2023: A Year in Review

It’s January here at Do You Know What I Love The Most?, and that means it’s time to sum up the last 12 months with Year End Lists! I’ll be devoting the rest of this month to rounding up and discussing the various media released in 2023 that meant the most to me — just like every other website on the internet! Isn’t that special?

I am an incredibly sentimental and nostalgic person. It’s probably no surprise, then, that “Best Of” Year End Lists are one of my absolute favorite things, a tradition I look forward to every year. Not only do these lists give me a chance to gush about some truly terrific stories and media (do not underestimate how much I love doing this; this newsletter is called Do You Know What I Love The Most?, after all), but they also give me a written record of each year to look back at, to help me remember what made each year so special and how they’ve helped me grow.

I’ve been especially looking forward to making these lists this year. As bad as 2023 was from a worldwide news standpoint (though I feel like I’ve been saying that every year that I’ve done these lists), it was a pretty exceptional year for new media, television and music especially. I’ve never had as much trouble whittling my shortlists down to 10-12 entries as I have this year; just know that for every entry I recommend, there’s a dozen others that nearly made the list, and hundreds of worthy pieces of media I never even got a chance to check out.

Before I jump into my formal lists, though, I always like to kick things off with a more general overview of my year from a personal and creative perspective. 2023 was the year my boyfriend and I moved in together, which is easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I can’t say there wasn’t an adjustment period, but truly, getting to see him every day has made every aspect of my life better, no exceptions. I somehow even managed to keep up with my standard media intake while also spending quite a bit of time being introduced to new shows, music, and YouTubers through my boyfriend; and I’ll tell you, nothing helps you get to know someone better than seeing what kind of random YouTube videos they throw on when they’re bored. My Meme horizons have been expanded exponentially!

Creatively, my greatest accomplishment this year was editing and publishing my first Zine about my favorite band, The Wonder Years.

Jesus Christ, I’m 36: Celebrating 10 Years of The Greatest Generation (A Wonder Years Zine) was a dream project, a chance to not only write about my favorite band, but to collaborate with 13 incredibly talented writers, artists, and friends. I’m so proud of how this turned out and how it was received. The original 200 copy print run has officially sold out, but if anybody is interested in a digital copy, feel free to reply to this post and/or email and I’ll happily send one your way.

I also appeared on the Shunned podcast — a series where survivors of religious cults and high control groups tell their stories in their own words — where I discussed what it was like to grow up gay and closeted as a Jehovah Witness and how I eventually broke the indoctrination and escaped.

I have nothing but endless appreciation for anyone who checks this out at any point, thank you for supporting me and my journey!

This newsletter was relatively quiet in 2023, but I’m incredibly proud of the work I did put out. Back in March, in conjunction with the release of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, I dug into the complicated and contentious history behind Shazam/Captain Marvel’s various names; it’s a tale with more twists and turns than the movie that inspired it. In August I dove into the discography of one of my all-time favorite bands, the criminally underrated Yellowcard, and recommended 20 songs to help you get to know who they are, what they sound like, and why they’re so important to me (and potentially you as well!). Finally, in November I undertook one of the most ambitious writing projects of my life, dropping blind reviews/recaps of every episode of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the excellent anime adaptation of the cult classic comic/movie. I wrote 8 reviews in 9 days and still haven’t recovered, but it’s one of the most unique writing experiences of my life and, if nothing else, helped me get far more out of the series than I would have just binging it in an afternoon. I’m so grateful to everyone who followed my recaps while they watched Takes Off.

As January continues we’ll tackle my favorite new albums, comic books, television shows, and movies of 2023, but first, I want to talk about a few notable 2023 releases that don’t fit neatly into any of those categories but which, nonetheless, became some of my most beloved experiences of the year:

NEWSLETTERS

In 2023, 3 events rocked the world of hardcore music: Turnstile was nominated for 3 Grammy awards (but did not win any), Militarie Gun lent their music to a Taco Bell commercial, and Norm Brannon re-launched his iconic Anti-Matter magazine as an online newsletter.

Now, I don’t listen to much hardcore, and I’m not even really a fan of Brannon’s most famous band, Texas Is The Reason, but I’ve nonetheless come to truly admire Brannon over the past few years, both as as one of the few gay elders this scene has and as one of the most passionate and articulate music writers working today. The Anti-Matter newsletter has re-established Brannon as the best interviewer in the biz; even when I’m not familiar with Brannon’s subject, he immediately establishes why I should care about them and finds a way to form a connection between interviewer, subject, and reader. Brannon just has a knack for getting to the heart of a subject and bringing out hidden depths of every person he speaks to; it’s heartfelt, compassionate, nuanced, and often heartbreaking writing, and I just can’t get enough of it. Anti-Matter is the highlight of my day every Tuesday and Thursday, and it should be yours too.

YOUTUBE

I watched…an embarrassing amount of YouTube this year.

For a few years now I’ve been following Jrose11, who, since 2020, has been attempting to complete solo runs of Pokemon Red and Blue with each of its 151 Pokemon (without glitches or in-game items!), as well as occasionally taking on other unique challenges in various Pokemon games. It’s an often fascinating project that has taught me so much about a game I thought I knew like the back of my hand, and if you have any nostalgia for this franchise at all, it’s worth checking out.

I also binged through the entirety of MistareFusion’s Dragonball Dissection, a project which interrogates the original Dragonball manga, as well as the Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT anime series and their movies, ranking and reviewing their various arcs while breaking down complicated translation issues, scrutinizing gaping plot holes and leaps in logic, and even throwing “Fashion Extravaganzas” every time the cast receives new outfits. I don’t always agree with MistareFusion’s stances, but I appreciate his unique take (for an American viewer) as a fan who appreciates Dragonball more for its humor, story, and characters than its action. Again, through this project I’ve learned so much about a series I thought I knew like the back of my hand.

MistareFusion has spent the majority of 2023 dissecting the much-maligned Dragonball GT — a series I hated so much that I wrote two novel length fan fictions trying to “fix” it in High School — and it’s been fascinating viewing the series though the lens of someone who actually appreciates what it’s trying to do, even while still acknowledging its myriad faults. Again, if you have any nostalgia for this franchise at all, then Dragonball Dissection is worth your time.

BOOKS

This year I blazed through all 464 pages of Where Are Your Boys Tonight? The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 by Chris Payne, a tome that chronicles a fascinating decade in music history, when emo rose from a much-maligned niche genre to an unstoppable mainstream juggernaut, only to be crushed under the weight of its own success. It’s all there — the earnest DIY scenes in New Jersey, Chicago, Long Island, and Florida that first garnered the genre mainstream recognition, the unprecedented overnight fame of bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, the over-saturation of the genre and the utter incompetence of major labels — and it’s all told through the words of the people who lived it firsthand. If you’re the kind of person who wants to know which member of Panic! at the Disco was Kenny Vasoli’s favorite, or the story behind Cobra Starship’s Snakes on a Plane music video or Cartel’s Band in a Bubble TV show or how the hell Fall Out Boy got Jay-Z to appear on Infinity on High, then this is the book for you. But if you’re just a fan of “Behind the Music” style music industry intrigue, this is the book for you too! I can’t recommend it highly enough.

CONCERTS

This year I spent more time than ever doing my favorite thing: watching live music. I attended a record 37 shows in 2023; here’s my 11 favorite:

Magazine Beach w/Knope at Comet Ping Pong, Washington D.C., 5/13/23
We Are The Union, Catbite, Kill Lincoln, Bad Operation at Union Stage, Washington DC, 6/28/23
Yellowcard at Stone Pony Summer Stage, Asbury Park NJ, 7/6/23
New Found Glory, The Starting Line, The Get Up Kids at The Mann Skyline Stage, Philadelphia PA, 8/17/23
Loneliest Place on Earth Fest (The Wonder Years w/Origami Angel, Laura Stevenson, Sweet Pill, Anxious, Kississippi, Action/Adventure) at Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia PA, 9/9/23
Jeff Rosenstock w/Chris Farren, Sidney Gish, Gladie, Diners at the Fillmore Philadelphia, 9/10/23
Tiger’s Jaw at Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA, 10/12/23
JER w/S.M.N, Free Kick, Omnigone at Comet Ping Pong, Washington D.C., 10/24/23
Hot Mulligan w/Heart Attack Man, Spanish Love Songs at the Fillmore Philadelphia, 11/17/23
State Champs (Playing “The Finer Things” in full) at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, 12/7/23
The Wonder Years (New Year’s Celebration) at TLA, Philadelphia PA, 12/31/23

The Wonder Years continued to be my musical North Star throughout 2023. Their Loneliest Place on Earth Fest was perhaps the highlight of my year, an event that brought together dozens of people I love as well as seven incredible bands, played one of my all-time favorite records from front to back, featured the live debut of two different Wonder Years songs¹, and which inspired me to create my first Zine! I also had the privilege of attending their New Years Eve concert (it sold out in 3 minutes!), and I can’t think of a better way to usher in 2024 than moshing to “Came Out Swinging” at 12:00 AM, 1/1/24. I’m considering it a blessing of only good things to come, and will hear nothing different.

Aside from that, my favorite live music moment of 2023 came courtesy of two Japanese Ska bands, S.M.N. and Free Kick, that I saw play in the back of a pizza shop in Washington D.C. I wasn’t at all familiar with either band (I was at the show to see JER, who put out one of my favorite records of 2022), but they absolutely blew me away, not just with their music, but with their attitude. Neither band spoke much English, but they found ways to communicate, be it with gestures, with music, or just with their sheer enthusiasm and passion. These two bands turned Ska into a universal language, a way to connect with people from across the world that they otherwise had nothing in common with, and I found it exhilarating, inspirational, breathtaking. It hammers home for me how powerful music can be, how effective it is at building community and bringing people together, and that’s a lesson I hope I can carry with me into 2024.

Okay guys, that’s it for now; see you in a few days to talk about my Top Records of 2023!

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Do You Know What I Love the Most’s “Best Of 2023” series:

2023: A Year In Review
Top Albums of 2023
Top Comics of 2023 (Part 1)
Top Comics of 2023 (Part 2)
Top Television of 2023 (Part 1)
Top Television of 2023 (Part 2)
Top Movies of 2023 (Part 1)
Top Movies of 2023 (Part 2)
2023: A Playlist

To read previous “Best Of” entries for 2020-2022, click this link to browse the directory!

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ABOUT

“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin about his relationship with the stories he loves. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!

1. “The Paris of Nowhere” and “GODDAMNITALL”