Top of the Pops

It's time for the year to be reviewed. It's what we do. I decided to take a look at popular music for the year, 2005. First off, I should point out that on those rare occasions that I purchase a "Rolling Stone" magazine, I am on my way through an airport, so I don't always give the attention I might to the journalism (and cologne ads) found within. What I do notice is the Top 100 albums of the week, and the various other charts - such as the top college albums or the top ten singles. This is what my research tells me: I am hopelessly out of step with popular culture.
Of the Top Fifty Albums of 2005, according to Rolling Stone, I own precisely two of them: Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and The Foo Fighters' "In Your Honor." That would be a whopping four percent of the top fifty albums. I shudder to think what percentage that would be if we expanded the list to one hundred. I'm not guessing that would guarantee me an additional two albums. I read "Entertainment Weekly" - well - weekly and I do have some passing familiarity with the music and artists that are on the list, at least anecdotally. I find it is mildly important to be able to show up in a fourth grade classroom with some knowledge of Kanye West, or Black Eyed Peas. But Shakira? Kings of Leon? How can I possibly hope to appreciate all that pop music and still find time to grade papers?
The answer, it seems, has been given to me by my niece, a teenager with her own set of tastes and favorites. Download a song to try it. I discovered Franz Ferdinand this way, as well as The Killers' most recent CD. Rolling Stone's web site will sell you its top ten songs for just forty-nine cents apiece. We are returning to a pop-singles culture. Albums aren't as important, songs are becoming more so. I am familiar with one of the ten songs this week, primarily because the White Stripes played it on "The Daily Show." I resign myself to being sadly out of touch.
The alternative may be to take a page from my friend Darren's past. Many years ago, he and a buddy went to the library and began researching old issues of Rolling Stone. They compiled a list of every five star album that was reviewed from the mid-1970s on. They made it their mission to own every single one of them. Sometimes they were surprised at how much they liked what they heard - other times they got exactly what they expected. Still, this gave them a solid basis on which to judge everything that came after that.
As for me, I think I'll wait and see. I just got the thirtieth anniversary remastered "Born To Run" for Christmas. Back in 1975, that was five stars, wasn't it?