2000:The Best, The Worst, and What to Expect in 2001
Written: Dec 11 '00 (Updated Dec 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: There were, believe it or not, 10-15 really really Great albums released this year
Cons: most of them weren't given the time of day by radio, MTV or the public
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| MattA75's Full Review: Rock and Pop |
The year 2000 will go down as, for the most part, yet another forgettable year in popular music, with some very notable exceptions. Some bands broke down barriers, while others just continued to do what they do without worrying about radio or MTV airplay. For those of you who hate lists, you should probably stop reading now. For those of you who hate lists and are STILL reading, consider yourself warned. I'm a huge list person, I love the damn things, I can't help it. So it is with no real degree of surprise that I present to you the following lists:
Best Albums of 2000:
10:Hanson-This Time Around: Perhaps the most pleasant and out of left field surprise of the year, the three brothers from Oklahoma made an excellent pop/rock record that unfortunately got overlooked by just about everyone.
9:Eminem-The Marshall Mathers LP: By far the rap release of the year, and one that has not been matched in passion, intensity, or pure skill in years. Believe me, this album is SO much more than The Real Slim Shady.
8:Smashing Pumpkins-Machina I:The Machines of God AND Machina II:The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music: Sadly, these will be the last two releases from this band, barring a live album and a greatest hits album. Both of these albums recall the Pumpkin glory days of Siamese Dream and MCATIS (not to say Adore wasn't a great record). The Pumpkins shall be missed.
7:U2-All That You Can't Leave Behind: An album that has grown on me with every listen, although I still don't think it's quite up there with the Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby. This sees U2 returning to the sounds of rock and also to the tinges of R&B they have always experimented with. This band shall appear again in this review later on.
6:Pearl Jam-Binaural: Forget the fact I am probably one of the biggest Pearl Jam fans alive. Binaural is the sound of PJ maturing even more, and coming into their own as musicians. The more you listen to this album, the more you realize just how absolutely awesome it is. I won't even bring up the fact the songs transcend themselves in a live setting.
5:Green Day-Warning: After 1997's somewhat disappointing Nimrod, Green Day returned with what is their best album yet, the more melodic, less angry, more experimental, less thrashing Warning, a musical cornucopia of sounds that will have most fans screaming "sell out!" Whatever.
4:Collective Soul-Blender: This also gets the vote for biggest surprise of the year. This is another band whose last album was lacking (hell, their last TWO albums were lacking severely), and then they come out with this, one of the best straight up rock records of the last 5, or possibly even 10 years. The guest appearance by Elton John should NOT be missed.
3:A Perfect Circle-S/T: OK, so they aren't Tool, but they ARE a great band, one whom came out of virtually nowhere thanks to guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. This is such a powerful record, and more good news for fans of this band was just announced this last week. (see below)
2:Radiohead-Kid A: When fans of this band see what I put ahead of this, the reaction is going to be "WHAT?????", but that's ok. This is the perfect follow up to OK Computer, and for that, I can't put them at #1. It's almost too obvious a follow up. However, it is certainly a challenging album, and one that takes more than a few listens to truly grasp and understand, a very rare thing in today's rock world.
And the best album of the year is.....
1:Mighty Mighty Bosstones-Pay Attention: Bring on the comments for this!!! Yes, I am also the world's biggest Bosstones fan, but the fact of the matter is is that this album has not ever left my CD player for longer than 10 days or so since it came out on May 2, and it's longevity is a tribute to how good it is. 16 tracks of maturity, a huge growth from their breakthrough album Let's Face It. The biggest travesty of the year is that hardly anyone paid attention to this record.
Honorable mentions to:Less Than Jake, Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes, Catch 22, Neil Young, Oasis
OK, so those were the best. Now what about the worst? Well here you go, the 5 worst of 2000:
5:Limp Bizkit:Chocolate Starfish...
4:Britney Spears:Oops...I Did It Again
3:Matchbox Twenty:Mad Season
2:Papa Roach:Infest
1:3 Doors Down:The Better Life
Best Concert Tours:A Perfect Circle, the Who, Jimmy Page/Black Crowes, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Smashing Pumpkins
Most over-rated albums from 1999 that got more press in 2000: Human Clay-Creed and Supernatural-Santana
Tragedy Strikes-Nine people die during Pearl Jam's performance at the Roskilde Festival-nine fellow fans of mine lost to stupidity and lax security measures
Albums to look forward to in 2001:
Radiohead-Untitled
Tool-Untitled
Pearl Jam-tentative, also, the North American bootlegs in Feb and March!!!
Stone Temple Pilots
Metallica (for some reason, I hold out hope every time they release an album)
Black Crowes
Oasis
REM
TOURS to look forward to in 2001:
U2
Radiohead
Tool
Black Crowes/Oasis joint tour-this is being dubbed as the bad-asses of rock tour =)
A Perfect Circle-this tour was just announced last week-ticket details are going to be released soon-it's a winter/spring tour, extending from February to April, and playing mid-size (read 5000-7000 seats) venues and up
Tom Petty-rumored
Stone Temple Pilots
As you can see, 2001 is already shaping up to be a huge year for music, and a huge year for rock music especially. 2000 gets 4 stars for it's music, and 2001 looks like it could be a 5 star year.
Recommended:
Yes
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MattA75
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Member: Matt Aucoin
Location: South Berwick, ME
Reviews written: 1162
Trusted by: 464 members
About Me:
Gonna be a daddy, April 2010!
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