2010: The Year In Music
The trend I’ve noticed these last few years, and this is just my opinion, is the years with an Olympics (every other year) isn’t as good musically as the year prior. 2007, in my memory, was way better than 2008. And so, unfortunately, the trend continues with 2010. Last year was ripe with up-and-comers and a new exciting indie subgenre called chillwave. This year was the aftermath, as most of those up-and-comers were featured on car commercials, and this year’s bright new stars were slower and more acoustic-based – Beach House and Best Coast seem to be the two critical darlings.
Not that there weren’t some great releases this year, as we will see in the next few days. Like most years, bands got bigger and disappointed (Kings of Leon), others continued to stay at the top of their game (Kanye West), and some even managed to blow our minds with a new progressive sound (Star Slinger). Arcade Fire was nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy, an award they are sure to lose to someone less deserving, but hey, still, pretty cool, right? Perhaps the biggest notable trend, though not surprising, is the inevitable transformation of indie into mainstream culture thanks to the festival circuit, television advertising, and TV/movie soundtracking.
As the years progress, I too find my musical tastes to favor the more popular sounds, akin to how they were when I was in grade school. I attribute this to the simple fact that, thanks to the spotlight the Internet shines on deserving artists, popular music is getting better, though old mediums like FM radio would have you believe otherwise. Sure, there’s still plenty of shit out there, but the kids’ ears are being exposed to more sounds than ever before, and that’s never a bad thing. Much like the revolutionary period of the grunge/alternative wave of the early 90’s, it’s not uncool to like what you hear on a Kia commercial.
In an oversaturated world of media, the term “selling out” doesn’t really mean anything anymore. Exposure is always a good thing in this day and age, even if it’s used to move a product. Just my .02….anywho, I hope you’ll join me for the next couple of weeks as I count down my favorites in music from 2010. Here’s what the blog posting schedule looks like:
Jan. 1 – Quarterly Review
Jan 2. – 10 Best Videos
3 – Top Tracks 200-151
4 – 150-101
5 – 100-51
6 – 50-21
7 – 20-1
8 – Top Remixes
9 – Honorable Mention Albums
10 – Top Albums 50-41
11 – 40-31
12 – 30-21
13 – 20-11
14 – 10-1
Enjoy, and here’s hoping 2011 rocks hard.
