. It's been a pretty innarestin' decade,due in part to the utter collapse of the music industry. Somebody shoulda bought them a copy of The Internet For Dummies, but all record companies are by nature evil, and i'm glad they're dead. i would argue that not having the traditional gatekeepers has been great for music, although there's 20 more times the stuff to wade through, so forgive me if i left off some greatness. Here it is, the decade in 120 minutes.
1. Last Night by The Strokes-i feel like this is the song that really kicked the decade off. It announced a return to the garage; this wouldn't sound out of place on the Nuggets box-set. More than that, it made it clear that previously embarrassing musical styles (glam to disco to cock-rock) were back in vogue.
2. Devils & Dust by Bruce Springsteen
3. Mississippi by Bob Dylan
4. The man comes around by Johnny Cash-Old Gods not dead. In the decade of retro-chic, it was nice to see these old war-horses turning out some vintage material. Long may you run.
5.Rehab by Amy Winehouse-What, did you all just discover you parent's copy of Dusty in Memphis? The latter part of the decade saw a explosion of Neo-soul in the UK, particularly among the ladies. i think that if any of them can rise above the trend, it will be Amy Winehouse, provided she stays healthy enough. It's not looking good though.
6. Blood Bank by Bon Iver
7. Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
8. White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes- Ahh, beard rock, how do i love thee? You've made it ok for men to cry in public again.
9. Time to Pretend by MGMT
10. Zero by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Don't worry, disco still sucks. For some inexplicable reason though, this does not.
11. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
12. Wavin' Flag by K'Naan
13. Hey Ya! by Outkast
14. Paper Planes by M.I.A.- Interesting decade for Hip-hop. Seems like just rapping over a beat isn't doing it anymore. The most compelling stuff is being produced with more live instrumentation, and there is definitely a world music vibe being added to the pallet. Bodes well.
15. All these things that I've done by The Killers- i'm upset with The Killers because they've made it ok to like the '80's again. This tune is just too much of an anthem to ignore.
16.Float On by Modest Mouse- Straight ahead guitar rock that isn't boring. Amen.
17. Mushaboom by Feist- You know it's going to be a crazy decade when a member of Broken Social Scene get's an ipod commercial. Also, is having your song on an ipod commercial this generation's eqivalent to the cover of the rollin' stooone, rollin' stooone... ?
18. Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire- And the award for the best Bruce Springsteen song not written or performed by Bruce Springsteen goes to...
19. Wolf Like Me by TV on the Radio- i'd like to talk about this song, but it's got me so adrenalized that i gotta go break things, and possibly howl at the moon.
Overall a fantastic decade. Good riddance to the "music business", which was run by pirates with tin ears anyway. i'm sure a superior distribution system that takes better care of of all parties (the artist, the music and the listener) will come along shortly. i do miss record stores though, thank Gourd for the return of vinyl.
How can you get down to a best of decade list? I would get so lost and mired. It is mysterious, but admirable.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best I could do:
http://londonmabel.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-music-roundup-for-2009.html
But it's not even new music from 2009. Just the stuff I added to my library in 2009.
Haven't heard: 1, 3 (I'm only just now entering a Bob Dylan stage, will take me some time), 4 (haven't entered my Cash stage yet), 6, 7, 10 (read a very interesting article on how the anti-disco movement was racist and homophobic), 16, 19.
2 - Bruce lost me at Tunnel of Love, and I only went back to him with The Rising. Got his last two albums from the library and only ended up keeping a couple songs--I loooove "Radio Nowhere." I seem to have missed the Dust album altogether. Now then... the "We Shall Overcome" album I love love love so much, I don't think I could pick any original Springsteen song over these covers. Holy. Crap.
5. I own the Winehouse, and I've been warming to the neo-soul (while *discovering* all the 60s-80s soul that I never focused on before.) My current fave is "Cat and Mouse" by Nikki and Rich (whoever the hell they are.)
8. Dan was playing it in shipping one day, and I took out the album from the library. I love this song, but the album in general is like the male equivalent of the new-soul-ladies. Only it's like a flashback to Loving Spoonful and the Beach Boys. Which isn't bad but... hasn't hooked me in yet.
9. Haven't heard, but I've enjoyed a few songs.
11. Love it.
12. You know.
13. LOVE it. That album is what got me into Outkast. Have you checked out Janelle Monae? She's worked with them, and has a lot of Andre 3000 madness and originality in her. (Her video for Many Moons is so rewatchable.) And her song-to-a-president is one of the few that doesn't make me vomit.
14. Paper Planes is brilliant. Re hiphop with actual instruments, I agree. The Roots, Wyclef, NERD, Outkast etc. It's one of the reason Wyclef's my fave hiphop artist. (Plus he has a sense of humour. Ooh rare!)
15. All These Things is one of those songs I have to not listen to too much... it's just sooo cool and funny and catchy.
17. Feist is quite excellent. I love it when "real" songs are used in commercials. It feels like commercial role reversal. The song plays the same role as product placement in a movie... art embedded into commercialism, instead of vice versa. It's kooky.
18. Heh heh. That's how I feel about the Kings of Leon. "Oh U2 is making good music again!" Remind me to tell Elliot a good story about the naming of "Sex on Fire".
Ahhh you have such good taste in music. If only you had better taste in TV. ;-)
I generally agree about your music industry comments. It's so different with publishing, though. Gatekeepers are still vair vair necessary, and there's still a lot of variety in terms of taste among the lit agents and editors. 99% of the submissions agents get is unbelievably horrific. Maybe if authors had to go out and read their books in bars, and tour, and build up fan followings... there's just no self-weeding process, the way there is in music.
In case it interests you:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.racialicious.com/2009/07/17/disco-inferno-revisited-disco-demolition-night-30-years-on/
Wow, Terri i never read this. Thanks for the comments, i was not aware people read this thing, hehe.
ReplyDelete