First, the science. I decided that an album couldn't make the list unless it was an album I owned. When a guy owns 1000 albums, the 100 he recommends over a decade ought to be those he owns. Plus, it was a way to narrow things down. Don't own any albums by Outkast? They don't make the list. Doesn't mean "Hey Ya!" wasn't one of the truly great songs of the past 10 years (seriously). It may seem an arbitrary mechanism, but I had to narrow the list somehow. Fortunately, I only own just over 100 albums from the past decade. So, stage one was easily compiled.
Second, the art. Albums need to work as albums to make them great albums, so I was listening to a lot of albums. That 100+ I just wrote about, specifically. Once I got it from 107 to 100 (an easy task), I had to begin ordering them from 1-100 (a not so easy task). Part of this went back to a psuedo-science (grouping those that were assuredly contenders for top 20 status apart from those who certainly weren't) and some were instinct (suddenly moving an album up 10 spots because it hangs together so well as an album).
Then the bias. No popular music magazine is going to list U2 in its top 5 albums of the decade. I'm not sure it deserves to be there (it deserves the top 100 and even the top 50), but it is one of my favorite albums of the decade by one of my favorite bands of all-time. There was no way it wasn't going to be high on the list. Still, personal bias never overrode good taste. All That You Can't Leave Behind is an excellent album. Bruce Springsteen's Working On A Dream is a mediocre album. No amount of love for the Boss was going to get that album on the list.
After all that, this list is going to frustrate and confuse true music mavens. How can this list include as many Coldplay albums as it does Radiohead (see art and bias)? Leave your questions, comments, kudos and concerns. That's what lists like this are for. And let us know what you'd have added and left off. Hope you enjoy this. I know I did.
- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco)
- Funeral (The Arcade Fire)
- The Rising (Bruce Springsteen)
- All That You Can’t Leave Behind (U2)
- Kid A (Radiohead)
- White Blood Cells (The White Stripes)
- Heartbreaker (Ryan Adams)
- Separation Sunday (The Hold Steady)
- The Trials of Van Occupanther (Midlake)
- Turn On The Bright Lights (Interpol)
- The Meadowlands (The Wrens)
- Dongs of Sevotion (Smog)
- Sea Change (Beck)
- When I Was Cruel (Elvis Costello)
- American IV: The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash)
- Come On Feel The Illinoise (Sufjan Stevens)
- Chutes Too Narrow (The Shins)
- Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes)
- Blood Money (Tom Waits)
- Veckatimest (Grizzly Bear)
- Is This Is? (The Strokes)
- Kill The Moonlight (Spoon)
- Apologies To The Queen Mary (Wolf Parade)
- Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs (Andrew Bird)
- Transfiguration of Vincent (M. Ward)
- Black Sheep Boy (Okkervil River)
- Microcastle (Deerhunter)
- Visiter (The Dodos)
- Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (The Flaming Lips)
- The Spiral Eyes (Peter Adams)
- Dear Science (TV On The Radio)
- Boys and Girls In America (The Hold Steady)
- Blue Boy (Ron Sexsmith)
- Secondathallum (Andre Ethier)
- Feast of Wire (Calexico)
- The Tyranny of Distance (Ted Leo & the Pharmacists)
- Are We Not Horses? (Rock Plaza Central)
- Her Majesty The Decemberists (The Decemberists)
- For Emma, Forever Ago (Bon Iver)
- Elephant (The White Stripes)
- A Brief History of Love (The Big Pink)
- Neon Golden (The Notwist)
- Amnesiac (Radiohead)
- Give Up (The Postal Service)
- A Rush of Blood To The Head (Coldplay)
- Everything All The Time (Band of Horses)
- Album (Girls)
- I'm Wide Awake It's Morning (Bright Eyes)
- Blacklisted (Neko Case)
- Bright Flight (Silver Jews)
- Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress (Micah P. Hinson)
- Seven Swans (Sufjan Stevens)
- Our Endless Numbered Days (Iron & Wine)
- Ola Podrida (Ola Podrida)
- The Life Pursuit (Belle & Sebastian)
- Lie Down In The Light (Bonnie “Prince” Billy)
- The Evens (The Evens)
- Post-War (M. Ward)
- Return To Cookie Mountain (TV On The Radio)
- Cryptograms (Deerhunter)
- Yellow House (Grizzly Bear)
- Neon Bible (The Arcade Fire)
- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon)
- Almost Killed Me (The Hold Steady)
- Shine A Light (The Constantines)
- The Crane Wife (The Decemberists)
- Oh, Inverted World (The Shins)
- Rook (Shearwater)
- Hearts of Oak (Ted Leo & the Pharmacists)
- Tanglewood Numbers (Silver Jews)
- You Forgot It In People (Broken Social Scene)
- Aw Come Aw Wry (Phosphorescent)
- Ohio (Over The Rhine)
- Figure 8 (Elliott Smith)
- 1000 Kisses (Patty Griffin)
- Control (Pedro the Lion)
- Don’t Fall In Love With Everyone You See (Okkervil River)
- Winged Life (Shearwater)
- The Devil, You + Me (The Notwist)
- Gimme Fiction (Spoon)
- Dear Catastrophe Waitress (Belle & Sebastian)
- Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (TV On The Radio)
- In Rainbows (Radiohead)
- Picaresque (The Decemberists)
- Tournament of Hearts (The Constantines)
- Fox Confessor Brings The Flood (Neko Case)
- Micah P. Hinson and the Opera Circuit (Micah P. Hinson)
- The Letting Go (Bonnie “Prince” Billy)
- The Creek Drank The Cradle (Iron & Wine)
- Fewer Moving Parts (David Bazan)
- Magic (Bruce Springsteen)
- Retriever (Ron Sexsmith)
- Soviet Kitsch (Regina Spektor)
- Parachutes (Coldplay)
- Rockin’ The Suburbs (Ben Folds)
- Low Pining (Monahans)
- She Must and Shall Go Free (Derek Webb)
- Meaningless (Jon Brion)
- I (The Magnetic Fields)
- Satellite Rides (Old 97's)
14 comments:
My first thought when I read this blog was "Holy crap, it's almost been ten years since I moved to Austin in 2000!" Man, time does indeed fly. It's odd to think about it not only from my personal perspective but to realize how old certain albums are. For example, Heartbreaker came out in 2000, but it just doesn't feel that old to me.
As to the list itself, I dig it. I'm going to check out the ones I'm not familiar with. I think I'd concur with you on the #1 spot. YHF is a special album. Summerteeth is my favorite Wilco album, but, of course, it didn't come out this decade.
Some other observations:
I wouldn't rank In Rainbows as high, and I wouldn't include Hail to the Thief on the list at all. That's certainly where my bias comes into play. I like In Rainbows pretty well, but I haven't been enthralled with a Radiohead album since OK Computer.
I'm surprised you didn't include Springsteen's Magic on the list. Didn't you rank it in the top three on your 2008 list?
Oh, I'd add Okkervil River's The Stage Names, Old 97s' Satellite Rides, and Josh Ritter's The Animal Years.
Kes- i will always defer to you on anything musical (as i hope you might give me the same courtesy when it comes to football, lol) But Criteria #1, means there were only 107 choices for the top 100. That means you only bought 7 albums that weren't from the best 100. And i guess they are #s 101-107. That doesn't leave much room for making a mistake in buying albums. And if you own 1000 albums aren't there a few lemons or even just guilty pleasures scattered in. Or perhaps you would say, Only chumps like me buy bad albums, and you don't make mistakes like that. Anyways. Impressive list. No derek webb though, i'm a fan.
Criteria #1 means exactly that and intentionally rigs the list, to some degree. My thinking here was that I can't say that such and such album is one of the greats, but not great enough for me to buy. It was a way to ensure a personal touch and to avoid the "well, what would everyone agree is a great album?" pitfall of listmaking.
Derek Webb wasn't in the 107. I somehow never thought to consult my Christian music section (since 95% of it is Rachel's). You may be responsible for a possible second edit.
Also, had I discovered that I only owned 35 albums from the past decade, I would not have applied this criteria (or possibly not had as long a list). But if I own 100+ and the list is top 100, then it seems that the top 100 ought to come out of that 100+. Otherwise, wouldn't I be selling one of the 100+ to buy one of the 100?
Was Pete Yorn's musicforthemorningafter among 101-107?
No. My enjoyment of Pete Yorn was like that of Bob Schneider; short lived.
1. No dispute at all with Funeral as #2.
2. Interesting that In Rainbows made it so high, higher than Radiohead's other stuff. I won't make a judgment. It's just interesting. And your comment that The Bends is your favorite is also interesting.
3. Glad to see that Interpol made it so high.
4. Glad that Magnetic Fields made it.
5. I guess this means I really should get around to listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It's been sitting in my iTunes library for a while now, accumulating virtual dust and more and more reasons to give it a listen.
Good grief. That's a LOT of music...and I'm recognizing so many things my twenty-two year old Austinite daughter FORCED me to listen to!
P.S. Please allow me to be the first to purchase your old hard drive when you decide to upgrade! I'll drive down from Abilene with stone-cold cash. (I'll even bring you Harold's barbecue, if you throw in some _Icky Thump_ & _Get Behind Me, Satan_ mp3s!)
So, kudos to Jason and Gary for bringing about a two album edit. Disregard the comments about Wilco beginning and ending the list. Does this mean The Arcade Fire were meant to be number 1?
Thanks for the list, Kester. I'm going to use this to catch up on some newer stuff that I have missed since I first entered law school in 1999. And no matter what Radiohead does - I'm grateful that they challenge my ears.
I will add that Tyrannosaurus Hives was one of the funnest albums I've enjoyed in the past ten years and as an album never lets up. More fun than the White Stripes at their garagiest. (do not run spell check!)
Umm, and sorry to be a pest, but no Cake?
Just thought I'd drop in to say that this is a really terrific list. You balance out some of the more commercial acts well with lesser-known ones - showing your taste and maturity in not discarding acts like Coldplay on the back of their commercial magnitude as so many others will surely do in the coming weeks as more of these lists pile up - and of the records on this list that I own many would feature highly on a similar list if I were to do one.
Very interesting to see Girls rank so highly. It's a strong album for sure, but it's yet to click with me in quite that manner.
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