Album of the decade according to Rolling Stone

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:33pm

... Kid A by Radiohead.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31248017/100_best_albums_of_the_decade/42

-Why does Rolling Stone continue to underrate Muse? They never give them flattering reviews with barely passable recs and BHaR and Absolution easily should have made it.

-I feel as though ranking 3 Kings of Leon albums is revisionist history by RS.

-I really did not like No Line On The Horizon by U2 but I guess RS has to own up to giving it 5 stars.

-Radiohead deserves it.

-I am not all into Coldplay but Viva la Vida is not their best representation. X & Y and A Rush of The Blood to The Head are better.

-Just a lack of female representation is annoying. Not the list but the voters listed which reflects the list.

-Stuff I would have put: Employment by The Kaiser Chiefs, Black Holes and Revelations and Absolution by Muse, Streetcore by Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros, and Reinventing Axl Rose by Against Me!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 9:33pm

They put the Stripes' "Elephant" at number 5. I would have put it higher, but I'm glad it made it so far up on their list.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:03pm

strummergirl, I dunno who you are or where you came from but I mostly agree with your assessments.

Not about Muse, though. I tend to think they're overrated and I kind of get why RS is resistant to them. I know groups and solo performers are TRYING to make a Queen revival happen but I don't think it really will. I saw Queen live. They really weren't that great.

Point 2 I think you're exactly right about.

Point 3 I could not possibly agree more strongly about. How long will be it be before they admit their over-enthusiasm for No Songs on the CD, I mean No Line on the Horizon was just that? They're gonna be soooooooo embarrassed! It reminds me of when some critics tried to convince themselves the Stones' Goats Head Soup was a good album.

Point 4 Exactly, about the women.

Kid A? WHY? No way. I saw Radiohead on that tour and I hated them. And that album, it's the OTHER end of the decade's No Line on the Horizon. I can't believe RS hasn't realized that by now.

I think In Rainbows is infinitely better.

Updated On: 12/10/09 at 10:03 PM

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:08pm

My zeal for Muse is definitely high perhaps too clouded but I think they are more like Rush than Queen though The Resistance album definitely had Queen influences. They're definitely getting major play now but it took them forever to do so.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:11pm

"Kid A?" Really? REALLY? Out of all of the amazing albums that came out this decade, I wouldn't even put that in the top 20.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:12pm

Double the post, double the pleasure

Updated On: 12/10/09 at 10:12 PM

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:18pm

Yeah I would not have thought of Kid A. Outside of "The National Anthem" and "Idioteque" it is not as good as their other albums like In Rainbows as Namo mentioned though it still deserves to be on the list. I just like that Radiohead is finally getting respect they deserve. In fact when I think of Kid A, I think of when Chuck Klosterman wrote how the album predicted 9/11.

[Gavin Rehfeldt]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 10:57pm

It's nice to see Bjork - Vespertine on there. Beck - Sea Change was a surprise, and that is among my favorite albums. Such gorgeous string arrangements!

As for the women: It's nice to see Bjork - Vespertine on there. The Brion produced Extraordinary Machine is light years better than the official Fiona release. Amy Winehouse made it on which is good--another for the women, but I think Feist - The Reminder should be on here. Yay! Radiohead! No Animal Collective love, though. Grizzly Bear would have been nice too. Yellow House and Veckatimest were both powerful.

What I wish I would have seen on this list but am not surprised I don't:

1. Gruff Rhys - Candylion
2. Neon Neon - Stainless Style
3. The Knife - Silent Shout
4. Jens Lekman - Night Falls over Kortedala
5. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
6. The Honeydrips - Here Comes the Future (won the Swedish Grammy for best album. Amazing stuff.)
7. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow
8. Beach House - Devotion
9. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World (top favorite album of all time)

and the most impossible, but still AMAZING album that all of you should seek out (drum roll):

10. Bauer - The Bauer Melody of 2006 (amazing live piece with a full orchestra. HIGHLY recommended.)
Bauer

[soapguy17]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:03pm

My voice teacher emailed me this link with a three paragraph rant about the Kid A thing. I think think it's awful, just not amazing. Which is the point of this list I guess.

I'm happy to see Amy Winehouse on the edge of the top twenty. It's a great CD regardless of the flack it gets.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:08pm

Any list of the decade's best albums that does not include Nellie McKay's GET AWAY FROM ME (and, in a perfect world, PRETTY LITTLE HEAD) doesn't count as far as I'm concerned.

I only get RS for Travers' film reviews and the feature articles these days. It's very cheap ($18 for 24 issues).

P

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:09pm

And the Strokes anywhere in the top 50, let alone #2? Come ON.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:21pm

The Strokes was just shocking.

That and Vampire Weekend included and TV On Radio.... twice.

I thought Winehouse's album deserved an even better spot.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:27pm

I loathe Vampire Weekend.

But not as much as I loathe Peter Travers. I can not believe anybody considers him anything other than a hack.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:35pm

I dunno, Namo. There's not a lot of critics left with any credibility whatsoever, Travers is one of the few with any shred of respectability left as far as I'm concerned. So many reviews are agenda-driven it just makes me sick, particularly in the major magazines like EW and Variety. Also, there's a rumor going around that AVATAR producers have bought some reviewers so I'll be interested to see who falls where when those reviews come out and how the film itself lines up with those reviews. It seems NINE and WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE are Travers favorite films of the year, for whatever that's worth, and in year's past I have almost always agreed with the majority of his criticisms. Don't we all usually align ourselves with reviews with whom we share remotely similar tastes, or at least ones who explain where they are coming from?

Roger Ebert is still the best reviewer since Pauline Kael and his is the only review I ever take completely seriously, whether I agree with him or not, because he usually explains himself very well and if he cannot or does not he explains why.

Favorite critics can be a very personal choice for many of us, I think.

P
Updated On: 12/10/09 at 11:35 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:44pm

I can't stand when he goes on about "babes" and the like.

[Craww]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:47pm

Best Of lists rarely resemble my favorites. Which is fine with me, I never claimed to be an arbiter of objective art criticism.

There are probably only a dozen albums on the list I love. Probably only two dozen I've heard. The only one in the top 10 I care about is Elephant.

A lot of my favorites aren't there and I'm not even remotely shocked. I'm a little surprised they didn't give a spot to Modest Mouse on any of these lists, though.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/10/09 at 11:59pm

I think Travers is far too hindered on the lack of space RS gives him and the fact he has to 'sound hip' because this the same magazine that gives Robb Sheffield the medium to write reviews. He uses a lot of buzzwords but I doubt he is 'paid', he just almost dumbs it down for RS. Watch him in interviews on video and it is completely different person. Now at the same time it would not hurt Travers to have a thesaurus at hand when he writes reviews. But anything beats Gleiberman and Denby just writing up a storm with absolutely nothing to show for it. I do read a lot of Ebert.

It is a known fact that producers do pay off some critics. Both win, both get publicity and their names out there. Ben Lyons, I'm looking at you with that I Am Legend blurb!

[justagirl2]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 12:02am

"In fact when I think of Kid A, I think of when Chuck Klosterman wrote how the album predicted 9/11."

That's what I thought of immediately. I'm struggling with this list for a lot of reasons, but I do agree with Jordan that at least they got "Elephant" in the top five.

I am in no way, shape or form a Radiohead fan (at all), but even I know that Kid A isn't their best.

I HATE Kings of Leon and Coldplay and thus will just ignore their presence.

I do like Muse, and "Black Holes and Revelations" deserves a spot, at the very least.

I'm glad to see "Stankonia" on there, and I think Amy Winehouse should be higher too. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs also deserve to be further up (any one of their albums...they're all great).

Thanks for posting this! It'll give me lots to bitch about for the next couple hours.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 12:45am

I used to love Gleiberman in the old days but have seen maybe two issues of Entertainment, Weakly since 1996 when a) my subscription had run out and b) I realized that I had had enough of the Entertainment Industrial Complex.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 12:51am

jag: Since when do you need a rhyme or reason to act like a female dog?

[strummergirl]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 1:13am

That's true SM2.

[soapguy17]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 1:39am

SM2, ever hear the story about the pot and the kettle? Oh, how I've missed you. Seriously, every time I read a post of yours I attempt to toss my shoe at you across the country and inevitably miss. :-p

Updated On: 12/11/09 at 01:39 AM

[StockardFan]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 7:32am

jag, I can't stand Kings of Leon or Coldplay either.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 11:05am

I actually preferred the list that had N'SYNC's "No Strings" as the record of the decade. This utterly sh*tty decade deserves no better.

[James885]

Posted: 12/11/09 at 11:51am

Muse's Black Holes and Revelations should be on the list.

Back to Black should've been higher on the list.

Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III is GARBAGE (as is most of his stuff) and should be nowhere near the top 100 albums.

I'm surprised Alicia Keys' The Diary of Alicia Keys didn't make the top 100. I thought it was an even better album than Songs In A Minor.

Also surprised that John Mayer's Room For Squares or Continuum wasn't there.

Updated On: 12/11/09 at 11:51 AM