinking and heartache. An album that makes you want to go into a room with a pen, a journal, a guitar, a bottle of whiskey and see what happens.
2 Outkast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Is this two albums or one? Does it matter? Does anybody not own this? Did anyone not weld it into their CD player the first few weeks after they bought it? The pride of Atlanta hip-hop just keep raising the bar with every album.
1 Ryan Adams Rock N Roll
My adoration and respect for Ryan Adams grew even more. He turned up the volume and actually seemed to smile. This album has several tunes that could be singles, they won’t be of course.

To paraphrase a great Southern author, Johnny Cash is dead and I don’t feel so good myself. I can’t even muster the will to bet on football. I just heard “A Boy Named Sue” in a bar last night. The Man In Black was probobly one of the greatest country cross-over artists ever. He brought a bad ass rock n’ roll attitude to country music. He defied Nashville. He defied network television. He helped make the careers of many talented musicians (including Bob Dylan). He sang gospel. He sang protest songs. He enjoyed a career resurgence in the 90’s. He made the world a better place. He brought joy to my life. He will be missed.

I was hanging out with a friend tonight when a Godsmack song started playing. We began discussing the band. She then told me she couldn’t remember the lead singer’s name. I informed her it was “Sully.” She replied “what an interesting and peculiar name.” At which point I had to break down reality and let her know that “Sully is the Massachusetts version of Bubba.”

Coming in a bit late on this one, but I would be remiss if I didn’t make mention of the passing of Nina Simone. There is no better soundtrack for sitting in a darkened room pulling big swigs off of a cheap bottle of wine than the music of Nina Simone. She displayed such a powerful voice, whether she was trying to get across love, heartache or impowerment, the message was clear. Glasses up! Hearts out! She will be missed…

Know I’ve got cool friends when I have conversations like this — “So, what’d you do today?” “Cleaned up around the house, ran some errands, paid my taxes. What’d you do today?” “I had a photo shoot for Blender with the Flaming Lips.” How fucking cool is that?