# Best rock albums post-2000? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2007, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194 "2007-05-23T07:51:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/21 "2007-05-23T17:03:27Z")
Tool _Lateralus_ ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/22 "2007-05-23T17:31:04Z")
The White Stripes - De Stijl (their others are great; DS is that much better) Jet - Get Born (hey if you’re gonna rip off other bands, do it with great taste - and Jet does; their second album Shine On is even better song-to-song, but doesn’t rock quite as hard) Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers - absolutely NOT just in a summer fun sort of way. Brilliant songs, brilliantly poppy and thoughtful that sound great. What’s the line: “In an alternate universe, FoW are mega-selling popstars…” The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious - great punky stuff Green Day - American Idiot. Surprised this isn’t getting more mentions - must be a bit played out - but the fact that it got played out is a sign of its crossover appeal - great stuff… I am sure I have others, but this is what comes immediately to mind… ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/23 "2007-05-23T17:44:54Z")
I’ll put in another vote for Green Day’s **American Idiot**. There are few rock albums that I would describe as works of genius. This is one. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/24 "2007-05-23T21:14:46Z")
I’m going to pop back in and mention **Aha Shake Heartbreak** by Kings of Leon. In terms of bringing something new to the table, stylistically, this album fits the bill. KOL is one of the bands that I like for developing a uniquely gritty, lo-fi Midwestern sound (My Morning Jacket is another.) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/25 "2007-05-23T21:26:36Z")
Another vote for **Yankee Hotel Foxtrot**. I will also toss in Richard Thompson’s **Mock Tudor**. ---
**Author:** ![BlueSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@BlueSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/26 "2007-05-23T22:03:42Z")
For my money, the best new “rock” band of the 2000s is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They’ve released 2 full length studio albums since 2000 both of which will rock your socks off and melt your eyeballs. 'nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/27 "2007-05-23T22:12:41Z")
I’m pretty impressed by the Black Keys, but I haven’t heard enough of their stuff to make a recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/28 "2007-05-24T02:58:29Z")
**That’s Not What I Heard** , The Gossip–ferocious indie blues **Soviet Kitsch** , Regina Spektor **Electrified** , Dressy Bessy–image Turtles-style '60s pop with fuzzed out guitars and witty lyrics **Hit and Run** , Mechanical Dolls and **Play To Kill** , Jet City Fix–two terrific Northwest bands that combine reflective lyrics with the rawness and aggresion of '70 Aerosmith **Elephant** , White Stripes **Rabbit Fur Coat** , Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins Trust me rock is still alive. We’re just in a period like the '80s, where there was lots of great music–the mainstream just isn’t noticing ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/29 "2007-05-24T06:30:34Z")
These are my favorite albums from this decade: **Wilco** - _Yankee Hotel Foxtrot_ **Green Day** - _American Idiot_ **Buckcherry** - _15_ **The White Stripes** - _De Stijl_ **The White Stripes** - _White Blood Cells_ **The White Stripes** - _Elephant_ **The Raconteurs** - _Broken Boy Soldier_ **The New Pornographers** - _Mass Romantic_ **The New Pornographers** - _Twin Cinema_ And these don’t fit exactly in to the ‘rock’ category, but they’re still great albums: **The Decemberists** - _Picaresque_ **Beck** - _Sea Change_ and _Guero_ **Loretta Lynn** - _Van Lear Rose_ **Warren Zevon** - _The Wind_ **Fountains of Wayne** - _Welcome Interstate Managers_ **The Jayhawks** - _Rainy Day Music_ **Ryan Adams** - _Heartbreaker_ **Neko Case** - _Blacklisted_ and _Fox Confessor Brings the Flood_ ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/30 "2007-05-24T06:53:24Z")
Neko Case - _Blacklisted_; _Fox Confessor Brings the Flood_; Wilco - _Yankee Hotel Foxtrot_; The New Pornographers -\* Mass Romantic\*; Arcade Fire, \* Funeral\*; Storm Inc. -_Calm Years_; Radiohead - _Kid A_; Regina Spektor’s _Soviet Kitsch_ and _Begin to Hope_ Sarah Slean-- _Orphan Music_ RHCP - _Stadium Arcadium_ ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/31 "2007-05-24T09:58:52Z")
**Led Zeppelin** - _How The West Was Won_ (hey it’s copyright 2003) **The Allman Brothers** - _One Way Out (Live at the Beacon Theater)_ **David Gilmour** - _On An Island_ **Steve Winwood** - _About Time_ \ **Los Lonely Boys** - _Live at the Fillmore_ **Riverside** - _Out Of Myself_ **Riverside** - _Second Life Syndrome_ **Transatlantic** - _Bridge Across Forever_ **The Flower Kings** - _Unfold The Future_ **Gov’t Mule** - _The Deep End, Vol. 1_ **Gov’t Mule** - _The Deep End, Vol. 2_ \*\*The Tangent \*\* - _the music that died alone_ **The Derek Trucks Band** - _Songlines_ **moe.** - _Wormwood_ These are in addition to, not instead of many already listed. (Esp. **Porcupine Tree** , I’m listening to _Fear of a Blank Planet_, right now) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/32 "2007-05-24T11:31:06Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] I don’t mean to derail this thread, but is Lily Allen really all that? I loved “Smile,” but I’m having a hard time believing the whole album delivers that much. And yet, I remain intrigued… [/QUOTE] You can listen to some songs free on [her MySpace page](http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=36707169&MyToken=f6c01375-6045-4baa-81b4-05b224bb621c); it’s a pretty representative cross-sampling of the album. I saw her in concert a few weeks ago, and have no problem at all calling her a front-and-center rocker. Her sound is kind of “Lulu meets Madness,” but her lyrics are pure Rock N Roll attitude. If I didn’t know who her father was (the “bartender/heroin dealer” actor from _Trainspotting_), I would have guessed Ray Davies. Yeah, the whole album is all that. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/33 "2007-05-24T16:57:15Z")
I think that **the Microphones** ’ _The Glow pt. 2_ and _Mount Eerie_ are the two greatest musical works of the 2000’s by far, and frankly, anyone that disagrees has not listened to them. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/34 "2007-05-24T17:52:32Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] I think that **the Microphones** ’ _The Glow pt. 2_ and _Mount Eerie_ are the two greatest musical works of the 2000’s by far, and frankly, anyone that disagrees has not listened to them. [/QUOTE] Huh? I’ll grant you that they’re good albums, but I don’t think they’re so clearly the best of the 2000s that we should just shut this thread down. Personally, I thought M83’s _Dead Cities…_ was better, even Sigur Ros’s _Agaetis Byrjun_. Perhaps even some of Xiu Xiu’s craziness (I’ve never listened to album that made me feel like I was going slowly insane, as has happened with their release _The Promise_). My favorite _rock_ album, though, might be somewhere near Sleater-Kinney’s _The Woods_, or perhaps (surprisingly), Green Day’s _American Idiot._ The Dresden Dolls disc is great fun, and I love the New Pornographers work (all three albums) as well. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/35 "2007-05-24T18:12:06Z")
Pulky - then you quite frankly haven’t truly listened to those albums. They’re unequalled. Xiu Xiu’s _a promise_ is definitely on my top-10 list of this decade, though. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/36 "2007-05-24T18:21:43Z")
If I was forced to do something like a top-10, it would have to include Xiu Xiu - A Promise the Microphones - the glow pt. 2 and mount eerie Lambchop - nixon Cannibal Ox - the cold vein Destroyer - Streethawk: a seduction Green Day - American Idiot Vincent Gallo - When Scott Walker - the drift yo la tengo - and then nothing turned itself inside out ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/37 "2007-05-24T19:19:04Z")
Good call on _The Glow Pt. 2_; I have not listened to _Mt. Eerie_, but I should. God help me, I just can’t get into Xiu Xiu. I listened Scott Walker’s album; I might like it if I were in the right mood, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been in that mood. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/38 "2007-05-24T19:28:32Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] Good call on _The Glow Pt. 2_; I have not listened to _Mt. Eerie_, but I should. God help me, I just can’t get into Xiu Xiu. I listened Scott Walker’s album; I might like it if I were in the right mood, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been in that mood. [/QUOTE] _The Glow pt. 2_ and _Mount Eerie_ are two halves of a whole work, both thematically and literally; the end of The glow flows right into the beginning of Mount Eerie. Listening to them back-to-back is a transcendent experience. As for Scott Walker’s “The Drift,” I don’t even know if I should call it an album most of the time. It absolutely transcends the medium of “recorded album” - it’s like a living painting or something. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/39 "2007-05-24T19:29:50Z")
I also think that Xiu Xiu are one of the most misunderstood bands around right now. Everything about the band is intentional exaggerated grotesquerie, from the subject matter to the album art to the lyrics and singer Jamie Stewart’s way of singing. It’s meant to be disturbing and alienating and over-the-top and even funny. Think Bertolt Brecht and you’re on the right path. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194/40 "2007-05-24T19:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] Pulky - then you quite frankly haven’t truly listened to those albums. They’re unequalled. [/quote] I would say they’re different. I prefer the M83 and Sigur Ros offerings to the Microphones. You can disagree all you want, but I don’t think there can be any objective accounting for which is the better band, and I’m not really interested in playing the my-band-is-better-than-your-band game. I’m simply saying that it’s a bit presumptuous for anyone to declare that The Microphones albums are, without debate, the best album of the 00s. There no such thing as no debate in music. My favorite album of the the 60s is _Pet Sounds_, and, for me, it’s unequalled, but it would display a lot of hubris for me to say that if anyone disagrees, they truly haven’t listened to the record. There’s good arguments to be made for plenty of albums in any decade. > [@](#): > > Xiu Xiu’s _a promise_ is definitely on my top-10 list of this decade, though. I don’t think our tastes are particularly dissimilar then. I just prefer the other albums to the Microphones, but I absolutely agree with you that they’re great albums. I could also understand people not getting into Xiu Xiu because, quite frankly, Xiu Xiu are pretty fucking out there. There’s more fringe beyond Xiu Xiu, sure, but Xiu Xiu kind of represents the edge of the listenable fringe to me, and that’s probably well beyond what most people would call listenable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-albums-post-2000/405194.md?page=3)