How long a decade seems when you look back on ten years. I´m still not quite used to it and so, out of habit, continue to put a 0 before the shortform year on all of my homework. Doing a little time-wasting on a few music magazines´ best-of-show 2000-09 lists, I stopped on NME´s Top 100 Greatest Albums Of The Decade, which not only brought up keen feelings of nostalgia, but a few other things besides. For some reason as I read NME´s version of history, I started to wonder on all those great news stories that had happened to pop stars over the last ten years. Faced with profound classics like Britney shaving her head in a fit of hysteria and Brian Harvey reversing over himself whilst trying to vomit out of his car door, I just couldn´t choose.
The noughties though (however stupid a name), were not just about unfathomable fuck-ups. For me, at least, the noughties were about milestones. During those ten years, I finished college, went to university, finished university, got a job, quit and went travelling never to return (alright, so the last three words are a lie, but the rest is true). In a few words, I learnt a shed-load.
I had a few decent realisations there too. I realised that The Killers, though fathers to a few club classics, were not as great as they first seemed, with their sound going so far downhill that it can now be found in a ditch next to some dog turd (which, incidentally, sounds better than their entire third album). They are now unofficially one of the world´s dullest live bands around. Foo Fighters are another great example of a band with whom I fell in and out of love. However fun their live shows might be, let´s be honest, they haven´t had anything worth listening to since their third album.
Biffy Clyro (number 69 in NME´s list) I also received a small epiphany to (if you can measure epiphanies). Instead of the pure adrenaline and hope they once brought to big, brash rock music, they´ve since turned into a rather pongy cheese that no one wants to eat, let alone listen to. In fact, you wouldn´t be surprised if fans, rather than shouting “´Mon The Biffy!” at gigs, started yelling “Mong the Biffy!”
Needless to say, during the noughties I fell in and out of love; musically and literally. It´s not all heartbreak though, with hope and excitement at the other end of the rainbow. Thankfully, there are certain bands that almost everyone will be raving about as the ones you should have watched last decade, these being the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire. Luckily, I have quite pushy friends and so they forced these bands upon me until I finally gave in. I could have stayed in Loser Club and questioned these artists´ validity without actually having listened to them for the pure fact that everyone else was, but instead I bowed down and received my “Arctic Awakening”. I it remember like it was yesterday. Six months ago, I´m sat answering a few e-mails with Whatever People Say I Am, That´s What I´m Not spinning. It gets all the way to the end and then suddenly my ears prick up. On comes A Certain Romance with it´s chugging rhythm and cracking backbeat. Intrigued, I listen a little closer and get an ear-full of Alex Turner´s raw, poetic prowess. After almost too much musical heartbreak, I finally fall in love again.
The noughties was not only my decade of giving in to the Monkeys and kicking out The Killers, but also the beginnings of my discovering a musical world called the “underground”. After a plentiful time listening to old classic punk and ska records, I gave a friend´s copy of Capdown´s Civil Disobedients a try and from there fell into a terrific world of original music, fantastically fun liveshows and good people. I then learnt of the joys of such bands as Howards Alias, Lightyear, Captain Everything! and The King Blues. The only problem was, once I had opened my arms to it all, I expected others to be the same. I tried taking friends, relatives and small animals to shows, but almost no one was as willing to reach out and embrace. I thought it was always going to be as saddening for these kinds of bands, but then came Myspace and the like to give them hope. Back to reading NME´s list, and I stumble over none other than Capdown´s Civil Disobedients at number 76. I, of course, smile hopefully. The noughties was all about making the music industry broader and so, if an indie/pop magazine is putting bands like Capdown on the proverbial pedestal, maybe this next decade will make the general public attitude just as broad and bring the underground overground to womble free.
This same idea applies to foreign music. Travelling has opened my eyes, making me realise that “world music” is not just another way of saying “shite”. Here are some fabulous bands I`ve found along the way: Facto Delafe Y Las Flores Azules, El Bicho, Chico Trujillo, Los Tres and Bersuit Vergarabat.
With all these experiences under the old belt in just ten short years, it´s clear to see I learnt more in that decade than any other. I experienced, first hand, grief, joy, love and heartbreak and I did it all to the beat of the noughties drum.
Posted In Midweek Comment, Jan 27 2010.
Words - Rich