The title comes from Wilco’s summery ode to (as another song on a Sparks album from that year puts it) Ugly Guys with Beautiful Girls; it’s a reaction to (and nearly an inverse of) last year’s title, and the turnaround speaks volumes of how much had changed for me in that relatively brief time span. I spent the first half of 2002 in a deteriorating relationship which finally, spectacularly collapsed at the end of June; I spent the year’s remainder shellshocked and distressed, but also defiantly impulsive (and, more often than not, carelessly stupid.) I can’t definitively say which half was better or worse but together they permanently color most of my 2002 memories, right down to the art I consumed.

Music was an escape and a healer. I found solace in Sleater-Kinney’s defiant call-to-arms, the Mekons’ razor-sharp reaction to post-9/11 religious fundamentalism (on both sides), Saint Etienne’s revivifying plea to “get the feeling again”, Alison Moyet’s elegant, impassioned inquiry in seeking impossible closure and PJ Harvey lending kickass verve to a great, lost Gordon Gano song that could’ve easily held its own on Violent Femmes. However, I also took comfort in the melancholier hues of Jon Brion’s should’ve-been-nominated-for-an-Oscar Punch Drunk Love theme, the near ethereal wash of Badly Drawn Boy’s About A Boy soundtrack (it should’ve been nominated too), Pet Shop Boys proving that yes, they too can turn out a convincing Dionne Warwick pastiche and the reassurance of tracks by Doves and Emm Gryner, pushing me forward, encouraging me that not all hope was lost.

I began blogging in late 2002, so it was the first instance where I made public my favorite albums of the year. Most of the titles I picked then are represented below (apart from a few: I haven’t listened to Norah Jones or that Ani DiFranco live LP in some time), along with the usual assortment of key tracks (Marianne Faithfull an ideal conduit for Jarvis Cocker’s lyrics; Tegan and Sara making a case for punchy folk rock that doesn’t entirely sound like anything else) and a handful of songs I wouldn’t hear until later (no one knows the late Luna song or Imperial Teen’s banger but everyone should.) Also, for possibly the first time, I do not see one single track here (apart from Kylie’s improbable American comeback) that I would’ve heard on commercial radio at the time—a harbinger of increasingly idiosyncratic, indie-centric listening habits to come.

2002: I Miss The Innocence I’ve Known

1. Gordon Gano and PJ Harvey “Hitting the Ground”
2. Frou Frou, “Breathe In”
3. Kylie Minogue, “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”
4. Badly Drawn Boy, “Silent Sigh”
5. Spoon, “The Way We Get By”
6. Stew, “Reeling”
7. Carla Bruni, “Quelqu’un m’a dit”
8. Tori Amos, “Crazy”
9. DJ Shadow, “Six Days”
10. Mekons, “Only You And Your Ghost Will Know”
11. Marianne Faithfull, “Sliding Through Life On Charm”
12. Jon Brion, “Here We Go”
13. Wilco, “Heavy Metal Drummer”
14. Luna, “Lovedust”
15. Neko Case, “Deep Red Bells”
16. Sparks, “Suburban Homeboy”
17. Imperial Teen, “Ivanka”
18. Tegan and Sara, “Living Room”
19. Aimee Mann, “Lost In Space”
20. Beck, “Paper Tiger”
21. Alison Moyet, “Do You Ever Wonder”
22. Emm Gryner, “Symphonic”
23. Pet Shop Boys, “You Choose”
24. Future Bible Heroes, “Losing Your Affection”
25. Ivy, “Say Goodbye”
26. Morcheeba and Kurt Wagner, “What New York Couples Fight About”
27. Beth Orton, “Concrete Sky”
28. Doves, “There Goes The Fear”
29. Saint Etienne, “Action”
30. Sleater-Kinney, “Step Aside”