Takes on 200

In January 2009, China Times Publishing released the book Taiwan Popular Music: 200 Best Albums (台灣流行音樂 200最佳專輯), a ranking by the Association of Music Workers in Taiwan of the top 100 albums from 1975-1992, and the top 100 albums from 1993-2005.  I am attempting to listen to them all.

I am no expert on Taiwanese pop music.  This blog is not intended to provide industry context or definitively analyze musical traditions.  These are just random musings from an American who was force-fed 1970s and 80s pop from his Taiwanese parents, and lived to tell about it.  Some of these albums I recall from my childhood, but never knew the titles or artists.  Some I’m discovering for the first time.  Most are actually quite good.

I’ll be posting notes on albums as I listen to them.  I’m not attempting to write about the albums in ranking order since I can only write on albums as I get access to them.  Speaking of which, if you’d like to donate these albums on CDs, casettes, LPs, or any other format, I would be a very grateful poor grad student.

This blog will not bother arguing the pros and cons of the authors’ rankings, since they’re all a little arbitrary anyway.  (My thoughts on canonization can be found in the links section of this blog, or here.)  Listening to these albums has been illuminating for me, not in the dubious ABC-discovers-his-”roots” way, but in that they’ve sonically re-colored my picture of Taiwanese culture, shining light on a society’s many desires and anxieties, be they cultural, sensual, or even political.  Above all, the music’s been fantastic.  I’ll provide links to the music if I can find them, so you should all listen along!

Note: I am not connected in any way to the book Taiwan Popular Music: 200 Best Albums, except that I own a copy.  I’m doing this blog primarily in the name of fandom and criticism, and only partly in the name of publicity.  I hope I’m not infringing on copyright, and if so, let me know.