A lot of changes made for a pretty great year. 

My January promotion to Executive Editor meant leading online site editorial. Aside from some input by our Acting Editor-in-Chief, SPIN Founder Bob Guccione Jr., I managed the editorial staff, the stories, and the overall site strategy. So it was a big year for me.

More from Spin:

• The Worst Songs We Heard in 2019
• 50 Best Albums of 2017
• The 25 Best Music Videos of 2014

One of the most exciting events of our year: After 12 years, at the end of August, SPIN was back on newsstands, relaunching with cover artist Lainey Wilson. The print team was led by Bob, with Senior Editor Matt Thompson (who also penned some of the most spectacular in-depth works of our 2024) as his second in command. By the time you read this, the December year-end issue will still be available at all major newsstands—but if you subscribe you can get it right to your door! (Subscribe!)

While we published such incredible editorial and worked with so many fantastic new writers throughout the year, it’s impossible to include everything. Because I wrote so few pieces this year, I’ve included most of those here, as well as some other highlights to show the breadth of subjects and stories—and hopefully inspire you to visit the site for more.

Too much of a good thing is an excellent problem, but it made approaching this roundup a tough task. Thank you to all of the incredible talent we had the privilege to work with this year. 

January

My fourth, annual Rock Hall letter was for Indigo Girls, which, like all previous letters (The Go-Go’s, Sinéad O’Connor, Tori Amos) feels like such an obvious overlook. I’ll never stop insisting that great artists get recognized while they’re alive. (Oh, and for more Indigo Girls, check out my March 2021 deep dive with Emily and Amy, which was also featured on Goodreads.) 

Mid-month I launched a new series, Singles, as a means of highlighting new song releases and the stories behind them. From AFROJACK to The Struts’ Luke Spiller, G-Eazy, Poppy, Davina Michelle, Ruel (to name a few) — these are some of the most fun, intimate, and whimsical interviews of the year. 

And then, at the end of the month, an idea I’d had for years was finally ready: a series on local record stores. Called (appropriately) The Record Store, this has to be one of our most heart-warming series of profiles and will forever be a career favorite for me. From what it means to start a small business to insider insights on vinyl-collecting—the focus was on real talk with real people who buy, collect, and sell records. We got hundreds upon hundreds of submissions from all over the world and met so many phenomenal new writers through this series.

I wrote the first piece, featuring Main Street Jukebox in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. 

February

Since I started our weekly 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without franchise I’ve interviewed literally hundreds of musicians. It’s impossible to point to a favorite. 

However, February’s phone interview with Ace Frehley was an experience I still talk about, little to do with his five albums, but for so many other reasons. In sum: 1. He makes his own interview phone calls, 2. We discovered that we live in the same area, 3. He told me stories of being abducted by aliens, 4. As well as some other non-alien related tales that will remain off the record, 5. And when I asked him about his iconic 1996 SPIN cover (where all four members of KISS had their own) he said: “I thought I looked stupid in that picture because I looked too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Maybe it was because I just did a couple of lines of coke. I don’t know.” 

March

I spoke with Taylor Momsen and Ben Phillips to commemorate 10 years of The Pretty Reckless’s Going to Hell, this story is so deep and layered (and at times quite heartbreaking) and they were so honest and open…it was such an honor to write this one.

Others to check out from March: Faye Webster (Steve Hochman), Taj Mahal (Lily Moayeri), Jean Dawson (Kyle Eustice), Sheherazaad and Fletcher (both by Vrinda Jagota). 

April

April marked 30 years since Kurt Cobain’s passing and with SPIN’s deep history with the band (we gave them their first cover) we devoted our April cover to Kurt. Veteran SPIN writer Jim Greer penned a poignant story. We also re-ran Bob’s Top SPIN editorial from when Kurt died. Both Jim and Bob knew Kurt personally.

All of the editors were doing tributes and I wanted to do something a little bit different—a focus on the next generation’s view of Nirvana. An old grad school pal helped facilitate a kids’ reaction art project. I couldn’t have anticipated how moving the results would be, check it out: Smells Like Teen Art: Kids’ Reaction Art to Nirvana’s Classic Single.

May

Shannon and the Clams’ album The Moon Is in the Wrong Place is one of the most remarkable records of the year with a gut-wrenching story behind it, one I told in my May interview with the band’s Shannon Shaw and Cody Blanchard. I named their single “Real or Magic” one of the year’s best.

Read also: Vrinda Jagota’s Gracie Abrams profile. 

June

I wrote three cover stories last year, but this year only one, on the warm, razor-sharp, ultra-talented budding superstar  Stephen Sanchez.

And, so you can have it on-hand for future graduation days, I penned an off-beat “advice for new graduates” piece based on the ‘93 William S. Burroughs song “Words of Advice for Young People.” (Not your average grandpa advice, that’s for sure.)

July

I’m going to say it: Nick Bell is the best film writer out there. In honor of July’s National Orgasm Day, he wrote a list of The 10 Greatest Cinematic Orgasms—but I can promise it’s not what you think. 

Some other conversation-starters: Charles Moss’ deep-dive into 50 years of NYC punk, Stephen Deusner’s Bad Soundtracks list, Adam Steiner’s ultimate tribute to NIN’s Downward Spiral, Leila Sales’ all-too-relatable piece about songs that inspire speeding tickets, Candace Hansen’s fantastic take on Hole’s ‘Live Through This’ at 30, the only Devo profile you’ll ever need (by Kyle Eustice), that time I paid a guy $35 to write a song about my dog, Tamlin Magee’s revelatory dissection of pizza thrash, and Lily Moayeri’s no-holds-barred interview with Moon Zappa about her new memoir.

Also read: Ernesto Lechner’s profile of Girl Ultra.

September

Even though I launched my A Day in the Life series in January 2021, somehow it only gets better and better. The interviews are great, but BTS artist videos are a game-changer. 

Though it’s impossible to choose a favorite, September’s A Day in the Life of… BLOND:ISH (with an interview by Charles Moss) not only provided me with a new favorite NYC matcha place, but also had me wondering why Joe’s pizza doesn’t do more spontaneous pizza renegades. (Give me a heads up next time, please!)

Check out other 2024 DITL interviews—including CMAT, Grace Bowers, Bailey Zimmerman, BoyWithUke—here. 

Also from September: David Gilmour (Bill Kopp), JHAYCO (Vrinda Jagota), Judeline (ER Pulgar).

October

This month had some of the most powerful pieces of the year. 

The following pieces perfectly represent the variety of exceptional October storytelling: Lily Moayeri’s The Land of the Not Free (republished from the print issue), Steve Hochman’s beautiful interview with Samara Joy, Brendan Menapace’s fun profile of the Billy Joel tribute band Turnstiles, and Charles Moss’ intimate chat with Jaden Smith. 

December

The Cure’s long-awaited Songs of a Lost World spoke to us—and apparently many of you—and seemed an obvious choice to become our 2024 Album of the Year. I called the album “elegant, gut-wrenching, and indisputably authentic—an absolute masterpiece.” Even more, it “elevates us,” reflecting the good, the bad, and the ugly of our humanity. 

A perfect way to end the year, and start a new one.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

Every year, pop culture gets a new class of pop stars, and also a new class of fake pop stars. We’re talking about fictional musicians like Spinal Tap, Powerline, and Dewey Cox—artists who only exist in movies and TV shows. They might not be real, but their music and fame undoubtedly is. 

So let’s see who from 2024 will be joining the ranks of Josie and her Pussycats.

More from Spin:

• Altin Gün Salutes Neşet Ertaş On New Album
• How a Still-Defiant Shepard Fairey Turned Punk Rock Attitude Into 30 Years of Activist Art
• Repelican’s Jon Ehrens Ponders the Cosmos

Artist: Skye Riley

As seen in: Smile 2, played by Naomi Scott

Hit song: “New Brain”

Who is she: A Grammy-winning pop star haunted metaphorically by her past and literally by a demon known as the Entity.

Could be a stand-in for: Lady Gaga, from aesthetics to haircut to proximity to dudes who grin like Joker.

Might collab with: Adele, since she was seen in Skye’s phone contacts in the movie. Also, if Skye doesn’t become a brand ambassador for Voss water, she’s leaving money on the table.

Likeliness of real-world success: High. Her songs would fit seamlessly into any playlist alongside Chappell Roan or Billie Eilish. 

High point in 2024: Coming back from 2023’s tragedy to perform again!

Prediction for 2025: Not coming back from 2024’s tragedy. But her last performance will be VERY viral.

Artist: Lady Raven

As seen in: Trap, played by Saleka

Hit song: “Save Me”

Who is she: A pop/R&B singer who recently sold out Philly’s Tanaka Arena and worked as a narc for the F.B.I.

Could be a stand-in for: Her fandom screams Taylor Swift, her music skews Rosalía, and her crime-fighting is classic Clarice Starling.

Might feud with: Dads with secrets, Sabrina Carpenter after she mocks Raven’s self-serious demeanor

Likeliness of real-world success: Mixed. Her choreo would find a following on TikTok, but she’s better at catching murderers than melodies.

High point in 2024: Trapping the Butcher!

Prediction for 2025: Appearing in M. Night Shyamalan’s next movie. 

Artist: Lorna Wu

As seen in: Agatha All Along, played by Elizabeth Anweis and sung by Seomoon Tak

Hit song: “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road”

Who is she: A bewitching folk-rocker from the late ’70s who’s also an actual witch, backed by her band, the Coral Shore.

Could be a stand-in for: Stevie Nicks.

Might feud with: Agatha Harkness, Lindsey Buckingham out of witch solidarity

Might collab with: Daisy Jones & the Six

Likeliness of real-world success: In a world where today’s youth are into Fleetwood Mac, very likely. 

High point in 2024: Breaking an old family curse!

Prediction for 2025: Inspiring even more covers, catching up with her daughter in the afterlife.

Artist: Dale Ferdinand Kobble

As seen in: Longlegs, played by Nicolas Cage

Hit song: “Fire Fire Hiss Hiss,” which—fun fact—is Kobble’s last known musical recording before, quote, “the voices took over.”

Who is he: A failed glam rocker who’s pivoted to serial killing.

Could be a stand-in for: Tiny Tim or dark alternate universe Lou Reed.

Might collab with: Satan

Likeliness of real-world success: If he’d had success, the Birthday Murders might’ve been avoided. Thanks a lot, glam rock gatekeepers of the ’70s!

High point in 2024: His single finally got released!

Prediction for 2025: Posthumous reappraisal, at least two true crime podcasts. 

Artist: August Moon

As seen in: The Idea of You, played by Nicholas Galitzine, Dakota Adan, Jaiden Anthony, Raymond Chan, and Vic White

Hit song: “Dance Before We Walk”

Who are they: A super hot, internationally famous boy band.

Could be a stand-in for: One Direction, even if they deny it.

Might collab with: Your mom.

Likeliness of real-world success: Beyond likely. The group actually charted multiple times on Billboard.

High point in 2024: Being the first boy band to headline Coachella!

Prediction for 2025: Member Hayes Campbell quits the band to go solo as a “serious” singer-songwriter (who still sleeps with older fans).

Artist: Girls5eva

As seen in: Girls5eva season 3, played by Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, and Busy Philipps.

Hit song: “B.P.E.” (“Big Pussy Energy”)

Who are they: One-hit wonder girl group from the ’90s, now back at it in their 40s after being sampled by rapper Lil Stinker.

Could be a stand-in for: An American Spice Girls

Might collab or feud with: Ideally? Mariah Carey. Realistically? Tracy Jordan. But really? Anyone who’ll have them.

Likeliness of real-world success: Solid, if TRL or mall tours make a comeback.

High point in 2024: Sold out Carnegie Hall, thanks to member Summer’s ability to weaponize ticket resale bots!

Prediction for 2025: Reuniting at member Wickie Roy’s wedding to the Lunch Lord.

Artist: Lady Parts

As seen in: We Are Lady Parts season 2, played by Anjana Vasan, Sarah Kameela Impey, Juliette Motamed, Faith Omole, and fifth member/manager Lucie Shorthouse.

Hit song: “Villain Era”

Who are they: An all-female, all-Muslim, all-badass punk band in London.

Could be a stand-in for: The Slits, Bikini Kill, The Linda Lindas—they come from a rich heritage.

Might feud with: The patriarchy, music labels, family members, you if you’re annoying.

Likeliness of real-world success: If they sell out, high. So probably not.

High points in 2024: 1) Releasing their debut album! 2) Leaking their debut album as a free download in protest!

Prediction for 2025: Invited to play Glastonbury, but telling them to piss off.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

The extended play occupies a strange middle ground in the music world. An EP can feel like a glorified single with an A-side and some tacked-on bonus tracks, but they sometimes play as surprisingly substantial mini-albums. Some EPs are leftovers from the artist’s last full-length, while others feel like a tantalizing taste of a new sound.

SPIN’s favorite EPs of 2024 include new artists on the verge, one-off collaborations between singers and producers, and some of the year’s biggest pop hits.

More from Spin:

• Altin Gün Salutes Neşet Ertaş On New Album
• How a Still-Defiant Shepard Fairey Turned Punk Rock Attitude Into 30 Years of Activist Art
• Repelican’s Jon Ehrens Ponders the Cosmos

25. Katseye – SIS (Soft Is Strong)

The K-pop label HYBE Corporation set out to form a “global girl group” with Katseye, drafting six members from America, South Korea, the Philippines, and Switzerland in an audition process detailed in the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: Katseye. The group’s debut EP features songs written by established hitmakers like Ryan Tedder and Justin Tranter, and their pop radio breakthrough “Touch,” produced by Cashmere Cat, recalls the liquid drum and bass sound that caught on in the U.K. in the early 2000s.

24. Eric Benét – Duets

Some of the most enduring tracks in R&B troubadour Eric Benét’s career have been collaborations with singers like Faith Evans and Tamia, so it was a smart idea to dedicate his latest project to duets. The slow jam “Something We Can Make Love To” with Tamar Braxton is an R&B radio hit, but Benét has the best chemistry with Chanté Moore on the funky, sassy “So Distracted.”

23. Bon Iver – Sable

Five years after Bon Iver’s last full-length, Justin Vernon finally returned in October with Sable, an EP that recalls the hushed and intimate sound of his revered 2007 debut For Emma, Forever Ago. Some of the songs on Sable had been in the works for a long time, and “Things Behind Things Behind Things” was debuted back in April 2020 as part of a virtual rally for Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.

22. Gloss Up – Not Ya Girl: Act 1

GloRilla brought a whole crew of Memphis girls, known as Glitter Gang, into the music industry with her when she became a star. Gloss Up has been consistently one of the most promising of GloRilla’s friends, and the seven songs on Not Ya Girl: Act 1 display her versatility. “Baddest” is a minimalist banger with plenty of boasts and punchlines, while she gets introspective on “Can I Vent” and unfurls a violent narrative on “Crazy Dream.”

21. Conner Smith – The Storyteller

Conner Smith grew up in Nashville and started working with some of the Music City’s top songwriters as a teenager before signing to Big Machine’s Valory imprint. In 2024 alone, Smith released his debut album and two EPs. “Faith From a Farmer” is the most complete story song on The Storyteller, a day in the life of a farmer praying for rain.  

20. Drake – 100 Gigs

In August, while Drake was licking his wounds from his beef with Kendrick Lamar, he released an unorthodox data dump through an Instagram page: a 100 gigabyte download of unused album artwork, behind-the-scenes video from tours and studio sessions, and a handful of unreleased songs. A few weeks later, the songs from the file bundle were released to streaming service as an EP. Given the way the third verse of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” picked apart Drake’s transactional relationship with the Atlanta hip-hop scene, it’s curious that he decided to release songs featuring 21 Savage, Young Thug, and Latto at that moment. “Housekeeping Knows” with Latto is the highlight of the EP, though, and would’ve been a worthy single to follow up to “Rich Baby Daddy.”

19. Olivia O’Brien – Everywhere I Go, There I Am

California singer-songwriter Olivia O’Brien is best known for singing the hook on Gnash’s multiplatinum 2016 single “I Hate U, I Love U,” but she’s quietly built up a solid catalog with one solo album and several EPs and mixtapes. Everywhere I Go, There I Am features four of the kind of sad, pretty acoustic tracks that O’Brien excels at, but the standout is the surging new wave track that opens the EP, “Memory Lane.”

18. Myles Smith – A Minute…

Myles Smith, who grew up in a Jamaican family in Luton, England, became one of 2024’s breakout stars when his folk pop smash “Stargazing” took over TikTok and eventually pop and alternative radio. The best song on Smith’s second EP is a slow and lovely duet with another sensitive British singer-songwriter, James Bay, on “Waste,” but Smith has plenty more charming uptempo songs like “Wait For You” and “3am” that will probably keep him on the radio well into 2025.

17. The Gaslight Anthem – History Books – Short Stories

The Gaslight Anthem’s best non-album track, the restrained and beautiful “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts,” was first released on the Señor and the Queen EP in 2008. This year, a possibly even better new recording of the song appeared on a new companion EP for the New Jersey punk band’s 2023 reunion album History Books. Short Stories also includes a striking interpretation of Billie Eilish’s 2017 debut single “Ocean Eyes.”

16. Nourished by Time – Catching Chickens

Marcus Brown recorded one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2023, Nourished by Time’s Erotic Probiotic 2, in his parents’ basement in Baltimore. This year, Brown signed to XL Recordings, but his first release with the backing of the influential British label is still proudly lo-fi bedroom pop with vivid, elliptical lyrics.   

15. Garbage – Lie To Me

Record Store Day often brings a number of notable EPs, and for this year’s RSD, Garbage released Lie To Me, a collection that draws from the sessions for the band’s 2005 album Bleed Like Me. That album’s single “Bad Boyfriend” is given a new remix, and two previously unreleased outtakes are revealed, including “Better Not Lie To Me,” co-written by Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. The EP is rounded out with a cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren,” patterned after This Mortal Coil’s 1984 arrangement of the song that Garbage recorded for a TV series that ultimately didn’t use their cover.

14. Meek Mill – Heathenism

Meek Mill is one of the few mainstream rap stars who’s released almost as many EPs as mixtapes, including 2016’s 4/4 and 2018’s Legends of the Summer. The Philadelphia rapper hasn’t released a full-length solo album since 2021, but he dropped two EPs in 2024 alone. February’s Heathenism features some of Meek’s best recent music, including the brooding “Times Like This” and perhaps his best Future collaboration to date, “Giving Chanel.”

13. Crack the Sky – The Baker Files

The West Virginia progressive rock band Crack the Sky’s self-titled 1975 debut is one of the great cult classics of its era. This year, the band unearthed five solo demos that frontman John Palumbo recorded in 1976, and fleshed them out into full band tracks that take you right back to the band’s peak period.

12. Phonte – Pacific Time 2

Phonte Coleman, the prodigiously talented North Carolina rapper and singer of the groups Little Brother and the Foreign Exchange, released four soulful solo tracks to tide fans over on 2019’s Pacific Time EP. This year, Phonte returned with a sequel, an enjoyable new pack of R&B jams like “5:55am” and “Run For Your Life.”  

11. They Hate Change – Wish You Were Here…

The Tampa duo They Hate Change makes dizzyingly dense and eclectic hip-hop that they describe as “gold coast soul post-punk crunk music” on “Stunt (When I See U)” from their latest EP. The 4-minute skit that opens Wish You Were Here… is interminably long and difficult to listen to, but the four songs that follow represent an exhilarating step forward from the group’s acclaimed 2022 album Finally, New.

10. Flying Lotus – Spirit Box

Flying Lotus has been working more in the film and television world lately, scoring and writing, as well as directing a feature film, Ash, due out in 2025. Perhaps that’s why one of the leading lights of the L.A. beat scene hasn’t released a full-length album in five years. He did, however, release five excellent new songs on Spirit Box, including the jazzy midtempo Dawn Richard collaboration “Let Me Cook.”

9. Alemeda – FK IT

Rahema Shifa Alemeda, who was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Arizona, first collaborated with TDE rapper Ab-Soul in 2022. In September, the powerhouse label announced that they’d signed Alemeda on the same day it released her debut EP. If SZA’s music straddles R&B and alternative rock, her new labelmate Alemeda plants her feet firmly in the pop/rock world, with angsty and funny guitar-driven songs like “I Hate Your Face” and “Gonna Bleach My Eyebrows.”

8. Ella Mai – 3

British R&B star Ella Mai calls 3 “one of my favorite numbers,” and she and NBA star Jayson Tatum got matching 3 tattoos after the birth of their first child in 2024. On November 3, Mai celebrated her 30th birthday by releasing a three song EP called, you guessed it, 3. All the tracks were produced by her frequent collaborator DJ Mustard, including “One of These,” which samples CeeLo Green’s 2004 hit “I’ll Be Around.”

7. Rip Van Winkle – The Grand Rapids

Like many of Robert Pollard’s best records, the debut from the Guided By Voices frontman’s latest side project Rip Van Winkle was cranked out in one inspired day in an Ohio basement. A weird and woolly collaboration with members of Joseph Airport, the 18-minute EP features prickly post-punk guitars alongside more unexpected instrumentation like euphonium and glockenspiel. The dozen or so albums Guided By Voices has cranked out in the last five years have started to blur together, but The Grand Rapids EP stands out as a late career highlight.

6. Aminé – .mp3s

Portland, Oregon, rapper Aminé is best known for his only Hot 100 hit, 2016’s “Caroline,” but he’s a versatile talent, and every project he’s released over the last decade has shown his growth as a songwriter. Across the four songs on .mp3s, Aminé effortlessly switches flows over a woozy Cardo Got Wings production on “Wingz,” trades rhymes with Smino on “Passenger Princess,” and even flirts with synth pop on the melodic “s2wik.”  

5. Wilco – Hot Sun Cool Shroud

In June, Wilco held its 8th Solid Sound Festival in Massachusetts, playing multiple sets and curating a bill of some of their favorite acts. The same day the festival kicked off, the veteran Chicago band released Hot Sun Cool Shroud, a cohesive and satisfying collection of six outtakes from the sessions for the band’s 2023 album Cousin.

4. Maeta – Endless Night

Canadian producer Kaytranada is the strongest link between contemporary dance music and R&B, and this year his productions for Victoria Monet and Mariah the Scientist got R&B radio spins while his album Timeless featured collaborations with Tinashe and SiR. Kaytranada’s best R&B work of 2024, however, was the moody and entrancing Endless Night, featuring seven songs he produced for Roc Nation’s ascendant quiet storm singer Maeta.

3. Hozier – Unheard

In 2023, Hozier released Unreal Unearth, an ambitious song cycle inspired by Dante’s Inferno. The following March, he released four songs that didn’t fit into the album’s concept, including the suave and catchy “Too Sweet,” which quickly caught on and became the Irish singer-songwriter’s first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The Unheard EP also included “Wildflower and Barley” featuring Canadian folk singer Allison Russell, which became a nightly highlight of Hozier’s spring tour with Russell.

2. Amber Mark – Loosies

Hip-hop fans often refer to the loose standalone singles released between albums as as “loosies.” So R&B singer Amber Mark’s recent Loosies EP is something of a paradox, because now that these seven tracks have been collected in one place, they’re not really loosies anymore. Still the self-produced “Won’t Cry” and “Sink In” are an exciting glimpse at what Mark can do on her own.

1. SG Lewis & Tove Lo – Heat

Swedish pop star Tove Lo and English dance producer SG Lewis first collaborated on two of the best tracks on her 2022 album Dirt Femme. On the Heat EP, they toy with breakbeat house on the title track and squelchy synth pop on “Busy Girl.” Tove Lo has always excelled at moody alt-pop, but these four songs make a convincing argument that she’d be a great dance music diva as well.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

In her brief tenure as the chief film critic for The New York Times from 1968 to 1969, Renata Adler carved out a memorable blip in the annals of criticism. Adler’s rebelliousness towards contemporary film was sometimes reticent, often oblivious, writing as she was during the infancy of the New American Cinema movement and an influx of international cinema was embraced by a growing interest in the arthouse. But in the film world, Adler might be best remembered for her unexpectedly daring roundhouse kick to film criticism’s sacred cow, Pauline Kael. In her infamous review of Kael’s When the Lights Go Down (1980), Adler dragged her colleague for filth, as it were, dismissing the collection as worthless, and writing what many were too reluctant to say in characterizing Kael as a bully. 

Not to compress Adler’s impressive body of work into what really serves as a footnote on her resume, she represents an increasingly rare sense of film criticism prizing authenticity and eschewing hyperbole. While sometimes bordering on ambivalence, her viewpoint was perhaps best summed up in her observation: “Most movies are not very good. Most people know it and like to see them anyway.”

More from Spin:

• Altin Gün Salutes Neşet Ertaş On New Album
• How a Still-Defiant Shepard Fairey Turned Punk Rock Attitude Into 30 Years of Activist Art
• Repelican’s Jon Ehrens Ponders the Cosmos

A remembrance of Adler and her sobering approach to movies is the segue to this annual consensus regarding the best and worst cinematic endeavors as we close the doors on 2024, a year with a straggling cinematic crop, desiccated by the previous year’s industry strikes. And yet there was still no way to keep up with an onslaught of “content,” most of which is dumped onto a myriad of streaming services which seem more interested in absorbing an audience’s time rather than challenging or invigorating them. Thus, while 2024 was a year like any other with a handful of sterling cinematic joys, there were far more plentiful offerings of movies that just weren’t very good. But a lot of people saw (some of) them anyway.

10. Megalopolis

Dir. Francis Ford Coppola

There are few daring enough (or wealthy enough) to finance their own $120 million passion project, but Francis Ford Coppola’s anxiously anticipated labor of love Megalopolis was certainly one of the most notable arthouse cinema moments of 2024. 

This year’s biggest swing was also one of the worst misfires, with early screenings prior to its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival portending critical and financial doom. Coppola, who directed some of the most notable American films ever made, goes the way of Icarus with labor, which finds Adam Driver shackled to a parallel Ayn Rand-ian universe where New York is now a crumbling empire known as New Rome, and only the tepid accomplishments of a boring architect can save the city from being swallowed in ambiguous political machinations. Driver (who seems keen on starring in questionable films directed by aging male auteurs who have lost interest in necessary details, such as Ridley Scott and Michael Mann) doesn’t have anything to navigate as a po-faced genius forced into tiresome exchanges with Nathalie Emmanuel (who suffers the most under the weight of Coppola’s ponderous, pretentious dialogue). But if there’s a saving grace we have a delightful Aubrey Plaza in camp mode as a gold digging news correspondent named Wow Platinum, sleeping her way to the top of a banking empire by bedding her crossdressing stepson Shia LaBeouf, eventually crowned with a death kiss by her decrepit husband, Jon Voight, who anoints her a “Wall Street slut.” 

9. Here After

Dir. Robert Salerno

Producer Robert Salerno has worked with a wide variety of notable directors, including Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Tom Ford, Brady Corbet, and Lynne Ramsay (not to mention the Smile films from Parker Finn). But his directorial debut, Here After, is formidably fallow faith-based nonsense masquerading as a horror film. While the always effortless Connie Britton is serviceable as a divorced expat teaching English in Rome as she raises a teenage daughter following the dissolution of her marriage, even she cannot overcome the tidal wave of hokum in the third act. When her kid dies after being struck by a car, it would seem all has been lost. After her profuse prayers, the daughter is revived, but now behaves as if she took a nap in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Britton’s hand wringing leads to an explosion of exposition which sets up a finale of divine intervention and forgiveness. Tepid until it becomes agonizingly preposterous, it’s unclear what Sarah Conradt’s script is attempting to say, seeing as it takes an effort to punish the sins of a mother while raggedy husbands are continually recused from cosmic or spiritual retribution. 

8. The Union

Dir. Julian Farino

Like countless so-called films before it, Netflix’s generically titled The Union seems to be daring one to remember what it’s about after watching, which seems sacrilegious considering its headlined by Halle Berry (who, arguably, seems to increasingly choose her projects for all the wrong reasons). It would seem Ms. Berry was most interested in working with Mark Wahlberg, and some cute pictures of the two celebrities from the early ’90s might be worth fast forwarding to the end credits to view. 

In their first on-screen union, they play ex high-school sweethearts who are reunited when Berry’s clandestine titular agency decides to recruit Wahlberg, a construction worker in New Jersey, against his will for their latest nonsensical mission in London. The agency wants to hire a dependable “nobody” after a recent bungled operation claims a red herring played by Mike Colter. Director Julian Farino, who works mostly in television, proves to be as inept at comedic espionage as he is cliched suburban ennui in his last feature, 2011’s The Oranges. 

Somehow, despite laying considerable groundwork for the rekindled romance between Wahlberg and Berry’s characters, the script either forgets or willfully neglects anything resembling chemistry, platonic or otherwise. Somehow, Wahlberg seems less like a fish out of water playing up Jersey blue-collar stereotypes while a poorly styled Berry bops around with a head of hair which looks like a wilted potted spider plant.

7. Elevation

Dir. George Nolfi

As Oscar Wilde posited, imitation may indeed be the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness, but in the case of films like Elevation, some barely camouflaged narrative derivation seems more of an insult. 

The third outing from director George Nolfi is from one of the producers of A Quiet Place, which is clearly the template borrowed for this feature, replacing the noise-sensitive insect aliens of that franchise with invading entities with a sensitivity to high altitudes. Though Nolfi is hardly alone in his generic sci-fi foray (this year we also had Stefon Bristol’s blandlytitled Breathe, similarly suffering from nebulous copycat syndrome and an egregiously banal script), it’s a film which curiously squanders the more intriguing set up of its human characters. Anthony Mackie (who starred in Nolfi’s The Banker, 2020) plays a single father who must stray beneath the line of demarcation to procure medical supplies for his asthmatic child. He’s joined by two women, Morena Baccarin (who also serves as executive producer) and Maddie Hasson, whose sparring suggests a bizarre love triangle might have given the actors something to sink their teeth into (much like the sleazy 1977 Jaws ripoff, Tintorera: Killer Shark, in which a sexually enthusiastic throuple also happens to be terrorized by a deadly shark).

6. Trigger Warning

Dir. Mouly Surya

Indonesian director Mouly Surya (Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, 2017) makes her English language debut with the spiritless Trigger Warning, a Netflix release headlined by Jessica Alba. It would appear Ms. Alba continues to be oblivious to what screenwriters can actually contribute towards storytelling, but truth be told, it’s the headlining star who really scuttles this rudderless endeavor. 

Playing like any number of recent Z-grade Megan Fox films, this Roadhouse-like narrative follows a skilled CIA military combatant (yes, Jessica Alba), who must return to her troubled hometown in New Mexico to investigate her father’s suspicious death. Once there, she must contend with a villainous arms dealer named Elvis and a corrupt senator played by Anthony Michael Hall. If John Sayles’ Lone Star (1996) was overhauled with a frontal lobotomy, it might play something like Trigger Effect. Somehow, Alba’s ineptitude makes Megan Fox’s Rogue (2020), where she attempts to convey a pouty mercenary in the African hinterlands, suddenly conceivable.

5. Tarot

Dir. Spenser Cohen & Anna Halberg

Based purely on their resumes, it’s no surprise Tarot, the directorial debut of Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg, is the worst kind of debacle: it’s utterly forgettable. Together, they assisted in penning The Expendables 4, while Cohen was co-writer on Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall, all of which exist on the same schlock spectrum of films which seem to have been written without desiring to be entertaining or memorable. 

Much like 2014’s Ouija, a group of tedious teens unleash an evil entity haunting a specific set of tarot cards. A Hungarian astrologer from 1798 cursed the cards, which is related to us in a bit of painstaking, cliched exposition from an online expert in tarot cards played by Olwen Fouéré (who also stars in another 2024 misfire, The Watchers, the directorial debut of Ishana Shyamalan). The teens are dispatched in expected succession until the La Llorona-like entity is defeated. The box office success of Tarot suggests we’ll be blasted with an unnecessary sequel. 

But perhaps hope is not lost if someone innovative, like a Mike Flanagan, gets free reign to attempt something intelligent, as he did with the surprisingly effective Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016).

4. Atlas

Dir. Brad Peyton

While she remains incredibly prolific, one wonders if Jennifer Lopez will ever realize that less is more. In an incredibly busy but troubled year for the celebrity, including another high profile divorce, a canceled tour, two bizarre and phenomenally out-of-touch docu-hybrid projects (The Greatest Love Story Never Told and This Is Me…Now), plus the awards-hungry sports drama Unstoppable, reflect a dizzying schedule but with formidably diminishing returns. 

Nestled in the jostled mix of all these endeavors was a forgettable but foolish B-grade sci-fi flick from Netflix, Atlas. Lopez plays an ambiguously aged analyst who must overcome her disdain for artificial intelligence if she is to succeed in a mission to terminate an AI terrorist named Harlan (Simu Liu), who leads a crusade against humans. Cringey dialogue and the kind of sloppy special effects which have come to define the era of films made solely for streaming purposes do little to assist Lopez, who brandishes her usual shrill disposition to bulldoze her way to the all’s-well-that-ends-well finale.

3. The Crow

Dir. Rupert Sanders

In the endless plundering of past franchise properties, the tortured reboot of The Crow at long last came to fruition. The goth-mystique of the 1994 original, which was enhanced by the tragic death of lead Brandon Lee, also arrived before comic book adaptations became Hollywood’s formulaic staple. 

In a series of remakes similar to the trajectory of something like The Punisher, this dark fantasy circles a pair of angsty addicts who are murdered by a criminal underlord posing as an elitist cultural connoisseur who just so happens to be immortal thanks to a pact with the devil, to whom he sends troubled souls in order to remain forever middle-aged. Even the appropriately villainous Danny Huston seems bored as he gnashes his way through a sluggish plot wherein he must hunt down Zadie (FKA Twigs), who has footage of his murderous shenanigans (a dramatic catalyst also quite similar to Brad Anderson’s 2024 title The Silent Hour). She escapes capture by entering a drug rehabilitation facility styled like a color-coded cult from a cheaply designed futuristic dystopia, and meets the equally troubled Eric, played by Bill Skarsgård (who, with the It and Nosferatu remakes under his belt, seems to be studio lackey for genre reboots). They’re both murdered, but Eric ends up in purgatory, where a spirit guide explains a titular bird took pity on his tragedy, giving him the chance to return from the dead, kill his assailant, and be reunited with Zadie. 

Unfortunately nothing really works with Sanders’ latest version, including a languid script and lack of chemistry between the leads, who, sans supernatural assistance, would be doomed to toxic codependency, whose meet-cute feels like the prologue to The Panic in Needle Park (1971).

2. Mea Culpa & Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black

Dir. Tyler Perry

Since there’s no real way to differentiate the ineptitude and absurdity the two ersatz adult erotic thrillers Tyler Perry sidelined streaming services with this year, Mea Culpa and Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black are tied—at least regarding their level of odious storytelling. 

Making waves on Netflix with Mea Culpa, Kelly Rowland stars as a criminal defense attorney who finds herself attracted to a sexy but sinister client played by Trevante Rhodes, an artist accused of murdering his girlfriend. Then, Amazon Prime unleashed Divorce in the Black, Perry’s second (of three) releases this year wherein Meagan Good is abandoned by an abusive husband only to be romantically rescued by an equally attractive man from her hometown who checks all the boxes…until her estranged husband and his formidably dysfunctional kinfolk have something to say about it. Debbi Morgan and Richard Lawson wobble around in the background as Good’s well-to-do but implausibly written parents. 

The real problem with Perry’s prolific output is his resistance to improving his craft as either a writer or director—it’s clear he regards the process of filmmaking with some contempt and doesn’t realize his audience has evolved in many ways he himself has not. 

1. Joker: Folie à Deux

Dir. Todd Phillips

Speaking of ersatz, director Todd Phillips followed up his lauded 2019 origin story of Batman’s nemesis Joker with a woefully ungainly sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, a cinematic exercise so tiresome it’s difficult not to question the motivations of all involved. Joaquin Phoenix reprises the character that won him an Academy Award, premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival (where the Lucrecia Martel-led jury awarded it the coveted Golden Lion), landing with a thud. The project was hotly anticipated thanks to the stunt casting of Lady Gaga playing Harley Quinn, the psychotic girlfriend of Arthur Fleck (aka Joker), given a backstory which sounds an awful lot like the performer’s own experience as a privileged socialite turned celebrity. 

The majority of the film is set within the confines of an asylum and a courtroom, with Fleck being held accountable for the handful of murders committed from the last film. What follows is an oddly paced slog of endless musical numbers shared by the leads, off in their own little worlds to showcase the narrative subtexts about dual personas and the compartmentalization of trauma, which segues into one of the most mundane courtroom dramas ever written. Earnest supporting turns from Catherine Keener and Zazie Beetz fulfill writer Scott Silver’s attempts to hold on to the empathetic collateral damage which made the first film seem oddly human for a contemporary graphic novel property, while those who are cruel or inhumane (Brendan Gleeson, Steve Coogan, Bill Smitrovich) are cartoonish in their vileness. But we spend so much time with the leads, who share a ruinous chemistry, which really turns the film into an endurance test. 

Phoenix, who doesn’t seem accustomed to singing, much less very interested in it, is forced to warble his way through song numbers while Gaga refuses to lay down a dichotomy between what’s real versus fantasy concerning her character’s musical talents. In other words, it seems like she’s constantly trying to outshine her co-star with the sole element she’s allowed to bring to the table. 

Absurd behind-the-scenes tidbits from the crew reveal Gaga approached the role like a Daniel Day-Lewis acolyte who refused to break character. But, amusingly, there’s really no characterization at all. One single solitary soundbite from the film suggests a subconscious self-awareness, when, at long last, after two hours of drivel, Phoenix whinges to Gaga, “I don’t want to sing anymore.”

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

During a year when world-conquering, box office-shattering tours by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé dominated the concert biz headlines, there were innumerable other live music highlights in 2023, from dingy DIY shows to epic stadium gigs to surprise reunions to milestone birthday celebrations. As we do every year at this time, we’re excited to share reflections on the best music we experienced in the flesh with our own eyes and ears, organized in chronological order.

More from Spin:

• THE 40 GREATEST MUSICIANS OF THE LAST 40 YEARS
• Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell Reuniting On ‘Colbert’
• Megadeth Revisit Metallica Classic For Final LP

Drive-By Truckers / Wednesday 

40 Watt, Athens, Ga. 

April 1

The idea all started with the fans and gathered steam at meetups and pre-show parties the week of the Truckers’ annual HeAthens Homecoming. During the last of four shows at the 40 Watt, the dudes in the audience all wore dresses and skirts — not as a gag, but to voice their opposition to anti-drag legislation in neighboring Tennessee. When the Truckers caught wind of the plans, they took the stage in busted redneck drag. Patterson Hood stunned in a floral-print frock, Mike Cooley showed his jogger’s physique in a short black wrap and multi-instrumentalist Jay Gonzalez sported a ’70s skirt-and-blouse combo that made him look like one of Charlie’s Angels deep undercover. Even more than the clothes, the outrage brought out the fire in a band not known for holding back onstage. The Truckers tore through classics like “18 Wheels of  Love,” “Zip City” and “Let There Be Rock” with palpable outrage and even joy, as though they might hit a chord powerful enough to be heard up in Nashville. – Stephen Deusner

Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90

Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, Ca.

April 29-30

Packing 90 years of history into two nights of music is no easy task, but this star-studded tribute to Nelson on the occasion of another milestone birthday truly had it all. Billy Strings opened both shows with a cover of Nelson’s set opener “Whiskey River,” and from there, artists ranging from Beck to Norah Jones, Rosanne Cash to Chris Stapleton, Ziggy Marley to Margo Price, Neil Young (in one of his first performances in years) to Tom Jones and Snoop Dogg to Keith Richards toasted the Red Headed Stranger’s peerless legacy. By the time the man himself closed out the show was stirring versions of “On the Road Again,” “Stardust” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” you couldn’t help but marvel at what you’d just witnessed. – Daniel Kohn

The National / Soccer Mommy 

Deer Lake Park, Burnaby B.C., Canada

June 5

The National are a band you always want to catch live, thanks to the almost-instant connection one feels amongst the audience. It’s something both my wife and I wanted our four-year-old to experience, so as fans and a family, we headed to the picturesque Deer Lake Park stop on the band’s First Two Pages of Frankenstein world tour. As the sun slowly set, the National performed 24 songs from across their catalog, including a surprise live debut of “Patterns of Fairytales” from 2003’s Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. For more than two hours, we were kept comfortably captivated by lead singer Matt Berninger’s conversational lyrics and flailing figure, while the Dessner brothers’ cascading, gorgeous melodies radiated from the softly lit outdoor stage. As the band wrapped with their traditional closer “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” we made an early escape, pulling our sleeping boy in his wagon and leaving the violet dusk behind us. I’ll never forget that moment. – Gen Handley

Weezer

Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, Queens, N.Y.

July 13

Of all the great shows I caught this year — from boygenius’ Halloween set at the Hollywood Bowl to the Postal Service’s much-anticipated reunion — Weezer’s tour stop at Forest Hills Stadium was surprisingly the best. I’d seen Weezer perform a few times before, but with set lists focused primarily on covers and newer material, the shows were both disappointing and unsatisfying for any longtime fan. On this tour, Weezer curated a nightly changing set tailor-made for listeners who’ve been there since the beginning. Frontman Rivers Cuomo treated the show like his own Eras tour, tackling everything from controversial cult classics from Pinkerton to the new SZNZ EPs. Longtime fans such as myself hadn’t heard these songs live in many years, including a rare acoustic performance of “Susanne” from the Mallrats soundtrack, which I’d been praying to experience since my first Weezer concert nearly a decade ago. Lindsay Jordan, aka Snail Mail, also joined the band onstage to belt out Pinkerton-era b-side “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams.” The show was a reminder of why I fell in love with Weezer’s music as a teen and why fans now have hope that the band’s best days aren’t long gone. – Tatiana Tenreyro

Arthur Verocai

Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, New York, N.Y.

Aug. 11

It’s one thing to enjoy the music of 78-year-old Brazilian legend Arthur Verocai on wax, particularly his belatedly influential 1972 self-titled debut, which has been sampled by everyone from MF Doom to Ludacris. But it was quite another to see him perform the holy grail album in its entirety during his first-ever New York show at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park on this beautiful August night, particularly thanks to the presence of a full orchestra. Rock-tinged, jazzy gems such as “No boca do sol,” “Pelas sombras” and “Dedicada a ela” never sounded better, highlighting a rare opportunity for crate diggers and casual fans alike to experience this music in a live setting. – Jonathan Cohen

Niyaz: The Fourth Light

Royce Hall, Los Angeles, Ca.

Aug. 19

Iranian-born, Los Angeles-based singer Azam Ali and multi-instrumentalist Loga Ramin Torkian have long broken new, challenging artistic ground with their world-electronic ensemble Niyaz. With the “immersive” performance The Fourth Light, they have fulfilled that mission brilliantly and affectingly. One word kept coming to mind through this captivating evening: dizzying. The Fourth Light was a free-fall through time, connecting us and our world with that of eighth century Sufi saint Rabia Al Basri, Islam’s first female mystic poet. The music was engulfing, with swirls of ancient and modern Silk Road-and-beyond styles supporting Ali’s transfixing vocals. The visuals also overwhelmed, as projections covering the whole stage had the effect of pulling us in through images architectural, neural, geometrical, celestial. Throughout, two dancers took turns at center stage, with Tara Pandeya drawing on various Asian cultural traditions and Tanya Evanson twirling in Sufi dervish motion. In the end, everything faded away, leaving just Evanson, a solitary figure in a white gown, spinning, the whole universe contained in each turn. – Steve Hochman

Metallica

SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, Ca.

Aug. 27

There was a time in the ‘80s when I worried about attending a Metallica concert, in fear of an audience I thought would be overly aggressive. Forty years later, Metallica fans are the heartbeat of the band’s shows. They performed literally right on top of the audience standing on the stadium floor—no barriers or security between them, and the projected slide show was of Metallica and their fans. This being a two-night experience, only half of the weighty catalog of favorites was performed, as there were no repeats from the first night. Still, there was a healthy dose of blistering classics, among them “Whiplash,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Ride the Lightning” and “One.” The ropey veins in James Hetfield’s throat threatened to burst through his skin, Kirk Hammett’s fingers were a blur on the guitar frets and no one can pull a stank face quite like Lars Ulrich while relentlessly shredding on the drums. As they do after every show, the band came off stage into the audience, aka the “Metallica family,” translating the intensity of the performance into passionate face-to-face interactions. – Lily Moayeri

The Armed

El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, Ca.

Sept. 8

If you’re going to see one band to help you understand the post-pandemic rise of experimental hardcore, it should probably be Turnstile. But if you scoffed at that sentence and grumbled something like, “Turnstile isn’t hardcore anymore” or “fucking sellouts,” you should go see the Armed instead. Known for their borderline troll-like mystique, the world’s most interesting rock band cycled through roughly a dozen members (including Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen), four crowdsurfing singers (including one who sprayed attendees with the hose from behind the bar) and 17 hard-hitting tracks at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. For a band intentionally shrouded in mystery, its semi-anonymous members left no doubt that they can put on a hell of a show. They even closed with a Converge cover and debuted a handful of tracks they’d never played live before. – Josh Chesler

Pavement

Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sept. 12

As the latest Pavement reunion wound down, nostalgic Gen X’er-Millennials and discerning Gen Z’s were treated to an intimate four-night stand in Williamsburg, where the group spent much of their formative years. Led by the man Courtney Love calls “the Grace Kelly of Rock,” Stephen Malkmus, the O.G’s of indie slack were still refreshingly ramshackle, though this time around, tighter and more mature as a unit than ever. Pavement spent the second night of the run stretching fan faves like “Pueblo” and “Fin” into deeper explorative jams, and unearthing more back catalog (“Maybe Maybe” hadn’t been played since ’97), than any other Brooklyn Steel show. The week’s only double-encore, their surprise TikTok hit “Harness Your Hopes,” didn’t hurt either. The reunion continues next year in South America, so catch the only band of 50-somethings with a hip hop-style hype man while this life still allows it. – Jonathan Rowe

U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere

The Sphere, Las Vegas, Nv.

Sept. 29

No band was better suited than U2 to christen the Sphere, the new $2.3 billion globe-shaped performance venue near the Las Vegas Strip. U2 already explored intense sensory overload in Western culture on its original Zoo TV tour in the ’90s, but this time around, the 18K resolution, 15,000-square meter curved video screen allowed for a truly next-level experience. The images behind U2 were both kaleidoscopic and earthbound, turning the night into a multi-sensory thrill ride. Opening night was a flawless exercise in far-out stagecraft, with a 22-song setlist largely centered on songs from the 1991 album Achtung Baby. Performed on a simple stage modeled after Brian Eno’s elegant turntable design, deeply emotional songs such as “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” “Mysterious Ways” and “One” were fueled by tension between U2’s undiminished raw power and the magnificent and insane high-tech visuals all around them. – Steve Appleford

Power Trip

Mohawk, Austin, Tx.

Dec. 1

Power Trip’s reunion at Mohawk in Austin was Texas’ most poorly kept secret, and they didn’t need the element of surprise. As soon as Chris Ulsh hit the drum intro to “Soul Sacrifice,” bodies were flying and slamming, people were jumping off Mohawk’s side stage balcony and Blake Ibanez’s razor-tight rhythm slashed the remaining unbruised. This was a real deal Power Trip gig, which seemed impossible following frontman Riley Gale’s tragic passing three years ago. He was an inescapable and irreplaceable presence, and one of the very few who could honor his legacy is Skourge’s Seth Gilmore. The band didn’t just need a powerful singer — they needed someone who’s lived Texas hardcore as much as Gale, and that’s a small list. Thankfully, the crowd gave Gilmore an extra lift, singing most of the anthemic “Executioner’s Tax,” which remains Power Trip’s signature song (you could have heard it from El Paso!) The experience brought back many great memories, without nostalgic staleness. However, Gale’s family criticized the gig the day after, saying they were not consulted or invited, We hope they and the rest of Power Trip can resolve their differences, because their music can still bring people together in a way few in heavy music can replicate. – Andy O’Connor

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

2023 was another great year for boxed sets and expanded reissues. And by great, we mean really great. We may ballyhoo how boxed sets have become standard operating procedure for a dying music industry desperate to sell physical products. We may scoff at the proposition of shelling out for albums we’ve already bought multiple times in the past. We may, understandably, be wary of boxed sets that look great on paper but come indiscriminately stuffed with loads of filler that’s hard to sit through. Fair enough, but the fact is that the boxed set has grown into an art form, and plenty of people are doing it well. As artists (or their estates) and labels continue to dust off relics and never-before-heard rarities and put them in one neat package, the real winner is you, music fan. In a year when there were too many to choose from, here are the boxed sets we think are a cut above.  

20. Prince — Diamonds And Pearls Super Deluxe Edition 

Prince famously left behind so much unreleased material in his vault that every album in his discography could justify an expanded reissue. Totaling seven hours of music, this exhaustive document of the Purple One’s foray into New Jack Swing and hip hop suffers a bit from 12-inch dance-remix overkill. And, after setting the bar with his sprawling hybrid of funk, soul, rock, and adult contemporary, Prince was starting to chase the contemporary sounds of his descendants rather than look ahead, That said, the 33 (!) tracks Prince chose not to include on the finished album, as always, provide a fascinating glimpse into his bottomless well of inspiration. The grittier, more organic sound of these bonus tracks perfectly offsets the original album’s slick production. Extensive track-by-track commentary by Prince historian/author Duane Tudahl provides context for listeners keen on taking a deep dive.

More from Spin:

• THE 40 GREATEST MUSICIANS OF THE LAST 40 YEARS
• 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte of 3OH!3
• What Music Can Learn From Sports

19. The Tragically Hip: Phantom Power 25th-Anniversary Edition 

Los Lobos horn player and Phantom Power producer Steve Berlin said in 2016 that no other band has ever meant as much to Canadians as The Tragically Hip. When they made Phantom Power in 1997, their first of two records with Berlin, their legacy status was firmly secure. The band’s most mature work up to that point, Phantom Power saw The Hip dialing back the rock element of their sound for a more reserved approach. Despite its many low-key moments, however, Phantom Power never slides into get-your-lighters-out power ballad territory. Instead, The Tragically Hip forged a sound that was somehow huge and intimate, corporate and folky at the same time. A robustly mixed full live concert from the period shows that the band still had plenty of fire in its engine. Additionally, five never-heard tracks from these sessions enhance the original album’s arc of peaks and valleys rather nicely. 

18. Bob Marley and The Wailers — Catch A Fire 50th Anniversary Edition

The Wailers’ Island Records debut captures how the band hit its stride after almost a decade together.  With Island founder Chris Blackwell at the console, Catch A Fire flows with the same sense of effortless grandeur as other pop-rock masterpieces of the time. Throughout, The Wailers lock into a groove so riveting it’s easy to see why Catch A Fire heralded their arrival as global superstars. A newly restored, beautifully recorded BBC concert from London only further cements what a force to be reckoned with Bob Marley and company were during this period. 

17. The Spinners — Ain’t No Price on Happiness: The Thom Bell Studio Recordings (1972-1979) 

After leaving Motown, The Spinners recorded eight albums for Atlantic Records with legendary producer and Philly Soul architect Thom Bell. This set features expanded versions of all eight albums, capturing arguably the most vital chapter in the vocal quintet’s career in a modest package. Ain’t No Price showcases his gift for blending then-contemporary soul influences with remnants of the jazz-singer-with-orchestra sound of previous decades. For a crash course in the smooth, lushly orchestrated, yet strangely economical Philly Soul sound, look no further than this box. 

16. Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is the Place: Music from the Original Soundtrack

The score to Sun Ra’s 1974 film Space Is the Place opens with a woman intoning “It’s after the end of the world — don’t you know that yet?” Not to be confused with the 1973 album of the same name, the Space Is the Place score ripples with an urgency that sounds as unsettling and apocalyptic today as it did on its creation. Sun Ra and company summon a discordant, yet oddly gorgeous sound that beams into your head like a transmission from an alien consciousness beyond our comprehension. Throughout his life, Sun Ra insisted that human beings were in dire need of a spiritual-intellectual paradigm shift. He left us with the perfect vehicle to get there with this score, now augmented by The Mathematics of the Altered Destiny — a separate, never-released album from the same sessions. The film itself is also included, marking its first time on BluRay/DVD in the States. Any expanded Sun Ra reissue is reason to celebrate, but this one is particularly essential. 

15. Hawkwind — Space Ritual 50th-Anniversary Edition 

With 1973’s aptly-titled Space Ritual, Hawkwind channeled their heady distortion-worshiping aesthetic into arguably one of the definitive double-live albums of that decade. The album (full title: The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London) is a raucous document of the band that would be instrumental in establishing space rock. However, Hawkwind also had their hands in fuzz, psych rock, and even proto-metal. This new edition swells out to a whopping 11 discs. Is all of that, um, fuzz particularly necessary? Maybe not, but for every new listener who feels inspired to wring endless hours of guitar squall out of a stack of amps, this box set justifies its heft. 

14. Bill Laswell / Pete Namlook — Outland 

Bill Laswell’s production work with Herbie Hancock, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Motörhead, Public Image Ltd, Bootsy Collins, and others has left a lasting, if peripheral, footprint on mainstream pop culture. His massively varied experimental output, however, is a bottomless rabbit hole for adventurous listeners. In the early ‘90s, the late ambient-techno producer Pete Namlook — founder of Germany’s FAX +49-69/450464 label — noticed that Laswell had sampled some early FAX releases. The pair struck up a friendship, which led to a collaboration spanning five albums over 13 years. Unified by a shared love of naturalistic samples (Mongolian chants, water, etc), Namlook and Laswell crafted a dark ambient sound with occasional (and highly rousing) bursts of “ethnotronica.” This box spares listeners from having to hunt down the separate titles on Discogs.  

13. Nanci Griffith — Working in Corners 

Following her death in 2021, Nanci Griffith was hailed by the Austin American-Statesman as “the greatest Austin-raised singer-songwriter ever.” Griffith — part of the Texan vanguard that included Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen — would have turned 70 this year, the perfect occasion to rescue her first four albums from out-of-print limbo. Griffith coined the term “folkabilly” for her singular blend of folk and Americana, but she’d always dreamed of becoming a songwriter. Penning hits for artists like Dolly Parton, Kathy Mattea, and Suzy Bogguss, Griffith was also a formative influence on Lovett and Mary Gauthier. Working in Corners shows us why. A lifelong bookworm hailed for the prose-like weight of her lyrics, Griffith was able to convey universal feelings on an almost mythic scale. This box set, with its lovingly assembled first-hand accounts, is sufficiently wide in scope to encompass the breathtaking qualities of her early work. 

12. (TIE) Abilene — Endee Burial 

Shotmaker — A Moment in Time: 1993-1996 

If we measured Shotmaker and Abilene strictly by their level of recognition, they would both rate at two or three degrees more obscure than, say Drive Like Jehu, June of ‘44, and Don Caballero. This means that even aficionados of obscure ‘90s rock can revel in the joy of discovery these boxes offer. Comprised of three LPs apiece, each set covers its respective band’s entire recorded output in full, with top-notch artwork to match. Chicago’s Abilene left behind three albums’ worth of engrossing post-rock in a muscular, math-y style that will have fans of Slint and Shipping News jumping for joy. The beautifully designed Endee Burial includes a never-released third full-length that’s worth the price of admission alone. Canadian rockers Shotmaker, meanwhile, unleashed a blast-furnace brand of proto-emo/post-hardcore. A Moment in Time includes their two full-lengths and a third album’s worth of splits, seven-inches and compilation tracks.

11. Otis Redding — Otis Forever: The Albums & Singles 1968-1970  

When he died at the age of 26, Otis Redding left behind four albums’ worth of completed material. This re-printing of those posthumous LPs is a decidedly no-frills affair (unless you get the colored-vinyl edition). There are no liner notes, no new artwork, and even no picture sleeves. But that doesn’t diminish the sheer satisfaction of holding the sturdy cardstock of the LP jackets in your hands. These albums were meant to be enjoyed in this form, and this set certainly does them justice. Two LPs’ worth of mono-mixed singles make this a must-have package. 

10. Pharoah Sanders — Pharoah 

A spiritual/free-jazz avatar who accompanied John Coltrane on some of the most cosmic musical excursions of the late ‘60s, Pharoah Sanders pursued sonic transcendence and communion for the rest of his life. This reissue adds two extended live cuts (and lots of ephemera) to the late saxophone giant’s namesake album, long out of print and barely noticed on its release in 1977. With surprisingly plainspoken phrasing, Sanders weaves in and out of fairy dust created by a most unlikely cast of musicians, including future Sugar Hill Records producer Clifton “Jiggs” Chase on organ. There’s a gorgeous immediacy to this recording — if you didn’t know better, you’d believe you were hearing a cutting-edge musical dialogue that sounded like it was recorded in the past year.

9. Drew McDowall — Lamina 

A one-time member of the pioneering industrial act Coil who also worked with Psychic TV, Drew McDowall has a penchant for turning noise into eerie, resplendent beauty. Lamina compiles all of the venerable electronic producer’s solo output to date — four albums starting with 2015’s Collapse — alongside rarities and live material. Hazy, ambiguous, and yet utterly gripping, his haunting sounds don’t just convey a sense of space, but somehow foster contemplation and transformation. With sublime results, McDowall has sonically vaporized the paradigm he helped create. Listening to the various works on Lamina, the lineage connecting McDowall to younger electronic artists like Actress and Justin Broadrick comes into full view. 

8. Aretha Franklin — A Portrait of the Queen 1970-1974 

By 1970, Aretha Franklin had already recorded 15 albums. This box set, which consists of her first five LPs of the decade, shows Franklin still at the peak of powers. As we hear, her creative relationship with Atlantic Records producers Tom Dowd, Jerry Wexler, and Arif Mardin continued to bear fruit at a dizzying rate. (Also included is her only album with Quincy Jones at the helm.) Unlike most vocalists of her day, though, Franklin was also a formidable presence when it came to production and arrangement (to say nothing of her piano chops). These five albums (all augmented with outtakes and two revelatory demos) contain a wealth of deep cuts that showcase why Franklin holds the title of the Queen of Soul. 

7. The Who: Who’s Next / Life House 

The Who’s guitarist/mastermind Pete Townshend conceived the follow-up to Tommy as an even grander concept he’d titled Life House. Townshend drew from Sufism and science fiction to tell a story about a future devoid of rock music. In his scenario, rock would save us all. Of course, high concept is not what the band delivered with their fifth and decidedly straightforward album Who’s Next. This extras-crammed edition of the album re-traces Townshend’s steps via his home demo sketches of a much different album he heard in his head. (A newly commissioned graphic novel also walks us through the story.) Slogging through multiple versions of the same songs gets to feel like work in spots, but there’s no denying the payoff here. In the end, this box offers fascinating (if incomplete) glimpses of a vision that never was. 

6. Acetone — I’m Still Waiting 

This 11-LP “thing of beauty” epitomizes the value of searching for what we might’ve all missed the first time around. Acetone didn’t escape everyone’s notice — Spiritualized/Spacemen 3 founder Jason Pierce, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, Drew Daniel of Matmos, and Colin Meloy of The Decemberists are all avid champions of the ‘90s L.A. trio’s work. And Neil Young’s now-defunct label, Vapor Records, released Acetone’s eponymous 1997 full-length. Acetone careened through feedback- and fuzz-drenched Crazy Horse/Sabbath-styled rock, sublime Beach Boys harmonies, and the laconic ramshackle of Pavement and Dinosaur, Jr. But they were never enshrined on music history’s granite wall. I’m Still Waiting should change that. To quote Pierce, there’s loads of “grace, tenderness, and fury,” to sink your teeth into here.

5. Miha Gantar — Amsterdam 

Apparently, Slovenian, Amsterdam-based pianist/composer Miha Gantar likes to drop five albums at once. Amsterdam — the second quintuple-shot offering in the 26-year-old’s career — documents Gantar working in a different setting (trio, quintet, duo, dual- and solo-piano) on each respective disc. All of these configurations highlight different aspects of his playing. Combined, they paint a picture of an artist who matches bold innovation with a carefree swagger. In the liners, none other than avant-jazz elder statesman Reggie Workman (Pharoah Sanders, Coltrane, etc) describes Gantar’s approach as “a fresh sound not heard before.” It’s true, but Gantar’s whimsical approach enables the listener to get lost in the unfamiliar while being delighted at the same time. 

4. Grateful Dead — Here Comes Sunshine 

What’s the point of a hefty 17-disc set of live Dead recordings when these shows have been floating around online for ages? Well, for one, the sound quality is a vast improvement over the bootlegs Deadheads already know, plus elegant, colorful packaging adds additional appeal. Here Comes Sunshine chronicles five complete live shows that took place within four weeks from May to June 1973. At the time, the Dead were known to play anarchic sets that would last through the night. Dead historian Ray Robertson, author of the book All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows (released in November), walks listeners through the endless thicket of music.  At points, his crackling prose froths over into hyperventilating superfan’s rants—an approach that befits a band with such a passionate following. Sometimes, alas, more is more.

3. Joni Mitchell: Archives Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)

In her prime, Joni Mitchell could convey tremendous power via little more than a tape recorder and the skeleton of a song. Vol. 3 spans what is arguably the singer-songwriter’s most dramatic period of growth: her trifecta of LPs For the Roses, Court and Spark, and The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Like its predecessors, Archives Vol. 3 comes packed with embryonic sketches, rehearsals, studio jams, outtakes and complete live shows. By Court and Spark, Mitchell was taking full advantage of the studio as a canvas; with Summer Lawns, she molded her ideas into liquid dreamscapes. Archives Vol. 3 reveals the simple, barebones beauty of the songs at the heart of Mitchell’s increasingly abstract sonic architecture. Unsurprisingly, Mitchell’s works in progress are just as breathtaking as the versions we’ve known for the last 50 years, which makes this set a must-have.  

2. DeYarmond Edison — Epoch 

As far as attention to detail goes, Epoch takes this year’s cake by a long shot. Even the graphic design scheme — with its intricate runes and arresting color patterns — screams “labor of love.” Grayson Currin’s liners, meanwhile, are so exhaustive it took him years to complete them. Epoch covers the lifespan of the rural Wisconsin folk-rock quartet DeYarmond Edison, the predecessor to both Bon Iver and Megafaun. Everything from high school recordings to official releases to live gigs to post-breakup output gets thorough treatment. (Yes, we get to hear Justin Vernon’s transitional solo work that ultimately formed the seeds of Bon Iver.) Every person who plays in a band is forever changed by the experience. Epoch honors that fact with an unparalleled sense of care and tenderness.  

1. Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos

Home to Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, and Carla Thomas, the soulful sound forged by the legendary Stax label in the ‘60s and ‘70s made an indelible impact that continues to reverberate far and wide today. But do seven discs’ worth of demos measure up to what’s already been out there for so long? Yes. Consisting of recordings in various states of completion, Written In Their Soul runs the gamut from raw sketches — where we hear inspiration striking on the spot — to fully fleshed-out arrangements. Soul/R&B history buffs will marvel at the sheer bulk of historical value here, but you don’t have to be a historian to sit back and take it all in. 

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

The EP, or extended play, has always occupied a strange little niche in the music industry – not quite an album, but more substantial than a single. These days, major labels often use them to ensure their artists are constantly in the public eye, with a frequent tactic being multiple separately released EPs later assembled into a full album. Other artists utilize EPs to make complete artistic statements in a more compact package, tease a new direction, team up with a collaborator or find a home for a few good songs that just didn’t fit on the last record. Here are our favorite releases in the format from 2023.

25. d4vd – Petals to Thorns

Houston-based teenager David “d4vd” Burke had a successful esports career before he even made music. In fact, he started recording original songs to soundtrack his Fortnite montages, just so YouTube wouldn’t take down his videos for using copyright-protected music. His brooding indie pop sound struck a chord on TikTok, and d4vd’s debut EP for Darkroom/Interscope features two songs (“Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me”) which each have racked up more than a billion streams.

More from Spin:

• 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Ken Vasoli of the Starting Line
• Bleachers Jam With Hayley Williams, Maren Morris At Newport Folk
• Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy To Tour R.EM.’s ‘Life’s Rich Pageant’ In 2026

24. Wynne – Some Like It Hot 

Maybe the backlash to Iggy Azalea’s success is still lingering, but if the world is ready for another blonde hip-hop diva, Portland, Ore.-based Sina Wynne Holwerda is white girl rap’s best hope right now. Wynne attacks trap beats with snarky punchlines for most of her Some Like It Hot EP, but on “What Would Comb Do?,” she sounds right at home on the kind of soul loop beat you’d hear on a Westside Gunn album.

23. Bishop Briggs – When Everything Went Dark 

Back in 2016, Briggs was an eagerly anticipated “next big thing” for Island Records, with a song in a car commercial and an opening slot on a Coldplay tour before anybody had any idea who the London-born singer was. Briggs never quite made it big with her first two albums, but after jumping to Arista Records, she’s released an EP of songs that feel like a cathartic new beginning. “Can’t write the songs I used to,” she sings on “Baggage.” “I cut some ties, I tried to, but there’s wounds that I can’t leave behind.”

22. Ringo Starr – Rewind Forward 

Since 2021, Starr has released four EPs recorded in his home studio, evincing at least some of the same offhanded charm which made him a solo star in the 1970s. The latest in the series, Rewind Forward, even features the new Paul McCartney composition “Feel the Sunshine,” a bright and chipper contrast to the “last Beatles song” released a few weeks later, “Now and Then.”

21. Boygenius – The Rest 

Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus first joined forces as boygenius for a self-titled EP in 2018, followed by this year’s massively successful full-length The Record. In October, the indie supergroup took a victory lap with The Rest, collecting four songs left off the album. The delicate “Voyager” was co-written by Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst, who previously collaborated with Bridgers as Better Oblivion Community Center in 2019.

20. Rema – Ravage 

Afrobeats has become so popular worldwide that Billboard began publishing a new chart, U.S. Afrobeats Songs, last year to track hits from the African diaspora. For 58 weeks, the No. 1 song on it has been a remix of Nigerian singer Rema’s “Calm Down” featuring Selena Gomez. Rema’s first five new songs since the success of “Calm Down” have a similar mix of luxurious grooves and lilting melodies, and “Trouble Maker” and “DND” deserve to be hits with or without assistance from an American pop star.

19. Zach Bryan – Boys of Faith 

Bryan fans were vocally disappointed when the Oklahoma-based singer/songwriter released the tracklist for his self-titled album over the summer and “Deep Satin,” a fan favorite he’s been performing live since 2022, wasn’t on it. Weeks later, the prolific Bryan chased the album with an EP featuring “Deep Satin” as well as a collaboration with one of his biggest influences, Bon Iver.

18. Illiterate Light – Aloe 

The relationship implied by the titles of Virgina duo Illiterate Light’s two 2023 releases is that the four-song Aloe EP is a soothing balm compared to the harrowing emotional journey of their second album Sunburned. That’s probably just a humorous exaggeration, but the hard rocking “Don’t Settle Down” and the bright, catchy “Always Always” are a refreshingly playful contrast to the band’s full-length psych rock opus. 

17. Mickey Dolenz – Dolenz Sings R.E.M.

The Monkees have long been beloved by the alternative rock community, with stars such as Rivers Cuomo and Noel Gallagher writing songs for the band’s late period reunion albums. This year, the last surviving Monkee saluted one of alt-rock’s greatest bands with this EP of covers. Instead of just sticking to R.E.M.’s hitmaking peak, Dolenz selected songs like a true fan, spanning nearly their entire career from 1983’s “Radio Free Europe” to 2004’s “Leaving New York.”

16. Chris Walla – 2002 

In October, former Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla decided to unearth his earliest solo work. The hypnotic extended metaphor “When I Was a Radio” and two crisp power pop songs were recorded in 2002, when he was working on the band’s mainstream breakthrough, Transatlanticism. “Imposter syndrome is a rat gnawing at your wires and when they short circuit your judgment, you do things like, for example, sit on pretty respectable and finished work for, say, 20 or so years,” Walla wrote on Bandcamp when releasing the 2002. 

15. Ice Spice – Like..? 

These days, artists often add a few songs to an EP to expand it into an album. Ice Spice tends to make bite-sized two-minute songs though, so when the Bronx rapper followed her January EP with a deluxe edition in July, Like…? was still an EP with a running time of just 22 minutes. Ice Spice and producer RiotUSA have struck gold with their subdued, girly take on Brooklyn drill, but songs like “Deli” provide a glimpse of her potential to make anthems when she raps above a whisper.

14. Kaliii – Fck Girl Szn 

Roswell, Ga., rapper Kaliii blew up in 2023 with “Area Codes,” a minimal banger that interpolates Ludacris’s 2001 hit of the same name. Returning to the studio with some of Atlanta’s best producers, such as London On Da Track and Honorable C.N.O.T.E., Kaliii delivers four impressive songs on Fck Girl Szn which suggest she’s not going to be just a one-hit wonder.

13. Baby Tate – Sexploration: The Musical

The versatile Baby Tate has moved fluidly between hip-hop and R&B over the last few years on a series of albums and EPs. On her latest EP, she sticks to singing but takes a bit of a detour into musical theater, with its five songs (and music videos) running together as a narrative.

12. Curren$y & Jermaine Dupri – For Motivational Use Only, Vol. 1

In 2021, New Orleans stoner rap veteran Curren$y released a song called “Jermaine Dupri” which saluted the Atlanta hip-hop mogul. Two years later, they linked up to make music together, and the fusion of Dupri’s flashy So So Def sound and Curren$y’s laid back flow feels surprisingly natural.

11. Addison Rae – AR 

Addison Rae amassed more than 80 million followers on TikTok, mostly by dancing to other people’s music, but Atlantic Records couldn’t resist signing the influencer and trying to turn her into a pop star. Rae’s debut single “Obsessed” missed the charts in 2021, and she then shelved her debut EP. After the songs leaked and started to gain a cult following, Rae relented and released the EP, which features collaborations with Charli XCX and Swedish hitmaker Rami Yacoub.

10. Ryerson Ehrens – The Skies Within 

Will Ryerson (Other Colors, Chiffon) and Jon Ehrens (Repelican, Dungeonesse) met in the Baltimore indie rock scene, and remained friends and collaborators after relocating to Montana and Vermont, respectively. Their first EP as a duo is a soft rock gem – smoother than anything either songwriter has made before but teeming with comforting tunes and pillowy harmonies.

9. Summer Walker – Clear 2: Soft Life

Walker has made two of the biggest R&B albums of the last five years, but this year, she released a sequel to her 2019 EP Clear, saying that the series represents her “favorite type of sound,” in contrast to “what I got to make for the radio.” Clear 2: Soft Life features guest spots by J. Cole and Childish Gambino, but is far mellower than Still Over it thanks to eschewing recognizable samples in favor of excursions into neo-soul and spoken word.

8. Tori Kelly – Tori

A former American Idol hopeful with a big, soulful voice, Kelly has won two Grammys for her gospel work, but has never scored a major hit with her secular pop. Her latest EP is one of her most impressive releases to date, updating Y2K-era pop and R&B with vital, modern sounds. Five days before the EP’s release in July, Kelly had a health scare and was hospitalized with blood clots in her legs and lungs. Thankfully, she seems to have recovered, and was able to celebrate the release date from a hospital bed.

7. Aphex Twin – Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room 7 F760

Richard D. James has made some of the most acclaimed electronic albums of all time, but he’s only released EPs in the last two decades except 2014’s Syro. Aphex Twin’s latest breakbeat-heavy release seems to combine as many different drum sounds as possible into one brief 14-minute record, with a syncopated cowbell pattern livening up “in a room 7 F760.”

6. Ted Leo – Heaven’s Off

New Jersey punk poet Ted Leo has gone back to the lo-fi roots of his early solo work with a series of EPs released exclusively on Bandcamp, including two in 2023. Heaven’s Off, released in April, is a delightful grab bag of new and old ideas, including a song co-written with Aimee Mann, and a cover of the Scottish power pop band the Headboys’ 1979 single “The Shape of Things To Come.” 

5. NewJeans – Get Up

K-pop wears its American influences on its sleeve, but the biggest Korean groups often seem to be stuck on the vibe of old Britney Spears and Black Eyed Peas records. The girl group NewJeans has a more exciting and omnivorous sound that incorporates everything from U.K. garage to Baltimore club music. Their second project, Get Up, became the only EP to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2023.

4. Terrace Martin & James Fauntleroy – Nova

Martin is a West Coast jazz and rap veteran who has made music with everyone from Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg to Herbie Hancock. He enjoyed an incredibly prolific run in 2023, releasing collaborative albums with Alex Isley, Gallant, Calvin Keys and his jazz supergroup Dinner Party. On the Nova EP, Martin teams up with another musical talent who’s mostly known to people who read liner notes, songwriter James Fauntleroy, for six tracks of bedroom soul with a cameo by pianist Robert Glasper. 

3. Dawn Richard – The Architect

After launching her career with Danity Kane and Dirty Money, Richard has become one of the most exciting artists at the intersection of R&B and electronic music, taking her sound to new places on every album. The Architect is an enticing three-song preview of where she’s headed next, with “Babe Ruth” combining thumping house beats with art rock guitars.

2. Maren Morris – The Bridge

The Chicks risked their careers to criticize President George W. Bush two decades ago, and these days Morris is one of country’s biggest left-leaning stars who doesn’t hold her tongue about conservative contemporaries such as Jason Aldean. This year, she seemed to imply she’s just about fed up and ready to leave country music, or at least Nashville’s regressive politics, behind on two pointed new songs. “I’m takin’ an axe to the tree / The rot at the roots is the root of the problem / But you wanna blame it on me,” she sang on “The Tree.”

1. Kelsea Ballerini – Rolling Up the Welcome Mat 

This Ballerini EP in many ways got a bigger promotional push than any of her four full-length albums. Every song on Rolling Up the Welcome Mat had a video, released together as a Beyonce-style “visual album” short film, and Ballerini performed for the first time on both Saturday Night Live and the MTV Video Music Awards. Ballerini and fellow country singer Morgan Evans announced their divorce in 2022, and Rolling Up is a brief but devastating glimpse at that raw moment just after the Band-Aid has been ripped off and a troubled marriage has ended.

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

The late, great Lester Bangs once wrote that we will never again agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis. And he was basically right until Lil Nas X came sliding down the stripper-pole to Hell. Oh, 2021. You rocked us like a damn sociopath.

What an insanely exciting, emotional, and reinvigorating year for music. President Biden took office and made Olivia Rodrigo an ambassador. We had Hot Vax Summer and Sad Girl Fall (Taylor’s Version.) Live music came back and Dave Grohl never left. Noobs ruled songwriting. Doja Cat ruled the planet. We brought back the electric guitar (all the rumors are true, baby), 2000s pop-punk, and Adele. We freed Britney. Halsey freed the nipple. And we all somehow found out about a Baltimore rock quintet called Turnstile.

More from Spin:

• THE 40 GREATEST MUSICIANS OF THE LAST 40 YEARS
• Adele Making Acting Debut In Tom Ford Film
• Rock Hall Welcomes Soundgarden, White Stripes, Outkast

It’s all in SPIN‘s lists for Best Songs of 2021, Best Albums of 2021, and Best Concerts of 2021. But before we close out the tab, here are the staff’s personal picks and final arguments about the best music that came out this year.

Sarah Grant, Contributing Editor: Top 20 Songs and Top 15 Albums (Unranked)

Songs:

1. Lucy Dacus, “Brando”
   Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of Thin Man” reads F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dacus’s “Brando” subscribes to the Criterion Collection.
2. Taylor Swift, “All Too Well (10-Min. Version)(Taylor’s Version)”
   Here you come again. Just when I’ve begun to get myself together.
3. Charlie XCX, “Good Ones”
   “Blue Monday” synths, a Kylie Minogue groove, RuPaul hair. Whatever this new Charli era is, I love it.
4. Machine Gun Kelly, “Papercuts”
   If I’m being completely honest, no song cheered me up like “Papercuts” — not even close. In a year that has often felt like one long doomscroll through other people’s “pandemic accomplishments,” this little misanthropic thorn of a song offered me a warm place by the fire and a comforting middle finger to shake at problems beyond my control. Colson said it best: “Hello, world? You fucking suck.”
5. Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olson, “Like I Used To”
   The coasting FM radio guitar, the wistful harmonies with a twinge of self-loathing, the matching Heart haircuts. I love this song for all of those reasons, but most of all for the way it reminds me of Stevie Nicks singing “The dream keeps coming even when you forget to feel.” This song feels like a long-lost bonus track from Bella Donna. And in a way, it is.
6. Future Islands, “Peach”
   “Please if you see my hand, just pull me out.”
7. Diane Warren, LP, “Domino”
   No one writes for big voices like this legend. “Un-break My Heart,” “How Do I Live,” “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing” — all Diane. So with a vocal dynamo like LP, the result is, as predicted, crack for the ears. LP’s swagger makes it soar. Maybe don’t try this one at karaoke.
8. Lana Del Rey, “Arcadia”
   “America, I need a miracle.” Hail, hail, Elizabeth Grant.
9. The Hold Steady, “Heavy Covenant”
10. Saweetie, feat. Doja Cat, “Best Friend”
    If this wasn’t on your list, take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself why you weren’t at drag brunch this year.
11. Natti Natasha, Becky G, “Ram Pam Pam”
    After blessing us with “Sin Pijama,” Latin divas Natti Natasha and Becky G reunited on yet another sexed-up reggaeton banger.
12. Luke Combs, “Doin’ This”
    The one male country singer who really does just look like a regular guy has a voice so stupefyingly powerful, it is as though it emanates from some deep crack in the Earth’s crust.
13. Avril Lavigne, “Bite Me”
    The pop-punk OG, whose sound launched a thousand the Kid Larois this year, rose again to tell us just how brutal it is out here.
14. Carly Pearce feat. Ashley McBryde, “Never Wanted to Be That Girl”
    A classic country duet, two powerhouse belters, and the timeless warning that nothing good ever comes from a Citgo parking lot.
15. Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever”
    Fairly certain Use Your Illusion II was on the mood board.
16. Katy Kirby, “Juniper”
17. Stromae, “Sante”
18. Yves Tumor, “Jackie”
19. Brandi Carlile, “Broken Horses”
20. Spoon, “The Hardest Cut”

Albums:

1. Madlib, Sound Ancestors
2. Torres, Thirstier
   I’m addicted to everything about Mackenzie Scott’s voice. The punk intensity, wacky intonation, the way it reminds of Suzi Gardner singing “Andres.” “Drive” is not to be overlooked. “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes In My Head” is a close second. My favorite is “Hug From A Dinosaur,” Scott speaks in Dali metaphors (“Clock is sinking into quicksand disappearing fast”) and the punk guitars never stop.
3. Mustafa, When Smoke Rises
4. Bachelor, Doomin’ Sun
   When you first heard “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get” did you think “this pretty much describes my life”? If that’s a yes, might I suggest “Back of My Hand” or “Sick of Spiraling.” Jay Som’s Melina Duterte and Palehound’s Ellen Kempner have a knack for sublime pop-rock that’s honest, wry, and a little dark. “The danger is in my phone, in the drug of an endless scroll.”
5. LP, Churches
6. Halsey, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
7. Japanese Breakfast, Live at Electric Lady (EP)
   The quixotic string-quartet rendition of “Be Sweet” — one of the most critically acclaimed songs of the year — pulls me into Michelle Zauner’s mind in ways I’ve secretly wished the original would. The violin-acoustic guitar accompaniments on “Kokomo, IN” and “Boyish” (from her 2017 album) are equally stunning. And on “Lindsey,” a song from her old band Little Big League, Zauner’s vocals are still beguiling after many listens.
8. Bleachers, Live at Electric Lady (EP)
   This unassuming little EP is packed with treasures. The sax solo on “Big Life.” The sumptuous, string-laden “Drive” cover. Bruce Springsteen on “Chinatown.” Antonoff channeling Springsteen on “45.” But for me, the jewel is Antonoff’s duet with St. Vincent. Sparse yet elegant, “What’d I Do With All This Faith” caught me off guard in the best way this year.
9. Natalie Bergman, Live at Electric Lady (EP)
   Bergman, formerly of the indie-pop band Wild Belle, suffered an unspeakable tragedy in the recent past that informed her first solo album Mercy and this EP that somehow pulls back even more layers of emotion. “Home At Last” moves me in a way I only thought Patti Griffin and Roy Orbison were capable of. Both versions are worth your time. I’m recommending the latter because it includes the cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel.” On it, Bergman sounds quiet, holy, and complete.
10. Flock of Dimes, Head of Roses
    Everyone, including Barack Obama, knows Jenn Wasner is a musical genius from her work in Wye Oak. But I’ve been quietly rooting for Flock of Dimes, her experimental side project, ever since 2012 when I purchased their tee-shirt that says “Fuck the haters” in frilly cursive. I stan, but still I’m amazed this staggering, poetic, multi-dimensional album exists at all. Don’t miss “Price of Blue.”
11. Des Rocs, A Real Good Person In A Real Bad Place
12. Shannon and the Clams, Year of the Spider
13. Cassandra Jenkins, An Overview of Phenomenal Nature
14. Mdou Moctar, Afrique Victime
15. Bomba Estereo, Deja

Ryan Reed, Contributing Editor: Top 10 Albums

1. Leprous, Aphelion
   Prog-metal is basically the niche-est niche of all modern music, so I don’t expect readers to take my advice. But listen to this album. It’s a masterpiece.
2. Seafoam Walls, XVI
   I recently interviewed this Florida “Caribbean jazz-gaze” quartet, and their out-of-nowhere debut hasn’t left my listening rotation since. These “discoveries” make me thankful to do this job.
3. Greta Van Fleet, The Battle at Garden’s Gate
4. Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee
5. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Butterfly 3000
   They did it again! (They always do it again.)
6. Really From, Really From
7. Darkside, Spiral
   A lot of people slept on Darkside’s long-awaited second LP. Perhaps the expectations were just too high, following the left-field jolt of their lightning-bolt 2013 debut. Anyway, I love everything about Spiral: It’s creepy and dense and atmospheric but more song-like — my single favorite sonic element of the year might be the funky distorted bass on “The Limit.”
8. Mastodon, Hushed and Grim
9. Squid, Bright Green Field
10. Ghost Rhythms, Spectral Music
    Compiling year-end lists is super fun but also stressful — you can’t hear everything, and lots of albums disappear in that November/December Bermuda Triangle. (If music is released after list season, does it make a sound?) On that note, I present November’s Spectral Music, the second Cuneiform release from this indefinable French 10-piece. For a sampler, check out “Thoughtography // Toughtography,” a collision of minimalist piano motifs, big-band brass, jazz-fusion grooves, and prog-friendly orchestrations. It sounds like the main theme to a Martian superhero film. 

Josh Chesler, Deputy Editor: Top 10 Albums and Songs (Unranked)

As someone who generally finds journalists’ “This is what I wrote this year” lists super fucking self-indulgent and stupid, I genuinely didn’t believe that I would be doing a list about my favorite music from 2021. I mean, sure, it’s not quite as masturbatory as saying “Hey, these are the best things I wrote this year,” but it’s close.

I didn’t feel like I’d even listened to enough music that came out in 2021 (that I didn’t have to listen to for work) to meaningfully contribute to the discussion, and even if I did, who really gives a fuck about what I thought was good? I mean, I’m the deputy editor of SPIN, which means that my preferences only even remotely matter when editorial director Daniel Kohn is out interviewing Perry Farrell at Lollapalooza or hanging out with Japanese Breakfast in Mexico City or some shit.

But in the end, I’m susceptible to peer pressure and I feel like SPIN editor, Sarah “Mad Dog” Grant, is probably absolutely fucking terrifying when she’s angry. Plus, it’s a great excuse for me to include some profanity in an article because I generally write like a fucking Sunday School teacher these days, which couldn’t be further from how I actually speak.

Anyway, here are some of the things I enjoyed listening to this year that actually came out this year. This also works for my list of what I wrote this year, since I wrote about most of these things in an effort to primarily write about the music that I actually like. Read it and/or weep, motherfuckers.

1. Turnstile, Glow On
   This one shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me and/or regularly reads the things I write for SPIN, which I presume will make up most of the handful of people reading this piece as well. Glow On absolutely fucking rips from beginning to end. If I was important enough to have an Album of the Year, this would be it. Is it as perfectly catered to my individual tastes as my favorite album from 2020 (the self-canceled/hiatused Dogleg’s Melee) was? Perhaps not, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less of an absolutely flawless display of hardcore/punk/shoegaze/whatever the fuck we’re calling Turnstile’s music these days, and it has a weirdly universal appeal even for people who would never otherwise listen to stuff like this. Seriously, stop reading this shit and go listen to Glow On from front to back. Thank me later.
2. Phoebe Bridgers, “Nothing Else Matters”
   That’s right, we’re going from Turnstile to Phoebe Bridgers covering motherfucking Metallica in this bitch because I contain multitudes. Look, that Metallica covers album was super fucking weird, and a large swath of it just didn’t work like the artists probably thought it would on paper. But Phoebe Bridgers (who’s one of those people whose full name rolls off the tongue so well together that it seems wrong to just write “Bridgers”) is one of the most talented artists today, and the fact that she always sounds like an angel who would also murder the fuck out of you in your sleep works perfectly on this song. I thought about including the Tom Waits cover she did instead, but I’ve always been way more of a Metallica guy than I am a Tom Waits guy, so you get what you get. Phoebe Bridgers is basically what I’d hoped Hayley Williams’ solo music would sound like, or maybe if Taylor Swift made an album that was just for me. If you didn’t already leave to listen to Turnstile, get the fuck out of here and go check out last year’s Punisher, for which I really should’ve written a lengthy feature.
3. Mannequin Pussy, Perfect
   What’s that? I can’t even agree on a single fucking format for this list, so the first three entries are an album, a cover song, and now an EP? You’re goddamn right. Sometimes, you don’t need more than five songs to show the world you’re one of the best punk bands out there right now, and that’s exactly what Mannequin Pussy did on Perfect. The inner terrible music journalist in me really wants to use the word “mature” to describe how Missy and her band evolved on their new EP, but that sounds real fucking lame. Instead, I’ll just say that they refined their sound, cut down on some of the unnecessary elements, and released their best work to date. In other words, it’s Perfect. Boom. I got jokes. But really, Mannequin Pussy is one of my favorite current punk bands, and not just because I always get a good laugh at all of the different ways their publicist has to work around their name to not get caught up in email spam filters. I’m not going to tell you to go listen to Perfect, because if you’re still here, then you’re clearly just not fucking listening to my advice.
4. A Giant Dog, “Suddenly Seymour”
   Oh, you thought we were done with cover songs? Well, guess again. While I was thinking about all of the ways to say that a punk band that’s not really “new” is among my favorite “new” punk bands, I thought of one of my other favorite “new” punk bands that isn’t really “new.” Holy fucking shit that was an awkward sentence. But you know what’s not awkward? How incredible A Giant Dog is. I’ll be honest, I was late to the party. I only discovered them either late last year or early this year (I don’t remember because time is a flat circle and we were in the middle of a fucking pandemic), but A Giant Dog is pretty fucking amazing. After doing a full-album cover of one of the most overrated albums of my junior year of high school (Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, which I swear that people only really liked because Funeral is goddamn incredible), they came back with a cover of “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors. It’s no surprise they do so well with weird shit like this since they also do some of the best offbeat punk love songs (see: “Photograph” or “Ghostcest”) out there as well. Does the world need more punk rock show tunes? I don’t fucking know. But if A Giant Dog does them, I’m in.
5. Laura Jane Grace, At War with the Silverfish
   There are few artists out there who mean more to me personally than Laura Jane Grace, but that’s a story for another time (early March, most likely). She’s the fucking best, and when my editor said “Mike Ness has never made a bad album,” LJG was the only other person who was even in that conversation. Even though it’s technically an EP or whatever, At War with the Silverfish is her pandemic album (because “pandemic EP” sounds dumb as shit, although “COVID EP” has a decent ring to it) and continues the tradition of the Against Me! singer releasing the music that I would like to imagine I’d write if I were way smarter and better at conveying my emotions. For someone who’s arguably as big of a rock star as can possibly exist in 2021, LJG remains both an otherworldly songwriter and a relatable presence within music. Next time we have a pandemic (you didn’t really think this was a one-and-done thing, did you?), I’m immediately going back to this album.
6. Citizen, Life in Your Glass World
   Back in the day when concert venues were still closed because a killer virus was on the loose and we were all waiting on vaccines because people couldn’t be trusted to wear a fucking mask, I hosted a live interview/performance show with a bunch of different bands and shit on SPIN’s Twitch channel. If you didn’t watch it, that’s totally fine. Neither did anyone else for some weeks. One of the first people to join me on the show was Mat Kerekes of Citizen. It was over a month before the band would put out Life in Your Glass World, but it already seemed like Citizen was ready to do something different. They were done sounding like every other emo band of the last 10 years and ready to do something cool. And that’s exactly what they fucking did. Life in Your Glass World is some next-level shit. It still has a lot of the same heartfelt vocals and lyrics that made people like them in the first place, but it’s all put together in a way more interesting and exciting format than their last couple of albums. Much like Glow On, it’s hard to put exactly into words why it works better than the old shit (which is probably why you’ll pretty much never catch me doing a fucking album review), but it does.
7. Fiddlehead, Between the Richness
   Remember like two paragraphs ago when I said I thought about how much I like A Giant Dog while writing about Mannequin Pussy? Well, that fucking happened again. Citizen’s labelmates (I guess I really should check out more Run for Cover bands) in Fiddlehead also released a kickass album this year. Like most reasonable people, I enjoyed Fiddlehead’s debut a few years ago. Also like most reasonable people, I pretended like I listened to Have Heart and Basement before discovering Fiddlehead since we’re all apparently supposed to follow everyone’s whole career and know their whole discography at this point — which is both fucking ridiculous and a different story for another time. But now, Between the Richness has freed us from this lie. We no longer have to pretend like we knew anything from their previous bands because now we can be smugly superior to those who only know the new album. Rejoice, my fellow Springtime and Blind discoverers! Oh, the new album also goes fucking hard. I wish I sounded as cool as Pat Flynn.
8. Tyler, the Creator, “LUMBERJACK”
   Wow, this took a weird left turn, didn’t it? I’ve always figured if I were like a decade younger or some shit, Tyler would probably be among my favorite rappers. As it stands, he’s already among my favorite rappers who weren’t around when I was a teenager in the 2000s. Since I already admitted to not listening to the Fiddlehead guys’ previous bands, I’ll stick on that honesty and mention that I only actually made it through Call Me If You Get Lost in its entirety a handful of times. There might be better tracks hidden on the album, but I just haven’t had the time to investigate the merits of every deep cut. I also realized that the vast majority of the rap I listened to in 2021 actually came out in 2020, and I’m not going to be that asshole who includes things from previous years. In the meantime, “LUMBERJACK” is a fucking classic Tyler banger and a good reminder that the dude’s been at this as a solo artist for over a decade now and is yet to release a less-than-superb album. He has to be on the list of most influential artists of the 2010s (and possibly 2020s, but we might all be dead before anyone gets a chance to write that one), and there’s a very real chance that he can just keep churning out some of the most creative rap music and videos for as long as he wants. Stay tuned for my TED Talk about how “Yonkers” transformed an entire goddamn generation of hip-hop artists and fans.
9. Dave Hause, “Sandy Sheets”
   When I listen to Dave Hause’s music, I feel like a fucking adult. Blood Harmony makes me think I should be able to do my own taxes or go to Costco before work or tell people how much I love Ted Lasso. It’s way more mature than the usual punk and emo shit I’ve been listening to for the last 20 years (I went through a Smash Mouth phase as a kid in the late ‘90s, so I’m ignoring the first 10), and kind of what I figure I’d be listening to when I grow up… as if that’ll ever fucking happen. It’s heartfelt Americana rock that works on a lot of levels, and “Sandy Sheets” is catchy as hell. All of Blood Harmony is pretty good, but I’m not ready to commit to having a 401k or whatever yet, so I’m just going with the standout single. If I’m ever old enough to have a dinner party or host a holiday or some shit like that, Dave Hause (and probably Frank Turner) will definitely be all over that playlist — and I bet some other old guy in a collared shirt will be like “Oh, this music is great. Who is this?”
10. Frank Iero and the Future Violents, Heaven Is a Place, This Is a Place
    Speaking of artists who appeared on SPIN’s weekly Twitch show back when that was a thing (yep, that was a callback to like four fucking entries ago or wherever Citizen was), Frank Iero released a really good EP this year that got written off by a lot of people because jerkoff music critics think of him as “the guitarist from My Chemical Romance.” Well, sure, he’s the George Harrison of MCR (somewhere out there, a Beatles fan just got triggered), but that also means he’s got a highly underrated solo discography that’s collectively better than anything Wings has ever put out (there go a few more Beatles fans). Heaven Is a Place, This Is a Place shows that Iero can do all sorts of musical things in the punk/hardcore/emo/etc. world, and he can do them really fucking well. If you’ve made it this far into reading my bullshit, you’d probably really enjoy his music, regardless of your opinions on My Chem. Also, he gets bonus points in my book for being super fucking nice when I met him as a chubby middle schooler, and then putting up with me again as an adult when we went record shopping with a publication that no longer exists back in 2017.

Liza Lentini, Features Editor: Top 10 Albums (Unranked)

1. Tori Amos, Ocean to Ocean
2. The Mighty Mighty BossToneS, When God Was Great
3. Dropkick Murphys, Turn Up That Dial
4. Aimee Mann, Queens of the Summer Hotel
5. Robert Finley, Sharecropper’s Son
6. Neal Francis, In Plain Sight
7. Dominique Fils–Aimé, Three Little Words
8. Cedric Burnside, I Be Trying
9. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raise the Roof
10. The Weather Station, Ignorance

Danny Klein, Creative Director: Top 10 Albums and Songs (Unranked)

My top 10 albums and singles of 2021. I’m not down to rank them as they are all magical gems in their own right. So here they are in alphabetical order. 

1. CHVRCHES, Screen Violence: Director’s Cut
2. Gone Gone Beyond, 2023
3. HVOB, Live In London
4. LP, Churches
5. LP Giobbi, Kaleena Zanders, “Carry Us”
6. Monolink, Under Darkening Skies
7. Olan, Push
8. Porter Robinson, “Nurture”
9. RÜFÜS DU SOL, Surrender
10. Yotto, Songs You May Remember From Some Parties

Eleni Rodriguez, Creative: Top 10 Albums (Unranked)

My top 10 albums for this year reflect the huge internal to external shift I experienced, transforming my perspective beyond just living for myself. I found a more solid base of my identity by getting absolutely lost within the most impeccable songwriting and soundscapes these artists blessed the world with. These albums became my fearless companions, inspiring me to keep digging and surrendering to my emotions. 100/10 would recommend again and again… and again. 

1. Rawayana, Cuando Los Acéfalos Predominan
2. Giveon, When It’s All Said and Done…Take Time
   So technically, this album compiles two projects that were previously released, but having them altogether told as one big story of heartbreak and love escapades, we can agree that enough is never enough when dealing with Giveon’s beautiful baritone croons.
3. Men I Trust, Untourable Album 
4. Mndsgn, Rare Pleasure 
   If there’s one thing to be said about this project, it’s that it’ll make you feel like a melting Van Gogh work of art in the modern jazz era.
5. Mac Ayres, Magic 8 Ball 
6. SG Lewis, Times 
7. Arlo Parks, Collapsed In Sunbeams
8. Lucky Daye, Table For Two
9. Yebba, Dawn 
10. Puma Blue, In Praise of Shadows 

Ilana Kaplan, Contributor: Top 10 Albums and Top 10 Songs

1. Halsey, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
   Halsey has long been an innovator when it came to music, so everything has been leading up to this album. The way IICHLIWP tackles the complexities of pleasure, parenthood, power, and the patriarchy is sonically – and visually – stunning. Her rockstar turn has been a long time coming, but what IICHLIWP reveals is she’s one of the music industry’s biggest power players.
2. Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
   The release of Sour seemingly gave everyone an escape – a dose of much-needed nostalgia for a time when your biggest dilemmas were high school crushes and teen angst. Listening to Rodrigo’s catchy pop-punk anthems and devastating ballads made me, a 32-year-old woman, feel like a cool teen again. But the best part was watching how deeply connected so many people felt to Sour in a year of uncertainty and isolation. That made it all the more affecting for me.
3. Taylor Swift, Red (Taylor’s Version)
4. Pom Pom Squad, Death of a Cheerleader
5. Gracie Abrams, This Is What It Feels Like
6. Adele, 30
7. Kississippi, Mood Ring
8. Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
9. Ethel Cain, Inbred
10. Japanese Breakfast, Jubilee

Songs:

1. Taylor Swift, “All Too Well” (10-Minute Version)
   This song is canon. Taylor Swift rewrote her own history by releasing the 10-minute rendition of “All Too Well” – a song that encapsulates the all-consuming heartache that is experienced when you’re coming of age. The fact that Swift wrote and never shared the lyrics “You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath” shows restraint that I just wouldn’t have. A poetic genius!
2. Olivia Rodrigo, “good 4 u”
   “good 4 u” is an immaculate kiss-off – from Rodrigo screaming “Like a damn sociopath” to its defiant melody. It’s the ultimate pop-punk anthem that showcases the singer’s range and makes you want to turn into Torrance dancing on the bed in Bring It On.
3. Halsey, “Honey”
   “Honey” is the perfect pop-punk banger – a sapphic ode to an ex that channels the rush of a fleeting romance. And since it’s such a sticky, radio-friendly track, I am rooting for it to be a single on a daily basis.
4. Pom Pom Squad, “Head Cheerleader”
5. Gracie Abrams, “For Real This Time”
6. MUNA ft. Phoebe Bridgers, “Silk Chiffon”
7. Taylor Swift ft. Phoebe Bridgers, “Nothing New”
8. Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever” (title track)
9. Machine Gun Kelly, “papercuts”
10. Charli XCX, “Good Ones”

Marisa Whitaker, Contributor: Top 5 Albums and Top 11 Songs (Unranked)

1. Billy Strings, Renewal
   Truly all I listened to walking down Lexington Ave. in New York daily. On repeat. His newest record is definitely one of his best, and the musical companionship with all its musicians totally shines through. I cannot wait to listen to this on a loop on my next road trip.
2. Lana Del Rey, Blue Banisters
   As a 21-year-old, Del Rey has been in my adolescence throughout her career, and she didn’t fail us, yet again, on her newest record.
3. St. Vincent, Daddy’s Home
4. IDLES, Crawler
5. Holly Humberstone, The Walls Are Way Too Thin

Songs:

1. Jack White, “Taking Me Back”
2. Olivia Rodrigo, “good 4 u”
3. Khruangbin, Leon Bridges, “B-Side”
4. Grateful Dead, “Playing in the Band” (Live at the Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO 12/10/71)
5. Greta Van Fleet, “My Way, Soon”
   If any song stands out on Greta’s newest record, it’s this one. It provides equal energy to the hits of their first two records like “Mountain Of The Sun” and “Safari Song,” and is a quintessential setlist addition.
6. Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever”
   This is my 2021 main-character-moment track.
7. Billy Strings, “Know It All”
8. White Reaper, “Sad But True” (off The Metallica Blacklist)
   If their newest album, You Deserve Love, were released this year, it would be my number one. But White Reaper brought the same garage-prog-hard-rock into this gritty and grand Metallica cover. 
9. Animal Collective, “Prester John”
10. Death Valley Girls, “It’s All Really Kind of Amazing”
    Every time I play this song, I instantly think of Death Valley Girls predecessors, and my favorite girl-rockers ever–Wendy & Bonnie, The Pleasure Seekers, maybe even Frank Zappa’s the GTO’s. I love their passion for and reinventing of ‘60s flower-power, woman rock.
11. Alt-J, “U&ME”

Daniel Kohn, Editorial Director: Top 11 Albums

1. Brandi Carlile, In These Silent Days
When I first learned that Brandi was in the studio in October 2020, my hopes were high. Knowing she was working with the same squad as her previous album meant that at bare minimum it would be strong. But what she did here, surpassed even my most optimistic of hopes. When I first heard “Right on Time” (which I was told was a banger before I heard it) reaffirmed what I’d known all along: Carlile is one of the best songwriters on planet earth. As Marissa R. Moss showed in our September cover story, the moment is Carlile’s and there was no album that showcased both range and urgency while so sounding so damn good.
2. Dry Cleaning, New Long Leg
3. Julien Baker, Little Oblivions
4. Foxing, Draw Down The Moon
5. Snail Mail, Valentine
6. Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
7. Cassandra Jenkins, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
In the dark depths of the early year, there wasn’t an album that made my heart as warm as Jenkins’ breakthrough. For me, Jenkins is one of the true revelations of 2021.
8. Turnstile, Glow On
This is the album that made me feel most alive in 2021.
9. Deafheaven, Infinite Granite
10. Yola, Stand For Myself
11. Faye Webster, I Know I’m Funny haha
Webster is a terrific songwriter (no jokes there.)

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

Ah, 2021 — the year live music (mostly) roared back.

After 18 months of livestream drudgery, it felt like unicorns dancing on a rainbow every time someone so much as plugged in a guitar. It was a year of “post-vax concert stories,” where every show was a hard-won reunion, a triumphant homecoming, and a victory all at once. Strangest of all, it was the year when we found ourselves getting misty just being able to look out at a crowd, marveling at the gift of singing shoulder-to-shoulder with someone other than our cats. Okay, so we’re still a little sentimental.

More from Spin:

• THE 40 GREATEST MUSICIANS OF THE LAST 40 YEARS
• Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses Ready For Rockville
• Lorde, The xx, Turnstile Gather For Kilby Block Party

The point is, in a year when every show was a grand slam of catharsis and joy, it was slightly painful to narrow this list down. But after not getting to do one at all in 2020, we are ecstatic and proud to give you some of the highest highlights of live music in 2021.

All shows are listed in chronological order.

High on Fire at the Austin Motocross Park in Del Valle, Texas, June 19

High on Fire at a dirtbike park sounds awesome enough on its own. What better compliment to Matt Pike’s gutsy riffing than motorcycles whirring through the air? But this show was something of an unofficial Central Texas headbanger reunion after more than a year of no shows. You don’t know how much we needed to see Pike shirtless ripping that “Devilution” pick slide in the flesh again – pictures and memories only go so far. This gig was also their first with Big Business behemoth Coady Willis manning the drums, and it’s safe to say he got the part. Original drummer Des Kensel still hasn’t quite gotten his due, and Willis is one of maybe four, five tops, drummers on earth who could fill his throne. Pre-Delta, this night really felt like a new beginning, for the band and audience alike. – Andy O’Connor

Eternal Champion, Vaaska, Skourge at Meanwhile Brewing in Austin, July 9

One of the most devastating things about losing two Texas metal legends during the pandemic – Power Trip’s Riley Gale and Iron Age’s Wade Allison – was that a sick memorial gig couldn’t materialize immediately or safely. Spacing measures don’t really apply to hardcore shows in general, and they would really damper the spirit Gale and Allison could whip up. This gig, held two days after what would have been Allison’s 39th birthday, was the closest to a real memorial show for both, and it was an affirmation to why Texas metal and hardcore reign supreme. Eternal Champion unsheathed a sword (literally – singer and Allison’s former Iron Age bandmate Jason Tarpey is quite the metalsmith) and charged forward with their burly power metal. Vaaska showed why Power Trip drummer Chris Ulsh is still the Texas d-beat king despite no longer living in Texas, and Skourge’s slamming grooves signaled they’re keeping Texas’ flame burning. —Andy O’Connor

Foo Fighters at the Forum, August 26

This spot could easily have been the more dynamic Lollapalooza headlining set a month prior. However, seeing Dave Grohl and company roll through a jam-heavy set that was LOUD was one thing. It was an entirely different thing for him to bring out 11-year-old phenom Nandi Bushell to play drums on “Everlong” while Taylor Hawkins sat back and enjoyed. There were few moments (that I saw) on stage that were as heartwarming as that. Oh, and she kicked serious ass too. Hawkins, watch out! —Daniel Kohn

Control Top, Privacy Issues on the Williamsburg Bridge Sunrise Show, August 29

Live in New York long enough – and involve yourself in your community’s DIY music scene – and you’ll likely end up at a JMC Aggregate gig. Over the summer, JMC organized a series of sunrise shows at various locations across the city (I deeply regret missing Terror Pigeon in the middle of Times Square with a rented PA, no doubt a haunting and delightful scene in the still mostly vacant tourist mecca. It was the summer after the best of us got vaccinated.) I did, however, stay up until the ungodly hour of 6 am to watch Philly post-punks Control Top (performed solo by frontwoman Ali Carter) and The Raincoats-esque. existentialist lo-fi Privacy Issues rip through songs about our violated freedoms and labor injustices at the center of the Williamsburg Bridge. Miraculously there were no cops; a delivery guy on his way home shared his White Claw with me, we hugged. After the sun rose, the dwindling crowd all decided to get breakfast together. It was an incredible reminder of what we lost when we lost live music, and what we can rebuild, now, free of preexisting structures. The most magical musical moments will be like these: made by the people who love it. —Maria Sherman

been up since 12am to see control top and privacy issues play at sunrise and i regret nothing!!!! pic.twitter.com/b06eVZNO9o

— maria cristina sherman (@mariasherm) August 29, 2021

Les Savy Fav at Market Hotel in Brooklyn, September 12

The post-punk heroes played 13 furious songs, including EMOR (ROME Upside Down), their nimble 2000 EP, from start to finish. Favs’ eccentric singer-poet Tim Harrington (who is apparently also a children’s author and illustrator) did it all in an “I’M FROM MIAMI BITCH” t-shirt as the M train rattled the floor. Harrington sang from a microphone dangling from a ceiling hook. He ran onto the fire escape. He made out with someone in the mosh pit. Then he became the mosh pit. And after their last song, he walked directly from the stage to the venue door, shirtless, breathless, covered in sweat, and personally thanked every single person for coming to the show. I hugged him. Brooklyn is back. —Sarah Grant

White Reaper at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, September 20

The first time SPIN editor Sarah Grant and I hung out was, fittingly, at the White Reaper concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn. After some chatting over canned alcohol, we snuck through the crowded yet breathable mass up to the very front left below the stage. I had never heard of the ghoul group, and the five mid-to-late 20-year-olds shuffled onto the stage, reminding me of my young, band-tee-bearing co-workers from the sandwich shop I work at. Kicking off with a track off their debut, they head-banged and spitted a mix from all three of their records. They picked on the crowd’s Nirvana fans when they harshly covered “Aneurysm,” and their keyboardist even asked everyone for some beers (someone brought up five). A small and spacey mosh pit opened in the middle of the audience, and we joined in during the Van Halen-esque “Judy French,” shoving anyone next to us and laughing along with the band. —Marisa Whitaker

Fugees at Pier 17 in New York City, September 22

For one epic September night on the roof of Manhattan’s Pier 17, the hip-hop unthinkable happened—The Fugees, along with a backing band bigger than the Count Basie Orchestra, came together to re-animate seven classic songs left untouched for 15 years. As is the Fugees’ tradition, the show was heavily delayed for no reason, but 3,000 people left waiting for over three hours with their phones locked in pouches to prevent filming definitely helped the ’90s vibe. Ms. Lauryn’s rapping was still incredible, her singing still royal. Wyclef performed half of a new Fugees song (not a freestyle, confirmed by a sax player I ran down in the parking garage post-show), and Pras supplemented it all perfectly. If this whole extravaganza makes it to arenas next year, what a way to come back; if the tour never materializes, what a way to go out. Either way—drumroll—we hear a 25th-anniversary triple vinyl of The Score is coming soon from RuffNation Entertainment, along with a few surprises. —Jonathan Rowe

Coldplay at the Apollo Theater in New York City, September 23

Seeing a stadium juggernaut like Coldplay in a theater this size is like capturing a supernova in a snowglobe. Chris Martin sweated through at least two shirts that night jumping around the hallowed stage, launching his wide, open palm in the air as if exorcising the planet via synth-pop. Speaking of, the night’s big unveil was their new single “My Universe,” a leviathan collab with South Korean boy band BTS. But the amazing thing about a hardcore Coldplay audience is that even a Max Martin banger takes a backseat to the ballads. Don’t care for an extended acoustic rendition of “Yellow”? You can GTFO, thanks. “The Scientist” and “Fix You” were the big emotional highlights. And although it was odd to hear a section of James Brown’s “I Feel Good” interpolated in “Viva La Vida,” the chaps meant well. “We’ve dreamed of playing here for a long time,” Martin said. “I honestly didn’t think it would ever happen.” The evening ended with “Coloratura,” a 10-minute piano opus from their sublime new album, Music of the Spheres. But Martin, a true gentleman, had already given people the clear to head out “if you think the new stuff is shit.” Not a soul took him up on it. —Sarah Grant

Eddie Vedder and the Earthlings at Ohana Fest, September 25

There’s something romantic about seeing a band perform their first-ever show. Even for seasoned veterans. Eddie Vedder, who has been fairly prolific on the collaboration front this year, had to spring into action when Kings of Leon dropped out of their Ohana headlining slot due to their mother’s death. Thus, fans were treated to a day early set (Vedder was slated to headline Saturday night) and the result was a true, die-hard music fan’s dream. Seeing him unveil the Earthlings, the all-star band featuring Josh Klinghoffer, Chad Smith, Pino Palladino, Andrew Watt and Glen Hansard, was fun and unexpected (Vedder has played Ohana solo in the past). It’s rare for a “new” band to bring an unfiltered garage-y, getting-to-know-you vibe to the stage, yet, at the same time, having the first day of school feel.  The result was the beauty of hearing all kinks, rough edges and good ol’ fashioned fun (once they got rolling). —Daniel Kohn

Phoebe Bridgers at Governors Ball Music Festival in New York – September 26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7o8WAxffec&ab_channel=IronChefWong

Like every other millennial, Punisher was the album that I cried to, walked to and languished to throughout the pandemic. The fact that I, and so many others, couldn’t hear Phoebe Bridgers‘ cathartic scream in “I Know The End” live until nearly a year-and-a-half after the dazzling record dropped nearly broke me. But I’m happy to say that I made the trek from Brooklyn to Queens to Governor’s Ball — the music festival where I make an annual cameo — to see Ms. Bridgers sing me lullabies and let me get out some much-needed angst. Against a starry revolving backdrop, Bridgers sang nearly the entirety of her sophomore LP to a crowd of swaying hipsters. I tried to ignore the screaming teens, because frankly, I was one once too (maybe still am), and let Bridgers lull me into a teary-eyed trance during a serenade of “Moon Song.” —Ilana Kaplan

Brandi Carlile at Ohana Fest, October 2

There are times when you’re at a show, at a moment, when you know that an artist is in the middle of a moment. It’s even better when you’re witnessing an artist who you know who has long been knocking on the door, is about to smash through to mega-stardom. That’s what happened at weekend two of Ohana Fest. Brandi Carlile, who already had a strong performance at the fest’s first weekend, had the crowd eating out her proverbial hand. Opening for Pearl Jam at Eddie Vedder’s festival is no easy feat, yet the grounds at Doheny State park were PACKED and was raucous for her. Her terrific album, In These Silent Days, was released the day before and Carlile had the unspoken swagger on stage that accompanies superstardom. Not that even had to be said, but at this show, Carlile’s confidence was infectious (showing range and the chutzpah to cover Soundgarden with Mike McCready and Matt Cameron was pretty damn impressive in its own right) and the performance backed that up. —Daniel Kohn

Social Distortion at the Majestic Ventura Theater, October 11

It’s been a long time since Social Distortion last released music. But, in those 11 (!!!) years, Mike Ness and company have been a touring force, playing shows, festivals, and literally everything in between. But, after two years (an eternity for them) there was something great about seeing them perform in a nearly-century old theater in a quiet beach town 60 miles north of Los Angeles. Unsurprisingly, Social D ripped through a career-spanning set in a way that the OC punk pioneers can, proving that even after a long layoff and over four decades in, this Southern California treasure still has it. —Daniel Kohn

Mammoth WVH at the Whisky A Go-Go, October 12

Just before Wolfgang Van Halen was set to debut his new band at an intimate club show on the Sunset Strip in August, there was a COVID situation that caused the show to be pushed to October. Because we can’t have nice things, Mammoth WVH’s guitarist, Frank Sidoris and his wife were involved in a bad accident that injured the two of them pretty badly. Fortunately, they survived, but Mammoth WVH had to continue the final dates of their 2021 tour as a four-piece. Without Sidoris on stage but there in spirit, the band tore through that emotional first night that was Van Halen’s first proper headlining show in his hometown on his own. Spirited versions of “Don’t Back Down,” “Resolve” and “Distance” showed how Van Halen has evolved into a confident bandleader who can command an audience in such a short period of time. —Daniel Kohn

HAIM at All Things Go Festival, October 16

The last show I saw before 2020’s lockdown was the HAIM sisters nestled in a Manhattan deli playing a handful of songs from their beloved forthcoming album Women In Music Pt. III surrounded by bowls of matzo ball soup. It was brief but a hell of a way to go into a year (plus) without music. So seeing my favorite California sisters get to perform a career-spanning set (finally) that included WIMPIII songs and came with a stadium vibe was more than worth the wait. On a jaunt to DC’s All Things Go Festival, I was able to catch my favorite sister act sway in unison to “Want You Back” and belt out “The Steps” to a drunk crowd (including myself). They charmed, they wore faux leather and they made me remember how to dance around other people again. —Ilana Kaplan

Des Rocs at Bowery Ballroom, November 4

One of 300’s new signees is a blues-guitar-obsessed kid from Long Island whose life mission is to be Freddie Mercury and Brian May at the same time. I had my doubts, too, until I got smacked with Wembley-size energy at the Bowery Ballroom on a Tuesday night. Blazing lights! Careening guitars! Fists to the sky! I just kept thinking, What year is this? The live display was enlivening and over-the-top, with two guitarists and a drummer who had to be pried off the stage. Des did his “thanks for coming out tonight” guitar solo at least four times. What I took for new songs — “Imaginary Friends,” “Mickey Mouse Club,” “Hanging By A Thread” – were well-worn anthems to everyone there who knew all of the words. (The technical term for the Des fanbase is the Filthy Animals, which now explains why there was someone walking around in a giant rat costume.) Des Rocs released his first full-length album in 2021 and this was his first headlining U.S. tour. His vocal styling does owe a lot to Queen — Des even did a Freddie-style vocal improv exercise with the crowd — but the music is closer in tone, and in theme, to the urgent 2000s emo-rock of Panic! At The Disco and Muse. Whatever you think of those bands, the point is, Des Rocs is not to be missed in 2022.

Turnstile at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles, November 6-7

Turnstile is likely the rock band of 2021, and as such, they did this fall what every great rock band does at some point in their career. They went on a tour with a bunch of hip-hop acts to perform for thousands of kids who have never heard their music before. For the Los Angeles stretch of the tour — which was headlined by SoundCloud duo $uicideboy$ and also featured British rapper Slowthai among others — that meant performing three shows within 24 hours for one of the best hardcore bands on the planet right now. Between their two evening performances at the Shrine Exposition Hall, they drove down to Long Beach to open for A$AP Rocky at the unorganized hurricane of consumer culture known as ComplexCon. While perhaps only 30% of the crowd knew what to make of the Baltimore rockers, a large swath of them couldn’t help but dance (or at least uncomfortably sway) along to Turnstile’s high-energy hypnotic tunes. —Josh Chesler

Kendrick Lamar at Day N Vegas in Las Vegas, November 10

As one of the most anticipated sets of the festival, Kendrick Lamar’s first show in two years (and only one of 2021) did not disappoint. In a career-spanning set (in chronological order, no less)that also included an appearance by Baby Keem (who performed “Range Brothers” live for the first time), Lamar put a contemporary, but artistic show. Lamar shared the stories behind the making of his lauded albums prior to performing cuts from them. Aside from his biggest hits, Lamar once again reminded the audience of his magnetic showmanship by incorporating modern dancers into the stage show who enhanced the set and made it an immersive performance.  —Eleni Rodriguez

Genesis at the United Center in Chicago, November 15

When Genesis headlined London’s Wembley Stadium for four straight shows in July 1987, it marked the apex of a band at its commercial peak. The prog-pop trio, fronted by the inescapable Phil Collins, were still riding high on the smooth synths and silkier hooks of their 13th LP, Invisible Touch. But me? I was in diapers, having been born two months earlier. (Turns out there are downsides to your heroes being four decades older than you.) When Genesis reunited in 2007, I was more concerned with English papers and small-town tomfoolery than attending their tour — scraping together hundreds of dollars for a ticket was a preposterous concept. So when they announced their latest go-round (likely their last), I was elated, even if Collins would probably be sitting for most of the shows, still hobbled by multiple health issues. I promised myself I would pay any sum of money for two tickets (me and my wife, a fellow Genesis-head), so we bought a pair for their show in Columbus, Ohio. Then, naturally, I wound up getting the assignment to review their opening date in Chicago. Holy shit! Two shows? Do we dare? We dared. That night was everything I’d dreamt about for years: massive pop hooks and balladry butting up against extended prog epics; tears buttressed by laughter; the joy of singing along (if awkwardly masked) in a crowd of strangers; watching people try — and fail — to bop around in 5/4. At various points, I found myself closing my eyes. Then I’d realize that fact and scold myself: “This is my first time seeing my favorite band! I should take in every second!” Looking back, I think I couldn’t process all that emotion. I’d glance over at my wife, whose love of this music solidified our nerdy bond back in college, and lose myself in the raw magic of it all. I’ll treasure those moments forever. —Ryan Reed

Foo Fighters at the American Museum of Natural History Gala, November 18

Six months after the Foo Fighters triumphantly kicked open Madison Square Garden, the Hall of Famers returned to another New York City landmark — the American Museum of Natural History — where they played the annual gala to a lavish crowd dining beneath the big blue whale. It’s been a nonstop year for the Foos. So that’s why it was particularly poignant to hear Dave Grohl reflecting on one of the first concerts he played this year, in his old Washington, D.C. stomping ground: President Biden’s inauguration, which the rest of us only saw virtually. The band began with their prescient anthem “Times Like These” with its slow, emphatic intro just as they had on the January 20th broadcast. “We woke up that morning and we found out that we had a new president and for some reason, this song made more sense than it ever had before,” Grohl said. The gravitas subsided. One “Learn to Fly” and several tipsy SNL cast members later, the Foos revved into a cover of “Darling Nikki” and the room basically exploded. Speaking of 1984, MTV queen Patty Smyth was also a guest that evening, so the only missed opportunity was not bringing her onstage for a “The Pretender”/“The Warrior” mashup. Ideas for next year. —Sarah Grant

The Lunachicks at Webster Hall in New York City, November 27

In 2021, the one time I saw a bra flung onstage was at a Lunachicks show. No surprise there. Some of us have waited our entire lives for the honor of getting our ears ripped off by thee Theo Kogan. And after a goddamn pandemic? It was a reunion/homecoming like no other. Gina Volpe on guitar and Squid Silver on bass turned the night into their own personal power-chord Jenga, each song more badass than the last, as Theo held court in her giant wig and tutu looking like if Ariana Grande walked off the set of American Horror Story. But during set-closer “Down at the Pub,” even the garrulous Kogan was at a loss for words. (“I mean, I’m pretty speechless at this point.”) It’s been quite a comeback year for these punk freakazoids, who also released the entertaining (and excellently-titled) memoir, Fallopian Rhapsody: The Story of the Lunachicks. It’s the story of a band that’s fiercely loyal — “If someone fucked with us, we went after them arm in arm and ruined their stupid lives” — and loves a fart joke. Sample chapter title? “Close Encounters of the Turd Kind.” A must-own. —Sarah Grant

The Hold Steady at Brooklyn Bowl, December 1

Looks like we made it. That was the vibe and the Barry Manilow song playing as the Hold Steady made their triumphant return to the bowling alley stage that’s been lacking them for two long, miserable, Massive Night-less years. But we rose again. Damn right, we rose again. It was the perfect occasion to celebrate 15 years of their 2006 masterpiece Boys and Girls in America, which they played in full. Michael Imperioli from Zopa (and The Sopranos) and Augusta Koch of Gladie and Cayetana came onstage for “Chillout Tent.” I choked up when Craig Finn sang about “kids coming from miles around to get messed up on the music.” I kept thinking about the “carload of girlfriends” line. How we’re all just trying to make it down from Boden. How lucky we get to be the carload of girlfriends once again. How unbelievably lucky, to be alive and vaccinated and screaming “DOUBLEWHISKEYCOKENOICE” with my friends again. —Sarah Grant

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.

A pair of rappers pulling off the best Tom Tom Club sample since Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” (G Perico & Rucci), an iconic New Wave band trafficking in tongue-in-cheek nostalgia (Duran Duran), a blackgaze act embracing their love of vocal harmony (Deafheaven), and psych-rockers using the shopping mall as a metaphor for capitalist greed (My Morning Jacket) — SPIN‘s 30 Best Songs of 2021 offer something for everyone.

For our latest year-end track recap, we kept our overall sorting process the same as 2020: For a cut to be eligible, it needed to be one of two things: 1) a stand-alone single released in 2021 or 2) part of an album issued in 2021.

More from Spin:

• Here Are Our Editors’ Favorite Albums of the Year
• Lorde, The xx, Turnstile Gather For Kilby Block Party
• Arlo Parks Debuting New Songs At Club Shows

30. Beatrice Deer – “The Storm”

The sound is so simple that, at first, it feels almost formless: a primal drum groove, shards of metallic electric guitar, dollops of distorted bass, a vocal mantra sung in Inuktitut. But “The Storm,” the centerpiece of Beatrice Deer’s sixth LP, SHIFTING, is masterful in painting these small brush strokes — shakers, synth drone, squiggly six-string accents — into one vibrant wash of color. Unless you’re actively listening for it, you may miss the “Inuindie” artist’s traditional throat singing, woven into the verses like a percussion instrument — her breaths almost functioning like a cabasa. “I see my path,” she sings (translated to English). “I see my purpose.” The intensity of “The Storm” suggests that view is clear. – Ryan Reed

29. Willow – “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l”

If you’re gonna go full pop-punk, you might as well hire a master. “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l,” the lead single from Willow’s fifth LP, is built on the signature drum drama of Blink-182’s Travis Barker: the king of rapid-fire hi-hats and floor toms. And Willow matches that vibe with cathartic F-bombs and lines about two-faced “fake friends” who sell secrets for cash — all building to a gloriously yelped chorus. It may just sound like youthful angst, but as she told Rolling Stone, the single was influenced by a quote from Hindu guru Radhanath Swami. – R.R.

28. Tommy Genesis – “a woman is a god”

Who knew a fetish-obsessed Canadian rapper and model could sound so humble in 2021? Tommy Genesis did, especially since quiet banger “A Woman Is a God” trades her normally explicit subject matter (sort of) for a propulsive treatise on authenticity and power. Genesis, a.k.a. 31-year-old Vancouver native Genesis Yasmine Mohanraj, can sound like Cardi B run through a Snapchat filter that flattens out her sugary voice. But “Woman” is borderline ASMR territory. Sultry and spare, she floats just above a skittering, Erlend Øye-quality beat, the speak-flow bubbling forth just long enough to pop for a mantra-like chorus: “If a man is a man…then a woman is a god.” – John Wenzel

27. Duran Duran – “Anniversary”

Like their hero David Bowie, Duran Duran generally look ahead and not back when making a new record — one reason the band has stayed together for over 40 years. One stylistic exception, however, is “Anniversary,” from their latest LP, Future Past. This pulsating, hypnotic dance-rock track uncannily recalls the band’s classic sound of the early and mid-80s, evoking songs like “The Wild Boys”; even the chorus “doo-doo-doo-doo-doo” seems like a nod to “Hungry Like the Wolf.” “[‘Anniversary’] is autobiographical to some extent,” Duran Duran bassist John Taylor recently told Newsweek. “It’s probably one of the few songs that we’ve done that actually has conscious elements of our sound. It’s almost built like a Duran Duran tribute track.” Overall, “Anniversary” pays homage to Duran Duran’s past, and its celebratory vibe is something we all need during the pandemic era. – David Chiu

26. Mdou Moctar – “Chismiten”

Mdou Moctar has been decentralizing experimentalism — and updating cultural interchange — since his 2008 debut, Anar, building a robust catalog defined by his distinct brand of Tishoumaren (or “desert blues”). With his sixth album, Matador Records debut Afrique Victime, the Tuareg guitarist captures an uncanny symbiosis between the lyrical and explosive — a precision brilliantly showcased on opener and mood-setter “Chismiten,” whose psychedelic guitars and shifting tempos instantly transport us to the desert in a semi-hypnotic state. Music will always be the best way to travel, after all. – Ana Leorne

25. Violet Cold – “We Met During the Revolution”

While 2021 seemed like a comparatively slow year for Azerbaijan’s prolific Violet Cold, “We Met During the Revolution” from Empire of Love is one hell of a statement — a centerpiece not just for the record but the project as a whole. Blackgaze is rarely this anthemic or romantic — it’s not explosive because of any pyrotechnics (though it does have some tasty licks), but for its unquenchable spirit. Though Emin Guliyev’s vocals rarely go above a whisper, “Revolution” transforms shoegaze’s fantastical haze to an assured, defiant proclamation of love without boundaries, of embracing brightness amongst turmoil. – Andy O’Connor

24. Kacey Musgraves – “cherry blossom”

“When we’re on fire, it’s something to see / No one can question the chemistry,” Kacey Musgraves sings, hinting that her exciting new spring fling may be spiked with a touch of danger. While her fifth studio album dissects all emotional angles of her real-life divorce, the buoyant, strummy guitar-pop of “cherry blossom” is a soothing balm. The song is laced with warm koto plucks and light synth, supporting a melody so gentle you’re afraid that it might blow away. Unabashedly romantic, “cherry blossom” lulls us into a false sense of security, making the heartbreak that follows sting all the worse. – Evan Sawdey

23. G Perico & Rucci – “Keep Killin”

G Perico has long been South L.A.’s answer to the question, “What if Eazy-E could rap very well?” In his most prolific year, the avowed BG Crip tapped Rucci, Inglewood’s best Blood-affiliated rapper since Mack 10, for “Keep Killin.” The song’s joyous yet menacing roller rink bounce comes courtesy of producer Low Da Great, who adds the locker-slamming drums of many contemporary L.A. rap songs to Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love.” Perico and Rucci float over the beat, toasting bottles of Ace of Spades while Perico offers pragmatic life advice and Rucci goes “dumb with a 10-round drum.” Together, they make blue and red the perfect yin and yang. – Max Bell

22. Parquet Courts – “Homo Sapien”

The first guitar lick rips the seal off this banger, unleashing a campy scream, a choogle, a screed. The stomp-charging “Homo Sapien” finds Parquet Courts co-leader A. Savage in a bluntly cynical frame of mind about the species he’s part of. Wait, this is the endpoint of centuries of human evolution: hand-off plunder, impulsive subjugation, all mod cons? “The primal desire to fuck / The primitive urge to kill,” he sneers, disgusted. “The endorphins of the hunt / Jump like begging dogs.” Call it a measured fit of pique or, maybe, a visceral Valentine for those of us put off by the foursome’s mid-2010s pivot to agit-funk and name-producer bingo. – Raymond Cummings

21. Drake – “Champagne Poetry”

Does Drake mean it — any of it — or is he camping? Does it matter? For the last several years, the improbable, prolonged celebrity of this Canadian multi-hyphenate star has rendered these questions moot. Everything comes down to this: His production cabal bought a sample of a Beatles cover, and it kicks off Certified Lover Boy in extravagant fashion. Is “Champagne Poetry” even a good rap song? For the first half, it’s a valid concern. Drake treads thematic water as the chipmunk soul beat serenades him hypnotically. Then the midpoint arrives, the tune winks at us, all is forgiven; Drake is spitting diagrammatically but knowingly over halcyon ivory as if he and his crew were CGI’d into the end credits of Goodfellas. OVO boilerplate or not, his drama sells itself: “I even got the cleaning staff planning extortion on me / My therapist’s voice is making the choices for me, and I always censor myself because no matter what, they reporting on me.” – R.C.

20. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “That Life”

There’s something in Ruban Nielson’s unmistakable voice that will always ring as a safe place. Maybe it’s early nostalgia for that sweetly naive mid-10s neo-psych revival when everybody had II on repeat; but even though recent global events might have slightly faded Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s bright-colored trip, their music never fails to bring a heartwarming atmosphere. One of their first two singles since 2018’s IC-01 Hanoi, “That Life” resurrects UMO’s trademark discreet euphoria without resorting to past formulas or obsolete aesthetics. Innocence may be gone, but the dream has never felt so alive. – A.L.

19. Julien Baker – “Hardline”

“Hardline” was the entry point into Julien Baker’s spellbinding third record, Little Oblivions, grabbing us by the lapels with a repeating synth tone, droning behind Baker as she sings, “Blackout on a weekday, is there something I’m trying to avoid?” From there, dense post-punk layers filter through, piling like so many grains of sand into Baker’s most complex and intimate work to date. It works as a powerful thesis statement, proving from the outset that Baker’s confessional songwriting style doesn’t need to hide behind simple strumming patterns, but instead lives ever so comfortably on the waves of her beautifully constructed orchestrations. – Niko Stratis

18. Deafheaven – “Lament for Wasps”

A hidden gem in the middle of Infinite Granite, “Lament for Wasps” reveals that Deafheaven’s most monumental shift wasn’t the most obvious one (George Clarke mostly singing clean). Instead, it’s the whole group embracing the possibilities of vocal harmony. And “Wasps” has everyone going all in, turning a Madchester romp into a celestial body way more euphoric, growing in fervor as all voices surge. This track reaches the loveliest critical mass, thanks to Daniel Tracy’s escalating double-kick and rhythmic thunder. While Granite‘s singles shocked and adored, “Wasps” is a deep cut that will earn its own following years down the road. – A.O.

17. Gabe ‘Nandez – “Ox”

List New York’s most promising rappers, and Gabe ‘Nandez should sit near the top. For the last four years, he’s released excellent projects that split the difference between intellectual art rap and bruising brass knuckle bars (e.g., Diplomacy). “Ox” isn’t a summation of his talents so much as it is a relentless, stream-of-consciousness torrent of incredible rapping. Backed by chilling and eerie boom-bap, ‘Nandez alchemizes dense blocks of language into fluid lines, collapsing distinctions between high (The Odyssey) and low art (Marvel comics) while mourning fallen rappers, pondering eternity, and asserting his mic supremacy. It’s a feat worthy of far more praise. – M.B.

16. illuminati hotties – “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA”

In a world of increased surveillance, it grows harder to sing and dance like no one’s watching. But on Illuminati Hotties’ SEO-defying track “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA,” the singer entertains us in her own uninhibited language. The track is masterfully deranged and unhinged, the sound of a kid making noises to entertain themselves, set to squalling guitars and a boppy Hanson-like chorus.  Like a pop-punk Nicki Minaj, she showcases at least a dozen emotions and voices, veering senselessly between horny, goofy, ground-down, maniacal — all at the rapid rate of thought. It sounds like a brain transposed onto song. – Emma Madden

15. Bartees Strange – “Weights”

Bartees Cox could have easily rested on laurels after Live Forever, his 2020 debut, positioned him among indie-rock’s most admired. But he doesn’t like to sit idly: His 2021 return, “Weights,” bursts into the room with the same urgency of Live Forever standout “Boomer,” dancing across genres with equal zeal — from full guitar-heavy rock reminiscent of Bloc Party to a (temporary) cool-down as a twinkling piano ballad. With its desperate, crowd-ready choruses, the song explores the emotional distance growing between two people, with the verses snidely noticing, “Tulum went too well / You’ve tanned your cheeks.” – Brendan Menapace

14. Dry Cleaning – “Scratchcard Lanyard”

The cadence with which Florence Shaw recites her lyrics sometimes seems determined less by the meaning of a phrase than her interest in the sounds of certain words — turning a syllable over like a marble in her mouth, its physicality made inextricable from the melody. It’s hard to convey this in text, but here’s a good example: how she stretches the word “bazooka” to its natural limit in the opener of Dry Cleaning’s debut. The abstraction of her found-phrase lines — collaged over the backdrop of the band’s no-nonsense post-punk instrumentation — creates at once a full-bodied fingerprinted work, and a clean canvas onto which the listener can project whatever meanings they can piece together. – Annie Fell

13. My Morning Jacket – “The Devil’s in the Details”

When it comes to protest songs, nobody has struck a balance between scathing social commentary and super-chill atmosphere the way My Morning Jacket do on “The Devil’s in the Details.” Jim James sounds deceptively soothing as he contrasts rampant consumerism with the evils it helps to mask: violence, poverty, inequality. “But let us forget the war / And buy something pretty,” he croons, as a spacey swirl of guitars, keyboards and backing vocals float past. Though the song is nine minutes long, it’s so quietly riveting that you simply lose track of time along the way. – Eric R. Danton

12. Bo Burnham – “All Eyes On Me”

On Bo Burnham’s 2016 special, Make Happy, he ended with “Can’t Handle This,” a mockery of a tune that took Kanye West’s already-outrageous AutoTuned stage rants to their comic endpoint. On Burnham’s much bleaker, darker, and far-too-relatable quarantine film, Inside, he manages to sprinkle his finale with not one but several emotional climaxes, from the tender acoustic lament “That Funny Feeling” to the yet another AutoTuned depression anthem called “All Eyes On Me.” Yet the latter is a different beast than what came before: Ignore the spoken word section and it could be a hazy SoundCloud synth jam on its own (which his label agreed with, killing the monologue and issuing it as a single that charted globally). It’s an anthem, a resignation, a fever dream, a release. “You say the whole world’s ending,” he spits with venom. “Honey, it already did.” Preach. – E.S.

11. Tinashe – “Bouncin'”

On “Bouncin,” effectively a song about stepping out and feeling the hell out of yourself, Tinashe displays a level of emotional dynamism that makes the club feel like the gateway to heaven. With sweat in her hair, gold dripping from her neck and nudes on her phone so immaculate she hopes they “make it to the Cloud,” Tinashe showcases the life-saving vitality often found in feeling beauty among a crowd of moving, perspiring bodies. The ultra-slick and cavernous club beat is both urgent and minimal, the sound of one person’s perspective among a sea of euphoric dancers. – E.M.

10. Darkside – “The Limit”

When the long-dormant Darkside returned in late 2020 to promise a second LP, fans wondered just how they’d build on their acclaimed 2013 debut, Psychic. It turns out the experimental electronic duo (producer Nicolás Jaar and guitarist Dave Harrington) got spectacularly weirder. Take, for example, “The Limit,” which starts as a shimmering ambient soundscape and drops down into a rock-solid acoustic-driven groove — all before transmogrifying into a series of new forms through digital effects, stellar drum work, and squelching synths. It delivers on everything that makes this project so exciting: it’s unpredictable, danceable, and definitely worth the wait. – John Paul Bullock

9. Crumb – “Up & Down”

The opening track of Crumb’s ambitious second album, Ice Melt, eases us into the Brooklyn band’s unsettling unease. A sax squeals in hysterics, a droning synth swells underneath, doom most certainly looms. Singer-guitarist Lila Ramani drifts in like a wraith, her voice soft, sensual, yet hardly comforting: “Feel your heart slip away, but it belongs to me, only me,” she purrs, half-detached but fully determined. A cyclone of arpeggios breaks through her spell, but bassist Jesse Brotter and drummer Jonathan Gilad are determined to push forward, eventually slipping into a glitchy trip-hop groove as Ramani shares one more haunting message: “Please go back to where you’re from and leave me by myself.” – Stephanie Garr

8. Arlo Parks – “Black Dog”

The immediate allure of “Black Dog” is the relaxed arrangement — colored by hypnotic nylon strings and twinkling keys. It provides a comforting canvas, as Arlo Parks offers genuine compassion for an often misunderstood affliction: depression. The track, a standout from the British songwriter’s stunning debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams, radiates warmth — even as Parks feels understandably helpless trying to aid someone dealing with mental health struggles. “It’s so cruel what your mind can do for no reason,” she gently sings in the refrain. At a time when our brains are scrambled by the collective trauma of the past two years, her words drift by like an empathetic breath of fresh air. – Jedd Ferris

7. Turnstile – “BLACKOUT”

On what was (mostly) inarguably the year’s best rock album, Turnstile proved once again why they’re both America’s finest and most diverse hardcore act. But while Glow On is packed with a wide variety of jams ranging from heavy to atmospheric, the singalong third single of “BLACKOUT” stands out from the pack. With chugging guitars, an immediately memorable melody, multiple percussion-only breakdowns, scream-worthy lyrics, and that super cool five-note guitar riff after each line of the chorus, “BLACKOUT” contains pretty much everything we’ve come to expect from Baltimore’s best export since The Wire. – Josh Chesler

6. Isaiah Rashad – “Headshots (4r Da Locals)”

Isaiah Rashad has a gift for couching personal and painful revelations in cryptic lyrics, for lulling you into a false sense of security with smooth, relaxed production. See: “Headshots (4r Da Locals).” If you aren’t paying attention, the second single from The House Is Burning might scan as a mellow, innocuous song about driving around and smoking. In reality, Rashad raps about accepting the possibility of untimely death (“…if I’m gone, don’t trip”) and recovering from addiction (“Weed couldn’t settle my fire / Couldn’t cover my pain…”). By the end, he acknowledges that sobriety and talking to God trump self-destruction. But Rashad isn’t proselytizing. He knows you’ll take what you will. – M.B.

5. Olivia Rodrigo – “drivers license”

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut single, “drivers license,” is a quintessential belt-in-the-bathroom-mirror-while-sobbing song for any adolescent girl alive in 2021. Literally turning her key in the ignition as the track begins, the singer takes off on the suburban streets while crying out the routine stages of losing your first love — a familiar subject with a fresh delivery. And it’s the perfect vehicle for her pinpoint lyricism and heartbreak-ridden howl: establishing Rodrigo as her generation’s sad-girl poet, a Taylor Swift for those born after Y2K. The first bridge’s build has us all tightly clutching the wheel, screeching Rodrigo’s tearful ballad as if it’s our own. – Marisa Whitaker

4. Lil Nas X – “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)”

There’s pushing limits, and then there’s deliberately picking them up and moving them. Lil Nas X did the latter with “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name),” a darkly seductive pop-rap cut with explicitly homoerotic lyrics. Attached to a video in which the rapper famously gives Satan a lap dance, “Montero” drew outrage and praise as it soared to No. 1 in 20 countries. It was a groundbreaking moment. No mainstream star had ever been this unapologetically gay. Lil’ Nas X did so with a dizzying mix of showmanship and artistry, not to mention a level of raciness barely tolerated in heteronormative pop. The rapper met the backlash with humor and a sense of purpose. In an Instagram post addressed to his younger self, he wrote: “This will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist.” – Beverly Bryan

3. Doja Cat (feat. SZA) – “Kiss Me More”

Intergalactic queen Doja Cat lifted off into the pop star stratosphere with her third album, Planet Her, which peaked at a career-best No. 2 on the Billboard 200. And she set in motion this thrilling new era with lead single “Kiss Me More,” a whirling dervish of female sexuality. Sweat drips from the melody — rumbling full-tilt over a chewy bass line, between biting bars from collaborator SZA. Meanwhile, Doja Cat’s tongue-lashing remains as seductive and playful as ever: “I feel like fuckin’ somethin’,” she proclaims. “But we could be corny, fuck it.” It’s a tantalizing treat clearly worth the sugar high. – Jason Scott

2. Snail Mail – “Valentine”

Snail Mail’s “Valentine” opens with the calm of a droning synth, with Lindsay Jordan leaning into her hoarse register as she sings, “Let’s go be alone, where no one can see us, honey / Those parasitic cameras, don’t they stop to stare at you?” The song hits against the intrusive fame Jordan was thrust into at age 18, while also capturing the non-linear emotions tied to romantic relationships. In the explosive chorus, she accuses, “So why’d you wanna erase me?” over crashing drums and crunching guitar — but she softly yearns, “I adore you” as the intensity softens toward the track’s close. “Valentine” is an exemplary Snail Mail song, both anthemic and intimate at the same time. – Erica Campbell

1. Japanese Breakfast – “Be Sweet”

Michelle Zauner began the solo project Japanese Breakfast as an outlet for grief after her mother’s death. But with her third album, Jubilee, she decided it was time to make room for joy — and lead single “Be Sweet” was the perfect way to usher that in. It’s an indie-rock-goes-pop fantasia, influenced by Whitney Houston and Madonna, with a bassline as danceable as the chorus is hooky. The narrator sings to a failing lover, urging them to give it another try, although the chorus doubles as a crush anthem: “Be sweet to me, baby / I wanna believe in you; I wanna believe in something.” – Mia Hughes

To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.