So Much for "Every Album I Own Reviews"

This is it.
Over 2,000 reviews--2,016 entries to be exact, some featuring multiple reviews. 

Nearly 250,000 views. 

1,500 comments. 

Ten years and 12 days of work.
Back on July 15, 2011, I decided on a whim to review my entire music collection. I had no idea how many albums I'd go through, how long it would take me, if I'd even finish. I made up rules as I went along, generally avoiding reviewing albums I picked up after I started the series, unless those albums were by a band like say, Weezer, who had released eight original full-lengths by the time I started this series in 2011, and 15(!!!) by the time I finally got to them earlier this year.
I cannot stress this enough: I loved writing these. At times, this was a way for me to remember the first 30 years of my life--I turned 30 in 2011, and I'm turning 40 this year! They were also a great way for me to process my 30's as they were happening, particularly in 2014, when I was having a rough go of it. I want to thank some of the bands I covered, who supported me early on. Craig's Brother promoted all of the reviews I wrote for their albums. So did the Dingees. I was never able to figure out who got the word out on an Iron and Wine review I wrote, but I'm thankful for whoever in that camp sent attention my way--some of that traffic hung around for quite awhile. Speaking of traffic...
Blogging died shortly after I began writing this series. I don't think this is an exaggeration. The Nicsperiment was almost seven years in when I started "Every Album I Own," and blogging as a popular mode of communicating seemed to be on its last breaths at about that time. A lot of my friends and relatives were still posting stuff then, but fell off just a year or two later--now they just caption pictures on their Instagrams. 

My traffic started decreasing and shifting to people landing here from search engines at about that time. My only regret with this series is that I only discovered Twitter as a tool for promotion seven years in. In 2018, I finally created a Twitter account for the page and started hashtagging bands and album titles, while tweeting links to my reviews as I wrote them. After that, I saw traffic return back to, and even surpass previous levels. I only wish I had been doing that the whole ten years--I know there are some smaller bands I praised who would have loved to have read the reviews I wrote for their work. Oh, well.

Nothing's perfect.
I've seen reviews posted by major publications that I know tens of thousands of people have read, and yet those reviews received zero comments. I'd like to thank Graham Wall and Neal (and Jessica) Gilbert Redman for consistently dropping by here to interact, Jonathan Robker, Jordan Courtney, as well as anyone else who's commented over the years. Extra special, super mega shoutout to David Loti, for helping The Nicsperiment financially when he didn't even realize it needed it. Also, I'd like to thank anyone, anywhere, who has linked to anything I've written for this series, retweeted, etc.
When I started "Every Album I Own," I was on my way to Perdido Key, Florida, for a trip with my wife and son. My wife and I had been married for nearly five years, and my son was almost two. My wife and I have now been married for nearly 15 years and my son is nearly 12. Over the past decade, I went back to school and started a new career. I moved out to the country and moved back to the city again. I ran three marathons; I'll hopefully run many more. I learned how to box. I co-host a podcast. I felt a lot of heartache and pain, and I felt a lot of triumph and joy. LSU finally beat those stupid Bammers and won another national championship. 

Now, upon this occasion, for the first time in ten years, I again sit in a condo on the beach at Perdido Key. Full circle. Pretty incredible serendipity. 

When all is said and done, I am 100% happy that I saw this through completion, and 100% happy that it is over. This was a huge commitment of time, effort, and mental energy. I skipped out on reviewing countless films and video games in order to do this, as well as current music releases. I don't regret it, but I am looking forward to what the future brings to the Nicsperiment. 

To fully close this series, I am going to post a few lists and retrospectives in the next couple of days. That's how I'll close out the month of July, 2021 on The Nicsperiment. I've got a series coming up that will run throughout the rest of 2021, where I'll be going through Brian Raftery's Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen, while reviewing every film he discusses in that book. I'll also be reviewing almost every film I see, and video game I play through. Basically, I'll be doing anything I want, not limited by any ongoing, ten-year series.
"Every Album I Own" was the impetus to keep The Nicsperiment going through a period of time where blogging died. It also kept me, a creative writing major in college, writing...period.

The last piece of serious fiction I wrote was completed several months before this series began. In the spring of 2011, I was the runner-up in a national fiction contest. For some reason, coming as close as possible to winning, while not winning, killed my creative drive. My desire to write seemed to be extinguished. 

This series sparked new embers in a limitless woodpile, reignited the flame. 

Thanks to it, I have the fire to keep this website going as long as I've got a place to host it.
Thank you.