For next year, I plan to post more and do more than just sports stuff. I may move this to a different blogger post, but for now I'm attaching it to Riding the Pine. These aren't everyone's idea of best Cd's of the decade, but they're my favorites. (So, I guess that really makes them the best. Right?)
For added difficulty I gave myself one rule: No repeat bands. I didn't want it just to become a discography of my favortie bands and it made coming up with this more challenging and fun.
Need More Listens:
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
The Best of 2009, this probably will be on the list at some point, but it just came out in November so I figured I would give it more time to sink in. Having said that, "No One Loves Me & Neither Do I" is one of the best tracks I've heard in a long time and the whole CD has everything I look for... awesome riffs, creativity, lyrics that make me wish I thought them up, thrashing drums, etc.
These are ones on other list I have read that I need to get more listens in before making a final decision on them.
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Jay-z - The Blueprint
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Honorable Mentions:
(note: any of these probably could have made the top ten, depending on my musical mood for that particular day.)
MGMT - Oracular Spectatcular
Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Raconteurs - Counselors of the Lonely
My Morning Jacket - Z
TV on the Radio - Dear Science
Incubus - Morning View
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
blink-182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Foo Fighters - One by One
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
(That's a lot. Don't let people tell you there wasn't any good music this decade.)
The Top Ten
10. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - With more listens Gimme Fiction or Kill the Moonlight may replace this. Either Way, Spoon is awesome and this CD just makes me feel awesome.
9. Saves the Day - Stay What You Are Saves the Day were a huge part of the end of my high school career and the tremendously underrate In Reverie defined my freshman year of college (I was actually really close to putting that one one here instead). But because of Freakish, At Your Funeral and This is Not an Exit, I think this will always be my favorite Saves the Day. They get bonus points for being present at two of my top three favorite concerts of all time.
8. Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News- A lot of Modest Mouse fans prefer The Moon and Antarctica and probably don't like this one at all. But I disagree, this is great and giving Modest Mouse more exposure (and even a Guitar Hero shoutout) isn't really a bad thing.
7. Green Day - American Idiot - My initial reaction was that I liked 21st Century Breakdown more. I don't know if I've changed my mind, but for now I'm giving American Idiot the nod.
6. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - The best of many great Wilco dics.
5. Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak - Pretty much a toss up between this and Youth & Young Manhood.
4. Radiohead - Amnesiac - Kid A topped most decade lists that I read, so I know I'm in the minority but I prefer Amnesiac. "You and Whose Army?," "Life in a Glasshouse" and "Pyramid Song," come one, you can't tell me they're just Kid A B-sides. In Rainbows could very well be here too and Hail to the Thief is another underrated gem.
Top 3 (note: These really could be in any order, they're three of my all-time favorites. But for now this is how it stands.)
3. The White Stripes - Elephant (2003) - Jack White is the man. And Meg is his perfect compliment. This is one of the best guitar albums of the decade and the fun that they had making this rubs off on the listener. Ball and Biscuit is my song of the decade and probably my favorite of all time. (And you better believe it's my ringtone.)
2.The Strokes - Is This It? (2001)- Everything I ever want in an album. I've listened to this and the number one pick more than anything and there's a reason for that. A desert island pick? Hell yeah! This could even win over Ben Linus and the smoke monster.
1.Arctic Monkeys -Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)- In January 2006 I heard some buzz about this band, a band with a weird name, young ages and hyped like crazy by NME. vI checked out some of the material (not expecting too much) that they had unleashed on the Internet. It's the best feeling when you discover a band and know there is something special about them. It's like you can tell, "this is going to be my favorite band." The Arctic Monkeys are my favorite band entering this new decade and their debut is still their best. (Still please, do yourself a favor and check out Favourite Worst Nightmare, Humbug and their brilliant b-side.)
They're the kind of band that if you're driving around alone, windows down and this CD in, you won't want to reach your destination until the disc is done. Fuck wasting gas, this CD rocks that much. Alex Turner knows how to write lyrics and these tales about small, shitty towns, striking out at the same bars, bouncers, getting drunk, scummy men, etc. are simply brilliant in every way. Kids who put lyrics in their IM away messages, facebook, twitter accounts, etc. can do themselves a favor and out these songs.
And yes, an Arctic Monkeys concert that I went to at the Metro in Chicago is also on my list of top concerts.
Here's to more great music and feel free to post your favorites in the comments. Rock on!
