Happy Celebration of the Decimalization of Time!

So I've been thinking about the past decade in music, and I figured I should put up my own personal list, to add to the myriad of "best of the decade" lists out there. Before I start, I must honor my late, great, wonderful father by pointing out, as he would have, that it is not actually the end of the decade yet, and that we'll all have to wait another year before doing the best of the decade lists. Most people don't consider the fact that there was no Year Zero, and therefore each decade of ten years begins with the "1" and ends at the end of the "0" year, so really 2010 is the last year of the decade.

But no matter!! The mass media feels otherwise, and so I will indulge those who want to look back on this first "completed" decade of the new century and talk about what it all meant. Among all the incredibly fucked-up things that occurred over the past 10 years, thankfully there was some great music, and here is my list of the top 10 albums of the decade (sorry, Dad)!

1. In Rainbows - Radiohead

2. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse

3. Kid A - Radiohead

4. Is This It? - The Strokes

5. Turn On The Bright Lights - Interpol

6. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips

7. Elephant - The White Stripes

8. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco

9. The Blueprint - Jay Z

10. Lateralus - Tool

I can honestly say that each of these albums was very important to me, and that I explored every inch of them, many times, as a FULL album, and they became part of my soundtrack as a result.

Ok it's hard to stop at 10, so here's the next bunch, in no particular order:

O - Damien Rice

Come On Feel The Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens

Figure 8 - Elliott Smith

Her Majesty - The Decemberists

The Grey Album - DJ Danger Mouse + Jay Z

The Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom

Relationship of Command - At The Drive-In

The Libertines - Up The Bracket

Lifted, or the Story in the Soil... - Bright Eyes

Gold - Ryan Adams

Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio

The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem

TransAtlanticism - Death Cab For Cutie

Chutes Too Narros - The Shins

Sky Blue Sky - Wilco

Amnesiac - Radiohead

Hail To The Thief - Radiohead

Greatest Album No One Heard of or bought:

Eyes Adrift - Eyes Adrift

Album I wish I had made:

Here We Stand - The Fratellis

I will have to create a site for these albums to spread the word beyond this humble blog, but if you read this and have any comments, arguments, citations, etc, please let me know. Happy Decade!