Since the Sports Guy is the spiritual father of this blog, I'll let him introduce the concept: "It's a gimmick that needs no introduction. It's a gimmick that says'I couldn't come up with a real column that has a beginning, middle and end,' as well as 'You're hopefully going to be entertained anyway.' It's a gimmick that insinuates the rankings reflect a nationwide consensus, even though it's the opinion of one person and one person only. It's a gimmick that seemingly relies on a secret statistical formula, even though one doesn't actually exist. That's right, it's a...[giant list] column!" Point taken. The only thing I'll argue with is the beginning, middle, and end thing, since nothing has a more obvious beginning, middle, and end than a giant list (although this may not apply to TSG's lists since he always jumps around so much). Anyway, the '00s were a crappy decade in a lot of ways, but it was a good decade for music, especially after a shaky last few years of the '90s (except for Journey reuniting with a new lead singer. That was a terrible idea).
I also originally intended this to just be a top 50 list, but there were too many good albums to do it. I can see now how Eric's annual "top ten" lists usually end up mentioning fifty different albums. Anyway, in the interest of this not becoming a full-length novel, I'm just going to list #51-#100 in reverse order, then over (hopefully not all of) the summer I'll release the rest in groups with some (I promise) brief comments.
Before we start, the hardest albums to leave off of my list were these:
Velvet Revolver - Contraband ('04):
Don't worry; if I ever get around to making a top-100 list for the '90s, the members of this band will get their revenge.
Alkaline Trio - Remains ('07)
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs ('08)
Dethklok - The Dethalbum ('07)
Dream Theater - Black Clouds and Silver Linings ('09)
Fall of Troy - Doppelganger ('05)
Unearth - III: In the Eyes of Fire ('06):
All of these have multiple great songs on them, but I had a hard time listening to any of them all the way through after the first couple listens. We're not talking "skip a couple of tracks," either, we're talking "go to another album less than 2/3rds of the way through."
Cute Is What We Aim For - The Same Old Blood Rush With a New Touch ('06)
Damone - Out Here All Night ('06)
Snow Patrol - Eyes Open ('06):
2006 was really a great year for guilty pleasure albums that are a blast to listen to but I immediately forgot about once they fell out of my rotation. I should try to come up with a less cumbersome name for this category.
Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel the Illinoise! ('05):
This is the The Royal Tennenbaums of albums for me - underrated nationally; overrated by the people I know.
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix ('09):
Disqualified because I'm afraid they're leading us into a "prog rock to synth rock" transition, which would be fine, except that we already tried this in the early '80s with mostly awful results. Think about it - do we really want to see Herman Li or John Mayer writing songs on a keyboard? If it could happen to Eddie Van Halen or Geddy Lee, it could happen to those guys. If it is any consolation, they will be on every other "best of the decade" music list made this year (although, let's face it; there's a decent chance this is the last one since it is already May).
Mastodon - Blood Mountain ('06):
The toughest cut and the only one I feel legitimately bad about. The thing is, I didn't start to like this album that much until after hearing Crack the Skye, and I had a copy well before that. An album on a top-100 list for a whole decade needs to be capable of getting me into a band that I don't have any prior exposure to; it's part of my non-existent secret formula.
To balance that list, the easiest albums to leave off were St. Anger, Dusk and Summer, and Ultra Beatdown.
With that, we'll get started. As you might expect, this is limited to albums that I purchased or otherwise acquired and, in most cases, managed to listen to multiple times before now. For those of you that want music recommendations, I'd recommend any of these:
100. Seume - It Is What It Is ('08)
99. The Showdown - Temptation Come My Way ('07)
98. Megadeth - United Abominations ('07)
97. Coldplay - Parachutes ('00)
96. Dashboard Confessional - The Swiss Army Romance ('00)
95. Portugal The Man - Waiter: You Vultures! ('06)
94. Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Vol. 2: The End Complete ('07)
93. Alkaline Trio - Maybe I'll Catch Fire ('00)
92. Drive-by Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark ('07)
91. Death Cab For Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes ('00)
90. Greenchoby - Big City ('00)
89. Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony ('08)
88. Angels & Airwaves - I-Empire ('07)
87. Foo Fighters - In Your Honor ('05)
86. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil ('05)
85. John Mayer - Continuum ('06)
84. Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies ('06)
83. Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King ('09)
82. Moneen - The Red Tree ('06)
81. Saves The Day - In Reverie ('03)
80. Pennywise - Land of the Free? ('01)
79. Muse - Origin of Symmetry ('01)
78. Further Seems Forever - Hide Nothing ('04)
77. The Darkness - One Way Ticket to Hell and Back ('05)
76. Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam ('06)
75. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm ('05)
74. Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos ('07)
73. John Mayer - Heavier Things ('03)
72. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans ('05)
71. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand ('04)
70. Copeland - In Motion ('05)
69. Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera ('01)
68. Say Anything - ...Is a Real Boy/...Was a Real Boy ('04)
67. Alkaline Trio - Crimson ('05)
66. Green Day - American Idiot ('04)
65. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand ('07)
64. Owen - At Home With ('06)
63. Paul Simon - You're the One ('00)
62. Sleeping At Last - Ghosts ('03)
61. Hey Mercedes - Loses Control ('03)
60. Spill Canvas - One Fell Swoop ('05)
59. Jeremy Enigk - World Waits ('06)
58. the lower 48 - When I Finally Saw the Sea ('09)
57. He Is Legend - It Hates You ('09)
56. Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache ('04)
55. The Detholz - Who Are The Detholz!? ('02)
54. Alison Krauss & Union Station - Lonely Runs Both Ways ('04)
53. Jimmy Eat World - Futures ('04)
52. Copeland - Beneath Medicine Tree ('03)
51. Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff ('02)
Ok, that's it for this one. Check back in a week or two and I'll have #50-#26 up. If you have thoughts about any of these albums, or if you can't believe how I had one of them as high or as low as I did, leave a comment.
2 comments:
Ek, just noticed that you posted this. Nice work. I'm a little surprised at how high some of the John Mayer and Dave Matthews albums are in comparison to what I know are some albums from your favorite bands. Were you always this big of a Dave and John fan (unbeknownst to me) or is this just the influence of being married on your musical tastes? I look forward to reading the rest.
A few specific thoughts:
Couldn't agree more about Sufjan Stevens (Illinoise). I love several songs at that album, but I can't come close to making it all the way through it in one listen.
Surprised to see that Plans and Narrow Stairs are so relatively low (although you definitely have them in the right order relative to one another).
Nice work.
I've been a fan of DMB since Crash, and I actually like that album and Before These Crowded Streets as much or more than the two that made the list here (although they are '90s albums).
I've kind of gone through love/hate phases with John Mayer. Tan and Noah originally got me into him, but Michelle is a fan also (she also likes DMB). He is undeniably a good songwriter and guitar player, and his first album had a unique (albeit very radio friendly) sound that he hasn't totally abandoned. The flip side is that it frustrates me that, with the talent that he has, he almost never plays real guitar rock and doesn't seem to want to push himself instrumentally. I think the people that compare him to Clapton forget (or never knew) how amazing the bands in which Clapton played were (although I haven't heard the John Mayer Trio album). He also has a stronger overconfident/toolish/douche bag vibe than 90% of the people I can think of, which makes me want to dislike his work, but then I hear one of his albums and all of the songs are good...dammit.
Marriage has broadened my musical tastes since I now have so much new music to listen to from Michelle - some of it is a little boring for my taste, but overall she has good taste and was into a lot of stuff I wasn't familiar with, so I lucked out in that respect. Most of that music didn't make this list because I haven't listened to it enough, although Heavier Things and Paul Simon's You're the One are both albums I'd barely heard before getting married. It is really nice to have a wider selection of mellow music, which I didn't have before, but at times I get a little tired of the stuff we both like and wind up only listening to punk and metal when I'm by myself.
Plans and Narrow Stairs were both good; they just didn't resonate with me quite as much as some of their earlier albums - they are fun to hear once, but I wouldn't listen to them again and again like I have with some other DCFC albums (although this could be somewhat due to how I listen to music has changed).
As far as some of my favorite bands being low goes, in some cases I'll say read and find out, and in some cases their best work was done in other decades, and in some cases there's a little of both going on.
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