My Ten Favourite Albums of 2000 - 2009
Every album in this list will contain a clip of a song *not released as a single* within. The idea behind this is I like each album in its entirety, and people might know only the singles from such albums but might be missing out on some great stuff from the rest! Here’s a good way to find a song you mightn’t know. See you in 10 years for the next list…
Update: Crumpet blogged her top 10 albums
10. King Geedorah (MF DOOM) - Take Me To Your Leader (2003)
Why I love this album:
One of two rap albums on this list, and a moderately obscure one to start with. Strange, masked New York rapper MF DOOM makes an album about a three-headed “Space Monster” King Geedorah. Yeahhhh.
I’m happy to report that this album’s beats and raps are about as odd as its subject matter (songs with slowly changing tempo? sure!). Yes, it’s abrasive. It contains a mind boggling amount of voice samples, mostly from old movies and tv shows.. But I’m also happy to report that under the layer of plain weird that’s thickly laid on it is a collection of catchy, addictive rap. It was my driving music for about half a year. That has to earn it some kind of place in a top 10!
9. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
Why I love this album:
A long, overblown, collection of songs. Ridiculous arrangements, and someone singing in an over-sentimental fashion about people and events in history seemingly without pausing to decide whether it was his place to write songs about an entire state of the US and its colourful history (not his first time, and not his last too!).
Unfortunately for me and my preconceptions about this album, it damn well works and is just as good as Sufjan clearly believes it is. Some of the songs are borderline nauseatingly happy, flamboyant.. in that awful theatrical style I loathe so much. But again, it works! Perhaps it’s the intertwined soft, cute acoustic numbers that keep me from going over the edge of ‘ugh!’, but whatever. Put this album on when going on a long road trip in the sun. I did, and it was the most fitting thing ever.
8. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts (2002)
Why I love this album:
This is 2000s American indie/college rock summarised. A collection of great tunes, with just enough pretentiousness for your average tweed-jacket wearing art student to shuffle his feet to, but not enough that it gets in the way of it being a plain old solid pop/rock album. I also see it is a very American college rock album as bands like this never get the exposure they deserve in Australia. Well, that was until I was shocked to see they’re on the bill for the Big Day Out festival this January. Of course, they’re billed right at the bottom. I hope for their sakes they get discovered down here in a big way. People need to hear albums like this.
7. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief (2004)
Why I love this album:
This will get a lot of *WHAT?!* from Radiohead fans. This decade they’ve put out In Rainbows, Amnesiac and Kid A, an album considered by a lot of critics as the outright best album of this decade, period. I mean out of anyone, not just Radiohead.
Yet here I am ranking Hail To The Thief above them all. I’ll admit up front that this was the first Radiohead album I heard in its entirety, and it was in a pretty monumental time in my life, so there’s memory attached to it. However, I considered all of that when coming up with this list. There are songs on the other three albums that I like more than any of the songs on this album. But on the whole, as an album I find it the most listenable from start to finish. I believe Hail To The Thief is underrated - possibly because Radiohead had reached such great heights that people’s expectations were completely unattainable in reality. Go back and listen to this album and appreciate it for the great collection of songs it is.
6. Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
Why I love this album:
Eminem is damn clever, when you get down to it. He’s just plain witty in an offensive way some people love and others can’t stand. I’m more in the ‘love’ category and feel sorry for those who can’t get past being offended at the stuff he’s saying. His beats are catchy and his rhymes are top notch. To this day, I’m still hearing clever little lines in his songs that I’ve missed or never stopped to interpret before. It really sucks when someone is really controversial but isn’t good enough to back up the shock tactics with raw talent. Eminem is not one of these people. Somehow he manages to be twice as good as he is vulgar - and on this album he’s very, very vulgar.
5. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)
Why I love this album:
The second Queens’ album posesses much more diversity than your average hard-rock band outputs in an entire career. It’s probably their most accessible album on the whole, but but don’t mistake it for pop in any sense. There are enough heavy, enough drawn-out jams.. enough energy-charged screaming, enough plain stoner-rock weirdness to please those who graduated with Josh Homme from the kings of strange drawn-out rock jams, Kyuss.
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - By The Way (2002)
Why I love this album:
One of the most underrated albums of the decade. Yeah, I went there. Yeah, it’s by one of the most successful bands in the world - yeah it spawned at least 3 hit singles. However, as an album it’s probably their most cohesive effort to date and they don’t get enough credit for it. Sure there isn’t much of that funk they’re renowned for. But it’s the melodies that really stand up here. Not just that. It’s the harmonies. Guitarist/backup singer John Frusciante said he wanted the entire album to have ‘Beach Boys’ harmonies throughout.. the result sounds amazing.
3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Why I love this album:
A close second in the ’sweetest melodies’ stakes (you’ll see!). I remember hearing this album for the first time just after it came out and throwing it away because I hated it. It just didn’t seem catchy at all. The arrangements were hard to follow, the effects appeared to get in the way of following the melody in the first place and I couldn’t see why everyone was raving about it.
Seven years later, I gave it another shot. After a couple of listens and more ‘mature’ ears I was hooked. Every song is a great one. The album is truly inspired, if a little off-kilter - but that’s part of its charm.
2. Beck - Sea Change (2002)
Why I love this album:
After breaking up with his long term girlfriend, Beck got all sad and wrote these songs. His earlier albums featured a lot of samples, and were pretty electronic and just.. schizophrenic. Surprising how different this is. Slow, pretty songs. Usually with minimal, acoustic-guitar arrangements, light on synth. The songs themselves aren’t all sad. Some sound hopeful, all have great melody.
1. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Why I love this album:
The Queens’ third album sees ex-Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighter’s frontman Dave Grohl back behind the kit. The album definitely gains an edge from his hard-hitting, excellent drum work. It’s a heavy, dense and intense album, yet it stays fresh throughout its hour runtime by having 3 different singers taking lead (Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan) and at least 5 different song writers. After all is said and done, this album just rocks your face off. It’s that simple.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
[...] Steve tweeted about blogging his top ten albums of the decade thus far, and as a result I’ve spent my entire evening so far pulling my list together. Here they are. [...]
October 26th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
I can dig that list. I dig it very much - Eminem in particular. I love the guy for the exact reasons you listed. I actually like the offensive stuff too, hah. I think Relapse is his best album though, it’s awesome.
Listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is like chopping onions. It’s fantastic, but it’ll make you cry.
I would have gone with In Rainbows or OK Computer over Hail to the Thief, but it’s Radiohead and you can’t go wrong with Radiohead on a top 10 list, unless it’s Pablo Honey, because that was shit and gave us Creep, which was awesome, but is too popular to be cool.
Queens of the Stone Age don’t need any explanation.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:49 am
@Anthony. OK Computer would have been the clear winner for me if it was a 2000s album! I hear ya there.