Thetownend.com

Making a seperate thread for this as there seems to be a fair bit of interest. Sparked off by the NME's godawful list of the best Albums released in this Decade, I challenge you, the Music Critics of TEf to do better.

Please vote either by posting in this thread or PMing me (Some PMs would be good for preserving a little bit of uncertainity, and also would be wise if you're intending to vote for James Blunt, although I will name and shame anyone who does)

Rules:

- Please vote for ten albums IN ORDER (I will award 10pts for 1st and so on in order to spread the list out)
- Any album in any genre can be voted for as long as it was released electronically or physically after 1st January 2000. The only exception to this is Compliations, which are not allowed.
- Voting is open for about 10 days or so, until I have some free time to write up the results.

Those of you who've already voted in the other thread, reposting here with 10 would be great, if not I'll take your lists and try and fit them with this voting scheme. If this proves popular, I may expand to an entire 'Noughties Awards' season over Christmas when I'll have far too much free time.

Vote away.

What about greatest hits type albums?

that would fit the criteria of compilation.

What about reissues / remasters?

1. Glasvegas - Glasvegas
2. Hard Fi - Stars of CCTV
3. Muse - Black holes and revelations (could have been a number of others)
4. Bloc Party - Silent alarm
5. Killers - Hot fuss
6. Kasabian - Kasabian
7. Tings Tings - We started nothing
8. Kings of Leon - Only by the night
9. Kooks - Inside Out
10. Delays - faded seaside glamour

mansun just missed out, 1999

What about Live Albums - would they come under compliations?

1. Artic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, thats what Im not.
2. Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus
3. Sparklehorse -Dreamt for light years in the belly of a Mountain
4. Madness - The liberty of Norton Holgate
5. Brakes - Give Blood
6. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
7. Graham Coxon - Happiness in Magazines
8. Paul Weller - 22 dreams
9. Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
10.The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows

1   Elbow - Leaders of the free world
2   Biffy Clyro - Only revolutions
3   Manchester Orchestra - Means everything to nothing
4   Arcade fire - Funeral
5   Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
6   Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
7   Bombay Bicycle club - Bombay Bicycle club
8   American Music Club - Love Songs for patriots
9   Guillemots - Through the windowpane
10  Decemberists - Hazards of love

1. At the drive in - Relationship of Command.
2. Daft Punk - Discovery
3. Muse - Origin of Symmetry
4. High Contrast - High Society
5. Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me
6. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
7. Streets - Original Pirate Material
8. The Stills - Logic will break your heart
9. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
10. My Vitriol - Finelines

absolution, black holes and revelations, council estate of mind, king adora, journey to anywhere, the back room, glasvegas, monday at the hug and pint, tough guys don't dance, awfully deep, is this it?, up the bracket, whatever people say I am that's what I'm not, 100 broken windows and the manifesto, a certain trigger and untrue all close. It's been a great decade for music and it's very difficult to choose just 10.

I haven't really thought about which ones I prefer more than others in this list so have just put them in any order but here is my top ten:

1. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
2. Muse - Absolution
3. Biffy Clyro - Infinity Land
4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am That's What I'm Not
5. Queens Of The Stone Age - Rated R
6. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
7. The Rakes - Capture/Release
8. White Lies - To Loose My Life
9. Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
10. Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
 

Have PM'd my list nemo-san. Not exepecting much of my choices to feaure high in the list though :(

1.  kings of convenience - riot on an empty street
2.  tom waits - alice
3.  seasick steve - dog house music
4.  jehst - return of the drifter
5.  ryan adams - 29
6.  the whitest boy alive - rules
7.  midlake - the trials of van occupanther
8.  manic street preachers - journal for plague lovers
9.  the suicide file - twilight
10. dangerdoom - the mouse and the mask


arctic monkeys - whatever people say i am, that's what i'm not

ikara colt - chat & business
interpol - turn on the bright lights


seafood - when do we start fighting

the whitest boy alive - rules
wilt - bastinado
you say party! we say die! - hit the floor!

System of a Down-Toxicity
Calexico-Hot Rail.
Bloodhound Gang-Hefty Fine.
Glasvegas-Glasvegas.
Powderfinger-Odyssey Number Five.
Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes
Hell Is for Heroes-The Neon Handshake
Arcade Fire-Funeral.
Seasick Steve-I started out with nothing..
Serj Tankian-Elect the Dead

I count them as compilations so no, unless they have a significant amount of new material on them as well.

Re-issues/Remasters much the same thing. Only if there are significant material changes- e.g I'd allow Love by the Beatles, but not just a normal re-release.

Live Albums are a little trickier, but I'm just going to say no overall to them as it's almost a sub-category.

A rough list which I've somehow put into an order. So many just missed out as a lot of my favourites are from 1999. Oops had to change it, sorry Flaming Lips.

1.   British Sea Power – The Decline of British Sea Power
2.   Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R
3.   Arcade Fire – Funeral
4.   Alkaline Trio – Maybe I’ll Catch Fire
5.   British Sea Power – Open Season
6.   Idlewild – 100 Broken Windows
7.   Reflection Eternal – Train of Thought
8.   Nas - Stillmatic
9.   My Vitriol – Finelines
10. Royksopp – Melody A.M.

(1) At The Drive-In - Relationship Of Command
(2) Mastodon - Crack The Skye
(3) Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
(4) System Of A Down - Toxicity
(5) Velvet Revolver - Contraband
(6) Poison The Well - You Come Before You
(7) Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
(8) Tool - Lateralus
(9) Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Vol.1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
(10) Audioslave - Audioslave

1. Reverend & The Makers - A French Kiss In The Chaos
2. Siouxsie Sioux - Manteray
3. Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
4. Hugh Cornwell - Hooverdam
5. Hugh Cornwell - Beyond Elysian Fields
6. The Stranglers - Suite XVI
7. Kings of Leon - Only by the night
8. The Stranglers - Norfolk Coast
9. Ladytron - Witching Hour
10. Bloc Party - Silent alarm

Bubbling under: Editors, Hard Fi - Stars of CCTV

I'll take the full ten days, thanks x

ahh, if we're allowed to pick more than one album per artist then my list will be quite different...

1. Oasis - Whats the story
2. Blink 182 - Enema of the State
3. Calvin Harris - I Created Disco
4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am...
5. RHCPs - Californication
6. Sublime - Sublime
7. David Gray - White Ladder
8. Blink 182 - Blink 182
9. Hard Fi - Stars of CCTV
10. Braintax - Biro Funk

A couple of them may be pre 2000, 1 almost certainly is, I shall check...

Cocking hell, Sublime was 96! Just do a straight swap with Bloodhound Gang - Hooray for Boobies.

Enema of the state by B182 was 99 but that was 10 years ago so I'm counting it as a decade, but if you want me to change it to 2000+ I will.

1. Fratellis - Costello Music
2. Razorlight - Up all Night
3. Eric Clapton - Me and Mr Johnson
4. Coldplay - Parachutes (may need adjudicating - album in 2000 but at least one single in 1999)
5. Ash - Free All Angels
6. Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust
7. Kooks - Inside in/Inside Out
8. The Imagined Village - The Imagined Village
9. The Cooper Temple Clause - Kick up the Fire and let the Flames Break Loose
10. Fratellis - Here we Stand

Close runners - Seasick Steve, Kings of Leon, PJ Harvey, Editors, Hard-Fi

Californication is 99 as well. I checked for my list.

Hurray for boobies was 99!

What's the story was about 1995 aswell.

Jesus, I'll do it again. In my defense I've been awake for about 35 hours.

When everybody's done the top10 / deadline is gone, can we each do a sabotage 10 of ones which we think should get deducted points because people are wrong to have selected them?

1. Hybrid - I Choose Noise
2. Hybrid - Morning Sci Fi
3. Sasha - Air drawn dagger
4. Groove Armada - Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub)
5. Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
6. Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
7. Pole Folder - Zero Gold
8. Royksopp – Melody A.M.
9. Air - Talkie Walkie

I couldn't even think of a tenth worthy of making my top 10, and was scraping the barrel a bit in finding the ones i did.

EDIT: 1 & 2 back to front.

1. Blink 182 - Blink 182
2. Calvin Harris - I Created Disco
3. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am...
4. RHCPs - By The Way
5. David Gray - White Ladder
6. Hard Fi - Stars of CCTV
7. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
8. Braintax - Biro Funk
9. Jehst - Falling Down
10. Jamie T - Panic Prevention

Now leave me alone dammit

I love mankind's obsession with pointless lists.

Of course it's pointless, but it's a bit of fun. I've added up about half the votes so far and the way is led by Glasvegas, the Arctic Monkeys and the Arcade Fire.

You bunch of Indie kids.

pointless lists would be a good name for a band.

Or maybe not.

White Ladder was 1998.

Pissing hell, a NewDay at Midnight then!

1) Elbow - The seldon seen kid
2) Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say i am, thats what im not
3) Kasabian - Kasabian
4) Florence and the machine - Lungs
5) Glasvegas - Glasvegas
6) The horrors - Primary colours
7) Franz ferdinand - Franz ferdinand
8] Klaxons - Myths of the near future
9) Jame t - Panic prevention
10) Dizzee rascal - Boy in da corner

:)

Theres no way i can do a list of my top 10 albums of the decade.

I can only think of 9.

1. Free the Bees - The Bees
2. Tales - Mouse
3. Journey to Anywhere - Ugly Duckling
4. Musicology - Prince
5. De Stijl - The White Stripes
6.The Music - The Music
7. White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
8. The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem
9.Inside In, Inside Out - Kooks

Rammstein - Reise Reise
Dilated Peoples - The Platform
Herbaliser - Something Wicked This Way Comes
Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
Kasabian - Kasabian
Braintax - Birofunk
Aspects - Correct English
DJ Format - Music for the Mature B-Boy
Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP
RZA - World According to RZA

That killed a bit of time - nice.
(Pretty upset that Dr Dre - 2001 was 1999)

The Music - The Music
Biffy Clyro - Blackened Sky
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
The Libertines - Up the Bracket
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BRMC
The Strokes - Is This It?
The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
Stephen Fretwell - Magpie
Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

1. Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
2. Blink 182 - Take Off Your Pants & Jacket
3. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
4. The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love
5. The Wombats - A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation
6. Doves - Some Cities
7. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
8. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way
10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

I'm going through totting these up, a few albums streaking out in front now with PMs as well.

And on the Parachutes issue- Album release date is all that counts, so it's allowable.

Making lists is great. It's all about summarising and compiling things.

I'll be making my own list but it requires much thought.  :D

Indeed. Took me two days to decide on mine.

Totted up all the votes so far:

151 Albums Voted for
28 Albums Voted for more than once
Most Common Choice: Arctic Monkeys debut (5 times)
Most Split Vote: Biffy Clyro- Four votes, all for different albums!
Highest Average: Relationship of Command/At the Drive In (Two votes, both 10s)

Voting still open for a while yet: I still need to think about mine!

Did I misunderstand the instruction? Surely the ones listed at 1 are supposed to be best?

1st placed option gets 10 pts, 2nd gets 9 and so on, standard scoring system.

Yes - they are allocated 10 points I believe.

Ah good - I did it right then.

I am going to make a shortlist after having a look through my Itunes. Haven't got 10 yet. My criteria are albums where I like every track on the album and as I usually shuffle on Itunes, songs which I have skipped recently include Killers Razorlight and RHCP so they go out. I am sure you are all on tenterhooks with my (short)list!

Shortlist -

Alfie - Crying at Teatime
Aliens - Astronomy For Dogs
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever........
Athlete - Beyond the Neighbourhood
Band of Horses - Cease To Begin
Biffy Clyro - Puzzle
Black Rebel MotorCycle Club - B.R.M.C
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm and Weekend in the City
Boy Kill Boy - Civilian
Brakes - Beatific Visions (Hold me in the River - How to write a 2 minute gem)
British Sea Power - Open Season
Calexico - Carried to Dust (Memorable Live as well)
Cary Brothers - Cary Brothers Who Are You
Cold War Kids - Robbers and Cowards
Cribs - Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever (pants live though)
Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
Decemberists - Picaresque
Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
Deus - Vantage Point
Doves - Last Broadcast. Kingdom of Rust was very good as well
Duels - The Barbarians Move In
Ed Harcourt - Strangers
Editors - The Back Room
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Fields - Everything Last Winter
Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Foals - Antidotes
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
Get Cape, Wear Cape Fly - Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
GoodBooks - Control
Grand Archives - Grand Archives
Grandaddy - Take your pick, consistently excellent
The Hours - Narcissus Road
Idlewild - The Remote Part
Interpol - Antics
JJ72 - JJ72
Joseph Arthur - Our Shadows Will Remain
Julien Plenti - Julien Plenti is Skyscraper
Kasabian - Kasabian
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Klaxons - Myths Of the Near Future
The Leaves - Breath
Loney Dear - Dear John
Longview - Mercury
Macabees - Wall of Arms
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Maps - We Can Create
Maximo Park - Certain Trigger
Mew - Frengers
Modest Mouse - We were dead before the ship even sank
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
Mumm-Ra - These Things Move in Threes
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
The Music - Strength in Numbers
The Open - Silent Hours
Pete and The Pirates - Little Death (great live as well)
Pigeon Detectives - Wait For Me
Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
The Rakes - Ten New Messages
Reverend and the Makers - The State of Things
Rumble Strips - Girls and Weather
Seafood - As The Cry Flows
Secret Machines - Now here is nowhere
Seth Lakeman - Poor Man's Heaven
Sigur Ros - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas
South - With the Tides
Starsailor - On the Outside
Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
Thea Gilmour - Harpo's Ghost
These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid
Thirteen Senses - The Invitation
Tom Mcrae - Tom Mcrae
Turin Brakes - Dark On Fire
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
The Veils - Nux Vomica
We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor
White Lies - To Lose My Life
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
The Young Knives - Superabundance

You're only supposed to pick 10, doofus!

Good list Bob...thanks for helping out with my list!....although my number 1 isnt there.

Read the post before I posted my short list. I am fully aware I am only supposed to pick 10, cheesedick.

Only by the night is the weakest of all KOL albums

For shame :(

Alfie? I think I saw them support someone once. Doves or Ocean Colour Scene or maybe Athlete. Seemed enjoyable enough.

I'm struggling for my list a bit. It'll need some thought. How long is until the dead line?

Next weekend probably.

Come on, it was tongue in cheek!

Although I don't really get why you posted more than ten? Are we supposed to vote from your list?

Cool. Let's be honest, the TEF list isn't going to be any better than the NME one. Infact there's a good chance it will be quite a lot worse.

Its to much effort for me to make a list.

Ive lost a whole box of Tea Bags, its real puzzle.I cant worry about 2 things at once.

I was bored and decided to make a list from my Itunes, I didn't have to post it, but I did, so live with it! I will refer back to it when I decide on my final 10. It killed an hour or so and telly is minging on a Saturday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhg8sWd5OlI

In reverse order..

10...Pendulum...In Silico.
9....Stereophonics...JEEP
8....Arctic Monkeys...Favourite Worst Nightmare.
7..The Streets...A Grand Dont Come For Free.
6..Editors...An End Has A Start.
5...White Stripes...Icky Thump.
4...Muse...Origin Of Symmetry.
3...Killers..Hot Fuss.
2..The Magic Numbers...The Magic Numbers.
1..Rammstein...Mutter.

Adios (above) being my favourite guitar rift mid song....its quality,loads of other albums were on the list.
Music for me has to be varied,i baught Bill Haleys greatest hits from Tescos for £2 and it is brilliant.
Apart from my punk years ive never been into a certain genre....Rammstein isnt very PC but i love the music....that Album has it all...hard rifts and melodic tunes.
In fact i was listening to Andrea Bocelli this morning while driving at work and it was a brilliant album.
Music is about mood....some really good top tens on here for the last ten years.

Anyone else struggling with this list this may help a bit on some of the earlier in the decade stuff, it's the Decade's Mercury Nominees. Winners are a bit hit and miss but nominees usually decent enough:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Prize

1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People.....
2. Roddy Frame - Surf
3. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
4. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
5. Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid
6. Christy Moore - Burning Times
7. Manics - Journal.....
8. Streets - Grand Don't Come For Free
9. Teenage Fanclub - Howdy
10. Gemma Hayes - Night on my Side

2 recent albums which have come onto my radar are -

A Place to Bury Strangers and Mumford and Sons (which is excellent)

1. Takk - Sigur Ros
2. Consolers of the Lonely - Raconteurs
3. Hit the floor - Breakestra
4. Demon Days - Gorillaz
5. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay
6. The Understanding - Royksopp
7. Yoshimi battles the pink robots - Flaming Lips
8. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
9. Faded Seaside Glamour - Delays
10. Chutes too narrow - The Shins

That's really hard. There's another 30 on the list and I could fiddle with the order all day.

Here's the Time top 100 albums of this decade.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6922991.ece

Might be of interest...

Pretty good list that.

For what it's worth - off the top of my head heres my immediate 10...

01. American IV: The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
02. Sea Change - Beck
03. Speakerboxxx/Love Below - OutKast
04. Ballad of the Broken Seas - Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
05. Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike - Gogol Bordello
06. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
07. Rated R - Queens of the Stone Age
08. Peace Love and Death Metal - Eagles of Death Metal
09. Desert Sessions Vol.9/10 - Desert Sessions
10. You're a Woman, I'm a Machine - Death From Above 1979

I'd probably change some of them if I thought about it more...

After much thought...

1) System of Down - Toxicity
2) Jack Off Jill - Clear Hearts, Grey Flowers
3) Placebo - Black Market Music
4) Deftones - White Pony
5) Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
6) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
7) RJD2 - Dead Ringer
8) The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
9) Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood
10) Lily Allen - It's Not Me It's You

I will prob disagree with it slightly after posting but I think that's a pretty good list. I didn't just list my favs. Some weight was given to the influence of an album, importance within a genre and quality of production.

Honourable mentions go to kasabian (self titled) goldfrapp - seventh tree and eels - daisies of the galaxy.

I love DnB and prob should have included some in the list but like most dance music that genre doesn't really revolve around albums so much. The new Dom and Roland one coming out is probably awesome and would prob be on the list if I had actually heard it yet!!!

I think a lot of you will prob agree that this exercise demonstrates the 90s were much stronger for good music/great albums. Maybe a top 50 for the 90s afterwards?  :D

I'll close this to submissions some point over the weekend, probably Saturday night, so get your votes in now.

1) We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor
2) Muse - Origin of Symmetry
3) Coldplay - Parachutes
4) Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
5) Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
6) Idlewild - Remote Part
7) The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
8) Athlete - Vehicles And Animals
9) The Rifles - No Love Lost
10) The Rakes - Capture/Release

It'll probably change if i were to do this properly

Thanks for all your votes, I'm just collating them and adding mine, I'll probably start posting results and a little write up tomorrow.

Would people vote in a more General "Best of the Decade" Poll? Covering Sports, Films, Music etc.? If so, I might hold one as I have plenty of free time over the Christmas hols.

Tbh I would vote in pretty much an poll of this type within reason.

I see you mention doing another music of the decade poll. Obviously we've done albums so what did you have in mind for that? Best songs? Best bands?

Albums have obviously already been covered but if I did a catch all poll for the best of everything, I'd probably put Song and bBand in yes.

Good idea Nemo.

The Observer music monthly have done their list and it's pretty a good one.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/series/albums-of-the-decade

In the actual magasine yesterday they had 100 tacks of the decade too. Number 1 was beyonce - crazy in love  :eek:

Can I put my list in today please? I wasn't about at the weekend.

Go for it. I'll post results this evening, so any more lists in by then will be included. If you fancy picking some albums that have already been picked once that'd be grand, as we currently only have 41 albums appearing more than once.

My list, for those wondering. Compiling this made me realise that it's been a reasonably poor decade, but that is documented heavily elsewhere.

(Reverse order)
10 Away from the Sun (3 Doors Down)
9 By the Way (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)
8 Heathen Chemistry (Oasis)
7 Origin of Symmetry (Muse)
6 Kasabian (Kasabian)
5 Think Tank (Blur)
4 Hot Fuss (Killers)
3 Language, Sex, Violence, Other (Stereophonics)
2 American IV: The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash)
1 Black Hole and Revelations (Muse)

Possibly coming up on the rails as a late runner is the Them Crooked Vultures album, but I haven't listened to it enough yet to place it.

I agree it was a pretty rubbish decade. I therefore will only nominate what I feel to be classics

1. Final Straw - Snow patrol
2. A Rush of Blood to the head - Coldplay
3. Employment - Kaiser Chiefs
4. X & Y - Cold play
5. Hopes & Fears - Keane

I blame Blinkpip and PHIL!!!!!! for this. Utterly shocking.

Key question: Why?

(Why Blinkpip and Phil, now why do you deem it to be shocking, I can understand that)

Why?
A. I'd imagine them to be the two most likely to vote for it
B. Utterly shocking that it would make the top ten, even from a very poor decade
C. How many votes did it get?

i think that is Nemo's personal top 10

Yes, that's my personal top 10, I'm the only person to vote for it, neither Blinkpip nor Phil have voted at all.

Sadly, my top three are nowhere near the top of the list, and the key giveaway is that the bloody Arctic Dullards aren't in that top 10 at all when, without wishing to spoil things utterly, they very much are on the overall list.

Any more votes are very much welcome, even if you don't fancy doing a top 10, 2 or 3 is great.

Oh cock. I didn't read it properly.

can i redo mine? i was a little hasty.

(and didn't know it was okay to choose more than one album per artist)

I'll put mine in tonight fo shure.

Anyone can make any changes they like before 8pm this evening, or add new lists. I'd ask you to post if you've made changes, rather than editing the original post though as I've already totted up the existing votes and will probably miss it entirely.

Tis a very good album.

my revised list:

1.  kings of convenience - declaration of dependence
2.  tom waits - alice
3.  kings of convenience - riot on an empty street
4.  tom waits - orphans (brawlers, bawlers & bastards)
5.  ryan adams - 29
6.  the whitest boy alive - rules
7.  midlake - the trials of van occupanther
8.  seasick steve - dog house music
9.  the suicide file - twilight
10. tom waits - real gone

OK but have you considered the albums of Tom Waits tho?

no, i haven't. do you think i should?

I have no idea who he is.  :soapy tit wank:

Think Series 2 of 'The Wire'.

i have an essay to do, so i'm doing mine.

Ok, here is my 10.

10. Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
9. Good Books - Control
8. Deus - Vantage Point
7. Bloc Party - Weekend in the City
6. Muse - Black Holes and Revolations
5. Arcade Fire - Funeral
4. Tom Mcrae - Tom Mcrae
3. The Music - Strength in Numbers
2. Elbow - Seldom Seen Kid
1. Kasabian - Kasabian

10) Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
9) Libertines - Up The Bracket
8) Death From Above 1979
7) Radiohead - Kid A
6) Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
5) White Stripes - Elephant
4) Four Tet - Rounds
3) Panda Bear - Person Pitch
2) Arcade Fire - Funeral
and
1) Daft Punk - Discovery

Why is the cool smiley on some people's lists? Especially at number 8. Have I missed something?

8). OK, think I know why now!

Has it taken you that long to figure it out?

8)

I was just perusing the lists quickly and noticed. It was only when I noticed it was at number 8 that it finally twigged.

Gonna start counting these up shortly, so get any straggling lists in the next hour or so please.

the anticipation...

What would be really funny if he lied and got everyone checking by saying Girls aloud, or some other crap at number one.

It would have worked better if I'd recieved more PM votes, as it is 90% are in this thread.

I don't get why people would vote by PM. Are they ashamed of what music they like?

So far the common theme is that they've all been called Dave. Doubt that has much to do with it.

Currently, we have a TEF Top 44 as I've filtered the results to be sorted by the total amount of points recieved as long as at least two people have voted for that album?

Any cunning plans for how to engineer that final 6? Or failing that, a few more votes

how about you just pick 6 of mine that no one else has voted for because i fucking rock.

Having the Arctic Monkeys top invalidates all your choices Mex, sorry about that.

One of only two of your choices which got another vote.

Give us a list of all the ones voted for once and we can rank a top 3 of those?

Although it wouldn't work if it was all Blink 182.

just do as i fucking say

Albums with one vote (There's a whole lot of them!):

Leaders of the Free World (Elbow)
Do You Like Rock Music? (British Sea Power)
Riot on an Empty Street (Kings if Convenience)
The Decline of British Sea Power
A Larum (Johnny Flynn)
French Kiss in the Chaos- Reverend and Makers
Costello Music (Fratellis)
I choose Noise (Hybrid)
Blink 182
Free the Bees (Bees)
Reise Reise (Rammstein)
Aha Shake Heartbreak (KoL)
Mutter- Rammstein
Takk- Sigur Ros
With Love and Squalor (We are Scientists)
Hey Venus (Super Furry Animals)
Only Revolutions (Biffy)
Absolution (Muse)
Alice- Tom Waits
Hot Rail- Calexico
Crack the Skye (Mastodon)
Manteray- Siouxsie Sioux
Up All Night (razorlight)
Morning Sci Fi (Hybrid)
I Created Disco (Calvin Harris)
Mouse (Tales)
The Platform (Dilated Peoples)
Blackened Sky (Biffy Clyro)
Take off your Pants (Blink)
Magic Numbers
Surf (Roddy Frame)
Consolers of the Lonely (Raconteurs)
Sea Change (Beck)
Clear Hearts (Jack off Jill)
Dreamt for light (Sparklehorse)
Means everything (Manchester Orchestra)
Infinity Land (Biffy Clyro)
Dog House Music (Seasick Steve)
Hefty Fine-Bloodhound Gang
Maybe I'll Catch Fire- Alkaline Trio
Me and Mr Johnson (Eric Clap)
Air Drawn Dagger (Sasha)
Journey to Anywhere (Ugly Duckling)
Something Wicked (Herbalizer)
Hail to the Thief- Radiohead
Hit the Floor (Breakestra)
Speakerbox (Outkast)
Black Market (Placebo)
The Liberty (Madness)
High Society (High Contrast)
Hooverdam (Hugh Cornwell)
Goodbye Country (Groove Armada)
Lungs (Florence and the Machine)
Musicology (Prince)
Neon Bible- Arcade Fire
Demon Dayz (Gorrilaz)
Ballad of Broken Seas (Isobel Campbell et al)
White Pony (Deftones)
Give Blood (Brakes)
Run Come Save Me (Roots Manuva)
Odyssey Number Five- Powderfinger
Open Season (British Sea Power)
Vampire Weekend
Contraband- Velvet Revolver
Beyond Elysian Fields  (Hugh Corn)
Free All Angels (ASH)
A New Day (David Gray)
De Stilj (White Stripes)
Black Rebel Motorcyle Club
Guide to Love, Loss (Wombats)
Icky Thump- White Stripes
Gypsy Punks (Gogol Bordello)
Back to Black (Winehouse)
The Life Pursuit (Belle and Seb)
Seven Swans-Surfjan Stevens
You Come Before You (Poison The Well)
Suite XVI (Stranglers)
Lust Lust Lust (Raveonettes)
Invaders Must Die (Prodigy)
Primary Colours (Horrors)
Some Cities (Doves)
End Has a Start (Editors)
Burning Times- Christy Moore
The Understanding (Royksopp)
Fever to Tell (YYYs)
Remote Part (Idlewind)
We Started Nothing (Tings)
Happiness in Mags (Coxon)
Bombay Bicycle Club
Original Pirate Material (Streets)
The Trials  of van Occupanther- Midlake
The Neon Handshake- Hell is for Heroes
Train of Thought (Reflection Eternal)
Everything is Borrowed (The Streets)
Ire Works (Dillinger Escape Plan)
Zero Gold (Pole Folder)
Bleed American (Jimmy Eat World)
Franz Ferdinand
Correct English (Aspects)
Mens Needs, Womens Needs (Cribs)
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Phoenix)
Dead Ringer (R2J2)
22 Dreams (Paul Weller)
Love Songs for Patriots (American Music Club)
To Lose My Life (White Lies)
Hold On Now (Los Campesinos)
Laterus- Tool
Norfolk Coast (Stranglers)
The Imagined Village
Myths of the Near Future (Klaxons)
Marshall Mathers (Eminem)
Music for the Mature (DJ Format)
Peace, Love and Death Metal (EODM)
Vehicles and (Athlete)
Through the windowpane (Guillemots)
A Weekend in the City (Bloc Party)
Twilight (The Suicide File)
I started out with nothing (Seasick Steve)
Puzzle (Biffy Clyro)
Good Apollo IV Vol 1 Coheed and Cambria
Witching Hour (Ladytron)
Kick Up the Fire (Cooper Temple Clause)
Talkie Walkie (Air)
Falling Down (Jehst)
Magpie (Stephen Fretwell)
Just enough education (Stereophonics)
Howdy- Teenage Fanclub
Desert Sessions 9
Holy Wood (Marilyn Manson)
No Love Lost (rifles)
Bows and Arrows (The Walkmen)
Elect the Dead (Serj Tankian)
A Tale of Two Citys (Mr Hudson and the Library)
Audioslave
Here we stand (Fratellis)
The world according to (RZA)
The 59 Sound (Gaslight Anthem)
Dig Lazarus Dig (Nick Cave)
Pendulum- In Silco
Night on my Side- Gemma Hayes
Chutes too Narrow (Skins)
You're a Woman, I'm a (Death from above)
It's Not me, it's you (Lilly A)
Away from the Sun (3 Doors Down)
Heathen Chemistry (Oasis)
Think Tank (Blur)
Language Sex Violence Other (Phonics)
Final Straw (Snow Patrol)
Employment (Kaiser Chiefs)
X and Y (Coldplay)
Hopes and Fears (Keane)
Declaration of Dependance (Kings of Convenience
Orphans (Tom Waits)
29 (Ryan Adams)
The Whitest Boy Alive (Rules)
Real Gone (Tom Waits)
Control (Good Books)
Vantage Point (Deus)
Weekend in the City (Bloc Party)
Tom McRae
Strength in Numbers (The Music)
Elephant (White Stripes)
Rounds (Four Tet)
Person Pitch (Panda Bear)

Some of them are probably on my top 10

shall I do it?

Not like anyone has anything better to do with the match off.

Hmm at least 3 are in my top 10, which if is the case for other people, my idea won't work.

Where albums are equal on points will you just list them in alphabetical order?

Did you discount albums with ten points cos only one person chose them? If so I don't think that's the way it should work.

They're albums with only one vote- 17 of them have 10pts though, so that doesn't work terribly well. And indeed I have discounted them, I'd say two people placing an album 6th is better than one placing 10th, otherwise numbers 50-35 are all going to be stuff that nobody apart from one person has ever heard of.

As for ties, I haven't decided yet, probably based on sales or something.

1. Daft Punk - Discovery
2. William Shatner - Has Been
3. The Go! Team - Thunder Lightening Strike
4. Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
5. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night of the Soul
6. Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy
7. Gorillaz - Demon Days
8. Hot Chip - The Warning
9. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
10. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

Order is a bit ropey, and mostly off the top of my head.

I can kinda see where you're coming from but don't agree for 2 main reasons.

1) I'd say one person saying they think an album is the best of the decade should carry more weight than 2 people saying an album is the tenth best of the decade. So what if it's not very famous. It could encourage people to look it up.

2) You didn't make this clear at the start of the process. People have voted for albums they know it is unlikely that other people will vote for but they probably thought (as I did with my JOJ one) that by putting it high up in their list at least it would rank somewhere.

It seems a bit rich that someone can say an album is top of their list and you entirely discount it!

At the least post a second version of the list solely based on points as per what you originally said.

surely you add the points up display it in a league table and relegate everything past 50th place.

1)   The Streets – Original Pirate Material
2)   Radiohead – Kid A
3)   Burial – Untrue
4)   Count Bass D – Begborrowsteel
5)   Jehst – Falling Down
6)   Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
7)   Kings of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak
8)   Madvillain – Madvillainy
9)   High Contrast – Tough Guys Don’t Dance
10)   Johnny Cash – American VI

Nearly made-its: Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me, Braintax - Birofunk, MF DOOM - Operation Doomsday, Vampire Weekend, Lewis Parker - It's All Happening Now, Matisyahu - Youth.

If cunting X & Y gets in the top 50 then it's no better than any other list :)

Yeah you would think so. Now Nemo is saying if only one person picked something it gets discarded regardless of the amount of points it has.

Oxford you chose the same number one as the observer did and all your top 3 are in their top 10.

Again, I can see where you're coming from, but looking at the results I have, this is what I think would be the best way of doing it. Based on total ALONE, the Qualification mark would be 9 points (67 songs, so I'd have to find some way of cutting at least 70% of the 9s) and of the songs with 9 or more points, 35 of that 67 have been voted for by only than one person- that's over half. Some of the songs that would miss out have 3 people putting them in the top 10, such as the Delays album.

And also, I didn't say anything about how I'd be ranking them at the start, I merely asked for your top 10s, there's no need to act like I've slapped you in the face or something.

fuck off nemo. :)

I am with this, I thought it was a points basis. So all those albums with one votes, assign the relative points, and then everything beyond 50 gets ditched (or added in an addendum or something)
Besides, given the sample size I figured everything beyond about no 25 or 30, will be one vote only...the top 15/10 is of most interest.

I have the whole lot in an Excel Spreadsheet, so I can quite easily post both tables, but you're all wrong. The top 35 odd are the same in any case, this only affects the last few spots.

Do it how you want. Then load all the answers into a google spreadsheet so that every whiny fuck with a better idea can do it themselves.

Right, votes are totalled, the big announcement shortly...

I'm doing it by totals as I'm a pushover.

Can't you just up the points per position or something. How would that work out? Example:

15 for 1st place
12 for 2nd
10 for 3rd
8 for 4th
6 for 6th
4 for 7th
3 for 8th
2 for 9th
1 for 10th

Then do it on points?

OK then. So long as you post the list both ways I don't really mind. I didn't take it personally soapy tit wank I'm just quite particular/obsessive.

edit: just read you last post Nemo. Still post it both ways please, just out of interest. By popular demand the points totals one can be considered the 'official' one maybe.

@ Si Well, partially that seems like it would exacerbate the problem of 1 person putting a song at number 1 making it an almost automatic placing, but I'm mostly against that because it's a whole lot of work for me I don't need to do.

Voting closed.

This ungrateful attitude is why they'll never be another world cup/euro stunners competition.

my thoughts exactly ben

The Town End Forum Top 50 2000-2009

To summarize the counting method for this first table, due to popular demand (Remember, Hitler was also by popular demand) this is being sorted by the total amount of points scored, and then secondarily on the amount of votes received (E.g, if two albums have 10 pts, one from a single vote and one from two people, the latter will place higher on this list). Where this will not separate albums, they have been placed equally. This system gives us an absolute top 50 so happy days. With that said, on with the show...

50th- Songs for the Deaf (Queens of the Stone Age) 9pts from 2 votes

49th- Oracular Spectacular (MGMT) 9pts from 3 votes

48th through to 34th At this point come the 15 albums which received 10pts from a single vote, as documented in detail above, these are, in no particular order:

Leaders of the Free World (Elbow)
Do you Like Rock Music? (British Sea Power)
The Decline of British Sea Power (British Sea Power)
A Larum (Johnny Flynn)
French Kiss in the Chaos (Reverend and the Makers)
Costello Music (The Fratellis)
I choose Noise (Hybrid)
Blink 182 (Blink 182)
Free the Bees (The Bees)
Reise Reise (Rammstein)
Mutter (Rammstein)
Takk (Sigur Ros)
With Love and Squalor (We are Scientists)
Final Straw (Snow Patrol)
Declaration of Dependence (Kings of Convenience)

33rd and 32nd tied with 10pts from two votes:

Coles Corner (Richard Hawley)
Real Gone (Tom Waits)

31st A Grand Don’t Come For Free (The Streets) 10pts from 3 votes

30th Demon Dayz (Gorillaz) 11pts from 2 votes

29th By the Way (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) 11pts from 3 votes

28th Is this it? (The Strokes) 12pts from 2 votes

27th and 26th tied with 13 pts from 2 votes:

Kid A (Radiohead)
Quality Control (Jurassic 5)

Top 25 to come shortly, just thought I’d pop these up for you to read. The top 25 are nicely spaced, not too many ties.

that and the fact we've all growned up

Don't you paint me with your grown up brush.

speak for yourself cuntyface

i'll paint your face with the dripping glue of my grown up brush

Mildly rapey Sonic.

And the business end of the competition, the top 25 albums of the decade, as chosen by the esteemed music critics that post on this forum:

25th Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (The Flaming Lips) 13pts from 3 votes

Tied for 24th to 22nd are three albums with 14 pts from 2 votes:

Stars of CCTV (Hard-Fi)
Aha Shake Heartbreak (Kings of Leon)
Original Pirate Material (The Streets)

Tied for 21st to 19th are three more albums with 15pts from 2 votes:

Parachutes (Coldplay)
The Music (The Music)
A Rush of Blood to the Head (Coldplay)

18th Only by the Night (Kings of Leon) 15pts from 3 votes

17th Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes) with 16pts from 3 votes

16th Favourite Worst Nightmare (Arctic Monkeys) 17pts from 3 votes

15th Silent Alarm (Bloc Party) 17pts from 4 votes

14th Up the Bracket (The Libertines) 18pts from 3 votes

13th Rated R (Queens of the Stone Age) 19pts from 3 votes

12nd Relationship of Command (At the Drive in) 20pts from 2 votes

11th American IV: The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash) 20 pts from 3 votes

...And I’ll leave it there to create some sort of pretence of tension. I’ll  do a proper little write up of the top 10 as well, so it will be worth your wait. Perhaps.

I'm a little aroused.

Toxicity is in the top ten then  :D

Snow Patrol FFS! Blink 182!

Who the fuck are you people?

A completely random set of people of varying age ranges linked only by football.

I am loving the list because of the unexpected/uncool stuff.

bring on the top 10

I was afraid it would be overwhelmingly famous indie bands. It is a bit like that but there's enough other stuff to keep it interesting for someone of my tastes.

This ended up being a lot longer than I intended it to be. Now read it, you fuckers, don't just skip down to see who's number one.

And now, the final countdown (See Alan, Europe has done one good thing for us)

10th Hot Fuss (The Killers) 21pts from 3 votes
Released: 2004
Key Tracks: Mr. Brightside, Somebody Told Me, All These Things That I’ve Done

The second best selling of the top 10 with 6 million copies sold worldwide, Hot Fuss was the Killers debut full length album, and the first of four released in this decade, spawning a whole bunch of hit songs, principally the entire first half of the album .


Equal 8th Black Holes and Revelations (Muse) 23pts from 3 votes
Released:  2006
Key Tracks:  Starlight, Knights of Cydonia, Supermassive Black Hole

Muse’s fourth album (Fifth if you count Hullabaloo) was a huge release in the busy summer of 2006 and lead to two consecutive sold out dates at the newly finished Wembley Stadium, which would have been the first gigs there if they had not strangely leapfrogged them with George Michael a few days before.  I’m still bitter I had to sell my ticket for that gig now.


Equal 8th Glasvegas (Glasvegas) 23pts from 3 votes
Released:  2008
Key Tracks:  Geraldine, Flowers and Football Tops, Daddy’s Gone

Formed in 2003, it took five years for Glasvegas to be noticed by record labels, but when the NME made Daddy’s Gone their #2 single of 2007, a bidding war between labels lead the release of their self titled debut on Columbia, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize and led to spells supporting Oasis and U2 on stadium tours.


7th The Seldom Seen Kid (Elbow) 25pts from 3 votes
Released:  2008
Key Tracks:  Grounds for Divorce, One Day Like This, The Fix

Elbow seemed to have been around for years, but this was actually only their fourth full album release, and seemed destined to slip under the mainstream radar as their previous efforts had when it won the 2008 Mercury Music Prize. The album went platinum almost overnight and the band started to receive the widespread recognition that their fans always felt they’d deserved, with the songs popping up all over the place, notably with One Day Like This becoming the theme tune to the BBC Coverage of the Beijing Olympics.


6th Toxicity (System of a Down) 27pts from 3 votes
Released: 2001
Key Tracks: Chop Suey, Toxicity, Aerials

The second of the Armenian-American rockers albums remains their mostly successful, and was Grammy nominated for its lead single Chop Suey. Produced by Rick Rubin, as damn near everything seems to be these days,  it sold 12 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest commercial success in this top 10, going multi-platinum in the States.


5th Origin of Symmetry (Muse) 28pts from 4 votes
Released: 2001
Key Tracks:  Plug in Baby, Feeling Good, Bliss

The best of Muse’s albums is a hotly debated topic amongst fans, and this is the second of their albums to chart in the top 10 (third album Absolution also received votes, narrowly missing out on the top 10). Launching Muse out of the Radiohead-lite stereotype into the mainstream, lead single Plug in Baby remains to this day one of the best songs to play at stupidly high volumes that I know, and Nina Simone cover ‘Feeling Good’ is a favourite amongst non-fans as well.


4th Discovery (Daft Punk) 29pts from 3 votes
Released:  2001
Key Tracks:  One More Time, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, Face to Face

Probably the biggest surprise in this top 10, the French House duo sit uneasily on this otherwise indie rock dominated list. The album was originally the soundtrack to a Japanese anime film, but achieved worldwide success, reaching #2 in the UK and spawning the club classic One More Time and Harder, Better, Faster,  Stronger, which would later be sampled heavily by Kanye West, who joined them on stage at the 2008 Grammys to play the song.


3rd Funeral (Arcade Fire) 33pts from 5 votes
Released:  2004
Key Tracks:  Neighbourhood #2 (Laika) Rebellion (Lies) Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)

Canadian Indie royalty the Arcade Fire released only two albums this decade, Funeral and 2006’s Neon Bible, but they were successful enough to gather them a huge cult following in this country and around the world. NME rated it as the second best album of 2005 (due to a delayed UK release) and gaining them mainstream attention as wide as the front cover of Time Magazine and a slot on Top of the Pops


2nd Kasabian (Kasabian) 34pts from 5 votes
Released: 2004
Key Tracks:  Club Foot, Reason is Treason, Lost Souls Forever

Leicestershire rockers Kasabian released their eponymous debut in 2004, earning praise from the notoriously hard to please Gallagher brothers as well as providing one of the most recognizable Guitar intros to any song with Club Foot, which pops up in Films and Television at regular intervals even now.

Which of course means...


1st Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (Arctic Monkeys) 52pts from 6 votes
Released: 2 006
Key Tracks:  I Bet That you Look Good on the Dancefloor, When the Sun Goes Down, Mardy Bum

It was never going to be anything else was it? Much to my chagrin, WPSIATWIN is the runaway winner by 18pts from its closest challenger. You don’t need me to tell you the story of this album, one of the most documented breakthrough successes in recent history, so I’ll leave you by reminding you that Gordon Brown claims to listen to them every day to wake him up. That, in my opinion, explains the recession neatly.

Thanks for all your votes, I’ll probably be back with a best of the decade more generally soon enough. Get your teeth into abusing eachother!

Well done Nemo................got to say Arcade Fire at number 3 suprised me....never been a fan.....but thats coming from someone who had Pendolum in the top ten,,,some really good lists there.

hi five my daft punk buddies.

Black Holes and Revelations over Absolution? No way!

List is better than I expected, I quite like all the albums in the top 10, good to see origin of symmetry and discovery make the top 10, so close for relationship of command.

thing is with the artic monkeys album its the combination of things that make it a great album for me, they looked the bollocks, young and damn fucking cool (obviously not now get your fucking hair cut!) their lyrics captured perfectly being a teenager - basically fucking about having a laugh, falling in and out of love, dealing with chav fucknuts, even the nightmare of getting into a nightclub - from a truely british perspective. Plus the music is really fucking accomplished for a debut album.

its a really fucking exciting album extolling youth at its best and worst which is what rock and roll should always be about.

If you still feel unsure about it play the track A certain romance dead fucking loud and check the lyrics, im pretty sure it will sum up 99% of peoples growing up experiences in swindon.

System of a Down in the top 10? What the fuck is this world coming to?

Good stuff Nemo - cheers

if nothing else, this list (and all the others for that matter) give ideas for new music to listen to which may have passed me by first time round.

I wasn't impressed at all with them at Glastonbury though !

I agree about the 1st Artic Monkeys album,but they soon became uninteresting when they started to believe their own hype/became muso bores and started dating TV presenters.I suppose its inevitable,maybe bands should only ever make 1 record.

Same goes for The Streets,that 1st album was ace it had a real modern Ska feel about it.The second one was about the pains of being famous...really who fucking cares.

On a side note,you know the advert for the Phone Company where the nobber called Josh wants to make a band with hundreds of other nobbers? when they are on the Double Decker Bus what are they singing? is it "I really really really wanna feel your Boobs"?

agreed... helps fill out my Xmas list!

Nemo you should do a TEF top 50 songs of all time list! :)

also glad to see elbow make the top 10! Seldom Seen Kid is a Brilliant album and here are two very fine reasons why-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdmwHljfN4Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk2xaeXnxlM&feature=related

hahahahahahahahaha I always think thats what they are singing!

Have just watched Friend of ours by Elbow, in that session with the BBC orchestra, and would go as far to say that is is hot on the tail of the best unplugged track of all time, which is obviously Nothing else matters by Metcallica...

Think you are a bit confused there. The second album was a A Grand Don't Come For Free which was a concept album telling the story of a bloke whos TV is broken and he loses a grand then finds a girl gets dumped by her then finds his grand in the broken TV. It's not about the trials of being famous.

Are you possibly thinking of that one song in the third album called "When You Wasn't Famous"? I think you are being harsh on him.

I think I prefer the second album to the first. The first is good lyrically but the music and production is a bit basic (some might like this).

Man who sold the World by Nirvana is best unplugged track ever, obviously.
The Pitchfork lists are quite interesting, if you can bear the pretentious trainspotteryness of it: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/

I think you are right, yeo must mean the third which was a complete piece of shit.

a grand was good too but not quite up there with original pirate material

Original Pirate material was the nuts. Everything is borrowed and a grand don't come for free are both very good albums, whilst his third album was complete and utter garbage

Yeah I also think Everything is Borrowed is cool. It's a total departure in that he made a conscious decision not to talk about everyday stuff and to take about deeper often philosophical issues. The whole album is also very positive and uplifting which seems rare in todays media and music. It's simply genuine and not all cynical. One of the only other examples I can think of, of this kinda of non-cheesy life-affirming album is the music of the punk band 98 Mute.

As I said tho for me A Grand Don't Come For Free is the best. Be interesting to see what the last album is like.

Last album is going to be the day to day lives of humans from the point of view of a dog and a cat.

The Streets remind me of a chav talking with some tunes blasting out from 6x9s in the background.

Where did you hear that Ben? Here's the info on Wikipedia regarding the next (and final) album...


That collaboration mentioned is on youtube. It's called slow songs. (is there a way to post youtube liniks into posts without it embedding the video?)

A Grand dont come for Free is brilliant...Streets best album in my Humble.

Yes I got that wrong I forgot the 2nd.

Ive only really got time for the 1st album,ive not seen him for ages but Skinner looks a right mess in that video.

am surprised the ting tings didn't get more votes??....cue volley of vitriolic abuse directed at the mancunian duo...

*Insert volley of vitriolic abuse here*

Yet another pointless list thread!

Half of the artists/albums on here I've never heard of, which means they're obviously shit.

The stuff I listen to is awesome and therefore the best.

I thought Everything is Borrowed wasn't very good. Talking about every day issues is one of the things that made the streets so good, the last couple of albums have been pretty dull compared to the first two.

I just tried that Glasvegas album. I managed about 1 minute of the first song and 10 seconds of the second song...

Utter gash.

All this talk of The Streets & Muse as the best albums has made me realise what a shit ten years of music it's been.

The first track doesn't really start until 1.26 minutes in. Good to see you giving albums such a massive chance

ok, listen to the first 5 seconds of cissy strut by the Meters.

That's all you need to know it's fucking excellent.

If it was the best of all time, these would still be up there.

that was the problem with the one before though. he still tried to talk about evey day stuff but he didn't do any of it anymore. so it ended up with wanky tracks about him touring and doing too much coke, trashing hotel rooms, and two vain attemps at 'dry your eyes mate II.'

everything is borrowed was a bit better and a move away from any cultural references. it was a decent attempt at something new. hopefully the last one will be a bit better, i followed spy's youtube metion and there are unfinished versions of all the tracks on there, they sound decent.

We forget how different The Streets sounded when it first came out. No-one was bringing those threads together - the rap and hip hop in a really English way. Someone wrote above that the Arctic Monkeys wrote songs about growing up in Swindon. I think some of the Streets stuff has the same vibe.

Unfortunately now you have so many knock-offs, the Streets doesn't seem as original as it once was.

I agree it had a very original sound, with him flaunting his accent and talking about a certain way of life. But although I'm no expert on Britsh Hip Hop I'm sure The Streets wasn't the start of it. British Hip Hop existed I think he just brought it out of the underground.

I'm sure he never expected Original Pirate Material to be as a big a hit as it was. This thread prompted me to listen to it again last night and on that (amazing) track Let's Push Things Forward there's that line "cult classic not best seller" - which is ironic cos it did go on to be a best seller!!!

theres shit loads of british hip hop way before the streets, as pitman said about mike skinner " why do you speak like a cockney youre from birmingham you twat"

Dont think that was the only two we were  listening to Ginghino....bit of Subo thrown in as well.

I still think doing the same exercise but for the 90s could be good. That was such a rich decade for music...

wot no zutons,kt tunstall or paul weller?!?!?
pah!

Pitman is great but Mike Skinner was born in North London and only moved to Birmingham later and then moved back to London so his accent isn't fake. There was loads of uk hip-hop around before the streets though but it's still an all time classic album, one of the few where there are no bad tracks.

Not in my book. It's all a matter of personal taste. I personally don't like Hip hop etc at all, so wouldn't put it in any top thousand. I do apprecaite that some do like it, (each to his own). But regardless there are very few albums in the last decade that could be classed as classics.

I think there are more classics from the last decade than from the 70s or 80s to be honest.

hahahahaha.

I can't believe Back to Black isn't in the top 50!!

Imo it is a classic because Amy Winehouse has one of if not the best voices of the last few decades and she was pushing this cool, retro motown style rivival thing.

Like I said it's a matter of taste. For the record tho' I totally disagree !

I could easily name 100 classic albums from the past decade. Anyone saying it's been a really bad decade for music almost certainly has not looked very far or listened to many albums from this decade.

what groundbreaking artists have come through this decade?

Frank Sinatra doesnt count uncle fester

totally agree, but this was the first one that really broke out.

Also, I liked this: "The 50 Worst Songs of the '00s"

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/11/f2kindex.php

Late '00s: The music industry and economy turned to dog shit... and then turned into that weird white dog shit. Labels handed out deals to whatever idiot famewhore had the most MySpace friends, and then churned out bloops in hopes that they'd sound good on a cell phone speaker that's both smaller and worse-sounding than a spider's balls.

Loads of dubstep artists - Burial, Skream, Caspa, Benga etc. etc. Dizzee rascal, the streets, high contrast, chase and status.

Apart from Dizzee and the Streets none of those are break through or big artists.Decades are remembered by music that the masses have listened to.Doesnt mean they arent good just that they arent decade defining,well thats my opinion anyway.

That's true, it would be fairer to say that mainstream music hasn't been that great this decade but the great music is there, you just have to look for it.

the first 4 i've not heard of.dizzee rascal is shit and nothing new.the streets i will grant you were refreshing when first on the scene and different but hardly groundbreaking.high contrast is nothing new,ditto chase and status.

Completely wrong about Dizzee. He is very talented and one of the best rappers of all time, boy in da corner was a very innovative album and definitely groundbreaking.

High contrast is nothing new is a ridiculous thing to say. High contrast has pushed the boundaries of drum and bass more than any other artist, every album he makes has taken it into new areas and he is an insanely talented producer, the best in the world in my opinion - nothing new? Who the fuck was doing the same thing before him then?

Chase & Status' latest song featuring Plan B entitled End Credits is my ear sex at the moment ;)

If a song doesn't have guitars then it's not worth listening to in my book.

Here,Here.

drum and bass has been around 16-17 years.i like his stuff but it is not groundbreaking.infact the older stuff is far superior.groundbreaking pioneers of drum and bass were in the 90's

burial was completely original. nothing at all like it before and people are copying it now. skream is big and can turn his hand to pretty much anything; he produces indie music but doesn't use his real name on the credits. he will be one of the biggest names for a good while to come. dunno about caspa, that style of dubstep is amusing at first but pretty superficial and tiresome. i reckon rusko is better at that kind of thing. benga i like alot. again quite an original sound in the genre, a bit flying lotus-esque.

dizzee had a lot of promise but like the streets is going off the ball. his new stuff is absolute shite, apart from bonkers which he didn't make. definitely not one of the greatest mc's - I'd put all three of De La Soul way above him just off the top of my head. his style is basic and lyrics of late generally stupid. it'd be good if he had another crack at a boy in da corner style album instead of this dancey pop shit.

a good decade for dance music though. the emergence of dubstep, and the revivial of drum and bass which was dragging its heels a bit.

shame about hip-hop though, started the decade well but it all seems to have petered out now. the uk has nothing now that i know of (proabably due to not looking for new artists) - jehst is off the ball, braintax retired and emigrated, all the weed is catching up with roots manuva, lewis parker is busy producing for americans. america has nothing too. if i want to find a new hip-hop album i look for something in the late 80's that i've been missing out on.

arriba the genre still moves on though, and pushes it boundaries. stalwarts like andy c and hype are still at the forefront, along with the newer artists like high contrast and zinc who bring a fresh input and more eclectic sound

Whilst the quality of the albums is definitely up for debate (well it is being debated), the twenty-zeros has been an important decade for music distribution. The classic outlets like radio play haven't gone, but they've been diluted in importance. The record shop is nearly dead.

In the 90's Simon Cowell could get a number one manufactured band with a few interviews in Smash Hits and an appearance on Going Live/Live and Kicking and Top of the Pops. Now he needs a prime time television show to achieve the same thing.

There's also been a monumental shift away from singles. They've been given a mini-boost thanks to (legal) downloads from itunes and others, but the amount you need to sell to get to no.1 has dropped hugely.

Change for the better? Probably.

thing is,just like football you'll never get people agreeing about music.people have different views and tastes.

groundbreaking for me means taking stuff to a new level.something completely new or original.i cannot think of anyone in the last 10 years who has done this of any note,who will go down in history as groundbreaking?

dizzee rascal for instance is average at his thing and is nothing new.i can see why he's popular but he is not original at all.he'll soon be forgotten when his days are done.the same can't be said of nwa or public enemy.they are proper legends.

The thing is though, who would you say has been completely original over the last 40 years. You've got the first main stream hip hop with something like Rappers Delight (anniversary this week isn't it? classic), which used samples. You've got early house and drum and bass and stuff which again grew on what was there before. Before then the likes of the Beatles and the Stones only built on what had gone before.

Everything's original to varying degrees or nothing is at all. It's a difficult thing to put your finger on.

The plus points of the 00's? I'd say more interesting lyrics, not profound or meaningful, but meaning lead. Stuff like The Streets, The Libertines, The Arctic Monkeys, Lilly Allen, etc. Yeah there are examples from years ago - Squeeze's Up the Junction springs to mind - but it's something which has become popular over the last decade.

There's the melody based tunes of snow patrol, elbow, cold play etc. which have been a big hit.

Some of the best albums have been really good fusions of styles. Gorrilaz - Demon Days is a brilliant mash of hip hop, pop and soft indie rock. The Go! Team are brilliant with there jangly car chase hip hop and there's been more electronic pop rock bands than polish immagrents.

Every decade has it's influences, and originality only comes down to how much you know about those influences when you listen to a song.

Edit: wasn't meant to sound sarcy starting with "thing is" too, just coincidence.

your points are good ben and i can't argue really.but i dont think anything has really gone bigtime from this decade.some good music for sure but nothing really pushing the boundaries imo.
the 70's took rock music to another level.the 80's gave us ska and 2tone,hip hop and rap.the 90's saw dance music go through the roof in many varying styles,and the emergence of brit pop.what has the noughties given us that will go down in history and have loyal followers for decades to come?

BWB made the point that the noughties have been great for the underground music scene. But from a commercial point of view it's all been pretty much complete cack. Too many manufactured "samey" artists.

no dispute that there is some great music about.groundbreaking it aint though imo

There's such a variety of music out there it means inventing a new genre is pretty much impossible. Music evolves and produces different sounds that way.

If you think about it, very little music is revolutionary in its base form. Rock came from Blues which came from something before it. Hip Hop originates from Disco which was some form of pop/dance music. Music is now evolutionary. So much has been done and with so many influences around, you're only bound to get sub-types of a genre.

But to say there is no original music is not quite correct. I hadn't heard anything like Kings of Leon or Arcade Fire when they hit the scene. The Strokes and The Libertines changed the way indie sounded for an entire decade. British hip hop sounds very very different at the moment. It's all original or groundbreaking stuff even if I don't think it's all great.

What makes Jimi Hendrix original (for example)? He was a great musician but his genre was Blues which had been around for a while. Nobody sounds like Jimi just because they way he played and the techniques he used to create and capture sound, which made him groundbreaking. However, it's a fact he was influenced a lot by Dylan and Les Paul (who is the real pioneer of the electric guitar; R.I.P.).

What makes a top musician(s). Is it originality? The pioneering of a new genre? Or just being generally good? Album sales? There are just too many things to judge on to narrow it down more specifically, it has to be a combination of these factors and I think there is plenty of examples in this current decade.

A lot of High contrast's music sounds nothing like the earlier drum and bass, that's the point. It is groundbreaking, he mixes in different genres and uses samples nothing like anyone else is using. Tracks like kiss kiss bang bang, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CkfJNn6YQ and chances http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66GW4lhjM7g - try finding something similar from 15 years ago. There are a couple of similar artists around now, like Danny Byrd but I've seen him doing a warm up set for high contrast quite a few times so that's because high contrast influenced him.

Flammable ben makes some very good points, Si Pie too. I definitely think Gorillaz were groundbreaking also but as has been said it doesn't mean it's completely original.

i'm liking that ben wah but it's nothing new really.dnb artists have been sampling stuff from many different areas since its evolution.even the trumpton theme tune made it into a rave track.lines from movies,sped up old classics etc etc.

i agree with you about si pie and ben raising good points.no right or wrong in this debate really

on a similar note, there is nothing original or groundbreaking about seasick steve's music yet he's reintroduced blues to the mainsteam.

music doesn't have to be original or groundbreaking to be good or to be important.


however, tom waits is probably the most original singer songwriter of the last 20 years.

I think it's also plausible to look back on a decade and pick out the highlights because we're not exposed to it all of the time. What I thought were rather good albums in the 90s are now classics. Definitely Maybe being an obvious example of that. At the time it was just a quality album, as it has stood the test of time it is now a classic. It's impossible to say what will stand the test of time ten years from now.

I thought the 90s became samey and uninspiring but I continue to pick out gems from that decade and it's 2009. The 90s were anything but dull. I reckon I will have similar feelings toward certain albums released in more recent times in years to come.

In fact, I never got my head round the hype of Up the Bracket at the time but a few years on and I really enjoy listening to it. The Libertines are no longer over exposed and I can enjoy the album for what it is without the constant radio play and media hype and Doherty shenanigans to remind how good it is.

To be fair Sonic alot of the Blues revolution is down to Jools Holland who booked Seasick...who is brilliant by the way......the small thing that gets my goat is stations like Radio One who play the same ol shit day after day and try to tell us whats cool/good and what isnt.......and that idiot from Leeds spouting off each morning on half a million a year instead of maybe using the time and our Licence money to give some new bands abit of airtime.
Incidently was playing some old vynil earlier...can you remember a group called Kaliphz..and the album vibe de joint...brilliant and was really suprised they didnt go on and be massive.

So we're agreed.

Its all about floppy fringes,jangly guitars,cardigans and girly singers...

Woo !

i was going to post something very similar as i've changed my mind somewhat after some thought about this subject(and viewing some you tube vids).alot of what i would call my fav artists i wasn't into at the time,or was not even born.
take stevie wonder for instance.i knew him for (ebony and ivory-i just called) as a kid when those songs were released.two pretty poor efforts really.but until listening to his other stuff when i was older i didn't know what a fucking awesome genius the bloke is.

i dont know if what is being done now wont be seen as this in the future.i'm sure some artists will so i think i had it wrong back in the thread about music to look back on.

I agree with si pie, but then I think he just took what I said and put it in more eloquent terms, well he built on it a bit. Which is fair enough. I rushed my post in a haze of wine.

I think The Go! Team are the best original band of the last decade. Take that as you will.

I skipped through a bit of this thread so didn't really see your posts Ben, we obviously just agree on stuff.

Though I have been drinking, I didn't have that haze so I tried to make it look like I'd put some real thought into what I was writing. In truth I probably babbled.

I'm on my third bottle of wine and have no idea what i've said, or what you've said. However, I think it's a brilliant acting metaphor for the way that a lot of modern music wouldn't know what it's influences were.