The Best Album of 2001

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What’s the Best Album of 2001? Let’s find out! A new match every M-F 9am Central. What just lost? Look at the pics above! Bracket: Newsletter: Managed by @kentmbeeson.bsky.social

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The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 28d

Then, we have one more for CHANGE from @robbiebuffalo.bsky.social. Take it away, Robbie!

There are very few albums that I anxiously anticipated as much as CHANGE. I had bought The
Dismemberment Plan's previous album EMERGENCY & I in early 2000 and became obsessed with it.
Their crazy mix of DC punk/math rock, new wave, art rock, funk, soul, and even hip-hop sounded like
nothing else to me. Singer/lyricist Travis Morrison is 10 years older than me, but his lyrics about
navigating the confusion, angst, and general ridiculousness of your early to mid 20's resonated completely
with me. I first saw the band in early 2001 and their live show blew me away. At the time they were playing
a few songs that would end up on CHANGE. "Time Bomb" in particular stood out. I couldn't wait to hear
what the whole album would sound like.
After getting the CD in the mail (this was 2001) I probably listened to CHANGE 10 times within the first
few days. I wasn't quite sure what to think. It was EMERGENCY & I but The Dismemberment Plan told
you exactly that with the album title. They weren't trying to recreate EMERGENCY & I, but how could
they? That album's unique alchemy would have been impossible to repeat. CHANGE does sand away the
abrasiveness of their earlier work - there's nothing with the spazzy, manic craziness of "I Love A Magician"
or "Girl O'Clock." But it still has all the hallmarks of the band's sounds - jittery, interlocking guitars,
keyboards and synth that can be both squiggly and rhythmic, and the tightest, most creative rhythm
section in indie rock. But it also adds a warmth and restraint to their music they hadn't displayed before.

"Time Bomb" did prove to be the most immediate song on the album. With its driving guitar and intense
keyboards the song propels forward with increasing momentum while Morrison recounts all the ways he is
a destructive force (a time bomb, poison, a trip wire, a fault line) before confessing that actually he's just
"a lost soul" sending out a "cry for help." "Face of the Earth" is another song that wouldn't have been out
of place on EMERGENCY & I, as Morrison describes an early relationship ending when the woman he's
dating literally vanishes in front of his eyes. I've always loved how vivid Morrison's imagery is, as he sings
about how "I freeze the look of pre-alert and study it still' before the woman is "jerked skywards, limbs
flailing like an unloved marionette.

But it's the more subtle, introspective songs on CHANGE that I come back to the most now. Many of
these songs are about accepting the limitations of who we are and what we can be but constantly striving
to move forward anyways. The warm keyboards and jittery guitar of "Superpowers" convey exhaustion
while Morrison sings "I guess you could call it Superpowers, but no one will change the world with what
I've got." The static guitar solo that builds to the full band kicking in together is one of my favorite
moments on the album. "Following Through" is a call to arms, as chiming guitars build to Morrison
proclaiming "I can do it anywhere with anyone at any time, don't you forget this is my life and it's going to
be good/not a promise or a threat or ultimatum, though i can do that too/l've just got this life, l've just got
to live, I'm just following through." "The Other Side" wrestles with the day-to-day contradictions between
the most casual interactions and the most serious relationships before resolving to keep pushing through.
went to pull my favorite line from the song as an example but found that I could take any line depending
on what I'm feeling at the moment. The "Other Side" also features another insane, highlight performance
from drummer Joe Easley. What I love so much about CHANGE is that so many of the songs include
these types of incredible, unique musical elements while stuffed to the brim with literary or insightful lyrics.

The album ends with "Ellen and Ben", a song where our narrator describes the beginning, middle, and
end of a relationship he observed. But what becomes clear as the song moves through its verses is that
our narrator isn't telling us the story of Ellen and Ben, but how Ellen and Ben made him think about his
own relationships. As the final verse makes clear what our narrator is really preoccupied with, the song's
extended outro builds to a warm and satisfying conclusion to CHANGE.
It's easy to roll your eyes at a more "mature" sounding album as that often can mean that a band has lost
their personality and tried to achieve a more mainstream sound. But CHANGE still sounds exactly like
The Dismemberment Plan. Over time I've come to appreciate it for everything it is, rather than what it isn't.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 28d

We have two Designated Cheerleaders today, and both are for CHANGE! First up, it’s @uosdwisrdewoh.bsky.social. Take it away, Paul!

Travis Morrison loves to sing "no" whether that be "no" or "know." Their debut album! (1995) was stuffed
with refusals, with several songs where the chorus was basically yelling "NO," and the whole record
concluding with him wailing "no no no no no noooooo way!"
The wailing anger of ! gave way to skittering anomie of ...Is Terrified (1997) and the existential dread of
Emergency & I (1999). Their four album Change is the dreaded mature record bands write as they face their
thirties. It's more positive, but old habits die hard. "No" is the second, eighth, and tenth word sung as it
opens. "There's no heaven and there's no hell, no limbo in between. I think it's all a lie."
Beyond the lyrics, the band is clicking like never before. The rough edges have been smoothed away, but
that does not portend the boredom that usually implies, rather the grooves are more assured, and the band
members feel full locked in and at ease with each other (and it's not like the energy's gone; Joe Easley's
relentless drums on "The Other Side" are awe-inspiring).

This is the good part of maturity. You're still wrestling with life's shit, a promising relationship that seems to
evaporate out of nowhere ("The Face of the Earth"), nothing going right ("Secret Curse"), absolute inertia
("Automatic"), but you're more able to grapple with it, to come at it with some hard-won wisdom.
"Come Home" is the kind of mature song that can go very wrong. It's sentimental and features a talk with his
dad, but it's the crux of the album, wrestling with all these feelings explicitly, with gemlike clarity, singing "that
anger's all right, and bitterness, no. Cold, uncontrollably sad and unable to let it go. And it should be as easy
as telling a scab from a scar. Well I don't know," and he repeats that last line and belts it out on the last
"know," taking up his old enthusiasm for that "no" sound.
"Ellen and Ben" finds Morrison downright contemplative, seeing friends come together and break apart with
wry distance and love, finally reflecting on his own space in the world, and finding it okay. "Well I'm doing
fine ... call me when you can now. You know how I love a surprise," and what word does he use to sing the
_album to a close? "Oh, yeah."

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 28d

#34 Silver Jews, BRIGHT FLIGHT Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/3nyA5C... YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

A color photograph, that has a faded, aged look to it, of a faded-pink couch. On the couch, propped up against the back cushion, is what looks like a Trapper Keeper style paper folder. It is black with green, orange, and red rectangles on it, as well as the number 4. Behind the couch are red drapes, or perhaps a blanket, covering a window.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 28d

#31 The Dismemberment Plan, CHANGE Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/1bsZo3... YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

A color photograph of the blue sky. In the upper right, a white cloud is creeping in. In the lower left, we see a sign that reads CHANGE that is presumably on the top of an unseen building.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 28d

The Best Album of 2001 Round 2 Match #82 #31 The Dismemberment Plan, CHANGE VS. #34 Silver Jews, BRIGHT FLIGHT Go here to vote: forms.gle/TJvHUinDb1mZ...

First pic: A color photograph of the blue sky. In the upper right, a white cloud is creeping in. In the lower left, we see a sign that reads CHANGE that is presumably on the top of an unseen building. Second pic: A color photograph, that has a faded, aged look to it, of a faded-pink couch. On the couch, propped up against the back cushion, is what looks like a Trapper Keeper style paper folder. It is black with green, orange, and red rectangles on it, as well as the number 4. Behind the couch are red drapes, or perhaps a blanket, covering a window.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

Painting of a shell-shocked soldier by (if my googling is correct) by Tom Lea that was in Life magazine.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

Part 3 of @guerrieroc.bsky.social's Designated Cheerleader for LAUNDRY SERVICE: [3/3] [That last one should’ve been 2/3]

As for the "she's sexy now" critique... yes, she most certainly is. Watch versions of "Ojos Asi" that she performed
during her 2002-2023 "Mongoose" tour in support of the album and the belly dancing and hip shaking are quite
different from those we saw in the original music video for the song from LADRONES. Sexy, "she-wolf" Shakira has
been part of her image ever since. No one would ever call her "timid" again.
Now fast-forward to the present, where Bad Bunny was the most streamed artist on Spotify in 2025. Benito followe
Shakira's path to the Super Bowl Halftime Show but didn't even bother singing in English on his way to becoming a
global icon. Times and attitudes change, but I would argue that without the trailblazing by Shakira (and Ricky,
among others), that wouldn't have been possible. The international success of LAUNDRY SERVICE (and her
subsequent albums) paved the way, while remaining true to her prior trajectory.
All hail the "Queen"!

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

Part 2 of @guerrieroc.bsky.social's Designated Cheerleader for LAUNDRY SERVICE: [2/2]

"Whenever, Wherever," the biggest hit from the album has Andean flutes and guitars, so it's the unmistakably
"atino" song this time, equivalent to "Ciega, Sordomuda." And after that? It gets eclectic (some may call it
"unfocused") and then once again, on the back end we have tracks that could perfectly be included on PIES
DESCALZOS (for example, "Te Dejo Madrid" and, language aside, "Poem to a Horse").
My point here is that LAUNDRY SERVICE has as many obviously "canciones Latinas" as her previous album, and
the rest of the songs display a clear through-line to her earlier work. She was being called the "Queen of Latin Pop"
by now, but she was never a "straight-forward /atina artist," and most of her tracks continued to be sonically neutral.
She wasn't making a radical break from her previously established style.

That's something that her pre-established Latin American audience completely missed (at least at the time).
Shakira wasn't trying to be a gringa. The real problem here in Latin America was the language switch, which was
disorienting, since most people don't understand English well enough to understand the lyrics. That was the *real*
source of angst and complaints that she was turning her back on "her people." And yet she still had included two
stand-alone Spanish language songs plus Spanish versions of "Objection (Tango)" and "Whenever, Wherever" on
the album; predicably the latter were her big hits down here.

Shakira was not all that fluent in English yet, so some of her lyrics do come across a bit vanilla, but there are still
some "very Shakira" turns of phrase on LAUNDRY SERVICE:
• In "Objection (Tango)" where she is in competition with another woman, she laments "Objection, I'm tied to
this triangle, got dizzy dancing tango."
• In "Whenever, Whereafter": "Lucky that my lips not only mumble, they spill kisses like a fountain" followed by
the incredible line "lucky that my breasts are small and humble, so you don't confuse 'em with mountains."
(In case you're wondering, she says the same thing in Spanish, except her breasts aren't "humble" there,
just "small").
• The song may be called "Poem to a Horse" but it's not about the animal, it's about an ex. "I'd rather eat my
soup with a fork, or drive a cab in New York, cause to talk to you is harder work... if it's just the same or ever
worse, than reading poems to a horse".
• In "Ready for the Good Times" we get "I used to sing the saddest songs, and in the meantime, roaches used
to climb my door, falling back down to the floor".

These are all phrases that could perfectly have come from her prior, Spanish albums. Meanwhile, this fantastic line:
"You were the one who bit the apple and rejected Paradise, but you blamed it on the snake even though you
wanted to do it" from PIES DESCALZOS, would work just as well on LAUNDRY SERVICE. If you listen to these
three albums back-to-back, you can only reach one conclusion in my opinion: both lyrically and musically, Shakira
has always been Shakira, no matter what language she sings in.
My only compliant with LAUNDRY SERVICE is that "Eyes Like Yours" the English version of "Ojos Asi" is woefully
inferior to the original from DONDE ESTAN LOS LADRONES. The less said about the English version the better,
but if you haven't heard the Spanish original, do look for it.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

Next up, for LAUNDRY SERVICE, it’s @guerrieroc.bsky.social. Take it away, Christopher! (This is 9 pics long, so there will be 3 posts.) [1/3]

Sometime in early 1996, I found a used CD bin at a flea market and in it a copy of Shakira's 1995 album, PIES
DESCALZOS. The first track "Estoy Aqui" was on heavy rotation on Chilean radio at the time, so I decided to pick it
up. To this day, it remains my favorite complete album from the Columbian superstar.
On the cover Shakira looks slightly melancholic and she's staring away from the camera. She has long, very dark
hair. She was young, only 18 years old, but this was already her third album. The first two were not successful, but
PIES DESCALZOS went on to become a hit in Latin America. While title track "Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos"
does have heavier guitar, for the most part the songs are structured around Shakira's acoustic guitar and, of
course, her distinctive voice. Her lyrics are quirky, with some truly unexpected turns of phrase.
When she toured in Chile at that time, all of the reviews were positive, but you can find descriptions like "timid,"
"tiny" and "sweet balladeer" in them.

Her next album, 1998's DONDE ESTÄN LOS LADRONES? turned Shakira into a Latin American superstar and a
household name. In several of the videos, her long hair is dyed crimson and she's wearing low rise jeans. She
certainly looks more sure of herself, but even in the video to "Ojos Asi" the half Spanish-half Arabic song in which
she belly dances and moves the hips which would soon be world famous, she doesn't come across as a "sex
bomb."
(An aside: Shakira's primary family name is Mebarak; her father's family was originally from Lebanon. So neither
the use of Arabic nor her belly dancing was a sort of appropriation of exotic orientalist tropes, but part of her
upbringing.)
Since this is supposed to be a Designated Cheerleader for her 2001 album, LAUNDRY SERVICE, you may be
wondering why I am taking the time to tell you about her prior albums and why l'm fixating on her appearance.
I'm doing so because when LAUNDRY SERVICE came out, it caused quite a stir in Latin America. Shakira was non
blonde, most definitely sexy and 9 of the 13 songs were in English. "The Britney-Spearification of Shakira!" a
headline down here screamed about her new look, and it wasn't intended as a compliment. "She wants to be a
gringa and turn her back on her people."

Shakira was working with Emilio and Gloria "Miami Sound Machine" Estefan and it was Gloria who suggested that
the young Colombian follow in the footsteps of Ricky Martin, who's self-titled 1999 English album (you may recall
"Livin' the Vida Loca") had turned him into a breakout star in the States. LAUNDRY SERVICE was a calculated
crossover bet and it paid off handsomely, turning Shakira into a global superstar.
In an interview with Billboard, Shakira said that working on the album was "almost like being reborn" but she was
very aware of the blowback that LAUNDRY SERVICE received by part of the Latin American public. Apart from her
appearance, the album received criticism that it "wasn't Latino enough," and was too much of a break from her past
music. These are criticisms I have always found curious.
If you go back and listen to PIES DESCALZOS, in my opinion there isn't a single "obviously Latino" track on the
entire album, but it does have flourishes. "Te Espero Sentada" has percussion (hand and metallic) that could have
come from Santana or any number of Latin Jazz album, for example. But I maintain that from the cover to the
music itself, it's largely an "indie pop" album that happens to be interpreted in Spanish.

"Ciega, Sordomuda," the biggest hit from DONDE ESTAN LOS LADRONES, is unmistakably "latino" with its horns
and strings and is undoubtedly "more latino than anything from PIES DESCALZOS. The combination of hand-
percussion and guitarwork in "Moscas en La Casa" also read as Latino. But the rest of the album isn't overtly so,
and the other big hit, previously mentioned "Ojos Asi" is partially in Arabic. Stylistically, overall, I'd say this album is
more pop, than indie, but several of the tracks would be perfectly at home on PIES.
And that brings us back to LAUNDRY SERVICE. The first track is "Objection (Tango)" with 17 seconds of pure
tango, led by the bandoneon, the accordion-like instrument that is one of the unmistakable pillars of the genre.
Then the song opens up and mostly goes for straight rock (it even owes a small debt to the B-52's "Rock Lobster,"
I'd say), with the bandoneon always providing a complement to the guitarwork.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

We have dueling Designated Cheerleaders today! First up, for IS THIS IT, is this @renamj.bsky.social ? It is! Take it away, Rena!

Full disclosure: I did not nominate The Strokes' debut album Is This It for the 2001 album tournament, nor did
I give it a seed vote. It doesn't need my help, and I wanted to champion lesser-known albums that could really
use the boost. But it was my favorite album when I was an actual teenager in 2001.
2001 was a pivotal year for me: I became a high school senior (Class of 2002!); I was literally in my AP U.S.
History class when 9/11 happened (lol); I turned 17 in October; I was accepted to my first choice college (they
had rolling admissions so I could apply early); and in December I finally got my driver's license on my third try.
I was ready for the next chapter of my life as a young adult, even though I had no idea what to expect. I knew
I would have a better life..."someday."
I was getting more into music around this time, reading album reviews and watching MTV2 after school. Early
on in high school I went through a "pretending to be normie" phase where I tried to be like everyone else-
wearing trendy mall clothes and listening to Top 40 (nothing wrong with pop per se, but most of my peers
were mainstreamers who didn't have a deeper appreciation of music). To put it bluntly, it wasn't me. I didn't
really know who I was yet, and school is a terribly confining environment. It goes without saying that music is
an enormous part of my life, and this was only the beginning.

For the record, I did go through an "indie" phase in my late teens/early twenties. Then I discovered SoulSeek
and a much broader scope of music. One great thing about music communities like this one is discovering just
how much music is out there, beyond what gets written about in Rolling Stone or Pitchfork (I was never a fan,
I found them off-putting even then) or other major music sites. As I always say, look beyond the canon.
The Strokes had a deafening amount of hype around them, and even then they had very vocal haters on
message boards. "The Strokes are jokes" and all that. Is This It is the Anora of the indie revival scene
(personally, I liked Sean Baker's Oscar-winning film but did not love it.). Anyway, I bought the CD, maybe at
the local CD World, and I played it over and over (favorite tracks: "The Modern Age," "Soma," "Barely Legal").
I couldn't really relate to the lyrics per se - I was awkward and inexperienced and more focused on my grades
anyway. I just thought the songs were catchy.
In retrospect they were sort of a "gateway" band for me. There are folks who got into The Velvet
Underground, The Cars, The Modern Lovers, and Television through them and I think that's great! Listening to
these songs now, they're not exactly earth shattering but they're still fun. I actually think their second album,
Room on Fire, is even better.

Is this the best album of 2001? No! Not in my humble opinion, anyway. As a work of art, I think Björk's
Vespertine is far more interesting, to name one example. But it meant something to me at one point in my life
and that does matter.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

#66 Shakira, LAUNDRY SERVICE Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/4DyMK9... YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

A color photograph of Shakira, a young white woman with curled blonde hair. She appears to be nude, but all we can see are her bare back, the top of her right arm, and her face, which looks at the camera. She has a tatto that reads LAUNDRY SERVICE on her arm.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

#2 The Strokes, IS THIS IT Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/2k8Kgm... YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a5W...

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· 29d

The Best Album of 2001 Round 2 Match #81 #2 The Strokes, IS THIS IT VS. #66 Shakira, LAUNDRY SERVICE Go here to vote: forms.gle/LAtum9ek58od...

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 13

We have one Designated Cheerleader today, it’s for GLOBAL-A-GO-GO, and it’s from @flannelenigma.bsky.social. Take it away, Timothy!

GLOBAL A GO-GO: JOE STRUMMER FINDS PEACE AND JOY
Any discussion of Joe Summer's music has to begin with the Clash, of course. The Clash were seminal
and one of my favorites, but as much as I love them, I'm not here to talk about the Clash other than as
introduction. Instead, I'm here to talk about the second album by Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros,
Global-a-Go-Go.
To get to an actual appreciation of it, the history between the height of the Clash and Joe's re-emergence
in the late 90s must addressed a bit. This is essential to understanding and appreciating the album.
The dissolution of The Clash was not pretty, and Joe played a huge part in why. When it was finally over,
he drifted personally and musically for years. He did some acting, contributed to some soundtracks (Sid
& Nancy being the most well-known). Then in 1989, he released Earthquake Weather, his first full length
with him totally at the helm
It bombed.

The album wasn't terrible, but the world had moved on. And so did Joe. In the next ten years, he found
some peace with himself and with the world, and the music from all over it. This is evidenced by his
London Calling shows on the BBC World Service in the 1990s.
1999, Joe re-emerged with the Mescalero, releasing, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style. After all the singles,
soundtracks, acting, and radio work, he had a band again. One where he set the direction. Rock Art and
the X-Ray Style slipped into the world pretty quietly. I mean, new music was the las thing anyone
expected. It had a lot of the hallmarks of any first album. It had a few really good songs, but it was also
pretty uneven.
Which brings of the 2001 and Global a Go-Go. This record made more of an impression with everyone
right off the bat; most critics liked it, comparing it favorably to the previous release. Many though it
signaled a resurgence.
I am one of those people as well (even though I only play music critic on the internet from time to time).
It made such an impact on me that my wife and I named our first dog Bhindi. And Minstrel Boy was the
recessional at our wedding some seven years later. Joe's music from this album (and his last) mean
almost more to me at my age than any of those excellent Clash records [note: Cut the Crap does not
count]. It may have something do with my age; I'm now older than Joe was when he died.

So other than my long existing appreciation of Joe Strummer, what makes this album worthy of a listen?
First, compared with the company it's keeping with other acclaimed records from this year, it's a little
odder. A world-music informed record coming from a cricket pitch when everyone else was playing
baseball. Given what was happening elsewhere with The Strokes and The White Stripes, the joy in this
record really stands out.
The Mescaleros were really finding their legs backing Joe too, leaning more heavily on acoustic sounds
than any time in his career.
Global a Go-Go is also inhabited by unforgettable characters. It represents the frist time that so many of
the songs were so character driven: the Kiwi looking for mushy peas in "Bhindi Bhagee," the paranoiac in
"Gamma Ray," and the conspiracy theorist in "Johnny Appleseed." All different. All very vivid. It took until
now for anyone to see these short stories in song.
Even solo, this record was as ambitious in its way as Sandinista! was in its. And it had a sense of humor
the Clash often lacked, while still experimenting. I'd count "Bhindi Bhagee" and "Johnny Appleseed"
among some of the finest songs he'd ever written.

And all that time doing the radio is evident as well. Sure the Clash ventured well beyond the usual punk
influences, but here Joe Strummer cast a much wider net: the world. But it also nods heavily to Joe's
roots in Scotland, with the 18-minute version of the traditional song "Minstrel Boy."
Finally, it was the first time I heard Joe's music be so humble and joyful. It seemed that he had found
peace at long last. Global a Go-Go did nothing to detract from his legacy, but instead, cemented it with a
new sound. He was gone less than two years later.
Miss you Joe still.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 13

#85 Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, GLOBAL A GO-GO Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/0rrfgl... YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

A photo of a (what I think is) a cigarette lighter, on a white background. The image has been digitall edited to color the cigarette lighter in bright, almost neon, green and red. "Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros" is scrawled in black on the lighter.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 13

#21 Le Tigre, FEMINIST SWEEPSTAKES Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/0sba5x... YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

A color photgraph of the members of Le Tigre: JD Samson, Johanna Fateman, and Kathleen Hanna. They are all dressed in pink and at a table covered with sheets of paper of various colors. At least one paper has a childlike drawing of people on it. There is a large gold Venus symbold on the table. Hanna is dipping her finger in a small bowl of something.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 13

The Best Album of 2001 Round 2 Match #80 #21 Le Tigre, FEMINIST SWEEPSTAKES VS. #85 Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, GLOBAL A GO-GO Go here to vote: forms.gle/ZPua5ufHL6f5...

First pic: A color photgraph of the members of Le Tigre: JD Samson, Johanna Fateman, and Kathleen Hanna. They are all dressed in pink and at a table covered with sheets of paper of various colors. At least one paper has a childlike drawing of people on it. There is a large gold Venus symbold on the table. Hanna is dipping her finger in a small bowl of something. Second pic: A photo of a (what I think is) a cigarette lighter, on a white background. The image has been digitall edited to color the cigarette lighter in bright, almost neon, green and red. "Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros" is scrawled in black on the lighter.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 11

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

Jay Sherman the Critic with Marge Simpson and her sisters, saying “Camus can do, but Sartre is smartre"

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

I color-code some of the albums in my media log (pic A) so it’s always a trip when I have to do something like this (pic B)

Grey text: a metal or metal-adjacent album
Blue text: a jazz album
Orange text: a country album
Green text: a 1988 album
Red text: a 2001 album
Brown text: a 1977 album
Light Blue text: an EDM/IDM/electronica album

1237. Fri 7/10 a551. Joanna Dean, MISBEHAVIN’

Joanna is orange, for country
Dean is grey, for metal
MISBEHAVIN’ is green, for 1988

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

Then, for ESSENCE, it’s @mjl2003.bsky.social. Take it away, Matthew!

I had no idea who Lucinda Williams was until I purchased the Spin Alternative Record Guide and saw her
perched above the more famous (to me) Victoria Williams. I was intrigued by the 10 rating listed next to her
debut album but never checked it out.
Fast forward a few years, and "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" is released. It received lots of critical love, so
I bought the album. I was hooked. And I hooked my parents on it as well. We all went to see her at the
Wiltern Theatre. I downloaded the rest of her catalog on Napster - I became a fan - which is a little odd,
considering that she is the same age as my mom. Taking a look at Spotify listen counts, it saddens me few
people have discovered the brilliance of "Lines Around Your Eyes" from "Sweet Old World."
2001 was a year of a ridiculous amount of change for me and the world. When "Essence" came out, it was
like a solemn, but warm hug. The album begins with "Lonely Girls," a slower tune with a woven mixture of
fiddle, pedal steel, and acoustic guitar. And I find something new to appreciate about it upon every listen. But
the key to its success is the longing in Lucinda's voice.
Track 2, "Steal Your Love" has a sparser arrangement, with more percussion than "Lonely Girls." The lyrics
are quite lustful, yet I've never found them, or her delivery particularly sexy, but I find myself, especially in
times of longing, easily able to identify with them.

The title track is the highlight of the album. It's explicitly lustful lyrically ("shoot your love into my vein"). I
oddly enjoy playing this song on guitar, but would never want to sing this publicly. As a man, sad lustfulness
becomes super creepy. But Lucinda can get away with it. And Ryan Adams' tremolo guitar further accents
the lust.
From a genre perspective, it's tough to classify Essence. The album was oddly nominated in 3! different
genre categories. It lost Best Contemporary folk album to "Love and Theft," from her current tourmate, Bob
Dylan. The title track was nominated for Best Female Pop Performance (won by Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a
Bird"), and "Get Right With God" won Best Female Rock Performance (I know I'm cheerleading for
"Essence," but even I think this is ridiculous considering it was competing against "This is Love" by PJ
Harvey - this is also my least favourite song on the album).
I saw Lucinda open for Big Thief in 2023. Her vocals were slurred somewhat by her stroke earlier in the
year. Out of 10 songs, she played 2 from Essence (the Jam-friendly, guitar-oriented "Are You Down?" and
"Out of Touch"), and nothing from before Car Wheels. But it's clear that the songs from these albums remain
in her sets over 20 years post-release. This is a beyond worthy entry in the catalog of one of America's 30
Greatest Living Songwriters (according to the New York Times).

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

And here is the conclusion to @alex-mitrani.bsky.social's Designated Cheerleader for THE ARGUMENT! [2/2]

Every time I listen to this album I enjoy it again and notice things that I had not noticed previously. When
I was listening to it today it gave me the tingles despite me having listened to it countless times before. It
retains all the elements that I liked from the bands previous work and at the same time it is much more
adventurous, sounds more interesting, has several significant shifts in mood and tempo, and plenty of
nice surprises. On previous albums Fugazi made notable use of quiet / loud dynamics, unexpected
pauses, and very prominent use of bass guitar where the bass becomes the protagonist and the guitars
play rhythm. The Argument extends this playfulness in new ways with contrasting moods and rhythms,
abrupt twists and turns, things going off in unexpected directions. Many of the songs sound tuneful,
upbeat and - dare I say it - happy, while the lyrics comment on current issues including housing,
corruption, the death penalty, the dot com bubble, corporate greed, activism, personal responsibility and
war.

Most of the lyrics remain relevant and make sense over 25 years later, although not always in the way
they were originally intended. In Oh the lines "pissing on your modems" and "shredding all the stocks"
sound a bit dated, but the concept of a tech bubble seems as relevant as ever. Oh features a nice
mondegreen - it was probably 20 years before I realised that Guy sings "color for your ceiling" and not
"California sealion". Oh is the only Fugazi song that features all 3 singers - Guy sings the lead vocals,
Joe sings backing vocals on the choruses and lan sings "Thank you sir, may I have another" at the end.
That line is a direct quote from the film Animal House (Lands 1979) although until 2022 lan had thought
he was referring to "please sir, can I have some more" from Oliver! (Reed 1968) - check out the episode
of the Alphabetical Fugazi with lan and Guy where the true origin of the line was confirmed live on the air
(MacKaye and Picciotto 2022).
lan MacKaye described the album as an anti-war manifesto, which applies in particular to the title track,
sadly as topical as ever - "It's all about strikes now / So here's whats striking me / That some punk could
argue / Some moral ABC's / When people are catching / What bombers release / I'm on a mission / To
never agree". It ends abruptly and far too soon.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

We have dueling Designated Cheerleaders today! First up, for THE ARGUMENT, it’s @alex-mitrani.bsky.social. Take it away, Alex! (This is five pics; here are the first three) [1/2]

The Argument was recorded January and February 2001 at Inner Ear with piano parts on The Kill and
Strangelight recorded at Dischord House. It was released in October 2001, despite everything, together
with the Furniture single which contained 3 songs recorded in the same sessions as the album but kept
separate because there was too much material for an album but not enough for a double album. Six of
the songs had been played live prior to being recorded, with live debuts going back as far as november
1998 (Oh). The other four songs - Full Disclosure, Life and Limb, The Kill, and Strangelight - were
worked out during the recording process and introduced to live audiences afterwards. That makes The
Argument the Fugazi album with most studio compositions, as the previous ones were almost entirely
road-tested material with maybe one or two studio compositions.
The cover art is a photograph showing details of a bronze engraving that is part of the Heald Square
Monument in Chicago, IL, USA (Taft 1941) - in particular it shows two hands of Lady Liberty pointing in
opposite directions. The artwork opens out to the left and right from the vertical center line to reveal a
photo of a memorial to Sandra Scheur, a victim of the 1970 shooting of students at Kent State by
members of the Ohio National Guard - she is referenced in several songs by other artists including Ohio
by Neil Young (Wikipedia Contributors 2026).

The untitled track at the beginning includes an extract from a field recording of a whole band near-death
experience from 1995, made on a motorway in Scotland on the way to catch a ferry to Belfast when the
driveshaft of the van disengaged and speared the asphalt. The story was told and some of the recording
was played at the start of the Queens Hall, Belfast show on the 9th of May 1995 (Fugazi 1995).
Fugazi broadened and deepened their sound significantly on this album, adding a second drummer,
backing vocals, cello, piano, whistling and hand claps. Jerry Busher played second drums on Epic
Problem, Oh and Ex-Spectator, and also provided additional percussion on Cashout, The Kill,
Strangelight, Nightshop and Argument. Brendan Canty mentioned in interviews that the addition of a
second drummer was partly inspired by listening to drum & bass and jungle music at parties at the Pirate
House (where Brendan and Guy were living at the time). Bridget Cross (Unrest) sang backing vocals on
Life and Limb and Full Disclosure and was joined by Kathi Wilcox (Bikini Kill) who sang additional
backing vocals on Full Disclosure. Amy Domingues (Garland of Hours) played cello on the untitled intro
track, Cashout and Strangelight. The piano on The Kill and Strangelight was probably played by lan
MacKaye, who has said in interviews that he considers it to be his main instrument.

Its interesting to hear how the songs from the Argument are performed live without all the benefits of the
recording studio. Allow me to recommend two shows which have particularly good live recordings and
which between them cover all 10 songs from The Argument. FLS0998 was recorded at Sacred Heart
Church in Washington DC and has 7 songs from The Argument including strangelight as well as a very
rare live performance of hello morning from the Furniture EP (Fugazi 2001). Strangelight and The Kill are
performed without the piano parts that can be heard in the studio versions. FLS1041 was recorded at
the Metropolitan University in Leeds, England and has 8 songs from The Argument plus Number 5 and
Furniture from the Furniture EP (Fugazi 2002). This show features Jerry Busher playing trumpet on Full
Disclosure - the trumpet in the live performance replaces the backing vocals that can be heard on the
studio album.
As with other Fugazi albums, all songs are credited to the band as a whole because while people would
have brought in parts, all songs were put together in practice by the band working together. Lead vocals
alternate, like in the live shows: Cashout (lan) - Full Disclosure (Guy) - Epic Problem (lan) - Life and
Limb (Guy) - The Kill (Joe) - Strangelight (Guy) - Oh (Guy) - Ex-Spectator (Ian) - Nightshop (Guy)-
Argument (Ian).

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

#53 Lucinda Williams, ESSENCE Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/2dQNpA... YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

A photo of a pink-petaled flower with yellow pistils. This takes up most of the image, but there is also an orange flower to the lower left, that is made up a hundred petals.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

#12 Fugazi, THE ARGUMENT Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/1zql8J... YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFyz...

From the Wikipedia article: a photographic illustration composed of two tightly cropped images of the bronze relief plaque on the Heald Square Monument in Chicago, IL. Both arms of Lady Liberty extended in opposite directions, one with a torch in-hand and the other empty. Despite being a bronze relief, the whole thing is colored a bluish-grey.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 10

The Best Album of 2001 Round 2 Match #79 #12 Fugazi, THE ARGUMENT VS. #53 Lucinda Williams, ESSENCE Go here to vote: forms.gle/gT8ZsE9Udh6x...

First pic: From the Wikipedia article: a photographic illustration composed of two tightly cropped images of the bronze relief plaque on the Heald Square Monument in Chicago, IL. Both arms of Lady Liberty extended in opposite directions, one with a torch in-hand and the other empty. Despite being a bronze relief, the whole thing is colored a bluish-grey. Second pic: A photo of a pink-petaled flower with yellow pistils. This takes up most of the image, but there is also an orange flower to the lower left, that is made up a hundred petals.

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 9

Here’s the second part of my Designated Cheerleader for I GET WET (2/2). Thanks for reading!

The overall effect is that, despite being played by humans like Donald Tardy, it doesn't sound like it; it
sounds like it was performed by a single cyborg Kenny Loggins from the future. (This is likely one of
the other big knocks against it.) Nothing sounds organic, everything sounds artificial, with the lone
exception of the sweaty, pungent vocals. You could pick out something from nearly any song, but my
favorite examples show up in "Party Hard": the robotic intro and backgrond chants, and the moment at
2:18 when everything drops out inhumanly, then rushes back in with a digital wind, all within a second.
Machine-tooled Neanderthal obviousness is uncommon, but can be found in a number of places. Even rarer is intensely melodic machine-tooled Neanderthal
obviousness. And this, for me, is where I GET WET reaches escape velocity.
I realize this is about as personal a reaction can be, but I find the songs on I GET WET - the
melodies, the choruses, the hooks - stickier than flypaper. W.K. could've been content to simply
open up the pit and rock our fucking block off, but he wants us to sing along as well. Surprisingly
often, W.K. will turn on a dime from devil-horn chants to soaring choruses, as if cribbing from Freddie
Mercury. (It just now strikes me that while I find I GET WET to be sui generis, which I talk about below,
Queen is most certainly a progenitor.) But even here W.K. is being tricksy, in that he presents these
catchy hooks in a (again, counterintuitive) throaty soccer hooligan roar, a kind of democratizing move
(" can shout, too!") that I think helps explain why these songs burrow their way under the skin. This
heavy melodicism, of course, is where my Broadway musical comparisons appear.[2] Is it such a
stretch? I genuinely think a jukebox musical could be constructed around these songs (and some
slower songs from other albums, lest the audience become exhausted after twenty minutes). You'd
just want to make some alterations to the lyrics.

There's a legendary game designer in the TTRPG industry who, in 2001, was active on a forum I
frequented. Someone asked him about this album, and I remember his reply, or at least the first part:
'I don't like pastiche." This struck me at the time as a kind of "odd, but whatever" kind of comment.
Now, I have two similarly negative, yet irreconciable, reactions: that's evidence of bad taste, and I
GET WET isn't pastiche. The first one we can chalk up to difference of opinion and is outside the
scope of this Designated Cheerleader anyway. The second one just seems obvious to me, evidenced
by simple listening. What other album sounds like this? If it's pastiche, then it's pastiche in the way all
rock and roll is pastiche. [3]
I think I GET WET is a great album, a synthetic, syncretic masterpiece, a slab of robometal, as if Daft
Punk produced Henry Rollins, but a million times better than that could ever be. I think it might even
be unique. To go further, and to its credit, I think it might even be a conceptual dead end. Where does
one go after this? Where could one go? [4] That's not a deficit. That, for me, makes it the best album
of 2001.[5]
So, yeah. I think I'm serious about this.

[1] Which is why some of my favorite black metal is the kind that slips into shoegaze, but that's neither
here nor there.
[2] And here's where you mentally insert the sound of screeching tires, as I begin to realize, mid-
writing, that maybe I've misspoken. Although there are, to my ear, definitely elements of Broadway
musicals on this album and his other work, I'm wondering if the third element I'm hearing is actually
Christian music, particularly praise. This dovetails with W.K.'s penchant for self-help/positive thinking
tropes that are nascent here but become more pronounced in later albums. According to Wikipedia,
"He has recalled early family trips to midnight mass as having had an enormous impact on his love for
music," so this kind of checks out. Let's not even get into the dour Biblical imagery of his 2021 COVID/
divorce album, GOD IS PARTYING.
[3] It's entirely possible that this legendary game designer didn't like rock and roll either because it's
pastiche, that he's like that David Cross Mr. Show "TV is a nickname" character. I dunno, never found
out.
[4] W.K. kinda-sorta tried to repeat it on the 2003 follow-up THE WOLF, but he messed with the
formula, losing the overdubs (I'm assuming so that what was on the record was similar to what he
sounded like in concert) and dropping the tempo on a number of tracks. I like it a lot, but if THE WOLF
was W.K.'s debut, I doubt we'd be talking about it in the Best Album of 2001 tournament.
[5] Okay, technically, it's co-#1 with Life Without Buildings' ANY OTHER CITY, another piece of sui
generis musical art. (lol, slapping those two together, it doesn't get more full of gender than that.)

The Best Album of 2001@bestalbumbrackets· Jul 9

And then, for I GET WET, it’s… me? Yes, it’s me! And this one will take up 8 pics BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WILL. It’s really not that long tho. I hope you take a moment to read it! (1/2)