I finally got around to ordering my Pitchfork list, so here it is for anybody who’s interested.
When I look at my completed list, I’m surprised by how few of the albums I selected did not appear on a Pitchfork year-end or end-of-decade best of list. Does this mean that I’m a sheep thoughtlessly spinning whatever the almighty Pitchfork recommends? I don’t think so, but it does speak to the website’s huge influence on my developing musical taste.
I discovered Pitchfork in 2006, relatively late in the site’s life, when I was 16. Before I found Pitchfork, I exclusively listened to Classic Rock and the Hip-Hop on Hot 97. I was completely disillusioned with the state of modern rock. The music my friends listened to did not grab me in the same way that it obviously did for them. When I accidentally stumbled upon Pitchfork, I checked out their Best New Music section, and I found glowing reviews of bands I’d never heard of. I downloaded several of the most highly recommended albums, most notably The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America and TV on the Radio’s Return to Cookie Mountain (which narrowly missed my top 100), which blew my mind. After that I delved deep into their year-end lists, discovering artists like Spoon, Arcade Fire and Wilco, whom I still rank amongst my favorites and I otherwise might not have found until college. I proceeded to blow through their decade lists, making more discoveries on every page. These records were nothing like anything I’d ever heard, opening up a new world of musical possibilities and styles and convincing me that contemporary music could be just as good as the classics I worshipped.
So yeah, Pitchfork was important to me. I didn’t care about the snobbish attitude or gimmicky writing that permeated some of the reviews and lists, all I cared about was the new music I found every day. I still check Pitchfork daily, stay up late to read their year-end lists and stream all the songs from their track review section. I’ve learned not to blindly agree with their opinions and tastes, but my personal list is irrevocably colored by the lists I obsessed over in my late teens. These are all records that I love and that I hope everybody listens and learns to love them as much as I do.
