ANYWAY I know you're all waiting so here are the TOP 10 ALBUMS FROM 10 YEARS AGO (2000 Edition):
10. The Dandy Warhols: Thirteen Tales from urban Bohemia
The Dandy Warhols have always been a bit of the go-to Hipster band. Regardless on however “overrated” you may find them; their third album is their masterpiece. All the tracks flow into each so wonderfully that it almost feels like one long song. The stand-out track is their hit single “Bohemian like you” with such catchy tongue-in-cheek lyrics like “Hey, I wait tables too/No I haven’t heard your band, but you guys are pretty new”. Other tracks became TV show theme songs. One inparticular (Solid) became the them for Undeclared one of the greatest TV shows ever.
9. Soul-Junk: 1956
The first time I ever heard of Soul-Junk it was seeing them open up for Five Iron Frenzy. They were completely out of place, the show consisted of 2 pop punk bands, 2 ska bands and then soul-junk a strange hip-hop/experimental/electronica group. I picked up their double album 1955 and was frankly disappointed. The fun dancy hip-hop was almost nowhere to be seen except a few tracks here and there. However, I was obsessed with the song Ill-M-I which I found on an old 5 Minute Walk Comp. Eventually I tracked down a copy of 1956 and was blown away, here was the Soul-Junk I knew. Not as religiously explicit this album focused more on just having good catchy jams, interesting beats and sweet ass rhymes. The stand-out track is Sea Monsters & Gargoyles featuring Pigeon John possibly the most under-appreciated hip-hop rapper ever.
8. Dilated Peoples: The Platform
Dilated People’s debut album is the definition of game changer. While hip-hop was demonated with mostly violent and misogynstic gangster rap; the Dilated Peoples came from the Alternative Hip-hop/Native Tongue style of hip-hop of telling detailed stories that were emotionally driven. Did these album ever really change the face of hip-hop? Not completely, but you can’t help listen to it and start to miss the days of hip-hop where Emcee’s had DJs who were turntablists instead of just a guy who played beats from his computer.
7. Del Tha Funkee Homosapian: Both Sides of the Brain
Del is most famous for being Ice Cube’s cousin and the rap vocals on the first Gorillaz album. This is a shame since Del is tight as fuck rapper. This album is so deliciously perfect that you can easily find yourself listening to it on repeat for days at a time. Be it his cautionary tale of the dangers of drunk driving (Skull & Crossbones) or his gamer bragging rights (Proto Culture) one thing is obvious, Del is a bad-ass emcee, who’s still down to earth.
6. Marilyn Manson: Holy Wood
Manson’s fuck you to critics is possibly the best album of his career. After the terrible columbine tragedy, Manson kinda hide himself from public eye, this album shows him attacking the very media that attacked him. With his on going motto of Guns, God and Government Manson intelligently presents to the listeners ways in which the Bible and Government & News Stations promote violence in a much more dangerous way than Manson does.
5. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP
Marshall Mathers is a man with A LOT of problems. While Slim Shady LP was a funny and witty album poking fun at celebrities, drugs, violence and Eminem himself. Marshall Mathers is a diary of a darky haunted man. Taking his own name in the albums title is just the beginning of this auto-biographical story of a boy who comes from nothing, can’t handle his fan-base or fans and thinks about murdering his wife and mother constantly. Is it dark? Yes Is it Twisted? Yes Is it Beautiful? Yes… conclusion fuck you Kanye West… THIS album should have been called My Dark Twisted Beautiful Fantasy.
4. Our Lady Peace: Spirtiual Machines
Inspired by the futuristic novel The Age of Spiritual Machines, Our Lady Peace went from being “that Canadian band that sounds like Smashin Pumpkins” to a rock group worthy of our attention. It wasn’t that the band was releasing bad records before this, but none of their albums gripped our attention quite like this one. Mixing readings from inventor Raymond Kurzweil’s book and hopeless and dark lyrics Our Lady Peace shows us a vision of Dystopia that we can only pray never actually comes.
3. Outkast: Stankonia
Stankonia came out of nowhere and left the whole world confused as to what we just heard… and it did it in a good way. Blending damn near every genre with hip-hop Outkast created the most unique and original hip-hop album of the decade and possibly of all time. From the heavy metal influenced Gasoline Dreams, to the bluesy Ms Jackson to your in your face club bass-n-drum beats of Bombs over Bagdad this album has something for everyone. On to of it all, it contains various skits that are actually funny (a rarity in rap music).
2. Eels: Daisies of the Galaxy
Mark Oliver Everett is one depressed but hopeful dude. However unlike most musicians he’s earned the right to be this depressed. After losing his sister and his mom being diagnosed with cancer he penned “Electro-Shock Blues” (one of the most beautiful albums ever recorded). His follow-up Daisies of the Galaxy continues where Electro-Shocked left off. At this point Mark (Stage Name E) was the last surviving member of his family blood line. That loneliness is the main driving force in this album and each track is sadder than the one before. “It’s a Motherfucker” is a vulgar but heartfelt song about the pains of missing a loved one (I assume it’s in reference to his mother).
1. Jurassic 5: Quality Control
Jurassic 5 took the Jazz influenced Alternative hip-hop created by groups like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest and completely perfected it’s sound. There’s not a single track on Quality Control to NOT like. Using such creative samples as James Brown, The Barbershop-y HiLos or the funky Blowfly the whole album is practically a “how-to” guide to making incredibly catchy and perfect hip-hop. Make sure you check out the closing track the instrumental sample-heavy Swing Set.
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