Monsters, Saliva and Vespas

Number 34

'Live It Out' by Metric

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 3 in 2006

UK Chart high : Did not chart in 2006

Firstly, a couple of points to be made for the statistically-minded (well, you are reading a countdown after all).  This is only one of two albums from 2006 to make the Final Fifty - the other being fairly obvious and coming up much later and secondly, this is the first album listed here to not even have made the UK Top 100.  I mean, think about that for a second - the damn-fool public didn't even buy enough of this record in any one week to get it to 100 - a travesty!  We've established then, that Metric are criminally under-rated.  All the more surprising considering they are fronted by one of the most glamourous, cool and edgy frontwomen in the business in Emily Haines and can start a song with 'bam chikka bam, chikka boom boom boom, shalang shalang boom, shalang shalang boom' and THEN call it 'Monster Hospital' or have a line about 'fear of comparison shopping' on the expertly-titled 'Patriarch on a Vespa'.  'Live It Out' is a strange, sinister yet catchy affair straddling the mosh-pit and the keyboards and is made all the better by their inventive, twisted videos.  Even getting spat at in the face by a charming young lady when I saw them live couldn't stop them from getting this far up the decade review!

Look at Monster Hospital ; Poster of a Girl ; Empty

Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Number 35

'Origin of Symmetry' by Muse

Trotter’s Top Ten position : Top Ten in 2001

UK Chart high : 3 in 2001

Now there was a time when Muse hadn't taken to composing twenty minute three-part prog symphonies about cyberspace knights leading humanity into imploding supernovas; when they were really finding their feet and shaking off the 'Radiohead copyists' tag they had been unfairly stuck with on their debut.  'Origin of Symmetry' went in hard and fast, keeping the tunes short and to the point and the riffs front and centre.  Yes, they have always been obsessed with the grandeosity of space and other overblown topics (see the 'Bliss' video for instance) but on this album that wasn't at the expense of a catchy tune.  'Plug In Baby' is definitely a classic of our times with one of the most distinctive guitar intros and they even managed to pull off a cover of 'Feeling Good' without murdering it - and you have to be careful messing with Nina Simone in my house!  Their next couple of albums may have produced bigger (even sometimes better) singles but Muse haven't topped this release in terms of pace and consistency.

Look at Plug In Baby ; New Born ; Bliss ; Feeling Good
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Behind You!

Number 36

'Get Behind Me Satan' by The White Stripes

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 3 in 2005

UK Chart high : 3 in 2005

'Prolific' in the dictionary has a picture of Jack White next to it.  As well as writing and recording four White Stripes albums in the Noughties he also formed two other bands -  The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather and produced a ton of albums (we won't mention the Bond theme tune!).  Sometimes, you could tell Jack was spreading himself too thin or rushing things through but you can't fault him for his creativity and work ethic.  This album was a bit of a jolt from the previous electric guitar-led 'Elephant'.  In fact it only has electric guitar on three of the tracks (including lead single 'Blue Orchid' where the busy man met his future wife) and so took a while to get under your skin.  'Take Take Take' is my favourite track on the album, a kind of retro-take on Eminem's 'Stan' where a greedy fan demands more and more of Rita Hayworth when she enters the same bar.  It's a genius slow build of a song with the lyrics painting a beautifully detailed picture of the scene.  Because it wasn't a single there's no video for it but it's well worth a listen.  A wilfully challenging album then, when a lesser band could have started to churn out stadium-fillers.

Look at Blue Orchid ; My Doorbell ; The Denial Twist

Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

This one'll start a war...

Number 37

'Franz Ferdinand' by Franz Ferdinand

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 8 in 2004

UK Chart high : 3 in 2004


I damned this with faint praise back in 2004 when I said the 'album's not as great as their singles' but going back and listening to their debut I was surprised at how many singles (or songs that were so familiar) there are on it.  There's much more strength in depth here than I originally gave the poor lads credit for, so it's actually made it far higher in this end of decade countdown than I'd initially reckoned.  People tend to forget what a big impact 'Take Me Out' had on music at the time, crossing effortlessly into the mainstream and high up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.  I also admired the fact that they revelled in making intellegent pop that was both catchy and boundary-pushing (case in point 'Michael') in a way not really seen since Pulp's heyday - with a similarly quotable frontman.  Typically British, with tongue firmly in cheek but brain definitely engaged, they were a breath of fresh air when most indie bands were trying their best to appear laddish and thick (whether they were or not).  With 'Take Me Out' they not only wrote one of the best tempo changes in modern music but surely made one of the most iconic videos of the decade.  They also were responsible for improving GCSE History grades across the country by making the 'Whose death triggered WWI?' question an absolute doddle.

Look at Take Me Out ; The Dark of the Matinee ; Darts of Pleasure ; Michael
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Top 50 Cheat!

Number 38

'Ladyhawke' by Ladyhawke

Trotter’s Top Ten position : n/a in 2008

UK Chart high : 16 in 2009

My Top 50, my rules.  When I said the Top 50 was made up of albums from previous annual Top Tens I kind of lied.  Ladyhawke didn't make it on the 2008 list.  It fell victim to the curse of being released in the autumn and not being listened to enough to make it into the Ten of that year (sad face).  In early 2009 though it repeatedly kept being chosen for a listen round Trotter Towers and so deserves its place here.  It's also worth mentioning the brilliant single 'My Delirium' did make the Ten singles of that year so it was almost there by proxy!  There, enough sorry excuses, why is this album here then?  Well, there's a venn diagram with Ladyhawke in the centre  of circles containing Joan Jett, Peaches, Bat for Lashes, La Roux and ELO and variants thereof - that should be enough.  An album that rode the 80's revival but without an ironically arched eyebrow and just a clear love of the tunes - oh and great watercolours in the video for 'My Delirium'.   That'll do nicely.

Look at My Delirium ; Magic ; Paris is Burning
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

The Late 30's (know how they feel)

Number 39

'Santogold' by Santogold

Trotter’s Top Ten position : 5 in 2008

UK Chart high : 26 in 2008

Everyone banged on about how uncategorisable Santi White was, so they made it easy and compared her to equally unboxable M.I.A.  Lazy - I did it meself!  There was even a bit of a backlash with critics saying that the album was just a load of different musical stylings with nothing holding it together - ska, dub, rock, 80's electronics, bit of Pixies, bit of Neneh Cherry.  That would be true apart from the sublime, catchy pop melodies running throughout (something M.I.A. deliberately and too conciously seems to run from) and the self-assured delivery of someone who knows their own mind and that's not to be any one thing.  Lord knows what happens next but if it's half as good as this debut then...er, it'll be at 78 in my next decade countdown.  Bonus points for employing the 'abrupt album ending in the middle of a song'  technique which still sometimes gets me checking my stereo's not gone on the blink.  Oh and the 'Lights Out' video (strangely absent from youtube) takes the wallpaper/shirt scene from 'Garden State' and milks it for all it's worth...

Look at L.E.S. Artistes ; Creator ; Lights Out
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version

Top Fifty Albums of the Noughties : 41-50

Thankfully no-one was paying enough attention to spot I'd managed to put two Number 45's in the countdown so we've actually got as far as Number 40 rather than Number 41.  Here's how things have shaped up - a bit metal, a bit indie, a bit dancey, a bit folky - business as usual then! And strangely nothing from after 2004 so far...

50 'Deftones' by Deftones (2003)
49 'XTRMNTR' by Primal Scream (2000)
48 'Toxicity' by System of a Down (2000)
47 'Highly Evolved’ by The Vines (2002)
46 'Lost Souls' by Doves (2000)
45 'Relationship of Command' by At the Drive-In (2000)
44 'Auf der Maur' by Melissa Auf der Maur (2004)
43 'Finelines' by My Vitriol (2001)
42 ‘The Optimist LP’ by Turin Brakes (2001)
41 ‘Parachutes’ by Coldplay (2000)
40 ‘Come Away With Me’ by Norah Jones (2002)

As well as the Spotify playlist with a selection from each album (41-50) which you can link to here, there's also a shorter one for those of you like me with short attention spans (Noughties Shorts) here.

More to come, if you're still all following, that is!