Pop on a platter

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

Some of the "Spin Top Forty" artists, clockwise from top, center: Dr. Dre, Eminem, Alicia Keys, Blink-182, Missy Elliot, Nelly Furtado, Bob Dylan, Eve and OutKast. Jon Orque • The Honolulu Advertiser

Don't expect any argument here.

But rather than simply seconding that emotion, Spin magazine compiled a list for its April 2002 issue that offers some hope for those who have given the recording industry's musical taste up for dead.

The "Spin Top Forty" lists artists the magazine claims "play by their own rules and speak by their own codes," while "making some of the freshest, most challenging music of the past few years." It's a happily genre-hopping document.

A scan of the list piqued my musical curiosity enough to inspire several late evenings of online research. So I've annotated the list, adding my choice of an essential track from each artist's recent past. That's good enough to fill a three-volume CD-mix that should make your car stereo cool again.

Dig in, or disagree — but take a listen:

1. Jay-Z
Paiva pick: "Can I Get a .../Hard Knock Life/Ain't No (Medley)" from "MTV Unplugged" (2001)

2. Radiohead
Paiva pick: "Everything In Its Right Place" from "Kid-A" (2000)

Spin quote: "We're at a time when we are being presented with undeniable global changes, and we're listening to the most hokey (expletive) on the radio ... which is fine, you know, but I can't do that." — Radiohead vocalist/bandleader Thom Yorke

3. Eminem
Paiva pick: "Stan" from "The Marshall Mathers LP" (2000)

4. U2
Paiva pick: "Walk On" from "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000)

5. System of a Down
Paiva pick: "Chop Suey!" from "Toxicity" (2001)

6. OutKast
Paiva pick: "Ms. Jackson" from "Stankonia" (2000)

7. Linkin Park
Paiva pick: "Crawling" from "Hybrid Theory" (2000)

8. Moby
Paiva pick: "South Side" from "Play" (1999)

Spin quote: "(When I record) I just have sex with myself. There is an element of strife and difficulty. But other days, I'm jumping up and down because I love the music I just made." — Moby

9. Weezer
Paiva pick: "Hash Pipe" from "Weezer (Green Album)" (2001)

10. The Strokes
Paiva pick: "Someday" from "Is This It" (2001)

11. Basement Jaxx
Paiva pick: "Romeo" from "Rooty" (2001)

12. P.O.D.
Paiva pick: "Alive" from "Satellite" (2001)

13. Bjork
Paiva pick: "I've Seen It All" from "Selmasongs: Dancer In The Dark Soundtrack" (2000)

14. Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott/Timbaland
Paiva pick: "Get Ur Freak On" from "Miss E ... So Addictive" (2001)

15. Tool
Paiva pick: "Schism" from "Lateralus" (2001)

Spin quote: "Music today is so empty and horrible that it's like the end of the world is nearly here. I'm sure the letters TRL are in some way incorporated into a Nostradamus book of end-of-the-world predictions." — Tool vocalist/bandleader Maynard James Keegan

16. Alicia Keys
Paiva pick: "Fallin' " from "Songs in A Minor" (2001)

17. Sum-41
Paiva pick: "Fat Lip" from "All Killer No Filler" (2001)

18. Dr. Dre
Paiva pick: "Still D.R.E." from "2001" (1999)

Spin quote: "I still believe that if you cannot rock your neighborhood, you can't rock the world." — Dr. Dre

19. Creed
Paiva pick: Essential Creed? That's, like, an oxymoron, right?

20. Nelly Furtado
Paiva pick: "Turn Off the Light" from "Whoa, Nelly!" (2000)

21. Dave Matthews Band
Paiva pick: "Bartender" from "The Lillywhite Sessions" (2001)

22. No Doubt
Paiva pick: "Hey Baby" from "Rock Steady" (2001)

23. Staind
Paiva pick: "It's Been Awhile" from "Break the Cycle" (2001)

24. DMX
Paiva pick: "No Sunshine" from "Exit Wounds Soundtrack" (2001)

25. Bob Dylan
Paiva pick: "Things Have Changed" from "Wonder Boys" soundtrack (2000)

26. Coldplay
Paiva pick: "Yellow" from "Parachutes" (2000)

27. Gorillaz
Paiva pick: "Clint Eastwood" from "Gorillaz" (2001)

28. Incubus
Paiva pick: "Drive" from "Make Yourself" (1999)

29. Fugazi
Paiva pick: "Argument" from "The Argument" (2001)

30. Eve
Paiva pick: "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" from "Scorpion" (2001)

31. Queens of the Stone Age
Paiva pick: "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" from "Rated R" (2000)

Spin quote: "There's an anti-scene right now, and we happen to be the heaviest band in that scene. If you like rock, but you hate Creed and rap-metal, you need somewhere to go." — Queens of the Stone Age vocalist/bandleader Josh Homme

32. Richie Hawtin
Paiva pick: Any track from "DE9: Closer to the Edit" (2001)

33. Slipknot
Paiva pick: "Gently" from "Iowa" (2001)

34. Blink-182
Paiva pick: "All the Small Things" from "Enema of the State" (1999)

Spin quote: "(Our music) is about relationships with family and girls and friends and life and divorce, being young and going to a party and trashing your friend's house. I don't think it's gotten more mature; I think we've just gotten better as songwriters." — Blink-182 vocalist/bassist Mark Hoppus

35. The White Stripes
Paiva pick: "Fell In Love With A Girl" from "White Blood Cells" (2002)

36. Sigur Rós
Paiva pick: "Svefn G Englar" from "Agaetis Byrjun" (2001)

37. The Avalanches
Paiva pick: "Since I Left You" from "Since I Left You" (2001)

38. DJ Shadow
Paiva pick: "What Does Your Soul Look Like, Parts 1-4" from "Preemptive Strike" (1998)

39. Definitive Jux
Paiva pick: "Stepfather Factory" by El-P from "Definitive Jux Presents II" (2002)

40. Dashboard Confessional
Paiva pick: "The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most" from "The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most" (2001)