RANK IN 2014: #51 (+21)
FIRST SONG: Crazy Train (1981)
FAVORITE SONG: Close My Eyes Forever (1989)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Getting into his music in 2008.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: More appreciation for his music/loving metal again, plus his two most recent albums had #1’s on my chart – “Ordinary Man” from the album of the same name, and “One Of Those Days” from Patient No. 9)
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: What a freaking legend man. Like many 90’s/2000’s kids, I was first introduced to Ozzy through his MTV reality show The Osbournes. I was not allowed to watch it at the time, but I knew of it because of how HUGE it was at the time. I just remember in the year 2002, the Osbourne family was everywhere. Fast forward a few years later in 2007, I hear his name again as he happened to do a duet with my big artist obsession at the time, Lita Ford (that song of course being the legendary and iconic “Close My Eyes Forever”. Between this as well as me getting into more hard rock and heavy metal artists, I became curious to check out the rest of his catalogue and he quickly became a huge favorite of mine. I feel like his music has been very consistent over the years. Even his more obscure eras like No Rest For The Wicked and Ozzmosis had bangers (“Crazy Babies” and “Perry Mason” both say hello). And as recently as 2022 he is still making great music. Patient No. 9 was a very solid era and I loved “One Of Those Days”. I’m glad he has seemed to overcome a lot of his health issues and is continuing to make music.
RANK IN 2014: #50 (+21)
FIRST SONG: Run To The Hills (1982)
FAVORITE SONG: The Number Of The Beast (1982)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Seeing then in concert in Sunrise, Florida with
Unkie in 2019.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: It’s a mix of two things – seeing them in concert, and loving/appreciating heavy metal again. “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” becoming a solo #1 for Bruce Dickinson on my chart was a plus!
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Another act I got into in 2008. I remember in the late summer/early fall of 2008 just binge listening to their discography and just like with Ozzy, I quickly became a big fan. And I LOVED their 2009 concert movie, Flight 666, which showed the band on their Somewhere Back In Time Tour traveling on singer Bruce Dickinson’s private jet flown by him (yes, he was a pilot). The whole band has so much energy on stage and Bruce… that VOICE! I’m so glad
Unkie and I got to see them in 2019 and they were just as good as I expected them to be. And they have so many classic songs. I mean, “The Number Of The Beast”? “Aces High”? “The Wickerman”? “Flight Of Icarus”? All BANGERS. Up the irons!
RANK IN 2014: #32 (+4)
FIRST SONG: It's Not Love (1985)
FAVORITE SONG: In My Dreams (1985)
FAVORITE MEMORY: I have two – the fall of 2008 when I was obsessed with them, and then four years later when
Unkie and I made fun of that on a Making Kanye Mad episode where Don Dokken introduced himself to Kanye by saying, “Hi, I’m Don Dokken, and I’m hot. I also don’t wear a wig.” We had to re-record that a few times because I was DYING of laughter!
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Loving/appreciating heavy metal again.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Hey look! Another band I got into in 2008! That was such a big year for me in music discovery – especially when it came to hard rock and heavy metal. Dokken were one of the biggest bands for me at that time. I loved everything I heard from them – Tooth & Nail, Under Lock And Key, and Back For The Attack are all still excellent albums. On top of that, I had a HUGE crush on singer Don Dokken after seeing all of Dokken’s 80’s videos. This is something that was embarrassingly chronicled in the daily journal I wrote it every day from ages 16 to 20 (so 2008-2012). I even put hearts next to his name! LMAO WHY AM I ADMITTING ALL OF THIS SHIT ON A PUBLIC MESSAGE BOARD. I’m not psycho I swear lmaoooo I was 16!! But yeah, former crush aside, their music has aged exceptionally well for me. Songs like “In My Dreams”, “When Heaven Comes Down”, and “The Hunter” sound just as great to me as they did 15 (!!) years ago.
RANK IN 2014: #29 (+2)
FIRST SONG: Landslide (1997 Version) (1997)
FAVORITE SONG: Dreams (1977)
FAVORITE MEMORY: The 1980 Yearbook episode of the Book Club where I discovered “Sisters Of The Moon”, and then two weeks later doing a Fleetwood Mac episode where I deemed Stevie Nicks a core artist and a queen.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Four words: “Sisters Of The Moon”.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This band wrote and recorded an ENTIRE ALBUM about how they all hate each other. Stevie Nicks made Lindsey Buckingham play guitar on songs where she basically calls him a douchebag. Lindsey Buckingham made Stevie Nicks sing back-up vocals on songs where he basically calls her a whore. Everyone in this band f*cking hates each other, but Christ almighty did they all sound amazing together or what? It amazes me how they made something so iconic and timeless out of… their hatred of each other.
But Rumours isn’t the only great Fleetwood Mac album. I know Tusk was a polarizing follow-up, but I thought it was very good – ESPECIALLY “Sisters Of The Moon”, which is probably my second favorite song of theirs just behind “Dreams”. Let’s also not forget Stevie’s solo career. “Edge Of Seventeen”, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, “Stand Back” – all excellent songs.
RANK IN 2014: #16 (-10)
FIRST SONG: Somewhere Out There (1987)
FAVORITE SONG: You're No Good (1975)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Binge listening to her catalogue and buying all her albums in 2014.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: The 70’s whore era is no more.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I know I keep saying this, but seriously… what a freaking VOICE. I fell in love with Linda the moment I first discovered “You’re No Good” near the end of 2013. What a freaking BANGER that song is. While I prefer Linda when she rocks out like in songs like that one, “Tumbling Dice”, and “How Do I Make You”, one thing that I really love and appreciate about Linda is that she has freaking done EVERYTHING. Rock (“Poor Poor Pitiful Me”), pop (“Don’t Know Much”), R&B (“Ooh Baby Baby”), country (“Blue Bayou”), Spanish (she has a few albums of Spanish music but I believe the most famous one is Canciones de Mi Padre), Broadway (The Pirates of Penzance). Not to mention, in the 80’s when everyone was going synth pop, she does a total 180 and does THREE ALBUMS IN A ROW of jazz music!!! WHO ELSE WAS DOING THAT?? My username right now may be Eclectic Grandpa, but Linda Ronstadt is the real eclectic one. What a true talent.
RANK IN 2014: #17 (-8)
FIRST SONG: Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) (1997)
FAVORITE SONG: As Long As You Love Me (1997)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Christ almighty just one??? I grew up on all their hits. I’m going to say “I Want It That Way” when it was out, because I still remember what a f*cking MOMENT that was. And also
Unkie and I LOVED the video for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Competition.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: One of the first groups I ever loved. Backstreet Boys were a HUGE part of childhood. People wanted to dismiss them as a teeny bopper fad, but all of them are extremely talented. They’re great singers, great dancers, and dammit do they know how to make a catchy pop song or what?! All of their hits sound just as great as they did when they were out. I still remember what an absolute MOMENT “I Want It That Way” and the release of the Millenium album were.
RANK IN 2014: #15 (-9)
FIRST SONG: Reflection (1998)
FAVORITE SONG: Genie In A Bottle (1999)
FAVORITE MEMORY: I have 2 – buying Stripped a week after it came out and playing it every day after school for the next few months until Madonna released American Life, and last year at my wedding my Dad and I did the father/daughter dance to “I Turn To You”.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: The mere existence of “Accelerate”.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: In my commentary for *NSYNC, I mentioned how I thought the “You either like BSB or *NSYNC” mentality of the early 2000’s was dumb as f*ck. Similarly, I felt the same was about the people who said you could only like Britney or Christina – I loved both of them. I still have so many memories of playing the f*ck out of Stripped when it came out, and as someone who has had an ongoing struggle with body image ever since I was a preteen, I absolutely loved “Beautiful” and that song always resonated with me a lot (and to be honest, I was considering putting that down under favorite song instead of “Genie In A Bottle”). I always thought she had an incredible voice, and even though she has let me down quite a bit over the last few years with “Accelerate” and whatever the hell the Bionic album was supposed to be, she is still someone who I will ALWAYS root for.
RANK IN 2014: #14 (-9)
FIRST SONG: Always Be My Baby (1995)
FAVORITE SONG: Always Be My Baby (1995)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Witnessing her huge comeback with The Emancipation of Mimi. What a moment that was!
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Competition, and Caution was the first album of hers I didn’t like at all.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: First of all,
Julian. Second of all, listen I know this is like the 973rd time I’m saying this in this thread but come on… THAT VOICE! Mariah was another one of my first favorite artists. I remember hearing “Always Be My Baby” on the radio as a kid and being a huge fan since. I know a lot of people on this board found her music over the years to be inconsistent, but honestly I have enjoyed most of her albums – my favorites being Butterfly, Daydream, and her self-titled debut.
RANK IN 2014: #37 (+15)
FIRST SONG: A Sorta Fairytale (2002)
FAVORITE SONG: Raspberry Swirl (1998)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Um… the entirety of 2005. If you know you know.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Truthfully, I don’t know what crack I was smoking when I only put her at #37 on the last list. #22 definitely makes more sense to me.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: First of all,
Cao Bin. Second of all, I used to be OBSESSED with Tori.
Cao Bin got me into her music around 2004-2005 and I’ve been hooked ever since. I binge watched her videos all the time in early 2005 and her music got me through a pretty crappy time in my life (I was going through it in 2005, and shitheads who used to post on here like Craig definitely didn’t help with that). Usually when preteens/teens rebel, they will rebel with rap or heavy metal or, especially back then, emo. I rebelled by listening to Tori Amos.
2005 me thought I was so hardcore listening to “Caught A Lite Sneeze” lmao. Here’s the thing though – I may be making fun of myself and joking about that, but honestly, Tori’s music IS badass. I mean, have y’all heard “Precious Things”?? “So you can make me cum, that doesn’t make you Jesus” may be one of my favorite lines in any song ever. And you can hear her emotion in a lot of her lyrically heavy songs like “Spark”, which is about her miscarriage, and the acapella “Me And A Gun” about her rape. So yeah, don’t sit there and tell me Tori isn’t a badass bitch just because she plays piano and not the electric guitar. Tori Amos is metal as f*ck and that is a hill I am more than willing to die on.
RANK IN 2014: #35 (+14)
FIRST SONG: Sweet Child O' Mine (1987)
FAVORITE SONG: November Rain (1991)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Seeing them in concert with
Pipa in Vancouver back in October. One of the better things that happened during that trainwreck of a trip.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: A year after the 2014 list, Axl and Slash made up after years of feuding and ended up reforming GNR. Between that, “Perhaps”, and the concert, that has all helped them A LOT for me. I never in a million years thought they would reconcile. Liam and Noel, your turn plz.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Definitely one of my favorite bands to come out in the 80’s. Appetite For Destruction is such a classic album from start to finish. Seeing them in concert with
Pipa in October was definitely one of the better things to happen during our trip to Vancouver (side note - Vancouver is the Ariana Grande of big cities: overrated as f*ck). They played for like 3 or 4 hours and they played EVERYTHING. The whole band sounded great and I’m so glad they were able to settle their differences and get back together.
16. Geddy, Alex, and Neil.
17. A band who recently overcame tragedy – a year after their longtime drummer suddenly passed away, they released their biggest album in years.
18. A legendary pop star who I’ve wanted and tried to see in concert since I was in single digits – and I FINALLY got to see her in Toronto in January!
19. Speaking of January, that was when this Berkeley, California band released their latest album.
20. This 80’s band was
Pipa’s first concert – and he fell asleep during the encore.