The Home and the World:Detroit is a place where resilience and resignation walk side by side in shaping the city's vibe and personality. It's the most American of cities, where the factory assembly line churned out both the metaphor (the automobile) and the reality (blue-collar jobs that offered upward mobility) of this country's most elusive product: freedom. The riots of the late '60s left Detroit with scars that stretch for blocks on end. The residual violence and despair still soak psyches, inflicting traumas America pretends take place only in spots like Beirut or Afghanistan. After the riots, white folk fled Detroit in droves and didn't look back. Eminem is one of their own that they left behind, one whose white skin wrote a check that couldn't be cashed.
Who Am I This Time?: Marshall Mathers performs as Eminem performs as Slim Shady; autobiography is a blueprint covered in Wite-Out and Magic Marker scrawlings -- not even the artist can be trusted to decipher his own shit. While homophobia and misogyny are played for laughs, the music's a blistering soundtrack for reactionaries and bigots, even as "sophisticates" chuckle at his (yawn) anti-P.C. bravery. Mouthpieces from right-wing queer Andrew Sullivan to the relatively progressive Frank Rich at The New York Times have strapped on kneepads and knelt before him. The Village Voice recently trumpeted the headline that 8 Mile was proof that class trumps race -- a lie that Eminem himself has called out many times, readily acknowledging that, were he black, he'd likely sell far less and definitely have far less industry and media support.
Gold Diggers of 2002:But Em has grabbed his white opportunities, and 8 Mile exists to guarantee them. Aside from a dizzyingly accurate capture of Detroit as a bleak backdrop, and a few scorching freestyle battle scenes that rank as some of this year's best film moments, the movie is boring as fuck, a recycling of every underdog flick ever made. Hanson and screenwriter Scott Silver refine the Eminem persona for future consumption, and every charge detractors have leveled against him is countered point by point. Homophobic? Have him defend a gay co-worker against a bigoted colleague. Misogynistic? Have his onscreen girlfriends lie or cheat on him while he doesn't so much as raise his voice, let alone his fists (at least not to them). He's the doe-eyed big brother who cradles his little sister when violence breaks out in the home; he's the only one who really sees the emotional pain of the dimwit in the posse. It's all impressively thorough.
Things To Come:Now held firmly in the loving maw of the machine, Eminem has arrived. Film and rock critics drool over him; disgruntled businessmen yell "bitch" and "faggot" in unison with him while teenage boys drench their scalps in peroxide to emulate him. Eminem is a compelling artist not because of his art or multimedia conquests, but because no other Top 10 artist is as complicated, contradictory and foreboding a sign of the times.
—Ernest Hardy
FALLING JAMES' FAVORITE REVELATIONS OF 2002
OutKast, Big Boi & Dre Present . . .(Arista). Big Boi, on the rueful, jubilant bounce "The Whole World": "We in this to replenish the musical wish list."
The return of Love with Arthur Lee. The judicial system coughs up a bitter-free nightingale, poignantly singing those soap-bubble-delicate ballads. "Served my time, served it well. Made my soul a sale."
Listing Ship, Dance Class Revolution (True Classical). Judicious guitar splangs and tufts of clouds glowing with Heather Lockie's serene lighthouse vocals.
Neko Case, Blacklisted (Bloodshot). The mournful soul-tolling of "Deep Red Bells" hypnotizes, like staring at the wall until it turns to glass from tears.
The Ramainz, Live in N.Y.C. (Sanctuary). Remains of the Ramones. Dee Dee's last stand. Scabrously soulful. R.I.P. it up.
Punk's Not Dead Dept.: The Rezillos instigated giddy delirium at the Garage, while the Orphans left a wake of Germs-like wreckage all over town. The Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks, the letter bands (X, GBH, TSOL), the Damned and especially the Adolescents delivered their old tunes at the Inland Invasion prison camp with a powerful immediacy that went beyond nostalgia. Yet the angriest and most topical punk rock moments of the year came from Public Enemy, at House of Blues and on the bitter anti-Bush broadsides on Revolverlution (Slam Jamz/Koch).
More thrills: Manu Chao's live album, Radio Bemba Sound System (Virgin). The Cynics, Living Well Is the Best Revenge (Get Hip). Wire, Read & Burn (Pink Flag), and at El Rey. The Mission of Burma reunion, also at El Rey. RF7, All You Can Eat, Volume II (Grand Theft Audio). Biblical Proof of UFOs, s/t (SuperFi). Radio Vago, Black and White Photo Enterprise (Buddyhead). The Dictators, D.F.F.D. (D.F.F.D.). The Hangmen, We've Got Blood on the Toes of Our Boots (Acetate). Mekons, OOOH! (Quarterstick).
JOHN PAYNE'S 100 MUSICAL BIASES 2002
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., In C (Squealer)
John Luther Adams, The Light That Fills the World (Cold Blue Music)
Add N to (X), Loud Like Nature (Mute)
Alizadeh/Kalhor/Shajarian, Without You (World Village/Harmonia Mundi)
Autechre, Gantz Graf (Warp DVD/CD)
Devendra Banhart, Oh Me Oh My (Young God)
Beck, Sea Change (Geffen)
Black Sabbath, Past Lives (Sanctuary)
The Blood Group, Volunteers (Le Grand Magistery)
Pierre Boulez, Welsh National Opera, Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande (Deutsche Grammophon DVD)
Dan Ar Braz, Made in Breizh (Tinder)
Brazzaville, Rouge on Pockmarked Cheeks (South China Sea)
Brokeback, Looks at the Bird (Thrill Jockey)
Guillermo E. Brown, Soul at the Hands of the Machine (Thirsty Ear)
Franklin Bruno, A Cat May Look at a Queen(Absolutely Kosher)
Precious Bryant, Fool Me Good (Terminus)
Linda Burman-Hall, Lou Harrison: Complete Harpsichord Works (New Albion)
Cafe Tacuba, Vale Callampa (MCA)
Johnny Cash, The Man Comes Around (American)
The Nels Cline Singers, Instrumentals (Cryptogramophone)
Gabor Csupo, Kalmopyrin (Tone Casualties)
Chris Cutler & Thomas Dimuzio, Dust (RéR)
Daedelus, Invention (Plug Research)
Miles Davis, The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (Sony)
DJ Food & DK, Now, Listen! (Ninja Tune)
DJ Me DJ You, Can You See the Music (Eenie Meenie)
DJ Shadow, The Private Press (MCA)
Doves, The Last Broadcast (Capitol)
Brian Ferry, Frantic (Virgin)
Simon Fisher Turner, Swift (Mute CD/DVD)
Vincent Gallo, Recordings of Music for Film (Warp)
Philip Glass, Naqoyqatsi: Life as War soundtrack (Sony)
Rosco Gordon, I'm Gonna Shake It! (Varèse Sarabande)
Gorillaz, Phase One: Celebrity Take Down (EMI CD/DVD)
Glenn Gould, A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations 1955 & 1981(Sony)
Neil Michael Hagerty, Plays That Good Old Rock and Roll (Drag City)
Harmonica Frank Floyd, The Missing Link (Memphis International)
George Harrison, Brainwashed (Capitol)
Hawkwind, Space Ritual Sundown V.2 (Demi Monde)
Interstellar Chemistry, Bill Horist & K.K. Null (Beta-lactam)
Djansug Kakhidze & Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Terteryan: Symphony No. 3 & No. 5 (Beaux)
Edward Ka-Spel, O'er a Shalabast'r Tyde Strolt Ay (Beta-lactam)
King Tubby, The Originator (2B1)
Leo Kottke, Standing in My Shoes (Private Music)
Languis, Untied (Simballrec)
L.A. Phil's performance of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Foreign Bodies at the Music Center
Larsen, Rever (Young God)
The Legendary Pink Dots, All the King's Horses (Soleilmoon)
Jaki Liebezeit and Burnt Friedman, Secret Rhythms (EFA)
Rob Mazurek, Silver Spines (Delmark)
Mecca Normal, The Family Swan (Kill Rock Stars)
Brad Mehldau, Largo (Warner Bros.)
Mimi & Boyd, Angular Island (Phthalo)
Sainkho Namtchylak, Stepmother City (Ponderosa)
Non, Children of the Black Sun (Mute CD/DVD)
Augustus Pablo, East of the River Nile (Shanachie)
Arvo Pärt, Orient Occident (ECM)
Sarah Peebles, Insect Groove (Cycling '74)
Phantomsmasher, Phantomsmasher (Ipecac)
Planet X, MoonBabies (InsideOutMusic/SPV)
Elvis Presley, Roots Revolution: The Louisiana Hayride Recordings(Tomato)
Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
Rapoon + Black Faction, New Cult of the Sun Moon (Soleilmoon)
The Residents, Demons Dance Alone (East Side Digital)
Gyan Riley, Food for the Bearded (New Albion)
Adam Rudolph & Hamid Drake, Hu Vibrational Boonghee Music 1(MetaRecords)
Ruins, Tzomborgha(Ipecac)
Ryuichi Sakamoto, Derrida (Warner Music Japan)
The Sea and Cake, One Bedroom (Thrill Jockey)
The Silverman, Requiem Settings (Soleilmoon)
Simian, We Are Your Friends(Astralwerks)
Sonic Youth, Murray Street (Geffen)
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Behind the Music (Republic)
Steroid Maximus, Ectopia (Ipecac), and at the Knitting Factory
Sun Ra and His Arkestra, Music From Tomorrow's World (Atavistic)
Super Furry Animals, Rings Around the World (Epic)
John Surman, Jack DeJohnette, Live in Tampere and Berlin (ECM)
Sutekh, Fell (Orthlorng Musork)
Nobukazu Takemura & Katsura Moshino, Sign (Thrill Jockey CD-ROM)
Tanz! With Dave Tarras and the Musiker Brothers (Epic)
Tarwater, Dwellers on the Threshold (Mute)
Asthmus Teichens & Vidna Obmana, The Shifts Recyclings(Soleilmoon)
Richard Teitelbaum, Blends (New Albion)
Steve Tibbetts, A Man About a Dog (ECM)
Amon Tobin, Out From Out Where (Ninja Tune)
Jannick Top/Utopic Sporadic Orchestra, Nancy 75 (Utopic)
Town and Country, C'mon (Thrill Jockey)
Tristeza, Mixed Signals (Rocket Racer)
Twilight Circus Dub Sound System, Dub Plates Vol. 3 (Mrecords)
Niels Van Hoorn, Colours (Soleilmoon)
David S. Ware Quartet, Freedom Suite (Aum Fidelity)
Various Artists, La Musica Della Mafia(PIAS)
Various Artists, None but the Righteous: The Masters of Sacred Steel (Ropeadope/Atlantic)
Various Artists, Pachuco Boogie (Arhoolie)
Various Artists, The Secret History of Rock & Roll vols. 1-4 (Bluebird)
Various Artists, Total Lee: The Songs of Lee Hazlewood (Astralwerks)
Wire, Read & Burn (Pink Flag)
Otomo Yoshihide, Merzbow, Ryoji Ikeda, others, Xenakis: Persepolis Remixes Edition 1 (Asphodel)
Zemoe, El Gallo Bueno(Aagoo)
John Zorn, iAO (Tzadik)
