Back in the days when Robert Christgau was the music editor, the Village Voice annual Pazz And Jop Anuual Critics Poll was the last word on the previous year. It was pre-MLK Day, and, published in mid-February the first thing worth looking forward to in the New Year. Very well written with the Dean himself writing the overview and tons of extractions, definitions and thoughts, from writers all over the country. Plus favorite top tens were published. If you loved music, it was a blast that took a week to read. I kept it as a reference tool all year long.
With the publication of the 2011 poll on January 18th, 2012, those days are officially over. How can 700 music critics get together and come up with this lame piece of crap? I love Tune-Yards fine but I don't love her that fine, and that's as close to leftfirld as they get. And if all these guys got together and couldn't find a way to get Goblin on the Top album list, perhaps the rock critic establishment (needless to say we weren't not invited, though we listen and write about more music in a month than the average one of these does is in a year) sucks big time.
I mean really. Watch The Throne? Did we really need all these guys together to come up with that lie? Game, to name but one, was much much much better.
The writing wasn't bad but it wasn't much. There was a real problem in this mainstreaming consensus by the rock critics: there was no real POV of any use. These guys were left writing about how sales are down. Really? Wow. I did not know that.
The lead article was well intentioned nonsense: Maura Johnston had this to opine: "Indeed, a lot of the albums and singles that performed well had a sense of wonder about themselves, inviting the listeners on journeys that veered into unexpected places with gusto". Editor, editor…. will somebody please get an editor here now?
Let me help: "sense of wonder about themselves" doesn't mean anything at all. And even if you cut "about themselves" it is still so vague, Maura could have written the same line about 1971 or 2001. What album doesn't have a sense of wonder about itself? Sgt Peppers, The Wall and Nevermind all have a sense of wonder about themselves.
And that is the main thesis of the 2011 Pazz And Jop poll.
Really, if you are gonna irritate 700 people do so for a reason. If I had to pay for the Village Voice, this would have been bad enough for me to dump it.