You know how it goes, right? Your favorite albums/songs from 2000-2009. Have at it...

Red Hot Chili Peppers are group of the decade for me. By The Way & Stadium Arcadium are both absolute classics, and the tour after the last record was EPIC. And even though Californication came out in late 99, it feels like all the momentum from that amazing record carried forward into the new decade with them.

Radiohead had a hell of a decade too. Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail To The Thief & In Rainbows were all phenomenal. The In Rainbows tour was fantastic also, they did a hell of a show.

Even though it feels like forever ago since they had one, I really enjoyed No Doubt's last few cds Return Of Saturn & Rock Steady. Their comeback tour this year was a lot of fun too, and i'm really looking forward to hearing new material from them soon.

Green Day had a great decade with 3 really solid records, and I loved their latest tour also.

Hot Snakes - Audit in Progress

Unwound - Leaves Turn Inside You

Asa-Chang & Junray - Jun Ray Song Chang

John Zorn - FilmWorks XIX: The Rain Horse

Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

Just the first few albums that came into my mind. Also, Gorillaz and Deltron 3030.

facepalm.gif

oh, my picks (and by the way, the decade ends next year, but whatever)

Firewater - The Golden Hour
The Strokes - Is This It?
The White Stripes - De Stijl, White Blood Cells, and Elephant (a top contender for band of the last ten years)
Built to Spill - You In Reverse
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Ghostface - Fishscale and Supreme Clientele
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/Love Below and Stankonia (also a top contender)
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion

I note, oddly, that I didn't really listen to much new metal the last ten years. Odd.

Que?

I'd say Kataklysm had a fairly solid decade. Prophecy, Epic (The Poetry of War), Shadows & Dust, Serenity in Fire, and In The Arms of Devastation were all great albums, and Prevail was decent. I'd say they were definately one of the best of the past 10 years!

This decade started on January 1, 2000 and ends December 31, 2009.
The 21st century started on January 1, 2001 and will end (hopefully?) on Deceber 31, 2100

Anyway I'll vote for TV On The Radio and Queens Of The Stone Age.

The Weakerthans and Radiohead were the best bands.

I don't think there was an album better than The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving. Just an absolute classic.

There are some bands and music that may be "better" but these were the albums I kept coming back to be it from a few months or a few years ago.

Lust Lust Lust - Raveonettes
Black Market Music - Placebo
Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis
Obliterati - Mission of Burma
The 59 Sound - Gaslight Anthem
Thelma - Murder City Devils
Volume 1 - She and Him
Bang Bang Rock N Roll - Art Brut
Baby - Detroit Cobras
Psychopharmacology - Firewater
Can't Fight What You Can't See - Girls Against Boys
Red Album - Baroness
Interpol - Interpol
Red Tooth and Claw - Murder by Death
Turn the Lights Off- The Ponys
Get Some, Go Again - Rollins Band
Secret South - 16 Horsepower

The two acts whose stuff I always looked forward to this decade were Dream Theater (who only disappointed me once, with Train of Thought and Bob Mould. My best DT album of the decade is easy: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Mould is harder, between Body of Song and District Line. Others that got a great deal of play from me were Joe Jackson Band's Volume Four, the Vandals' Internet Dating Superstuds, Alkaline Trio's Crimson, the Network's Money Money 2020 and both Flight of the Conchords albums.

Stuff I loved a lot but wouldn't argue for best-ofs include Iris's Wrath and Awakening, Howard Jones's Revolution of the Heart and pretty much everything Sonata Arctica did.

Saves the day had four great albums in the decade I can consistently listen to each one in entirety. The each add something different and sound very little like anything before it.

The best album of the decade as released at the very beginning.

The Marshall Mathers LP

The College Dropout being a close second.

Hmm.


Original pirate material by the streets i thought was awesome at the time. Loved that record and havn't actually listened to it in years.

My favorite album would be American Idiot by Green Day.

I'm a Green Day fan but fuck me that was good.

Without sitting down and really giving it any thought since there was a massive amount of music put out over the decade, the things I enjoyed the most were:

Both Raconteurs albums
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and Memory All Most Full by Paul McCartney. They were his best solo output ever.
Chinese Democracy

Ten albums from 2000-2008* what are pretty dang great and I like pretty well.
*2009 is too recent to be anything close to objective about. Although if I was gonna pick an album from 2009, it'd be "Signal Morning" by Circulatory System.

Queens of the Stone Age - R
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History
Tom Vek - We Have Sound
Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike
The Constantines - Shine A Light
The Mae Shi - HLLLYH
Nação Zumbi - Rádio S.AMB.A
Fleet Foxes - self-titled

Just off the top of my head...

College Dropout by Kanye West
The Blueprint by Jay-Z
Ludacris' first 3 albums
Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem
Stankonia by Outkast (better album than Speakerboxx in my opinion)

Mass Romantic, Electric Version and Twin Cinema - New Pornographers
YHF - Wilco

Electric Rodeo-Shooter Jennings


Should Have Seen It Coming-Split Lip Rayfield


Population Me-Dwight Yoakam

Supreme Clintele & Fishscale are up there for me as the best album of the decade. Ghost can tell a fucking story. Plus whoelse can be that entertaining while not making any sense?

Clutch

# Pure Rock Fury (2001)
# Blast Tyrant (2004)<----------album of the decade
# Robot Hive/Exodus (2005)
# From Beale Street to Oblivion (2007)
# Strange Cousins from the West (2009)

Scott Walker - The Drift
Einsturzende Neubauten - Silence is sexy (also check out Perpetuum Mobile)
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Bravery, Repetition and Noise
The Fall - County on the Click
The Icarus Line - Penance Soiree (also check out Mono)
Spiritualized - Let it come down (also check out Amazing Grace and Songs in A and E)
Mogwai - Rock Action (also check out Happy Songs for Happy People)
Morrissey - You are the quarry
Brian Wilson - Smile
Radiohead - Kid A
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around
Gang Gang Dance - God's Money
Primal Scream - XTRMNTR (ditto Evil Heat)
Tom Waits - Real Gone
Portishead - Third
Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
M.I.A - KALA
Sleepy Jackson - Lovers
Blonde Redhead - Misery is a butterfly
PJ Harvey - White Chalk (also liked Uh huh her)
Mission of Burma - OnOffOn
Clinic - Walking with thee
Dead Meadow - Feathers
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
And you will know us by the trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
Sonic Youth - Nurse (Murray Street was also good)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to tell
Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium (also check out the self titled ep.. Didn't like anything else)
The Knife - Silent Shout

I forgot to mention how much I loved Robert Downey Jr.'s album. No doubt the best actor/entertainer music endeavor ever to me. It was outstanding.

I tried to keep my list reasonably short, otherwise I'd have to spoilerize for length.

In no particular order...

It's a Wonderful Life by Sparklehorse
Welcome Interstate Managers by Fountains of Wayne
Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose by Against Me!
Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly
Highway Companion by Tom Petty
Brainwashed by George Harrison
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard by Paul McCartney
A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay
Zoom by ELO
Far by Regina Spektor
Sumday by Grandaddy
The Big Picture by Cotton Mather
Castaways and Cutouts and Picaresque by The Decemberists

Both albums from The Darkness were outstanding. American Idiot, while not as musically superior to its counterparts, is probably the most important pop album of the decade.

I also loved everything Flogging Molly did, and they're a fantastic show, as well.

"Shakey Dog" from Fishscale might be my favorite song of the decade.

This. Also, this:

What is everyone's problem with what I said?

RHCP are just about the biggest fraud ever unleashed on the music-buying public. Even if, for the sake of argument, I concede their first few albums were listenable, their later oeuvre is about as worthy of praise as a bucket of rhino piss.

There, does that work for you?

Eh, to each his own. I haven't liked anything RHCPs have done since Californication but that is just my personal preference.

After you guys recommended McCartney's Chaos and Creation, I sampled it out on Amazon and it feels like a pick-up album.

I enjoyed tracks from Pearl Jam's Binaural but not the album as a whole. Hated Riot Act. Loved the Pearl Jam 2006 album. Really up and down decade for one of my favorites.

Motorhead had a kick-ass decade. We Are Motorhead and Hammered had some good stuff but Inferno and Kiss of Death are two of my favorites. Motorizer was a step down but still had some good songs.

Rancid's three albums from this decade (Rancid 2000, Indestructible, Let the Dominoes Fall) are three of my favorite albums to come around in a long time. 2000 is just non-stop aggression. Those motherfuckers were pissed off. Indestructible is the 2nd most sing-along Rancid record they have ever recorded and Dominoes was like the polar opposite of 2000. It just felt happy.

I liked Californication. I liked One Hot Minute, in places. But their stuff this decade has been in such opposition to my taste that, when Dev facepalmed, I felt the urge to join him. We can be jerks about music. ;)

I'ma do a top 20 this evening. In alphabetical order, so I can avoid spoilers when my blog list finally goes live.

That band used to fucking rule. Saw them a few times when they came out east, and they were amazing live. One show was playing with Cave In right in Cambridge, MA and like NOBODY was into them at all - even though they rocked the stage. I got to talk to a few of 'em after and they seemed genuinely happy that somebody there dug them. Another time they played with The Red Chord and Dillinger Escape Plan, and were the loudest, meanest band on the bill, and bummed out a TON of metalcore douchebags (much to my glee).

Last I heard of 'em, they were way into the heavy-drugs-trying-to-sound-like-Jesus&MaryChain deal (like after Aaron quit and joined NIN). BOOOOO.

Personal favourites of mine, very slimmed down:

Rammstein - Reise, Reise
(Well, it´s my friggin username, not hard to guess it´s one of my favs. Great epic sound and the band at what I enjoyed most from them.)

The predecessor, "Mutter" was also very good.
I also enjoyed Metallica´s Death Magnetic and Amon Amarth´s albums of the second half of the decade, "Twillight of the Thunder God" aswell as "With Oden on our side"

I think best album is so obvious it's not even funny, but nobody's mentioned it....



The Postal Service - Give Up


C'mon! Every hipster darling on Earth is trying to make their own version here in 2009 and it was what? 2003? Not even a debate.

Despite the fact that I have, over the course of the decade, moved from born again to atheist, I still find that my favorite record of the decade was Project 86 Drawing Black Lines, which was a Christian rock album, although not one with overtly religious lyrics.

They could have been a candidate for my band of the decade after DBL, the solid but disappointing Truthless Heroes, and the really excellent Songs To Burn Your Bridges By, but the last 3 albums and both eps have been pretty eh, with only a handful of good songs (although My Will Be A Dead Man off ...And The Rest Shall Follow was excellent. More of a last gasp for what was, for about 5 years, my favorite band in the world.)

Best concert I saw was either Project 86 in Detroit at the Shelter on the Truthless Heroes tour (one of 6 times I saw them this decade, and easily the best complete show, although if the 2001 one show at Cornerstone hadn't of been interrupted by an ambulance coming into a mosh pit it might have taken it.) or Green Day, also in Detroit, at the Joe Louis Arena, on the Truthless Heroes tour, just a couple of days after Bush got re-elected. Screaming along to Minority was a cathartic, amazing moment.

Best song: Tough call. "Doesn't Remind me of Anything" by Audioslave was fantastic. "Jesus of Suburbia" was such an overblown idea that somehow worked. Hank Williams III's excellent "5 Shots of Whiskey" was probably my favorite country track.

Artist, though, for the last time, has to be Johnny Cash. The last few American Recordings albums were all excellent, the Unearthed Box Set, the power of Hurt, and some unreleased older stuff on the Personal File album. I feel odd giving it to someone that died less than halfway through, but, I can't really feel anything above him.

Top three albums of the decade (based on how I feel today):

Fleet Foxes-Fleet Foxes
Jello Biafra and the Melvins-Don't Breathe What You Can't See
John Frusciante-Shadows Collide With People

I've also been listening to a lot of Dethklok, but that's probably just a phase.

Alphabetical order:

Andrew WK – I Get Wet
It's fucking mental. Sorry, I'm uncomfortable at the moment, so I'm gonna keep these brief. But this is an injection of aural adrenaline. I was sceptical at first, but I shouldn't have been. Massive rocking, massive hooks and produced like a dance record. Just unbelievable stuff.
Recommended songs: 'Get Ready to Die', 'Girls Own Love'

Be Your Own Pet! - Be Your Own Pet!
Youthful rush of punk rock. It's sloppy as fuck, but honestly raw as anything. Makes Mondo Generator sound like a bunch of old men. Like AWK, didn't really need to bother with a second album, as they nailed their whole aesthetic with this. Short stabs of colourful fuzz-punk.
RS: 'Adventure', 'Stairway to Heaven'

Björk – Vespertine
Yeah, these blurbs are gonna be rubbish. Just warning you three albums in. If you haven't heard this one, then I want to know your excuse. Pure beauty. The crystalline ice cave description is oft-used for this record, but that's because it's so apt. Beautiful peak of Björk's career, she's been a bit aimless after this, and it's not hard to see why. She perfected her art in 2001.
RS: 'Hidden Place', 'Aurora'

Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein
As brutal and intelligent as rap has ever been. El-P brings infinitely deep production to complement the cryptic, complex rhymes of Vordul Mega and Vast Aire. Every song is a fucking detonation of your mind and body. They never followed this up. It'd have been pointless to have tried.
RS: 'Vein', 'Atom'

Cave In – Jupiter
Noisecore band drops the prog-Slayer/Neurosis dream and streamlines. They bring delicate melody to their repertoire, and blast off into space rock wonderland. Just gorgeous piece of work that I prefer to the superficially similar OK Computer. Tech-noise musicians doing melodic rock. It all went wrong when they signed to a major, but that's another story.
RS: 'Jupiter', 'Big Riff'

Converge – Jane Doe
Noisecore band doesn't drop the heaviness, and only gets more intense. This is as good as fast, heavy music gets. Slayer and Napalm Death have nothing on this record. Converge lower the boom on a relationship gone horribly wrong with violent bursts of hardcore, death metal, noise, indie, punk and whatever other forms of rock music they can lay their hands on. Then they amp up the distortion, the technical proficiency and the pain.
RS: 'Homewrecker', 'Jane Doe'

Earth – HEX: Or Printing in the Infernal Method
The band that unintentionally helped invent post-metal turn their backs on it in an amazing way. This is epic rock performed as sparsely as possible. Harmonics instead of drones, melody instead of mumble; stoical and timeless. Everything they have released since has been a dilution of this patient classic. It's the musical equivalent of No Country For Old Men.
RS: 'Land Of Some Other Order', 'Lens Of The Unrectified Night'

Godspeed You Black Emperor! – Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Epic post-rock that both defined and (should have) destroyed the genre. It sounds enormous, its four songs taking up two CDs. Hard to write about; it just is. Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, Sigur Ros et al are just ants screaming compared to this.
RS: disc one, I guess.

Lift To Experience – The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads
Spoilers, schmoilers. This is the best album of the decade by a country mile. It's about starting a band, meeting God, and the end of the world. The melodies are heartbreaking, the arrangements as close to genius as anything in my lifetime. The song titles even form a poem when put together. So much care and effort went into it that the main man, Josh T Pearson, spent a few years in the wilderness, and has been talking about a follow-up for what feels like an eternity.
RS: 'Falling From Cloud 9', 'Into the Storm'

Mark Lanegan Band – Here Comes That Weird Chill
What's really weird is this isn't even a 'proper' album. It's an odds-and-sods collection that came out a few months before the Bubblegum album. But this is miles better. My mind is blown that only one song made it from here to there, as every song on this is better than pretty much every song on that. The brilliance of this record is why I loathe Lanegan's current penchant only for gusting. 'Sleep With Me' is perfection: heartbreaking, heartbroken, drunken lust.
RS: 'Skeletal History', 'Sleep With Me'

Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium
Not, as many believe, prog. Instead it's an hour-long collection of pop hooks that sound like Shakira or something, sewn together in a thrilling patchwork of thoughts and concepts. Album was about their friend in a coma, and this was reflected in the way the ideas all drifted in and out, or just collided with each other. The major label kewl-kid angling of Relationship of Command put them in a position to do whatever they wanted, creatively. They've been hit and miss since, but this was a complete bulls-eye.
RS: 'Cicatriz ESP', 'Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt'

Paramore – Riot!
Hate me all you want, but this album rules. Took me a while to get round to checking it out, but glad I did. Collection of awesome songs. Real grasp of melodic hardcore dynamics, but made really accessible.
RS: 'That's What You Get', 'Born For This'

Propagandhi – Potemkin City Limits
Propagandhi – Supporting Caste
And if Paramore are a bit iffy, credibility-wise, then this lot are the super real deal. These albums mark the moment that Propagandhi stopped being a promising political punk rock band and became better than Fugazi. Lyrically untouchable by any rock band currently operating, they managed to do the seeming impossible and be political as fuck without being boring. They rock. And they thrash. A lot. The melodies are strong. But it's all tied together with themes you can believe in, whether it's war or the Warped Tour. One of the few rock albums I've heard with a diss song.
RS: 'Rock for Sustainable Capitalism', 'Life at Disconnect'
RS: 'Supporting Caste', 'Without Love'

QOTSA – Rated R
Josh Homme's peak, and this is coming from a Kyuss fan. One of those rare times that signing to a major in this day an age has paid off. Variety to remind you of prime Faith No More, cool as fuck, dynamic. They went relatively rubbish after this concise exploration of rock's past and present, but they made their point.
RS: 'Quick and to the Pointless', 'In the Fade'

Radiohead – Kid A
How to follow up a generation-defining rock album: do what the fuck ever you want. As concise and varied as the QOTSA record, this had the advantage of an expanded musical palette. The songs were obviously there; they just weren't as charty as in the past. Instead, Yorke took a bold move and made the music he wanted to make - cool music - rather than what would be expected of him.
RS: 'Everything in its Right Place', 'Idioteque'

RTX – Transmaniacon
True 21st century rock 'n' roll from a survivor of Royal Trux. Transmaniacon - apart from its great name - brought the rock of Guns N Roses' era and updated it for the present day (needless to say, infinitely better than Axl's own shoddy attempt). The attitude and riffs are there in spades, as is a surprising attachment to Jennifer Herrema's old band's sense of messy psychedelia. A really pleasant surprise, this one.
RS: 'Joint Chief', 'Resurrect'

SunnO))) & Boris – Altar
The peak achievement of two dons of underground metal. sunnO)) can be silly a lot of the time, and Boris are a tad too prolific for their own good. But together they blew my mind with an album that doesn't sound like either band. It's the power of collaboration. At turns gorgeous and destructive, it's constantly brilliant. This is a real supergroup.
RS: 'Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)', 'Akuma no Kuma'

Tool – Lateralus
Surprisingly a lot more traditional than the album it was following, Lateralus took a short while to grow on me. But it was so sprawling and technically strong that it kind of bowled me over. Dangerously proggy, but sufficiently metal for that not to matter. Really great vocal performances on this one, and some startling riffs. Actually gets more interesting as it goes on.
RS: 'The Grudge', 'Reflection'

Venetian Snares - Rossz Csillag Alatt Született
What happens when dance music gets depressing. Breakcore king Aaron Funk mixes up his traditionally frenetic breakbeat post-rave sound with haunting, melancholic strong samples. Along with a loose Hungarian concept. And it works! It probably shouldn't, but it does. I wish Aphex Twin could have come up with something as startling and beautiful as this during this decade. What can you do.
RS: 'Hajnal', 'Második galamb'

Yeah, this record really grew on me. When my then roommate first bought it, I didn't care for it at all. But, each time he played it, I found myself liking it just a little more. It doesn't reach out and grab you the way Tool's earlier stuff did, but it slowly worms it's way inside of you. Great album.

For all the bitching about RHCP in this thread, no one bitches about the John Frusciante album mentioned. Sure, no one here has probably heard it, but BTW is basically Shadows Collide With People narrated by AK. Same goes for a LOT on SA (songs like Animal Bar & Wet Sand).

I find it odd that people praise others for growing up with their music and down others for doing it. Weezer (though I have seen the hate for the new album, thank God) has been praised with this multiple, multiple times. Meanwhile, people praise old RHCP for their music. Do you really want guys in their forties out there with socks on their cocks singing about how they want to party on your pussy?

I'm with SolidGoldBomb. RHCP were fantastic this decade. If you're just listening to the stuff on the radio, then that's your problem. Try checking out Live At Hyde Park or Live At Slane Castle. No one was better on guitar from 2002-2005 than Frusciante and even now, few rival him. Listen to the B-Sides from either album this decade. Gems include Time, Whatever We Want, & Save This Lady. SA didn't suck, but it wasn't all it was pimped out to be. Had they gone the original route with three albums, that would have been a vastly better project since they had enough material to do a pop album, funk album, and just straight rock album so people could get what they want and avoid what they don't. Meanwhile, if you like One Hot Minute, rejoice because with Frusciante gone, that's the sound the band will be heading too. Not necessairly the dark, hard stuff like Coffee Shop, but more One Big Mob stuff.

As for the thread itself, 2000 is way too much to remember at this time so I'll throw down my favorites from just this year:

2009
John Frusciante - The Empyrean
Muse - The Resistance
Madness - The Liberty Of Norton Folgate
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Carbon Leaf - Nothing Rhymes With Woman
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
NASA - The Spirit Of Apollo
The Swell Season - Strict Joy

It's the remix to ignition, hot and fresh out the kitchen, mama rollin her body gettin everyman in here wishing

You seem to be shadow-boxing a bit, Doug. :)

It's not really an 'all bands should change' vs. 'no band should ever change' argument. Stylistically, Californication and By the Way were similar, so that's not my problem. My complaint is more with the increase in shitness.

Best single of the decade. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing that in 2003.

Long and winding.



I mean it.

Certainly wouldn't be on a Best of anything kind of thing, but I think The Who's Endless Wire should get some kind of mention.

Even the biggest Who fanboy can't claim this was a great album, but it was very enjoyable and blew the 80's albums away (but those were pretty bad). A few really catchy songs on it. Fragments, Man in a Purple Dress, the actual mini-opera, and Tea and Theatre were quite enjoyable.

I saw them on tour in 2007 and they did a big section from the album and live Purple Dress and T&T were amazing. T&T was the last song they did, just Pete and Roger, acoustic and vocals. The whole album is pretty much what you'd expect out of the Who in their 60s, which isn't a bad thing by any means.

Fair enough, but I was really talking about people when they talk about BSSM vs. BTW. I think it's pretty much agreed upon that Californication is the turning point in the band when they still kept a lot of their funk influence, but pushed towards melodies too.

Californication is when Frusciante became the clear driving force of the band. I don't think any of their songs from 1999 on would have been made if John hadn't come back to the band. Either that is a really really great thing, or a really really bad thing. The push away from more of a funk rock outfit into a melodious pop rock fusion thing was all on John. He's really the driving force that made them one of the biggest bands of the decade.

Now that he's leaving again, it can be either a death nail or new start for the band. They're one of the very few mainstream, huge bands that can change musical styles from album to album without alienating their base. I would guess they're going to get a new guitarist that has a heavier style of playing and their new output going forward will be less melody driven.

Here and there argument.

Kiedis was switching the band to a more melodic/singing direction anyway. Look at Aeroplane's chours and My Friends on OHM, some of the OBVIOUS non-Navarro songs on the album. He saw the success of Under The Bridge and the critical acclaim of I Should Have Lied and kept going in that direction. With that said, I really doubt Californication was Frusciante. It's just that they were never going to get to where they got with Navarro. It had to be Frusciante. HOWEVER, it's been said BTW was all Frusciante, so much so that it pissed Flea off and he almost left in 2004 during the tour. SA was just as much Frusciante as well, just with more input from Flea and more Hendrix inspired riffs/solos. I disagree about the alienating fanbase. As big as they are, they alienated a lot of older fans with their new stuff and some that have stayed, prefer the old stuff way better. It's just that they have a BIGGER fanbase growing because of their new music. Frusciante has always been their key to success though. They didn't do much before him, reached great heights with him, continued without him and had a year of NOTHING which they say themselves, and then reached bigger heights and became one of the biggest bands in the world.

Their new guitarist is Josh Klinghoffer though, who has been Frusciante's best guitar friend besides Omar Rodriguez-Lopez since 2003ish. I fully expct there to not be that big of a difference in the new album as opposed to SA similiar to how there was little difference in UMPP and MM seeing as how Frusicante was just a Slovak clone at first and Klinghoffer is a guitar clone of Frusciante. It will sound a lot similar, probably with less intricate riffs and wild solos, but still very, very good playing. The album AFTER THAT will be interesting.

I was kind of hoping they'd break away from the melody driven stuff because Kedis isn't a good singer. That isn't to say I don't enjoy them, I like their 1999 on stuff better and I really, really enjoyed SA. But he can't sing very well and that is especially evident live. He has a lot of trouble staying in tune and hitting the notes.

I'd be bummed as hell to go to a RHCP show because he can't sing those songs live. He's at his best in fairly monotone songs that let the guitar take the melody for him.

In no particular order:

Radiohead - Kid A
Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
Bright Eyes - Lifted Or The Story's In The Soil...
Kanye West - Late Registration
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Annie - Anniemal
Liars - Drum's Not Dead
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
Daft Punk - Discovery
TV On The Radio - Desparate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babies
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Ryan Adams - Gold
Beck - Sea Change
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
OutKast - Speakerboxx/The Love Below


I didn't listen to much music past-2006, so my recollection of 2006 - 2009 albums are vague at best.

That was actually '99. I would've definitely listed it had it been later.

The Knife - Silent Shout
Man Man - Six Demon Bag
Deerhoof - Milk Man
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender
The Hidden Cameras - The Smell of Our Own
Santogold - Santogold
Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly
Bjork - Vespertine
Bat for Lashes - Fur and Gold
Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
The Gothic Archies - The Tragic Treasury
Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
The Residents - Animal Lover
Ladytron - Witching Hour
Sparks - Hello, Young Lovers
Broadcast - Tender Buttons
Tegan and Sara - So Jealous
Felix Kubin - Matki Wandalki
Cat Power - You Are Free
Architecture in Helsinki - Fingers Crossed
Neko Case - Blacklisted
Fantomas - The Director's Cut
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
Hot Chip - The Warning
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
Nora Keyes - Songs to Cry by for the Golden Age of Nothing
Tom Waits - Blood Money
Tom Waits - Alice

In no order. Except for Silent Shout. Everything falls below that.

Fucking ridiculously good album. High on the top 100 of my decade for sure.

For best Ipecac album, it's probably between that, the Kid606 and MadLove.

Then, on the next tier, Phantomsmasher, Oceanic and Tomahawk.

Totally forgot ManMan. Such great, interesting music.