The music business is really thriving this year. While most people probably can think of numerous songs they enjoy, very few of them can name a single album they truly like from beginning to end.
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10 Best Pop Albums of 2000 |
Playlists of radio and television stations are certainly one of the biggest problems, because they exhaust the pleasure of certain songs while they prevent the much-deserved exposure of others. This hit-oriented music scene encourages the music industry to produce many inconsistent albums made up of a few hits and numerous fillers.
We've survived yet another year of teen-pop mania. Prolific Swedish producer Max Martin's masterpieces such as "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely," "Oops… I Did It Again," "Bye, Bye, Bye," "Lucky," "It's Gonna Be Me" and "Shape of My Heart" have flooded the airwaves throughout the entire year. With the successes of
No Strings Attached, Oops… I Did It Again and Black & Blue, *NSYNC, Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys have proven they are going to be around for a while.
While Jive Records' triple threat has successfully outlasted its 15-minute fame, some other one-time pop sensations aren't doing so well with their latest releases. Ricky Martin's
Sound Loaded, Boyz II Men's
Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya and the Spice Girls'
Forever are unable to match multi-platinum-selling status they have once accomplished.
Instead of celebrating the Spice Girls' newfound maturity, the general public seems to be seeking something even more infantile than the Spice Girls once were. Baha Men's ridiculously tasteless "Who Let the Dogs Out," Sisqo's completely mindless "Thong Song" and Creed's endlessly annoying "Higher" have become staples on the pop radio and television stations.
Not all the songs on the heavy rotation are necessarily bad songs. Black Rob's "Whoa!," Samantha Mumba's "Gotta Tell You," Debelah Morgan's "Dance with Me," Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady," Joe's "I Wanna Know" and Janet's "Doesn't Really Matter" are certainly some of the year's guilty pleasures. But with the endless radio play, even some of these songs eventually become tiresome. Case in point is Nelly's summer anthem "Country Grammar."
Many industry veterans have returned this year with little fanfare. Madonna's
Music, U2's
All That You Can't Leave Behind, Sade's
Lover's Rock and Busta Rhymes'
Anarchy have arrived with much less buzz than expected. Thankfully, these albums managed to achieve reasonable success based on the fans' support. The chart-topping success of Radiohead's
Kid A proves that a record can do well without the support of radio or television.
On the touring side, teen pop stars such as *NSYNC, Spears and Christina Aguilera have done excellent business on the road this year. The "Anger Management" tour with Fred Durst and company and "Up in Smoke" tour with Dr. Dre and company are two of the more popular concerts of the year. Of course, MTV's "Campus Invasion" tour, which featured Wyclef Jean, De La Soul and Black Eyed Peas, is certainly the most notable tour that played in Bloomington this year.
Despite the popularity of the aforementioned tours, none of them is truly memorable. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tour, the "Voodoo" tour with D'Angelo and Mos Def, "The Mary Show" with Mary J. Blige, Jagged Edge and Carl Thomas, and the "Two for the Road" tour with Tony Bennett and Diana Krall are arguable the year's most brilliant concerts. Those who are fortunate enough to attend any of the four concerts will tell you that it is definitely one of the most wonderful experiences of a lifetime.
1.
Emotional -- Carl Thomas (Bad Boy/Arista)
2.
Voodoo -- D'Angelo (Cheeba Sound/Virgin)
3.
Stankonia -- OutKast (LaFace/Arista)
4.
Who is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 -- Jill Scott (Hidden Beach/Epic)
5.
All That You Can't Leave Behind -- U2 (Interscope)
6.
Joao voz e violao -- Joao Gilberto (Verve)
7.
Sing When You're Winning -- Robbie Williams (Chrysalis/Capitol)
8.
Chicago '85 … The Movie -- Dave Hollister (Def Squad/DreamWorks)
9.
Told You So -- Sparkle (Motown)
10.
A Charlie Brown Christmas -- Cyrus Chestnut and Friends (Atlantic)
