The purpose of the website is to provide album reviews and critical opinion spanning the history of popular music.  I’ll do this primarily through lists (best albums of the year, of the decade, and more). Each list will include my own commentary, plus an accompanying Spotify playlist .

Along the way, I’ll offer the occasional musing on the nature of listening to and loving music.  Some of the commentary will take a somewhat personal approach, providing a sort of autobiography of the evolution of my musical tastes.  (It’s useful, I think, to know someone’s vantage point and how it contributes to their aesthetics.)

One thing you will not find on this site is current news.  I’m not interested in all that hype- and trend-chasing.  This website will look back retrospectively at popular music in the attempt at forming a comprehensive understanding of the various popular musical forms that have led us to the current moment.

This is not to say that the opinions here are conservative and old-fashioned.  I’m looking as much or more for the weird and obscure moments in the past as I am at the established classics.  This will not necessarily be a bastion of recycled opinions.

I’m starting off with the ‘60s, and when I done with them, I’ll tackle another decade, not necessarily in order.  Eventually (it might take me a few years), I’ll work up close to the current moment.  By the time I get there, the website will offer a comprehensive look at the wide range of music throughout the history of popular music as we know it.  I’ll continue to update “completed” decades as I discover new music.

But even when I catch up to the current decade, this website will never be more current than a year behind.  I have my eyes on the past.  Hindsight sees better.

This website, then, is not for those desperate to keep up with the hottest new acts and styles.  You can’t renew your hipster license here.

It’s for listeners who want a thorough understanding of the development and progression of blues, country, rock, pop, R&B, electronic music, punk, rap, and other forms of musical expression across the decades.  It can function as a reference point for like-minded music lovers. Those who enter and explore the site fully will come away from it knowing much more than when they arrived.

I hope you like reading and listening here as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it all together.

Chris Cooke

Click here for more information about the origins of this site.