Rolling Stone unveils their top 50 of 2008

TV On The Radio landed #1. Image courtesy Amazon.com.

It’s the end of the year, and you know what that means – lists, lists and more lists. Probably one of the most debated year after year are the Rolling Stone Top 50 Albums and their Top 100 Singles lists.

Landing atop the top 50 albums of the year were Brooklyn, NY alt-rockers TV On The Radio with their latest release, “Dear Science.” According to the entry, the “year’s finest rock record was also the one that sounded the most like America in 2008, with infernal visions of war and economic desperation.”

Other notable entries in the top 10 included Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” at number three, Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” at number seven and Metallica’s comeback album, “Death Magnetic,” at number nine. I must say that the most surprising entry is Girl Talk’s “Feed The Animals” at number 24. An album made entirely of mixed samples by other artists placed above other albums like Nine Inch Nails’ “The Slip” and MGMT’s “Oracular Spectacular”? OK Rolling Stone.

Also sure to cause some controversy is their choice for the year’s best single – Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put A RIng On It).” Sure, it was a good song, but a tad repetitive. Oh, and the lyrics are awful.

But what fun is a list if you agree with it completely? Check back soon for what I thought were the year’s 50 best songs and 10 best albums.

Concert Calendar 12/14/08-1/18/09

Wu-Tang Clan. Photo courtesy Wu-Tang Corp.

What better way to kill some time over winter break than hitting up a show? I dug around a bit and found these gems. The artist name’s are linked straight to the venue site to make ticket buying a bit easier.

Wu-Tang Clan
When: Sat., Dec. 20 (also performing Fri., Jan. 2 at Lupo’s)
Where: Toad’s Place
Ticket Prices: $40

Gwar w/ Kingdom of Sorrow and Toxic Holocaust
When: Fri., Dec. 19
Where: Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel

Gwar. Photo courtesy of MySpace.

Ticket Prices: Advance – $18, Day of Show – $22

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
When: Tues., Dec. 30
Where: Toad’s Place
Ticket Prices: Advance – $25, Day of Show – $30

Anberlin w/ Medina Lake and Between the Trees
When: Sun., Jan. 11
Where: Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
Ticket Prices: Advance – $9.95, Day of Show – $12

And the beat goes on.

The image to the left was taken on July 28, 2007, at Randall’s Island in New York. It was the annual hip-hop festival Rock The Bells’ first night. Now you may be wondering why is this blurry cell phone picture important? Well, because on that special hot summer night, in front of hundreds of thousands of people, Rage Against the Machine took the stage for their second show in seven years after reuniting two months earlier at the Coachella Music Festival.

To say the night was memorable would be an understatement.

I’ll never forget standing there in the audience with three of my best friends; I’ll never forget cheering “Rage!” as we all waited impatiently between the Wu-Tang Clan’s set and theirs; and I will certainly never forget how Zach de la Rocha walked out on stage and simply said, “Good evening. We are Rage Against the Machine from Los Angeles, California.”

That’s the kind of effect music can have on a person – it consumes you, sucks you in and embeds itself on the mind. Music is my life, and it’s memories like this picture that I love sharing with other people. I understand that we as University of Connecticut students can feel isolated more often than not, and it’s true, Storrs isn’t exactly a bustling metropolis. But for those who share the same passion of music that I do, there are ways to overcome seclusion – ways I’ve outlined here on Music In Storrs, part blog, part information center on ways to get your music fix.