Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[TheFuriousWombat]

...if their top 200 albums of the decade list is compared to ours, I see quite a few comparisons.
take a look: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7706-the-top-200-albums-of-the-2000s-200-151/
In case you don't care to read it all, the top 10 albums are:
10. The Avalances - Since I Left You
9. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
8. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
7. The Strokes - Is This It?
6. Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
5. Jay-Z - The Blueprint
4. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
3. Daft Punk - Discovery
2. Arcade Fire - Funeral
1. Radiohead - Kid A

thoughts on the list overall? It's not great but it could be worse. A lot of these albums probably do deserve to be in the top 200. Of course, only indie-rock/pop and some hip-hop is really represented so obviously a ton of music is being ignored but that's to be expected I suppose. I think, on the whole, it could be a lot worse.

[scarred]

I thumbed through the whole list and quite honestly, it's very respectable. But really, what it boils down to when you take on listing something as massive as the "Best albums of the 2000s" is personal taste, and my taste is pretty well-represented.


This makes me wonder what my top 10 would be.

[Hat]

5. Jay-Z - The Blueprint

WARNING WARNING OBLIGATORY HIP-HOP ALBUM TO TRY AND CLAIM CULTURAL RELEVANCE BEYOND THE REALM OF SKINNY WHITE GUYS WITH GLASSES

[David_Dovey]

I have enough trouble narrowing down ten albums per year so when we were nominating for our list I sat it out.

Honestly there's nothing surprising about this list and there's nothing surprising about ours. The moderating effect of a group voting process means any contentious outliers get left in the dust and what we're left with is safe choices that near enough everybody can agree on.

EDIT: Actually reading the whole list from 100 it seems that is exactly what has happened, a lot of interesting and unexpected picks in the upper numbers, with things getting progressively more cliché and safe as you head downwards.

[AanAllein]

5. Jay-Z - The Blueprint

WARNING WARNING OBLIGATORY HIP-HOP ALBUM TO TRY AND CLAIM CULTURAL RELEVANCE BEYOND THE REALM OF SKINNY WHITE GUYS WITH GLASSES

Shrug, i am a skinny white guy (with glasses!) that doesn't listen to a whole lot of hip-hop, and it's still hard to deny how excellent that album is. I think it made it's spot based on merit rather than "insert token hip-hop album" here. On the other hand, Supreme Clientele doesn't make any sense to me, but I guess this is because of the aforementioned skinny-white-guy-ness.

[Hat]

5. Jay-Z - The Blueprint

WARNING WARNING OBLIGATORY HIP-HOP ALBUM TO TRY AND CLAIM CULTURAL RELEVANCE BEYOND THE REALM OF SKINNY WHITE GUYS WITH GLASSES

Shrug, i am a skinny white guy (with glasses!) that doesn't listen to a whole lot of hip-hop, and it's still hard to deny how excellent that album is.

I think it made it's spot based on merit rather than "insert token hip-hop album" here.

do you think you are in the best position to judge that if you don't listen to much hip-hop

[scarred]

He may not listen to it, but he may have given it fair chances? I mean, if he likes Jay-Z, it's probably safe to say he's given other popular and/or critically acclaimed albums a chance.

Then again I may just be talking out of my ass, but you seem awfully confrontational.

[David_Dovey]

do you think you are in the best position to judge that if you don't listen to much hip-hop

Why not? Are you suggesting that someone has to know a lot about a genre of music before being qualified to judge it on it's merits?

[AanAllein]

/not being trolled 

[Nodaisho]

That isn't trolling, that is just the general dickery level of this forum, you get used to it.

[Hat]

Why not? Are you suggesting that someone has to know a lot about a genre of music before being qualified to judge it on it's merits?

A list of the best albums of the decade isn't judging an album on it's own merits it is judging an album on its merits compared to the sum total of all the music you have heard released in that decade, which in this decade included an amazing diverse and interesting range of hip-hop, of which the Blueprint is a tiny snippet.

I don't think not having listened to much hip-hop in one of its most fertile periods is a good excuse for largely excluding it from this list as a genre.

[David_Dovey]

it is judging an album on its merits compared to the sum total of all the music you have heard released in that decade

Exactly, it's not a list of the best hip-hop albums of the decade.

[Hat]

it is judging an album on its merits compared to the sum total of all the music you have heard released in that decade

Exactly, it's not a list of the best hip-hop albums of the decade.

but by putting the Blueprint in the top ten of this list and having it be the only hip-hop album they by extension declare it the best hip-hop album of the decade by a pretty impressive margin, which I am disagreeing with. That is my opinion! What is your problem with that?

I guess I also resent that arguably the most powerful taste maker in music journalism obviously doesn't think the output of hip-hop in this decade was worth half a shit as much as The Blueprint, which in a good mood I might declare "A pretty good album"

[Hat]

/not being trolled 

you're right you weren't being trolled, someone was disagreeing with you (there is a difference)

[scarred]

but by putting the Blueprint in the top ten of this list and having it be the only hip-hop album they by extension declare it the best hip-hop album of the decade by a pretty impressive margin, which I am disagreeing with. That is my opinion! What is your problem with that?

The way you are presenting it, I would think.

[Hat]

sorry but when you are talking about a website that once posted a video of a monkey drinking its own urine as a review of an album I don't really feel like I have any obligation to actually be pleasant about it or the people defending it.

[Johnny C]

like any list of 200 albums could be the best 200 in anything ever except maybe circumstances in which ≤200 records were produced by the band/genre/whatever

also the blueprint was to the 2000s what illmatic was to the 90s so i have like no problem with it being that high on the list? except of course that it's the only record by a black person on there

[JD]

Lil Wayne is on there

Also Wu Tang clan

[Hat]

also the blueprint was to the 2000s what illmatic was to the 90s so i have like no problem with it being that high on the list? except of course that it's the only record by a black person on there

which mostly what I take exception to. It was not even Jay-Z's best album this decade but it was his most iconic and I understand people vote for icons in this kind of thing more than actual musical quality.

Also before anyone criticises me for presenting my opinions in a brash and/or snide manner I want you to carefully browse your post history on this forum and make sure you are not living in a very thin glass house because there are very few people here not guilty of the same.

[AanAllein]

the blueprint isn't his best album of the decade? i mean, black album is fine and all, but really?

[David_Dovey]

but by putting the Blueprint in the top ten of this list and having it be the only hip-hop album they by extension declare it the best hip-hop album of the decade by a pretty impressive margin, which I am disagreeing with. That is my opinion! What is your problem with that?

I don't remember disagreeing with you on your objections to The Blueprint's place in the muscial canon nor it's status as a "token" pick on that list. My problem is with your contention that you have to know a lot about hip-hop to judge if a hip-hop album is any good.

EDIT: ...in relation to all music in all genres made this decade.

[Johnny C]

whoa heavy words, also illmatic is nas' crowning achievement in several respects and what he's been spending his entire career trying to recapture so i think considering that jay-z is currently on his third attempt at making the blueprint it's apt in more ways than one

my argument is not that it is merely iconic, it's that it's iconic and exemplary and i don't want to write a huge dissertation on the blueprint cause dozens of other dudes have already done it for me

we can step to my rap game, though. if that is truly what you desire

[Hat]

I don't remember disagreeing with you on your objections to The Blueprint's place in the muscial canon nor it's status as a "token" pick on that list. My problem is with your contention that you have to know a lot about hip-hop to judge if a hip-hop album is any good.

I don't remember making that contention in the first place and if you think I did it is because you have misinterpreted what I am saying.

the blueprint isn't his best album of the decade? i mean, black album is fine and all, but really?

Black Album is an appalling piece of shit and his first in a series of albums riding the coat-tails of Blueprint. No I'm talking about American Gangster which I personally think is a more engaging album as a whole.

whoa heavy words, also illmatic is nas' crowning achievement in several respects and what he's been spending his entire career trying to recapture so i think considering that jay-z is currently on his third attempt at making the blueprint it's apt in more ways than one

my argument is not that it is merely iconic, it's that it's iconic and exemplary and i don't want to write a huge dissertation on the blueprint cause dozens of other dudes have already done it for me

we can step to my rap game, though. if that is truly what you desire

I didn't really mean to talk shit about Illmatic to be honest, and I'd be interested in your analysis of the album as a whole because I feel it is made up excellently produced tracks with some sick rhymes but it doesn't hold together as well as something like Vol. 2 (which I think it is fairer to compare it to in terms of coherency rather than a concept album like American Gangster, before someone jumps on me about that) and as a result doesn't stand up to repeat listens as well

[David_Dovey]

do you think you are in the best position to judge that if you don't listen to much hip-hop

Shit man where DID I get that impression from

[Hat]

but by putting the Blueprint in the top ten of this list and having it be the only hip-hop album they by extension declare it the best hip-hop album of the decade by a pretty impressive margin, which I am disagreeing with. That is my opinion! What is your problem with that?

I don't remember disagreeing with you on your objections to The Blueprint's place in the muscial canon nor it's status as a "token" pick on that list. My problem is with your contention that you have to know a lot about hip-hop to judge if a hip-hop album is any good.

EDIT: ...in relation to all music in all genres made this decade.

wait I did say this and you made a half-assed attempt to answer my concerns when I fleshed my opinion out more thoroughly. When I addressed those concerns you didn't answer me you just restated your original point so maybe you could try a little harder to have a discussion instead of being a dick about it

[Hat]

thank you for editing your post to actually reflect what you were saying after I had read it and was replying to it it

awesome way to have a civil discussion

Also before anyone criticises me for presenting my opinions in a brash and/or snide manner I want you to carefully browse your post history on this forum and make sure you are not living in a very thin glass house because there are very few people here not guilty of the same.

[Hat]

anyway maybe I shouldn't be posting on this board if the way I have opinions here  is enough to make a dude I have drunkenly sung Decemberists on a crowded bus with be a complete cock to me so I'm going to stop posting thanks bye QC (y'all still rad)

[E. Spaceman]

I don't like that record very much but as a non-white person i feel like my opinions may be coloured differently from the norm.

[Johnny C]

this whole page has basically been abrupt_record_scratch.mp3

[Johnny C]

also the gift and the curse is kind of... bloated? it's a double album for chrissake. and it has this embarrassment on it

[David_Dovey]

thank you for editing your post to actually reflect what you were saying after I had read it and was replying to it it

awesome way to have a civil discussion

I uh... I think you're reading a bit too much into my intentions there dude.

I am sorry for attempting to remove ambiguity from my statement, and you're right that does make me a cock.

Look, it seems to me that you're basically getting (perhaps pre-emptively) defensive about your opinions on the relative quality of The Blueprint. I don't give a shit about what you think about The Blueprint, dogg!

I very specifically took issue with you for calling out that single person earlier in the thread, that is all.

[karl gambolputty...]

Man they put the Argument at 45 fuck those guys

[TheFuriousWombat]

Things that make me happy about this list:
William Basinksi
Stars of the Lid
Sigur Ros (twice)
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Liars- Drums not Dead
Godspeed - LYSFLAtH
Fennesz
The Top 10 is pretty decent

Things that make me sad about this list:
Merriweather Post Pavillion at #14 (are you fucking kidding?!?) - In fact, Animal Collective being on the list three times

You Forgot it in People being at #23. It's better than that!

Fleet Foxes in the top 50. Guys, this album is SO boring. It's some dudes who sing well and that's it.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatamist in the top 50. See above.

Vampire Weekend being on the list at all. Really? Vampire Weekend? That pseudo-Saweto-bullshit-indie-frat rock?

Dirty Projectos - Bitte Orka at #58. This just came out a few months ago and it's nothing special to say the least yet somehow it's one of the 60 best albums of the decade already?

[valley_parade]

it is judging an album on its merits compared to the sum total of all the music you have heard released in that decade

Exactly, it's not a list of the best hip-hop albums of the decade.

Quality Control, game, set, match.

[Melodic]

I really liked that argument, guys. I would rank it 5th on my top 200 arguments of this decade.

[Kyros]

I was pretty pleased with the Albums that were included, my only beefs were with the Rankings.  Probably my two most played albums from this decade are The Thermals' The Body, The Blood, The Machine and The Dismemberment Plan's Change

They were both on the list at 186 and 97 respectably, but I think TBTBTM got robbed, Top 50 fo' sho' yo.

[michaelicious]

I am kinda surprised that Source Tags & Codes was all the way up at 100. Not because I think it's that great or anything, but didn't those asshole give it a 10.0?

[KharBevNor]

Wow, I have actually heard 20 of these albums. That's a solid 10%! I even liked about 17 and a half of them. I might even have included some of them in a similiar list of my own devising.

That said of course, to my ear this list is utterly dreadful. Justin Timberlake? What the fuck? I know it's hip to like shitty stuff but just stick to like, Rock Me Amadeus or something in future. Though I suppose I can understand in the context that pretty much everything on the list is just slightly nichey mass-marketed pop/rock music so I suppose a lack of pretension is cool. Also, Mastodon and Queens of the Stone Age? Way to show how you don't know shit about anything. And I still can't stand the fucking ridiculous wankfest this site has over Radiohead. I've had more interesting bowel movements than Radiohead. I guess I had never heard of some of the stuff, which is odd, I normally at least know the names of all these bands by now.

[TheFuriousWombat]

That got me interested, actually. I have heard in full 115 of these albums. After counting I would say, of the ones I've heard, I genuinely like 71 of them. At that rate, one could assume I would like 124 of the full 200, or around 62%. Doesn't mean I agree with their place or even presence on the list but not so bad, that. The point is, there's a ton of good music, I think, on this list.

[SWOON! at My Gravitas]

I'm surprised Sound of Silver didn't rank higher than it did on that list.

It bothers me that Merriweather Post Pavillion is ranked so high.  That album has a few great songs, but as a whole is a big ball of boring.

And is it just me, or is Leviathan the only metal album on there?  What the hell, Pitchfork?

I supposed all said and done, that list is like everything else related to Pitchfork: a lot of it is good, some of it is great, and much of it is utter bullshit.

[A Shoggoth on the Roof]

yeaa I like maybe two or three songs from merriweather but most of them are either way too long or not as fun as any of the songs on strawberry jam.

also 200 is way too long of a list to care about. I understand a lot of music came out in the past ten years but come on, keep your lists like 25 or under, please, because I don't want to spend more than a minute or two skimming over them. maybe do best of the decade lists individually by genre or something, and then you don't have to compare apples to oranges either.

[Johnny C]

there better be some houston rap in this top 200 or i'm gonna bust heads

i'm almost SURE underground kingz is in there and honestly it's the only contender for the blueprint's spot i can think of off the top of my head

[Johnny C]

oh yeah purple haze was like 115 or something

[JD]

I am pleased Nite Versions isn't on that list.

[David_Dovey]

Hey.

Hey.

Fuck you.

The addition of Merriweather Post Pavillion and Vampire Weekend on this list just goes to show for me, that best of lists for decades should not be compiled in that decade.

[Johnny C]

the vampire weekend thing basically gives you a bunch of reasons to hate them and then says "oops but they're catchy" but unfortunately your mileage may vary with how catchy you find them so owned, tom ewing. i like you but owned

[Tom]

that best of lists for decades should not be compiled in that decade.

time allows for all the crap to be washed away.

[KharBevNor]

Man, this is the sort of thing that alienates me, from the Daft Punk review:

When a generation looks back and tries to catch a fuzzy hold of the music that made them happy this decade, Daft Punk's will be top of the list.

There's only one song on that album I can even stand listening to sober.

[Inlander]

Does the review specify which generation? I mean I'm sure there's going to be an early-twenty-first-century dance music revival a few decades from now.

[a pack of wolves]

Since I don't think I've ever actually listened to that record when not playing Carcassonne I don't think it's my generation. Don't get me wrong, it's a great board game and all, but I am pretty sure it hasn't been the fun highlight of this decade.