The zeros were quite a decade for music. Never before has the music industry experienced such a profound change in a ten year period. File sharing and online downloads completely transformed the way people obtain their music and iPods and MP3 players have enabled the consumer to carry his entire music library with him wherever he goes. These technological shifts have been a mixed blessing. On one hand, we, as consumers, have easy access to more music than we could ever hope to digest. On the other, aspiring musicians have found it increasingly difficult to earn a sustainable living from their craft. However, I don't want to get too far into the morality / legality issues surrounding the current state of affairs in the music industry (perhaps I will delve into that in a later post). For now, I'm going to focus on the great music that was born this decade. You had to filter through A LOT of garbage to find it, but it truly was an exciting 10 years in which some fantastic albums were made. Here is a list of my top 50 albums of the decade:
1.) 10,000 Days - Tool
2.) Lateralus - Tool
3.) Deloused in the Commatorium - The Mars Volta
4.) Frances the Mute -The Mars Volta
5.) Eidolon - RISHLOO
6.) Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True - Fair to Midland
7.) Feathergun - RISHLOO
8.) Blast Tyrant - Clutch
9.) Year Zero - Nine Inch Nails
10.) Relationship of Command - At the Drive In
11.) Toxicity - System of a Down
12.) The Bedlam in Goliath - The Mars Volta
13.) The Dark Third - Pure Reason Revolution
14.) Mer De Noms - A Perfect Circle
15.) American Idiot - Green Day
16.) Super Taranta! - Gogol Bordello
17.) Thirteenth Step - A Perfect Circle
18.) Float - Flogging Molly
19.) Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike - Gogol Bordello
20.) Robot Hive Exodus - Clutch
21.) Topsy Turvy - The Apex Theory
22.) 21st Century Breakdown - Green Day
23.) Faces - Mt. Helium
24.) White Pony
25.) Drunken Lullabies - Flogging Molly
26.) Terras Fames - RISHLOO
27.) With Teeth - Nine Inch Nails
28.) Octahedron - The Mars Volta
29.) Morning View - Incubus
30.) From Beale Street to Oblivion - Clutch
31.) Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam
32.) The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust - Saul Williams
33.) Amputechture - The Mars Volta
34.) Hypnotize - System of a Down
35.) Icky Thump - The White Stripes
36.) Adrenological - Cire
37.) Heaven's Dust - Ekova
38.) Riot Act - Pearl Jam
39.) Steal this Album! - System of a Down
40.) "V" is for Vagina - Puscifer
41.) Strange Cousins from the West - Clutch
42.) Swagger - Flogging Molly
43.) Mesmerize - System of a Down
44.) Elephant - The White Stripes
45.) Backspacer - Pearl Jam
46.) Ghosts I-IV - Nine Inch Nails
47.) Deftones - Deftones
48.) Guero - Beck
49.) Into the Presence - Into the Presence
50.) Red of Tooth and Claw - Murder by Death
From the list, I can now see that the band of the decade for me is certainly The Mars Volta. With five albums in my top 50 (3, 4, 12, 27, and 32) they certainly were a busy group. In addition, I have also determined that 2007 was my favorite year of the decade for music. This year featured the release of three albums that made my top ten list including: Eidolon, Fables from a Mayfly, and Year Zero (nine total albums in my top 50). Hopefully the next ten years bring as much incredible music as the past ten did.
