Defining a Decade

Technically, it’s not the end of the decade (that would be December 31, 2010), but for all intents and purposes, the 10-year span from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009 is a decade, and it’s been a fairly significant one musically (of course, when are they not?).  Like previous decades, the 200s gave birth to a new music recording format that altered the way everyone listens to music, but the digital age went just beyond the sonic experience; it also changed the way we think about music, the way we go out and buy music, and the way we physically own it.

The 2000s were also significant for the way artists made and distributed their music, and the shifting tides in the economy of the music industry.  I was always struck by just how parallel the 2000s were to the 1980s:

THEN:  I was trading homemade cassette copies of Purple Rain for copies of Born In The U.S.A. with my friends at school, and we were all spending hours in front of the TV hoping to catch new latest Duran Duran video and make a copy of it on our newly acquired VCR.  I certainly don’t think I was the only kid trying to figure out how to tape the audio coming out of the TV speakers so I could have the ultimate mixed tape for my new Walkman.

NOW:  I’m writing an online blog that allows me to share new music (most of which has been provided to me for free to distribute electronically) to over 500 people a day (and I thank each and every one of you for the privilege), and can send an electronic copy of every album I own to anyone I know in a matter of seconds.  I still watch videos, but I do that in front of a computer screen, and I’ve got the software to make crystal clear rips of any audio coming out of my computer speakers with just a couple mouse clicks, and then carry my entire music library around with me wherever I go on each of my four iPods.

The more things change, they say.

To to all my “Friends of QBiM” and beyond, over the course of the next 12 days I offer you a special look back at the years 2000 through 2009, and the music that defined the decade for me.  I know there’s countless best-of and count-down lists out there trying to qualify which records are “the greatest”, but in the spirit of this blog, and the tradition of my year-end lists, this special series of posts will be an alphabetical list of the 10 albums that made the biggest impact on me personally, whether as a musical/artistic statement, or as a pinnacle moment in the music industry.  So right off the bat, save the ‘what about…?’ or ‘how could you put that on the list?’ for another debate.  This is personal.  But by all means please share with me any of your personal choices for records that changed your life in the last 10 years.  That’s what this here blog is all about:  people who love music sharing with each other.

We’ll start with the first of the 10 albums in tomorrow’s post, and have a new one each day, ending with the last album on January 31 (we’ll take Christmas day off for present opening and turkey consumption).  Then, starting January 1, 2010, we’ll ring in the new year by getting back to some fantastic new music, more QBiM Q&As, and the occasional bout of verbal diarrhea suffered by yours truly.

See you tomorrow for album No. 1.

MP3: The Vereve “A New Decade”

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