Kinan Dak Albab

Assistant Professor

SPACE Lab
Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, Boston University
Office: CDS 1336
Email: babman [at] bu [dot] edu

Interests: Computer systems, privacy-conscious systems, security, applied cryptography.

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Test of Time Award

A play on our field's Test of Time awards -- given to papers that have aged well. Here I hand the honor to the songs that have stood the test of time for me: for each release year, my top picks as judged at the end of that year, then 1, 5, 10, and 20 years on.

Awards for older years are recollections from memory and may be biased. These years have only one song.

Insights

• "Laid to Rest" by Lamb of God is the undisputed modern metal classic. It's the only song on this list to place at every single checkpoint, end of year through +20.
• Only two songs have ever staged a real comeback, i.e., dropped off the list, then fought their way back on: "Anthem for No State" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor (missing at +5, back by "now") and "My Curse" by Killswitch Engage (missing at +10, back by +20).
• Two artists and albums pulled off the same trick returning after a gap on the strength of a different song each time: Steven Wilson's Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015) and Leprous's Bilateral (2011).
• Only two artists ever landed two songs on the same checkpoint at once: Lingua Ignota, with "MAN IS LIKE A SPRING FLOWER" and "THE ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS" at the +5 mark for 2021, and Steven Wilson, with "Hand. Cannot. Erase." and "Happy Returns" both landing at +10 for 2015.
• Survival is brutal: only 23% of an end of year picks (12 of 52) are still there by the most recent checkpoint recorded for that year. But it gets easier the longer you last: of the songs that reach +5, only 38% (16 of 42) hold on to +10 (or "now"), while of the songs that reach +10, 53% (16 of 30) hold on to +20 (or "now").
• Non-metal songs gain ground the further out you look, regardless of which year you're in: they're 17% of the picks at end-of-year, dip to 18-25% through +1 and +5, then climb to 23% at +10 and 42% at +20 (or "now"). The list's long-term view is close to twice as non-metal as its in-the-moment one.