1979 placed 13th with 7.96 in the previous instalment but now we’re moving forward into the musical consciousness as we ask you to cast your minds back a mere 21 years from now to the heady days of 2002.
A reminder of the premise of the thread
After a number of days of posting and reminiscing, we’ll be rating the music of the year out of ten, based on the albums, singles, gigs, whatever that stand out for you that year, and voting for our favourite nominated albums and songs.
Everyone can nominate one album and one song from the year which will then be collated into side-polls two days before the thread closes - please make it clear when you post a nomination for the poll (as opposed to just posting clips or lists of songs and albums you like, which are very welcome).
Leaderboard
| Rank | Year | Rating | Top Album | Top Song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1991 | 8.98 | Slint - Spiderland | Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy |
| 2 | 1997 | 8.6 | Radiohead - OK Computer | The Beta Band - Dry The Rain |
| 3 | 1967 | 8.48 | Love - Forever Changes | Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning |
| 4 | 1977 | 8.41 | Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express | Donna Summer - I Feel Love |
| 5 | 1992 | 8.29 | Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted | Pulp - Babies |
| 5 | 2013 | 8.29 | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street |
| 7 | 2019 | 8.14 | Self Esteem - Compliments Please | Big Thief - Not |
| 8 | 1975 | 8.13 | Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night / Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks | Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Cortez the Killer |
| 8 | 2007 | 8.13 | LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver / Radiohead - In Rainbows | LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends / M.I.A. - Paper Planes |
| 10 | 2004 | 8.1 | Madvillain - Madvillainy / Arcade Fire - Funeral | The Walkmen - The Rat |
| 10 | 2001 | 8.1 | The Strokes - Is This It | Roots Manuva - Witness (1 Hope) / Mogwai - My Father My King |
| 12 | 1981 | 8.06 | The Cure - Faith | New Order - Ceremony |
| 13 | 1979 | 7.96 | Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures | Joy Division - Transmission |
| 14 | 1982 | 7.76 | The Cure - Pornography / Kate Bush - The Dreaming | Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding / The Associates - Party Fears Two |
| 15 | 2014 | 7.69 | FKA Twigs - LP1 | FKA Twigs - Two Weeks |
| 16 | 2010 | 7.66 | Kanye West - MBDTF / Joanna Newsom - Have One One Me / Beach House - Teen Dream | Robyn - Dancing On My Own |
| 17 | 1970 | 7.61 | Neil Young - After the Goldrush | Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up |
| 18 | 1990 | 7.47 | Sonic Youth - Goo | The Cure - Pictures of You |
| 18 | 1976 | 7.47 | David Bowie - Station to Station | Bob Dylan - Hurricane |
| 20 | 1986 | 7.42 | Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring | New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle |
| 21 | 2005 | 7.39 | Sufjan Stevens - Illinois | Amerie - 1 Thing |
| 22 | 1965 | 7.38 | The Beatles - Rubber Soul | Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) |
| 23 | 2017 | 7.36 | Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent | Kendrick Lamar - Humble |
| 24 | 1999 | 7.3 | Mogwai - Come On Die Young | Björk - All Is Full Of Love |
| 25 | 2009 | 7.1 | Fever Ray - Fever Ray | Animal Collective - My Girls |
| 26 | 1974 | 6.95 | Neil Young - On The Beach | Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - The Bottle |
| 27 | 1985 | 6.53 | Tom Waits - Rain Dogs | Prince and the Revolution - Raspberry Beret |
| 28 | 1962 | 6 | Howlin’ Wolf - Howlin’ Wolf | Dick Dale - Misirlou |
| 29 | 1961 | 5.16 | John Coltrane - My Favourite Things | Roy Orbison - Crying |
2002 was the year that Euro currency made it into physical circulation, the FIFA World Cup was held in Asia (and by two nations) for the first time, East Timor gained independence from Indonesia and joined the UN, Worldcom quickly displaced Enron as the largest accounting fraud case in US history less than one year later, and the BBC launched radio 6 Music.
We said goodbye to Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, the Queen Mother, Dudley Moore, Joe Strummer, John Thaw, Jam Master Jay, John Gotti and the British Bulldog, and hello to much of the Stranger Things cast and some other kids.
But how good was the music?
You have roughly ten days to nominate one album and one song which will then go into a poll along with a number rating poll for year overall out of 10, which will close a few days later.
Some lists for inspiration:
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/5888-top-50-albums-of-2002/
Best Albums of 2002 : Best Ever Albums
https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2002/
100 Greatest Albums of 2002 - DigitalDreamDoor
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/ratings/6-highest-rated/2002/1
The Top 25 Best Hip Hop Albums of 2002 - Beats, Rhymes and Lists
NME's best albums and tracks of 2002
100 Greatest Songs From 2002 (ranked by DigitalDreamDoor)
Nominations will be tallied here as the week goes on:
Album Nominations
Song Nominations
