I had wondered if the shakeup in the music staff at the Village Voice would mean the end of the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, but according to a story in today's New York Times about an upstart rival poll, the Voice plans to go ahead with the poll.

For those not paying attention earlier this year, after New Times Media purchased the Voice, it let go several staffers, including Music Editor Chuck Eddy and critic Robert Christgau. Because Christgau had overseen the poll, it seemed likely that it would go by the wayside. Instead, there now will be two polls: Pazz & Jop and the new Jackin' Pop poll from Idolator.com, a music blog that is part of the Gawker Media family.

The more the merrier, of course, though I wonder if, in this age of bloggers and Metacritic and other instant-criticism outlets, there is still a need for these polls. Oh, who am I kidding. Of course there is. No matter now many lists there are out there, I'll always read one more. Music obsessives are always after two things: Confirmation of their own good taste and news about new things that might possibly conform to that taste. There is nothing better than a year-end list to supply plenty of fodder for both.

Stay tuned here in the next couple of weeks for my own list. For an idea of what's to come, last year's list can be found here.

Labels: lists, music