MUSIC THAT ECHOED THROUGH THE DECADE
Times have changed, who listens to an entire album anymore. Right? Why skim through 12 odd tracks when you’d rather hear the best/popular one’s and pirate it off a torrent website or a p2p software. I have come up with a list, which by no means is definitive, but nevertheless a fair account of what I think are the stand out music contributions of the 2000’s. (Drum roll).
10. System of A Down – Toxicity [2001]
The part-Armenian part-Americano rockers hit the big league with their second outing. Hardcore fans might have been a bit worried considering what going mainstream meant for most bands out there (selling out, going pop, blah-blah), but boy, did we have nothing to worry about. If anything, these guys just got batshit crazy on this sophomore effort. Yeah, you know the classics. Chop Suey! , Aerials and Toxicity still hold up well, despite being played to death over the years, but the albums boasts of little gems like ATWA, X and Psycho. This is rock on steroids and bubblegum.
9. Radiohead – In Rainbows [2007]
Of all the bizarre things that have happened in the music industry in the past decade, perhaps the strangest was how a Multi-Platinum Grammy Award winning rock band, at the peak of their game, could put out an entire record free for download ( or whatever you wished to pay) on their website. The industry was shocked. Yet despite all the hoopla, Radiohead had made a sonically stunning album worthy of greatness. From the opening racket of 15 Steps, to Thom Yorke’s searing vocals on House of Cards and the bouncy Jigsaw Falling into Place (trippiest music video ever); these guys brought their A-Game.
8. M.I.A – Kala [2007]
It’s hard to pinpoint what exact genre Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam would want you to classify her music into. Her idiosyncratic songs teasingly walk the fine line between true creativity and ostentatious self-indulgence. Whatever it is, I’m sold! Unless you were living under a rock, you would’ve listened to Paper Planes on the Slumdog Millionaire OST. But there’s more to this Sri Lankan beauty than that. Check out the beats on Jimmy, Boyz and Come around (Feat Timbaland). This is not your average basement musician.
7. Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory [2000]
The first album I ever bought and perhaps the most personal of anything that’s made it on this list. Love em or hate em, you can’t ignore the most successful act to emerge from the past decade. Hybrid Theory comprised of 12 neatly cut rock nuggets crafted to industrial perfection Papercut, Crawling,One Step Closer - Every single became an anthem. Every lyric became an outlet for teen angst. (And yeah, who you kidding? Even your Nepali watchman knows the chorus of “In the End”.)
6. Tool – Lateralus [2001]
Maynard James Keenan vocals have never sounded better than on this 2001 release; with the quartet on top of their game and none more so that on the heavy Ticks & Leeches and the companion pieces Parabol and Parabola. The Grudge and The Patient showcase fervor in its drumming arrangements especially with the double basses going crazy on Schism. The album is a perfectly calculated and complex work of a band at the peak of its craft.
5. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [2010]
Whoever said a**holes could never make great music, obviously have never heard of Mr. West. Arguably making the fattest beats this side of Timbaland, what he lacks in vocal range, he makes up for in outlandish production. You would have already heard the soulful chart topper Runaway, but check out the beats on All of the Lights, the King Crimson sampled Power as well as the raw distorted effects on Hell of a Life. Hip Hop’s always interesting with Kanye around.
4. Kings of Leon – Only By the Night [2008]
Make-out rock music. That’s what I describe King of Leon’s fourth album. Maybe it’s lead singer Caleb Followill’s raspy vocals. Maybe it’s the surreal landscapes amidst the grungy guitars. Maybe it’s the fact that their singles are called Sex on Fire, Use somebody and Closer. Go Figure. Commercial rock never sounded this sexy.
3. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP [2000]
Alright, don’t cringe. There was no way we were going to get through this list without at least one Eminem album. Slim Shady may no longer be as relevant today but there is no denying that this album left an indelible impression on global pop. All of a sudden, being suicidal and cursing your family were acceptable things in mainstream music. Everyone knows the hits - Stan, My Name is, The Way I am, etc. But what’s always fun to revisit are the skits which is where Eminem’s real psychopathic sense of humor come to the fore – Paul, Steve Berman and yup - the deeply disturbing Kim.
2. Arcade Fire – Funeral [2004]
Probably not as well known as some of the other artists on this list, but in case you haven’t heard them before, give these Canadian indie rockers a spin. Funeral is a masterpiece of an “album” in the truest sense of the word. Track 2 Laika has got a weird but catchy guitar, complementing its dark lyrics with a certain bizarreness that’s infectious. But the standout track has to be Wake Up, a massive song that’s just spiraling upwards with its choir like chorus. An album this brave, empowering and emotionally rich doesn’t come by very often.
1. Wolfmother – Self titled [2005]
Australian Hard Rock outfit Wolfmother surely couldn’t have imagined that their debut album would turn out to be a global phenomenon. Critics butchered their sound, calling it a mere imitation of Led Zep and Sabbath era of rock music. While never quite reaching the greatness of the two aforementioned bands, Vocalist/Lead Andrew Stockdale & Wolfmother were well on their way to a successful music career [never mind that two of three members quit shortly after this release]. Nearly every song here is single-worthy from the infectious Woman, to probably the craziest guitar riff of the decade in Joker & the Thief [Seven Nation Army can take a hike]. The album almost seems like a greatest hits collection. Wolfmother, take a bow.
