Every Tear A Basketball

Earlier this year, as Coldplay announced a new album and tracks from it started making their way around the internet, there was a rumor that one of the new Coldplay songs was a rip-off of a Peter Allen song. There was outrage. "How can Coldplay do something like that? Can they not write their own songs anymore?" "Coldplay is a fraud. Everything they have ever done up to this point is a sham." "Chris Martin is the worst thing to happen to music since the Day the Music Died. How does he sleep at night." "Coldplay lost is as soon as Chris Martin married an actress. They are just in it for the fame."

Then the buzz died down. The album came out and the themed tour began to roll along. The dialogue shifted from critique on the songs to condemnation for the stage show and band's thematic uniform couture. Glow in the dark punk. Blacklight homelessness. Their SNL performance looked like a redux of Ke$ha's set from last season. How dare they.

Amid all this Coldplay discrediting I noticed something. I couldn't hate Coldplay. I turned up the radio or the TV anytime a new Coldplay song of came on. I got the songs stuck in my head. I set the DVR for any late-night performances. I did everything short of cover my jeans in fluorescent nail polish. Part of me wanted to break-up with them and move on and to have some disdain for Chris Martin. But I just couldn't do it. Despite having all the reasons to Coldhate, it wasn't within me.

I found the same kind of rhetoric coming at me this wek as the NBA and its players wnet "nuclear" with their labor negotiations. "I'm done with the NBA. How dare they do this to ME." "Without the fans, you are nothing. Stop being so greedy and think about US." "I'm boycotting the NBA...let's go college Basketball!" "Go ahead and bicker over billions of dollars. I won't be here when you get back." "I'm switching to hockey. NHL is so much better. I've always loved it."

I'll admit, I was defeated for about 24 hours after the decertification/disclaimer/disbanding. I was ready to #occupy the nearest NBA arena, write my local congressman, boycott the nearest business of an NBA owner, and burn my Dwyane Wade t-shirt. But as I held the match up to the shirt, I realized I would regret this. I realized the league would play again and I would want to put that shirt on before every televised game and then take it off if the Heat fell behind because I was jinxing them. And then put it back on after they made a furious comeback. I would miss wearing it during the playoffs and hopefully the Finals. I wouldn't be able to hold my anger towards the league. I wouldn't be able to boycott the NBA any better than I was boycotting Coldplay.

Sure, I'd rather be devouring analysis of the Heat/Celtics matchup that was scheduled for tonight. I'd rather Coldplay have made an album more in line with Parachutes or A Rush Of Blood To The Head. At the very least I wish there had been a labor agreement already in place, even if some games were missed, just as I would rather enjoy Mylo Xyloto without the black light psychedelia. But this is where we are. Those decisions aren't mine to make and I can only hold it against them as long as my heart will allow. Turns out it's not very long at all.

Some time from now there will be a montage of LeBron cocking back for a dunk, Dwight Howard blocking a ball into the 4th row, Kobe hitting a turn around, Chris Paul whipping a behind the back pass in traffic, Dwyane Wade making some circus shot and one, and Kevin durant knocking down an effortless 30 footer. It will likely be set to "Para, para, para-dise" and I will likely get a smile on my face as the music fades to Stu Scott setting the stage for Magic, Wilbon and Jon Barry.

I can't hate the NBA. I can't hate Coldplay. And deep down inside, I don't think you can either.

Top 200 Albums of The Decade (41-75)

41. John Prine- Fair & Square
Years and years into a stellar career and maybe his best album?
42. Great Lake Swimmers- Ongiara
43. Postal Service- Give Up… with apologies to Owl City
44. Bright Eyes- I’m Wide Awake, It's Morning
45. Radiohead- Hail To The Thief
46. Travis- The Man Who
47. Rhett Miller- The Instigator
I'm not an Old 97s fan, but this album rules. And Jon Brion only makes it better. Take a listen to Our Love or Terrible Vision and tell me its poptastic goodness doesn't get you.
48. Feist- The Reminder
Let's not forget that, before the Apple spot, this album was supersolid.
49. Ray Lamontagne- Trouble
50. Rachael Yamagata- Happenstance
Trouble and Happenstance will always be connected for me- two of the unofficial albums of my "courtship." Best of Leonard Cohen and A Ghost Is Born are in there too.
51. Nada Surf- Let Go
52. Radiohead- In Rainbows
53. Teddy Thompson- As a giant Teddy Thompson fan, I couldn't pick just one. Having seen him about a dozen times while living in NY (and once, oddly, opening for Elliott Smith in Salt Lake City), I think I've earned the right to mix/match (which you'll see more of, trust me) . Here's to all of Separate Ways/his self titled debut/Upfront & Down Low/Piece of What You Need/I’m Your Man/Brokeback Mountain soundtrack. This is one of those cases of "How Did I Rank This So Low?" The answer is: "impetuousness and low I.Q."
54. Frightened Rabbit- Midnight Organ Flight
55. Death Cab For Cutie- Plansatlanticism
Continuing my artistic license of fusing albums. I loved Transatlanticism when it came out but a) their live show on that tour wasn't exactly impressive and b) Plans has stuck with me and borne more repeat listens over time.
56. Caitlin Cary/Thad Cockrell- Begonias
57. Joe Henry- Scar
58. Felice Brothers- s/t
59. Coldplay- Parachutes
Before they were trotting around in Gay Sgt. Pepper knockoffs, there was some real nuance to Coldplay (hey, A Rush Of Blood To The Head is in my Top 10, so clearly I have an affinity).
60. Mark Kozelek- Rock N Roll Singer
61. Once soundtrack
62. My Morning Jacket- It Still Moves
63. Pedro the Lion- Achilles Heel
64. Lucinda Williams- Essence
65. Atherton- Skyline Motel
66. Dan Bern- New American Language
67. Fiona Apple- Extraordinary Machine
68. Clem Snide- Soft Spot
Eef Barzelay is one of the unique voices (both literarily and aurally) of our time and this is him at his best. "I saw you, doubting yourself in the mirror. But you look good to me." Simple moments captured through a distinctly Eefy lens.
69. Whiskeytown- Pneumonia
70. Interpol- Turn on the Bright Lights
71. Damien Jurado- Caught In the Trees
I have listened to this album a ton over the past 2 weeks and have to say that my Top 10 of 2008 assessment was spot on.
72. Radiohead- Amnesiac
73. The Hold Steady- Stay Positive
74. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- BRMC
75. Low- The Great Destroyer

Top 200 Albums of The Decade (1-10)

'Tis the season to be listing. So we'll add ours to the pile. This one? THE BLACK CONVERSE'S BEST ALBUMS OF THE 00'S (since Charlie T consulted and wisely opted not to compile his own). Yes, this is supposed to be a hoops and music blog, even if we don't always do the greatest job showing it.

So...

200ish albums nominated in a manner so unscientific, so anti-methodical that it might actually be genius. Why is In Rainbows so low? I don't know. You're right: it should be higher. And what about this year's albums, why so low? Again, you're right, but I felt like they needed more time-testedness.

All in all, these are the albums that meant something to me/us this decade- a decade that saw me at two different colleges, in 4 big breakups, graduate, first big job, move to NYC, get married, move to UT, have a kid. Big stuff. Rather than elaborate on every single one, I've picked some at random to talk about and just listed the remainder. Surely this list will change tomorrow, maybe tonight. But I'll stand by it today.

So let's get to it. Ladies and gentlemen, "our" Top 10 of the 00's. (Notice how we don't make you rifle through a heap of albums before getting to the meat. Yeah, we rule. You can read the also-rans later on.)

10. The Hold Steady- Boys And Girls In America

We've never hid our love of The Hold Steady on TBC. And we ain't starting now.

This album was- poetically, considering the subject matter- my fist-pumping gateway drug.

9. Beck- Sea Change

Like I said, this decade saw 4 big heartbreaks. And this album was there for half of them.

The 1-2 combo of The Golden Age and Guess I'm Doing Fine still destroy me.

My favorite Beck album by a sampleslide. Or kitschslide. Or schtickslide. Whatever.

8. Sun Kil Moon- Ghosts of the Great Highway

Mark Kozelek's best record.

If you need more explanation than that, you need more Mark Kozelek in your life.

Particularly your ears.

Sad, mournful, nostalgic, gorgeous.

7. Ryan Adams- Heartbreaker

This album changed the way I listen to music forever. Most fans have spent a good deal of time wishing Ryan Adams would revisit this world. I spend that time just happy he ever did.

"Come Pick Me Up." Best Song of the Decade? Or Best Song Ever?

The album art, however, has always been baffling to me.

6. Coldplay- A Rush of Blood To The Head

Oh, Coldplay, we hardly knew thee.

5. Radiohead- Kid A

No Top 10 list is complete without it.

Understandably.

People think that In Rainbows was their groundbreaking move.

How about recording an amazing-but-not-particularly-radio-friendly follow-up to OK Computer?

It saved them from themselves. And gave us all an incredible record.

4. Arcade Fire- Funeral

All of these records are great,

but I think 20 years from now

this will be the one that was perhaps

the most game-changing.

Listen to Fanfarlo,

one of our favorite records of 09,

and tell me differently.

3. Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago

Too soon, you say?

That's funny. I was thinking, "too low."

2. The National- Boxer

Everything about this album works for me.

Smart lyrics and melodies, especially in light of the mumbliness.

Incredibly moving and layered arrangements.

And if it has a weak spot, well, it doesn't so stop pretending it does.

1. Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Shame On Me: Vol I or Let's See How Far We've Come

Shame On Me, the newest recurring topic on The Black Converse, aims to get to the root of two core TBC beliefs: 1) It's the song that matters, meaning a good song is a good song, no matter who sings, wrote, likes, blogs about it, slogs it, is in its video; 2) Everyone is allowed some guilty (in this case: frowned upon by indie rock blogoscenti) pleasures that- when no one else is in the car (and, in brazen moments, when the car's full)- you don't change the station, maybe even sing along. Kind of like rooting for Kobe in the Olympics.

We'll explore what, for us, those songs/players are and why a) we like them and b) we know we shouldn't.

VOL. I
Matchbox 20- How Far We've Come

WHY I SHOULDN'T
- It's 3 AM, they must be sucky.
Their list of crimes against humanity (not to mention charges of being The Poor Man's Counting Crows, Wussier Edwin McCain, and The Guy Who Wrote That Crappy Santana Comeback song) is endless. Besides this song, I can't think of another Matchbox 20 song I'd go near with 15 terrible Santana PRS guitars.

- Two words: Rob Thomas.
His solo record is so terribly tailored for dumb, saccharine radio, for taking us in and out of commercials on Entertainment Tonight, for pleasing at least 72% of all focus groups in selected target demographics. People should stop insulting Adam Duritz by comparing him to this dude. Say what you will about the last handful of Counting Crows albums, but there's no way in hell Duritz would sell out to the popcrapstic degree that Mr. Thomas did. Every note feels like an autotuned clone from the same Photoshop lab that brought us Fergie and Nick Lachey. It's like watching (arguably) good-looking people do math.


- Rob Didn't Start The Fire.
I googled "How Far We've Come" and read about the video, which is apparently one of those big Billy Joel Didn't Start The Fire-ish laundry lists of shots that are culturally relevant and compelling. For example, just the bookends: the civil rights movement -> Obama. Ugh. I shed a tear on election day and still I will not watch it, Sam I Am. You can almost see the guys inputting the formula for most licensing opportunities...did I mention this seems like mathematic songwriting? I've heard Rivers Cuomo has an actual equation.

-"Exile On Mainstream?"
Really, guys? 9 out of 10 gynecologists recommend your music and you're gonna try to throw a Stones reference in there? Yeah, I get that you're playing the "We Don't Get Props Because We Write Hits" martyr card. But come on. Wasn't there a Lionel Richie album you could borrow from? PS: Liz Phair did it before and better than you with Exile On Guyville.

- The B-Sides.
Supposedly, the single features the band doing their version of the Black Crowes' "Remedy" and Bowie's "Modern Love." I will pass, thank you. No, really, thank you.

- The Lyrics.
Leonard Cohen it's not. Try it on for size and see its anthemic generalities and vague desperation/dissatisfaction almost move you. Almost.

WHY I LIKE IT
Maybe this is a bad way to categorize, because, man, I just like it. I do. I listen to it EVERY TIME IT COMES ON. Stereogum is welcome to come on over here and revoke any indie credentials I may have once had. (But first they'll have to stop pretending that Billy Corgan news is relevant. Those are my conditions.)

- Two more words: Rob Thomas.
I read an interview once, that unfortunately I couldn't dig up online, where Mr. Thomas talked about how bummed out it made him when he realized that Matchbox 20 was the band every other band liked to crap on. He gets some points for being self-aware enough to see and acknowledge that. And even more points when he followed it up by saying, "I guess Creed is my Matchbox 20." (For all of you thinking, "No way, Spike. I can't name a worse band than Matchbox 20," I believe Rob has done the research for you.) For all the flogging every other band and I give them, Mr. Thomas knows hooks. And this song's got hooks like Kareem.

- America's Newest Hitmakers. Speaking of hooks, in the Why I Shouldn't section above, I railed against how Mr. Thomas' solo record was Exhibit A in writing for radio, writing for media placement, riding trend waves, etc. This song is no different. If you ask me, Matchbox 20 sat down and said, "We should write a song like The Killers with some Arcade Fire," except for mainstream radio. (Not that the Killers will ever have to bear the albatross of being indie, but I don't think I have to do a dissertation on the stratification of mainstream) Anthemic, manic, driving, fist-pumping shouty choruses, etc. U2 has been mining the youth movements for a few albums now. Why can't the Matchboxes? Even the normally grating delivery of Mr. Thomas (our whipping boy, or Scott Stapp, if you will) is more than appropriate.

- The lyrics + the melody. Crap. I cannot condone this brand of Vaguely Anthemic 101 at Coldplay University lyrics. But I'll be darned if they don't con me into singing along everytime it gets to: "if you got someone you can SAY GOOD BYE TO..." Good writers marry the lyrics to the melody and this song does that really well, even if the words on paper read like a Clippers media guide.

- The bridge. I should hate everything about it, but somehow I kind of dig the way Mr. Thomas delivers the bridge in that weird, i don't know, is he brooding voice? It should bug me, right? And there I am, halfway hoping it doesn't end. And the guitars are good. And you know exactly where it's going. But you go there anyway. WILLINGLY.

- The horn part on If You're Gone. I know it's not even this song. But it's kind of money and I felt like, while I was confessing, I might as well lay it on the priest.

What Do Pope John Paul II, Whoopi Goldberg and Bob Hope Have In Common?

They were all talked into being a part of Globtrotter's lore. Just like I am trying to talk myself into the Heat's recent acquisition of Globetrotter alum Jamario Moon.

Last night's game-winning dunk by Marion makes this a little bittersweet. But the 6 blocks Jermaine had the other night are something to build on. Still, ugh...I feel like I'm trying to talk myself into either of the last two and a half Coldplay albums. I'm just glad the Heat haven't decided to suit up in Revolutionary War outfits. Is it just me or is Coldplay also wearing Han Solo's pants?

I know Riley likes a legitimate big man playing center. I do too. But Jermaine O'Neal? Why don't we hold out to get one with two working legs?