Max Daniels's Favorite Records Of 2002

I spent most of this year working and sleeping. Erm, make that sleeping and working. I didn't buy much (see entry #2), so I haven't put the top 20. Just the ones I developed a colossal attachment to.

1. The Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious (Reprise)
   It's been said.
   
   
2. Princess Superstar, Princess Superstar Is (Rapster)
   There's a reason why 'Bad Babysitter' sticks with me, and it's not just the line 'making six bucks an hour'. Though that is approximately what I make. It's milk-spraying clever, like most of this album. The music's more catchy than anything, but it most certainly doesn't suck. No indeedy.
   
   
3. The Streets, Original Pirate Material (Atlantic)
   The Beastie Boys. Princess Superstar. Foreskin 500. Jon Spencer. Eminem. Joan Osborne and Toni Childs for godssake. And now the Streets. It's probably time I examined my taste for black forms chiefly when they're interpreted by white people. I won't do that here though.
   
   
4. Apples in Stereo, Velocity of Sound (spinART)
   Bittersweet bubblegum; works like a charm for the whole family.
   
   
5. McLusky, McLusky Do Dallas (Too Pure)
   More funny lyrics, in fact the best of the year: 'My love is bigger than your love, we do more drugs than a touring funk band, sing it!' This record is a bucket of blood.
   
   
6. The Sadies, Stories Often Told (Yep Roc)
   Toronto country-and-western, emphasis on the Western, as sung by an undertaker-manqué and filtered through a cannabis fug. Goes great with Deadbolt, Johnny Cash, smoky tea and melancholy. If I lived in Bacon Strip, Manitoba, this would never leave my turntable.
   
   
7. Piebald, We Are the Only Friends We Have (Big Wheel Recreation)
   This record reminds me of my favorite couplet from the Australian picture _The Bank_: Boy meets girl. They race home and tear each other's clothes off. Boy: Shouldn't we get to know each other first? Girl: What if we don't like each other? This record is like that line: Practical, witty, direct, healthy, yearning, a bit frenzied, generous. It opens a door I want to step through.
   
   
8. Sahara Hotnights, Jennie Bomb (Jetset)
   After I bought this and played it a million times, trying to remember precisely what memories it was evoking, I read a review comparing these Swedes to Pat Benatar. Queasily, I felt the jolt of recognition. Moments later I decided: Pat Benatar is underrated.
   
   
9. Interpol, Turn On the Bright Lights (Matador)
   Yeah okay already; we know what you all hate about this record. Just shut up and let the few of us who love it lean in close and weep in peace.
   
   
10. Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
    Can't write anymore!