The Off-colored Officer - Gifts From the Aughties (Pt.2)
I read a newspaper yesterday and in one of the many articles featured, one in particular caught my attention which was about the last decade. The writer wrote that the English language has hit a wall in its incapability to come up with a name for that particular decade. I mean, we've had the 70's, the 80's, and the 90's. So what about the 00's? That was exactly the question raised by the writer. There has been a number of suggestions on what would be the best and most appropriate name, and among few of them:
1) The New Millenium - it's too Dean Koontz-y
2) The Singles - reminds me of cheese (Kraft Singles)
3) The Aughts - a cheap, one-album-wonder The Pretenders' imitator band
4) The Naughties - a better, more well-known Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine's imitator band
5) The Zeroes - sounds utterly hopeless
6) The 00's - dangerously looks too similar with a pair of boob
As you could have probably guessed so, none of the suggestions work. Thus, it is with great irony though for me to celebrate the death of the failed decade with a feature on some of the most important album ever released during the Aughts. We have started with Badly Drawn Boy; so now, here's the second part...
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Release date: May 22, 2000
Label: Aftermath
It's a milestone in cursing and moaning. Sure, we've had loads of Hip Hop record all the way back to the 80's, and some of them have been real good like Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. However, during mid to late 90's Hip Hop went through a disgraceful fall thanks to rappers (or so) like Puff Daddy, Ma$e, DMX, and the whole Bad Boy Records ensemble. So, the year 2000 HAS to be the year where it makes a "comeback". And a comeback it does made - all totally pissed off and whining about the cruel injustice that had befallen on the defenseless little dude called Hip Hop (or Mr. Mathers himself, in which case is a pussy).
Outkast - Stankonia
Release date: October 31, 2000
Label: LaFace/Arista
This album made number 359 in the 2003 edition of Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It also received an honorable mention in 2006 in Time magazine. It was one of the most diversified Hip Hop album by two of the most creative and innovative musician today. And it has "Ms. Jackson".
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Release date: July 3, 2001
Label: Sympathy for the Record
The Strokes may have been the band that popularized the Garage Rock revival movement but that is because they are a fashionable band - they are a fashion icon. The Jack and Meg duo is the anti-thesis of Julian Casablancas and co. They are not the most fashionable, they do not have mass MTV appeal, they are not the darling of the media at the height of the revival, but they made one of the most honest-to-goodness fun-filled Garage Rock album of all time. "Fell in Love With a Girl", though clocking at a very brief one minute plus, is more the party tune in oppose to "Last Nite", which is a late night, groggy-headed, personal recollection musing after a wild night out.
The Strokes - Is This It
Release date: August 27, 2001
Label: RCA
Alas, The White Stripes may have been the most "The" band of them all but one simple fact remains: The Strokes made the revival. They didn't start it, they made it happen.
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Release date: September 11, 2001
Label: Roc-A-Fella
How good was this album? Well, for the simple matter of fact that Jay-Z went on to release a further two albums all as a continuation of this album speaks volume. It also made a total number of eleven appearances in various lists of greatest album ever made. Plus, Jay-Z has been struggling ever since to release a record that surpasses this one Hell of a blueprint. All of his later works has been, at best, patchy.
Incubus - Morning View
Release date: October 23, 2001
Label: Epic/Immortal
Even with this album making it into the list, I am still of the opinion that S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is still Incubus' best album so far, irregardless of the fact that they sound like a copycat Red Hot Chili Peppers rip-off in that album. It's a proper rocker. What I am tempted to say about this album is that it marks the complete departure of the band from Hard Rock to Soft Rock - like shifting from listening to Metallica to listening to Aqua. Like changing from working out at the gym every fortnight to attending Cake Baking Class every Thursday. But as a result of that, apart from forever being ingrained in my psyche that they have turned to a bunch of pussies, Incubus have become a class act. And that is the best option of all the available evolution options. (Are you reading this Limp Bizkit?)
I read a newspaper yesterday and in one of the many articles featured, one in particular caught my attention which was about the last decade. The writer wrote that the English language has hit a wall in its incapability to come up with a name for that particular decade. I mean, we've had the 70's, the 80's, and the 90's. So what about the 00's? That was exactly the question raised by the writer. There has been a number of suggestions on what would be the best and most appropriate name, and among few of them:
1) The New Millenium - it's too Dean Koontz-y
2) The Singles - reminds me of cheese (Kraft Singles)
3) The Aughts - a cheap, one-album-wonder The Pretenders' imitator band
4) The Naughties - a better, more well-known Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine's imitator band
5) The Zeroes - sounds utterly hopeless
6) The 00's - dangerously looks too similar with a pair of boob
As you could have probably guessed so, none of the suggestions work. Thus, it is with great irony though for me to celebrate the death of the failed decade with a feature on some of the most important album ever released during the Aughts. We have started with Badly Drawn Boy; so now, here's the second part...
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Release date: May 22, 2000
Label: Aftermath
It's a milestone in cursing and moaning. Sure, we've had loads of Hip Hop record all the way back to the 80's, and some of them have been real good like Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. However, during mid to late 90's Hip Hop went through a disgraceful fall thanks to rappers (or so) like Puff Daddy, Ma$e, DMX, and the whole Bad Boy Records ensemble. So, the year 2000 HAS to be the year where it makes a "comeback". And a comeback it does made - all totally pissed off and whining about the cruel injustice that had befallen on the defenseless little dude called Hip Hop (or Mr. Mathers himself, in which case is a pussy).
Outkast - Stankonia
Release date: October 31, 2000
Label: LaFace/Arista
This album made number 359 in the 2003 edition of Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It also received an honorable mention in 2006 in Time magazine. It was one of the most diversified Hip Hop album by two of the most creative and innovative musician today. And it has "Ms. Jackson".
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
Release date: July 3, 2001
Label: Sympathy for the Record
The Strokes may have been the band that popularized the Garage Rock revival movement but that is because they are a fashionable band - they are a fashion icon. The Jack and Meg duo is the anti-thesis of Julian Casablancas and co. They are not the most fashionable, they do not have mass MTV appeal, they are not the darling of the media at the height of the revival, but they made one of the most honest-to-goodness fun-filled Garage Rock album of all time. "Fell in Love With a Girl", though clocking at a very brief one minute plus, is more the party tune in oppose to "Last Nite", which is a late night, groggy-headed, personal recollection musing after a wild night out.
The Strokes - Is This It
Release date: August 27, 2001
Label: RCA
Alas, The White Stripes may have been the most "The" band of them all but one simple fact remains: The Strokes made the revival. They didn't start it, they made it happen.
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Release date: September 11, 2001
Label: Roc-A-Fella
How good was this album? Well, for the simple matter of fact that Jay-Z went on to release a further two albums all as a continuation of this album speaks volume. It also made a total number of eleven appearances in various lists of greatest album ever made. Plus, Jay-Z has been struggling ever since to release a record that surpasses this one Hell of a blueprint. All of his later works has been, at best, patchy.
Incubus - Morning View
Release date: October 23, 2001
Label: Epic/Immortal
Even with this album making it into the list, I am still of the opinion that S.C.I.E.N.C.E. is still Incubus' best album so far, irregardless of the fact that they sound like a copycat Red Hot Chili Peppers rip-off in that album. It's a proper rocker. What I am tempted to say about this album is that it marks the complete departure of the band from Hard Rock to Soft Rock - like shifting from listening to Metallica to listening to Aqua. Like changing from working out at the gym every fortnight to attending Cake Baking Class every Thursday. But as a result of that, apart from forever being ingrained in my psyche that they have turned to a bunch of pussies, Incubus have become a class act. And that is the best option of all the available evolution options. (Are you reading this Limp Bizkit?)
Labels: 2009
posted by Hafeez at 4:59 PM
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