Artists of the Decade


Looking back ten years, this decade has produced some of the coolest music. Here are my "hits" and "misses":

Hits:

Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and U2 did not rest on their laurels, stayed productive in the studio, toured endlessly with real fire, and ended the decade on top of their game.
Not a bad album in the bunch. Not bad for a bunch of geezers whose collective musical experience rests at 130 years.

The Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear and a dozen other young bands went their own way and proved that indie music, produced on small labels, is the sound for today. Quirky yes; boring no. Made me forget the 1960s,1970s,1980s, 1990s, and actually live in the moment.

Radiohead put a bullet in the heads of every major music label by offering their music up at any price. They could get away with this because of the brilliance of the music. Name a better band that so effortlessly put out work as diverse as Kid A and In Rainbows. The new Beatles? You bet.

Hats off to Timbaland and Kanye West for taking Hip Hop to new places. Hard not to admire the ear candy that diverse artists like Missy Elliott routinely served up. And to M.I.A., who made it global, without borders, mixing in sounds at will like a chef adds spices.

And kudos to Apple, whose creative energy designed a device called the iPod and software called iTunes that brought convenience and portability to hundreds of millions of end consumers.

Misses:

Watching talented individuals like Ryan Adams and Elliot Smith self destruct.

Having America buy into the herd mentality of American Idol.

The vinyl revolution. Way too much hype for a medium that failed three decades ago. 2 million units actually shipped; yet thousands of Audiogon posts waxing estatic. Nobody actually talks about the dead wax they own and the wide range of quality problems. I pity the suckers who bought into the 180 versus 200 gram hype.
bongofury
I cannot understand how otherwise seemingly intelligent people could say anything positive whatsoever about 'rap'. I remain so thoroughly unconvinced that even my objections are objecting. To my ears, it is the glorification of the most base animal aspects of the human condition.
Tord Gustavsen Trio is my choice. Their three albums have all been in this decade and are all spectacular.
Maybe Brendan Benson with 3 excellent solo records and 2 (pretty decent if less excellent) records with The Raconteurs.

Lindsey Buckingham had 3 terrific solo records, a spectacular live CD/DVD and many first rate contributions to Fleetwood Mac's "Say You Will".

Neither of these is exactly The Beatles in the '60s or, for that matter, maybe not even Credence in 1969. I guess it was not such a steallar decade for pop music.

Marty
Hits:

Wilco (Had best album of this decade, IMHO)
Shins
Flaming Lips
Death Cab for Cutie
The many projects of Jack White (Stripes, Raconteurs, etc.)
Radiohead (Undeniable, though not my bag)


Misses:

As with any decade, too many to list here. But I have to agree that the "starmaking machine" that is American Idol and it's many offshoots is particularly repulsive.

Dylan, Springsteen, and U2 are most definitely the artists of the 60's, 70's, and 80's, respectively. Not this decade, however. Although it is true that their work was largely very good. (I think Bruce ended this decade with a thud.)

Cheers.
Agree totally with you about some things. Really enjoyed many indie artists from last decade; Cat Power, Fleet Foxes, Shins, Black Keys, among others. Not sure if Radiohead's unique marketing & stature really "puts a bullet" in a dying business model. The music labels themselves along with a public that largely expects music for free was way ahead of Radiohead in pulling the trigger. Personally, Kanye West's music does nothing for me, irrespective of his business talents. Missy Elliot is a very inventive, interesting artist though (to my middle aged ears.) Vinyl Revolution hype is the result of an industry frantically searching for some, any, good news at all. Saying vinyl "failed" is a pejorative way of taking note of the fact means of communication evolved. It didn't fail any more than film processed in the darkroom "failed" because most people use digital imaging now.
Radiohead without a doubt. Rolling Stone agrees.

Ironic, in that I think their masterpiece (OK Computer) dates from 1997 I think.