The Thread Where We List The People Who Put Kanye As Their Token Rap Album on an indiecentric top 10 2004 list

The Arcade Fire -- Funeral -- Merge
Interpol -- Antics -- Matador
TV on the Radio -- Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes -- Touch & Go
Air -- Talkie Walkie - Astralwerks
Sonic Youth -- Sonic Nurse -- Geffen
Brian Wilson -- Smile - Nonesuch
Ron Sexsmith -- Retriever - Nettwerk
Animal Collective -- Sung Tongs -- Fat Cat
Modest Mouse -- Good News For People Who Love Bad News -- Epic
Kanye West -- The College Dropout -- Rocafella

As far as selling units goes, no one spent more time at the cash registers than Usher, who jumped from the crunk-addled “Yeah!” (formulated with omnipresent party machine Lil Jon) to his considerably creamier duet with Alicia Keys, “My Boo,” with the greatest of ease. He was the toast of R&B in 2004. Naw, make that the toast of all commercial music. His bazillion-selling Confessions even threatened to diminish the impact of Kanye West’s laudably gangsta-free instant hip-hop classic College Dropout. And it did succeed in making the much ballyhooed return of Destiny’s Child seem parochial and unnecessary.

...

Frankly, I have no idea where rock is going, and judging from what happened in 2004, no one else does either. In a perfect world, gifted prog-metal practitioners Coheed and Cambria, genteel strutters the Walkmen and sui generis indie/electronic explorers TV on the Radio would carry the day, while veteran practitioners of melodic weirdness like Modest Mouse and the reconfigured Wilco would keep attracting more and more believers to their sonic cults. What’s really happening, however, is that Dorian Gray wannabes U2 are poised to dominate the rock ’n’ roll conversation once again with their latest glossy-but-well-meaning studio production, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, while Green Day mesmerizes legions of kinda-sorta punky suburban youth with American Idiot (a surprisingly vigorous anti-Bushie screed) and guileless Jay-Z buddies Linkin Park pound whatever rock fans are left into beat-heavy submission.

As for the distressingly influential tween demographic, those kiddies who aren’t lapped up by tattooed pop goths Good Charlotte have either renewed their love affair with oh-so-professional grrrl rocker Avril Lavigne or have been duped by tone-deaf lip-syncher Ashlee Simpson.

xxpst

I can't believe he missed the chance to mention how pop-music now consists of a simple synthesizer-generated theme repeated ad naseum!

laudibly gangsta-free

Where's my gun?

In what world is Coheed and Cambria preferable to FUCKING ANYTHING, for that metter?

1. The Walkmen, Bows + Arrows
2. Interpol, Antics
3. Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who Love Bad News
4. Kanye West, The College Dropout
5. The Arcade Fire, Funeral
6. Trashcan Sinatras, Weightlifting
7. Elliott Smith, From A Basement On The Hill
8. Julie Doiron, Goodnight Nobody
9. Snow Patrol, Final Straw
10. Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans

(Josh also gives love to Jadakiss's laudibly gangsta-free "Why" in his singles list)

Keith Phipps, Onion A.V. Club
1. The Streets, A Grand Don't Come For Free
2. Modest Mouse, Good News For People Who Love Bad News
3. Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose
4. Kanye West, The College Dropout
5. U2, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
6. Brian Wilson, Smile
7. Nellie McKay, Get Away From Me
8. The Hives, Tyrannosaurus Hives
9. Devendra Banhart, Niño Rojo
10. Wilco, A Ghost Is Born

(Phipps give honorable mentions to the laudibly gangsta-free Madvilliany and Roots releases)

let's see if we can make this an annual ILX tradition!

Not DeRo, though: He lists Kanye AND the Roots!!

he's a drummer! ?uestlove gets love!

that's grime!

Maybe it's reflexive hate against both Depeche and hip-hop. (Stranger has occurred.)

(X-post)

(xp stevie: I really dreaded this, y'know)

STEPHEN DEUSNER, Pitchfork

1. Arcade Fire: Funeral
2. Nellie McKay: Get Away from Me
3. Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose
4. Scissor Sisters: Scissor Sisters
5. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists: Shake the Sheet
6. Annie: Anniemal
7. Wilson: Brian: SMiLE!
8. Kanye West: The College Dropout
9. Iron & Wine: Our Endless: Numbered Days
10. AC Newman: The Slow Wonder

Ryan Schrieber put Madvillainy on his list WITH Kanye...bastard.

Here's the full article, but I can't resist posting the coup-de-grace final paragraph:

Think of it this way: Kurt Cobain’s been in the grave for little more than 10 years, and the early-’90s version of the music industry that helped transform him into a global figure now looks like a dusty relic. Don’t know about you, but I find that astonishing. And, to be honest, a little disturbing.

that's grime!

Dude, Mike Skinner is a minstrel. ;-)

01. Junior Boys – Last Exit
02. Sachiko M/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide – Good Morning Good Night
03. Joanna Newsom – The Milk-Eyed Mender
04. Keith Rowe/Burkhard Beins – Erstlive001
05. Kanye West – The College Dropout
06. Radian – Juxtaposition
07. The Blood Brothers – Crimes
08. Wolf Eyes – Burned Mind
09. Dean Roberts/Radu Malfatti/Mattin/Klaus Filip – Building Excess
10. Dion Workman/Mattin – Via Vespucci

I hate *perfect* top tens. I hate all of the above lists because they don't contain any *quirky* choices. Gimme a list that has Junior boys *and* Celine Dion in it!

Sorry, dude. ;-) Simon Reynolds was the one I first read making the connection, and I think Dan and I were saying the same thing on here a couple of years back.

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! and he is kanye. Ask Byron Crawford.

http://ubl.artistdirect.com/Images/artd/amg/music/bio/721308_kanyewest3_200x200.jpg

You'd be surprised. I think, however, their numbers are in some cases quite literally dying off.

If the Arcade Fire got one US dollar for every 500 words written about them in newspapers and blogs in 2004, instead of their royalty check, they'd have more than enough money to buy a new accordion and party dress for Regine.

oops. missed this one. sorry.

Kicks delivered to the body of a dead horse, maybe.

RIGHT HERE IN RIVER CITY!

1. Junior Boys - Last Exit - Kin (16 points)
2. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse - Geffen (13 points)
3. Phoenix - Alphabetical - Source/Astralwerks (13 points)
4. Bark Psychosis - Codename: Dustsucker - Fire (13 points)
5. Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender - Drag City (10 points)
6. Luomo - The Present Lover - Kinetic (10 points)
7. Erlend Oye - DJ Kicks - !K7 (8 points)
8. Kanye West - The College Dropout - Roc-A-Fella (7 points)
9. Animal Collective - Sung Tongs - Fat Cat (5 points)
10. United State of Electronica - United State of Electronica - Sonic Boom (5 points)

I like how you got on this kick just cuz I said Jet had more hits than Blur.

you're like the guy who wants to win the chicken race so bad you fly off the cliff

(x-post)

(x-post. thank ESPN)

FACT!

mention of analingus = immediate lojack

DEAR LORD.

Pardon?

lol