Not much.
As we conclude another year I've been listening to some albums that are being considered for the best of 2009. We have umpteenth review sites out there that can pretty much tell you what they think is great and some that would rather bash them. It's hard to review most album since there's so much out there and I just don't have enough time to sit down and actually listen to it like I used to when I was younger. Perhaps it's odd to state that the albums that I didn't care much for back in my teens I still listen to on a somewhat regular basis. (KISS Rock N Roll Over, BTO Head On, even Aerosmith Draw The Line come to mind). I remember them better than I do to some of the albums that I gave high praise of this decade. Could it be the loudness wars, to which a CD is TOO LOUD and everything GOES OVER MY HEAD SINCE IT IS SO LOUD?!? Or could it be that in my old age I'd rather watch TV and pass out on the couch rather than put on a CD and listen and pass out during the album.
I come to find that Rolling Stone or SPIN knows zilch about good music judging by reviewing some of their four star albums and being bored to death or it rubbed me the wrong way. I enjoyed the first Wolfmother album but their second just sucked to these ears. Another band that I liked Train, had some listenable albums till they pooped out Save Me San Francisco, an album so bad it reminded me of fucking Daniel Powder. Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear gave us something that sounded like progessive folk music and why or how people found anything of value of these turds I can't hear.
This decade will go down as the worst decade for music ever. Too much sugar coated crap and too many rap acts hiding behind the autotuner. American Idol is also blamed for the crapfest that has been bestowed upon us and gave us Kelly Clarkston and Miss Everything Carrie Underwood. While the Carrie Nation continues to go wow on each and every thing that Underwood puts out, I still get the feeling that she's not as geniune as she would like you to believe. Sure she can sing, but her problem is the problem of all these female singers that want to cram all their octaves into the final chorus (the Celine Dion/Whitney Houston syndrome). Despite what the Carrie Nation would like you to think, Miss Underwood does have her eye on the pop market, probably pissed that Taylor Swift managed to beat her to the pop side, with less albums to boot. And I still think that Taylor Swift would be more likely to talk to me rather than Carrie Underwood.
The talent shows such as Nashville Star or Make Me a Star or American Idol sometimes could give a unknown or runner up a second chance at stardom. Daughtry comes to mind although his Nickelback lite grunge rock isn't for me, and Taylor Hicks's Mike Mcdonald vocals did have a moment or two and even Bo Bice, had he recorded his own band instead of having his album ruined by Jon Bon Jovi might have beaten Daughtry to the charts, but Bice was a bit too southern rock and too 70s for the mass IPOD heads. The only act that made me buy their albums was Miranda Lambert, who was a carbon copy of a female Steve Earle and with the help of a used cd of her first album convinced me that sometimes greatness can come out of a Nashville Star or American Idol. Buddy Jewell where have you gone? So perhaps, Miranda Lambert is one of this decade's artist that I actually care about this year, making a great debut, a classic second album and a credible followup.
While fans and critics trip over themselves over Radiohead being best band of the decade, I still can't find anything off Kid A that warrants that praise. Basically, it's pompous, overplayed and a piece of crap as far as I concerned. Didn't care much for their 1997 OK Computer either. Pink Floyd was better although I will give Radiohead props for In Rainbows with their name your own price and make your own CD cover. Another band that suggests overratedness is The Strokes, whose Is This It had the most ironic title of this decade. Room On Fire was perferrable and Last Impressions Of Earth was total dreck. Band number 3 was Kings Of Leon. Their best album was their EP Holy Roller Novacaine which showcased a promising rock and roll band before somebody got them to listen to Radiohead and their albums lost focus. Then Mr. Folllowhill bitched about the price of fame and how they got too big. Nevertheless we can leave Caleb and company in the cutout bins should he feeled trapped by fame and fortune.
There are some highlights in a lost decade. Melody Gardot's Worrisome Heart, Long-View Mercury, Radio Moscow's debut which gave me some hope for the future before their second album Brain Waves proved that maybe they weren't the great lost Blue Cheer we were hoping for. Jack White made Loretta Lynn a genius with Van Leer Rose as producer although he did good things with White Stripes, The Racontuers and The Dead Weather. But the jury is still out wether or not if those albums are as enduring as Elephant or Van Leer Rose.
For progessive rock, I perfer Steven Wilson's Porcupine Tree over the overhyped and overbearing Mars Volta. Porcupine Tree I think will be remembered in the same way of Floyd or Zepplein if modern radio promotes them. Can't say if Those Crooked Vultures will be a band since it remains a all star collective but Dave Grohl's Foo Fighers or Josh Homme's Queens Of The Stone Age did managed to put out decent albums. But then again after listening to Foo Fighters' Greatest Hits, that seems to suggest that they're a better singles band than albums. And The Queens Of The Stone Age flamed out after their flop Era Viguris (sic) album. And the only time the Queens were interesting was when Grohl guest drummed on Songs For The Deaf a album that was great, ruined by Eric Valentine's shoddy production.
And that's the problem of this decade; that most albums were ruined by shitty recording. The Loudness Factor. that made could have been classics such as Long View Mercury or even The Rolling Stones Bigger Bang sound distorted and like crap. Yes, Bigger Band was pretty good but appently was mixed with Mick and Keith's hearing aid turned off. Metallica's Death Magentic would have been their best since Masters Of Puppets but ruined by a mix far into the red. Too loud CDs, compressed and mixed for the IPOD generation.
If Porcupine Tree or Miranda Lambert continues to make new albums I'll listen to them since they remains artists with something to say but the album format is dying and everything is moving over as singles, just like it did back in the 50s but instead of 45s or vinyl you get downloads. And that's where I get off the bus, I haven't downloaded any singles and will not. I still perfer the product in hand. The future generations will dictate what will be classic and if it becomes classic time will tell. The biggest one hit wonder of the decade remains Daniel Powder's crapassed Bad Day which became an American Idol standard for singers that didn't make the cut on AI. Which sums up the bottom line of what i think about the music of this decade.
Not much.
