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
Anyone who does not like Britney Spears, has no taste in music, or they do, BAD!
I realize there's a limited audience for electronic music on this forum but I thought I'd share my Top 50 Electronic Music in addition to my Top 50 Rock:

1-Gas-Pop
2-Secede-Tryshasla
3-Yagya-Will I Dream During The Process?
4-Murcof-Cosmos
5-Susumu Yokota-Sakura
6-Ulrich Schnauss-A Strangely Isolated Place
7-Lustmord-Metavoid
8-Distance-My Demons
9-Burial-Untrue
10-Julien Neto-Le Fumeur De Ciel
11-Shpongle-Nothing Lasts...But Nothing Is Lost
12-Kettel-My Dogan
13-Biosphere-Shenzhou
14-Michael Stearns-The Storm
15-Scion-Arrange And Process Basic Channel Tracks
16-Boards Of Canada-Geogaddi
17-Tetsu Inoue-Inland
18-Pete Namlook & Klaus Schulze-The Dark Side Of The Moog X
19-Tim Hecker-An Imaginary Country
20-Rhythm & Sound-The Versions
21-Deepchord-Echospace: The Coldest Season
22-Scuba-A Mutual Antipathy
23-Vir Unis-Aeonian Glow
24-Soundtrack-Solaris
25-The Field-From Here We Go Sublime
26-Skull Disco-Sound Punishments
27-Luke Vibert & BJ Cole-Stop The Panic
28-Bola-Gnayse
29-Marsen Jules-Herbstlaub
30-Lindstrom-Where You Go I Go Too
31-Deaf Center-Pale Ravine
32-Rod Modell-Incense & Blacklight
33-The Orb-Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt
34-Brock Van Wey-White Clouds Drift On And On
35-Coil-Time Machines
36-Clubroot-Clubroot
37-Moritz Von Oswald-Trio-Vertical Ascent
38-Steve Roach-Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces
39-Goldmund-Corduroy Road
40-Jon Hopkins-Insides
41-Sandoz-Afrocentric
42-Luke Hess-Light In The Dark
43-Detroit Escalator Company-Black Buildings
44-Fennesz-Black Sea
45-Casino Versus Japan-Go Hawaii
46-Ryan Teague-Coins & Crosses
47-Harmonic 33-Music For Television, Film & Radio Vol. 1
48-Deadbeat-Something Borrowed, Something Blue
49-Max Richter-The Blue Notebooks
50-Scorn-Stealth
Love that music. Great list. Love Burial and the Boards of Canada. Also love this decades releases by Alias, Basement Jaxx, Clutchy Hopkins, Frou Frou, Groove Armada, Hercules and Love Affair,Jesse Rose, DJ Kevin McKay, Late Night Alummni, Nitin Sawhney, Peaches, Phoenix, Royksopp, Skyscraper Frontier, Thievery Corporation, and Zero 7.
Synthfreek, you're on your game buddy. You and I have very similar tastes. The Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place is one heck of a selection. I'm also a fan of Boards of Canada! If you haven't checked out General Midi, I think you'd like them. Your list will make an excellent reference source.

Cheers,
DB
A few eletronica that I have on vinyl that for a time was my every day play going back loads of years, so far back I can't think/remember what I have tucked away in storage,

*Tangerine Dream- Rubycon!
Tomita,
Edgar Froese/Schulze*
Jean Michele Jarre,
Vangelis,

Have checked out some of the recommendations, good stuff!