Hey guys- I wrote a blog piece on 50 essential albums from 2018 and would love some notes

DownIsTheNewUp

DownIsTheNewUp

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 15, 2019
Messages
1,519
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I know it's 2019, but I thought this would be a good place to share a retrospective blog piece I wrote on 50 essential albums from 2018. I'm hoping to gather some notes from those who are willing.

It's a long read, but I'm not as worried about that as making sure every moment is well written and entertaining. I have a buddy who is going to deal with the whole visual side (album art, ext), and I'll probably find a way to split it up into 5 "parts".

I'm looking for thoughts on which sections are working vs. aren't, sentences that could be trimmed, ext.

Hopefully you enjoy it. It was inspired by the type of stuff Grantland used to publish. There are also a drinking game and a Spotify playlist built in.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vWPFisHiSo1FMzz69bTrmM455NzX5mNeaCGHqzQufls/edit?usp=sharing
 
Last edited:
Hey my solicited advice, as a sometimes writer- if you are going to do a writeup as large in scale as 50 albums, maybe alter the title wording a little. When I see "My 50 Favorite Albums" , the 50 signifies I'm in for somewhat of a time investment and the "MY" becomes important. Like, if this is "Robert Christgau's 50 Favorite Albums of 2018" or "Quentin Tarantino Picks His Best Finds Of The Year" , I'm just instantly committed. But if I don't know the author and that is a selling point of the title, then best case is I'm likely browsing through to see if it matched what I thought, as opposed to my notion to go into it wanting to learn about something new.

I think there are alternate ways of phrasing your title that conveys more authority that could grab a reader: "The 50 Essential Albums of 2018", "Music Isn't Dead- 50 Albums You May Have Missed in 2018", "A Music Junkie's Top 50". I digress, I'm a little stoned. I think you get where I'm going. I wish you all the best, write for yourself, have fun with it.
 
TheThinWhiteDuke said:
Hey my solicited advice, as a sometimes writer- if you are going to do a writeup as large in scale as 50 albums, maybe alter the title wording a little. When I see "My 50 Favorite Albums" , the 50 signifies I'm in for somewhat of a time investment and the "MY" becomes important. Like, if this is "Robert Christgau's 50 Favorite Albums of 2018" or "Quentin Tarantino Picks His Best Finds Of The Year" , I'm just instantly committed. But if I don't know the author and that is a selling point of the title, then best case is I'm likely browsing through to see if it matched what I thought, as opposed to my notion to go into it wanting to learn about something new.

I think there are alternate ways of phrasing your title that conveys more authority that could grab a reader: "The 50 Essential Albums of 2018", "Music Isn't Dead- 50 Albums You May Have Missed in 2018", "A Music Junkie's Top 50". I digress, I'm a little stoned. I think you get where I'm going. I wish you all the best, write for yourself, have fun with it.
Click to expand...

Good advice and done. For the record, the actual title is "The World's a Mess and Music is Still Magical".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top