Make Believe Mailer 46: Lost Decade (Music Magazine's Best 100 Albums Of The 2000s)

Y2-OK!

Aug 05, 2022

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A lot happened in the 2000s, but trying to concoct a solid narrative thread through those 10 years proves tough, even for this Music Magazine effort at instant canonization released in July of 2010. It’s one of the earliest examples of Japanese music journalists trying to offer a snapshot of a specific decade…coming just a few years after serious efforts at “Best Japanese Albums Ever” baby steps…but happens to be a period of time that, especially at the time, was slippery.

And who could blame them — here’s Japanese internet culture taking off and disrupting everything, with netlabels creeping out of the corners of bulletin boards and Nico Nico Douga presenting an entire alternate pop world built around singing synthesizer technology. Peak CD sales days are over, and now comes a slow decline. People still respect Oricon…and they actually kind of have the rights to!

From GAME, #9 Of The 2000s

It’s a busy decade, and Music Magazine’s first effort at crystallizing what it was all about goes all over the place. The folks behind it both nail sea-change moments in J-pop (Sotaisei Riron, Perfume) while also offering what stands as the publication’s most pop friendly list to date (Utada and Amuro all over it, especially noteworthy since the latter is nowhere on the ‘90s list). The publication’s team of selectors love to draw from eclectic styles, but they have never gotten as far-flung as this one. Okinawan music, Ainu traditional music, piano duets, crustpunk and two albums from Azuma Mitsuyoshi & The Swinging Boppers, which is exactly what you think.

It’s varied, wide-reaching and a bit chaotic…which makes for a pretty fun dig. Writing down all the albums below led to some thrilling personal discoveries and reminders. If you’re going to ding Music Magazine, it’s mainly due to a hangover with the ‘90s, along with the magazine’s love for a handful of older artists who are not necessarily delivering their finest material at this stage in their career.

So…why revisit it now?

From Sensuous, #2 Of The 2000s

The long-anticipated 2000s revival…it’s here! That’s a phenomenon spreading well beyond Japan…here’s a mandatory reference to NewJeans for maximum current events… but it’s certainly emerging domestically, as a new generation of artists who grew up in the Aughts take center stage and channel memories of their youth as they craft their own artistic personality (Tohji comparing himself to Ayumi Hamasaki seems epochal). Then you have era heavyweights returning to the forefront…Utada, yeah, but new releases from UA and Kirinji among others also underline this (not to mention Shintaro Sakamoto, of the band taking gold on this list). And part of it is tied to other developments, like Cornelius — holding the silver and bronze spots here — returning to musical activities after…everything last year.

Of all the critical lists made by Japanese music journalists to date, this one probably should be at the front of the line for a renewal — there’s a lot of nooks and crannies unexplored, and as a document of what mattered from the period, it’s lacking. Yet as a duckling-like first effort at canon creation, it’s wonderful. Here’s a first attempt at capturing what one ten year period was about musically, that is far from perfect, but providing a set of albums that’s always interesting…which, really, might make for the best kind of list.

Music Magazine's Best 100 Albums Of The 2000s List (Originally Published In July 2010, Links When Available)