I’m starting a new blog series where I dive into the early 2010’s and late 2000’s. I was getting ready to graduate, figuring out which college I would go to, and everything was such a simpler time. Today I’ll be looking at my favorite album and, in my opinion, the greatest album of all time, Man On The Moon: The End of Day by Kid Cudi.
I know that the GOAT discussion about anything is extremely touchy. People are ready to fistfight over LeBron versus Jordan, Godfather 2 versus The Empire Strikes Back. So when I say this is the GOAT album, I’m ready to fistfight people over it. I’m not the only one who has ranked it extremely high Rolling Stones ranked it number 459 on its list of 500 greatest albums. I don’t want to argue, but Rolling Stones has no idea what the fuck they are talking about.
Man On The Moon came out in September of 2009. It, of course, has its huge hits like Pursuit of Happiness, Soundtrack 2 My Life, Make Her Say, and Day N Night. I’ve written about how Pursuit of Happiness Remix by Steve Aoki is the greatest party song of all time, but the original isn’t my favorite song on the album. My favorite song is a deep cut called Cudi Zone. “Everybody wanna be a critic. I have my life, and I will live it. Shut your mouth before I fuck it.” Most albums you can’t listen to from start to end. There are always some duds along the way that either has an artist you hate featured on or the song just sucks. Not with Man On The Moon, well, for 99% of the album. I love every song and Kid Cudi, but I hate Hyyerr. That song just sucks, but it’s the very last song, so you just skip that, and you’re back to In My Dreams.
This album was released during my formative years, and that’s probably why I love it so much. Man On The Moon was the perfect album to smoke to, and songs like Up Up and Away were perfect for a drinking playlist. Kid Cudi captured the depression and anxiety of not knowing what the fuck my entire generation was going to do with their life. You know who that hits with his high school students and college kids who are staring at a life they have no idea what to do with. One reviewer said it better than I ever will what Man On The Moon is about “lonely guy sits in his room and dreams of success. He uses drugs to calm his fears and fend off night terrors. He eventually gets recognized as the star he always knew he was and lives the superstar life… or maybe he’s still dreaming about that stage of his life, and we’re just witnessing what his dreams sound like.”
Man On The Moon is by far Kid Cudi’s greatest album. There have been songs sprinkled out over the years that are great that I’ll listen to, but nothing ever captured Man On The Moon. Maybe that’s a me issue. I’m no longer that depressed, anxious 15 years old who had no idea what to do with his life. Instead, I’m a depressed, anxious 26-year-old. This is my love letter to Man On The Moon and Kid Cudi in general.
