Playboy's Music Poll 2006

In a few years we may recall 2006 as the end of an era. It marked the final days of a decads-old ritual familiar to all but the youngest music heads: pissing away the afternoon at your favorite record shop. We realized recently it had been six months since we last stopped in a music store--and then realized our regular store had closed down at some point during those six months. No wonder the chains have abandoned CDs in favor of DVDs, video games and merchandise. Say what you want about the sound quality of MP3s, but the electronic distribution of music is a fait accompli. A lit major may try to suggest that the amorphous, technological nature of our new computerbased music consumption has led to a reactionary return to primitivist rock and roll. We just say, "Hell yeah." Good old-fashioned geetars screeched out across dorm rooms and clubs as they hadn't for years. And as if a memo had gone out after Mariah Carey resurrected her career last year, a slew of other divas also tried to creep back into the limelight: Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jessica Simpson, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera--even Justin Timberlake came out of retirement. They were joined by a squad of would-be next-generation starlets, led by team captains Rihanna, Ciara and Cassie. But of all the luscious ladies making noise this year, we enjoyed Nelly Furtado (right) the most. There's something compelling about her grown-up version of the good-girl-gone-bad story line. And promiscouous is one of our favorite words when uttered by a hot brunette. As James Blunt would say. Nelly, "You're beautiful." But forget us. Let's talk about you. This is your chance to vote in our annual music poll and tell the world where the industry can stuff those last few CDs. Vote early and vote often. Rock and roll!

Here's the official ballot. Rip it out. Vote and then mail it in. You can tick off boxes or. If you think you're so damn smart, write in your own favorite artists. Still too much trouble? You can also vote online > playboy.com/magazine

Check Boxes For Favorite In Each Category

Best Rock Album

? Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chili Peppers

? Sam's Town, The Killers

? Still The Same, Rod Stewart

? The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance

? 10,000 Days, Tool

? Write-In Vote:

Best Hip-Hop Album

? Fishscale, Ghostface Killah

? My Ghetto Report Card, E-40

? The Big Bang, Busta Rhymes

? Game Theory, The Roots

? King, T.I.

? Write-In Vote:

Best Electronic Album

? Destroy Rock & Roll, Mylo

? The Eraser, Thom Yorke

? Paper Tigers, Luomo

? The Warning, Hot Chip

? Sexor, Tiga

? Write-In Vote:

Best Country Album

? Precious Memories, Alan Jackson

? Taking The Long Way, Dixie Chicks

? Live Thiose Songs Again, kenny Chesney

? Real Fine Place, Sara Evans

? Black Cadillac, Rosanne Cash

? Write-In Vote:

Best Jazz Album

? Out Louder, Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood

? Soune Gramar, Ornette Coleman

? Braggtown, Branford Marshals

? House On Hill, Brad Mehldau

? Time Lines, andrew Hill

? Write-in vote:

Best Soundtrack Album

? Idlewild

? American Hardcore

? Curious George

? The Last Kiss

? Stick It

? Write-In Vote:

Best World Music Album

? Youth, Matisyahu

? My Name Is Gyptian, Gyptian

? Universo Ad Meu Redor, Marisa Montes

? Lamp Fall, Cheikh Lo

? Jmt, Vybz Kartel

? Write-In Vote:

Best Song

? "You're Beautiful," James Blunt

? "Promiscuous," Nelly Furtado

? "Crazy," Gnarls Barkley

? "Sexyback," Justin Timberlake

? "Gold Digger," Kanye West

? Write-In Vote:

Best Live Act

? George Strait

? Rascal Flatts

? Nickelback

? Fall Out Boy

Pearl Jam

? Write-In Vote:

Best New Artist

? Panici At The Disco

? Arctic Monkeys

? Editors

? Gnarls Barkley

? Lupe Fiasco

? Write-in Vote:

Best Reissue Album

? Merle Haggard Series

? Pet Sounds 40th, The Beach Boys

? Ice Cream For Crow, Captain Beefheart

? Pinkflag (America), Wire

? Psychocandy, The Jesus and Mary Chain

? Write-In Vote:

Hall of Fame 2006

? R.E.M.

More than 25 years on, R.E.M. is issuing a major retrospective of the first part of its career, to remind us why it ruled the indie scene in the 1980s: The jangling guitars and Michael Stipe's murmured vocals and brooding lyrics about, say. Cleveland's burning Cuyahoga River, still impress. And original member Bill Berry rejoined the band for its induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in September.

? Sonic Youth

While R.E.M. looked back to bring music forward in the 1980s. Sonic Youth looked to outer space, harnessing detuned guitars and white noise to make a sound both thrillingly unfamiliar and really loud. The band threw open the floodgates of alt-rock creativity, prefiguring grunge, shoegazing and the psych-out strangeness of acts like the Flaming Lips. And this year the combo put out yet another noisy, cool album.

? Morrissey

He is the sun and the air. He is human and he needs to be loved. The Manchester warbler transcends the mopey genre he helped create through the maudlin songs he wrote with the most important British band of the 1980s, the Smiths. His self-pitying lyrics gave birth to Kurt Cobain's bathos, emo and whole swaths of today's music. (But don't blame him for that.) And with this year's solo LP, the second great one in a row. Moz shows he's still as good as ever.

? Depeche Mode

This band should have been a one-hit blip-pop wonder, the answer to a 1980s trivia question. Instead it has embarked on one of the most adventurous music careers of all time, constantly mastering new technology, writing dozens of stirring songs and charming millions of fans all over the world. This year DM toured an amazing new album and put out its first-ever best-of compilation.

? Joan Jett

It's baffling that she's not always mentioned in the same breath as Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols, because Joan Jett is that punk. And unlike those more revered artists, she has managed commercial success, as well. Talk about good taste: This year's album features a cover of "Androgynous," originally by the Replacements! We know she loves rock and roll. If you do too, go see her live immediately.

? Write-in Vote:

Hoop, There it is

Miami's DJ Irie Started a courtside craze

DJ Irie became the fist-ever official NBA team DJ when the Miami Heat plucked him from the local club scene and set him up with a couple of turntables in a courtside booth. Now that the team has added a championship trophy to the arena's hardware, the rest of the league is scrambling to catch up.

Playboy: How did you get into deejaying?

Irie: I went to school in Jamaica for a few years, and I ended up living with a family who owned the nightclub in town. I was 14, in the club, getting to see how the DJ rocked the party. Reggae DJs put on a show like live performers. They're on the mike; they use all sorts of sound effects. I took that animated style back to Miami.

Playboy: How did you become the Heat's official DJ?

Irie: When the team moved into its state-of-the-art arena, it wanted new entertainment, and one idea was to get a DJ. A guy on the committee making these decisions used to come to one of my clubs every Saturday, one of the hottest clubs on the beach. He convinced me to do it. My first game, I bombed! It was bad. I thought they were going to carry me out of the arena. But I got better and better. After a couple of months, the fans were giving me great reviews. Now I've done six seasons. The biggest nod to how well it has worked out came when the Golden State Warriors called me and said, "Listen, we've seen you in action a couple of times, and we want to bring that same element. Can you help us get somebody for our team?" Since then DJs have started at Golden State and in Indiana, Sacramento, Philly, Cleveland and New Jersey--all across the NBA.

Playboy: Do the Heat players make requests?

Irie: No doubt! These guys love hip-hop. But one game, Shaq sent the ball boy over to tell me to play Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone." Everyone knows Shaq is a comedian, so I thought he was just joking. But when I put on the song, he went nuts, jumping around, getting all hype. It was the funniest thing.

Wood Vibrations

Jam, on it: Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood

Despite their chops, Medeski, Martin & Wood were never your dad's jazz band. Their catholic testes--taking in rock, funk, reggae, trip-hop and even loops and turntablism--have made the improvisational trio a hipster favorite among the jam-band and chill-out crowds. The group signed to Blue Note in the 1990s, but it was a spot on the Horde tour, a sort of jam-band Ozzfest, that put them over the top 10 years ago. This year the boys--John Medeski, Billy Martin and Chris Wood--teamed up with guitar guru John Scofield for one of the biggest jazz records in years, Out Louder.

Playboy: You guys cover Peter Tosh's Marijuana anthem "Legalize It." Do all jam-band guys get high?

Medeski: It's all musicians. We've all experimented with things. None of us can do it like we used to--at a certain point it catches up with you. But it's important to expand your mind.

Playboy: Scofield, you've worked with jazz legends Charles Mingus, Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan. You also played with Miles Davis, who was notoriously hard on musicians. Ever get slammed by him?

Scofield: If you were in Miles's band, you got burned and slammed. It was part of the deal. He would do that, and then the next day he would usually compliment you greatly. He was our idol, so we put up with the stinging criticism and verbal abuse. Some guys in the band weren't jazz guys; they were from the R&B world, and he wouldn't mess with them because they would quit right away if he pulled that shit on them.

Playboy: Do you guys ever just want to end the jam and play a three-minute pop song?

Medeski: It's not in my nature to play something the way somebody else did. I'd rather come up with something of my own or find a way to make it personal. I want to do what these people do; I don't want to just do what these people did. Jamming is also a great way to work and get ideas.

Great Scot

Rod Stewart Returns to Ragged Glory

Rejoice: The grittiest voice of the original British Invasion is belting out rock and roll again. For all of us who hold a special place in our record collection for his work with the Faces and his soulful, raucous solo outings during the "Maggie May' era, the turn from jazz standards to his Gasoline Alley origins is a heap of good news.

Playboy: The four volumes of your Great American Songbook standards collection sold a total of 14 million copies. Did you know it would sell that well?

Stewart: Not at all. Before the first one was released I tried to back out. I felt like a rock-and-roll traitor. I didn't know how people were going to accept the songs.

Playboy: How did the idea for this album come about?

Stewart: Originally I wanted to do a white soul album, which eventually I'll get around to, but it was time for a rock album. There's no "Stairway to Heaven" or "Brown Sugar" on it. The songs are all ones we felt needed a revisit.

Playboy: Which of the songs was the toughest?

Stewart: Cat Stevens's "Father and Son" was a hard one, but the rest of them were easy. It's the way Cat jumps into almost a falsetto when he does the boy's part: that was the most difficult thing. I'd love to hear how Cat handles that now, since he recorded it in the 1970s.

Playboy: You've covered Stevens before. Is he a favorite writer of yours?

Stewart: Yes, he's always been. I think "The First Cut Is the Deepest" is the first of his songs I did, back in 1976. I've admired him for a long time. I always refer to him onstage as "my friend, the terrorist."

Playboy: You're a great songwriter. Do you still write?

Stewart: It's difficult to get airplay these days when you're in my age group. Elton John, Paul Simon, the Stones and Paul McCartney have all written great songs recently, but none of their singles made it into the top 20. It's a strange phenomenon, but it's hard to get airplay for new stuff. Still, I'd like to try it sometime again.

Hot Tunes

Go get these overlooked gems of 2006

Vote and hear clip at playboy.com/magazine.

Playboy's Music Poll 2006, PO Box 11236, Chicago, Illionis 60611