My Noughties Top Ten doesn't include The Libertines

Gerry Hassan has taken a break from imaging the future of political policy development and posted on his top 60 albums of the noughties. And as befits a leading public intellectual, his choices are placed firmly within a socio-cultural context. Here is how he introduces his Top Ten:

Then there is the state of music which engages with and shapes the political mood. Given what has happened in the last decade: Bush, Blair and the march of the neo-liberals, where are the subtle albums and songs about the state of democracy in Britain, America, and the never-ending wars? Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ hardly counts as a learned tome; instead where are the equivalents of the Specials ‘Ghost Town’ and even Pink Floyd’s ‘The Final Cut’, an album subtitled ‘A requiem for the post-war dream’? 

Gerry is knowledgable about contemporary music, and such a huge fan of Gil Scott Heron  must be a man of taste. Still, I confess most  of his  Top 60  choices  are alien to me, because I let the noughties drift by in much the  same way as the 90s...listening to Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and an infinite variety of Motown compilations. 

I do find time for contemporary artists linked by a thread to such soul greats. But Gerry would probably consider the lyrical content of their work neo-liberal. I have daughters. We share common cultural ground in our enthusiasm for all things urban. When they were young I played them Aretha, they played me Alicia. So my musical decade is very different from Gerry's. It is defined by MTV Base of an evening, Trevor Nelson on Saturday afternoon and Beyonce for breakfast.  From Missy Elliot Getting her Freak On at the start of the noughties, to Will.i.am giving it Boom Boom Pow at The End, R n' B is so driven, life-enhancing and exciting, you can almost forget the passing of time. It's been called brash, sexist and materialistic. Translate that as joyful, sexy and escapist. You can enjoy it and still see through all the misogynist nonsense - we regularly scream mock outrage at the groupie fantasies of the male stars. We love the divas, the dances, camp jokes about bouncing out of the after party on 24s...Beep Beep!  Yes, even sleazy old R Kelly and his outsized wheels are venerated. I am sure Demos once wrote a paper on the dangers of that...

So here, in no particular order, is my own top ten. No albums, that's so 1995. And no obscure tracks either, this isn't the NME you know.

Outkast: Hey Ya!  Yes this picture is exploitative, but in a post-modern way...

Mary J Blige: Family Affair. Produced by God, sorry, Dr Dre

Pharrell Williams: Frontin'   Boy genuis in a rare bashful moment

Missy Elliot: Work It   I'd also feel like doing this if I had just lost six stone

Beyonce: Crazy in Love Noughties Anthem, has to be

Tweet: Oops (Oh My)   For lovely ladies without a lumber

Usher: Yeah  Not one for the feminist consciousness raising group, but perfect for every other occasion 

Kanye West: Gold digger/Diamonds are from Sierra Leone It not always about range rovers you know 

R Kelly: Ignition Dare you not to dance

Eve ft Gwen Stephani: Let Me Blow Ya Mind Real girl power..samples  one of the first reggae crossover hits

                                          

Comments

[Gaverne]

I have to absolutely agree with this list from the noughties...and yes in musical terms Dr Dre is probably the closest thing to Mr God...which would make Missy Elliot Ms God of the noughties...apart from dodgy picture, Hey Ya! definitely best dance song of noughties, it made you dance and changed music too!