George W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the United States on January 20, 2001. Seventeen days later, we humbly launched Glorious Noise.

A lot of shit has gone down in the past seven years. Some good shit, some really bad shit. But here we all are. Thanks for sticking with us.

I remember back in 2003, I received an email from Johnny where he linked to a message on another online music zine from its editor, announcing the opening of their new office space and ambitious redesign efforts for the near future. They were moving forward “while we’re putting solidly along.”

Here was my reply from June 27, 2003:

Guys, I’m home sick today and a little fucked up on cough medicine so just ignore me if I stop making sense.

Number one: “Pitchfork has existed for over seven years now.” GLONO has existed for two and a half years. See what I’m saying? Who knows where we’ll be in three years? Maybe the same place, maybe not. We’re still getting more and more new visitors every month without fundamentally changing the amount of effort we put into it. That’s a good sign.

Number two: Pitchfork is clearly becoming what Addicted to Noise, my favorite website ever, was in the mid-90s. They’ve got the news, they’ve got the reviews. I go there every day to read their headlines and they’re providing a really great service in that. Whatever, they’re doing a great job so good for them.

I went on to describe the fundamental differences between what Pitchfork was doing and what we do. Then I signed off with a pledge to recruit more writers, more advertisers, and to make myself some Toaster Scrambles.

Well here we are, seven years old now, and we’re still putting solidly along. More solidly than ever thanks to our fine contributors and regular readers. But a lot has changed on the internet and in the music industry in the past seven years.

When we started GLONO, Napster was still roaring in its original incarnation. Now, filesharing has been driven deeply underground and Amazon sells MP3s. The Backstreet Boys, Enya, and Creed were still selling millions and millions of albums in 2001. That doesn’t happen anymore. The major labels know they’re doomed.

There was no such thing as an “MP3 blog” in 2001. Now there are hundreds of them. It’s easier for people to find out about and listen to new music. And it’s easier and cheaper for bands to record and release new music. Everyone says that finding a good, reliable filter that you can trust is going to be the Next Big Thing. We try to let you know about the good stuff we stumble across, but I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have the time, the patience, or the inclination to listen to much of the stuff that piles up in the PO Box, the Inbox, or the RSS reader.

So we need our readers to tell us about the good stuff as much as the readers need us. Tip us off and we’ll check it out and spread the love.

So yeah. That’s the plan. We’re going to continue to putt solidly along for the foreseeable future. At least until a new president is sworn in…

Previous birthdays:

• 2002: Happy Birthday to Glorious Noise!

• 2003 :Terrible Twos: Happy Birthday to Us!

• 2004: Happy Birthday! Three is a Magic Number!

• 2005: Glorious Noise is Four Years Old

• 2006 (belated): The Black and Orange Ball: GLONO’s Fifth Birthday Party

• 2007: Happy Sixth Birthday to Glorious Noise