Just wanna chime in with some Ob love.
I meant to write the following in the "Pitchfork Influence" thread, but time got away from me. It won't seem germane to the topic at first, but I promise to tie it all together:

I grew up musically reading CMJ and have been a devoted reader and later freelancer for almost 10 years beginning in late '95. And while I was drawn in by the expansiveness of the coverage - remember it pre-2001? I swear it had EVERYTHING in there - I kept coming back because of the friendly welcome-to-the-club feel and the in-jokes that you got more and more over time. To a teen in a city with almost no way to hear new music, it was a Rosetta Stone and no other magazine I found had that combo of expertise and invitingness.

As the mag slid into the funk it's in now - no disrespect to Whiney, Steve or anyone else; the maladies all stem from the biz side - I was bothered by losing that. Magnet has no personality; AP became screamo monthly and Pitchfork makes it seem like they're doing us all a favor just by existing and providing an arrogant, steepified resource for us drooling, ignorant, unwashed masses.

But then I discovered what would become The Ob, and all was right again. What I love about here/us is the combo of cumulative knowledge and quirk with a decided lack of pretense and bullshit. Plus, there are few places out there who can combine the shenanigans of the ATL Posse, the maternal/Oracle quality of Tania, the neighborhood vibe of the Windy City Bunch, Dana's cool cousin-ness, 'spoon's... as the French would say "I don't know what"... the list goes on.

So yeah. Y'all are top drawer and I'd pitch off a bridge if The Ob went away. Which means Haq needs maad props for gving us a roof to palaver under.
Big ups.

Whoa! I feel so...uhm...Matrix-ish now. Quick! Look behind my head -- do I have an outlet?!

bahahahahaha.

Sometimes I don't know how these folks here keep up with all this stuff. People who know me make me feel like enough of a dork already with what I know. Then I come on here and I'm like holy shit, who is that band? But then again, I've noticed on more than one occasion that I've known about a certain artist before a lot of folks here. I'm not keeping score though. I just like the conversation and the fact that no one is talking about Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, etc. - unless there is a joke involved. Plus, trolls are infrequent here compared to most boards.

I could quote most of the posts in this thread...but I won't...I'll just say that you guys are the shit and long live the obner

yeah--I love how you can throw up a random topic or question about some sub-sub-sub-genre and there's someone who will reply back with a tome.

This is what I'm talking about. I feel like the biggest charlatan at times (and/or dork), but when I come here, I feel at home, even though I know most of you would kick my ass royally at a music trivia game.

And there are no exceptions in my opinion.

Very well said.

Sure there are other sites but some think reviewing music can be done one of three ways:

1. I like it
2. I hate it
3. I like the old stuff more.

Yeah, thanks for breaking it down and explaining how they sound.

At least here people can write out complete paragraphs, rationalize, and explain things thoughtfully. We are not the biggest site of the web but our collective minds just might be the best and well rounded.

Thanks for another great year CMJ/Obner and hope we have many more.

Now when is Listmania 2005?

Now that's just evil.