Pitchfork's P2k: The Decade in Music

There's also the 'cock rock' thing in the 80's. Dont you forget.

Is this a why can't white people in 00s rock thing?

There you go. It's not a lack of funk, it's a lack of testosterone.

i just don't understand why ppl keep paying attention to pitchfork style rock shit when there is always totally hot shit popping off on the rolling underground rock thread...it's like being a glutton for punishment!

xp it's full of bullshit is what it is.

Helg3son generally brings hard law

― Reflex Gaffe (country matters), Wednesday, 25 February 2009 17:49 (5 months ago) Bookmark

Weren't people making these same stupid "why aren't indie kids rockin'" complaints ten years ago about post-rock too?

Just think guys if that's TRUE then this is two successive decades of non-rocking-ness! If we have three then indie kids might not reproduce at all and entire generation of white people will die off!

I see what you mean, Whiney. I don't want to comment too much cause I'm kinda currently writing about exactly this kind of thing(!!), so let me just say this: I don't know that any of these qualities ever really get "lost." They just assume different levels of importance or centrality for different audiences. (Like for instance the punk side and the poppy-indie side always exist, right -- sometimes they come together, like around some of the 80s/90s bands you named, and then sometimes they head off in opposite directions.) So it's hard for me to think just that "indie" changed -- I mean someone has always been doing poppy-strummy guitar indie -- and not think about things like, e.g., a lot of the punk lineage having spun off into a different audience this decade (like various types of screamo/emo/-core/etc.), or the same "sensitive" vs. "hardcore" tension playing out between those popular bands and noise kids, or whatever else. I dunno. In any case I tend to think it's all there, it just gets grouped differently, different things fight for the torch, seize it at different times, etc. (And yeah, I understand that what you're basically saying is "I wish something a little tougher could grab that torch for 'indie' right now.")

i'd agree with that

We need another Nirvana because indie rock is basically hair metal.

if everyone was White Lion

isn't that what Wavves said?

*snort*

okay I have no idea who death cab are but the name does kinda make them sound awesome tbh

Unfortunately the rest of their name is "for Cutie".

death cab for cutie are official actual winners of the all-time greatest qualitative disparity between cultural organisation named and cultural organisation from whom the name is borrowed (namely Vivian Stanshall)

o

I absolutely agree with the lack of rock in the 00s compared to 80s and 90s. Of course lots of bands did rock in the 00s, but in a far more derivative manner, especially in the decade's second half.. just my opinion.

well duh, there were more years of previously-rocking bands before them.

Reading the discussion of the idea of "this album captures the spirt of the decade" on this thread was kinda depressing, everyone seemed to drift off point after the OTM Color Me Badd parody.

can we talk about MAD MEN on AMC?

why does testosterone matter

I think Elisabeth Moss is a great actress

No spoilers, I'm watching it tonight.

I think it's misogynistic and shitty.

why does testosterone matter

― geir ham, go (J0rdan S.), Monday, August 17, 2009 6:31 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

This is exactly what I was thinking.

I think a certain type of music fan derives pleasure from telling other people that their music tastes are shit. Usually, this is a person who wants to feel better about themselves by putting other people down. I have known people like this. As people have said an innumerable amount of times, just listen to the shit you like. I would add: and ignore the fuck out of people who tell you you're wrong in your enjoyment.

music this decade was lacking in oestrogen

That Taylor Swift record lacks testosterone.

What I'm saying is that IT SUCKS.

It doesn't matter if you don't prefer rock music.

I'm only on Season 2 of Mad Men

Since this is a pitchfork thread I was going to use the pitchfork 500 as an example, but they actually did a good job of balancing all genres throughout each chapter.. The last 2 chapters include Boris, Mastadon, Les Savy Fav, Exploding Hearts, Art Brut, Trail Of Dead, Queens, Shellac, Mclusky, Lightning Bolt, and probably a few others that I don't recognize as more ballsy rock.

I don't see bands like Television or, fuck, My Bloody Valentine as particularly testosterone-fueled bands.

Saying a certain rock record is shit because it lacks testosterone is asinine.

I certainly wasn't suggesting that.

i mean whiney is right, big indie has been less 'manly' but that's not why it's better/worse

don't you think that zach braff music is a pretty strawman representation of the 00s?

why does natalie portman not want to rock?

And why do we care?

To my ears, Television and MBV are huge sounding.. so I disagree with that. PJ Harvey records have muscle too, and she's very much all girl.

how is indie formed?

don't you think that zach braff music is a pretty strawman representation of the 00s?

― ❊❁❄❆❇❃✴❈plaxico❈✴❃❇❆❄❁❊ (I know, right?), Monday, August 17, 2009 6:44 PM (51 seconds ago) Bookmark

since decemberists, animal collective, andrew bird, shins etc have been in the billboard top 10 in this decade i'd say no

What's the connection between masculinity and something being "huge sounding"? Last year's Portishead record sounds HUGE, but it's not particularly testosterone-fueled.

but so have arcade fire and spoon and the hold steady for instance are a hugely popular indie band and maybe they aren't as manly as jesus lizard (hold steady excepted probably) but all bands are arguably just as good

natalie portman is a macho rapper on SNL digital shorts

maybe lonely island best summed up this decade

yeah dogg MBV are total wussbait

television could be pretty macho though esp early on

xxxp I don't focus on the billboard top 10, but I imagine you could pick equally wussy acts from the 80s/90s to make the same point.

I dunno.. I suck at articulating myself today. you win because i'm now exhausted.

that's pretty drop in the ocean tho JS

Those wussy bands would be better than the fuckin' Decemberists though. . .

And what about something like Sonic Youth's Sonic Nurse, the best record they put out this decade? It's not manly at all, but it's still a great record.