List of the week: My 25 favorite albums, as selected by iTunes

When I'm stuck in writer's block -- as I happen to be at this very moment -- I often find it helpful to indulge in boring organizational tasks involving my music or movies. You know -- creating databases, spreadsheets, favorites lists, that kinda thing. Gives my brain something to do while the subconscious writing part works out its problems.

In this case, I chose music, and made a big spreadsheet for the albums I have ripped into iTunes. You can rate every song between one and five stars; iTunes automatically assigns each album a rating based on the average of those scores. I decided to find out which albums had the highest average score, and were thus -- according to the ratings I've given the songs -- my favorite albums. (And yes, this actually does help me write Revolver. I swear.)

So, here are the twenty-five albums with the highest average score. (The top six received perfect scores, since I'd given the full five starts to each song.)

1. Metallica, Metallica (5.00)
2. Radiohead, OK Computer (5.00)
3. Dave Matthews Band, Before These Crowded Streets (5.00)
4. Counting Crows, August and Everything After (5.00)
5. Radiohead, Kid A (5.00)
6. Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel 4 (Security) (5.00)
7. The Tragically Hip, Road Apples (4.92)
8. The Decemberists, Picaresque (4.91)
9. Arcade Fire, Neon Bible (4.91)
10. Harvey Danger, Little by Little... (4.90)
11. Weezer, Pinkerton (4.89)
12. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks (4.88)
13. The Who, Who's Next (4.88)
14. The Beatles, Revolver (4.85)
15. Nirvana, Nevermind (4.83)
16. Regina Spektor, Songs (4.83)
17. The Verve Pipe, The Verve Pipe (4.83)
18. Our Lady Peace, Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch (4.82)
19. R.E.M., Automatic for the People (4.82)
20. Soundgarden, Superunknown (4.80)
21. The Decemberists, The Crane Wife (4.80)
22. Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here (4.80)
23. Weezer, Weezer (Blue) (4.80)
24. Peter Gabriel, Up (4.78)
25. Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon (4.78)

That's...actually not too far off. Hmm. Perhaps iTunes knows what it's doing.

But it's missing The Wall, The Marshall Mathers LP, The Blueprint, and American Idiot. So, clearly, it doesn't. And I didn't realize I was that big a Weezer fan.

But hey -- I just realized the answer to my problem. Writer's block solved!

...For now.

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Now playing: Peter Gabriel - Solsbury Hill
via FoxyTunes