Adult Content

This year, a lot of things got put into perspective within the music industry. Of course, September 11 affected the public's appetite for entertainment of any sort, but even before the tragic events of that day, the music-buying public was clearly beginning to embrace less flippant, more earnest sounds. Pop's reigning titans, N'Sync, saw the first-week sales of their latest album, Celebrity, drop by a full million units from what they tallied in 2000, when their last effort debuted. Likewise, Britney Spears saw close to a 50 percent drop from last year in her opening-week sales, while a slew of teen-oriented acts from Blink-182 and Jessica Simpson to 98 Degrees and Mandy Moore underperformed or flat-out bombed.

Who benefited from the ebbing of teen pop? The more sophisticated, seductive R&B crowd. With newcomers like Alicia Keys, India.arie, Musique Soulchild, City High, Tank, Jaheim, and Tyrese all hitting gold or platinum, while vets such as Mary J. Blige, Maxwell, Angie Stone, and Faith Evans continued to post big numbers, 2001 was a banner year for soul.

In rock, the biggest seller was the aptly titled Break The Cycle by the solemn Staind, followed by Hybrid Theory from the equally straight-faced Linkin Park.

The success of these more sobering acts wasn't due to the fact that folks forgot how to smile or somehow got over the pleasure of watching Britney jiggle. Quite the contrary, balancing the saccharine overload of the class of 2000 with a bit more gravity this year made lighthearted records like Sum 41's All Killer No Filler all the more fun. And that's really what music boils down to: fun. With that in mind, here are a few of the records that gave us some good times in a year that was often a bit short on them.

Pop/Rock1. Bob Dylan, Love and Theft (Columbia) -- Its very superfluousness is what makes it an essential Dylan album. Coming after the Minnesota death trip of Time Out of Mind, and in an era when we need Dylan to be at his most playful, its timeliness renders it timeless.

2. R.E.M., Reveal (Warner Bros.) -- Appropriately, this understated album's charms are divulged over time.

3. Björk, Vespertine (Elektra) -- The aural hums tickle your ear, the scratchy thumps caress your skull. It's a massage for the brain and beyond.

4. Macy Gray, The Id (Epic) -- Freaky, squeaky, and cheeky, Gray's sophomore album carries R&B into outer space -- and brings it back, less grounded after the trip.

5. Eve, Scorpion (Interscope) -- "Let Me Blow Ya Mind"? Consider it blown.

6. India.arie, Acoustic Soul (Motown) -- Baby Badu, with more range.

7. Maxwell, Now (Columbia) -- Because he doesn't just want to get you into bed. Or, if we're totally naive and he really does, because his come-ons are so damn clever.

8. Angie Stone, Mahogany Soul (J) -- She's the one sista without a gimmick. Unless singing your ass off counts.

9. Ryan Adams, Gold (Lost Highway) --He's prolific to a fault, occasionally unwieldy, and an unreliable fuckup. But he's also one of our best songwriters. Sharp and tuneful.

10. Alicia Keys, Songs in A Minor (J) -- Subtle, wise beyond her 20 years, and full of potential. -- Michael Gallucci

Hip-Hop1. Buck 65, Man Overboard (Anticon) -- Lo-fi white-boy rap that's introspective and quirky throughout, but not intentionally obscure, like lots of the prolific and buzzed-about Anticon family.

2. Pep Love, Ascension (Hiero Imperium) -- Oakland's Hieroglyphics crew makes a triumphant return by way of Pep Love's insanely on-beat flow.

3. M.F. Doom, Operation Doomsday (Subverse) -- Saturday morning cartoons for backpacker hip-hop heads, and Doom has an ill warbling voice and a strange cadence.

4. Gold Chains, Gold Chains (Orthlorng Musork) -- San Francisco's balls-to-the-wall rapper/punk shouter Gold Chains also makes beats like Timbaland with sand in his drum machine. So tasty.

5. Prefuse 73, Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives (Warp) -- With chopped-up instrumentals and a few modulated guest emcee spots, Prefuse pulls off the most convincing hip-hop/electronic music hybrid yet.

6. Princess Superstar, Princess Superstar Is (Corrupt Conglomerate) -- The female Eminem gives tribute to bad baby-sitters and male hoes everywhere. Someone had to.

7. Aesop Rock, Labor Days (Def Jux) -- This Lower East Sider weaves a convoluted web of oblique metaphors and polysyllabic nothingness -- overwhelming, supremely abstract, and worthy of many thorough listens.

8. Cormega, The Realness (Landspeed) -- Just when the whole Queensbridge thug rap thing seemed bankrupt of new ideas, Cormega blindsides doubters with this morose, claustrophobic graphic novel.

9. The Coup, Party Music (75 Ark) -- While the beats are a little lacking, Boots's unwaveringly political and inspirational verses are unparalleled on the nontopical hip-hop landscape.

10. Ghostface Killah, Bulletproof Wallets (Epic) -- What seems on the surface like Ghost's attempt at an R&B crossover is in fact the strangest Wu record yet -- and totally without precedent. -- Darren Keast

Hard Rock/Punk1. Tool, Lateralus (Volcano) -- If confusion is sex, as Sonic Youth once posited, then the monolithic, mystifying Lateralus is an orgy. Should be sold with a pack of cigarettes.