Red

I am not. And I like Lykke Li. I swear, I didn't mean to make a pun there. Ooh, that's a fun one to answer, because, honestly, it would be easier for me to tell you all what songs I've been listening to than artists. Ichiko Aoba, Jessie Ware, Weyes Blood, McKinley Dixon, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, those are just a couple off the top of my head. That's something that I'm pretty sure maybe one or two people have ever accomplished, and I am definitely not one of those people. Apparently, he's just as hard to reach as he has ever been. Some things never change. Nah, I never really had any beef with any of the mods. And yes, of course Ava Max used payola to get to the top of ATRL. I thought this was well-known. Entirely? No. But enough, which is better than not happy at all. They know who they were. "got gay gay", like it wasn't from the get go lol...also, is that a movement to support Dr. Luke? If so, why? Sure, but I don't like them like them. I'm a rare straight on a forum full of gays. And yes, believe me, I tried. Many, many times. I don't know if this is the case now, but we did have a few mods back in the day that would be quicker to take care of certain threads than others because they were attacking artists they did like. As long as the fans of those artists didn't attack Britney or Christina, generally, they were left alone. But you know the saying, "don't stir up a hornet's nest"? That basically applied in that situation. You went after Britney and Christina fans at your own risk. My body is sorry, too. I never, in a million years, expected Kali Uchis to have a big hit, and I'm so glad she did. I may have been reliable, but I have never in my life had steadiness.

That is not a question. (Do love that reaction, though.) Katy vs. Everyone. It was like watching lemmings fling themselves off a cliff. Please, they couldn't pay me enough money to push that song that hard. Having a life and trying to manage it can be difficult, yes. Didn't know that was still a thing, lol. Well, back when I was a mod, I know that they tended to keep registrations closed outside of certain times because a) the demand for new accounts was too much for the team to handle every day, and b) it created a sense of hype when registrations were opened, because it was so rare. I didn't know SYG was permanently closed, but, honestly, good. That thread only produced a handful of good things and a whole lot of negativity. Um...um... No. To be honest, the only reason I still care about that scene as much as I do is because of nostalgia. There were some great pop songs during that era, but most of them weren't big hits in the US. I loved ATRL back then, because it was a time where stan wars were not nearly as common as they would become, and it was just a place where people could talk about music and other pop culture ephemera and have a good time. I made a lot of good friends that I would talk to for years in those days. They've had to clean up after so many messes that I've made, let me tell you. I think mods do take a serious look at the reports for a few minutes. Then, they laugh at them and shred them. NFR is her best era, but I don't think that I've actively disliked anything of hers. Nah. At least back in my time, people were selected not to cover stan bases, but to represent the forum as a whole. I don't know if this has changed over the years, but I would assume that's still at least somewhat true. See? Now you understand why I mentioned people saying that I predated the dinosaurs! I don't know around 3/4 of the current mod team, does that work as an attack in the "I don't know her" sense?

One of my favorite pop artists growing up, still like a decent chunk of her work today, took way too long to get to the point where she was able to have control over her life. These do technically count as questions, so you're good. As far as I know, Kworb is doing fine. I also haven't really talked to him (or a bunch of the old guard) a lot lately. Me, when my topless photos leaked. Too many drugs in my system. (Actually, I just stepped down because I finally got tired of moderating and wanted to take a step back from everything for a while.) I did, and I'd do it again. Honestly, it's been so long that I can't remember everything that happened during my time, but I do remember multiple posters being outed as fakes. As for when I was a mod, it was on and off for about a decade (2003-2012 or 2013). In order for me to figure out exactly how long it is, I have to get full access to Classic ATRL...but I've forgotten my password, whoops. I have many ages. I've been told that I was around when Jesus lived, I've been told that I'm the age of a tube vent, and I've been told that I predate the dinosaurs. (I'm actually 36.) Honestly, because I got riheally tired of trying to swing both moderating duties and a life away from ATRL. I took them before? Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if I did lol Basically, I oversaw the rise of stan culture as it happened. I remember being here for 9/11, for Nipplegate, for a bunch of elections, for that time Hilary Duff decided to interpolate Depeche Mode, you name it, I was probably there for it in the 2000's. During Britney's peak, it was basically a battleground between Britney and Christina fans, and it was wild trying to keep the peace between them. During the breakdown wasn't nearly as fun, and, looking back, quite a few people made fools of themselves during that period. Trying to keep unruly stans in line. I had some memorable encounters with stans that didn't respond well to staff, and, uh, let's just say that I had to crack my knuckles a few times to handle them. High enough to be able to afford to live on my own and not really have to worry about expenses, low enough that I can't get complacent. About as big as Robin Thicke's career after "Blurred Lines". The best way I can describe that era is that it was a fever dream. At the same time, those were some really fun times and I never, ever want to re-live them.

Oh, wait, this isn't Reddit...

Alright, world...let's talk about the year in music 2017. 40-36 As someone who has always liked Joywave, I've never been able to get into either of their albums that much. There are songs on both albums that really stand out, like "Somebody New" and "Doubt", but Joywave just doesn't really strike me as an "albums artist", and that's the case on Content. Are there good songs on this album? Certainly, and, fittingly, my two favorite songs on the album are singles. "It's a Trip!" was the lead single, decidedly slower than some of the singles off of How Do You Feel Now?, but still quite effective. "Doubt" is great, and, honestly, would have fit better as the first single than "It's a Trip!". It just has that Joywave punch to it that "It's a Trip!" doesn't have. But while there are other songs that I enjoyed on this album ("Shutdown", "Rumors", "Content"), the second half of this album just isn't all that special at all, which brought this album down to the bottom of the top 40. You know, this album might actually be sticking with me more than I first thought it would. The best songs off of Portugal. The Man's latest album, Woodstock, are songs that I've been playing pretty regularly in recent weeks, especially the likes of "Rich Friends" and "Noise Pollution", both of which I hope end up being radio singles, though particularly "Rich Friends", which has *hit* written all over it. But that's not to say those are the only songs I enjoy on this album: I like the two main singles, "Live in the Moment" and the world-conquering hit "Feel It Still", as well as songs like "Number One". "Maybe I'm placing this album too low", I was thinking to myself...but then, I remembered that I don't even remotely remember what the other half of this album sounds like, it left that little of an impression on me. If you asked me at gunpoint to hum "Keep On", I would probably have a bullet in my head, because I could not do it. Woodstock would have been better served as an EP. Oh, how I wanted to like this one more than I did. I really like 10 Years, but, like Joywave, I can't really get into them beyond their singles. (how to live) AS GHOSTS is a solid album, don't get me wrong. If it wasn't, it wouldn't have made this list. The problem is that most of the songs, while decent-to-good songs, kind of just run together after a while. They're definitely capable of writing a strong song, which "Burnout" showcases quite well, but most of their songs tend to sound too similar to other songs that they have made or even other songs on their respective albums. Again, believe me, I wanted to like this one more, because I can tell that the quality is here...but there just isn't enough here to say that it's among the absolute best albums I've listened to this year. It's still worth a listen just for "Burnout", though. And speaking of albums where I can't really tell you how half the album sounds, Everything Everything's A Fever Dream! Admittedly, Everything Everything has slipped my radar, both purposefully and accidentally. Even the album that everyone and their mother told me to listen to and love, Get to Heaven, didn't grab my attention all that much. A Fever Dream grabbed my attention thanks to two monster songs: "Desire" and "Night of the Long Knives". "Desire" is basically Everything Everything doing their best Muse impression, but the key word there is "best". It's a pretty strong "Uprising" impersonation. "Night of the Long Knives", meanwhile, is breathtaking at times, the kind of song that has me questioning if I made the correct decision in largely ignoring them before now. But, like with Woodstock, I've forgotten about half of this album in remarkably short order. At least "Desire" and "Night of the Long Knives" exist. It's not possible for Spirit to be my most disappointing album this year, because a) it made this top 40 list, and b) it can't possibly be this year's most disappointing album when Arcade Fire's Everything Now exists. But Spirit might be the most disappointing album to actually make this list. I expected a LOT out of this album, especially after listening to songs like "Where's the Revolution", "So Much Love", and "You Move" before listening to the album proper. So you can only imagine my disappointment when those three songs are, pretty clearly, the standout songs on this album. Almost every album in my top ten has flaws that prevent them from being higher up on this list, but Spirit has the most damning flaws: Many of the songs on this album are just not very interesting, either in a good or bad way. My conundrum is that the songs that ARE interesting are really damn good and absolutely worth a listen, so I can't just not recommend listening to the album because those songs are on there. Sigh...where's the revolution for my top 40 albums list? Took me long enough, but the first Albums set is done and dusted. Join me...whenever the next update is (there you go, Red, keep it vague) for albums 35-31, featuring an album that is on a lot of year-end lists, a couple of albums that are not on a lot of year-end lists, and a couple of albums from bands who have made their fair share of year-end albums lists, though these albums have been getting less praise than some of their other efforts. See you then...whenever "then" is.

Well, since "Boyfriend" wasn't the hit it deserved to be, they might as well have been over. I'm still amazed that he released the MV three days before he died. The timing was impeccable. "not really"...in opposite world, maybe. #1 buddies. Yeah, I love "Madness" more than any rational person should, but "Midnight City" is still on another level. It's a song so good that The Chainsmokers were able to make their only good song because they ripped it off! It's kind of a shame that you don't return to the Cohen album, because I return to that album all the time, especially "Treaty". There are days when I prefer "Treaty" to "Darker". And speaking of albums...I intend on having the first update up soon, but, as always, I'm making no promises. I'm working on graphics now, so...wish me luck.

Another "No Halo" mention! Manchester Orchestra's best song (or one of their top five)! CONVERGE!...even if it's not one of my absolute favorites from that album, but it still rules! Tommy knows how to bring the goods.

That's exactly the reaction I had. "Wait, this is a thing that exists?!" "Cut to the Feeling" also exists.

I've already mentioned this once, but I'm starting to come around to "The Man" quite a bit. I'll be talking about "Los Ageless" later.

We both liked Wolf Alice's new album about the same, it looks like. Okay, time to talk about Paramore. As someone who has loved Paramore for a long time, this album didn't click with me..which is odd, because this album should be so up my alley that it might as well be screaming out to me, "RED, THIS IS THE ALBUM WE WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO MAKE!" And even beyond that, I really liked their self-titled album and thought that After Laughter was the natural progression for the band. So, really, I should be overjoyed with this album. Here's the thing, though: I found myself saying immediately after I listened to the album for the first time, "Oh, that was fine...when's the next album coming out?" I don't feel like they stuck the 80s pop landing as much as many feel they did, and there's a lot of rough spots. As a first try, it's fine, but I know they're capable of better, and I think that they will nail it on the next album, assuming they stick with this sound.

Did not even know that Lacuna Coil released something new. I guess I'm bound to still have some misses, right? Sigh...I wish I could love "Hard Times" as much as everyone else does.

Perfect spot for "One More Light", honestly. And HOLY CRAP, that screen cap of "The Way You Used to Do" is a little creepy. Solid first set. We even both have "Hard Times" missing our top 100s.

Another set, another group of songs that shouldn't be this low. Womp womp. I hope this is leading to "Spit Out the Bone" being much higher next year.

Whoa, I genuinely thought I'd be the only person to mention "No Halo", and I find out that MULTIPLE people are here for it. ATRL never fails to impress me. I did not think that I would be the only person to mention "Holding On" or "Ti Amo".

A lot of songs that I like (and a couple that I really don't), but I can't wait to talk about "Little Dark Age" in 2018. Might have a shot at top 20 or even top 10.