This month I’m featuring my top 20 albums of the past decade, to celebrate 10 years of This Must Be Pop! Click here to see all the Decade of Pop posts so far.
The Best Damn Thing was a turning point for me and Avril. It wasn’t just that I’d never liked her before, but I actively disliked her. However, I always keep an open mind when it comes to new music, whoever it’s by, especially if my favourite writers or producers are involved. When I first heard Girlfriend its brilliance was undeniable. There’s a lot more cheeky, chanty girl songs around these days (Taylor Swift, Cher Lloyd, Icona Pop etc) but at the time it was just the brash burst of infectious teenpop that I was looking for.
The Best Damn Thing includes six tracks co-written and produced by Dr Luke, and it’s the archetype of his energetic pop-rock sound. There are also three tracks by Butch Walker which fit in seamlessly. The album has both full-on, upbeat and attitude-filled moments such as Everything Back But You and the title track, and strong modern power ballads like Innocent and When You’re Gone. I’m not terribly optimistic about Avril’s next album, especially considering her relationship with the lead singer of Nickelback, but if there’s at least one song that could have been on The Best Damn Thing (like What The Hell from her disappointing latest album Goodbye Lullaby) I’ll be happy.