2008 Was A Goooood Year For Music

by Morgan Stone

Do you pay attention to the years that albums come out? To be honest, I just don’t. The only album release I really do have committed to memory is Panic! At The Disco’s entire discography, which I coincidentally sometimes use as a timeline in order to remember when things in my high school years occurred. Oh, that trip I took with my school to China? Had to be mid-2018, the first singles of Pray for the Wicked were released but the album still wasn’t out. Oh, that year all my friends got into Musical.ly had to be 2016, because I spent every day listening to and making videos of Death of a Bachelor. If you happen to be following specifically my articles on Birdbath, I apologize for how often Panic! At The Disco seems to come up. 

But do you know what album came out in 2008? Pretty. Odd. by Panic! At The Disco. I know that, it’s just something burned into my brain. But what if I told you that some of the most influential albums of my adolescence all came out in 2008? 

This list is something that makes me feel like I hearing colors. Even stranger, I don’t know that I listened to any of these albums in 2008 when they were released. What was I doing in 2008? I would’ve been 7 years old listening to exclusively either my parent’s car radios or Elton John/Creedence Clearwater Revival on my Mp3 player. And yet…these albums have affected me in transcendent ways. Some of my favorite albums from my favorite artists were released in 2008, and I didn’t even know it. 

I'm also a little bit obsessed with the celebrity drama of 2008. Katy Perry released a diss track about Pete Wentz of Fall Out BOy, AND was dating Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes. Panic! At The Disco broke up after the Pretty. Odd. tour. Much to think about.

NOw,  you may say that this article doesn't fit the theme at all, since many use Y2k to refer to 2000-2004 or the literal Y2k crisis, but I mean the themes are up to interpretation, so I'm going to interpret it to write what I want....

1) Pretty. Odd. by Panic! At The Disco 

This is the best Panic album. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, because Vices & Virtues has my heart, but I feel that if you ask most people who have been into this band at one point or another would agree that this album is just incredibly cohesive, and “Northern Downpour” is perfect and emotionally moving song. 

Panic! just defined my entire high school experience. And apparently my fall 2022, why am I letting this stupid band weasel back into my life! 

2) One of the Boys by Katy Perry

Something about me you may not know: I was a massive KatyCat (that’s the name for a Katy Perry fan). I saw her twice in concert, wore her branded perfume, watched her tour documentary like 10 times…I was committed! I listened to Prism literally the second in came out, even though I was in class. I was a Katy fan until Witness, and then I just kinda fell off…that was when I was in high school and the emos had already taken me.

If you asked me right here right now, I would say this is my favorite Katy Perry album. It slaps so so hard! Honestly, I think this album rewired my brain when I heard it at whatever age I did (probably age 9?). I felt like such a bad-ass. Like, in “Fingerprints” when she says “Oh I'm worth more than an X, more than a toe-tag generation full of regrets” ???? I LOST IT!

And, as some of you may know, this album features two camp homophobic bangers: “I Kissed a Girl” and “Ur So Gay.” Have these been reclaimed? It’s a tough to say. 

3) The Fame by Lady Gaga 

Miss Lady Gaga debuted in the year of our lord 2008? I mean, it makes sense, but wow….did not expect it. I first remember hearing her music on the radio and being like “what is that?” I remember her music videos being too scary for young me, and my friend and I playing The Remixes album on repeat. For awhile, I almost knew the remixes of songs from The Fame better than the originals. 

Now, I would not say this is my favorite Gaga album. That would be Artpop. The Fame album kinda annoys me, but that’s only because a few months ago I got stuck in a white-knuckle drive to Portland with it stuck in my cd player on repeat, and it kinda got to me.

But Lady Gaga is one of my all-time favorite artists, I feel like I could talk about and read about her for hours and hours and there still be more. Dude, I should’ve just written an entire article about her!

4) Flight of the Conchords by Flight of the Conchords 

This album is a massive part of who I am today. I would not be the hilarious individual before you if I had never experienced “Robots” for the first time when my sister’s friend Bryan was playing it when he was over one day. My brother and I listened to that song cackling on repeat, then when we learned there was not only a whole album, but that there was a whole show? We were beside ourselves. 

I have watched the HBO show like fiiiive times? Too many times. Maybe not enough times? I haven’t seen it in probably three or four years, and I really am due to watch again. I love these little guys so so much, and I have posters of them watching me while I sleep. 

5) Fearless by Taylor Swift 

Of all of the albums on this list, I think this is the only one I heard within the year it came out. My sister got this for me on CD for my birthday one year (and I think it was 2009, since that would be my birthday within the year of its release), and she told me she got the CD for me since it was “pop” which “seemed like some of that music I’d be into.” My sister was a high schooler who was really not into pop at the time.

I remember listening to this over and over again in the car with my mom, and if I had to choose my favorite Taylor album, it would be this one. My emotional attachment to it is just so strong. 

In high school, I would drive home from work listening to this album, feeling a little sad that I wasn’t experiencing love and life like this album. I listened to this CD so much that it eventually just stopped working…coincidentally, the exact same day that Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was announced. This is my Taylor Swift album, even if it may not be her best. I love it so so so much. Listening to it feels like a warm hug.

6) Breakout by Miley Cyrus 

I vividly remember when I asked my mom if we could go to the Walmart 40 minutes away so I could get some CDs to be more with the times in regards to music, especially so I could make friends when I started going to the big scary school in town (which in reality was like 300 kids tops). We drove my sister to the town over for symphony rehearsal, and my mom and I went to Walmart and got Breakout, The Time of Our Lives, and Thriller….yeah by Michael Jackson. 

This was probably 2010, because I remember Can’t Be Tamed by Miley Cyrus was due to release soon, and this was really when little Morgan Delaney realized that she had only been experiencing old media with her parents and was reaaaaaaally missing out. But this album? Breakout by Miley Cyrus? It’s banger after banger!

7) Folie à Deux by Fall Out Boy 

This album didn’t actually influence my adolescence that much, but it is very much influencing my here and now. I am obsessed with this album at the moment. I honestly think it’s probably Fall Out Boy’s best, though in reality, it may just be my favorite. I just really love this album, for one that I kinda disregarded when I got into Fall Out Boy in high school. It's taken me in a (cupid's) chokehold, and I just don't know how to get out.

Maybe one day soon I'll stop randomly singing "Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes" or "20 Dollar Nosebleed" or maybe I wont, who knows!

2008 was a very formative year for me...even if the forming it did for me almost exclusively took place past 2008. It's just kinda funny the coincidences you find when you're not really looking for them.

Albums that also came out this year that kinda surprised me:

• Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
• Funhouse by Pink
• IDENTIFIED BY VANESSA HUDGENS !!! (also known as the album with “Sneakernight,” one of the best songs ever made)
• Want by 3OH!3 (The album that gave us “Don't Trust Me”)
• We sing. We dance. We steal things. By Jason Mraz
• Weezer (Red Album) by Weezer
• Dark Horse by Nickelback (their 6th studio album…SIXTH?!)