TEF Top 50 Albums of the Decade

[Arriba]

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.

[flammableBen]

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.

[Arriba]

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?

[Samdy Gray]

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.

[Arriba]

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

[Simon Pieman]

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.

[Ben Wah Balls]

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

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, and chances - 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.

[Ben Wah Balls]

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.

[Arriba]

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

[sonicyouth]

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.

[Simon Pieman]

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.

[leefer]

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.

[yeo]

So we're agreed.

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

Woo !

[Arriba]

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.

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.

[flammableBen]

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.