The Top Albums of the Decade

There was some talk on the eMusic thread about doing a thread on the best albums of the decade. I'd be up for putting together a list, but I'd prefer if we could somehow figure like 20-25 people who would be good to do it and have them send their lists to me. For one reason, I don't feel like calculating a ton of top 25s, and secondly if everyone does it we'll end up with such a mish-mash because of the varying tastes on this site. This is something I've just been thinking of the half hour or so and I'd like to hear some thoughts on how a good list could be compiled.

Also, since my friends and I are sending our top 25 albums of the decade to each other, I thought I'd post what I have. I just put this together quickly so it will probably go through some fine tuning. I kept it to only one album per artist and tried to factor in some semblance of larger appeal (which is a relative term since this skews indie) to go along with my personal taste.

Some that just missed were: Josh Ritter's "Hello Starling," Adele's "19," Stars' "Set Yourself on Fire" and a host of others.

25. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
24. Red Hot Chili Peppers – By the Way
23. Hot Hot Heat – Elevator
22. Foo Fighters – Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
21. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
20. Justin Timberlake – Future Sex/Love Sounds
19. Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American
18. The New Pornographers – Challengers
17. Mat Kearney – Bullet
16. Jack’s Mannequin – Everything in Transit
15. The Decemberists – Picaresque
14. Jupiter One – Jupiter One
13. Damien Rice – O
12. Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope
11. Ingrid Michaelson – Girls and Boys
10. Sara Bareilles – Little Voice
9. Snow Patrol – Eyes Open
8. Jay-Z – The Blueprint
7. Mika – Life in Cartoon Motion
6. Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City
5. Kanye West – The College Dropout
4. The Killers – Hot Fuss
3. Gaslight Anthem – ’59 Sound
2. Talib Kweli – Beautiful Struggle
1. The Postal Service – Give Up

Edit: PM me by Thursday if you wish to be one of the voters. I'd love to get PCLL, Cosmo, Oz and some of the others who frequently take part in contemporary music discussions on here.

 

I Alex Riosed that list: 0-for-25.

 

I own four of them, and anyone that knows my taste in music would have no trouble guessing the four.

 

I have 10 of 25, though very few of them will make my list.

 

Funeral and Neon Bible are their own separate albums.

 

Woops, sorry. That was when I was throwing together the list and trying to decide which one. I will fix it and put Neon Bible.

 

Also, if you want to be in on putting together a list, shoot me a PM. I'll see how many I get by like Thursday and decide from there if I need to cut people because there are too many, or just go with who we have.

 

Heard of all but two. Bloc Party and Jupiter One don't get enough love.

 

Oracular Spectacular = way overrated. Three or four great songs and a bunch of noise.

 

Because I'm mind-numbingly bored, I'll list the albums from this decade I own, all of which, seeing as I own them, are awesome.

Audioslave's first album (too lazy to look up the name)
Black Keys, Magic Potion
Black Keys, Attack & Release
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Joe Bonamassa, A New Day Yesterday (live)
Nick Cave, Dig, Lazarus, Dig
Kasey Chambers, Barricades and Brickwalls
Cross Canadian Ragweed, Soul Gravy
Deadstring Brothers, Starving Winter Report
Dexateens, Hardwire Healing
DBT, Dirty South
DBT, Decoration Day
DBT, Blessing & A Curse
DBT, Brighter Than Creation's Dark
DBT, The Fine Print
Justin Townes Earle, Midnight at the Movies
Gov't Mule, Deep End, Vol. 1
Gov't Mule, Life Before Insanity
Heartless Bastards, The Mountain
Kid Rock, Rock 'n' Roll Jesus
Kings of Leon, Only by the Night
Chris Knight, Enough Rope
Johnny Lang, Long Time Coming
Metallica, Death Magnetic
QOTSA, Lullabies To Paralyze
Raconteurs, Broken Boy Soldiers
Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, Reckless Burning
White Stripes, De Stijl
Wilco, YHF
Wilco, Kicking Television
Wilco, Wilco
Walt Wilkins, Rivertown

 

Meat: I actually considered putting both a few spots higher, especially "Weekend in the City." There's not a song I don't love on that album.

Cosmo: I agree with your second sentence. But those four or so great songs are enough for me to put it on the list. However, I could also see taking it down for something else.

 

YGBFKM: Nice to see another Cross Canadian Ragweed fan on the board.