Although, the artist’s complete removal from the process can make a documentary spin into tabloid territory. There’s a lot of scandal on tap. Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter (Max) is the traumatic story of mental illness and sexual assault. While the latter is horrifying, the litigation is still underway. Why are the survivors on film talking about their experiences? Speaking of survivors, IMPACT x Nightline: Diddy’s Downfall (Hulu) is equally horrific and a far more disgusting explanation of the recent uncovering of Sean Combs’ abusive, and illegal actions during his entire time in the spotlight. Secret Life of Diddy: A Special Edition of 20/20 (Hulu) covers the exact same ground with many of the same talking heads journalists and individuals. On the positive side of hip hop, Tale of the Tape(Tubi) explores the world of mixtapes, the skill involved in making them, their impact on the culture and the legends of that scene. While the homemade quality of this short but deep unpacking is charming, it only speaks to people in that space and doesn’t go far in educating the uninitiated.
A brave director with a strong grasp on storytelling can create a compelling product that draws you in, whether or not you are interested in the artist or topic. But it feels like there is a positive correlation between the number of music documentaries released and how many of them aren’t worth pressing play on. Here are seven from the second half of 2024 that are worth watching and three not so much.—By Lily Moayeri
Under the Radar tends to handle our best albums of the year lists differently than most other music publications. Whereas competitors are in a hurry to get their list up before anyone else, in late November and early December, we prefer to take our time with it and spend the last two months of the year considering and reconsidering as many of the previous year’s albums as possible. We also always aim for a Top 100 (plus honorable mentions), when compared to a standard Top 50 elsewhere. We try to go with our honest feelings, keeping it to the LPs we genuinely loved regardless of trends. Artists that have long fallen out of favor, replaced by new critical darlings, still potentially have a place on our Top 100 if they released a worthy new release. And we also lean heavily towards indie rock music, which is mainly what we cover. You wouldn’t expect a hip-hop magazine to feature a slew of country albums on their best albums list, so don’t get your hopes up for a lot of metal, hip-hop, and chart-topping pop albums on our Top 100. Finally, our list is presented from the number one album on down, rather than the countdown approach that the majority of websites seem to favor.
This year it started with a list of 80 albums I most wanted our writers to consider, added into a Google Sheets spreadsheet. Then other writers and editors added in additional albums they felt were worth considering for an initial nomination list we all voted on, with writers also able to add in even more albums as the voting continued. Eventually 263 albums were considered this year. Contributors had to pick their personal Top 50, with their number one album getting 50 points, their number two getting 49 points, and so on from there.
For an album to make the Top 100 it had to fit two criteria. Firstly, at least three or four different writers or editors had to vote for it, ideally four or more (most of the albums in our Top 30 were picked by 10 or more, with the Top 3 each being picked by 17 different voters). Secondly, it had to be an album we covered in some capacity in 2024, be it via a news item or items, an appearance on Songs of the Week, an album review, or an interview. The honorable mentions section features some albums that our writers liked that we didn’t cover this year, along with LPs that simply didn’t get enough votes but that I still liked. The votes by my co-publisher/wife Wendy and I were weighted slightly more than anyone else’s and we had the final say on what the number one album was (after all, it’s our magazine). I also had the final say on which albums made the Top 100 and I tweaked the exact order here and there, but mostly these are the same results as the raw vote by our writers, accounting for the stipulations I just mentioned. Then our writers penned fresh blurbs on each of the albums in the Top 60.
Musically speaking, in 2024 mainstream culture is stuck in a nostalgia trap and has been for several years. Fueled by Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and easy access to all recorded music, newer songs and albums on the charts are routinely crowded out by music from the past.
The Billboard Hot 100 Top 5 in America this week consists of the exact same songs as this week last year, almost in the same order: Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”(1994) at number one, followed by Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (1958), Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (1984), Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” (1957), and Burl Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (1964). This week last year “Last Christmas” and “Jingle Bell Rock” were flipped. In fact, it was also the same Top 5 in 2022 (in a slightly different order again). You have to go back to December 2021 for a much different Christmas Top 5.
When looking at this week’s Billboard 200 album charts, beyond the expected older Christmas albums (by the likes of such long-dead elder statesmen as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, and Gene Autry) it’s littered with non-holiday full-lengths years or decades old, including The Beatles’ Abbey Road (1969), Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors (1977), AC/DC’s Back in Black (1980), Queen’s Greatest Hits (1981), Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1982), Metallica’s Metallica (1991), Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991), ABBA’s Gold: Greatest Hits (1992), Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory (2000), Daft Punk’s Discovery (2001), Creed’s Greatest Hits (2004,) Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die (2012), Arctic Monkeys’ AM (2013), Nickleback’s The Best of Nickelback Volume 1 (2013), Tame Impala’s Currents (2015), and a whopping 10 different albums by Taylor Swift traversing many release years.
The two songs most likely to get kids excited at the monthly dances at my daughter’s middle school? Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” from 1987 and, alas, Los Del Río’s “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)” from 1995. I have plenty of friends who mainly listen to music from the ’80s and ’90s and others who were once die-hard audiophiles but stopped paying attention to new music in the late 2000s or early 2010s.
As an Under the Radar reader, you’re probably more tuned into new music than most and hopefully know full well that there is a multitude of amazing new music released every year, even if it doesn’t reach the larger public consciousness. Our Top 100 Albums of 2024 runs the gamut from debut albums by exciting new artists to the first LP in 16 years from a legendary group and everything in between. 2024 was another difficult year in terms of events both domestic and international and the outlook for 2025 is decidedly uncertain, due to November’s election results and continued conflicts worldwide. Hopefully you’ll find respite from such concerns in some of the albums on our list and not just the familiar sounds of decades ago.
This is part 2 of Under the Radar‘s Top 100 Albums of 2024 list, featuring #51-100 and various honorable mentions. Our writers have penned new blurbs up through #60 and the rest is simply a list of the remaining albums we loved this year. Check out part 1 featuring #1-50 here. By Mark Redfern
Music documentaries and series are a sure thing, or so it seems. 2024 has seen quite a few of them hit theatres and even more turn up on streamers. Among these are the high-profile ones such as the newly restored 1970 film, The Beatles: Let it Be and Frank Marshall’s The Beach Boys, not to mention Taylor Swift|The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version), all on Disney+. Lil Nas X released his interpretation of Madonna’s Truth or Dare with his behind-the-scenes tour film, Long Live Montero (HBO). There is also Eno, the groundbreaking generative documentary feature on Brian Eno. Just as fascinating as the biographical docs are topical ones such as the recently released How Music Got Free (Paramount+).
Coming soon is Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple (HBO), which shines a much deserved spotlight on the multi-hyphenate talent, and I Am: Celine Dion (Prime Movies), which shares the singer’s challenges with Moersch-Woltman Syndrome.
Whether or not you’re into the artists, subjects, or the music, there is a voyeuristic and vicarious thrill in watching musicians, both in their professional setting and personal lives. Music documentary films and series are often worth the time—except when they’re not. Here are seven must-watch music docs and series released in 2024, and three from this year that you can skip.—By Lily Moayeri
Last year was a challenging one for the entertainment industry with the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes. While this double blow—albeit for good causes—had detrimental snowball effects on the industry, there was still a solid grip of high quality material that made it to the not-so-small screen airwaves and streamers. Award-winning series like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Barry took their last bows, and we’re still waiting for a trifecta from Vince Gilligan to round out Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, but there was plenty to keep viewers glued to the tube. From superheroes to science fiction, political intrigue to teenage hijinks and dramatized jury service to historical dramas, we continue to be spoiled for choice. It was a battle for Under the Radar’s top television shows of 2023, but we’ve managed to narrow it down to 40 solid watches.
