Jason Tate’s Top Albums of 2020

I don’t know how historians will write about 2020, but there’s a good chance future generations just flat out don’t believe the truth. I just lived through it and can barely believe everything that happened over the last twelve months. I know one day in the future, I’ll be scrolling through my phone and will come upon photos of my wife and I in masks and be like, “Oh, yeah, remember that whole thing?” It’s virtually impossible for me to wrap my head around this past year and everything that’s happened. So, deep breath, let’s put the head down and keep powering through.

The staff compiled best of 2020 list can be found here.

Jason Tate Jan 1, 2021

This week’s newsletter looks back at 2020 and the year from hell. I also share some articles I read this week that I found interesting, share thoughts on the music I’ve been checking out that I missed throughout the year, and talk a little about the bad movie I saw (Wonder Woman) and the good movie I saw (Soul). And as always, there’s a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (December 26th, 2020)

Jason Tate Dec 26, 2020

In this week’s newsletter, I share some thoughts about the end of The Mandalorian and the first half of Wonder Woman 1984, and there’s some discussion of the holiday and prepping to finalize my end of the year list before the end of next week. As usual, there’s a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (December 18th, 2020)

Jason Tate Dec 18, 2020

This week’s newsletter has random thoughts on random things and then the usual commentary on music and entertainment I enjoyed this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I liked this week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (December 11th, 2020)

Jason Tate Dec 11, 2020

This week’s newsletter has thoughts on the new Taylor Swift album and other entertainment I enjoyed this week. I finally saw Tenet and I’ve been watching a whole lot of holiday content. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (December 4th, 2020)

Jason Tate Dec 4, 2020

Is it too early to start singing holiday tunes? It’s December. I can see trees up in people’s windows with lights on already (we’re putting one up tomorrow); I can start annoying my wife by singing “Jingle Bells” every day, right? This week’s newsletter has some thoughts on music and entertainment I liked this week, a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (November 27th, 2020)

Jason Tate Nov 27, 2020

Happy day after Thanksgiving. This week’s post-food-indulgence has thoughts on the upcoming strange holiday season, thoughts on the new celebrity and TikTok culture that I know absolutely nothing about because I’m old, and some thoughts on music and entertainment I enjoyed this week. The holiday movie watching has begun. You’ve been warned. As always, there’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved this week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (November 20th, 2020)

Jason Tate Nov 20, 2020

I hope everyone had a good week this week. We’re back with another newsletter looking at music and entertainment I enjoyed this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (November 13th, 2020)

Jason Tate Nov 13, 2020

This week’s newsletter has early thoughts on the new Less Than Jake album, high praise for The Queen’s Gambit, and other reflections on music and entertainment I enjoyed this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I loved, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (November 6th, 2020)

Jason Tate Nov 6, 2020

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by coffee, coffee, more coffee, and the letter B. I share my first thoughts on the new EP from The Dangerous Summer, some thoughts on entertainment consumed last weekend, and a few thoughts on the election. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed last week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 30th, 2020)

Jason Tate Oct 30, 2020

Usually I end up listening to a lot of Alkaline Trio, AFI, and My Chemical Romance leading up to Halloween. This year I forgot to do any of that and all of a sudden the month’s gone. Weird. Anyway, this week’s newsletter has thoughts on music and entertainment I enjoyed this week, my favorite candy, and a playlist of ten damn good songs. This week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 23rd, 2020)

Jason Tate Oct 23, 2020

This week’s newsletter has early thoughts on Bruce Springsteen, Seaway, and various other things I listened to, watched, read, and consumed this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 16th, 2020)

Jason Tate Oct 16, 2020

The combination of falling temperatures and pumpkin themed desktop wallpaper is really giving me a Fall/Autumn vibe today. I’m sure there will be no ramifications of the past few months just kind of disappearing due to a pandemic and gross mismanagement by the government, right? Anyway, I’m in a weird mood and this week’s newsletter has thoughts on music, entertainment, and other things on my brain this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed this week, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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Liner Notes (October 9th, 2020)

Jason Tate Oct 9, 2020

Somehow we’re already in the second week of October.

This week’s newsletter looks at music, entertainment, and other things I found interesting this week. There’s also a playlist of ten songs I enjoyed, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

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The Most Successful “Scene” Records Over the Past Three Decades

Adam Grundy Oct 6, 2020

The commercial appeal of emo and punk records is undeniable. In this article, I dove into the most commercially successful albums of the past three decades in our scene. First, I wanted to provide a couple of quick notes about how I pulled this data. I took a look at the most popular pop-punk and emo albums from a Wikipedia article and cross-referenced it with other bands that I knew would be in the vicinity of receiving a Gold (500,000 albums sold) or Platinum (1 million albums sold) RIAA certification. From there, I used the Wikipedia articles on the individual album pages to see if they mentioned any certifications of Gold or above. I then confirmed those totals on the extremely helpful RIAA website. In some cases, I either rounded up or down on the number of albums sold to make the organizing of this list a little bit easier to follow, and these totals are for US sales only. I have organized this list into the three different decades of the 90’s, 00’s and 10’s, and I found it interesting that the vast number of eligible albums occurred during the 00’s era. I hope that you will find this information as enlightening as I did, and there are plenty of surprises to be found in these lists as well.