Pitchfork's P2k: The Decade in Music

IT'S HERE AND I LIKE IT

re: nabisco many xposts back

I know you weren't saying I did, but I should just point out that I have no objections to the indie album tracks picks at all. Neighborhood 1 is amazing, as is Jesus Etc. and Poor Places. I was just looking at it from the perspective of the aforementioned pop/hip hop singles v indie tracks thing. Mostly wondering how people gathered around those particular ones. Rebellion and Power Out were the big Arcade Fire songs around here, as they were played at indie clubs ad nauseum, so for me finding the consensus would be looking at places where I saw the most communal appreciation. I'm not sure where that same appreciation came for Jesus Etc. over Ashes of American Flags, though I'm not saying it didn't.

Neighborhood 1 is the first track on the album, and I think it brilliantly announced what the band were doing and what they intended. It wasn't a single as far as I know, so to me it's a representation of the album. I have no doubt that you're right about the communal gathering around it, I just didn't experience the same thing, and thought of other tracks as more immediately popular.

What you say about the ballads is interesting, because listening through the list I noticed a lot of the indie songs were ballads. The Liars track off Drum's Not Dead is a key example (wonderful song I had neglected for too long, I should add).

Idioteque is an interesting one. There was a makeshift video for it, even if it wasn't a single, and it's also more likely to be played at indie clubs than any other off the album. I think it might have been chosen for historical significance, as it was both classic radiohead but also a massive departure, and in some was represented the electro-bent indie music/fans would take over the coming years.

Which takes me back to the choices as more historical significance rather than best songs. I find it difficult to believe that B.O.B. is actually considered the best song of the decade by so many people, but I also recognize that there was a lot in it that predicted what was to come, or perhaps what could have been.

I think that's a good thing, by the way.

if anything i feel like "Idiotheque" shouldn't be so highly rated now because the novelty or boldness of them doing a track like that has worn off and it's just, oh, one of many many good dance/beat-oriented tracks by rock bands this decade.

Well, no, it still sounds cooler than any other Radiohead song to my ears; its sonic boldness or novelty has nothing to do with it (okay, little).

Erin Mcleod took over the reggae/dancehall monthly column after Stelfox moved on, but now the column seems to have disappeared. They have one guy who reviews Afropop reissues on ocassion, but no monthly column for him, alas.

substitute Life Without Buildings' "The Leanover?"

The only reason why it makes sense to me that "The Leanover" is the big go-to LWB track is that there was an acoustic version that was floating around that it seemed like people were pretty into. But I love that whole album, so every track's a winner for me.

I want that Life Without Buildings album!

man mclusky are so awesome

I like his new band the Future of the Left even better.

Tom Ewing on "The Decade in Pop": http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7703-the-decade-in-pop/

thread got long but did you guys determine who liked the-dream first?

You did, I think.

Tom Ewing on "The Decade in Pop": http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7703-the-decade-in-pop/

― kshighway, Thursday, August 27, 2009 10:02 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is great btw

yah it was very good.

V. much so.

Very much enjoyed it (just finished).

Ditto.

I'm very sad it has no comments section.

good article and I don't even know/care about at least half the people mentioned in it (there's really a producer named Bloodshy? wtf)

Bloodshy & Avant produced "Toxic"

Great articles. The Pop one has started a good discussion between me and my mate as to why American Idol has produced bugger all great music (just No Air + Kelly) as opposed to lots of great stuff over here (Girls Aloud, Leona Lewis, Will Young, some other singles by lemar, liberty x etc.) although the conclusion came down to... ummm, maybe we just haven't listened to anything by the ammy idol winners and don't know if anything good has been made.

(just No Air + Kelly)

I thought "Before He Cheats" was pretty good.

Did none of Jordin's other songs make it over there? "One Step At A Time" is also good; the rest is... well... yeah.

Lots and lots of ppl also love Carrie Underwood even though I hate her like she was a sentient creeping plague intent on raping and murdering my family before my disbelieving eyes and both Ruben and Fantasia have mostly had their success in stage work. Pretty sure Kris Allen will continue the trend started by Taylor Hicks and David Cook of being another white guy AI winner incapable of having a memorable impact on the entertainment industry.

oh haha David Cook went platinum, who knew???

a cherrypicked mix CD of the best of AI alumni would be pretty great. no idea how it would compare to that of people from the British equivalents since only Leona Lewis made it over here at all.

The Pop one has started a good discussion between me and my mate as to why American Idol has produced bugger all great music (just No Air + Kelly) as opposed to lots of great stuff over here (Girls Aloud, Leona Lewis, Will Young, some other singles by lemar, liberty x etc.) although the conclusion came down to... ummm, maybe we just haven't listened to anything by the ammy idol winners and don't know if anything good has been made.

what? when it comes to track record, AI >>>>>>>>>> all british reality tv contests: they've given us kelly clarkson, fantasia, jennifer hudson, carrie underwood and jordin sparks! apart from girls aloud, everyone else you listed on the UK side has one good song to their name and no real sense of individuality.

actually apart from girls aloud, who were a special case anyway (and who are now terrible), british reality tv has given us precisely THREE good singles and no interesting careers.

i'll give you the no interesting careers bit. will also youtube this underwood lass but i thought hudson was an actress? oh well, i mentioned my ignorance in the original post, so i'm really backtracking - ai could be better, it just doesn't seem so.

Hudson made her breakthrough by winning an Oscar but she's still putting out music; I think she's been more embraced by the club scene than anywhere else.

oops... so i'm *not* really backtracking

j-hud released an album last year - patchy but had some great tracks on it, search "spotlight" (the single), "i'm his only woman" (duet w/fantasia) and "my heart" in particular. OHHH and the INCREDIBLY LARGE AND EPIC quentin harris remix of "spotlight" too!

the polow da don remix of fantasia's "when i see u" is one of the very best singles of the 00s.

uh i have only actually heard one carrie underwood song but "before he cheats" is fantastic.

(has j-hud had (m)any acting roles which don't require her to sing? not really up on her film career)

great article but some of the points were completely rong to me like:

But there are times when pop is so consistently grand that you truly want it to stop where it is forever. One such period was the early 00s.

Did she sing in "Sex and the City" or "The Secret Lives of Bees"? I would think it would have been out of place.

ah ok. i hope she carries on making music - she has such a great, generous voice.

haha the early '00s were easily the best part of the decade

early 00s were a golden age wherever i looked: r&b and hip-hop coming over from the US (and crossing over regularly into the UK charts, oh halcyon days), 2-step in the UK (also with commercial success), teenpop on both sides of the atlantic taking cues from both...

pink was a hero to most but she never meant shit to me

If there was a turn to pop online, it didn't happen on a critical level so much as at a network level-- hard drive by hard drive, blog by blog.

"hard drive by hard drive" is a terrific metaphor for hard-won popularity that's new to my eyes. I'm surprised it was not discovered by the masses, and beaten to death, years ago. It's certainly more lively a reference for success these days than anything that has to do with "charts."

I still don't get what's so amazing about "Hot N' Cold" but I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned anywhere between the 500 singles list and the Decade In Pop feature..

i dunno, i like that song but it's kind of a blip in a sea of Max Martin/Dr. Luke stuff that gets referred to several times in there

video #50. what a way to start.

ahahahaa #29 I <3 u

gonna be disappointed if i scroll through this and trapped in a closet doesn't win :(

it doesn't

Eh, 2nd is fine.

Are you surprised by her tears? Strong women also cry...strong women also cry.

lol'd

lol @ "flashing lights" being on that list, wtf

Hm, I'm rarely aware of videos, but that one seemed to be a big deal when it came out.

lots of Kanye videos were big deals that weren't hollow 'artsy' excuses for big tits bouncing in slow motion that cut off the last 1/3rd of the song to build suspense for a part 2 that never existed.

"Dear Justin and Kanye, you know how you were 2 of the biggest pop stars of the decade and millions and millions were spent on your video spectacles that were in heavy rotation on every video channel? Well, your videos only mattered if they were directed by Spike Jonze, featured an indie rocker lip syncing your song, featured you lip syncing a classic rocker's song, or were SNL skits."