The Results of the Drinking Game...
In a somewhat surprising twist, Pitchfork named the Knife's - Silent Shout as the album of the year. So now that all we all have "crushed [an] entire bottle" of booze and "soiled" ourselves, let's see how the rest of the game shaped up without this first provision.
The Junior Boys came in at #11, just missing the Top 10 (my estimate #8), and mandated 3 drinks. The rest of the bunch listed under the "take 3 drinks" section were Top 10 selections. Liars [PK: 7, my prediction: 4], Clipse [7, 5], Ghostface [4, 7], Scott Walker [10, 10]. That's 3 drinks so far...
Our collective livers took a beating on the "take 2 drinks" section. Only 3 of albums listed (The Knife [1, 6], Grizzly Bear [8, 11], and Band of Horses [12, 14]) made it into the Top 20. The Knife was the #1 album, so it could also have qualified for the "slip into the Top 10" contingency. So that makes either 6 or 8 drinks (9 or 11 total) depending on your math...
As for the rest of the "take 1 drink" section for albums not in the Top 50, Lindstrom, Islands, Beirut, Subtle, The Blow, Rock Plaza Central, Malajube, Guillemots, Evangelicals, and Swan Lake all required a drink. That's 11 drinks for this round, 20 or 22 total. Clearly, my guesses were simply not up to snuff in this category. 19/30 (63.3%) is obviously not all that great. I purposefully took some chances to make the game interesting, but I honest tried to make it a bit more accurate.
In sum, I guessed 34 of the 50 albums on the list and all of my projected Top 15 made it on to the list. I only made 45 "predictions" so my final accuracy percentage was a respectable 75.56%. The biggest surprise obviously was The Knife being the number one album of the year. I knew that this album was a "wild card" and while it received "only" an 8.6 upon its initial review, I suspected it would end up high (#6) in the ranks. Danielson fell way off over the course over the year according to the Pitchfork staff and while rated a 9.1, it only clocked in at #31. Good riddance, as I could never get into anything off Ships but "Did I Step On Your Trumpet" and thought they totally blew when I saw them follow Man Man. I think Califone and M. Ward were very underrated and Be Your Own Pet was significantly overrated. I was pleasantly surprised to Pitchfork back peddle a bit on the "soft rock Strokes" tag and see the Phoenix album get the respect it deserves. Minor gripes aside, this was probably the most accurate list I've seen.
So, we all would have to consume 20 or 22 drinks prior to even undertaking the "friends bonus round". Even the most seasoned drinkers among us would surely agree this is far too much for one sitting. In any event, this was one of the most popular (heavily trafficked) posts ever on this blog and I'm glad it was well received. Being a "drinking game", it was obviously not intended to be a straight "prediction" of the Top 50 albums. It was intended as a good-spirited jab, nothing more. In all fairness, 75.56% correct is probably too high for any outsider's "prediction" of any publication's Top 50 albums without the notion of predictablity coming to mind. I know I could not have "predicted" any other publication's list with that kind of accuracy. FYI: I know this post required absolutely no skill whatsoever to compile, as the list was fairly true to the initial ratings. Regardless, this was the most fun I've had with this blog in a very long time.
Pitchfork's Top 20 Albums and my "prediction"
1. The Knife: [6]
2. Tv on the Radio: [2]
3. Joanna Newsome: [1]
4. Ghostface Killah: [7]
5. Hold Steady: [3]
6. Liars: [4]
7. Clipse: [5]
8. Grizzly Bear: [11]
9. Boris: [n/a]
10. Scott Walker: [10]
11. Junior Boys: [8]
12. Band of Horses: [14]
13. Phoenix: [*Top 50]
14. Tim Hecker: [*Top 50]
15. Sunset Rubdown: [*Top 50]
16. Beach House: [*Top 50]
17. The Thermals: [*Top 50]
18. Destroyer: [*Top 50]
19. T.I.: [*Top 50]
20. Man Man: [*Top 50]
*only 1-15 given a numerical "prediction"
posted by Matt @ 12:21 AM
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