Who and what brought me to the music, 2009

[koganbot]

Over on his own Pazz & Jop ballot, Josh Langhoff recommends that we list the "gatekeepers" who introduced us to our favorite music. Someone named "Chuck Eddy" recurs on his list. In any event, here's my P&J ballot again, this time with the added info of who or what first led me to the music. (I don't think "gatekeeper" is the right term, really.)

Singles 2009

1. Shystie ft. DJ Deekline "New Style" - Kat Stevens on poptimists
2. The Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow" - Lex Macpherson on his lj
3. Love And Theft "Runaway" - Chuck Eddy on the ilX Rolling Country 2009 thread
4. MC Lars ft. Brett Anderson & Gabe Saporta "Hey There Ophelia" - Moggy on her lj
5. Timberlee ft. Tosh "Heels" - Lex on his lj
6. The Lonely Island "I'm On A Boat" - Dave Moore, either on his Cure For Bedbugs blog or his Tumblr or his lj or by email
7. Das Racist "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)" - Kat Stevens, either on her lj or on poptimists
8. Rich Boy "Drop" - MySpace music front page (and my previous fandom of artist, whom I'd first heard back in '05 on Denver's reggaeton station when it was playing the shit out of the remix of "Get To Poppin'" featuring Pitbull)
9. Girls Aloud "Untouchable" - ?? I think it was through the Singles Jukebox
10. Röyksopp ft. Robyn "The Girl And The Robot" - Dave Moore by email, but I didn't start liking the song until it came up for review on the Jukebox and I revisited it

Albums 2009

1. Taylor Swift Fearless - My own vast insane fandom brought me to this one, with the help of Big Machine Records and various radio stations and other outlets (first heard Taylor on the radio in summer '06 but it was Jimmy Draper who insisted later in the year that I listen to her first album)
2. The-Dream Love Vs. Money - I think it was Lex who was talking this up first, but it might have been Dave. My interest already existed because of "Ditch That" (recommended by Luc Sante) and "Umbrella"
3. Ashley Monroe Satisfied - A Columbia publicist sent me the promo back in early 2006, probably at the instigation of Chuck Eddy, who was still music editor at the Voice (alb was shelved, finally released on iTunes this year)
4. Rihanna Rated R - The world at large
5. Scooter Under the Radar Over the Top (The Dark Side Edition) - Chuck Eddy, on my own lj (but I'd gotten him interested in Scooter in the first place, and I think it was Jeff Worrell who'd gotten me interested in Scooter)
6. Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You - The world, again, with special input from Erika Villani; but it was Mitya who first talked up Lily to me in March '06 on Rolling Teenpop, with enthusiastic support from David Orton and William Bloody Swygart; Mitya'd heard about her from Popjustice
7. Martina McBride Shine - The Ross-Broadway branch of the Denver Public Library (but it was Chuck Eddy who got me interested in McBride back in '99 or so)
8. Electrik Red How To Be A Lady: Volume 1 - This must have been Lex, again, on lj, with Dave right on his heels
9. K'naan Troubadour - Heard "ABC's" by accident when the record company was promoting it as its single of the week on its YouTube site which I was visiting for some other artist's track; finally got back to the album because Chuck and Xgau had praised it
10. Brad Paisley American Saturday Night - Chuck Eddy on ilX's Rolling Country 2009 thread

Comments

In Praise of "Gatekeeper"

[joshlanghoff.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna make a defense for "gatekeeper," which I think I swiped from Christgau's introduction to the Best American Music Writing book that he edited. He was talking about writing, not music. (So he gatekept that word for me? Maybe I could go either way.)

"Gatekeeper" DOES have negative implications, but for me that's sort of how music works--I want to hear EVERYTHING, and since that's not feasible, I rely on people who have already heard more, or other, stuff. In my fantasy of how, say, Christgau or Jody Rosen works, they get a bunch of CDs in the mail from label PR departments, hear stuff through various media outlets, and write reviews. (We probably wouldn't dispute that record labels and radio stations are gatekeepers.) Critics who don't work for big print media outlets are a little bit further down the chain, so they have to depend on a series of gatekeepers--Columbia sent this to Rosen, who wrote about it for Slate, which was read by somebody on ILX, who bought it and talked it up, so I checked it out from the library, where the buyer had heard about it through a different source, etc etc.

If all our gatekeepers disappeared, it's not like their recommendations wouldn't exist; we'd just hear different music. We'd trawl through myspace or spend way too much money at stores or go through every CD at the library (which I am SO going to do this year). And while unlikely, it's possible we'd stumble across the same stuff. So while there's a positive sense to what the people on our lists are doing--guiding us toward this music that we love--that music would always be there anyway, as part of the overwhelming crowd with pitchforks bursting to get inside the gate of our ears. If that makes sense.

(Hi Chuck! Thanx!)