The basis for making my Top 10 list is on how much I wanted to listen to the music, how much I thought about the music when listening to other music or when doing mundane day to day tasks. This list has nothing to do with which album has the greatest impact on its individual or specific genre, but purely on how much love I gave the particular recording. Let it be noted that there is very little separating this year’s top three choices. All three albums have spent extended periods of time on the turntable since making their initial impact on my ears.
1) Stone Axe – II
2) Les Discrets - Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées
3) Hypnos 69 - Legacy
4) Dark Age – Acedia
5) Lair of the Minotaur – Evil Power
6) Opeth – In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
7) Charles The Osprey - Consider
8) Shadowgarden – Ashen
9) Necronomicon – The Return of the Witch
10) Downslave – Cost of Freedom
Racer's Top 10
I agree with everything that Pope wrote, I'm just too lazy to write all that.
1) Stone Axe - II
2) Fen - Trails Out of Gloom
3) Ape Machine - This House has Been Condemned
4) Black Bone Child - Take You Blind
5) Jet Black Berries - Postmodern Ghosts
6) Rob Blaine - Big Otis Blues
7) At the Soundawn - Shifting
8) Darklight Corporation - S/T
9) The Beautiful Mothers - Chikara
10) The Egocentrics: - Love Fear Choices and Astronauts
Woody's Top 10 (in alphabetical order)
The Brought Low – Third Record
The Budos Band – III
Electric Wizard – Black Masses
Josiah – Procession
Poobah – Let Me In
Otis Redding - Live on the Sunset Strip
Stone Axe – II
The Stooges – Have Some Fun: Live At Ungano’s
The Sword – Warp Riders
Ufomammut – Eve
Horn's Top 10
10) Roareth - Acts I- VI
9) haarp - The Filth
8) Dawnbringer - Nucleus
7) Centurion's Ghost - Blessed and Cursed in Equal Measure
6) Nefarium - Ad Discipulum
5) Conan - Horseback Battle Hammer
4) Cough - Ritual Abuse
3) Howl - Full of Hell
2) Salome - Terminal
1) Sloath - Sloath
Penfold's Top Ten
1. Mudocks – Distortionist
2. Megaran and K-Murdock – Forever Famicom
3. Freak Kitchen – Land of the Freaks
4. DEVO – Something for Everybody
5. B.O.B. – The Adventures of Bobby Ray
6. Greenhouse Effect – Electric Purgatory Vol. 1 and 2
7. Look What I Did – Atlus Drugged
8. The Rakehells – Please Yourself or the Devil in the Flesh
9. MC Frontalot – Zero Day
10. Cee Lo Green – The Ladykiller
Mr. Brownstone's Top 10
10) Local Natives- Gorilla Manor
9) Bruno Mars- Doo-Woops & Hooligans
8) MGMT- Congratulations
7) LCD Soundsystem- This Is Happening
6) Neon Trees- Habits
5) Titus Andronicus- The Monitor
4) Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse- Dark Night of the Soul
3) Gaslight Anthem- American Slang
2) The New Pornographers- Together
1) The Black Keys- Brothers
Honorable Mentions
Watain – Lawless Darkness
Exemption – Public Cemetary Party
Hank III – Rebel Within
Janelle Monae – The Archandroid
Don't forget to check out these sites and their Top 10 list of 2009
All Metal Resource — http://allmetalresource.com/
Bring Back Glam — http://bringbackglam.squarespace.com/
Hair Metal Mansion — http://hairbangersradio.ning.com/
Hard Rock Hideout — http://hardrockhideout.com/
Heavy Metal Addiction — http://heavymetaladdiction.com
Heavy Metal Time Machine — http://metalmark.blogspot.com/
Imagine Echoes — http://www.imagineechoes.com/
Metal Excess — http://metalexcess.com/
Metal Odyssey — http://metalodyssey.wordpress.com/
The Ripple Effect — http://www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com/
Hard Rock Nights — http://hardrocknights.wordpress.com/
Layla’s Classic Rock — http://laylasclassicrock.blogspot.com/
The Metal Minute — http://rayvanhornjr.blogspot.com/
Top Ten Lists Of Top Ten List Lists - by Old School
I simply despise top ten and “best of” lists. They are never enlightening, and even less informative, especially those that discuss music.
Is “Taylor Swift” by Taylor Swift a “better” recording than Guns N’ Roses’ “Greatest Hits” merely because of the number of weeks the CDs spent on the Billboard Music Charts? I hardly think so. Staying power on the charts is a product of (sales + publicity + fanbase) which is always related to gross sales. It doesn’t even reflect how financially successful a recording might be. To determine that you have subtract all the costs associated with producing the product, Even then, financial success does not mean one recording is better than another recording.
Ahh! But you say,
I like lists. In fact, I love them. Sure, you can’t compare the artistry of Taylor Swift to that of Guns N’ Roses in financial terms - it has to be in “artistic terms.” We have to narrow the field a bit. We can make categories of lists and compile them. Taylor Swift is a better Pop singer so we can compile a top ten list of 2010 Pop Music and we can compile a list of the 2010 Metal and Gun N’ Roses would be on that one. We could choose ten categories say, Pop, Blues, Punk, Alternative, Metal, Classic Rock, Country, Jazz, Soundtrack and World Music. You could then compile the number 1’s of each list and there you have a fair ultimate 2010 music top ten list.
Dude! You’re missing the point! There are thousands of great bands out there that lack either sales, proper publicity or a great big fan base. There are even some that rather ply their art in semi-obscurity, semi-retired, known to only a few, or just popular in a city, region, circuit or on the web. Consequently, it is inherently unfair and disingenuous to say that one recording is the “Best” or better than another. I can assure you that you haven’t heard all of them; that, if you did, you could never make up your mind; and, if you did, you should really get your hearing checked.
Every top ten music list ever compiled fails in another respect. It is totally subjective and why should I, as a music listener, really care about your opinion? I know what I like. Don’t you listen to your music and not give a damn what others think - you might even sing Barry Manilow songs in the shower, who knows or cares? It is your music and you are the only judge of “Best” that matters to you.
Look, Old School,
I understand what you’re saying, but, don’t you think that as music consumers we ought to know what we are buying? I mean, doesn’t sales + publicity + fan base measure popularity? So that means, as a consumer, I’ll know what most people are listening to by referring to a traditional top ten list. Doesn’t that have significant value to me as a consumer?
So, if lots of people were jumping off a high bridge you would too? Even manure attracts a lot of flies.
Don’t give me this whole consumer service thing. Today almost every artist has a healthy web presence and offers at least a free taste or two. You are better off spending your time searching the internet for the music you like than being a lemming to 2010 Music Top Ten Lists of Top Ten Lists.
Yes, Old School, I understand. But, couldn’t you compile a top ten list of just the music you heard this year and it could be your own personal 2010 Music Top Ten List? You could use it to explain to people your own musical tastes.
That argument lacks foundation. Do you really think other people care about what music you like - other than the artists who are trying to sell it to you? Look, I write 50 or so music reviews a year. I listen to thousands of new artists and releases and point out just a few. I get a half-dozen comments a year from readers in response to my reviews. I write because I’m vain and love to share my love of music, even if no one cares or listens. I’m in no position to tell you to favor Lynwood Slim and the Igor Prado Band over Brian Setzer, Modern Day Moonshine over The Doobie Brothers or Heavy Glow over Steve Vai, or any other artist or recording over any other. I wouldn’t dare say to you that James Cotton’s 2010 return - “Giant” is better than any other Blues harmonica album in the past decade. You have to find out for yourself.
- Old School
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