# Best albums of the 00s **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460 "2009-12-08T15:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/1 "2009-12-08T15:56:35Z")
Here’s the Onion AV Club’s list: [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-music-of-the-decade,35540/3/](http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-music-of-the-decade,35540/3/) It seemed like kind of an odd decade for albums in that a lot of the ones on that list didn’t spin off any hit singles. Of the ones on my personal list I think only Coldplay’s produced any Top 10 hits in the U.S. On the flip side of the coin, many people, myself included, took to just buying songs off iTunes instead of listening to albums in their entirety. Of the albums on that list I think I’ve heard only about a dozen all the way through. Anyway here is my personal Top 5. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot The Evens - The Evens Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head What are your favorite albums of the decade? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/2 "2009-12-08T16:11:21Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Seconded, along with “Sky Blue Sky”. And, from this year: Dinosaur Jr. - Farm ETA: Ryan Adams - Jacksonville City Nights ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/3 "2009-12-08T16:24:10Z")
I’d say Wilco’s YHF is my favourite of the last decade too. Lock this thread 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/4 "2009-12-08T16:44:28Z")
And [here’s Paste’s list](http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/11/the-best-albums-of-the-decade.html). (They put _Yankee Hotel Foxtrot_ at #2 and _Illinois_ at #1.) ---
**Author:** ![Negative\_Lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Negative\_Lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Negative_Lite)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/5 "2009-12-08T16:44:49Z")
1. Bebo & Cigala - Lágrimas Negras (2004) Flamenco with the pulse of Cuban jazz piano - a classic 2. Kate Bush - Aerial (2005) Mainly on the strength of the first disc, which is absolutely gorgeous 3. Frank Zappa - Trance-Fusion (2006) A posthumous release 4. 2 Many DJs - As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt 2 (2002) For me, mashup is the genre of the 00s and this album is the high-water mark of the genre 5. Danger Mouse - The Grey Album (2004) Another mashup classic 6. Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche a Bamako (2005) Pure joy, the world music disc of the decade in my book 7. Beirut - March of the Zapotec (2009) An EP, half done with a Mexican mariachi band and the rest in his basement on a synth 8. Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope (2006) I love her style and this album is the best expression of it 9. The Bad Plus - Give (2004) Keeping jazz fun and surprising, terrific version of Iron Man 10. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (2003) Brilliant! I can’t think of any rap that holds up as an album… ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/6 "2009-12-08T16:57:08Z")
> [@Negative\_Lite](#): > > 1. Kate Bush - Aerial (2005) Mainly on the strength of the first disc, which is absolutely gorgeous Agreed, but which do you consider the “first disc”? They weren’t numbered, just identified as _A Sea of Honey_ and _A Sky of Honey_. _Sea_ is the one with the individual songs starting with _King of the Mountain_ where _Sky_ is the song suite. I’m a huge Kate fan and love Aerial, but I’ll admit I tend to listen to _Sky_ a lot more often than _Sea_. ---
**Author:** ![Buford\_was\_no\_angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Buford\_was\_no\_angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buford_was_no_angel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/7 "2009-12-08T18:00:03Z")
1. Spoon: _Gimme Fiction_ (Merge, 2005) 2. The Avett Brothers: _Emotionalism_ (Ramseur, 2007) 3. Scott Miller & the Commonwealth: _Upside/Downside_ (Sugar Hill, 2003) 4. Drive-By Truckers: _Decoration Day_ (New West, 2003) 5. Allison Moorer: _The Duel_ (Sugar Hill, 2004) 6. Neko Case: \*Blacklisted \*(Bloodshot, 2002) 7. Bon Iver: _For Emma, Forever Ago_ (Jajaguwar, 2008) 8. Old Crow Medicine Show: _Old Crow Medicine Show_ (Nettwerk, 2004) 9. Robbie Fulks: _Georgia Hard_ (Yep Roc, 2005) 10. Chatham County Line: _Route 23_ (Yep Roc, 2005) Honorable mention: Iron & Wine: _Our Endless Numbered Days_ (Sub Pop, 2004); Chris Thile: \*How to Grow a Woman from the Ground \* (Sugar Hill, 2006); Bobby Bare Jr’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League: _From the End of Your Leash_ (Bloodshot, 2004); Brandi Carlile: _Give Up the Ghost_ (Columbia, 2009); Levon Helm: _Dirt Farmer_ (Vanguard, 2007); The New Pornographers: _Electric Version_ (Matador, 2003). I know, no Wilco, which is odd, because I really like them. ---
**Author:** ![Negative\_Lite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Negative\_Lite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Negative_Lite)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/8 "2009-12-08T18:38:12Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Agreed, but which do you consider the “first disc”? They weren’t numbered, just identified as _A Sea of Honey_ and _A Sky of Honey_. _Sea_ is the one with the individual songs starting with _King of the Mountain_ where _Sky_ is the song suite. > > I’m a huge Kate fan and love Aerial, but I’ll admit I tend to listen to _Sky_ a lot more often than _Sea_. Sorry, I meant Sea but there’s nothing wrong with Sky either. I was just thinking of Sea as being the disc that would be most appropriate for a generic “best albums of the decade” list for people who aren’t necessarily Kate Bush fans. I love her too, btw. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/9 "2009-12-09T00:11:11Z")
> [@Buford\_was\_no\_angel](#): > > 1. Spoon: _Gimme Fiction_ (Merge, 2005) > 2. The Avett Brothers: _Emotionalism_ (Ramseur, 2007) > 3. Scott Miller & the Commonwealth: _Upside/Downside_ (Sugar Hill, 2003) > 4. Drive-By Truckers: _Decoration Day_ (New West, 2003) > 5. Allison Moorer: _The Duel_ (Sugar Hill, 2004) > 6. Neko Case: \*Blacklisted \*(Bloodshot, 2002) > 7. Bon Iver: _For Emma, Forever Ago_ (Jajaguwar, 2008) > 8. Old Crow Medicine Show: _Old Crow Medicine Show_ (Nettwerk, 2004) > 9. Robbie Fulks: _Georgia Hard_ (Yep Roc, 2005) > 10. Chatham County Line: _Route 23_ (Yep Roc, 2005) > > Honorable mention: Iron & Wine: _Our Endless Numbered Days_ (Sub Pop, 2004); Chris Thile: \*How to Grow a Woman from the Ground \* (Sugar Hill, 2006); Bobby Bare Jr’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League: _From the End of Your Leash_ (Bloodshot, 2004); Brandi Carlile: _Give Up the Ghost_ (Columbia, 2009); Levon Helm: _Dirt Farmer_ (Vanguard, 2007); The New Pornographers: _Electric Version_ (Matador, 2003). > > I know, no Wilco, which is odd, because I really like them. You and I have similar tastes, as I really like this list, but I prefer _Couples in Trouble_ (Boondoggle, 2001) for Robbie Fulks and _The Hardest Part_ (MCA, 2000) for Allison Moorer. And _Decoration Day_ is #1 for me. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/10 "2009-12-09T01:20:53Z")
1. Iron and Wine - Creek Drank the Cradle 2. The Postal Service - Give Up 3. Rocky Votolato - Makers 4. Radiohead - Kid A 5. The White Stripes - Icky Thump 6. MIA - Arular 7. Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause to be Uneasy 8. The Arcade Fire - Funeral 9. Outkast - Stankonia 10. Beck - Guero ---
**Author:** ![Cullain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cullain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cullain)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/11 "2009-12-09T05:33:28Z")
My top 30 (roughly chronological) White Stripes - Icky Thump Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare Arcade Fire - Neon Bible TV On the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain Muse - Black Holes and Revelations Mastadon - Blood Mountain Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere New Pornographers - Twin Cinema Kanye West - College Dropout Franz Ferdinand - You Can Have it So Much Better David Banner - Certified Bloc Party - Silent Alarm Libertines - Libertines Killers - Hot Fuss Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights Green Day - American Idiot Pretty Girls Make Graves - New Romance Radiohead - Hail to the Thief Bubba Sparxx - Deliverance Sean Paul - Dutty Rock Streets - Original Pirate Material Radio 4 - Gotham Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf Doves - Last Broadcast Gorillaz - s/t Modest Mouse - Moon and Antarctica Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BRMC At the Drive In - Relationship of Command ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/12 "2009-12-09T05:49:41Z")
69 Love Songs came out in 1999 if I’m not mistaken. It is a fantastic album either way. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/13 "2009-12-09T05:58:51Z")
1. Radiohead - Kid A 2. Tom Waits - Alice 3. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow 4. Deerhoof - Reveille 5. The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone 6. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea 7. Amon Tobin - Supermodified 8. Neko Case - Blacklisted 9. Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator) 10. OOIOO - Feather Float ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/14 "2009-12-09T20:31:15Z")
I’m thinking 1. Fiery Furnaces - Widow City 2. Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea ( So sue me. I know this band takes several listenings to get used to, but this kind of thing is the reason I listen to music. These two albums are not much alike BTW.) 3. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois 4. Yo La Tengo - I’m Not Afraid of You and I Can Beat Your Ass 5. Panda Bear - Person Pitch 6. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs 7. White Stripes - White Blood Cells 8. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 9. Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust 10. MIA - Kayla Ultimately, I think Green Day’s American Idiot will be the most remembered record of the decade. It really summed the era. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/15 "2009-12-09T20:52:13Z")
A agree with a lot of these suggestions. One I haven’t seen is **the National - Boxer**. Maybe my personal number 1 of the decade. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/16 "2009-12-09T21:46:12Z")
1. **Modest Mouse** - Moon & Antartica (Came out in 2000, thanks for showing up, rest of decade!) 2. **Tenacious D** - Tenacious D (Rock comedy at its finest, Flight of the Conchords owes their career to these 2) 3. **The Fratellis** - Costello Music (Debut of the decade) 4. **Califone** - Roots & Crowns (Experimental folk, unreal craftsmanship) 5. **Modest Mouse** - Good News for People Who Love Bad News (Only if I get to count the version I have with the song “I’ve Got it All (Figured Out)”) 6. **Dan Deacon** - Bromst (Most mesmerizing album of the decade, I can’t fathom the creative processes behind it) 7. **Animal Collective** - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Could wind up being the most important band of the decade when its all said and done) 8. **White Stripes** - White Blood Cells (With Modest Mouse fading over the second half, tough to argue against these guys as the best band of the aughts) 9. **Grandaddy** - The Sophtware Slump (Still lamenting their fall off the cliff) 10. **Islands** - Return to the Sea (Could have picked about a dozen albums in this slot, these guys win due to their creative excellence) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/17 "2009-12-09T22:58:47Z")
As with all lists, it’s a collection of things I’ve never heard of and things I dislike, this time sprinkled with a couple of albums I do like but would count amongst my favorite 50 albums of the decade only because I am not sure I have purchased 50 albums from this decade. Here is my additions to all the 2000’s albums I own that I like that I think deserve to be in the top 50, through some combination of sheer awesomeness, influence, and my own perception of “what should be on a critic’s list”. Note that many of these did not reach Critic’s lists despite being both popular and very critic-accessable. **Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most.** This album buried Nu-metal and all its over-aggressive cousins. If it weren’t for this album there would be a lot of System of a Down and Tool clones on everyone else’s lists. But while Nu-metal lingered on due to its aging, rich, demographic, the buzz around this album was such that for the rest of the decade the momentum was with the less-than-completely-postal-all-the-time varieties of alternative music. **Park - Building a Better \_\_\_\_**. The classic 2000’s argument is “what is Emo?” Park fits all of these definitions: hardcore, melodic, angsty, whiney. Plus it’s completely awesome. **Postal Service: Give Up.** While spotty, the sheer brilliance of the good songs and their immense penetration into pop and musical culture solidify its place in the most influential albums of the decade. And a two-fer: **Modest Mouse: We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank and Panic at the Disco, Pretty. Odd.** These albums were completely ignored by the critics despite their seemingly pandering stance of musical maturity, as if to ask what more the self-affectedly deep list makers could want. Even though they both reek of this willful expansion of musical horizons, I like them both, as they still incorporate infectious grooves and lyrics along with their Baroque Rock sensibilities. Okay, I will add another twofer: **Coheed and Cambria: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3** , and **My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade**. Much like the previous two examples seemed a pandering move toward musical maturity, these could be looked at as a conscious swerve toward Progressive in order to garner critics praise. But the energy that they pour into the music lets you know that this is really what they wanted to do all along, rather than their previous, more emocore oriented offerings, and like the previous two albums, they managed to succeed in both musical genres. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/18 "2009-12-10T00:52:13Z")
This is the list I emailed to my brother and a few friends earlier today: 1. Modest Mouse: The Moon and Antarctica (2000) 2. Animal Collective: Feels (2005) 3. The Streets: A Grand Don’t Come for Free (2004) 4. Brian Jonestown Massacre: …And This is Our Music (2003) 5. Comets on Fire: Avatar (2006) 6. Godspeed You Black Emperor!: Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven (2000) 7. Panda Bear: Person Pitch (2007) 8. Animal Collective: Here Comes the Indian (2003) 9. Liars: Drum’s Not Dead (2006) 10. TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain (2006) My number 1s for each year- 2000- Modest Mouse: TM&A 2001- Spiritualized: Let It Come Down 2002- GYBE: Yanqui UXO 2003- BJM: And this is Our Music 2004- The Streets: AGDCFF 2005- Animal Collective: Feels 2006- Comets on Fire: Avatar 2007- Panda Bear: Person Pitch 2008- Spiritualized: Songs in A&E 2000- Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillion ---
**Author:** ![i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_am_a_scientist)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/19 "2009-12-10T01:57:57Z")
I’ll chime in to cosign many of the choices, here. Animal Collective, The White Stripes, Wilco, Spoon, The Shins and MIA are all among my favorites. I’ll add LCD Soundsystem’s _Sound of Silver_ and their self-titled debut (the [lyrics to Losing My Edge](http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/lcd_soundsystem_lyrics_4045/lcd_soundsystem_lyrics_12088/losing_my_edge_lyrics_140249.html) are marvelous). Yo La Tengo: _And Then Nothing Turned itself Inside Out_ The Strokes: _Is This It_ (I LOVE this album. Don’t judge me 🙂 My Morning Jacket: _Z_ Fleet Foxes: _Fleet Foxes_ And my favorite band of the decade: The Hold Steady - if you like The Replacements and Springsteen, check out _Separation Sunday_ and _Boys & Girls in America_. Both brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460/20 "2009-12-10T04:10:46Z")
**Iron & Wine** - Our Endless Numbered Days **The Decemberists** - The Crane Wife **Kanye West** - The College Dropout **M.I.A.** - Kala **Sufjan Stevens** - Illinoise **Neko Case** - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood **Amy Winehouse** - Back to Black **Lily Allen** - Alright, Still **The Shins** - Oh, Inverted World **Interpol** - Turn On the Bright Lights **Brian Wilson** - Smile (I don’t know if this one entirely counts) **Exploding Hearts** - Guitar Romantic **Sloan** - Never Hear the End Of It **Tom Waits** - Real Gone **Leonard Cohen** - Ten New Songs **The New Pornographers** - Twin Cinema **The Breeders** - Title TK [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-albums-of-the-00s/520460.md?page=2)