This year has been… a year. While everyone seemed to have what we could collectively describe as a “shitty year,” everyone has had a very different 2020. This year, we couldn’t all meet up at festivals all over the country or the world. This year we couldn’t high five each other, chug cheap beer, and scream along to songs in a basement (or garage or sticky venue) on a Friday night. All the things that seemingly made us “us” were stripped away, leaving other facets of ourselves that we had long since forgotten or placed on an upper shelf to collect dust for some day when we would have more free time.
I’ve spoken to people who feel like they lost their hold on music and others who clung onto it for dear life like a life preserver. It’s been… a year. And while everyone has bravely faced 2020 with a different arsenal of supplies, this resulted in a variety different outcomes. That’s why, in addition to our contributors’ End of the Year Lists, we at Bad Copy have reached out to a handful of friends involved in music this year and asked them to share their top lists. Music, movies, photos, memories, new hobbies – much like 2020, nothing is off the table when it comes to these lists. Let’s find a little good in the bad, try to laugh at what we can’t control, and pray that we will be able to safely see each other soon. First round is on me. – Kendra Sheetz, Editor
When I was asked to contribute a year-end reflection, I felt completely overwhelmed and stuck. I wrote, and rewrote, so many versions of this post because, honestly, how could you possibly sum up such a wild year? Where do you even start?
At first, I could only think of all my failures. I saw most of the shows I had spent the majority of 2019 planning, booking, and promoting for 2020 get cancelled one after the other in the first two weeks of the pandemic. Then I was reminded of how I wasn’t productive enough during quarantine. How I didn’t read enough. How I didn’t learn a new skill. How this year was the longest unemployment streak of my entire adult life….
It felt nearly impossible to think of anything positive.
Did I even achieve anything this year? Was it a completely wasted year that I’ll never get back?
I then pushed myself to acknowledge it was an accomplishment in itself getting out of bed that day, sat down at my desk, and walked through every month of this year to remind myself what had actually happened.
Sure, on a macro-level this year was truly terrible, but as I began to examine it under a microscope, I was reminded of why I was so optimistic and excited for 2020 in the first place… I am very fortunate to have wonderful friends and be part of a worldwide community of talented musicians and people. A lot of the things I do, I do for them, and I believe that gives me purpose.
In celebration of my friends, family, and their achievements (while acknowledging some of my own), I compiled my own “personal soundtrack” to 2020 which includes new music from (mostly) bands I’ve worked with, plus a few songs from my other favorite releases from this year:
And to leave on an even more positive note, here’s a short list of my 2021 Most Anticipated Releases from friends: Nervous Dater, High Cost, Snakeskin, Anika Pyle, Hundreds of AU, Closer, Early Riser, Rebuilder, Sketchy, Common Sage, Hard Pass, and Taking Meds.
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