What are the best tunes of the decade?
Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:25 am
I've been thinking about this over the weekend. I thought someone should write a best of the decade list, but do it properly. I wrote some guidelines so there'd be less arguments and personal opinions involved (unless you argue with the guidelines, of course). It's possible there will be another ten tracks I'll have forgotten, but these are the ones that stuck out for me. I don't even think they're the best or the biggest, but maybe the most original or groundbreaking? I dunno...
So here are the guidelines, some of the tracks that didn't make it, the countdown from 10 to 1, my own personal underrated top ten and the result of several hours of a lazy weekend.
If you wanna hear the tracks instead of reading about it, I made a mix out of the tunes (I'll admit I swapped #10 and #9 to make the mix better). So, you can just stop reading here and go get it, if you want.
http://soundcloud.com/valuetime/decade-mix
-----
The guidelines
Did the track typify the artist's career?
No one hit wonders. In drum'n'bass it doesn't really make any sense that you could write the best tune of the decade without writing 20-50 other ones that aren't as good. So, do the top ten producers have any business being on this list? Would you name them in the top 5 producers of any given year or the top 20 of the decade?
Is it versatile or fun to mix?
Does it mix well with other tunes? Would you play first or second in your set on the month it was released even if the guy before you just played it? This discounts tracks that angled for the opening or closing tune slot without making it mixable, and favours what it's all about: deejaying. The best tunes are usually the ones you can play first or second, to crest a set in the middle, AND as the second-last or last tune.
How timeless is it?
Will people still play it on vinyl now ten years from now? Do people still drop it in sets today even though it's been properly rinsed?
Does it bring back memories?
Is it so good that you remember where you were when you first heard it? Did it make you stop and look at the person next to you just to make sure you were hearing the same thing as them?
Would most people understand why it's in the top ten?
This ruled out a bunch that I wanted to stick in there personally (listed at the end). Even if you didn't like the tune that much, or had other ones that you liked more, can you understand why it would be on someone's top ten?
Was it original?
Did it spawn a movement? Did it have countless imitators? Was it ahead of it's time? Do people know it by it's name, or do they have to go "Oh yeah, this one... whus this again?" (instant disqualification from my top 10 list). Did the artist try to VIP it and fail?
How good is the production and composition?
A follow on from the last guideline that seems like an obvious one, but if I say the track's name, can you hum the bassline, sing the vocal or name the main sample or drum break?
No remixes allowed
Finally, and perhaps most controversially, I'm choosing to discount remixes, "versus" tunes and VIPs (with one exception). A good remix is never defining as a good original tune, so let's just ignore them and solve a huge debate straight away. While you can argue that remixes are an art form, rarely do they outshine originals. I know I'm discounting dozens of potential contenders straight off the bat:
Ed Rush and Optical - Bacteria - Pendulum remix. Already a genre defining track, re-refined to a new audience and possibly made slightly better than the original.
John B - Up All Night - remix. So much better than the original in every way. Probably would be on the list if he released this version first.
Uncut - Midnight - M.I.S.T. remix. Massive, but ultimately, a beat and bassline behind an already great tune.
J Majik vs Hatiras - Spaced Invaders. I really wanted this one in, but alas, it's a shitty house tune that was made so much better.
Konflict - Messiah (Take your pick of the Spor or Noisia remix.)
Notes
I'm aware that these rules discount guys like Teebee, Break, Calibre, Ram Trilogy and countless others, who write amazing tunes day after day without really having one massive defining track. This also favours certain styles more than others (dancefloor fillers over neurofunk and minimal DNB), and tilts things towards the first half of the decade. It's always difficult to name something from 2009 as a tune of a decade (an exception is all the wicked tracks that came out in 1999, including The Nine, arguably the best drum'n'bass tune ever made and almost a candidate for this list because it's The Nine). There's also a few artists and crews that miss out because they belonged more to the 90s.
Before we hit the top ten, here's a few more originals that didn't make it:
Digital - Deadline. Great original track that got caned, but ultimately a novelty that's too simple to stand the test of time.
Shimon and Andy C - Bodyrock. One of the bigger chart tunes, another novelty and neither artists' best track.
Calibre - Mr Majestik. Probably his biggest dancefloor tune, but it's not his best and it'd be a crime to stick his thirteenth-best track on the list, so let's just leave it and say he's the most consistent drum'n'bass producer that has ever been.
Concord Dawn - Morning Light. Sweet track. Would probably crack a top 20.
DJ Marky and XRS - LK. Undone by the fact that it has two versions; the instrumental was basically perfect by itself and the vocal was only just OK (for my money).
Calyx/Teebee - Cyclone/Follow the Leader/Get Myself To You, etc. All probably would be in the top 25.
10 to 1
10. Hive - Neo (VIOL008 - 2003)
Probably the least recognisable and relevant artist on the list, which bumps it down a good 5 spots and almost disqualified it. The track itself has one of the biggest basslines and beats, nice samples (you're a total clueless douche if you couldn't figure out what this track was called the first time you heard it), a phenomenal intro, two drops sixteen bars apart, plus it sampled White Lines (Don't Do It).
9. Ed Rush and Optical - Kerbcrawler (VRS008 - 2001)
(nearly Ed Rush & Optical - Pacman or Matrix - Temperament)
Such a difficult choice between this or Pacman, but I'm going with this because the structure was so original, the two-and-a-half note bassline so catchy, it works way better in the mix and it's flawlessly produced (even more so than Pacman). Also, this set the tone for lots of tracks to come. Immortalised by Marky who juggled it in The Brazilian Job.
8. Marcus Intalex and ST Files - Outaspace (SOUL:R007 - 2003)
One of the best tunes to mix and one of the most played tunes, simply because everyone from Andy C on down to the 10pm slot DJ played it on any given night for years and it still never gets old.
7. Pendulum - Vault (31R019 - 2003)
(nearly Pendulum - Back to You, Spiral, Another Planet)
Changed the face of drum'n'bass forever. Spawned the drum'n'bass "non-sequitur". More ideas crammed into it than others fit into albums. Lifted an entire scene's production game in the last ten years more than anyone (except Noisia). Vault was pretty much everyone's tune of the year in 2003 (no mean feat considering it was a stellar year) and was probably the biggest debut of all time (I know Spiral came out first, but whatever).
6. Sub Focus - Airplane (RAMM60 - 2006)
(nearly Sub Focus - X-Ray)
Ram's biggest artist goldmine, shrewdest signing and one of their biggest singles. Kicked off the wave of tracks with featuring noise cymbals with no discernable hits. Another production value raiser for the whole genre, a dancefloor killer that stands up on it's own, musically. Should have been a UK dance chart number one instead of X-Ray.
5. Noisia - Block Control (MSXEP036 - 2005)
(nearly The Tide, Façade or a whole slew of others)
Noisia are perhaps the best engineering talent on the planet, have spawned countless imitations and have seemingly influenced and inspired some of the late 90s dons to come back and write more tunes with the benefit of multiband software compression.
4. Fresh - Signal (RAMM46 - 2003)
One of the best introductions, basslines and drops of the decade. Seems really simple, but is actually quite complex and very well put together when you listen to it by itself, (which, let's face it, hardly anyone probably has). Arranged more like a classical track with themes passed around to different instruments, it mercifully shortened the length of future drum'n'bass singles from 6 to 5 minutes, even though it goes on a minute longer than it needs to (it should just cut out at 4:30).
3. Commix - Be True (METH075 - 2007)
Totally original vocal hook, pioneering drum sound, simple bassline, massive drop. First time I heard it was with Joe Seven at about 6am after a night out. Downloaded a mix on the Internet and scrubbed it back five or six times just to hear the drop and the "all I everrr-errr-errr" again and again. Sat around alternately nodding and shaking our heads and making massive understatements like "it's so good". Played by all styles of DJs, never got old, even people who hate drum'n'bass like it. Sonically, the Billie Jean of drum'n'bass.
2. Bad Company - Planet Dust (PRO003UK - 2001)
Bad Company are the Beatles of drum'n'bass. A pioneering four man group with two massive artists who needed to go their separate ways, which happened at the right time, giving birth to two solo careers.
1. D-Bridge and Vegas - True Romance VIP (METPLA001 - 2004)
One of the few tracks to have completely owned a drum break. No one could ever really use the Humpty Dump again without feeling they were copying True Romance. The only bad thing you can say about it is that the VIP is more interesting musically, and it would have been better as the original (it's a crime that the VIP never came out on vinyl (yes, I know that's why they're called VIPs). Someone should petition him to release a limited 12" with the track pressed on both sides, so it has double the needle life.)
-----
My personal favourite, outsider, underdog, underrated or underappreciated top ten:
10. Lynx and Kemo (feat. Alix Perez) - Dangerous (SOUL:R041 - 2009)
This is obviously just an outsider, because pretty much everyone likes it. Still remember the first time I heard it (Bunch of Cuts launch party at The Castle. I had to run up and act like a dickhead in front of Marcus Intalex to get him to tell me what it was).
9. Break and Hydro - Immaculate (QRN005 - 2006)
Spine-tingling atmospherics and vocals, big bass, flawless drums.
8. Commix - Faceless - Marcus Intalex remix (SHA018 - 2007)
So few samples from the original that it may as well not be a remix, but it is, so it got disqualified. One of my all time favourite tracks. Never got sick of it and I've heard it at least once or twice a week for over two years.
7. Teebee and Future Prophecies - The Path (SUBTITLES010 - 2001)
Teebee (and others) pre-empted today's minimal DNB by years.
6. Matrix - Temperament (VRS002LP - 2000, nearly Tightrope, Airhead, Vertigo)
Matrix wrote way too many good solo tunes in the first half of the decade including one of the best LPs, then seemingly stopped wanting to shut himself in a room and keep on doing it for the next five. Shame for us.
5. Matrix and Futurebound - Skyscraper (MTRVPR002 - 2006)
Never felt it got credit for being a great track. Such beautiful chords and nice arrangement.
4. Pendulum - Back to You (TYME027 - 2003, nearly Still Grey)
Pendulum's best?
3. Calibre - Fire and Water (SOUL:R002 - 2001)
Filthy break and bassline. I demanded that Atom1 from DMC give me a white label of this even though I had no chance of playing it at an actual gig to anyone, just because I busted my ass to get across town to DMC every Tuesday night and there was no way I was leaving without it.
2. Chase and Status - Love's Theme (BINGO026 - 2005)
Has perhaps the best vocal sample ever used in a drum'n'bass tune. Their first tune with the Amen/Think break mashup, which they've used pretty much ever since (In Love, Hurt You). Great bassline and jazz samples, inventive structure. 10/10.
1. Break - Enigma (QRNUKCD001 - 2006)
Came out on CD a year before someone wised up and released it as a single (it should have been the first single from his LP). Definitely in my top 5 all time.
-----
PS: I'm moving to Sydney in January.
So here are the guidelines, some of the tracks that didn't make it, the countdown from 10 to 1, my own personal underrated top ten and the result of several hours of a lazy weekend.
If you wanna hear the tracks instead of reading about it, I made a mix out of the tunes (I'll admit I swapped #10 and #9 to make the mix better). So, you can just stop reading here and go get it, if you want.
http://soundcloud.com/valuetime/decade-mix
-----
The guidelines
Did the track typify the artist's career?
No one hit wonders. In drum'n'bass it doesn't really make any sense that you could write the best tune of the decade without writing 20-50 other ones that aren't as good. So, do the top ten producers have any business being on this list? Would you name them in the top 5 producers of any given year or the top 20 of the decade?
Is it versatile or fun to mix?
Does it mix well with other tunes? Would you play first or second in your set on the month it was released even if the guy before you just played it? This discounts tracks that angled for the opening or closing tune slot without making it mixable, and favours what it's all about: deejaying. The best tunes are usually the ones you can play first or second, to crest a set in the middle, AND as the second-last or last tune.
How timeless is it?
Will people still play it on vinyl now ten years from now? Do people still drop it in sets today even though it's been properly rinsed?
Does it bring back memories?
Is it so good that you remember where you were when you first heard it? Did it make you stop and look at the person next to you just to make sure you were hearing the same thing as them?
Would most people understand why it's in the top ten?
This ruled out a bunch that I wanted to stick in there personally (listed at the end). Even if you didn't like the tune that much, or had other ones that you liked more, can you understand why it would be on someone's top ten?
Was it original?
Did it spawn a movement? Did it have countless imitators? Was it ahead of it's time? Do people know it by it's name, or do they have to go "Oh yeah, this one... whus this again?" (instant disqualification from my top 10 list). Did the artist try to VIP it and fail?
How good is the production and composition?
A follow on from the last guideline that seems like an obvious one, but if I say the track's name, can you hum the bassline, sing the vocal or name the main sample or drum break?
No remixes allowed
Finally, and perhaps most controversially, I'm choosing to discount remixes, "versus" tunes and VIPs (with one exception). A good remix is never defining as a good original tune, so let's just ignore them and solve a huge debate straight away. While you can argue that remixes are an art form, rarely do they outshine originals. I know I'm discounting dozens of potential contenders straight off the bat:
Ed Rush and Optical - Bacteria - Pendulum remix. Already a genre defining track, re-refined to a new audience and possibly made slightly better than the original.
John B - Up All Night - remix. So much better than the original in every way. Probably would be on the list if he released this version first.
Uncut - Midnight - M.I.S.T. remix. Massive, but ultimately, a beat and bassline behind an already great tune.
J Majik vs Hatiras - Spaced Invaders. I really wanted this one in, but alas, it's a shitty house tune that was made so much better.
Konflict - Messiah (Take your pick of the Spor or Noisia remix.)
Notes
I'm aware that these rules discount guys like Teebee, Break, Calibre, Ram Trilogy and countless others, who write amazing tunes day after day without really having one massive defining track. This also favours certain styles more than others (dancefloor fillers over neurofunk and minimal DNB), and tilts things towards the first half of the decade. It's always difficult to name something from 2009 as a tune of a decade (an exception is all the wicked tracks that came out in 1999, including The Nine, arguably the best drum'n'bass tune ever made and almost a candidate for this list because it's The Nine). There's also a few artists and crews that miss out because they belonged more to the 90s.
Before we hit the top ten, here's a few more originals that didn't make it:
Digital - Deadline. Great original track that got caned, but ultimately a novelty that's too simple to stand the test of time.
Shimon and Andy C - Bodyrock. One of the bigger chart tunes, another novelty and neither artists' best track.
Calibre - Mr Majestik. Probably his biggest dancefloor tune, but it's not his best and it'd be a crime to stick his thirteenth-best track on the list, so let's just leave it and say he's the most consistent drum'n'bass producer that has ever been.
Concord Dawn - Morning Light. Sweet track. Would probably crack a top 20.
DJ Marky and XRS - LK. Undone by the fact that it has two versions; the instrumental was basically perfect by itself and the vocal was only just OK (for my money).
Calyx/Teebee - Cyclone/Follow the Leader/Get Myself To You, etc. All probably would be in the top 25.
10 to 1
10. Hive - Neo (VIOL008 - 2003)
Probably the least recognisable and relevant artist on the list, which bumps it down a good 5 spots and almost disqualified it. The track itself has one of the biggest basslines and beats, nice samples (you're a total clueless douche if you couldn't figure out what this track was called the first time you heard it), a phenomenal intro, two drops sixteen bars apart, plus it sampled White Lines (Don't Do It).
9. Ed Rush and Optical - Kerbcrawler (VRS008 - 2001)
(nearly Ed Rush & Optical - Pacman or Matrix - Temperament)
Such a difficult choice between this or Pacman, but I'm going with this because the structure was so original, the two-and-a-half note bassline so catchy, it works way better in the mix and it's flawlessly produced (even more so than Pacman). Also, this set the tone for lots of tracks to come. Immortalised by Marky who juggled it in The Brazilian Job.
8. Marcus Intalex and ST Files - Outaspace (SOUL:R007 - 2003)
One of the best tunes to mix and one of the most played tunes, simply because everyone from Andy C on down to the 10pm slot DJ played it on any given night for years and it still never gets old.
7. Pendulum - Vault (31R019 - 2003)
(nearly Pendulum - Back to You, Spiral, Another Planet)
Changed the face of drum'n'bass forever. Spawned the drum'n'bass "non-sequitur". More ideas crammed into it than others fit into albums. Lifted an entire scene's production game in the last ten years more than anyone (except Noisia). Vault was pretty much everyone's tune of the year in 2003 (no mean feat considering it was a stellar year) and was probably the biggest debut of all time (I know Spiral came out first, but whatever).
6. Sub Focus - Airplane (RAMM60 - 2006)
(nearly Sub Focus - X-Ray)
Ram's biggest artist goldmine, shrewdest signing and one of their biggest singles. Kicked off the wave of tracks with featuring noise cymbals with no discernable hits. Another production value raiser for the whole genre, a dancefloor killer that stands up on it's own, musically. Should have been a UK dance chart number one instead of X-Ray.
5. Noisia - Block Control (MSXEP036 - 2005)
(nearly The Tide, Façade or a whole slew of others)
Noisia are perhaps the best engineering talent on the planet, have spawned countless imitations and have seemingly influenced and inspired some of the late 90s dons to come back and write more tunes with the benefit of multiband software compression.
4. Fresh - Signal (RAMM46 - 2003)
One of the best introductions, basslines and drops of the decade. Seems really simple, but is actually quite complex and very well put together when you listen to it by itself, (which, let's face it, hardly anyone probably has). Arranged more like a classical track with themes passed around to different instruments, it mercifully shortened the length of future drum'n'bass singles from 6 to 5 minutes, even though it goes on a minute longer than it needs to (it should just cut out at 4:30).
3. Commix - Be True (METH075 - 2007)
Totally original vocal hook, pioneering drum sound, simple bassline, massive drop. First time I heard it was with Joe Seven at about 6am after a night out. Downloaded a mix on the Internet and scrubbed it back five or six times just to hear the drop and the "all I everrr-errr-errr" again and again. Sat around alternately nodding and shaking our heads and making massive understatements like "it's so good". Played by all styles of DJs, never got old, even people who hate drum'n'bass like it. Sonically, the Billie Jean of drum'n'bass.
2. Bad Company - Planet Dust (PRO003UK - 2001)
Bad Company are the Beatles of drum'n'bass. A pioneering four man group with two massive artists who needed to go their separate ways, which happened at the right time, giving birth to two solo careers.
1. D-Bridge and Vegas - True Romance VIP (METPLA001 - 2004)
One of the few tracks to have completely owned a drum break. No one could ever really use the Humpty Dump again without feeling they were copying True Romance. The only bad thing you can say about it is that the VIP is more interesting musically, and it would have been better as the original (it's a crime that the VIP never came out on vinyl (yes, I know that's why they're called VIPs). Someone should petition him to release a limited 12" with the track pressed on both sides, so it has double the needle life.)
-----
My personal favourite, outsider, underdog, underrated or underappreciated top ten:
10. Lynx and Kemo (feat. Alix Perez) - Dangerous (SOUL:R041 - 2009)
This is obviously just an outsider, because pretty much everyone likes it. Still remember the first time I heard it (Bunch of Cuts launch party at The Castle. I had to run up and act like a dickhead in front of Marcus Intalex to get him to tell me what it was).
9. Break and Hydro - Immaculate (QRN005 - 2006)
Spine-tingling atmospherics and vocals, big bass, flawless drums.
8. Commix - Faceless - Marcus Intalex remix (SHA018 - 2007)
So few samples from the original that it may as well not be a remix, but it is, so it got disqualified. One of my all time favourite tracks. Never got sick of it and I've heard it at least once or twice a week for over two years.
7. Teebee and Future Prophecies - The Path (SUBTITLES010 - 2001)
Teebee (and others) pre-empted today's minimal DNB by years.
6. Matrix - Temperament (VRS002LP - 2000, nearly Tightrope, Airhead, Vertigo)
Matrix wrote way too many good solo tunes in the first half of the decade including one of the best LPs, then seemingly stopped wanting to shut himself in a room and keep on doing it for the next five. Shame for us.
5. Matrix and Futurebound - Skyscraper (MTRVPR002 - 2006)
Never felt it got credit for being a great track. Such beautiful chords and nice arrangement.
4. Pendulum - Back to You (TYME027 - 2003, nearly Still Grey)
Pendulum's best?
3. Calibre - Fire and Water (SOUL:R002 - 2001)
Filthy break and bassline. I demanded that Atom1 from DMC give me a white label of this even though I had no chance of playing it at an actual gig to anyone, just because I busted my ass to get across town to DMC every Tuesday night and there was no way I was leaving without it.
2. Chase and Status - Love's Theme (BINGO026 - 2005)
Has perhaps the best vocal sample ever used in a drum'n'bass tune. Their first tune with the Amen/Think break mashup, which they've used pretty much ever since (In Love, Hurt You). Great bassline and jazz samples, inventive structure. 10/10.
1. Break - Enigma (QRNUKCD001 - 2006)
Came out on CD a year before someone wised up and released it as a single (it should have been the first single from his LP). Definitely in my top 5 all time.
-----
PS: I'm moving to Sydney in January.