'INAPPROPRIATE' OR NOT, IT WAS WHAT WE NEEDED TO HEAR.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

Ten days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bruce Springsteen stood on a candle-lit stage and strummed the opening chords to ``My City of Ruins.'' Written months before, the song about the redevelopment of Asbury Park, N.J., took on a new context and comforted a hurting nation.

But the poignancy of Springsteen's song reflected what would be the mood for the next two hours during the subdued ``America: A Tribute to Heroes'' telethon simulcast on nearly 40 networks, 8,000 radio stations and various Internet channels.

It was the first of the all-star tribute concerts. And the quietest. There was no audience or host. No commercials. Just a stream of heart-wrenching words and performances from notables of the entertainment, music and sports worlds who, as actor Tom Hanks said, were ``here to raise spirits and, we hope, a great deal of money.''

In fact, they raised more than $150 million for the survivors and families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Partly thanks to celebrities' comforting words, but mostly because of the music.

The irony is that some of the songs performed that night had only days earlier made the headlines because entertainment conglomerate Clear Channel suggested them inappropriate given the mood of the country.

John Lennon's ``Imagine'' was on the list, but Neil Young played it anyway. He sat at a piano on a stage not unlike the one Springsteen had performed on before him and mournfully sang.

Another memorable performance was Paul Simon's hymnlike rendition of ``Bridge Over Troubled Waters.'' It, too, was a song that Clear Channel thought radio stations might want to hold off playing for a while.

Hearing ``Imagine'' and ``Bridge Over Troubled Waters'' performed just 10 days after the atrocities of Sept. 11 probably brought tears to the eyes of some of the 89 million viewers who tuned in to watch the telethon that night. But so did hearing Wyclef Jean resurrect Bob Marley's ``Redemption Song'' or Alicia Keys sing Donny Hathaway's gospel-pop classic ``Someday We'll All Be Free'' or seeing Mariah Carey re-emerge from her emotional breakdown to perform ``Hero.'' And it was appropriate for the way America was feeling at the time.

While the past few months have been dominated by these quiet and reflective songs, there has also been a return to listening to the music that deserves to be heard simply because it's too good to ignore.

The top 10 albums of the year:

1. Aterciopelados, ``Gozo Poderoso'': Lounge pop with a twist of Colombian folk and electronic music for flavor.

2. Alicia Keys, ``Songs in A Minor'': Piano-driven hip-hop doused with vintage r&b and classical.

3. Gorillaz, ``Gorillaz'': Virtual rock stars' trippy rhythms pulsate with jazz, hip-hop and thrash-pop. With Blur's Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth, ``Buena Vista Social Club'' featured artist Ibrahim Ferrer and rapper Del the Funky Homosapien.

4. Gillian Welch, ``Time (The Revelator)'': What Welch describes as ``tiny rock songs'' but clearly grounded in old-timey American roots music.

5. Leonard Cohen, ``Ten New Songs'': A poetic vision of comings and goings above all else.

6. Rufus Wainwright, ``Poses'': A singer-songwriter who fearlessly throws himself into his cabaret-pop.

7. Juanes, ``Fijate Bien'': Straight-ahead Spanish rock combined with the sweet rhythms and bitter sociopolitical realities of Colombia that we can all relate to.

8. Craig David, ``Born to Do It'': Terrence Trent D'Arby for the new century.

9. Manu Chao, ``Proxima Estacion: Esperanza'': Fuzzy transistor radio- quality Caribbean and Latin tunes from France's answer to Ernest Hemingway.

10. Various Artists, ``Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the Music of Mississippi John Hurt'': Lucinda Williams, Ben Harper and John Hiatt are a few of the musicians who do justice to the memory of Hurt's indelible tunes.

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