Hey folks!

A couple weeks ago, I put up a survey asking for your input about what year Best Album should do next, what the next three should maybe be, and if we should continue the back and forth pattern we’ve been using all this time to determine a Best Album year. Below, you’ll find the results of that survey. I have a number of ideas of where to go based on these results, but I’d like you to look at the data and discuss it with me and each other before I decide on anything definite.

That said, I have made one definite decision, which I announced Bluesky: the next tournament year will be 1988. This is, of course, the year I would’ve chosen without any survey, and the survey results only strengthened that choice. I apologize to anyone who assumed that we were doing 1988 and was thrown in a tizzy when I said Hold up, let’s do a survey first. Your work was not in vain!

This is a very long newsletter, so apologies for the length, and apologies if your email program cuts it off. If it gets cut off, you can always go to the newsletter archive and find the whole thing there.

Here are the results.

WHAT YEAR SHOULD BEST ALBUM COVER AFTER 2001?

The results:

• 1988: 50.4% (65 votes)

• 1977: 35.7% (46 votes)

• 2002: 4.7% (6 votes)

The following received 1 vote apiece (0.8%)

• 2010

• 2018

• 1984

• 1982 or 1983 (splitting the difference)

• 1987--see below

• let's do 2025 and then flip to 1970 and squeeze in from there

• random

• Random 1979-1988

• Something else from the 1980s

• Whichever year you think most interests you

• Would like to see all 3, in any order, in the next 3-5 tournaments; these are all good years!

• Ok, i'm looking at these answers and i think im gonna have to say other / i dont care on all of them. Id rather just be given a year and have to grapple with the ins and outs of that year instead of complaining we didnt get a different year. So honestly, whatever you want to do. But like i personally wouldnt weigh the results of this poll, too hard / at all. Thanks for everything as always.

SHOULD WE HOLD TO THE PATTERN FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE?

The results:

• Yes; it works! 31.8% (42 votes)

• No; I would like to jump to a year outside The Pattern sometime soon. 28.8% (38 votes)

• Extreme No; the Pattern should be permanently broken and each year determined individually, by vote or another system. 22% (29 votes)

The following (entered via the “Other” option) received two votes (1.5%)

• [entry left blank]

The following (entered via the “Other” option) received one vote apiece (0.8%)

• Alternate between a 50th anniversary tournament, and an 80s tournament

• Alternate between The Pattern and another year that might not get covered

• As an old, would rather go backwards through the 80s (and beyond).

• Carry on through the 2000s

• I sort of like the idea somewhat reflected in the next question - that the pattern continue similarly, but an occasional "wild-card year" be thrown in?

• I think a random year between 1965 and 2025 would be great, minus the years we have already completed

• I think I would like to see 1977 as a trial year before determining a new system? I would also throw some support behind the random wheel/generator idea that’s been tossed around.

• i think the pattern should be held to, but we should move in 'skips'. Say every 2 or 3 years. We can even change the interval or vote on it. that way, we're not crawling, but it's not arbitrary.

• I think you should have completely free rein. If you think you will do 12-15 more years, pick out the 12-15 years you think are most interesting and do them in order

• It might be interesting to dip in and out of different decades; 90s are done, but could go 80s, 00s, 70s, 10s, etc.

• it's all good

• Keep pattern but shift to 80s/70s.

• Mostly yes - we should generally stick to the pattern but a detour here and there would be fine.

• My vote would be largely stick to the pattern but the following years should be a wildcard like 1977 as often as your discretion suggests; 1979, 1971, 1969 and 1967.

• Pattern revision is good with ways to go “ad hoc” for anniversaries or special years

• Pick the ones you want to cover! You’re running this!

• please no more 00s and nothing newer than that

• randomize it, draw years (say, 1967-2025) out of a hat

• The pattern is fine and I think it's good to have a guiding principle, but also everything is made up and the rules don't matter and I think you should do whatever you feel like in the moment!

• Use a pattern to determine decaade e.g. do a 70s year after the 80s year, then go back to an 00s year, then an 80s year etc.) then poll for the actual year within that decade.

• While I don't think I'd favor permanently breaking the pattern, I really like the idea of getting some other years (from, let's say, the late '50s to the present) in there from time to time.

WHAT YEARS SHOULD THE NEXT THREE TOURNAMENTS COVER?

(This chart is pretty much impossible to glean exact results from because Google Forms is kind of mostly terrible, but I clarify the data below. Your eyes are not deceiving you — every other line is unlabeled. At Google Forms, UI design is our passion.)

So let’s take that mess and put it into something that can actually be read. Unfortunately, this isn’t an exact replication of the above results — some participants wrote in pre-existing categories into the “Other” section, creating multiple entries, and apparently one could select a pre-existing option and write something else in the “Other” section. I apologize, but I simply don’t have the bandwidth to go through those double entries; I’ve used their pre-existing option selection only.

• 1977 - 1988 - 2002: 25.2% (32 votes)

• 1988 - 1977 - 2002: 22% (28 votes)

• 1988 - 2002 - 1977: 14.2% (18 votes)

• 1977 - 2002 - 1988: 9.4% (12 votes)

• 1988 - 2002 - 1987: 9.4% (12 votes)

• 2002 - 1988 - 1977: 3.1% (4 votes)

• 2002 - 1977 - 1988: 3.1% (4 votes)

• 2002 - 2003 - 2004: 1.6% (2 votes)

The following received one vote apiece (0.8%)

• 1977 - 1969 - 2007

• 1977 - 1988 - 1978

• 1977 - 2002 - 2011

• 1977 - 2002 - some arbitrary year of fantastic music - 2003

• 1977 - 2012 - 1971

• 1977 - 2012 (or any year post 2010 tbh) - 1966

• 1977 - 2014 - 1988

• 1977 - 2017 - 1967

• 1977 - 2017 - 1988

• 1977 - 1986 - 1967

• 1984 - 2002 - 1977

• 1987 - 2003 - 1984

• 1988 - 1977 - 1987

• 1988 - 1977 - 1987 - 1978(?) - 1986

• 1988 - 1977 - 2013

• 1988 - 1977 - 2011 (for example)

• 1988 - 1977 - TO BE DETERMINED AS PER Q2

• 1988 - 1977 (in any order) - wherever the wind takes us

• 1988 - 2002 - 1987 - 2003

• 1988 - 2009 - 1980

• 1988 - 1979 - 1987 - 1978

• 1988 - 2009 - 2017

• 2025, 1970, 2024, 1971, etc

• All 70s!

• Do 1988 and use that time to determine a new method or agreed randomized to select years.

• Each tournament from here on out should be determined exactly like this - some ideas, debated, then voted on. There are lots of really good years to cover before the internet stops working. Why waste them on years that suck.

• I like the idea of tournament of votes to decide next year's during existing tournament.

• I love the angle of alternating a 50th anniversary year and a "random" year within a range that you could set (tho I realize that due to the lenght of Tourney + needed break time + listening / noms / seeding that it's impossible to complete two Tourneys in one calendar year the 50th anniversary starts to get more "aspirational" / ball park than "real" once the new pattern is set)

• I think dip into other decades. 60s, 70s, 88, 02, 2010s should be the next 5 tournaments (in any order)

• I've already started prepping for '88, so hope we can do that one next. After that, randomize it.

• Nothing involving the seventies. It's ancient history. Pick a year where no one knows what's going to win

• random

• Random 1970-1988 - random 2002-2019 - random 1970-1988

• Random 80s, Random 00s, Random 80s.

• Random, random, random

COMMENTS

(I also asked you to leave any comments you wished. You will find most of them below. I got a lot of compliments, which is great, thank you everyone, but I’ve elided them here. Mostly. Also, the formatting of some of them might’ve gotten a bit tweaked in the transfer to the newsletter. Apologies!)

Honestly, I am happy with whatever you feel like doing. I think it would be more fun for me to mine the albums of the '80s than to continue on through the 2000s, and I love the idea of doing '77, so I do hope we shake it up and do that at some point. After that... I say skip around to your heart's content. 😀

I don't think you should change the system. We'll get to '77 eventually.

I had an idea of alternating 4 year votes. After this bracket, choose 4 years, one from each decade, 50s-80s, that people vote on. Then probably 4 years between 2002-2016 (don't want to get too close to present- add in 2017 next year...), then back to 50s-80s, and so on.

I just wish twitter wasn't an evil wasteland. I don't find myself on bluesky as much and I think engagement dropped a bit with the move. Not that you did anything wrong with moving it, that was the right call. So really, I'm not saying anything that you can do, just nostalgic for times past. I appreciate all you do for this small group.

I like 1977 in (or just before) 2027, so we celebrate along with (or lead into) those albums' 50th anniversaries

I like doing 1977 in 2027 because it'll be the 50th anniversary, and I think it'll be fun to have a year with so many bangers. 2002 is my second choice bc it would be a 25th anniversary and I was in high school in 2002, so I'll enjoy the nostalgia.

I like the idea of moving back-and-forth between the 1980s and 2000s, but not so predictably. Maybe pick a year from the decade at random, or move out a few more years, for instance, 1984, then 2007, or something like that.

I love the idea of going rogue on the older end of the spectrum, but incrementally increasing on the top end. Meaning, go with 1977 as a rogue year, then go to 2002, then pick another rogue year, then go to 2003, etc.

Happy to go rogue, but also want to force us to also stay current (~ last 25 years), because that is where I feel my particular expertise lies, thanks to baconreview.com

I mean, I don’t much care, it’s your ball play with it how you want. But I kind of like the pattern.

I personally am excited to cover 2002-2005. But regardless I will be here and am so appreciative of all you do!

I personally believe we should stay in the decades we’re covering, but work our way to the middle from both sides. I do think the next one should be 1988, though, since nobody has been doing prep for 1980.

I quite like the idea of doing it randomly and going a bit more extreme. At the moment it does feel like we're covering the same patch of artists quite frequently - scuttling around between decades would be more interesting rather than seeing Built to Spill, the Cure, New Order over and over (I like all of those artists very much!).

I'm really enjoying these tournaments, keep up the good work. What about a tournament of live recordings? I feel that it doesn't really fit in the present format. Some of the best music is on live recordings and many are informal, there would have to be some sort of rule regarding what is and what isn't allowed.

I'm voting to stick to the pattern. This despite the fact that I don't like 80's music and really enjoy 70's music. Why? Because this tourney forces me to engage with a decade of music I would not otherwise in my personal life. (I love 70's and 2000's music and listen to it on my own anyway.)

I've answered the questions completely selfishly, in that those are the years where I would probably most enjoy the discovery and have the most interest in the outcome. I'm fine with The Pattern although I definitely engage more with the 2000s tournaments. That said, I think it's your game and you get to make the rules, and I would be interested to see how the dynamics would change when nostalgia played a lesser role in the nomination and seeding process.

I've listed my personal preferences but they all are trumped by two higher concerns: the continued cohesion of the community you've built, and your own enthusiasm for maintaining it. If you get a strong sense either of these are are on the verge of unraveling due to the rigidity of "the pattern" I would want to have my own suggestions invalidated. That said, I might as well explain what I like about "the pattern" beyond its predictability in being able to prepare for future tournaments.

My favorite element of these tournaments is discovery, both of off-the-radar gems that may or may not make it to the actual tournament, and of the consensus favorites I should have been more familiar with as a music lover but for whatever reasons wasn't. After living abroad in 1999-2000 I pretty much stopped listening to new music that wasn't right in front of me- mostly local San Francisco bands without significant national distribution. This means I don't remember listening to a single one of the 2001 bracket's albums from beginning to end until after the year was over. (I nominated a few albums I listened to that year but none made it into the bracket.) And it means I'm really enjoying learning about a relatively unknown year through the current tournament, thanks to the majority of voters who were paying a lot closer attention to the music scene at the time. A big part of me wouldn't mind sticking to 21st century albums from now on, filling in the vast gaps in my musical knowledge. I also like that the knowledge builds by expanding the circle of what's been covered chronologically; Having participated heavily all in the tournaments since 1996, I feel like I can say I have a strong handle on 1989-2000. Jumping around to non-contiguous years may feel a bit disconcerting at first; I suspect there will be more artists in a 1977 tournament whose greater body of work I'll have little understanding of than any we've done before, thanks to the fact that these tournaments started near the sweet spot of my familiarity with critically-acclaimed music and fanned out from there, helping me build on that knowledge in multiple directions.

But I'm part of a very small minority of participants who has been following these tournaments from close to the beginning. For the majority whose involvement in a 1996 or 1994 bracket goes no further than the albums from those years that were able to participate in the Nineties bracket (and for some even that goes back too far), there's not the same sense of a growing body of collective knowledge, as for them there's a nineties-sized gap (or multiple smaller ones) in the middle of the already-covered terrain. For some of these folks the mid-eighties and the late seventies are about equally remote to their experience (as someone who started actively listening to new music around 1985, that borders on describing me too) and both perhaps as intriguing as the 2000s are to me. My one main worry about transferring most or all our attention to those periods (or earlier ones, as some have floated tournaments for 1959, 1966, etc.) is that we'll have to fight even harder to prevent domination by the straight/white/male artists who had a leg or three up on being promoted by labels, covered by press, etc. during those times and whose legacies still benefit from the ripple effects of that structural advantage. I know OneTruePoster suggested a quota concept to mitigate that, but I feel like that will create at least as many problems as it solves.

Anyway, that's my general thinking on this topic. But again, I really want to defer to whatever keeps you excited about this now-decade-ingrained ritual, so if you personally don't find my concerns relevant to your own decision-making process, please disregard all I've written and go with your gut- I'll follow along wherever you go happily! (The one exception to that is that it will take a little time for me to get over my grumpiness if 1988 is NEVER polled, since I've already listened to about fifty albums for it.)

I’m in favor of sticking to the pattern OR shifting to a 70s/80s oriented pattern and leaving the 21st century behind. As a discovery tool I don’t really discover much great new-to-me stuff in the 00s, and as a canonization exercise it’s not proving to be very interesting. But also, I don’t love the randomness of just jumping to 77 for no real good reason.

Keep on doing what you're doing.

Keep up the great work! We all appreciate the effort you put in. I don't think recent years would be as fun though. Not because the music isn't as enjoyable but I feel like a consensus would be more difficult. I blame the lack of a monoculture making everyone retreat to their niches. Maybe that's just me.

Keeping the pattern means realistically only ever covering two decades. As noted above I think we need to dip into the 60s, 70s, 2010s as well as 80s and 00s. 67 and 2016 both have very strong line ups too!

Lanna did raise a good point wrt diversity; I do think it's a possibility that women would lose out if we go back a certain distance. I propose that in the event fewer than 20-25% of the albums that qualify for a tournament are credited to a woman, or feature a woman credited as a bandmember, before any prize picks are added, the lowest performing qualifiers should be replaced with whatever came in below the threshold that does feature a woman. Further, while I'm happy to focus in on 1977 compared to the alternatives, truthfully my main interest is in breaking the pattern and alternating decades with more frequency. The most interesting years should be prioritized; years without a very obvious winner, years that aren't as totemic among the the old millennials and Gen Xers. I'd be fine with a more recent year. I'd be fine going back to the 50s. I am happy with anything that does not have us listening to the same sort of music on and off.

Thanks for asking and your openness to feedback. Put three years in per your request but mainly favor bouncing around the 20th century. Also, agree with your desire not to categorically exclude albums from participating in any year's competition. If we do 1988 next, I'm waiting for someone to argue that RATTLE AND HUM should be disqualified for [reasons].

thanks for everything you do! Being part of this community has literally changed my life in so many amazing ways. I’ll go along with whatever but I love the idea of moving further away from the present day. The 80s hold a special place in my heart, but I’d love to further explore the 70s, a decade that was hopelessly uncool when my musical taste was developing. I know I missed out on a lot and the discovery element is very appealing. The thought of having to dig further into the 00s—ugh emo and freak folk are right around the corner—makes me cringe. I’ll do it if I have to, but I’m not sure what I’d get out of it!

Thanks for running these tournaments, Kent. I think which year(s) to focus on is the big question, and other recent talk about how to "fix" the tourneys -- e.g., by changing the nomination or seeding process -- are solutions in search of a problem. You're doing great!

Thanks for running this. This is fun to revisit old favourites. 2001 is working well because of all of these 25 year anniversary reissues

Thanks for thinking seriously about the future of this project. Too often these things get run like they'll last forever.

The idea of doing a more recent year - like anything in the last ten years - is thoroughly uninteresting for me. Let's be real: the voters are all, like, minimum 32 years old and the whole tournament is more-or-less Let's Remember Some Guys for music nerds.

We're around the same age, and I am mostly bored baffled and uninterested in a LOT of the 2001 stuff, and suspect that would continue, BUT I value the contributions of the younger voters a lot more than our cohort, and would hate to lose them by getting stuck too far in the past permanently. I'd go so far as to weight younger voters opinions more highly than ours.

What I like about the alternating pattern is that we get to see the evolution of the music. Thanks for doing the Best Albums, it's really fun and I always learn about more music through participating!

While one of my personal joys of the tournaments is discovering new music, the music of the aughts, (including 1999 and 1998,) is really not resonating with me. At. All. I listen to everything at least once, and consistently watch my preferred albums lose to some variant of “whiny/indie.” (All guitar based stuff, even shoegaze, seems at a disadvantage.) what do I want? I want to rock!<Dee Snider .gif>

Will happily support whatever the group decides. But much less interested in anything from that last 15 years.

Would love to have some more recent years. Even maybe mini polls (eh 16 or 32 with random seeding) as a year-end thing in January. Though fully aware this account became popular because we're doing nostalgia years and recent stuff doesn't have the same draw.

You could stick with the pattern for two out of the three contests and pick the third at your whim/public vote

You should ultimately have the say, it's your tourney and as you noted, time is of the essence for you to host them. I think the 70s would have a great mix of classic reminiscence, deep benches for all genres, and stronger contenders overall. But I'm happy with the 80s/2000s too! Not really into anything past 2009 TBH, probably wouldn't participate as much in those myself.

1977 is before my time; I was 4. That doesn’t mean I can’t comment on albums from that year but I don’t feel much personal connection to it. There are so many good albums in the 80s that I think it’s worth continuing the pattern

Any way we do it is truly fine to me, it’s great no matter what. Eternal thanks to you. Also, I’d trust you with the random selection having no bias

Being a newbie to 'Best Album Brackets' I have mixed feelings about the format. It's good that I get to listen to, and in some cases appreciate, a period of music that i may have missed out on due to family life. At the same time I don't have the same enthusiasm for later music that others do & that"s nobodys fault, 'Thats Life' so to speak. Sometimes though you feel like the stranger looking in, rather than being an actual part of the surroundings. We can't all be 'Forever Young' , no matter how much we wish that to be true, but music itself opens up that period of time when we where all young. The 70's, 80's & bottom half of 90's is probably my years for music. My teenage years till adulthood, after which family took priorities. So a dip into those years, from time to time would be from a selfish point of view , one where I can bask in the glory of being in my youth again (age is a bitch). So as much as I like my comfort music, the reality is Life & music will evolve beyond what it is today., and in doing so music will have another appreciative audience & those, like myself will still seek out our comfort music. As Bob Seger once said ' Todays music ain't got the same soul', and as such tomorrow's child will become today's adult. Some things in life never change.

Call me selfish but I'd really love to hit the 2000s because those were my hs and college years. I do get that this is a finite project though so my preferred way too shake things up would alternating between the 2000s and other iconic music years. '84, '77, '68, hell 2016 were ones that sprang to my mind but we can vote or something to determine them. Ngl, I'm in whatever direction we go, I just feel like the Xers got their day I'm the sun so I'd ask we still get a fair number of aughts years for the millennials.

Current fanning pattern is great but an alternative system, where the swings are larger, say 1979 next and then 2011, then 1970, then 2020 and only then back to 1988, would also be very cool. I wouldn’t like random choices or having to constantly vote for which year next though.

Despite the above, it’s your baby and I will happily participate no matter what you choose to do.

Every tournament we stray further from the light (the music of 1995). If the remaining run of tournaments has an eventual end, let's be intentional about the years we choose (beyond 1988, which imo is worth doing on the merits).

Hi Kent. Thanks for the polls and thanks for taking feedback. You're doing mighty work.

I agree with all your newsletter thoughts. No wrong answer here tbh. I've ranked a good few years and mighty albums everywhere.

Being selfish, I often get overloaded by staying in one decade too long. My fault i tend to look at my research by decade and then sicken myself.

A new decade always give new pleasures, new ways of hearing albums. A refresh. I think pre 1977 music is a big leap. So I suggested a good year 1970 first. Some big hitters.

I think it would be great to listen to a recent year. 2019 looks solid and might introduce me to current touring artists.

I started university in 1987, so I'm fond of 80s polls. There seems to be a lot of classic album years there. Any year excluding Duran Duran would be great. 1980 amd 1987 look competitive. Enjoy the tunes. Thanks.

1. I love the enthusiasm from the electorate; and your ongoing leadership as the organizer and primary (if not exclusive) doer-of-the-work. Been participating quietly for a few years and I'm enjoying it even more now that I'm nominating, commenting etc. Thank you.

2. I and probably many others will continue to engage with the tournament regardless of year selected.

3. I am in favor of focusing on some/any very recent years as human-powered, algo-free music discovery is why I am on bsky. I too went through a period in my 30s when I wasnt engaging with new music and thought everything new sucked. Boy was I wrong. The past decade has been a treasure trove of great new music, particularly the past 5-6 years imho and in the genres of post-punk, synthpop, psych/garage rock. Tho hip hop today does largely suck 😭

3.5. Not a fan of profit-driven streaming svcs, and when I purchase physical or digital media my secondary motivation is to do a little to support today's working musicians hustling to keep the rent paid. No one who had a great album in 1977, for example, needs my money. I dont push my values publicly but wanted to raise this angle in this survey. Thanks for giving us the space.

4. I hear you re: middle age, recognizing the limits on our time. You are not alone in feeling this way. But there is a lot of great music to listen to and fun tournaments too be had before we reach those limits! 🤞

(The following is one comment, but the newsletter program is going to give me a headache if I don’t put it in three different blocks.)

Forget the 60s and the 20s for now. Start rotating the 00s, 80s, 70s & 10s like the divisions in the NFL, but coming back toward the centre to begin with for the 70s & 10s. It would look something like this from the current year:

01 - 88 - 77 - 13
87 - 78 - 12 - 02
79 - 11 - 03 - 86
10 - 04 - 85 - 76
05 - 84 - 75 - 14
83 - 74 - 15 - 06
73 - 16 - 07 - 82
17 - 08 - 81 - 72
09 - 80 - 71 - 18
25 - 70 - 19 - 65?

It retains something of a pattern so no time-consuming debate every year, but plenty of variety too. The last line is up for debate in ~20 years time😂

If you managed to read through all of this, or even skim through all of this, thank you. With the 2001 tournament just started, and 1988 already selected for the tournament after, that’s about a year’s head start before I need to have a definite answer for what comes next. I will have that answer long before that time arrives, but I wouldn’t mind hearing your reactions to the information provided. I’m sure you have some.

Thanks again,

Kent