About Me
Charles Olney, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law and Judicial Politics at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (academic website). This is a blog about music, politics, and the law. I also write about women’s soccer at Backline Soccer and Stars and Stripes FC.
Bluesky: olneyce
Soundcloud: olneyce
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Recent Posts
Greatest Hits
- Beatles from worst to first
- Top 25 albums of the decade
- Top 50 songs of the decade
- Top 10 Bruce Springsteen songs
- Top 10 Modest Mouse songs
- Top 10 Tom Petty songs
- Top 10 Carissa's Wierd songs
- Top 10 Paul Simon songs
- Top 10 Bob Dylan songs
- Top 10 breakup songs
- Top 20 albums of 2005
- Top 30 albums of 2006
- Top 40 songs of 2006
- Top 25 albums of 2007
- Top 40 songs of 2007
- Top 25 albums of 2008
- Top 40 songs of 2008
- Top 30 albums of 2009
- Top 40 songs of 2009
- Top 25 albums of 2010
- Top 40 songs of 2010
- Top 15 albums of 2011
- Top 40 songs of 2011
- Top 20 albums of 2012
- Top 40 songs of 2012
- Top 30 albums of 2013
- Top 50 songs of 2013
- Top 25 albums of 2014
- Top 50 songs of 2014
- Top 30 albums of 2015
- Top 50 songs of 2015
- Top 15 albums of 2016
- Top 40 songs of 2016
- Top 25 albums of 2017
- Top 50 songs of 2017
- Top 30 albums of 2018
- Top 50 songs of 2018
Music links
- Hype Machine
- elbo.ws
- Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good
- Can you see the sunset from the southside?
- Hits in the Car
- A Certain Romance
- Herohill
- Speed of Dark
- Lost in your Inbox
- Vague Space
- Skatterbrain
- I Guess I'm Floating
- Largehearted Boy
- Neon Gold
- Another Form of Relief
- Cover Lay Down
- The Monsters Under the Bed Are Not Real
- Yellow Stereo
- Quick Before It Melts
- Knox Road
- Sand is Overrated
- Shake Your Fist
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Top 25 albums of the 2010s
For me, the last ten years have been a decade defined by the increasing prominence of women. The music industry is still nowhere close to a zone of perfect equality, but it’s more open than it’s ever been. The result … Continue reading
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Top 50 songs of the 2010s
It’s fashionable to complain about the state of contemporary music these days (though really, when has declinism not been in vogue?), and there are some reasons to be a little bit down on what manages to rise to the top … Continue reading
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50 songs for 50 states: Tennessee
It opens: “The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar / I am following the river down the highway through the cradle of the civil war.” That is pure poetry, evocative and beautiful. And it establishes the multi-layered themes: … Continue reading
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50 songs for 50 states: South Dakota
It’s incredible that one family could produce two men so adept at telling stories, but in two very different ways. It’s not just about the medium involved (Larry working with the novel, James the song), but also the manner. Where his … Continue reading
50 songs for 50 states: South Carolina
South Carolina often gets the short end of the stick in contemporary popular culture, which tends to focus more heavily on their more urban and more modern neighbor of a similar name. For that reason, many of the classic ‘Carolina’ … Continue reading
50 songs for 50 states: Rhode Island
Providence Is – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Tucked away underneath Massachusetts, Rhode Island is often forgotten. The smallest state, featuring few major cultural landmarks (apart from the 90s classic Wings, of course), it’s generally tossed into the generic category of New … Continue reading
50 songs for 50 states: Pennsylvania
A song about growing up, leaving home, and eventually coming back to discover that nothing ever really stays the same. The idyllic memories of childhood are paved over, partly by suburban sprawl, but also partly by the simple progress of … Continue reading
50 songs for 50 states: Oregon
For all that Portland has become an ironic reference (thanks in no small part to Carrie Brownstein’s later work on Portlandia), it really is one of the great American cities. And possibly never more so than in the late 90s … Continue reading
Review: The Day – Midnight Parade
Midnight Parade by The Day We’re less than a month into 2019 and already have a strong contender for album of the year. The debut record from The Day, a collaboration between Laura Loeters and Gregor Sonnenberg, is almost the … Continue reading
Top 30 albums of 2018
2018 has been a year of reckoning. A year for asking questions. A year for insisting on getting answers. A year of rage. Of deep, soul-destroying sadness, of hopelessness and loss. A year for those who have power and privilege … Continue reading
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