10 more albums turning 10 this year, from Arcade Fire to the Academy Is...

August 3, 2017

Is rock music dead in 2017? According to one recent study, hip-hop has finally overtaken rock as the most-listened-to genre in America, seemingly a result of music streaming’s dominance. On the flip side, rock apparently remains the big winner in album sales, signifying the nostalgic strength of the long-playing rock record. As we move further along the ever-shifting music-listening landscape, will rock albums retain their importance in music lovers’ minds?

This was a talking point even 10 years ago, as the first iPhone was released and streaming began its humble but steady ascent. In 2007, the rock album was still a preferred format, riding the waves of creative triumph and critical acclaim. With these points noted, here’s a look back at 10 rock albums that totally rocked us 10 years ago.

Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (Merge Records)

Before Arcade Fire won an Album of the Year Grammy for 2010’s The Suburbs or went indie-disco on 2013's Reflektor, the Canadian combo followed up their surprise-smash debut (Funeral, 2004) with Neon Bible. Released in March of 2007, the group's sophomore tome gazed long into an abyss on atmospheric tunes like “Black Mirror” and the tranquil title track, conjuring an insular, melancholy masterpiece. Having released their fifth album Everything Now this year, the band have yet to revisit the ghostly depths plunged on Bible, and they may not even want to.

Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino)

After the “aughts,” Arctic Monkeys found new life in a revamped, dance-ified style with smoldering slow jams like “Do I Wanna Know?” and “Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?” But 10 years ago, the English indie-rock band were just trying to prove their mettle after the snot-nosed, sleeper-hit debut of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. The Monkeys succeeded with Favourite Worst Nightmare and its hand-over-fist first single, “Brianstorm.” Not to mention, the album cut “Old Yellow Bricks” is probably the best-ever rock song to evoke The Wizard Of Oz's homesick slogan: “Dorothy was right, though.”

Bayside – The Walking Wounded (Victory)

Bayside returned in 2007 with The Walking Wounded, their third studio album and first full-length without John “Beatz” Holohan, their former drummer who was killed in a tour bus crash in October of 2005. Following a 2006 acoustic EP in Holohan's memory, the rockin' New York quartet delivered a lean, poppy set with Wounded, proving themselves to be an older and wiser Bayside on sober singles like “Duality” and “Carry On.” “Nothing feels right,” singer Anthony Raneri makes clear on album closer “(Pop)Ular SciencE,” “But my fake smiles paint pictures like everything's fine.”

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Baby 81 (RCA/Island)

A decade on, it seems like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club maybe peaked with Baby 81, the gritty fourth album from the leather-clad, rough-and-tumble San Franciscans. The band's last release with drummer Nick Jago (before being replaced by the Raveonettes' Leah Shapiro), it achieved some chart success in the U.K. with singles “Berlin” and “Weapon Of Choice.” Where Baby really shines, though, is in live staples like “666 Conducer” and BRMC's revelatory reproach of consumption and ego, “American X.” What happened to the revolution?

Limbeck – Limbeck (Doghouse)

Limbeck wrapped it up in 2007 with this self-titled swan song, the Orange County band stretching its adopted alt-country appendages with a final offering of airy rock ‘n’ roll. The one-time pop-punkers had come a long way from their 2000 split-EP with Home Grown and an appearance in an Apple iMac commercial (as “the Garage Monkeys”) that same year. Since 2012, the group have occasionally reformed for a few West Coast shows.

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Silverstein – Arrivals & Departures (Victory)

Silverstein released their third album Arrivals & Departures in 2007, a no-frills take on the band’s post-hardcore sound that was produced by Mark Trombino (Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World). The record is heavily indebted to Alexisonfire’s 2006 album, Crisis, a stylistic move which apparently alienated some old school fans. The band themselves evidently view Arrivals as a low point in retrospect: “People didn’t like it,” vocalist Shane Told recalled to the Aquarian. “And we didn’t have a very good time making it… maybe people can kind of feel that when they listen to it.”

The Academy Is… – Santi (Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen)

A nostalgic favorite of many an AP writer, Chicago's the Academy Is… were active from 2003 until 2011, briefly reuniting for Riot Fest, followed by a 10-year anniversary tour for Almost Here in 2015. The band's penultimate album, Santi, dropped in spring 2007, backed by Pete Wentz's Fueled By Ramen imprint, then called Decaydance Records. Santi's two singles, “We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands” and “Everything We Had,” display a decent cross-section of the group's effervescent, super-retro-rock sound.

The Chariot – The Fiancée (Solid State)

The Chariot's live shows are the stuff of legend, and the metalcore band's second album The Fiancée hit right at the crux of a furious 10-year career. Issued on Solid State Records in April of 2007, the release is perhaps best remembered for its tune “Then Came To Kill” featuring Hayley Williams of Paramore, and the track titles' idiosyncratic sectioning of the old “Two Dead Boys” folk poem.

The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour (Epitaph/ANTI-)

Canadian indie-rockers the Weakerthans issued their fourth album Reunion Tour in the fall of 2007, and the record would end up being their last full-length release before announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2014. A slightly more experimental affair than their previous three forays, Reunion Tour was nominated in the band’s home country for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize. Take a listen to the bittersweet album opener “Civil Twilight,” above, with its mentions of reluctant landlords, Canadian provinces, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

The White Stripes – Icky Thump (Third Man/Warner Bros.)

The White Stripes' Icky Thump was the hard-charging rock duo's last album, and the group's unique music career was perfectly summarized in songs such as the explosive “Little Cream Soda” and the pointed title track. Recent political events have sparked a semi-resurrection of Icky Thump's ideas, with the eponymous tune's linchpin lyric inspiring an anti-Donald Trump “Icky Trump” T-shirt created by the band:

“White Americans? What?
Nothing better to do?
Why don't you kick yourself out?
You're an immigrant too.
Who's using who?
What should we do?
Well you can't be a pimp
and a prostitute too.”

What was your favorite album in 2007? Let us know in the comments!

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