00's Superlatives

[HoyaSaxa03]

i brought this up in the '09 albums thread and i think it deserves its own .... so we're in the last year of the decade, what kind of superlatives can we throw around?

seems like these type of things are always fraught with defining the bounds of consideration ("Artist/Band of the Decade" v. "Rock Band of the Decade"), so please include some kind of a description of what you're thinking about if it's not obvious ... for example, any "Artist/Band of the Decade" (in my mind) would almost certainly be a rapper (probably Jay-Z) ... similarly, i think calling someone the "Best Artist of the Decade" is hugely different than "Artist of the Decade"

Rock Bands of the Decade
Coldplay: see Mitch Benn, "Everything Sounds Like Coldplay Now"
The Strokes:  reignited NYC rock, the dominant sound of the decade
The White Stripes:  put out 5 pretty fantastic albums, enormous breadth of listeners

Best Rock Bands of the Decade
Arcade Fire
Drive-By Truckers
The Walkmen

Best Pop/Rock Songwriters of the Decade
Carl Newman
Jens Lekman
Ted Leo
John Darnielle
Matt Pond
Brendan Benson
John Vanderslice
M. Ward

[edbert]

Instead of the normal ten years why not go back eleven... that would be one better

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

I'll be glad to post my thoughts sometime around Dec 31. I'll even give you my top 100 of the Decade list that I've been compiling for years. But not until then.

[Relaxer]

Good thread, something interesting (and actually music-related) to discuss and argue about.

The thing is, it?s hard to gauge the band of the decade because are we talking mainstream, indie, critical/cred, popular, classic, etc. ? It?s also more challenging now because the music business has changed so much. You don?t have any more albums selling 10 million copies, and I?d venture to guess we never will again until some form of anti-pirating technology or format comes along.

I think outside the U.S., the band of the 00s is Muse. Started right at the end of the 90s and built themselves into a massive operation on the strength of quality, popular records and an almost universally recognized reputation as a great live act. They can sell out arenas of 100k+, plus their albums have pretty much all received high critical acclaim and sold well. They?re popular with a lot of hipsters and the general public (outside of the U.S. at least). They?re expected to release another album this year. If it has a ?Wonderwall? type single on there that resonates here, they will become the biggest band in the world, on the level of Oasis in 1996.

In terms of influence, Arcade Fire seems like a candidate for being one of the more influential bands. They?ve only put out 2 records, but I can totally hear their sound and vibe in a lot of the new bands out now and some more established ones.

[DeathFromAbove1979]

Queens. Best everything ever.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Not so much with Paul Rogers.

Queens. Best everything ever.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Remind me again who Muse is? I saw one of their videos once, they appeared to me doing a really bad Queen impersonation.

[Relaxer]

Nah, they'd just go over your head, stick with Patty Loveless or whatever the hell it is you play on your crank-up hi-fi

[walkonby]

nothing says the decade like devendra.  nothing.

worst comeback of the decade - duran duran

crappiest album of the decade - tie : pat boone's "in a metal mood"  limp bizkit's "chocolate starfish ..."

best live show of the decade - flaming lips

biggest music dick of the decade - lars

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

So which countries have you personally travelled to this decade and observed their greatness outside the U.S.?

Nah, they'd just go over your head, stick with Patty Loveless or whatever the hell it is you play on your crank-up hi-fi

[Relaxer]

Well, despite being tremendously well-traveled, I've not personally observed their greatness outside of the U.S. But there are these neat new things called magazines and they feature what are called articles and photographs, that are able to summarize and depict an event or phenomena for an interested observer without that person actually having to attend said event. It's really nuts. I keep hearing this technology is going to be available over a typewriter-television but I'll stick with my magazines and afternoon paper, thank you.

[BookerT]

muse? are you kidding?

maybe if it was for "14th best laser show of the 00s" they could be in the conversation.

otherwise, puh-leeze.

[Relaxer]

Good argument

[BookerT]

Good argument

sorry dude. sometimes there's not much to argue. i really think muse is the kinda like the nickelback of alt-rock, or whatever genre they are part of. i see/hear nothing but bombast and some decent technical proficiency without any actual songwriting chops. let's distract 'em with bright lights and neat sound effects!

[Relaxer]

I wouldn't say they were the best band of the decade, but they've had the most impressive trajectory of any band out there, in terms of what they've accomplished. And again, I hedged my original post by saying they're the biggest band outside of the U.S.

Speaking of which, you've done a lot of whining here today. How about offering up something. Who do you nominate? Puh-leeze?