The [your name here] Awards!

1978

Best Film
Days of Heaven
Deer Hunter, The
Halloween
Autumn Sonata
Dawn of the Dead

Winner:

Worst Film
Jaws 2
Grease

"Winner":

Best TV Show
The Jeffersons (Season 4)
The Bob Newhart Show (Season 6)
All in the Family (Season 8)
MASH (Season 6)
The Incredible Hulk (Season 2)

Winner:

Best Video Game
Dodge 'Em (Atari)


Dodge 'Em was ostensibly a driving game, but it probably has more in common with Pac Man in that you're going around a maze collecting dots while trying to avoid an adversary.  The catch is that you're not allowed to turn around a go backwards and the enemy is really really hard to avoid.  It's an intense little game for the time.

Simon (Electronic)


Alright, so calling this a video game is quite the stretch but we are getting closer and closer to the genesis of video gaming and I'm going to have to either drop the category or branch out into board games.  Anyway, Simon is that game where different colored buttons light up and you need to press them in a certain order and you need to memorize that order.  Because it goes one step at a time you have an advantage in keeping track of it all but eventually you hit a point where that breaks.  It's fun.

Space Invaders (Arcade)


The original space shooter and in many ways the game that set off the golden age of the arcade, this game is clearly a landmark.  It doesn't have quite the staying power of a Pac Man or a Donkey Kong, so you're less likely to see it in an actual arcade setting today but it remains an incredibly famous and influential game.

Winner:


Best Hit Song
"Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty

It's said that this song caused what's been called the "Baker Street Effect" where there was a sudden resurgence of interest in saxophone in pop music.  Don't believe that hype.  Bowie's "Young Americans" and Springsteen's "Born To Run" predate this by about three years and probably did as much to spark the "sax solo in rock songs" thing, but there is a reason why this song is so heavily associated with the phenomenon: that's pretty much the perfect sax riff, the kind of thing that you think must have existed pretty much since that instrument's invention.  There is more to the song though, there's a pretty solid guitar solo towards the end and the lyrics are certainly atmospheric.

"Disco Inferno" by The Trammps


Out of all the songs that are most closely associated with disco this might be my favorite, it's certainly the best song on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.  The Trammps were not a terribly successful band but they did employ drummer Earl Young, who has been cited as the inventor of the "four on the floor" beat that more or less defined the disco sound.  It's really the horn section that makes this song though, that and the vocals (both lead and backing) which combine to make a really epic hook.

"Miss You" by The Rolling Stones


The last truly great album from The Rolling Stones is almost certainly the "Some Girls" album, on which they absorbed a lot of the sounds and vibes of late 70s Taxi Driver era New York.  The best song on that album is almost certainly its closer "Shattered" but the big breakout song was "Miss You," which managed to take on the sound of disco without feeling like a sellout and still decidedly feeling like a Stones song.  That humming in the chorus makes it feel more heavily produced than it is and Jaggers cocaine-fueled paranoid lyrics give it a decided edge.

"Peg" by Steely Dan

I love me some Steely Dan.  Don't for the life of me understand why this band is so divisive, their music is so perfectly arranged and their lyrics are so cleverly thought out.  "Deacon Blues" was also eligible this year and is probably the better song, but this category is ultimately about pop efforts and "Peg" is easily their most accessibly catchy hit.  The uptempo tune sounds joyous and pleasant, but this being Steely Dan that is completely subverted by the fact that it's about a skeezy producer encouraging a woman to be in porno.  Sly stuff.

"We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" by Queen


These songs were released as a double A Side, which means they're considered a single song by Billboard and were more often than not played back to back.  Let's start with We Will Rock You, the Brian May penned anthem that has been played at every single sporting event ever since the damn thing was released.  It's become a bit of a cliche because of that but if you sit back and listen to it it's actually a pretty remarkably experimental little song.  It's only about two minutes long, it uses stomps and claps as percussion, its lyrics are a series of chants by a surprisingly badass sounding Fredy Mercury, and the song ends on a guitar solo.  Then there's "We Are the Champions," which was penned by Mercury and is slightly more traditional, but remains pretty odd among pop hits.  The vocal harmonies and Mercury's sincere singing definitely carry this one, but the instruments are in top form as well.  That this all comes off like a well-earned victory rather than a bragging session is impressive.

Winner:

This does not strike me as a man likely to be engaging in street fights

1977

Best Film
Annie Hall
Star Wars
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Eraserhead
Slap Shot

Winner:

Worst Film
High Anxiety
Exorcist II: The Heretic

"Winner":

Best TV Show
Mary Tyler Moore (Season 7)
Happy Days (Season 4)
All in the Family (Season 7)
The Jeffersons (Season 3)
MASH (Season 5)

Winner:

Best Game
Combat (Atari)


Combat was included as a pack-in with the Atari 2600 for years and is consequently one of the most heavily manufactured games in video game history.  You can probably guess how it's played by looking at the screenshot.  Not the most sophisticated game, but its simplicity made it a classic of sorts.


Best Hit Song
"Best of My Love" by The Emotions

The Emotions were kind of a sister group to Earth, Wind, and Fire and have been said to sort of live in that group's shadow.  They're probably best known for this song (which was written and produced by EW&F's Maurice White) and for providing vocals on EW&F's 1979 song "Boogie Wonderland."  However, their vocal talent on this brilliant disco single should not be discounted.  They have this great gospel-influenced harmonizing going on and just generally show a whole lot of exuberance that goes great with that guitar groove that runs through the song.

"Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band

It's a little weird to think that Manfred Mann, the dude responsible for the song "Doo Wah Ditty" was able to transform himself into the leader of this very 70s band and its workmanlike single "Blinded By the Light."  The song is of course actually a cover of a song from Bruce Springsteen's first album but I think the cover is pretty clearly an improvement on Springsteen's more modest and songwriterly version.  Manfred Mann's version is a lot more theatrical, almost like something off of Meat Loaf's Bat Outta Hell, and includes some very impressive guitar work by Dave Flett.

"Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac


Fleetwood Mac is kind of an odd band in that their sound had a pretty wide range and their songs didn't all fit neatly within a single genre.  "Go Your Own Way" is one of their bigger and more anthemic tunes and like a lot of their work it fits in this odd valley between stadium rock and singer-songwriter music.  It's also a song that escalates in intensity as it goes.  The instrumentation in the background is up tempo and propulsive and that chorus with the call and response between singer and band vocals is super effective. 

"Hotel California" by The Eagles

Since the release of The Big Lebowski the consensus on The Eagles has been a pretty uniform "they suck."  Personally, I don't really hate The Eagles so much as I'm indifferent to them.  They're probably the classic rock band I've made the least effort to engage with and there are probably only a half dozen songs I could identify as being by them.  However, I do think that there is something to their most famous song Hotel California and in many ways I think that recording is enough to prevent me from really dismissing them.  The song's metaphor for Los Angeles as theis purgatory hotel of despair is intriguing and both the vocals and the instrumentation do a great job of setting an atmosphere which made this metaphor seem grand rather than stupid.

"Strawberry Letter 23" by The Brothers Johnson

I'll be honest, my knowledge of this song comes mainly from two places: jewelry commercials and the Jackie Brown soundtrack, but it's so clearly an R&B classic and you know it right away from that intro.  The song was actually produced by Quincy Jones and his attention to detail is readily apparent on the song. George Johnson's vocals are super smooth and you can hear the emotion in his voice.  The backing vocals are also on point and the keyboard elements that continue through the song really make it stand out.

Winner:

Finally missed a week last week because I had my head down working on Golden Stakes... won't be doing that again.

1976

Best Film
Taxi Driver
Network
All the President's Men
Rocky
The Outlaw Gosey Whales

Winner:

Worst Film
Enforcer, The
King Kong

"Winner":

Best TV Show
Mary Tyler Moore (Season 6)
The Jeffersons (Season 2)
MASH (Season 4)
All in the Family (Season 6)
Sanford & Son (Season 5)

Winner:

Best Video Game
Breakout (Arcade)


I'm sure everybody has played som version of this game, I had no idea that it was this old personally.  It's essentially a variation on pong where the goal isn't to go against another player but to have the ball take out as many blocks at the top of the screen as possible.  Of course the best strategy is to try to take out all the blocks on one side or the other in order to have the ball sneak into that space between the blocks and the top of the screen so that it can bounce enough to take out a whole bunch of them. Pulling that move off can be one of the of the most satisfying accomplishments in gaming.

Best Hit Song
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

This choice doesn't need much defending, does it?  This is one of the most ambitious and brave recordings in the history of pop. By combining elements of opera, balladry, and straight up hard rock together Queen pretty much cemented their legacy and came away with one of the unlikeliest six minute hit songs imaginable.

"Dream On" by Aerosmith

So, this track was originally on Aerosmith's 1973 debut album, but it didn't chart until it was re-released as a single three years later to capitalize on the band's newfound success.  Though early Aerosmith is usually remembered as being this down and dirty hard rock band when compared to their later stardom the really pretty much never shied away from doing slower and more ambitious stuff.  This one has had quite the shelf-life because of its kind of a self-help anthem about dreams and shit, but what really carries it are probably the tempo shifts and that last minute or so that it slowly builds up to.

"Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)" by Parliment

George Clinton was of course one of the funkiest motherfuckers to ever live and his bands Parliment and Funkadelic were of course one of the great sources for hip-hop sampling in the early 90s. Parliment was generally considered the more straightforward funk band while Funkadelic (despite the name) tended to experiment more by adding other sounds to the mix.  Anyway, "Give Up the Funk" is basically their anthem, a brilliant mix of exuberant hook work with a tight backing groove.   

"Love Rollercoaster" by The Ohio Players

The Ohio Players were a pretty reliable 70s R&B act that were long able to ride the line between Funk, Disco, and Sould and "Love Rollercoaster" is one of their most famous hits for a reason.  The love rollercoaster metaphor is a bit cheesy and the song can get a bit repetative but it makes up for it with musicianship and energy.  

"Rock and Roll All Nite" by Kiss

There's two schools of thought on Kiss: one is that they're a crappy band that got where they were because of their concert gimmicks, the other is that they're actually a really solid hard rock act that would probably have gotten taken a lot more seriously if not for the bullshit.  As with most things in life the answer lies somewhere in the middle.  I'm not personally a huge fan but I do think they have some tunes that would definitely have been hits with or without all the rest of the nonsense and "Rock and Roll All Nite" is one of them.  The song has some legit riffs and that chorus sung in unison is effective.  

Winner: 

2016

Movie of the year
Nominees

Arrival
Manchester by the Sea
The Nice Guys

Winner:




Show of the year
Nominees

Game of Thrones S1
House of Cards S4
Stranger Things S1

Winner:




Game of the year
Nominees

Scythe
Seafall
Terraforming Mars

Winner:




Worst of the year
Nominees

Gods of Egypt
Sausage Party
Suicide Squad

Winner(Loser?):

2016

Best Movie:

Arrival
Everybody Wants Some!!
The Handmaiden
Manchester By the Sea
Moonlight

Winner: 

SPOILER: Click to show

Manchester By the Sea

Best TV Show:

Atlanta
Black Mirror
Game of Thrones
Orange Is the New Black
Westworld

Winner: 

SPOILER: Click to show

Game of Thrones

Best Video Game: 

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Inside
Uncharted 4: A Thiefs End

Winner: 

SPOILER: Click to show

Uncharted 4: A Thiefs End

Best Podcast:

The /Filmcast
Doughboys
Film Junk
The MMA Beat
Rob Has A Podcast

Winner: 

SPOILER: Click to show

Rob Has A Podcast

1975

Best Movie 
Dersu Uzala
Barry Lyndon
Jaws
Dog Day Afternoon
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Winner:

Worst Movie
No Nominees, all eighteen of the movies I've seen from this year is good.

Best TV Show
Sanford & Son (Season 4)
The Jeffersons (Season 1)
MASH (Season 3)
All in the Family (Season 5)
Mayr Tyler Moore (Season 5)

Winner:

Best Game
No Nominees, no noteworthy video games or board games came out this year to my knowledge

Best Hit Song
"Fame" by David Bowie


In 1975 David Bowie reinvented himself as he is wont to do and dropped the Ziggy Stardust schtick and in its place began to make "blue-eyed soul" music on his Young Americans album.  I find the title track on that album to be the clearly superior single off that album, but this is the one that charted high enough to be eligible.  This song is interesting in an of itself.  It was actually co-written by John Lennon and has a lot of cool effects here and there as well as a strong backing groove that keeps it going.

"Killer Queen" by Queen


I don't know that "Killer Queen" would even be in my top fifteen Queen songs, but it says something that a weaker single by a band was still better than the entire outputs of some lesser bands.  The song, penned by Freddie Mercury, is ostensibly about a high-class hooker and juxtaposes her "classiness" with her streetwise ways, but given the title and the author I'm kind of guessing there's some subtext going on there.  The song's real appeal though is it's complexly layered recording with a whole lot of musical elements going on all at once.  

"Shining Star" by Earth, Wind, and Fire

Another year in the 70s, another awesome Earth, Wind, and Fire song to talk about.  This isn't quite up there with some of their better song but it remains a very strong single essentially built around the famous concept of wishing upon a shinging star... not much else to say.

"Someone Saved My Life Tonight" by Elton John

I'mma be honest, my first exposure to this song was not the "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" album and it wasn't classic rock radio.  Nope, I first heard this song when I was tracking down samples that Kanye West used.  That extended "woo-ooo-ooo" did indeed get used effectively by Mr. West, but the song it came from is pretty interesting too.  Apparently it was written by Bernie Taupin to describe a moment when Elton John was suicidal because he was planning to marry a woman and didn't think it was going to work out and someone convinced him to dump her and focus on his music... kind of a lot to unpack there, but whatever, it's a neat little piano ballad that manages to pull off an over-wrought butterfly metaphor through sheer atmosphere and charisma.

"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive

There isn't really a whole lot to say about "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet," it's just a really good bit of working-class rock and roll with a really strong hook.  The stuttering on the chorus sticks in your head really effectively and the guitar pauses are really well timed to blend with it.  The rest of the lyrics are pretty "blah" and a lot of the rest of the instrumentation is kind of stock, but those few nice touches are somehow enough to make this memorable and noteworthy forty-some years later.  Pop music can be funny that way.

Winner:

Jaws and Bowie. I'm with you there.

I am liking the game category now

I dont care for Badlands.

wow, pong was as early as 72?