Pitchfork top 200 of the decade.

Don't know if you've seen this, but it's pretty full on. It's an interesting mix of musical styles throughout and their commentary on a lot of it is very good. Ultimately they decided that Radiohead's Kid A was the most important album of the decade. Personally I don't think it should have made the list at all. It's an interesting album, but all it did culturally was alienate all the casual fans who jumped on the bandwagon after Ok Computer's runaway success. They argue that the electronic nature of the album predicted trends in rock music to come, and that it defines this decade better than any other album, but I think they're just talking a load of wank to stir controversy. If a rock band makes an fairly ambient electronic album, that doesn't make it an important rock album, it makes it an ambient electronic album. Anyway, in response to this I thought I'd make a couple of lists of my own. Feel free to post your own lists below too. Ultimately this is a personal list and the next post will be a cultural one. So here we go!


No. 1 most important album in the life of Joel Murray of The Vignettes




Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine

From the opening notes of this album I was hooked. A mix of angst, anger, dance and sex permeate throughout the album's entirety and to me represent a peak in modern musical history. The sound and texture of the musical production is a bizarre compilation of dance, punk and metal, while still retaining an alt-rock feel overall. Sadly, the album is a one-off and relatively underground, with the remix album garnering a lot more popularity than this ever got. Also, it didn't even get a mention in pitchfork's top 200! Bollocks I say. It's also a total shame that after DFA 1979 split, the producer and bass player got together to make MSTRKRFT, a flaming pile of camp electro balls. I had the chance to see them live back in 2004 but at the time hadn't heard of them, and turned down FREE TICKETS! I got the album the next day and almost hung myself. From what I've seen they weren't as good live as on the record, but it still would have been an experience. Anyway, to me this is musical perfection and is up there in history with Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix.

2. The Vines - Highly Evolved (turned me on to alt rock from nu metal and made me want to play guitar)
3. The Mars Volta - DeLoused in the Comatorium (kept me company in my depression days alone in Sydney, the only true prog rock album of the modern era)
4. Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
5. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
7. The Hives - Your New Favourite Band
8. Future of the Left - Curses!
9. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
10. Interpol - Antics
11. Von Bondies - Pawn Shoppe Heart
12. Rob Zombie - Hillbilly Deluxe (the album I lost my virginity to)
13. Muse - Absolution (the first Muse album I ever heard, not necessarily their best but it changed my perceptions of what rock music could be)
14. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
15. Shihad - The General Electric
16. Arctic Monkeys - Your Favourite Worst Nightmare
17. Electric Six - Danger High Voltage
18. Dresden Dolls - Dresden Dolls
19. The Darkness - Permission to Land
20. The Matrix Soundtrack