The [your name here] Awards!

Alright, I'm determined to get through the 50s before I'm done with this, but the choices are going to thin out in a lot of these categories.  I'm moving to three nominees a year for TV, game of the year is going to be infrequent, and I'm going to be a bit less fussy about what constitutes a "hit song" given that charts become less reliable.

1959

Best Film
400 Blows, The
Anatomy of a Murder
North by Northwest
World of Apu, The
Hiroshima Mon Amour

Winner:

Worst Film
Corridors of Blood
Nun's Story, The
Prince of Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space

"Winner":

Best TV Show
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 4)
Peter Gunn (Season 1)
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (Season 2)

Winner:

Best Game
Diplomacy

I've never had a chance to play this but it sounds pretty cool.  It's a game where players take the side of one of a variety of countries in pre-World War I era Europe and try to game each other for advantage.  There's no dice rolling or anything it's all about who negotiates the best.  Sounds cool, and I've heard a lot of real world diplomats and figures like Henry Kissenger have actually endorsed it.

Best Hit Song
"I Want to Walk You Home" by Fats Domino

Fats Domino probably had three immortal hits and of those three "I Want to Walk You Home" is probably the third best, but it's still a classic.  The early rock artists, especially the black ones, were forced to be pretty clean (there were exceptions) so you had situations like this where you had dudes talking about chaste stuff like holding hands and walking girls home (and no, I don't think the implication is that he's going to be invited in for a little hot coffee when they get there).  There's something in Fats' vocal delivery that makes this stand out and catch the ear.

"The Peter Gunn Theme" by Henry Mancini

Putting an instrumental TV show theme song on a list like this probably seems pretty weird, but this was no ordinary theme song.  Mancini's tune was actually a huge chart hit and the soundtrack for the show actually somehow became the winner of Album of the Year at the very first Grammy Awards.  You can see why too because this is some catchy shit.  The song has this driving guitar as its backbone which was actually more aggressive than what we got from most rock acts at the time and the rest of the ensemble is really on fire.  It's a song that just eeks of danger and glamor in equal portions and you can see why it would be perfect for a show about a hard boiled detective, or maybe a video game where you use gadgets to run people off the road.
 
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" by The Platters

Here's a classic to be sure.  It's a song that the first episode of "Mad Men" was named after and also the song that the couple in the movie 45 Years danced to in that movie's climax, as well as a number of other movies.  Why were these movies/shows drawn to it?  Well part of it is that it reflects the conflicted innocence of the late 50s/early 60s but also because it's a song that builds up to this extremely dramatic climax which is perfect for underscoring key moments in narratives.  That build up is important though as it makes that last note really impactful.

"Stagger Lee" by Lloyd Price


"Stagger Lee" is a famous blues ballad that goes back at least as far as 1911 and probably as far back as the 1895 incident that are described in the lyrics.  It's a violent little tale about two guys who get into a bar fight that ends with the title character shooting the other guy in cold blood.  It's gangster as fuck.  The song's lineage is probably the only reason Price was allowed to get a hit out of it as he brought it into the age of rock and roll.  It also might be the first modern pop hit to feature a "Clean version" of sorts as Price made a bowdlerized version to perform on American Bandstand.

"What'd I Say" by Ray Charles

Ray Charles had a number of songs that could be called signature songs, but this is the signature song to people who know what they're talking about.  The legend is that the song was written as an improvisation when Charles was forced to fill time after running through is entire repertoire to quickly at a gig.  The song is also said to be the place where Charles' soul music was finally formed and perfected.  The lyrics mostly consist of cool sounding vaugely sexual non-sequitors and a rather charged call and response section.  Certainly one of the world's more important recordings.

Winner:

1958

Best Movie
Vertigo
Touch of Evil
Music Room, The
Hidden Fortress, The
Magician, The

Winner:

Worst Movie
Fly, The
Auntie Mame
It! The Terror From Beyond Space
Revenge of Frankenstein, The
Gigi

"Winner":

Best TV Show
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 3)
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (Season 1)
The Jack Benny Program (Season 8)

Winner:

Best Hit Song
"Johnny B Goode" by Chuck Berry

Does this really need an explanation?  Those opening guitar licks alone would have been enough to make this an immortal classic but the rest of the song is also great early rock.  It popularized a genre, it was selected to be launched into space on a satellite on the off chance aliens would find it and want to learn how to rock, it saved Marty McFly's life.

"La Bamba" by Richie Valens

1958 was the year in which "the day the music died" occurred, which is often thought of in terms of Buddy Holly's death, but in some ways the death of Richie Valens was an even bigger loss to music simply because he didn't have as much of a chance to shine before he was killed.  "La Bamba" was plainly his biggest hit, and even it didn't really have a chance to rocket up the charts.  In fact more often than not when the song is played these days it's actually the cover by Los Lobos for the movie "La Bamba" that you're hearing, which is interesting the only song to ever go to number one on Billboard with exclusively Spanish lyrics.

"Everyday" by Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly was a truly strange ambassador of rock and roll.  He certainly didn't look like a rocker with his coke-bottle glasses and generally gawky look, a lot of his music would barely be described as rock and roll by modern standards, and his lyrical themes were dopey and bubble gum even by most early rock standards.  In many ways he was everything that the swaggering Elvis wasn't, and I suppose there were audiences at the time who needed that.  The song I've picked is even less "rock" than most of his recordings and almost sounds like a lullaby or something in its sound and instrumentation, but there's something hypnotic and sweet about it which makes it very memorable.

"Rumble" by Link Wray

This is one of those songs you hear around a lot without ever necessarily knowing what it's called or what its origins are.  It's actually an extremely important song in the development of rock and of electronic guitar music in general as it was one of the first real uses of the "power chord" and of intentional guitar distortion.  The result was a sound so primal and threatening that many radio stations banned it despite it being entirely instrumental.

"Tequila" by The Champs


Speaking of instrumental recordings which everyone knows but doesn't spend much time thinking of the origins of, here's a song that's always just sort of existed for most people.  The Champs were, as you might guess, one hit wonders, but somehow they managed to make one of those songs which seems so obvious you wonder why no one thought to make it sooner.

Winner:

1956

Best Film
Searchers, The
Bigger Than Life
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Killing, The
Man Escaped, A

Winner:

Worst Film
King and I, The
Werewolf, The

"Winner":

Best TV Show
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 1)
I Love Lucy (Season 5)
The Jack Benny Program (Season 6)

Winner:

Best Game
Yahtzee

It's kind of weird that they were able to straight up sell this thing when you could just as easily make your own version with five dice from other board games, a red solo cup, and photocopies of the scorecard, but it's become a best seller just the same.  It's a cool game though and it's fun to use your dice to try to get what are essentially poker hands.  

Best Hit Song
"Blueberry Hill" by Fats Domino

While rock and roll is largely associated with guitars now, in its early incarnations it often centered around pianos and the kind of instrumentation normally associated with big bands.  You can kind of see that in these early rock songs like Blueberry Hill.  It's a pretty simple little love song, I'm not sure what Fats Domino means by "found my thrill" but it probably involves hand jobs. 

"Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Prestly

One of the jauntier songs in Elvis' early repertoire, "Don't Be Cruel" is a simple little ballad telling a girl not to leave him in suspense because his heart is "true."  Not a whole lot to say about it really but it's a catchy little diddy.

"I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash

I despise country music, but like a lot of country haters I keep a little bit of an open mind when it comes to Johnny Cash.  I'm not exactly sure what it is about the guy that makes him feel different, maybe it's the "outlaw" persona, maybe it's because he was always something of an outsider to Nashville.  Anyway, a movie was named after this song so I'm a little more familiar with it.  Sort of a song about a rough character keeping a lid on his baser insticts because of a woman, that's something a lot of people can relate to.

"Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard

If nothing else this whole project has taught me just how out there and ahead of his time Little Richard was.  Where a lot of the other songs nominated this year were doing everything they could to seem squeaky clean and accessible to the parents of America this dude was really wildin' out and letting it all hang loose.  Just listen to this thing, this is a song I'd totally want to hunt an invisible alien to.

"Why Do Fools Fall In Love" by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers

Of the five nominees here, this is the only one that isn't by a legendary artist with a long lasting career.  They weren't a one hit wonder exactly but they didn't last long and their lead artist, Frankie Lyman, ended up dying of a heroin overdose at the age of 25.  They were a doo wop group who made music that might not be recognized as rock and roll today but they did help spread the genre with their brand of melodic singing and in some ways they had more influence on what the genre would be in the short term after this than some of the more famous artists above.

Winner:

1990

Best Film:

Edward Scissorhands
Goodfellas
The Hunt for Red October
Jacob's Ladder
Total Recall

Winner:


Best Song:

"Painkiller" by Judas Priest


After two synth heavy albums back to back, there might have been worries that Priest had lost their touch. With Painkiller however, the band not only returned to heavier roots, but produced what might be their fiercest and most aggressive album of all. The highlight is easily the titular track, which has so many elements coming together perfectly. Scott Travis' bombastic drumming opens us up, the dual guitars drive through and provide for some incredible solos, and Halford's piercing vocals burn through with lyrics like "Rides the Metal Monster/Breathing smoke and fire/Closing in with vengeance soaring high". The song is a true epic and paints the picture of a beast who could compete comfortably with other Judas Priest dieties like the Hellion and the Metalion.


"Seasons in the Abyss" by Slayer


My favourite Slayer songs are the ones which tend to be a little slower. Rather than sheer aggression, I like the sense of impending doom. Tracks like "Dead Skin Mask" pull that off masterfully with one of the most evil riffs in Metal, but my gut pulls me to the titular "Seasons in the Abyss". The whole sense has an atmosphere of madness and desolation, captured perfectly be the chorus. "Close your eyes/Look deep in your soul/Step outside yourself and let your mind go/Frozen eyes stare deep in your mind as you die". Chilling shit.


"Souls of Black" by Testament


"Look at the lost souls!" I don't really have much to say for this one. I've never been the biggest Testament fan, but this track is definitely a favourite.


"Stagnant" by Death Angel


Death Angel are the great, unsung heroes of Thrash Metal. Act III was the last album they'd do before taking a long break, but what they produced is an absolutely killer collection of great music. I had a hard time narrowing it down to just one song, and I think the one I chose might be a bit of an anomaly. There are certainly heavier and more distinct songs I could have gone with, but I really like the arc of "Stagnant", which is basically about finding purpose in life. Great vocals and the instrumental aspects of the song have a real nice groove.


"Tornado of Souls" by Megadeth


Rust in Peace is often considered Megadeth's best album. I still prefer Peace Sells, but this 1990 record does spot a number of amazing songs. "Take No Prisoners" or "Hanger 18" might be the more popular choices, but "Tornado of Souls" is easily my favourite track. The song seems to be either about a bad relationship or possibly about making one's way through the music industry. Either way, Dave Mustaine seems a pretty bitter guy, and he loads the lyrics with tons of anger and resentment. The song makes great use of his vocals, but the real highlight here are some amazing guitar solos. The song is just blistering and never lets up.


Winner:

Ah yes, its about that time, isnt it?

You haven’t watched the show.

Not doing any of the movie stuff, because Golden Stakes are going to happen sometime around February, but I'll jump right in on the other categories.  Thinking I'll do them one at a time rather than all three at once.

Best TV Show Nominees

American Vandal (Netflix)

If I was giving an award for the show that most completely surprised me it's almost certainly this one.  This is a concept which on its face sounds more like a Funny or Die sketch than a full mini-series but the way it skewers both true crime documentaries and high school culture in general was consistently hilarious. It's cast of characters were at once fairly believable and yet also each one of them had just enough quirks to make them uniquely funny.  I also found myself surprisingly wrapped up in the silly little mystery it spun and the occasional leaps that the investigator at the center makes in trying to solve it.

Game of Thrones (HBO)

For this roster of 2017 nominees I've mostly found myself skewing towards the newer fresher things I've discovered rather than the umpteenth seasons of various prestige dramas, but for reasons that should be obvious I can't just overlook Game of Thrones. This show has more or less become the connective tissue that's keeping the internet together and is the one show that seems to be immune from peak-TV overload.  Besides this season the show did a bunch of things that kept it fresh, mainly by picking up the pace considerably and providing a multitude of big action set-pieces that got everyone talking.  There were some drawbacks to this, but the excitement it caused made up for this.

The Good Place (NBC)

I kind of skipped over this show when it first started airing.  This was a mistake.  I discovered the show a couple months and binged straight through its current season and a half over 24 hours.  The show, which follows a woman who dies and finds herself in a sort of secularized afterlife, as she comes to realize that she's not the woman they think she is and is probably only in paradise because of an accident.  For the record, the second half of season 1 and the first half of season 2 both aired in 2017 and I'm counting both of them.  That's important because there's a big twist at the end of season 1 that really solidifies this as one of the best shows on TV.  

Master of None (Netflix)

Like with its Netflix bretheren Stranger Things (which would have been nominated if I had a few more slots), Master of None's second season almost feels more like a sequel to the first than like a traditional television continuation and has a clear season arc while still having time to do some really noteworthy individual episodes.  The Thanksgiving episode and the New York stories episodes are clear highlights but it's the longer running storylines that really tie it together.  The Bobby Cannavale plot seems shockingly prescient in the wake of #MeToo and the bittersweet romance between Dev and Francesca was really well constructed.  The numerous homages to Italian cinema didn't hurt either. 

Mindhunter (Netflix)

I resisted watching this show for a while despite its amazing pedigree, largely just because it had this really generic title that made it sound like a case of the week kind of thing.  In actuality its this really cool show about the development of the concept of psychological profiling in the during the 1970s.  The show follows two FBI agents as they try to interview captured serial killers to see what makes them tick.  These killers they interview are not fictional, they're all based on actual historical killers and they don't even use fake names.  This gives the show an authentic feel and also adds to how disturbing these interactions become.  The show was created by David Fincher, who directs four episodes, and the show feels more uniquely like a Fincher project than House of Cards ever did and there are some really memorable moments throughout including a very memorable use of a Led Zeppelin song in the season finale.

Rick and Morty (Cartoon Network)

I've resisted watching this show for so long, firstly Adult Swim as a whole tends to be a bunch of stoner bullshit for 17 year olds and secondly because it seems to be the source of all kinds of internet obnoxiousness but after I finally gave in and watched it this year I realized it was pretty damn good.  This latest season is a smidge lesser than the first two, but it remains incredibly inventive for a thirty minute animated series with a seemingly goofy premise on its surface.  Most of the episodes would be obvious standouts if other shows did them and the show also isn't afraid to get really dark at times.  

Winner:

YES!