Best albums of the 2000s

[Christina]

When it comes to Grizzly Bear, I can get no farther than the "hits."  The deep cuts hold nothing for me.  "Two Weeks." "The Knife." Great songs. Great videos. 

Everybody's loving these guys right now. It's clearly their year or something. I haven't been able to get into them - maybe I should try these "hits" you speak of over on the crazy last.fm.

[dave from knoxville]

I don't know what they are. 

Pitchfork will tell you on Sept. 28.

I've been looking at their top 500 songs this week and there's a whole lot of songs that I didn't even remember came out this decade.  It was nice to see Ted Leo get 2 songs on so far.

Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of the tracks are the openers to their respective albums? Something about that doesn't sit right with me. Not making fun of, or calling out, the 'Fork, but it just seems weird.

I think it's a result of managers and bands pushing the idea that "the first track's got to grab them." It's still a pretty dominant train of thought in a market where thousands of discs are released a year; unless you're well-known, you'll have lots of people start a CD with a down track, listen to 1 minute of it, and throw it in the discard pile.

Because of, uhhh, issues, I try to sequence the tracks to a new CD in the following way when I first listen to it; the track or tracks closest to the median length, then sequentially through all of the tracks in the order of proximity to the median. There's a tiebreaker procedure, if you're interested.

[namethebats]

I don't know what they are. 

Pitchfork will tell you on Sept. 28.

I've been looking at their top 500 songs this week and there's a whole lot of songs that I didn't even remember came out this decade.  It was nice to see Ted Leo get 2 songs on so far.

Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of the tracks are the openers to their respective albums? Something about that doesn't sit right with me. Not making fun of, or calling out, the 'Fork, but it just seems weird.

I noticed that too, especially when Ghostface Killah's "Nutmeg" made #60. Incredible song, but I didn't think it had the stature of "Cherchez La Ghost," or even "Apollo Kids."

Edit: Same goes for "Shakey Dog" vs. "The Champ."

[samir]

What do you guys think will make the top 20 songs?

My faves have already shown up. It's hard to think what the TWENTY BEST SONGS OF THE DECADE might be.

'All my friends' I hope
Something else from Radiohead?
'The World is in the Turlet'
Hey Ya
'Rehab'.

Thoughts?

[jbissell]

What do you guys think will make the top 20 songs?

My faves have already shown up. It's hard to think what the TWENTY BEST SONGS OF THE DECADE might be.

'All my friends' I hope
Something else from Radiohead?
'The World is in the Turlet'
Hey Ya
'Rehab'.

Thoughts?

I was thinking "Hey Ya" would probably end up as a top 5 song.  "B.O.B." was their #1 for 2000-2004.  I also wouldn't be surprised to see "Paper Planes" pretty high.  Seems like there will be another Kayne song in there also ("Gold Digger"?) and maybe Jay-Z ("Dirt off Your Shoulder"?).  I also think Cash's "Hurt" cover will show up, probably top 10.  Other songs that were high on that last that I don't think I've seen listed yet are "Get Ur Freak On", "Crazy in Love", "Maps", and "House of Jealous Lovers".

[dnk]

One band that definitely didn't live up to the hype (for me; and in a big way) is Grizzly Bear. It's fine and all, but I would never be like "You know what I need to hear? Put on Grizzly Bear!" And I've talked about this with two of the people whose musical tastes I most trust, and they feel the same way. Who are the people that are loving this band so much?

I like Grizzly Bear, but they're not a band I'd really bother to defend since I can see why people wouldn't care for them.  It's the same way I feel about Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver, I can listen to it and it isn't bad, just not something I'd rush out to listen to.

Hm. As I said, I don't particularly like Grizzly Bear, but I LOVE both Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. More so Bon Iver.

[Christina]

Because of, uhhh, issues, I try to sequence the tracks to a new CD in the following way when I first listen to it; the track or tracks closest to the median length, then sequentially through all of the tracks in the order of proximity to the median. There's a tiebreaker procedure, if you're interested.

Okay ... what do you do? And how come?

[yesno]

The problem is that I don't think you can be objective about a release until a lot of time has passed. There are a lot of things that sound good at the moment but end up not lasting.  There's the usual issue of being unable to separate the music from the hype (which causes unfair rejection as well as uncritical acceptance), but also some things just sound fresh and new and original at first but end up being kind of conventional with hindsight.

[dave from knoxville]

What do you guys think will make the top 20 songs?

My faves have already shown up. It's hard to think what the TWENTY BEST SONGS OF THE DECADE might be.

'All my friends' I hope
Something else from Radiohead?
'The World is in the Turlet'
Hey Ya
'Rehab'.

Thoughts?

These are not songs I love, but I think likely candidates are Gnarls Barkley, Crazy; Hey Ya; Rehab; maybe Toxic as the obligatory ironic pick; House of Jealous Lovers; maybe Gorillaz, Clint Eastwood?

[dave from knoxville]

Because of, uhhh, issues, I try to sequence the tracks to a new CD in the following way when I first listen to it; the track or tracks closest to the median length, then sequentially through all of the tracks in the order of proximity to the median. There's a tiebreaker procedure, if you're interested.

Okay ... what do you do? And how come?

The shorter of the two is always first

[namethebats]

What do you guys think will make the top 20 songs?

My faves have already shown up. It's hard to think what the TWENTY BEST SONGS OF THE DECADE might be.

'All my friends' I hope
Something else from Radiohead?
'The World is in the Turlet'
Hey Ya
'Rehab'.

Thoughts?

I was thinking "Hey Ya" would probably end up as a top 5 song.  "B.O.B." was their #1 for 2000-2004.  I also wouldn't be surprised to see "Paper Planes" pretty high.  Seems like there will be another Kayne song in there also ("Gold Digger"?) and maybe Jay-Z ("Dirt off Your Shoulder"?).  I also think Cash's "Hurt" cover will show up, probably top 10.  Other songs that were high on that last that I don't think I've seen listed yet are "Get Ur Freak On", "Crazy in Love", "Maps", and "House of Jealous Lovers".

I don't think "Rehab" made it onto the 2007 list, while "Hurt" was only around #40 or so in 2003. (Then again, with staff turnover, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.)

LCD Soundsystem might place three songs in the top 20. "Losing My Edge" and "Yeah" both did well in the 00-04 poll and haven't shown up yet.

[jbissell]

What do you guys think will make the top 20 songs?

My faves have already shown up. It's hard to think what the TWENTY BEST SONGS OF THE DECADE might be.

'All my friends' I hope
Something else from Radiohead?
'The World is in the Turlet'
Hey Ya
'Rehab'.

Thoughts?

These are not songs I love, but I think likely candidates are Gnarls Barkley, Crazy; Hey Ya; Rehab; maybe Toxic as the obligatory ironic pick; House of Jealous Lovers; maybe Gorillaz, Clint Eastwood?

Wasn't "Toxic" somewhere in the 100s? I was kinda surprised it wasn't higher.  I forgot about "Crazy".

[jbissell]

The problem is that I don't think you can be objective about a release until a lot of time has passed. There are a lot of things that sound good at the moment but end up not lasting.  There's the usual issue of being unable to separate the music from the hype (which causes unfair rejection as well as uncritical acceptance), but also some things just sound fresh and new and original at first but end up being kind of conventional with hindsight.

Yeah, I couldn't get enough of that first Interpol album but I haven't had an urge to listen to it in 4-5 years.  The flipside of that would be an album like "Alligator" by The National that was a slow-grower that I now love.

[Matt]

What do you guys think will make the top 20 songs?

My faves have already shown up. It's hard to think what the TWENTY BEST SONGS OF THE DECADE might be.

'All my friends' I hope
Something else from Radiohead?
'The World is in the Turlet'
Hey Ya
'Rehab'.

Thoughts?

These are not songs I love, but I think likely candidates are Gnarls Barkley, Crazy; Hey Ya; Rehab; maybe Toxic as the obligatory ironic pick; House of Jealous Lovers; maybe Gorillaz, Clint Eastwood?

Wasn't "Toxic" somewhere in the 100s? I was kinda surprised it wasn't higher.  I forgot about "Crazy".

#1: The Rolling Stones, "Sweet Neo Con"

[Stupornaut]

I don't know what they are. 

Pitchfork will tell you on Sept. 28.

I've been looking at their top 500 songs this week and there's a whole lot of songs that I didn't even remember came out this decade.  It was nice to see Ted Leo get 2 songs on so far.

Is it just me, or does it seem like a lot of the tracks are the openers to their respective albums? Something about that doesn't sit right with me. Not making fun of, or calling out, the 'Fork, but it just seems weird.

I noticed that too, especially when Ghostface Killah's "Nutmeg" made #60. Incredible song, but I didn't think it had the stature of "Cherchez La Ghost," or even "Apollo Kids."

Edit: Same goes for "Shakey Dog" vs. "The Champ."

I could be biased because I wrote the "Nutmeg" blurb but since it's the first (non-skit) track on the album and since it was just such a huge opening statement it kind of stands as one of those first-impression tracks that really sticks with you.