Pajiba

Woo hoo! I can be the first to tell you what an ignorant, tone deaf pig f*cker you are for leaving off my personal favorite of the year: ____________ (YOUR FAVORITE HERE_).

In Rainbows over Kid A??? Wow. Or does 2000 not count as the aughts?

Great list. I've just recently started to put Yankee Hotel Foxtrot back on my heavy rotation playlist. That album helped me weather the end of a particularly dysfunctional relationship and brought me to a place where I was ready to get on with my life. Despite it's overtly depressing tone listening to that album from start to finish, for me, is like a warm embrace from a long lost friend.

My 2 cents for something that should've been included is Bon Iver - For Emma Forever Ago. A simple "man and his guitar" type of album. One that captures the feeling of being alone in a cabin in the woods while mourning the end of a love affair. Which is precisely what it's about and how he recorded it. Starkly beautiful and depressing at the same time. True art.

Arctic Monkeys "Whatebver People Say I am..." and NO DOUBT ABOUT IT the best album of the aughts is "Is This It?" by The Strokes. That album literally changed music. My personal favorite would be "Up The Bracket" by the Libertines, but the Strokes was the best I'd say.

And commenters on this site have the balls to call other people hipsters????

S'up pot.

Meet my friends...the kettles.

Did any black people make music this decade?

Did any black people make music this decade?

No.

Oh sweet motherhumping Jesus of a clusterfuck.

MUSIC WAAAAAAAAAAAARR!

Pretty sure the only one there I really love is Kings of Leon.

And as always, there's never any love for HURT here.

No wonder Pajiba stopped writing about music. This has to be the whitest best of list I've ever seen. I personally gave up on the music threads when only a few of us knew who Chrisette Michelle was.

You all make me sick. Even if I stick to your quirky white style, there is no Bjork, there is no Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and there is no Juliette and the Licks/New Romantics.

I'll just be over here listening to the Jill Scott live album, the complete M.I.A., and some Neo-Soul compilations while sipping on my tea and awaiting the pizza delivery.

You missed...

- Titus Androdicus - Airing of Grievances
- The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
- Blue Scholars - Bayani
- The Libertines - Up the Bracket
- The Lawrence Arms - Oh Calcutta!
- Destroyer - Streethawk: A Seduction
- Floggin Molly - Drunken Lullabies
- The Bouncing Souls - Anchors Away
- Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome
- The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
- My Morning Jacket - Z
- Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Went Numb

Just mentioning, you know, to show my street cred.

Lupe Fiasco.

Either album.

That is all.

Gillian Welch's 2001 "Time (The Revelator)" is fucking brilliant. That is all.

I could have puked a better list.

So....white....

Haha, stick to films guys

I agree. Pretty white all round.

No one seems ot be talking about Blakroc. Am I the only one who thinks this is awesome?

Also, Outkast's Stankonia and Jill Scott's live album fo-sho need to be considered...and Mos Def's New Danger/True Magic? Where's the love?

Any self respecting rock fan must be pissed at your list so I came up with mine. I mulled over this for an eternity and it came down to 24. Didn't include Radiohead because you included them in your own list, and no live albums otherwise Led Zeppelin would be in there since they released how the West Was Won in 2003. It was extremely hard and I didn't delve in to discover super obscure stuff. if I had to break this into blues list, prog rock list etc it would be never ending so it's not super definitive but here I go. The best 24 by me to the best of my abilities...

1) Audioslave by Audioslave. A refreshing new band (basically Rage Against the Machine but with Chris Cornell instead of Zach De La Roca) for the new millenium. Post grunge and post nu-metal. Still their best album out of all three (they disbanded)

2 Down 3 by Down is a hard and angry band. Excellent stuff. Down 2 was also realeased this decade

3) Drops of Jupiter by Train. Train's best album. It's full of gems the ost famous being the title track

4) Lateralus by Tool. This band brought prog kicking and screaming into the new millenium. Excellent stuff.

5) Mutter by Rammstein. They're witty. They do great shows and they sing in German. released three albums this decade but this is arguably their best.

6) One Way Ticket to Hell and Back by The Darkness. People laughed at them but they rocked. It's like a more campy Queen. They also released Permission to Land which was also great fun. This band didn't take itself too seriously but knew how to write a good tune. Rock on.

7) Golden Age of Grotesque by Marilyn Manson. Many people have written him off by now but in 2003 he released an album which showed he was still right on the dollar. Excellent stuff.

8) Welcome Interstate Managers by Fountains of Wayne. They had good melodies and every track on this album was a gem. They also had a music video of a young guy who has the hots for his friend's mum. Stacy's Mum, in a swim-suit of course.

9) Watershed by Opeth. Such an excellent album. One of the best prog metal albums EVER. By now Mikael Akerfeldt had forgotten about black and death metal and was just focusing on great music. Opeth's earlier albums were all great but this is Opeth's true calling. Highy recommended.

10) Marbles by Marillion. Guess what? Marillion without Fish are still an excellent band. Steve Hogarth has been with them more than Fish spent with them anyway. Marbles is one of the great albums they released this decade.

11) Blackfield and Blackfield II by Blackfield. Just another project by the always working Steven Wilson. His collaboration with Aviv Geffen is sublime.

12) Aerial by Kate Bush. Since Bush releases album very sporadically we can count ourselves very lucky that she chose to release an album this decade. Excellent double album with her always sweet voice.

13) El Memento Descuidado by The Church. Not sure what to say about this except that it's great.

14) Frances The Mute by The Mars Volta. How did you leave them off your list?? i could have included any Mars Volta album really. They released a number of albums this decade. Check them out.

15) A Matter of Life and Death by Iron Maiden. Maiden were back. Bigger and bolder than ever. They believed in this album so much they toured playing the whole album from start to finish.

16) Crack the Skye by Mastodon. Another unforgivable omission. It had stated building by Levithian, continued with blood Mountain and culminated in this. it's their Dark side of the Moon or their black album (the Metallica one)

17) Black Holers and Revelations by Muse. Muse's best album. Putting prog rock in the charts. Excellent songs and massive shows.

18) Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Plant doesn't dominate like he does on Led Zeppelin records here. He gently works perfectly with Alison Krauss. Each song here is sublime. Robert Plant also released mighty albums this decade. Mighty Rearranger being one of them.

19) Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace by the Foo Fighters. The Foos were always great fun and Dave grohl has the best smile in rock. This is their coming of age album.

20) Shrunken Heads by Ian Hunter. Anything by Ian Hunter is always great. if we can't have new records by Mott the Hoople then we'll take his solo albums.

21) The Incident by Porcupine Tree. I picked The Incident over Fear of a Blank Planet because it gives me an excuse to say I own the boxset complete with 116 page book of lyrics and photographs, a smaller book of drawings and a DVD but really any Porcupine Tree album released this decade is worth it.

22) Snakes and Arrows by Rush. This is Rush at their best. This is not a band who reminisces. this is a band who is always moving forward. Genuinely great.

23) Black Ice by AC/DC. AC/DC were back in 2008 and for a short while they ruled the world all over again. No one writes a party tune like the DC.

24) Insurgentes by Steven Wilson. Whether with Porcupine Tree, No-Man or Blackfield Steven Wilson always has something going on 9he also found time to remix king Crimson records this past decade in his excellent 5.1 ways) but here he gives us what is possibly his most challenging work ever. His first solo album. It didn't click on first listen but the more you spin it the more you'll discover. And you've got to give it to him. he is totally devoted to music and PROPER ALBUMS which are heard from start to finish and challenge their listeners. On the special edition there's a DVD where you can see him destroying iPods in various ways, because you know iPods kill music, make it disposable and have stupid shuffle functions. Oh, and you can't roll a jazz cigarette on your freaking iPod.

Green Day? The band was irrelevant to everything even before their reunion.

I thought your list was a bit silly, then I saw BARFS...

DROPS OF JUPITER? FUCKING TRAIN? Are you out of your goddamn mind?

Yeah. I like Train. Suck it. My list included twenty-four records not just Train so if that's all you've got I'll pass.

I forgot to mention Alice in Chains (comeback record of the decade), Kiss and Bruce Springsteen who released a number of good records this past decade. I'm sure more people will come to mind the more I think about this. Joe Bonamassa should probably be on that list somewhere, and Seasick Steve is worth a mention...

P.S. Being a MOVIE site shouldn't Pajiba have a best soundtracks list? It's something you rarely look into and it's the way you should have been looking at music instead of those music articles which were a bit meh

How the fuck can you make a list that includes Train of all fucking bands and start your comment with this first sentence.

"Any self respecting rock fan must be pissed at your list so I came up with mine."

Bravo you just won first place in the Fist My Ass Because I Don't Think Before I Type contest.

White Blood Cells is my favorite album of all time and I looked right away to see if that was on here.

I would say "Transatlanticism" is better than "Plans" by just a little bit.

The Moon and Antarctica has the ability to change how you look at everything. I know it did for me.

Green Day? Really? Listening to that album a few years later makes me embarrassed that I liked it in the first place.

Totally agree with the Bon Iver love. For Emma.. creates an atmosphere of lonely unlike anything else.

My list would also include either Gnarls albums or something by the Black Keys or Explosions in the Sky, although I would argue the latter two are better when looked at collectively rather than by individual albums.

I think the Strokes are garbage. If you have heard one of their songs you've heard them all. It really bothers me when people compare them to the White Stripes.

15 Best Hipster Albums of the Aughts?

LOLZ @ no Kid A.

Also would like to point out that Billboard released the figures for the number one selling album of the decade. Drumroll please...

The winner is...

"No Strings Attached" by NSYNC.

I will now light myself on fire.

I think I'm glad I don't know who NSYNC are Brett

Arcade Fire...Funeral...number 1...one of the GREATEST albums I've heard in my life. I'm gonna have to listen to it now.

Whatever asshat claimed that Alice in Chains last album was the the "best comeback album" clearly does NOT understand how a comeback works. Comebacks only work when the entire band is living. Lane Stayley isn't coming back. Heroin ODs will totally prevent you from making a comeback.

The list is representative of the readership. Bitch about it all you want, but you should have put your two cents in when the original diversion was out. Doing so after the fact makes you look like a dick.

For the record, I can listen to half this list, but I commented on the original diversion and did my bitching there.

This is pretty much the list I'd expect Pajiba to generate, with Amy Winehouse taking the spot usually reserved for the token hip-hop album.

Yep. With "Back to Black" being the only ostensibly "black" entry in sight.

honestly, there is music outside of shitty rock some of you should try to listen to. also, no one is going to convince me that lady gaga doesnt beat the crap out of most of those. in a less than obvious way, of course.

Hahaha, jeff I read that as 'white people rock!' at first.

John Mayer - Continuum.
Unreal music.

Damien Rice - both albums.
Just an untouchable songwriter.

Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown

I shall now go soak in my untouchable whiteness elsewhere.

Where is Lupe Fiasco? What's wrong with you people?

No fucking shit superasente...

Hence my allusions to a bunch of hipster proving how hipster they aren't by constantly calling other people on this site "fucking hipsters..."

Do me a favor and read what the fuck I write, and understand it before trying to throw your dick down.

superasente upon further review and actually finishing reading your comment...

touche(accent aigu)

And I had no effort or creativity because this list wreaks of people with no creativity. just people trying to discover the next new hot band with the lead singer who shits on a digeridoo on stage just so they can say...."I was totally listening to them before they were cool".

I've come to the conclusion that most people who frequent a movie site are too pretentious to actually give a shit about music.

George wins.

rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble rabbble white people rabble rabble rabble dick rabble rabbble rabble ass fisting rabble rabble rabble hipster hipster hipster fucking rabble rabble douchebag hipster..rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble read the intro rabble rabble rabble humble about opinion rabble rabble rabble pabst joke rabble.

All I can say is: this list is exactly what I'd think Pajiba readers would come up with.

Before I look at the list, just wanna say: I better see "Southern Rock Opera" on here or I will cut a bitch.

*looks at list ...*

No love for Gulag Orkester by Beirut?

I effing love this album, and he's white! And it's hipstery!

George I'm not sure why you keep hyping The Black Album. It was solid, but it wasn't even close to as good as The Blueprint.

I agree with whoever said Lupe Fiasco, by the way, although I'd put The Cool ahead of Food and Liquor.

For the sake of throwing my ass to the masses to get chewed out, here's my top 10 (according to number of times I've listened all of the songs on the album on my itunes)

10. The Darkness - One way ticket to Hell and Back
9. Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance
8. Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP
7. Kanye West -College Dropout
6. Gorillaz - Demon Days
5. Killer Mike - Monster
4. Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
3. Beast - Beast
2. Cee-lo - Cee-lo Green... is the Soul Machine
1. Outkast - Stankonia

I agree with most of the list. I would add:

Ray LaMontagne - Trouble
Johnny Cash - American IV
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Atmosphere's "When Life Gives you Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold" is an example of some amazing, thought provoking hip hop. This shit isn't Soulja boy. Even if it's not the best album, it has to be one of the best album titles of the aughts.

Agree that the Blueprint has to be on here, but again, Dre's 2001 was the single best rap album of the decade and should be on this list.

Well if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all so I'll keep this short. Exactly one of those albums would be on my list, many are from bands I don't like. But no inclusion of Scarlet's Walk by Tori Amos? Ridiculous.

Are people really starting the "You can't complain" bullshit on this post, too? How do you know some of us didn't vote and were totally overwhelmed by other people choosing the same artists again and again? I can kick up a storm claiming, for example, Wig in a Box (the Hedwig and the Angry Inch charity cover album) is one of the best albums of the Aughts (I didn't stand up for that one since I knew it was futile here - musical theater + Yoko Ono = No Go @ Pajiba), but if I'm all by myself while 20+ readers all claim Arcade Fire is the bestest best that ever bested, I'm outvoted.

Furthermore, saying it's taken from our comments does not mean that a consensus was reached. I certainly didn't have the opportunity to fill out a weighted ballot with the intention of helping to select a best of list during a comment diversion. I'm sure if people knew they were commenting to produce a Best Of list they would have voted more strategically. For example, I routinely choose to point out other books/films/albums/animated rabbits other people aren't mentioning on that kind of comment diversion to further expand the list we're creating. It doesn't mean I think Jan Svankmeyer's White Rabbit in his Alice is the greatest ever; it means I'm pointing out another possibility.

I'm not seeing a whole lot of "Fuck off, Pajiba, the site is racist" comments, either, so the "Look at the description: you picked the artists, idiots" argument doesn't work, either. I'm pretty sure most of the comments account for that.

I don't often sync up with the musical taste of the average Pajiban, but I fist-pumped over at least three of those albums. Awesome.

whatever the hell that means; if this stuff is white, then what does that make Toby Keith?

Country music is white, but at least, even in it's wussified mainstream incarnation, it has some sort of soul in it. Most of what's here is soulless white people rock, except without the sense of humor that made 80's "rawk" at least bearable as something to smirk at.

KRZA... I'm confused by your Modest Mouse comment. Just because they may have, in your humble opinion, made similiar sounding music it nixes them from the list? Is it such a bad thing when a band finds it's voice or niche?

I mean...

that entire MGMT album = monotonous.

And Animal Collective, yeah, it was cute for a half a second, but the schizophrenic indie-electronica just isn't there yet. As soon as they find a groove, they jump two steps ahead of themselves. Never comfortable with their choices. Plus you can fall alseep halfway through Strawberry Jam and wake up at any point and feel like you've missed nothing.

In ten years, your reasoning for hating on the Mouse, should leave you hating on most of those bands you listed.

Okay, so after all the shit we writers got for being "hipster douchebags" and "fucking hipster bullshit poop-stains" (to paraphrase), the readers vote for a list that, with a few exceptions, would basically be my list in a different order (those are my exact #1 and #2, in fact). Where were all the people with awesome taste and indie cred back when I was writing reviews?

I'm kidding (sort of). There were plenty of really awesome commenters back then. But man were there some vocal bastards.

Hey ChristianP. Erm, at which point did I say that anyone is stupid. can you point that out to me? So you had good taste back in middle school? Well done. Oooh. I guess you're all grown up now.

Just because someone's popular doesn't make them bad. Guess who's had a few hits over the years? The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath. We'll see whether in 40 years time people are still listening to Arcade of Fire or The Beatles. But I guess they're no good cos they're popular. Who still listens to Muse? Well, they're still selling out stadiums at this very moment.

You ignored most of the list anyway. You've probably never heard of Opeth or Porcupine Tree. I suggest you don't. The music might scare you. And Iron Maiden or Marillion or Rush or AC/DC? They're old. Good music only started being written since you left middle school! Go to your mummy and ask her for a cup of milk. I bet in 20 years time you won't be listening to what you're listening to now either because who would still listen to them?

I'm off to throw away not only my rock record collection but even my classical. I mean who listens to Verdi, Puccini and Beethoven anymore?

Yeah, but Barf.... Train... Drops of Jupiter? I mean... Fuck wow...

because you know iPods kill music, make it disposable and have stupid shuffle functions

barf's list of the best 24 albums of the decade has convinced me that I need to start taking the time to read the comment threads before I just scroll to the bottom and post a few ranting paragraphs.

Wait- I get it now. barf is totally just fucking with us with the awesomest top 24 list ever! You almost had me, barf, almost had me. Pure comic genius.

High five ChristianH.

Musicians always take from each other and judging by the fact that the bands you seem to like all started somewhere in the late 90s at the most shows that they are all ripoffs by your logic.

When a band started is irrelevant to their status as a "ripoff" band. That just means they had to build their way into success within the industry, like every band. I have no problem with when a band started. I have a problem with bands that don't do anything to differentiate themselves from a million other bands that sound exactly the same.

Look at it this way. Shaun of the Dead seems to be a film at the top of most lists. By your logic it's just a ripoff of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Have you ever heard of the words 'homage' and 'inspiration'?

What you're talking about is a tribute band. Shaun of the Dead was a comedy, and an homage yes, and a band that does that same thing is just a cover band. So, by defending Muse in this way, you're saying that Muse is basically a tribute band.

Of course you can pay homage to the classics, and of course every band owes something to people like The Beatles, but not every band sounds exactly like them. A band that does lacks invention or creativity, and is thus worthless when it comes to making original music.

let's see, a young band of boys wearing suit and whining and whimpering their way througha song like Arcade Fire or a band who is fast, energetic, actually SINGS flexing vocal chords and who both young and old are still in love with.

First, clearly "young and old" are not "still in love" with Train. Have you noticed how many hit singles they've had in the last three or four years? No one cares anymore. Just look at the comments on this thread. You're the only one here who still listens to Train.

Beyond that, vocal preferences are a personal thing, but bands as soulless and unemotional as Train are perfect for people fearing the grip of death. Thus, Train is a perfect band for an old folks home.

In fact I was even thinking about throwing away all copies of those silent movies. Who wants to watch the original King Kong, the original Phantom of the Opera, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and those boring Hitchcock movies?

Aw, I see now, you completely missed my point. I wasn't saying that Muse was too old. I was saying that they have the emotional depth of a child in middle school, and thus their target audience is people of that age, and the fact that you didn't grow out of that is a little sad.

Telling someone you have better taste in music because you listen to The Decemberists is like saying you have better taste in books because you like Twilight. There I ripped you off too.

*Sigh* No comment.

Oh well, who cares, seeing that the records I mentioned were all produced less than ten years ago in five years time you would have grown out of Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire and the Decemberists and will be onto the next fad.

I'm not entirely sure what the first part of that comment means, but I will address the point that I don't think bands like Arcade Fire and The Decemberists are "fads" but rather indications of the transformation of music. And personal preferences aside, I never accused the bands on your list of being "fads." Bad, perhaps. Cheesy. Blatantly replaying the same music as countless other similar artists, but not fads. People will doubtless be listening to them for years. But that doesn't mean that they are, by any means, the best of anything.

In Rainbows should have been #1!!!!

A ridiculously incomplete list. I am heavily disappointed. I mean, really? I expected more from the Pajiba readership.

...Green Day? The fuck!

These are pretty much exactly the top albums I would expect Pajiba readers to pick. It's not a bad thing, it just fits with the vibe of the site. Some of these records were good, but most I haven't bothered listening to. Maybe I'll get around to giving them a shot. I was surprised there wasn't more indie hip-hop or heavy metal, but it was a big decade for revival rock. I must say it's sad you guys all slept on Mos Def's The New Danger, which was an incredible album that spanned multiple genre's without ever sounding forced.

I would share my own favorites, but after what preceded me, it just seems futile. Plus it's mostly rap music and heavy metal, since I keeps it real like that.

ELBOW, ELBOW, ELBOW, ELBOW, ELBOW, ELBOW, ELBOW

(actually, I'm kinda glad they never make it onto these types of lists 'cause then everyone would know about them.)

I love you Guy Garvey.

Elbow.

Woops, the g and h keys on my keyboard got fucked up, so that's nigh incomprehensible.

Here's a re-write of the most affected section:

*I never said anything to that effect, nor would I. You're blatantly putting words in my mouth. My distaste for your list, and the rather rude way you have foist yourself upon others here, stems from a lack of musical talent, songwriting ability, and overall musicianship from almost every artist you included, and a total disregard for music from this decade which is original or unique to the world we are living in today rather than the world of ten or twenty or even thirty years ago. I never said that the problem with Muse or any of the other bands had to do with them making music before I left middle school, but rather that they have the emotional depth of someone who is in middle school, which is to say that their lyrics are asinine, their songs are rote arena anthems that other groups could do and have done better, and they steal guitar riffs from groups who came before them.

Also, and this is sort of a splitting-hairs argument here, you had your whole rant about bands not having "30 year careers anymore", but half the bands you listed in that paragraph (including the Beatles) either broke up, lost leading members, or became absolute parodies of themselves in less than that time. Just saying, those aren't exactly the best examples if that's the point you're trying to make.*

Hope that's more readable.

Neighborhood #1 lyrics

And if the snow buries my,
my neighbourhood.
And if my parents are crying
then I'll dig a tunnel
from my window to yours,
yeah a tunnel from my window to yours.
You climb out the chimney
and meet me in the middle,
the middle of the town.
And since there's no one else around,
we let our hair grow long
and forget all we used to know,
then our skin gets thicker
from living out in the snow.

You change all the lead
sleepin' in my head,
as the day grows dim
I hear you sing a golden hymn.

Then we tried to name our babies,
but we forgot all the names that,
the names we used to know.
But sometimes, we remember our bedrooms,
and our parent's bedrooms,
and the bedrooms of our friends.
Then we think of our parents,
well what the hell ever happened to them?!

You change all the lead
sleepin' in my head to gold,
as the day grows dim,
I hear you sing a golden hymn,
the song I've been trying to sing.

Purify the colours, purify my mind.
Purify the colours, purify my mind,
and spread the ashes of the colours
Over this heart of mine!

Armor & Sword lyrics

The snakes and arrows a child is heir to
Are enough to leave a thousand cuts
We build our defenses, a place of safety
And leave the darker places unexplored

Sometimes the fortress is too strong
Or the love is too weak
What should have been our armor
Becomes a sharp and angry sword

Our better natures seek elevation
A refuge for the coming night
No one gets to their heaven without a fight

We hold beliefs as a consolation
A way to take us out of ourselves
Meditation or medication
A comfort ,or a promised reward

Sometimes the spirit is too strong
Or the flesh is too weak
Sometimes the need is just too great
For the solace we seek
The suit of shining armor
Becomes a keen and bloody sword

No one gets to their heaven without a fight
A refuge for the coming night
A future of eternal light
No one gets to their heaven without a fight

Confused alarms of struggle and flight
Blood is drained of color
By the flashes of artillery light
No one gets to their heaven without a fight
The battle flags are flown
At the feet of a god unknown
No one gets to their heaven without a fight

Sometimes the damage is too great
Or the will is too weak
What should have been our armor
Becomes a sharp and burning sword

The former is an Arcade Fire lyric released in 2004 which is a straight ahead love song. The latter is a Rush lyric released in 2007 discussing religion, obviously inspired post 9/11, the war on terrorism and America's obsession with religion. Whether you agree with the lyrics or not it does make you think. Now I'm not saying that love songs are not relevant in the 21st century. They always were and always will be but how are Rush any less relevant? Interestingly on their last album Rush also wrote a love song called Spindrift but instead of being as straightfoward as that Arcade Fire song it uses sea, waves and weather imagery leaving room for more interpretation. And it's about a lover's quarrel really so it's more realistic than the dreaming found in the Neighborhood songs. Something interesting which Rush also wrote on their last album is The Larger bowl, a song writte in the form of a pantoum, that's a poetry style. Dismissing Rush the way you did is absolutely ridiculous.

"I've heard the entirety of 2112 and I can say flatly that Geddy Lee's got the lyrical ambiguity or subtext of a ten-year-old writing a short story about a turtle. At least bands like Arcade Fire and The Decemberists allow teir stories to blossom, their themes to coalesce"

That made me laugh so hard. Here's a band who writes concept albums, whole stories and play 3 hours + shows and you're saying that they don't allow their stories to blossom? They did write lots of sci-fi in the past but 1) what's wrong with sci-fi and 2) they have evolved and their lyrical themes nowadays are very different than they used to be. The bands you call parodies have tackled war (Megadeth), religion (Slayer), history (Iron Maiden), Nostradamus (Judas Priest: That's a very ambitioous and beautifully written album about the life and predictions of Nostradamus which I forgot to mention in my list) and a myriad of other subjects. Why they are not relevant I don't know

"When I listen to Rush, all I feel is, "Huh, they're good at their instruments." And then I stop listening."

Wow. Do you seriously write about music? You almost write as if being good at instruments is irrelevant. Even with no lyrics at all, good musicianship makes you feel something (example the Rush instrumentals on the last album or a good Joe Satriani album who unfortunately sometimes twiddles too much) but seriously, what the hell? There's a good reason why drums teachers everywhere would tell you to listen to Neil Peart and I really can't see that changing to Jeremy Gara. Or not to focus solely on Rush, let's take another musician who undoubtedly you'd call cheesy or irrelevant, Gary Moore who also released a number of excellent albums this decade. Still Got the Blues will forever create more emotions than Arcade Fire's whole career and will forever inspire guitarists whether it's played with lyrics or without. One little side-note: It's not Geddy Lee who writes the lyrics for Rush but Neil Peart.

One more thing, I never foisted my list rudely upon anyone. I just came up with my list like everyone else with the difference that i took the time to write a little about each album. Obviously they are albums I love so I use grand statements in describing and defending them but come on, you are on a site which prides itself about the bitchy people that visit it. Raving and ranting is par for the course and you just have to take it in your stride. Besides I made it very clear that it is MY list and it's for people who like rock and metal. Clearly it's a minority here but I'm entitled to my list as much as you are entitled to yours.

And although I don't know the details of why Pajiba Music was stopped I think it's safe to say that it was not the most popular or successful part of the site. Otherwise it wouldn't have been stopped. I do stand to be corrected on this point but this is what common business sense dictates about a particular venture being pursued.

I believe we've finally reached the point where personal preference will trump critical reasoning. You think those Rush lyrics are grand poetry, I think they're overdone and a bit hammy. But if you listen to that same Rush song at different times, can it evoke different emotional responses? That Arcade Fire song means something different to me every time I hear it. I'm not going to get into a semantic argument over the meanings of the lyrics and blah blah blah. The point is, the music has a subtlety, it isn't black-and-white and it doesn't beat you over the head. That's something I've never heard from Rush, or since you brought them up, Megadeth, Slayer, Iron Maiden, or Judas Priest. Every song from any one of those bands is emotionally the same or so similar that they're hardly exploring what it truly means to feel emotions in the first place, unlike Arcade Fire, who in that one album run through a tremendous emotional register that is, for lack of a better word, deep. That is why metal is so often ignored by critics: Yes, they're great at their instruments, they can solo for days, and they'll whip fans into a screaming, moshing frenzy, but at the end of the day, it's all so frivolous. Saying that war and religion are bad is about as adventurous as saying that death sucks or Sarah Palin is stupid. It doesn't make me think beyond the initial message, there's no exploration, it goes nowhere, and 95% of the music is simply an excuse to sound like you rock harder than anyone else.

Instrumental expertise do not great songwriting make. Neil Peart can play the drums for days, but I've never heard a Rush song that interests me. And that, I think, is the main problem I had with your list (and yes, you were a bit rude to a few people in the comments, not just me): The bands are not good songwriters, and the ones that are even decent songwriters are only writing songs that sound exactly the same as those written decades ago or, in some cases, songs they themselves wrote decades ago. There's no variety, nothing new. It's like making a Best Of the Aughts list in which every album is opera; even the best opera songs weren't written in this decade, or indeed in the last century, but because you think opera is great, that's what you make your list out of, at the expense of newer, more interesting music. And then anyone who calls you out on it or disagrees with you is wrong, and you'll tell them so, and not in any sort of polite fashion.

And popularity does not denote quality, and I am very much aware of the insinuation in the previous post that that's exactly what you meant.

I'm not the one who copied and pasted the lyrics from two songs to make a point, so I find it hard to agree that I'm the one placing too much importance in the lyrics. And yes, having fun is important, but there's a difference between fun music to listen to and the best music of the decade. I can have fun listening to just about anything if I have friends there and we can make fun of it. I've danced to William Hung, for god's sake. That has little bearing on its critical worth.

At this point, it's gotten personal, so I think it's a good time to drop it.

Christian, in order for your comments to have any merit, you'd have to have evidence that Colin Meloy and Win Butler are great songwriters, and they are not.

They're every bit as overwrought and pretentious as the metal bands you deride, possess no muscle in their style, and Win Butler's voice is so annoying, it makes me want to tear out my brain stem. You're "oh so precious, pretentious" indie friends can neither sing, play their instruments, or write good lyrics, they can't even write songs that let me shake my hips to them. For that, indie is a worthless genre of music.

Before anyone even starts on the "indie's not a genre" defense, shut the fuck up. You know damn well what I'm talking about, wimpy white boys and girls with guitars/harps/accordions/misc. singing in that twee fashion that anyone with an ounce of sanity in their heads hates with a passion. Their music is sexless, boring, and nowadays, even corporate. Why anyone tolerates it is beyond me, and I feel ashamed as a music enthusiast that we, as readers, came up with this list.