The essential artists of this century

[RPS]

Rock has the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Pop music has Madonna and Michael Jackson

Electronic music has Kraftwerk and Bjork.

Hip hop has N.W.A. and Tupac.

You get the point...

Throughout the history of music, there have been bands and artists who have percolated to the top, transcended genre, received critical acclaim and their work has been appreciated for decades since. In modern times, hings have changed. The internet has opened up the world to new genres, new sounds and new ways for people to hear music. It has also made discussing music much more interesting - arguably the music industry has moved away from focusing on a few select acts as our world is now opened to hundreds of thousands of more artists that we can access at the tip of our fingers. Given that, I think it's interesting to sit down and think - who are the essential artists of today? Who are our kids going to look back to in 20 years and tell us how they were jealous that we got to see them in their heyday? Who are we going to be lecturing our children into listening when they are buying the Justin Bieber of 2040? Who are we going to still be listening to in 50 years and reminiscing with our friends about how important they are? This isn't really about your personal tastes: obviously your personal tastes will help you choose, but it's more about asking who are the classic, essential, untouchable artists who we hold the test of time and remain vital in the future.

So who are they? I thought it might be interesting to pick one or two artists by genre - 1) rock, 2) pop, 3) hip-hop/r&b, 4) electronic/dance and maybe an other category: our personal favorite artists, the artists who may not be like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, but we personally will hold to the classic standard. I'm not a genre snob, so when I say rock, I'm including metal, indie, punk, whatever tickles your fancy and generally involves a guitar and drums. Ditto for electronic and trip-hop, trance, house, whatever gets you off. I'm not limiting people who want to discuss country, jazz, or avant-garde music, but I think it's fair to say that not a lot of people on EWB will really want to discuss them. But yeah. Generally just looking for a list of 5-10 artists from a variety of genres who could be classified as classic, timeless, or untouchable.

Edited September 28, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[caucasianheat]

Daft Punk seems like the natural pick for electronic music and actually sort of an interesting corollary to Kraftwerk in terms of mainstream presence and accessibility to other genres. I don't know that there's another act from this era more easily associated with danceable music than the French dudes in helmets and doing stuff like film score only makes them more the overwhelming standout choice.

Worth mentioning too that in an age where your videos are so crucial, Daft Punk has at least two that everybody knows, remembers, and loves distinctly. What other artists in the genre can boast that?

[RPS]

My mind wondered towards LCD Soundsystem. They were instantly attached to the trendy dance-punk thing, but I think they distanced themselves and proved themselves to be a great band. They released three amazing albums and I'd argue two iconic singles (Losing My Edge and All My Friends). I'd say there two thing hindering them, though. First, they don't have a huge moment like Daft Punk and Coachella 2007. The huge pyramid was pretty iconic for Daft and (in my opinion) sort of encapsulated dance/electronic music's rise in the 21st century. Secondly they aren't really all that mainstream. I mean, LCD Soundsystem isn't underground and has chartered higher than Daft Punk in America, but Daft Punk has been sampled by Kanye West, Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson, they performed at the Grammy's and have done marketing deals with people like Coke, the Gap, and Adidas. Daft Punk definitely has far more mainstream recognition and exposure.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Timeless and untouchable electronic artists are:

Richard D. James

Kraftwerk

Everyone else is probably debatable.

Timeless British rock acts have to be:

The Kinks

The Beatles

The Stones

The Clash

...then It'll be Floyd or Who or Jam or someone probably.

Timeless Britpop acts are:

Blur

Oasis

Pulp

Suede

Elastica

Basically it seems to be the artists who first spring to mind when you think of the genre.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

You can do a lot more if you look at specific times. For example 90s dance music is basically Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Fatboy Slim and Daft Punk in the UK.

2 Tone is Specials, Madness, Selecter, Beat and Bad Manners.

[Colly]

If we're doing the initial question, and assuming we've done electronica, I'd say:

Rap/hip-hop: Eminem & Jay-z (side order of Kanye)

Pop: Beyonce. After that who knows, Spears?

Rock: Tricky one, as the huuuge names have been around since the 20th (Foo Fighters, Metallica, Radiohead etc etc). Might have to be a personal one but I'm thinking White Stripes (major success post 2000). Muse? God knows.

[RPS]

You can do a lot more if you look at specific times. For example 90s dance music is basically Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Fatboy Slim and Daft Punk in the UK.

2 Tone is Specials, Madness, Selecter, Beat and Bad Manners.

Hm, that would be a great idea...

The essential artists of this century

... oh right...

Edited September 28, 2011 by RockPaperScissors

[Benjamin]

It's not specific enough, PRP! We need you to specify day, month and year.

If possible, also the hour.

[RPS]

From January 1st 2000 at 12AM to the present time which here in Canada is September 28 2011 at 10:47AM. Please don't include leaks to albums yet to be released in your analysis, as it will throw this whole process out of whack. This is serious business, folks.

[tristy]

I think Kanye West will be THAT rapper that we all talk about years and years and years from now. Maybe I'm just a fanboy, and I overestimate the value of his body of work, but I think in time, all of them will hold up as classics, some moreso than others, and some of them in time will get more love, like they should (808s and Heartbreak). MBDTF is definitely his crowning moment, I think. It can only go up from there, and then came Watch the Throne, which is another album I think a lot of people right now don't really like, or "get", but in a few years, you'll listen to it again and realize how fucking amazing it is.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

This last decade sucked. I'm borderline writing it off altogether.

[RPS]

This last decade sucked. I'm borderline writing it off altogether.

"Get off my lawn!"

[naiwf]

Who are we going to still be listening to in 50 years and reminiscing with our friends about how important they are? This isn't really about your personal tastes: obviously your personal tastes will help you choose, but it's more about asking who are the classic, essential, untouchable artists who we hold the test of time and remain vital in the future.

Would it be elitist of me to say "no one"?

A few years back I worked on a yacht that threw private parties all the time and I can say that there are a great many more "timeless" songs from the '60s/'70s/'80s/'90s just because everything didn't sound exactly the same back then. There was no Autotune or the same 4 producers making all of the albums and the same handful of writers writing all of the hits. When you consider that Gaga, Katy Perry and Ke$ha are responsible for most of the pop hits lately, I don't think it's wrong to say that in 2021 we'd have a hard time looking back at the best songs of the 2010's fondly if we didn't like that specific sound. How many rap songs of the last decade are probably most well known for an R&B hook? or R&B songs with a great rap hook? In short, with everything being homogenized we don't have many standouts.

"Get off my lawn!"

Edited September 28, 2011 by naiwf

[GA!]

Rock in the 2000s onwards is an odd one as no one has innovated that much. I'd say The White Stripes were responsible for bringing the genre back to the mainstream post-grunge/Britpop. Other than that, no idea. Muse maybe? The Strokes' hype was mostly misguided and I don't think The Libertines' music will be remembered as much as Pete Doherty's whacky antics.

[StevenRichardsRules]

Nickelback.

[Colly]

Rock: Tricky one, as the huuuge names have been around since the 20th (Foo Fighters, Metallica, Radiohead etc etc). Might have to be a personal one but I'm thinking White Stripes (major success post 2000). Muse? God knows.

Rock in the 2000s onwards is an odd one as no one has innovated that much. I'd say The White Stripes were responsible for bringing the genre back to the mainstream post-grunge/Britpop. Other than that, no idea. Muse maybe? The Strokes' hype was mostly misguided and I don't think The Libertines' music will be remembered as much as Pete Doherty's whacky antics.

GET OUT OF MY MIND!!!! You even put a question mark after Muse!

[Rich]

I question Muse all the time

But yeah, the Foos will surely be included, the likes of GaGa can't be ignored. Eminem, Kanye, Jay-Z... Green Day, Chilis?

Who knows?

[tristy]

Arcade Fire

[fr34k]

Foo Fighters and Green Day? What the fuck people .

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

In my little corner of music Sigur Ros are pretty amazing as are Mogwai and Boards of Canada.

PJ Harvey and Queens of the Stone Age?