Today is the 10th anniversary of this site, which is just crazy to think about. I started Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good on August 21, 2005 in a harebrained attempt to merge my love for the cult comedy Zoolander and my budding interest in indie music.
Since then, site has hosted almost 2,000 posts and evolved tremendously (above you can see the hilariously bad initial design) but it has always provided me with an outlet to connect with fellow indie lovers and share some of my favorite new music, and for that I’m forever grateful.
To commemorate turning 10, here’s my 10 favorite posts or series of posts (in roughly chronological order) from this site’s momentous history as well as some words about why I think they’re special.
From Buddy to Sufjan Covers Project
For my 100th post, I did the “Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good Covers Project” which was a chain of cover songs linking Buddy Holly to Sufjan Stevens. It was my first post to catch on in the blogosphere (have we still not thought of a better word for this?) and it’s still one of my favorites.
Interview with Murray from Flight of the Conchords
I haven’t done very many interviews on my blog, I figured out pretty early on they weren’t my strong suit, but I’m still pretty amazed that after just a few months of blogging, I got to interview Rhys Darby in character as Murray (the band manager) from Flight of the Conchords.
iPhones have good music taste
It kinda became a tradition that every time a new iPod ad or Steve Jobs keynote would come out, I would write a post about the music featured. This post about the iPhone announcement is especially notable because it led to me doing in an interview for a New York Times article about Apple fandom.
Who’s Worse series
This started out as a game I would play with my college roommates where we’d take two awful bands and debate which one was worse. It turned into a short-lived but very contentious blog feature. Seriously, I STILL get hate mail from Staind and Good Charlotte fans for making fun of their precious (terrible) bands.
Falling Slowly: 19 Love Songs (Wedding Mix)
Usually when a big life event happened for me, like graduating college, getting married, having a baby, I would make a mixtape to commemorate it. The mix that I made for my Wedding became perhaps my most viewed post ever due to its prominence in Google searches for wedding mixes.
Best Albums of the Decade / Songs of the Decade
Making lists has always been one of my favorite things about blogging and I’ve spent countless hours throughout the years putting together end-of-year lists and writing blurbs about each pick. The best albums and songs of the 2000s lists are two of my better list offerings, and pretty close to what I’d pick today.
“Hipster Music”
Starting in 2009 and continuing through 2012, I had a few other writers that contributed to the site who did some great work. Matty G wrote this amazing piece that’s part essay / part conversation / part mixtape about a trip he took with a musically illterate co-worker to see the Flaming Lips and his attempts to get him to listen to modern music along the way. I think it’s easily the most interesting thing ever posted on this blog.
10 Covers of LCD Soundsystem “All My Friends”
“All My Friends” by LCD Soundsystem may be my favorite song that’s been released since I started blogging and I posted this playlist of 10 covers of the track after their concert film was released. It quickly became my most “viral” post (nearly 3,000 Facebook likes) after it was shared on James Murphy’s official Facebook page, which was pretty thrilling for me.
Boom! Boom boom, cha! (Be My Baby Drum Beat) Mix
I’ve made a bunch of mixtapes throughout the years based on a bunch of random / silly themes from songs with bagpipes, F bombs, whistling, children’s choirs, acronyms, untitled songs, hidden tracks, so on and so forth. Probably my favorite though is mixtape series of songs using the “Be My Baby” drum beat, which I began in 2010 and recently compiled into a megamix.
Seasonal Mixes
What began in 2010 with Summer (Or What It Sounds Like) by one of the blog contributors Cheryse, the quarterly Seasons mixes have easily become this blog’s most endearing and beloved feature. To be honest, all the love I’ve received for them is a big chunk of what kept me going well after most music blogs closed their doors. I’m not sure how long I’ll be blogging regularly (though I don’t have plans to stop anytime soon), but I’m sure I’ll still be making (and sharing) a mix every spring, summer, autumn and winter for a long time.
I’d like to give a HUGE thank you to anyone who’s read / commented on / shared / followed this blog in the last 10 years. You are all really, really ridiculously good looking!