Jessica's Top 100 Favorite Artists Of All-Time!
Mar 9, 2024 16:52:56 GMT -5
FreakyFlyBry and Pipa like this
Post by JessieLou on Mar 9, 2024 16:52:56 GMT -5
RANK IN 2014: #25 (+10)
FIRST SONG: Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991)
FAVORITE SONG: Heart-Shaped Box (1993)
FAVORITE MEMORY: I have two – becoming obsessed with Nevermind in early 2006 after billcs sent me the album in MP3 form, and seeing all the Nirvana and grunge-related landmarks including the house where Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love lived on the Stalking Seattle tour Unkie and I took in Seattle in 2018.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Just like with Tori Amos and Green Day, I don’t know what the f*ck I was thinking putting them so low on the list a decade ago.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: We can blame billcs for this one... well, kind of. Devyn also deserves some credit. I’ve heard the name many times over the years, but I did not get into them until I heard Devyn play “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “Come As You Are”, and “Heart-Shaped Box” on his Variety FM broadcasts back in 2005. Fast forward a couple months later in January 2006, I’m talking about Nirvana in an MSN chat and I asked billcs if he liked them. He said he did and owned a copy of Nevermind. This was the mid 2000’s, before streaming and Spotify was a thing, so we liked to send each other CD’s. I asked Bill if he could rip his copy of Nevermind and send it to me. He did, and I was hooked on first listen. A lot of people say that album is overrated - I strongly disagree. Between how excellent and well done all the songs are, to the impact it’s had on music, that album in my opinion deserves every bit of praise it has ever received. The only thing that really sucked about the band’s success is that it made Kurt Cobain unhappy and it drove him to suicide. I just hope he knew how happy his music made so many people, including myself.
RANK IN 2014: #9 (-5)
FIRST SONG: Malibu (1998)
FAVORITE SONG: Celebrity Skin (1998)
FAVORITE MEMORY: This is gonna age me – Courtney Love writing on my MySpace wall (yes, I still have the screenshot).
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Competition, plus Courtney has been MIA up until recently.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: And we can blame the poster formerly known as KelownaGuy (aka Dan) for this one! I remember hearing “Malibu” like once or twice when it was out and I liked it, but I didn’t start getting into Hole/Courtney until around 2005. Going back to the whole ripping CDs for each other thing, Dan and I did a trade - I sent him Hilary Duff’s Metamorphosis in exchange for Hole’s Celebrity Skin. I was hooked, I loved the entire album from start to finish. Courtney herself has actually said that “Northern Star” is her favorite song she has ever done. I love a lot of people prefer Live Through This - and that’s an excellent album as well - but Celebrity Skin still remains my favorite from them and one of my favorite albums ever. This may cause some controversy, but I think the entertainment industry has done Courtney Love so f*cking dirty. She struggles with a lot of mental health issues including what I have (Borderline Personality Disorder), and people made fun of her for it. She would tell it like it is about how shady the industry is, like her comments about Harvey Weinstein in 2005, and she was blacklisted from Hollywood. I even heard that Lou Taylor tried to put her under a conservatorship like Britney Spears, and that’s what caused Courtney to move to the UK (similarly that is also why Lindsay Lohan left the US). Kanye West says he likes Hitler and he gets a top 2 hit on the Hot 100. Morgan Wallen is caught on video saying the N-word and he gets the #1 song of 2023. Courtney Love calls out the entertainment industry on their bullshit, and she gets blacklisted and made fun of. Make it make sense!
RANK IN 2014: #20 (+7)
FIRST SONG: Dreams (1993)
FAVORITE SONG: Zombie (1994)
FAVORITE MEMORY: Definitely the Are You Listening era, especially when Jawshii created that poll asking who liked "When We Were Young" more, and everyone voted for me.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: When Dolores O’Riordan died in 2018, I went back and listened to all of my Cranberries albums and I was reminded of how much I love them.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: f*ck, this one is gonna get emotional. So I can’t credit a board member for getting me into them, I got into them all by myself. I heard "Dreams" when I was a kid and I wasn't super crazy about it at the time (but of course I love it now). Fast forward to early 2006, I heard “Zombie” somewhere (a Launch station I think?) and I was BLOWN. THE f*ck. AWAY. I needed to hear more songs from this band and I needed to hear more of this lady’s voice. Soon I ended up discovering other great songs like “Salvation”, “Promises”, and “Ode To My Family”. And then Dolores’ solo album... Christ almighty was that iconic or what?! "Ordinary Day" was my #1 song of 2007 for a reason. Dolores‘s voice is so pretty and so unique, nobody sounds like her. I’ve wanted to see the Cranberries in concert for years, but every time they would announce tour dates, they would skip Florida just like literally everybody else I like. At that time, traveling to another place for a concert wasn’t really an option for me, so as much as I didn’t want to, I just sucked it up and moved the f*ck on with my life. Then came the afternoon of January 15, 2018 - I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was up VERY early, I had to be at work at 4AM because we were doing inventory. I finally got a break around 12PM, and after eight straight hours of working and not having any food, the first thing I did when I clocked out for lunch was tear into that mediocre ass Domino’s Pizza that my manager provided. After I regrettably did that as I eventually got a tummy ache afterwards (as per usual with Domino's, yuck!), I got my phone out of my locker and turned it on. And that was when I saw the text from Pipa that made my jaw drop: "Jess, I’m so sorry. Dolores O'Riordan died." I was sitting in the break room just speechless and in total shock. She was my first (and to this date only) queen to pass away. To say I was so upset, and so heartbroken, would be an absolute understatement. Some people like to say, "Oh but you didn’t personally know them, oh it was a parasocial relationship, blah blah f*cking blah." That's right - I didn’t know her. I never met her. But her music made a difference in my life and always made me happy. Her music helped me through a lot of things, like my shitty ass freshman year of high school (Are You Listening? came out near the end of my freshman year). Her music and her voice always made me happy and always brought a smile to my face. So yeah, I think I had every damn right to be upset about her death. Even in the end (no pun intended), her music was just as great because I absolutely loved "All Over Now" (which was my #1 song of 2019). I absolutely loved "Wake Me When It's Over" too and it has become one of my favorite Cranberries songs ever. When I said in my commentary for Madonna that there was no way I was gonna let her get Dolores'd for me, what I meant by that was after she passed away, my "accept it and move the f*ck on" mentality with concerts completely changed. I used to be the type who would put it off and be like "oh one day I’ll see that artist." That ended the day Dolores O'Riordan died. Since then I have taken advantage of my - Patti LaBelle reference not intended - new attitude. Since then I have seen several artists outside of Florida (and where I'm currently living, Saskatchewan): I saw Phil Collins in Oakland, California, I saw Garbage in New Orleans, Louisiana, I saw Jerry Cantrell in Houston, Texas, I saw both Alice In Chains and Janet Jackson in Phoenix, Arizona, I saw Pearl Jam in Louisville, Kentucky, I saw Guns N’ Roses in Vancouver, British Columbia, and most recently of course, I saw Madonna in Toronto, Ontario. I may hate Drake with the burning of a thousand suns, but he was absolutely right when he said, "YOLO." Dolores O'Riordan, I love you and I miss you so freaking much. ❤️
RANK IN 2014: #12 (-)
FIRST SONG: Special (1998)
FAVORITE SONG: I Think I'm Paranoid (1998)
FAVORITE MEMORY: I loved all three Garbage concerts I’ve been to, but my favorite is still the first one – a headlining show in New Orleans, LA that Unkie and I went to in May 2019.
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Nothing changed tho. Although I do think seeing them in concert has made me appreciate them even more, plus I loved their last album No Gods No Masters ("The Men Who Rule The World" is legit one of my favorite songs from them ever).
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Earlier we had a streak of artists I got into in 2008, but this set is all about artists I discovered in 2005 - another huge year of music discovery for me. Just like with Hole, I do remember hearing one Garbage song in the 90s when it was out and liking it (“Special”), but I didn’t go more in depth into their discography until around the time “Why Do You Love Me” came out because I really liked that song (it got to #2 on my chart but it should’ve been a #1. I mean, where is Jann Arden on this list? ). Everything about Shirley Manson just oozes coolness to me. I was very surprised and sad to find out while watching their Behind The Music episode that she struggles with confidence and body image. I can definitely relate to that but I personally think she has nothing to worry about, I think she’s gorgeous and fierce as hell! I have enjoyed all of their albums, but my favorite honestly is still the debut. I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing Garbage three times - 2019 in New Orleans, LA, 2021 in Tampa, FL, and 2023 in Phoenix, AZ. They put on a fantastic show and always have a great setlist of past and present hits. Based on that pattern, I’m thinking I should see them again next year.
RANK IN 2014: #11 (-)
FIRST SONG: Last Kiss (1999)
FAVORITE SONG: Jeremy (1991)
FAVORITE MEMORY: I have two - seeing them in concert in 2022, and when their self-titled era dominated my chart in 2006 (Unkie's jokes about them on the JT40 Countdown show are still hilarious )
WHAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED CHANGE IN RANK: Again... nothing changed.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: And again just like Hole and Garbage, I did like one 90’s song of theirs when it was out - “Last Kiss” - but the difference here is that I didn’t know it was a Pearl Jam song until years later. Just like with Nirvana, I’ve heard the name before over the years but I didn’t know any of their songs (or so I thought). My Dad has been a fan since the Ten era (still my favorite album of theirs by the way). Around the time I started getting into Nirvana, I started checking out Pearl Jam and I liked them instantly. I know a lot of people don’t f*ck with Eddie Vedder’s voice, and while he is definitely no Chris Cornell or Layne Staley, I always liked his voice too. I also appreciate that the song and video for “Jeremy” started a lot of conversations about bullying and mental health, especially in the early 90’s when that stuff was not talked about as much as it is today. And of course, there was my #1 song of 2006, “World Wide Suicide”, which remains legendary and iconic. I got to finally see Pearl Jam with Unkie in Louisville, Kentucky in 2022 and they were fantastic. I'd love to see them again if it wasn't such a pain in the ass to get their tickets. I am currently loving their new single "Dark Matter", which is also #1 on my chart right now, and I am looking forward to the album coming out next month!
No more hints – you guys will have to figure out the top 10 on your own.