Whatever you called the last decade (noughties seems the accepted term, but where are we now, the teenies?), it was no doubt a time when music atomised into various microgenres, and the boundaries in between became more and more blurred. So often the question, "have you listened to x?" is met with a shake of a head. Unifying bands like the Beatles and Blur are increasingly rare commodities.
At the start of the decade, the Strokes sparked off a renaissance in guitar music, after years of lame indie bands like James. This led to a British revival too, with the Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party all reaching out to a wide audience. Bloc Party's early sound was a good example of the trend towards mashing up boundaries, with tracks that mix guitars and a dance beat.
But, as with any revival in British élan, there was the inevitable tabloid fervour that put the spotlight on the chaotic, drug-fuelled lives of characters like Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse. The rise of reality shows like the X Factor and Pop Idol led to even more dumbing down, and only the rare glimpse of talent in singers like Leona Lewis. Most musicbuyers starting caring less about the charts, until in 2009 they saw the need to upset Cowell's empire by propelling Rage Against The Machine to the Christmas No.1 spot.
Counter to this trend was some seriously good music, with Radiohead still on song for most of the decade, and bands like Arcade Fire, Beirut, Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear blazing trails. As well as the above, some personal favourites have been Hot Chip, TV On The Radio and Jeffrey Lewis. The latter two are part of a still thriving Brooklyn scene.
Chanteuses have also formed another trend, with Bjork still on song, but new pretenders like Bat For Lashes, Adele, Lily Allen and Ladyhawke (to name but a few) coming to the fore.
But if you had to pick one genre that defines the decade it has to be hip hop. Yet its immense popular appeal could end up precipitating its downfall. Jay-Z and Kanye West are now so successful that they no longer speak for deprived urban black communities in the US. Nas even recently diagnosed the death of hip hop.
But on this side of the pond, grime and dubstep are as strong as ever. Dizzee Rascal might have lost his way and gone Bonkers, but grime is still a club-driven phenomenon. Dubstep, meanwhile, is a South London creation, a unique bass-heavy sound that has little emphasis on beat or percussion. If anyone needs persuading of the genre's merits, Five Years of Hyperdub is a great compilation, highlighting the work of Mala and Burial, among others.
One factor that unites these various trends is the importance of new technology, with the advent of the iPod crucial to widening people's music horizons by putting every track ever cut at just the push of the button. Websites like YouTube, MySpace and Spotify, not to talk of the rise in illegal downloading, have also radically changed the way people experience music. And computer programmes like Garage Band have caused a rise in homemade musical efforts.
But, despite all these advances, the major labels like Sony and Universal still dominate the modern music market. Let's hope the next decade sees this evil empire of blandness brought to its knees. I'm off to fire up my Macbook to work on my new "a cappella" mash-up album...
At the start of the decade, the Strokes sparked off a renaissance in guitar music, after years of lame indie bands like James. This led to a British revival too, with the Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party all reaching out to a wide audience. Bloc Party's early sound was a good example of the trend towards mashing up boundaries, with tracks that mix guitars and a dance beat.
But, as with any revival in British élan, there was the inevitable tabloid fervour that put the spotlight on the chaotic, drug-fuelled lives of characters like Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse. The rise of reality shows like the X Factor and Pop Idol led to even more dumbing down, and only the rare glimpse of talent in singers like Leona Lewis. Most musicbuyers starting caring less about the charts, until in 2009 they saw the need to upset Cowell's empire by propelling Rage Against The Machine to the Christmas No.1 spot.
Counter to this trend was some seriously good music, with Radiohead still on song for most of the decade, and bands like Arcade Fire, Beirut, Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear blazing trails. As well as the above, some personal favourites have been Hot Chip, TV On The Radio and Jeffrey Lewis. The latter two are part of a still thriving Brooklyn scene.
Chanteuses have also formed another trend, with Bjork still on song, but new pretenders like Bat For Lashes, Adele, Lily Allen and Ladyhawke (to name but a few) coming to the fore.
But if you had to pick one genre that defines the decade it has to be hip hop. Yet its immense popular appeal could end up precipitating its downfall. Jay-Z and Kanye West are now so successful that they no longer speak for deprived urban black communities in the US. Nas even recently diagnosed the death of hip hop.
But on this side of the pond, grime and dubstep are as strong as ever. Dizzee Rascal might have lost his way and gone Bonkers, but grime is still a club-driven phenomenon. Dubstep, meanwhile, is a South London creation, a unique bass-heavy sound that has little emphasis on beat or percussion. If anyone needs persuading of the genre's merits, Five Years of Hyperdub is a great compilation, highlighting the work of Mala and Burial, among others.
One factor that unites these various trends is the importance of new technology, with the advent of the iPod crucial to widening people's music horizons by putting every track ever cut at just the push of the button. Websites like YouTube, MySpace and Spotify, not to talk of the rise in illegal downloading, have also radically changed the way people experience music. And computer programmes like Garage Band have caused a rise in homemade musical efforts.
But, despite all these advances, the major labels like Sony and Universal still dominate the modern music market. Let's hope the next decade sees this evil empire of blandness brought to its knees. I'm off to fire up my Macbook to work on my new "a cappella" mash-up album...
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