Top Fifty Albums of the Decade
Pitchfork pitched in with theirs back in October, the NME did it more recently, and this weekend the Observer/Guardian published theirs. Today it’s my turn. I know you’ve been waiting with baited breath for what is the ultimate list of the top fifty albums of the decade.
And was it a good decade? There was no emerging or prevalent musical ‘movement’ that I’m aware of, unlike Britpop and the ecstasy-fuelled Dance of the Nineties. That decade will always be a defining era for me because it’s when my musical taste left the mainstream for a more independent view. This past decade saw a similar but lesser renaissance, as I discovered alt-country through the likes of Lambchop and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, and trekked a little further off the beaten track into the world of Animal Collective, Explosions in the Sky and a Band of Horses. Judging from this list of albums, though, it seems as if I’ve not quite shaken being an indie kid at heart, and that’s fine by me.
So here it is, culled from my own personal collection and ordered in terms of the albums I like most (therefore my order is right and ‘corrections’ you might like to make are inherently wrong).
Is A Woman
Lambchop (2002)Rings Around The World
Super Furry Animals (2001)Greatest Palace Music
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (2004)Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
Arctic Monkeys (2006)Leaders of the Free World
Elbow (2005)The Hazards of Love
The Decemberists (2009)Funeral
Arcade Fire (2004)The Sophtware Slump
Grandaddy (2000)Rounds
Four Tet (2003)All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
Explosions in the Sky (2007)Picaresque
The Decemberists (2005)Hail to the Thief
Radiohead (2003)The Decline Of British Sea Power
British Sea Power (2003)Cease to Begin
Band of Horses (2007)Astronomy for Dogs
The Aliens (2007)Colour It In
The Maccabees (2007)Absolution
Muse (2003)White Blood Cells
The White Stripes (2001)Happiness In Magazines
Graham Coxon (2004)Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (2005)Black Mountain
Black Mountain (2005)Blueberry Boat
The Fiery Furnaces (2004)( )
Sigur Rós (2002)Boxing Hefner
Hefner (2000)Superabundance
The Young Knives (2008)Cansei De Ser Sexy
CSS (2006)I Am Kloot
I Am Kloot (2004)Amber
Clearlake (2006)Keep On Your Mean Side
The Kills (2003)Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes (2008)Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (2004)Sound Of Silver
LCD Soundsystem (2006)The Closer You Get
Six By Seven (2000)Let It Come Down
Spiritualized (2001)Antidotes
Foals (2008)Up The Bracket
The Libertines (2002)Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (2000)#1
Fischerspooner (2002)Antics
Interpol (2004)American IV – The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash (2002)Xtrmntr
Primal Scream (2000)Is This It?
The Strokes (2000)Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective (2009)Since I Left You
The Avalanches (2001)Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend (2008)You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
Death From Above 1979 (2004)These Were…
The Earlies (2004)Give Up
The Postal Service (2002)Show Your Bones
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2006)Felt Mountain
Goldfrapp (2000)
Fifty seems like a pretty big number, but it seems I bought a lot of albums in the past ten years. My long-list comprised 120 releases, and it was pretty tough subsequently leaving out great albums such as Third, Neon Bible, Kid A, as well as artists like Beck, Beirut, Bon Iver, Calexico, Wilco and even Basement Jaxx, Madonna and the Streets. Such is the nature of stupid lists like these. Have you got an albums of the decade list? What albums you would have put in here?