For the week I will count down my favorite albums of 2011. Like a holiday advent calendar I will only give you a little taste of the good stuff one day at a time. There’s no denying that this year dubstep broke through to the mainstream like a ADD little boy hopped up on food coloring. For those of us listening to Burial years ago, this was an overwhelming “duh” moment. But for the rest of the world, it was like a 100-yard dash to the marketing finish line. Within a matter of weeks of Skrillex’s creative video (and it was a great video) every marketing campaign chucked their pop songs hoping they could be the first to latch onto this hip young trend. There was a dubstep version of the White Stripes in the new Battleship trailer. Verzion has a little kid tweaking out to dubstep on his cellphone with his grandma. What’s next?…will Tim Tebow pray to a dubstep beat? I wouldn’t doubt it.
Here are the 44-55 Best Albums of 2011:
45. Cage The Elephant – Thank You Happy Birthday
46. R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
47. Shabazz Palaces – Black Up
48. Skrillex – More Monsters and Sprites EP
49. Stevie Nicks – In Your Dreams
50. Drake – Take Care
51. Duran Duran – All You Need Is Now
52. David Lowery – The Palace Guards
53. Rival Sons – Pressure & Time
54. Jane’s Addiction – The Great Escape Artist (End To the Lies)
55. Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You