eMusic's Top 100 albums of the decade

[Cosmo]

I'm an indie music snob and I haven't heard of at least 30 percent of this list.

http://www.emusic.com/features/hub/decade_albums/index.html

 

[PCLoadLetter]

One thing to remember about eMusic's lists like this - they limit it to stuff that's available on eMusic. That means it's all-indie, plus Sony's back catalog stuff.

I'm a big eMusic guy. Their lists are usually pretty solid - I've discovered some great stuff through their end of year best-ofs. I discovered The Gaslight Anthem when eMusic made it number one last year, and it's easily top 5 for me this decade. (They put it at 98 for the decade, which seems very odd.)

Having said all that, I think the first Strokes album was and is comically over-hyped. Putting it at number one just seems insane to me.

 

[Cosmo]

Good point, PC. Liked a lot of stuff on that list, especially the Stars and New Pornographers records. Was pleasantly surprised to see MF Doom get a shoutout (or Madvillian as he sometimes goes by). "In Rainbows" was just about right. I had never heard of Burial or the Mountain Goats, but I might give them a listen.

 

[YGBFKM]

They got it right with DBT. "Dirty South" is a masterpiece of musical storytelling.

 

[Human_Paraquat]

If any of you like Springsteen and the Replacements, do yourself a favor and get some Hold Steady into your ears. Also maybe the best live band working right now, at least for small venues.

 

[Joshua Armstrong]

I question the legitimacy of that list, as I own several of those albums and have horrible, horrible taste in music.

 

[YGBFKM]

If any of you like Springsteen and the Replacements, do yourself a favor and get some Hold Steady into your ears. Also maybe the best live band working right now, at least for small venues.

DBT kicks some serious live ass. Interestingly enough, they love The Hold Steady. The Truckers toured with them as co-headliners recently, but I wasn't able to make a show.

 

[BTExpress]

They could have a list of "100 Greatest Mongolian Folk Artists of the 19th Century", and my recognition batting average would be no worse than with the above list.

.010.

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

31/100 here.

Not a very good list, though the Interpol, Strokes, Radiohead, OutKast and Hold Steady records with the high rankings are pretty deserving, IMO. I'm sure we'll see a few better ones in the weeks to come, though I'm all for helping to put together an SportsJournalists.com list if anybody's down. We'd probably need about 25 people involved to get a nice list together.

 

[Trey Beamon]

That's a good idea. SS. I'd definitely be on board for an SportsJournalists.com list.

As for eMusic's ...

Don't know about No. 1, but "Is This It" was a groundbreaking album, even if the garage rock movement didn't have a long shelf life.

And while it wasn't all that original, songs like "Hard To Explain" sounded pretty damn exciting compared to most of the crap on rock radio -- see Staind's "It's Been Awhile" -- in 2001.

I own 26 of 100 on the list, though many aren't deserving of such praise. I mean, I love Jay Reatard ... he's really underrated but "Blood Visions" isn't a top album.

Also, I've never heard of Cannibal Ox.

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

There's a lot of good music from this decade. I think it'd be fun to see what everyone thinks.

I've never heard of Cannibal Ox either, for what it's worth.

 

[YGBFKM]

Can we do a best-of list of criminally underrated '70s rock bands? I'd be all over that. I'm woefully behind on current music. Outside of DBT or anything involving Jack White or Jeff Tweedy, I'm pretty much out of the loop.

 

[Trey Beamon]

Can we do a best-of list of criminally underrated '70s rock bands? I'd be all over that. I'm woefully behind on current music. Outside of DBT or anything involving Jack White or Jeff Tweedy, I'm pretty much out of the loop.

I do agree with you on Thin Lizzy, YGBFKM. Any way you slice it -- lyrically, musically, vocally -- they were brilliant.

The rest of the '70s bands you like probably suck, though.

 

[YGBFKM]

Can we do a best-of list of criminally underrated '70s rock bands? I'd be all over that. I'm woefully behind on current music. Outside of DBT or anything involving Jack White or Jeff Tweedy, I'm pretty much out of the loop.

I do agree with you on Thin Lizzy, YGBFKM. Any way you slice it -- lyrically, musically, vocally -- they were brilliant.

The rest of the '70s bands you like probably suck, though.

Jethro Tull rocks! No, seriously, they're really good. They were making great music long before they became "The Band That Screwed Metallica." Speaking of Tull, check out this cover.

 

[JJHHI]

Good point, PC. Liked a lot of stuff on that list, especially the Stars and New Pornographers records. Was pleasantly surprised to see MF Doom get a shoutout (or Madvillian as he sometimes goes by). "In Rainbows" was just about right. I had never heard of Burial or the Mountain Goats, but I might give them a listen.

The Mountain Goats are fantastic. And I guess they didn't feel too good about new music in 2008 overall, since their No. 1 record of the year is in the 3rd percentile for the decade. A travesty that Gaslight Anthem was so low -- and that last year's Conor Oberst record is nowhere on the list.

I'm like you, though, a major indie music snob with about a .500 OBP (heard of 'em) and about a .300 BA (own 'em) on that list.

 

[Bob Cook]

You ask, where are The White Stripes? Emusic doesn't sell 'em.

Otherwise, "White Blood Cells" would be the No. 1 album. For quality, influence and ubiquity, at least on the rock 'n' roll side, Jack White is the artist of the decade.

 

[kokane_muthashed]

You ask, where are The White Stripes? Emusic doesn't sell 'em.

Otherwise, "White Blood Cells" would be the No. 1 album. For quality, influence and ubiquity, at least on the rock 'n' roll side, Jack White is the artist of the decade.

A.V. Club picked WBC as their No. 1 of the decade.

 

[Bob Cook]

You ask, where are The White Stripes? Emusic doesn't sell 'em.

Otherwise, "White Blood Cells" would be the No. 1 album. For quality, influence and ubiquity, at least on the rock 'n' roll side, Jack White is the artist of the decade.

A.V. Club picked WBC as their No. 1 of the decade.

Actually, I wonder what happened with eMusic and the White Stripes. Because a while back, I DID purchase some of their stuff from the site. I presume it has to do with eMusic's low royalty rates.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

You ask, where are The White Stripes? Emusic doesn't sell 'em.

Otherwise, "White Blood Cells" would be the No. 1 album. For quality, influence and ubiquity, at least on the rock 'n' roll side, Jack White is the artist of the decade.

A.V. Club picked WBC as their No. 1 of the decade.

Actually, I wonder what happened with eMusic and the White Stripes. Because a while back, I DID purchase some of their stuff from the site. I presume it has to do with eMusic's low royalty rates.

It seems to fluctuate quite a bit. Before the Sony deal eMusic had the Atco catalog of the Rolling Stones, but that seems to be gone now.

I went through the list and I'm at least familiar with 68 of the 100 artists there. Scratching my head that the Pernice Brothers aren't represented at all, since they did very well on every top 100 eMusic did year to year. (And honestly, if I do a top 10 for the 2000s it probably has 3 Pernice Brothers albums on it.)

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Can we do a best-of list of criminally underrated '70s rock bands? I'd be all over that. I'm woefully behind on current music. Outside of DBT or anything involving Jack White or Jeff Tweedy, I'm pretty much out of the loop.

Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

(If only I could be there when this gets read. YGBFKM might just faint.)