There’s a tradition at RIFF, as well as most other sites, to spend the last week of the year doing Best-Of stories. Best of the site’s work, best of the year, best all sorts of stuff. They can be written in advance to give the staff some time off and they’re a good way to end the year on a positive note.

If there’s one thing I can be counted on to do is to not end anything on a positive note.

Since 2015, not a lot has been the “best-of” anything, and since 2020 it’s consistently the worst. So while everyone else goes high, I go low. I spotlight the stuff that annoyed or otherwise bothered me even more than average. Which is a lot.

Gordon Lightfoot died

Let’s just get this out of the way: Gordon Lightfoot, one of the greatest songwriters in history, died on May 1.

I grew up listening to Lightfoot, and my mom’s been a fan of his since she was a teenager. Like all young people, I was an idiot, so nothing my parents liked was cool. Once I got old enough to develop some semblance of sense, I realized what I’d been missing. Since then, my mom and I saw him every time he came anywhere near the Bay Area, and I’ve seen him in concert more than anyone other than Metallica.

He was 84 and it was obvious his health wasn’t great, and he lived a long, full life. But not being able to see another show of his is the absolute worst.

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Taylor Swift backlash

If there’s one thing American culture hates, it’s a popular, successful woman.

“But Danny,” you may be saying if you’re a reasonable person, “I know of a lot of popular, successful women. Taylor Swift, for example. Madonna. Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

If you’re not a reasonable person, you’re screaming about misandry and mens’ rights and all sorts of incel nonsense. Please go away and never come back.

Anyway, to that first group of people: You’re right. Lots of women are famous and successful. That’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is that we don’t let them stay famous without trying our best to tear them down and put them in their place.

Take Madonna, for example. In the ’80s she and Michael Jackson were the two most famous people in America and possibly the world. Madonna was endlessly controversial, protested and banned and insulted at every turn. People were practically looking for reasons to hate her. Meanwhile, Michael Jackson openly said he shared his bed with children, and everyone just shrugged. Nobody cared for some reason!

Now, Taylor Swift is arguably the most famous person in America, if not the world. Her Eras Tour was a legitimate cultural phenomenon, letting her fans get together and celebrate their fandom, building and spreading. She was rightfully Time Person of the Year. So there are thinkpieces all over the Internet (which I will not link to because they don’t deserve traffic) that she shouldn’t have been Person of the Year, that she’s a fake feminist, that she has a victim complex, that she’s overrated, that she’s taking advantage of her fans. Meanwhile, most of the Red Hot Chili Peppers have been openly bragging about sexual assault and statutory rape since the ’90s and they’re still headlining festivals.

And don’t even get me started on Britney Spears.

The Beatles’ “Now and Then”

I love The Beatles. They’re one of the foundational bands of rock music that permanently shaped its sound from that point forward along with Chuck Berry, Black Sabbath and Nirvana. That their incessant bickering ended the band so soon is a tragedy. I’ll always wonder what could have been if they’d stayed together.

All that said, the band needs to stay dead. None of this nonsense.

“Now and Then” was originally a home demo by John Lennon post-breakup, never intended to be a Beatles song. In 1995, it, along with “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” were fleshed out into full songs by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, but only the latter two released. Now they used the late Harrison’s guitar from that partial song with Lennon’s rough demo, along with AI to “refine” Lennon’s vocals, to make it a song.

Where to even begin.

I know Lennon and McCartney independently wrote Beatles songs, but the real heart of the band was the Lennon/McCartney partnership. Lennon’s seriousness tempered McCartney’s goofy side, and McCartney’s pop sensibilities lightened up Lennon’s heavy-bordering-on-pompous style. The combination made the thing.

Secondly, rumors remain about AI’s role in this song. If they used it to add new lyrics… it would just be weird. It’s not what he attended. It’s the audio version of Holo-Tupac. It’s weird! Stop it!

INSERT FOOT counterpoint: It was a great day for Beatles fans.

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Justin Timberlake, in general

Just… him in general. He was the worst, more than usual.

Going back to women being treated differently than men, when Timberlake ripped part of Janet Jackson’s shirt off during a Super Bowl halftime show despite it not being part of the plan, Jackson got blamed while Timberlake continued being famous and was invited back to the Super Bowl. He’s been getting away with nonsense at the expense of women ever since.

This year, after Britney Spears’ memoir made him look like the worst person in the world. Someone must have tipped him off because just before that he pulled out the big guns: He reunited N’Sync to appeal to nostalgia and distract people! For a movie about those weird troll dolls with the hair! And, for a while, it worked! Fortunately, while everyone loves N’Sync, and the other four guys need the money, it did not last forever. It took a week or two, but word of him forcing Spears to get an abortion and doing flagrant appropriation—and just being a jerk—finally spread. The novelty of a new N’Sync song died down, and he, for the moment, went into hiding.

Still, his music isn’t even very good! Why is he still a thing! I’m preemptively mad about his next comeback where everyone conveniently forgets everything.

The entirety of politics

All of politics. Everything. All of it! Here’s a partial list:

• The frontrunner for one of the major parties’ Presidential nomination denied reading Hitler after paraphrasing Hitler.

• Nazis are, like, everywhere.

• A full 1 percent of residents of Gaza are dead, almost all of whom are civilians, because Israel is bombing hospitals and refugee camps, as well as targeting poets and journalists.

• The richest person in the world is going full fascist even faster than before.

• Bigots are targeting trans people with laws, harassment and slander to such an extent that there are too many examples to share.

And so much more!

So good riddance to 2023. I’m not expecting 2024 to be any better, but I’ve said that for the past few years. I haven’t been wrong yet, but eventually I’ll probably be surprised.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis and send column ideas to him at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky. (He has some invites if you ask nicely).