This Strange Engine

The music of the 2000's (I refuse to use the term 'aughts') is unfortunately going to be remembered for everything but the actual music. It will be remembered for the steady (yet somewhat deserved) decline of the previous century's music industry, as well as the splintering of musical tastes and disintegration of the mainstream.

The most notable thing about the decade's music was, in reality, the lack of any notable thing happening. Every decade/generation was defined by a band or movement: The British Invasion, Punk, Disco, New Wave, Nirvana, Britpop. For ten years, the 2000's screamed for a Nevermind, something to rid the world of post-grunge Creed clones and reinvigorate the musical landscape, and instead we got...Nickelback. Not to say there wasn't any great music in the last ten years, but nothing meaningful seemed to emerge from the clusterfuck of niches and cult bands to truly capture our imagination on a grand scale. Somehow, Billboard still compiles a top 100, which now consists of songs you probably haven't heard unless they've been used as the soundtrack to a viral YouTube video.

It's a strange decade we lived through (whether we survived is another matter entirely), but one that's better summed up in ideas, rather than albums you may or may not have heard. And so, the ten best things to happen to music in the 2000's:

1. Creed breaks up. It's easy to rail on their generic sound, scarcely concealed CCM lyrics, and Scott Stapp's desire to be the post-grunge Bono, almost too easy for it to be any fun. Admittedly, there were worse bands (Limp Bizkit) and worse frontman personalities (Limp Bizkit), but few combined soulless, corporate music with overreaching douchebaggery in a more obnoxious way than Creed. This wasn't the momentous event we hoped it would be, but at least we were spared from hearing "With Arms Wide Open" for a good chunk of the decade. Now if only we could get the guy from Nickelback on a helicopter...





2. The Internet


The internet may have killed the music industry and it's 50-year old business model, but it certainly didn't kill music. While the turn of this decade still brings more questions than answers about the future of music and the best way to reach an audience, the underlying truth is that people are listening to and discovering more music than ever before. It is a double-edged sword, in that the landscape is more cluttered with bands vying for any attention they can get, but 15+ years ago, they wouldn't have even had a prayer of reaching anyone outside their area code. While we're still waiting for the internet to provide the kind of filter radio provided in the 60's and MTV did in the 80's, at least the internet gave us a reason to never listen to Clear Channel radio stations again.


3. The Bush Administration/Iraq War
Okay, clearly this was the worst thing to happen to the U.S. in decades, if not in our country's history, but the minor upside was that it seemed to ignite a simultaneous spark in politically-minded artists in a way that hadn't been seen since Vietnam, both on record and on stage. Sure, Neil Young's Living With War is already a bit dated, but plenty of others weighed in with spectacular results, from Nine Inch Nails ("The Hand That Feeds," much of Year Zero) to Springsteen (Magic), resulting in some of their most inspired work in years. For the first time in over 30 years, there was a body of music created with a common purpose, something that was otherwise severely lacking in the musical culture of this decade.


4. YouTube/Twitter

This will also likely make the list of 'Worst Things,' but the effect both of these sites have had on the way we perceive music and musicians is indisputable. Yes, the guy next to you who insists on filming the entire show is the modern-day version of the "Freebird" guy, but being able to see performances that previously would have been mere legend is a godsend for music geeks. Sure, most are of dubious quality, but it's about sharing the live experience and getting even a taste of the buzz that was in the room that night. Likewise, artist Twitter pages have begun tearing down the wall between musician and fan in ways that were impossible ten years ago, seemingly ending the era of untouchable, larger-than-life rock stars. Youtube, Twitter, and other similar developments are facilitating a musical future that is about accessibility, participation, and interaction, and the artists that adapt to this landscape are going to be the ones who survive into the 2010's.


5. Deluxe Editions

The music industry sustained it's decades-old business model much longer than it should have by continually finding ways to sell people the same music repeatedly. While cash-in reissues still dominated the shelves, there was a small but welcome trend of fan-friendly deluxe reissues of classic LP's. The best of these instantly became essential listening: reissues of R.E.M.'s first two albums added full-length live discs from the band's raw, formative years, while definitive issues of the Allman's At Fillmore East and The Who's Live At Leeds finally restored the concerts to their full lengths. Amidst all the excrement, new and vintage, that the labels put out, year after year, it was refreshing to see a series of well thought-out reissues directed at the type of fans the industry needs most.


6.
It hasn't launched in the U.S. yet; whether the labels pull their heads out of their asses long enough to allow this to happen remains to be seen, but in Europe, Spotify has succeeded where almost all music startups have previously failed. By offering exactly what people want (on-demand, free streaming) in a simple, familiar interface that everyone can understand, the service has established itself as a serious contender for that oft-used "future of music" label. Unfortunately it's lack of fine-print, restrictions, and complications that give it such a straightforward user experience may be what keeps it from launching Stateside, but Spotify has proven that there is an audience for this type of online distribution, if the labels can back off enough to allow it to happen.


7. Bruce Springsteen

After spending most of the 90's unsuccessfully attempting to distance himself from the confines of the E-Street Band, Bruce reconvened the group for a well-received reunion tour in 1999. Beginning with the 9/11-inspired The Rising, Springsteen embarked on his busiest decade yet, releasing no less than 3 E-Street Band studio albums, the largely acoustic Devils & Dust and the big-band Pete Seeger tribute We Shall Overcome. While this year's Working On A Dream was clearly one album too many, the four major releases that emerged between 2002 and 2007 were among his best, and offered the kind of reflection and commentary on this tumultuous decade that few artists could equal. In between, Springsteen was a road warrior, mounting three extensive tours with the E-Street band, a 2005 solo tour, and the 2006 Seeger Sessions tour. After spending the previous decade stumbling for direction, both the sheer amount of material Springsteen unleashed, and it's high quality and diversity were among the most welcome surprises of the decade.


8. Vinyl

The vinyl comeback has been a bit overhyped, since it still only accounts for a very small percentage of overall sales, but after nearly a decade of mp3's, iTunes and a renewed focus on singles over albums, there is at least a revitalized audience, not only for analogue sound, but for the album concept in general. Whether it's just a retro fad or a permanent niche market, it has successfully led to hundreds of classic albums being reissued on high quality vinyl, allowing them to be heard exactly the way they were originally intended by a generation that grew up on often-questionable CD masters of Are You Experienced or The Unforgettable Fire.


9. Guitar Hero/Rock Band.
I've played Guitar Hero exactly one time, back in 2005 when it originated. I sucked at it. Royally. And while I understood some of the appeal, I have no idea how it became the phenomenon it did. But while, as a "real" musician, it seems a little silly, the fact that there's millions of kids playing digital air guitar to Deep Purple and Van Halen offers quite a bit of hope for the future of rock. If that's what it takes to gets kids excited by music and participating in it on some level, it's a positive thing. If even a few of them decide to try to learn those songs on real guitars, maybe in ten years it will be cool to be good at your instrument again. We can only hope.


10. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.
Raising Sand was critically praised to the point where presumably even Radiohead became envious, and while it's a brilliant, atmospheric piece of modern Americana, it is even more significant for what it signified for artists of Plant's generation. Granted, only the most elite of 60's and 70's superstars are in Plant's financial and career position, but Plant not only confounded expectations via his collaboration with Krauss, but singlehandedly axed the most potentially lucrative reunion tour in history to pursue it. Many of his contemporaries have dabbled in more experimental endeavors, but did so quietly without abandoning their endless stream of oldies tours. Hopefully Plant's recent activities will serve as inspiration for other aging rockers to continue evolving, experimenting, and above all, taking chances well beyond their glory days.