Blog post 4 of 10 below. I guess there's no turning back now...
If you are jumping into the list here and want to enjoy from the beginning, the countdown starts here.
35. Feed The Animals - Girl Talk
Best DJ record ever? Well, the answer would be simply be 'yes' if this were really a DJ record. But it isn't. The way Gregg Gillis takes little pieces of songs and splices them together makes them much more than mash-ups. They become their own little fun bombs. He takes all of the songs us music nerds love from more than a lifetime of radio and puts them together to create a greater good. One of my regrets from this decade is I never saw Girl Talk live, since every report is it's just a release of joy. That will be something I change as soon as possible.
For those of you that don't have this album yet, please take a moment and download it here. Gregg's label Illegal Art lets you pay whatever you want. My advice is throw $5 bucks to them. I guarantee you'll get your money's worth.
34. The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem
Marshall Mathers is the biggest pop music story of the decade. Rising from nothing on the wrong side of Detroit, his story is much more in line with Elvis or The Beatles than any of the Star Search/American Idol groomed for success 'stars' we've seen these 10 years. Plus, he released his masterpiece at the exact moment where MTV peaked for creating mega stars, allowing him to become a name even my grandmother recognized. I just don't think there will be another rise like his again now that the content we waste our time and money on is continuously becoming more and more niche.
As for this album, it is fucking sick. A manifesto to insanity. And an event unto itself. I remember I called in sick to work so that I could stay at home and have this CD delivered to my apartment on a Tuesday morning so I could spend a day taking it in. (Yes you read that right. This was the early decade before the dot com bust where we had cool new companies swimming in venture capital money, trying to solve such essential issues like "How can we deliver the latest CDs and DVDs via bike messenger in Chicago in under an hour?" Seems like such ridiculousness now after the end of the decade's global financial meltdown, but at the time it seemed incredibly normal.) As soon as I put it in and cranked up Kill You, I knew this album was going to be special. That first song has one of my favorite quirky Dre beats and line after line hitting you in the face like your are in a cypher and Em is castrating you in front of your girlfriend.
It's clear now Eminem was never going to be able to keep this level of heat going. It's rooted too much in the story of the underdog that after this albums success he would never be able to claim again. The question is will we ever see someone catch lightning in a bottle like this again in our lifetimes?
33. Lifted, Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground - Bright Eyes
There aren't a ton of Conor Oberst fanboys my age out there. I realized that real quick the first time I went to see him live in Fort Worth. But that won't stop me from singing his praises. He's one hell of a storyteller, and this album was the one who got me hooked.
I actually had never heard of him until months after Lifted came out. I think that would be impossible now in our music blog culture. Pitchfork or Brooklyn Vegan would have been singing his praises years before, and been on their backlash kick by the time this album came out. Then I heard about the 2003 Shortlist finalists. I started to take flyers on those albums, including greats Interpol and Damien Rice. I remember going to Best Buy on 635 in North Dallas on my way to my parent's house and picking up this CD. I can still remember this feeling of anxiousness as the first song builds up. For a guy who was a folk artist at heart, this album had an experimental heart. I especially love Laura Laurent because I was convinced in my head it was recorded at the amazing pub by my old place in Chicago for years. That song feels like 4 in the morning smoke-filled eyes. I listen to it and go right back to those bar stools with Dan, Doug, Jeff, Kent and Steve sitting with me right in a row. Guinness Anyone?
32. Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea - PJ Harvey
9/13 2001. Do you remember where you were? That's over 48 hours after the towers fell. I was in Chicago at The Riviera seeing PJ Harvey in one of the most important concerts I'll ever go to. Honestly, it's amazing it even happened. At that point, not a soul knew what to do, how to go on.
My first memory was that I was frightened to get onto the Red Line and take it up north to The Riv. At that point, we were all still waiting for the next attack. Then, I remember standing in the longest line as every back was searched, every person patted down. How foolish does that feel now? Finally inside, the mood was subdued as we all still wondered how we were supposed to act in this new norm. Then the lights went down, PJ stepped on stage solo, and played The Mess We're In, just her sining the Tom York verses and his haunting moans that are in the background of the record version. She never sang her chorus part. Every one of us standing shoulder-to-shoulder wept. Openly. It was a cathartic moment of anger and healing that only the best art can create and only the most amazing of performers can give. This whole album is a love letter to New York, and it is scary how much it sounds like it's been conjured by a cleric who could see a future where there are holes where there were once buildings.
31. The Black Album - Jay-ZDid I ever believe Jigga was going to retire? No. I honestly can't believe he stayed out of the game as long as he did. But no matter how fake the retirement talk was, it makes for one hell of a metaphor. At this point in his career, no one could touch him. But he still wasn't universally recognized as the best rapper alive since the industry as a whole had their dead patron saints (Biggie and Tupac). He would never be allowed to be at their same level unless he was gone to. So he created a false sense of loss, and rode it straight to the top.
The craziest thing about this strategy is he actually had an album strong enough to back it up. And having that hook of rapping his eulogy, makes it more than just entertaining. It makes it epic. Songs like What More Can I Say and Encore let Jay build his own myth perfectly. 99 Problems and Interlude ended up being the best arena rock songs of the decade. I've seen him do those tracks in American Airlines arena in Dallas and Wembley Stadium in London, and his charisma and command absolutely overtakes the crowed. The arms come up, the diamonds are formed, and the sea of humanity bobs up and down in a way that would make Led Zeppelin jealous.
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