Buckethead – Best of the Decade (2010-2019)

Good evening everybody, with this being awards season it’s time to dish out our very own awards to our guitar hero, Buckethead. From Song of the decade to album of the decade and many more. And whilst Hollywood will celebrate the likes of Billie Eilish, BTS and Lizzo with their upcoming shiny little Grammy awards, today we celebrate Buckethead with our glorious Woo awards. So, let’s begin. Woo!! 

1)  Best Album of the Decade
First up, Buckethead’s Best Album of the decade.
For the majority of the decade Buckethead’s releases consisted mainly of the glorious Pike album series,
with a few non-pike album gems including Shadows Between the Sky, Electric Sea, Captain EO’s Voyage, Spinal Clock & more.
But you’ll be hard pressed to find a Buckethead fan who’ll disagree that his best overall album of the decade, is Pike number 65, Hold me Forever.
Released in 2014, the album, at just under 30 minutes in length, is a guitar masterpiece and a perfect tribute to Buckethead’s late mother, Nancy York Carroll. 5 star.

2) Best Official Music Video of the Decade
Next up, Buckethead’s Best Official Music Video of the Decade.
With only 3 choices, this one is pretty easy. We’ve got ‘Minds Under Construction’ ‘10 31’ and ‘Monster Mash’.
And if you don’t think that 2018’s ’10 31’ is Buckethead’s best official music video of the decade, you’re out of ya bloody mind. Excellent stuff.

3)  Best Year of the Decade
Next up, Buckethead’s best year of the decade.
Whilst every year of the last decade has been glorious for a Buckethead fan, there’s one that stands head and shoulders above the rest, and that’s 2015.
Whilst Buckethead didn’t tour that year, he did release an astonishing 118 albums, almost double the previous year. There’s wasn’t one month in 2015 where he didn’t release an album. Which is truly incredible and musically is absolutely Buckethead’s best year of the decade.

4) Best Collaboration of the Decade
Next, Buckethead’s Best Collaboration of the Decade.
Focusing only on song or album releases and not live shows, some of Buckethead’s standout collaborations included the ‘regards’ series with Brain & Melissa, his guest appearance on Asterism’s ‘Ignition’ album and numerous releases with Bootsy Collins. But the collaboration of the decade goes to his work alongside Travis Dickerson & Viggo Mortensen for the 2018 album ‘Godzilla Sleeps Alone’. An excellent mellow album and one you should definitely check out if you haven’t already.

5) Best Riff of the Decade
Next up, Bucketheads Best guitar Riff of the Decade.
Which, let’s be honest is an absolutely ridiculous thing to try and decide, so take this one with a pinch of salt.
In the last decade he probably has about 10,000 riffs. So, to say I know and can memorize every single one of those riffs would be a big fat lie, instead I’ve gone for one of the many riffs that are permanently stuck in my head and always get my feet tapping, from Pike number 246 Its Barren Part 1.
And tomorrow, it’ll probably be something different.
(Tomorrows riff of the decade - Herbie climbs a tree)

6) Best show of the Decade
Next, Buckethead’s Best Show of the Decade.
With tons and tons of awesome Buckethead shows to choose from, it’s impossible to have a wrong answer when it comes to his best of the decade.
Personally I think the majority of his shows that get the most views on youtube are more because of having 4k in the title, rather than how great the show actually is. Even though they are great. It should always be about the sound, not how many pixels make up bucketheads mask. So, although 2012 had a bunch of great shows, maybe its recency bias but Buckethead’s 2019 birthday show gets my vote for his best of the decade. With, his 2019 shows at the gas monkey, buffalo, st Louis & Portland also being pretty damn tasty.

7) Most Memorable Moment of the Decade
Next, Buckethead’s Most Memorable Moment of the Decade.
With an incredible body of work, hundreds of albums, numerous tours, live footage and so much more, it’s been a memorable decade for Buckethead.
And for me, the most memorable moment came on October 10th, 2017 with the release of the coming alive podcast interview. Buckethead’s first ever out of character audio interview, speaking as Brian Carroll. It was unexpected, honest, open, vulnerable, shocking and more. Making its release the most memorable Buckethead moment of the decade.

“Really recently I have a heart problem where my heart beats out of rhythm. So I went to the doctor and they said 'oh you're on the verge of having a stroke' and I'm like, 'oh' because I felt so good prior to having it, I was just doing pretty well and everything.

So they suggested I have this thing called an ablation.

So I had that procedure and it didn't really stop it and I'm still dealing with it”

8)  Best Solo of the Decade
Next, Buckethead’s Best guitar Solo of the Decade.
Deciding Buckethead’s best solo really does come down to preference and for me, one I’ve listened to so many times that I can memorize note-for-note in my head. And despite many classic solo’s, some of which are over 15 minutes long. My favourite solo, which has been since 2012, is ‘Sunbursts’ from Pike number 8, ‘Racks’. The solo is short, relatively easy to play, but its the emotion in the solo that for me, makes it the solo of the decade. Awesome.

9)  Best Song of the Decade
Next up, Buckethead’s Best Song of the Decade.
With well over 2000 songs, many of which released in the last decade, deciding Buckethead’s best song is certainly no easy task, especially when he covers so many genres.
Definite standouts of the decade include Mount Shasta, Sunbursts, Coupon, Melting Man, Fairy Boat, Bellman, Ropelight, Flare, Poseidon, Hornet, Eeerie Canal, Crack the Sky, Lone Lagoon, Squaring of the Circle, Worms for the Garden,  and a few hundred more. Sigh, glorious.
But, just like the Best Overall album, it’s hard to argue that his best song of the decade isn’t from Pike 65, Hold me Forever.
Although its split over 6 tracks, Hold me Forever is meant to be heard as 1 complete song. A masterful composition, a definitive Buckethead track and far and away, Buckethead’s best song of the decade, and one of his best songs of all time.