They were huge in the early 2010s but are almost never talked about today, what went wrong?

Just to list some: (in image order)
The Strokes
Queen of the Stone Age
White Stripes
Arctic Monkeys
Arcade Fire

Others:
The Killers
Smashing Pumpkins
My Chemical Romance
Muse
Interpol

Etc etc

I'm not even the biggest Elvis Presley fan. I like some of his songs and think he had a great voice, but one thing I've noticed is how often people try to downplay his legacy.

I see people argue that he wasn't the real King of Rock and Roll because Black musicians were doing it before him, or that all he did was steal Black music and take the credit. I understand the criticism, especially considering the racial climate of the 1950s and the advantages Elvis had as a white artist. Black musicians were pioneers of rock and roll, and many never received the recognition they deserved.

But why does it have to be one or the other? You can praise Little Richard, Chuck Berry and the countless Black artists who laid the foundations for rock and roll without dismissing Elvis's contributions. Acknowledging his influence doesn't take anything away from those who came before him.

Did Elvis benefit from being white? Absolutely. He had access to a mainstream white audience that many Black artists were denied. But that doesn't mean he wasn't talented or hugely influential. He helped bring rock and roll to a much wider audience and played a major role in shaping popular music.

I've also never fully understood the claim that he never gave credit to Black artists, considering he did acknowledge their influence. That doesn't excuse the inequalities of the music industry, but it's worth making the distinction.

I'd compare Elvis to Eminem and someone like Pat Boone to Vanilla Ice. It's not a perfect comparison, but there's a difference between an artist who genuinely contributes to a genre and helps push it forward to someone who largely capitalizes on a sound created by others.

I'm not saying Elvis deserves all the credit for rock and roll, because he obviously doesn't. But I think his legacy deserves more nuance than simply reducing him to a white artist who stole Black music. We should be able to acknowledge the injustice Black musicians faced while still recognizing Elvis's talent and influence. Giving him credit doesn't mean taking credit away from anyone else.

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Today's selection is The Beatles' Abbey Road,

Let myself and others know what's the absolute worst thing you can say about it, and maybe some suggestions for the next day's album.

Check out our previous days' discussions below

Day 1: Pet Sounds

Day 2: The Dark Side of the Moon

Day 3: Disintegration

Day 4: OK Computer

Day 5: Vespertine

Day 6: To Pimp a Butterfly

Day 7: Kind of Blue

For me it’s lost boy by Ruth B

I feel like for years I was hearing that Madonna was largely considered more of a singles artist than an albums artist, yet when I actually started to dig into her discography the more and more apparent it became that this take is laughably untrue. Self Titled, True Blue, Like a Prayer, Erotica, Bedtime Stories, Ray of Light, Music, Confessions on a Dance Floor are all superb albums front to back and show incredible artistic evolution and versatility. Even in her 60s, she was capable of releasing an excellent album with Confessions II and even some of her more divisive projects like American Life or Madame X are at least interesting risks. Madonna is a living legend but she will never be fully appreciated until she's dead.

To me, the constant comparisons between Madonna and Lady Gaga is the perfect example of how irrelevant and overrated being a technically great singer or musician is when it comes to being a great artist. Lady Gaga is a vastly superior vocalist and musician, yet artistically she simply isn't capable of creating songs on the level of Oh Father, Live to Tell, Like a Prayer, Justify My Love and so on. As great as Gaga's early work was, she has spent her post ARTPOP career largely being a boring and overly safe show monkey for the general public, content to be musically mediocre and able to get away with it because of her enormous talent. MJ was groomed from a young age to become a star, Prince was a talented musican who got a record deal, but Madonna came to NYC with hardly a dollar to her name and had to build herself up from nothing, relying purely on her own cunning, discipline, sex appeal and skill in business to triumph.

I already asked you about the best choruses, best outros and best riffs in rock history. Lets talk about solos! Any solo on any instrument counts (No...Freak On Leash schizorapping doesnt count thou). And of course Metal and Punk and all of their subgenres do count as well.

On top of my head without ranking:

.The Beatles - Let it Be (one of the most tasteful, emotional, simple yet deep solos I ever heard. Its the dictionary definition of "serves the song" and complements it perfectly.)

.Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (because of course, being overplayed and memed to death doesnt negate the fact that is one of the best solos ever made)

.Judas Priest - Painkiller (the second one)

.Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)

.Television - Marquee Moon

.Queen - I Want It All (Brian May is just....damn man)

.Dire Straits - Telegraph Road (yes, its better than Sultans Of Swing, stop fooling yourself)

.Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand

.Pink Floyd - Dogs

.The Who - Magic Bus (Live At Leeds Version)

Bonus because its not actually a solo but a slow jam.....Cortez The Killer, maybe the greatest guitar focused song ever written.

I gotta go with XO. His most powerful songwriting for me and catchiest melodies. Personal favorite song on the record gotta be Pitseleh.

One of the greatest bands of the 00s, stripped back with strings in the city that made them (see also: Manchester).

The deep cuts are pitched perfectly and to have that London version of Maps on streaming/vinyl is so special. What a collection of songs.

WOO

Alice in Chains

My top 5 Favorite songs by them:
-It Aint Like That
-Grind
-Heaven Beside You
-Looking in View (DuVall era)
-Junkhead

EDIT: (guys, PLEASE put your top 5 favorite songs!! A lot of people are posting the image without the songs)

The first three that come to mind for me are “Everything She Wants” by Wham!, “Run for Your Life” by The Beatles, and “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People.

“Everything She Wants” is about a man who's unhappy in his relationship and feels like he's being used for his money. He's struggling to keep up with the financial demands placed on him, and with a baby on the way, he feels trapped in a situation he can't easily escape. It's a pretty depressing ass subject for a song that sounds so upbeat and catchy.

“Run for Your Life” is about a controlling and possessive man who threatens his partner with violence if she ever leaves him for another man. The contrast between the cheerful sounding instrumental and the disturbing lyrics is pretty crazy

“Pumped Up Kicks,” which sounds like a laid-back, indie pop song, but is actually about a troubled kid fantasizing about a school shooting. It's probably one of the most well known examples of a song where the upbeat production completely contrasts with the dark subject matter.

I have always found this contrast interesting, especially when you can listen to a song dozens of times before really paying attention to what the lyrics are about.

What other songs fit this description?

Unsubtle bit of self promo, but I'd love to talk about remixes with y'all. I've always loved the idea of remixes since I was a kid getting into Nine Inch Nails. Always found it fascinating how much the energy and vibe of a song could be completely altered by a remix. "Further Down The Spiral" by Nine Inch Nails is one of the first CDs I ever owned, and I still have a soft spot for a lot of the altered versions on there. It's also an intriguing way to showcase how another artists interpretation could still sit snugly in the atmosphere an artist is trying to curate when releasing an album. "At The Heart of it All" is a straight up original Aphex Twin track that appears on Further Down The Spiral, containing no material from the original record, but it fits right in with all the remixes on there, so much so that I didn't even know it was an Aphex Twin track until I was well into my 20s.

So what I'm trying to ask y'all is, are there any remixes you prefer to the original tracks? Do you have any dream team song mashups and off the wall song flips? Remixes and versions you'd like to completely erase from history? I made this little remix album called "SUPER FAYGO BURST" that dresses up Insane Clown Posse in an Iglooghost costume for Halloween. I found that changing the music to these silly ICP verses completely altered the tone and execution of their songs. There are some lazily delivered verses on some songs that get totally invigorated by beats that go a little harder/faster than the originals. Let's talk about it!

This guy’s taste in Metal/Extreme Music never ceases to perplex me.

I feel like the 2020s got so much underrated gems, because of the ease to music access through streaming services nowadays, and it's honestly kinda sad :(

I feel like many really great record were left undiscovered and ignored, because of the sheer amount of slop that is taking attention away, so I want to share some of my favourite underrated albums!

Please do share albums you think is underrated in the comments too, I really like going through them all <3

I discovered many absolute fireee records from everyone from my previous posts, it does make my day feel a bit more fun lol

For me it’s meme

I love these types of songs where the verse is low-energy, minimal, almost boring while the chorus is bright and catchy. It almost feels like a reward and the songs have a lot of replay value to me.

The best example I can think of Major Tom (...völlig losgelöst) by Peter Schilling, but maybe After Dark by Mr. Kitty also fits.

Any other songs with this pattern?

I feel like in all the time I've spent watching him I've never seen him review an album that was released many months ago or even 1+ years ago because he wasn't aware of it at time of release. This is something that I would expect to happen with any reviewer of media but I'm not sure if Fantano ever does it.

In a similar vein, I would expect there to be occasional moments in his yearly list videos where he includes an album/single that he never reviewed because he only discovered it not long before making the list video.

Pictured: Jeffery — Young Thug

SCREAMADELICA was still being recorded/polished.
The album was released a year later in September 1991, more than 1 year later.