The Hold Steady Almost Killed The Sokol Underground
But it is. Good God, it’s almost 2010.
*Side note: It truly is incredible to consider for myself the difference in my life from the year 2000 to today. I was a junior in college in Lincoln, having a grand old time, and just started dating someone. I know am a homeowner in Omaha with said “someone” and have a beautiful daughter with her. And it seems like 2000 was approximately 2 days ago. Incredible.
So you’re starting to see the inevitable “Best of the ’00’s” articles and blog posts. I typically am only interested in the music version of these lists. The one I saw is from–for my money–the most reputable music site out there anymore, The Onion’s AV Club.
When I first saw this link, I couldn’t immediately think of anything really. But wow–once I started reading through this list, I realized how good of a decade it has been for music. Perhaps that’s a personal preference, but there are some all-timer’s in there. For me, age 21-30 was far more influential for my musical tastes than, say, my high school/early college years because it has been the past 10 years where I really branched out and started discovering more genres and getting into a diverse array of music. But I digress.
Check out the AV Club’s “Best of the Decade” story. Here is their Top 6:
(Why Top 6? Because #6 is awesome, and I wanted to include it.)
#6: The Hold Steady, “Separation Sunday”
#5: Wilco, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”
#4: Outkast, “Stankonia”
#3: Radiohead, “Kid A”
#2: Kanye West, “The College Dropout”
#1: The White Stripes, “White Blood Cells”
I think that Top 6 is pretty stout, and you could really interchange any of them (although I think the White Stripes are pretty overrated for my taste). I’m glad that Kanye is where he should be; that album is incredible. I think due to his increasing douchebaggery has overshadowed just how good of music he puts out there (particularly his first three albums). Wilco is Wilco, and Yankee is probably their best album. Stankonia is as influential an album as will be produced in our lifetimes, let alone that decade. And Separation Sunday is probably my favorite album by the finest rock and roll band in America right now. Here are some other highlights for me from the list:
#50 – Broken Social Scene, “You Forgot It In People;” #37 – Justin Timberlake, “Justified” (yeah, I said it, but it’s undeniably a great pop record); #34 – Clipse, “Lord Willin’;” #33 – Death Cab for Cutie, “Transatlanticism;” #30 – Sufjan Stevens, “Illinois;” #28 – Ghostface Killah, “Supreme Clientele;” #26 – Amy Winehouse, “Back To Black;” #25 – Madvillian, “Madvilliany;” #9 – Jay-Z, “The Blueprint.”
Biggest Omission: D’Angelo, “Voodoo.” For my money, one of the best soul albums ever made, and a Top 5 album of all-time for me personally. It is borderline criminal it’s not on here.
Other omissions: Common, “BE;” Coldplay, “A Rush of Blood To The Head;” Arctic Monkeys, “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not;” Vampire Weekend, “Vampire Weekend;” Kanye West, “Late Registration;” Gnarls Barkley, “St. Elsewhere;” Al Green, “Lay It Down;” Jay-Z, “Unplugged;” Ryan Adams, “Gold;” The Roots, “Phrenology;” Q-Tip, “The Abstract;” J Dilla, “The Shining”
So where are you at? What are your top albums of the past 10 years? What are your glaring omissions? Leave ‘em in the comments.
