Albums of the Decade
As promised. Again, I stress, this list is in no particular order. Three seperate people have said to me “<person> thought Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’ was the best song of the decade, just like you”. Despite the fact that I clearly wrote (hell, I put it in bold because I had a feeling the issue would come up) that the list wasn’t in any order. Although, if I was to choose, I probably would pick Johhny Cash’s ‘Hurt’ as the best song of the decade. So maybe the list was in some kind of subliminal order. Who knows?
Anyway, on with the list:
10 - Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump (2000)
An album created from the post OK Computer glut of angsty rock, that has withstood the test of time and even innovated (tell me that Muse never heard The Crystal Lake before writing Bliss). In truth… if I was to jettison an album from this list it would probably be The Sophtware Slump. But what to replace it with?
9 - Godspeed You Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
I love the feeling of impending doom that permeates all of Godspeed’s music. Lift Your Skinny Fists perfected the superlative prototype presented by their earlier work F♯A♯∞. It was ruddy long though.
8 - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - And No More Shall We Part (2001)
Critics seem to prefer the later ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’, which I do own and need to listen to more. However, I’m a sucker for the more lo-fi Nick Cave presented here - The Ship Song side of his personality rather than the snarling, satanic The Mercy Seat persona. God is in the House contains my pick for parochial lyric of the decade:
Homos roaming the streets in packs
Queer bashers with tyre-jacks
Lesbian counter-attacks
That stuff is for the big cities
Our town is very pretty
We have a pretty little square
We have a woman for a mayor
Our policy is firm but fair…
7 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
I have seen the Flaming Lips perform tracks from this album on two continents, neither of which were Europe. Makes this list for the memories alone, being an awesome record is just the icing on the cake.
6 - Flotation Toy Warning - Bluffer’s Guide to the Flight Deck (2004)
New album released in 2010, according to their Wikipedia page. Doubtless it will suck and pollute my opinion of Bluffer’s, but as things stand, this is an album that dug it’s claws in from the first listen and still hasn’t let go five years later.
5 - Muse - Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
For pure campy, over-the-top silliness this record may never be beaten. Unless David Bowie and the resurrected corpse of Freddy Mercury somehow find a way of procreating…
4 - Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
I have a theory about Kid A that everyone can remember when they stopped hating it for not being a continuation of OK Computer and started loving it for being an awesome album in it’s own right. My own moment of realisation came in a branch of Virgin in Ipswich when Idioteque came on over the in-store radio, and something clicked in my brain. Everything in Its Right Place is an anthem, a statement of intent and a moment of genius… and the album only gets better from there.
3 - Arcade Fire - Funeral (2005)
Makes this and every other ‘Best of The ’00’s’ list. The Pet Sounds of this decade.
2 - The Clientele - Suburban Light (2000)
Unfortunately, The Clientele peaked with their first release (in truth, a collection of EP’s stretching back to 1997, but Pitchfork Media included it in their Top 200 and therefore so can I). A slightly odd obsession with the rain aside - I’m sure there’s a drinking game that could be formulated around every time they mention precipitation of some type in their music - this album was the soundtrack to my year travelling.
1 - Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun (2000)
This one is actually a little dubious as well, seeing as it debuted in Iceland in 1999, before it’s worldwide release in 2000. However, I will once again take my lead from Pitchfork Media who included it. An ethereal sountrack of beauty and desolation, inspired by the rugged landscape of their home country. I only wish I had thought to bring their CD’s on my trip to Iceland last year - hammering around the Breiðafjörður fjord listening to Svefn-g-englar would have been suitably epic.
Interesting that only two of these albums have come from the second half of this decade - I don’t think that the global quality has fallen away, more that my desire to seek out and discover new music has waned in recent years. Perhaps that can be my ‘new decade resolution’, assuming such a thing exists…
December 10th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Wouldn’t be too far off the same choices as you sir.
Disappointed that you missed off Will Young, Subo and Fiddy Cent though!
December 11th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Cheers dude. Subo was a late contender but didn’t ultimately make the cut. Actually, in fairness, I had to Wikipedia ‘Subo’ to find out who she was. Assumed it was a rapper or something at first!
December 15th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Who is Subo?
December 16th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Also of note are that 7 out of your top 10 albums were released between 2000-2002, 6 between 2000-2001.
I’d have to say that I think this just means that your top 10 if influenced by a time when you had more time to spend listening to music and when you would mix with people who have a range of tastes.
Or to put it another way we did bugger all at uni other than sit around, drink, listen to music and try to convince our friends that the music we listened to was really good.
December 17th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
There may well be something in that. However, I think I prefer this theory, put forward by Simon Reynolds of the Guardian:
December 17th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I do like the idea of being in a taste bunker. You and me, man, in the bunker. Looking out, defending the line.
Charlie’s in the wire, Charlie’s in the wire! Drop all remaining ordnance on my location. And may God have mercy on our souls!
It’s Game Over man! Game Over!
December 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I also think there is always a certain element of pink tinted history involved and the need for a few years to pass before.
Added to this I’d say a massive element of ‘I prefer their early work’ is at play. If you look at the list the Guardian article references apparently Kanye West realeased nothing but classics right the way through the decade and yet I’d say that he probably didn’t come to the fore of public opinion until certainly the late half of the decade.