Top of the Pop(punk)s: Albums of the Decade

It has been said in the past by some of my more critical friends that I've not got the most eclectic of musical tastes, and to a degree they do have a point. I was caught up in the alternative rock wave that washed over us in the early noughties, when the likes of Blink-182, The Offspring and Green Day were starting to make appearences within mainstream media. At this time nearly all of my friends and I shared musical tastes ranging from the poppy punk of Blink and Green Day to the horribly embarrassing nu-metal of Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach. This stayed the same for a number of years, as we generally veered away from the awful middle-class white boys rapping over horrid dirging guitars and got more into the melodic stylings of American pop-punk and eventually, dare I say it, 'emo'.
However, as we got older, it was clear that to some of us this was merely a phase and people moved on with their tastes and began to explore more diverse avenues, while others steered back towards the mainstream. This wasn't the case with me though, as I continually threw myself back into pop-punk and emo, always listening out for the 'next big thing' or discovering an obscure, well-kept secret.
This is not to say that I didn't and don't listen to and enjoy other kinds of music, it's just that my feet have well and truly stayed rooted in the same area and I think they always will.
A lot of my friends say that I need to grow up and listen to 'real' music, but I don't really understand what this means. This comes from people who listen to slow pounding beats interspersed with a selection of electronic blips which to me qualifies as music about as much as the mind-numbing din of a pneumatic drill.


Anyway, to come round to the point of this entry, I found a link to the top 50 albums of the decade, according to NME magazine. Now this wasn't based on sales, or voted for by the population, it was simply decided by those 'in the know', including artists such as Thom Yorke, as well as record producers and label bosses. I took a look at the list, and as one would expect from NME, it mainly consisted of guitar-driven indie/rock bands, with all the usual suspects making an appearence - The Libertines, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead. Now I'm not denying the merit of these bands, as they're obviously doing something right if we look at sales and the way their music was received within a particular market, but there was not one album on the list that I could get particularly excited about. Scanning through, there were only two albums which I owned and only a handful that I'd actually ever listened to.
Now it is at this point that you may say "How can you say that they're not good albums if you've never even heard them?", which is a very valid point. But I can turn that completely on its head and argue that there must be millions of albums that the 'powers that be' who compiled the list have never heard and therefore they had no chance of making the list at all.
This point got me thinking about the nature of these "Best" or "Top" lists and how they are judged, and further, got me thinking of what I'd put in my "Top 50 Albums of the 00s". Music is such a subjective thing that to claim something the 'best' or even to say something is 'good' is completely reductive, and the terms become increasingly redundant.
So I went through my vast music library and picked 50 albums I owned that I felt, for me, were the best albums from the year 2000 until present. Now some I chose on musical merit and the fact that I still listen to them today and enjoy every single song, whereas others I picked because of what they meant to me at the time and how well they really sum-up a moment in my life. Then there were some that, although I don't enjoy them so much as other albums, I completely respect what they are doing with music, and in particular what they were doing for music at the time they were released.
I've posted the list below, and as you'll see, it is pretty concentrated with similar artists, however, hopefully you'll be surprised by the few oddballs I've thrown in. Perhaps you'll look at many of my choices and laugh. You may even be angry with some of the albums I have picked and their relative positions.

Just try and think about what I said about the subjective nature of music, and who says who gets to chose what's cool and what's not anyway? And on what authority are they doing that on? After making this list, maybe even I will think twice about slating other people's tastes.

So please take a look at my list, and I'd be interested to hear any of your comments on my choices, and perhaps even let me know what would have made your list, even if its just a top ten.

Enjoy!

The 50 greatest albums of the 21st-century so far, according to me:

1. Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends (2002)

2. Thursday - Full Collapse (2001)

3. Finch - What It Is to Burn (2002)

4. Brand New - Deja Entendu (2003)

5. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American (2001)

6. The Ataris - End Is Forever (2001)

7. New Found Glory – S/T (2000)

8. Brand New - Your Favorite Weapon (2001)

9. Dashboard Confessional – The Places You Have Come to Fear The Most (2001)

10. Alkaline Trio - From Here to Infirmary (2001)

11. Thrice - The Illusion of Safety (2002)

12. Coheed & Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade (2002)

13. Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism (2003)

14. Bright Eyes - Fevers & Mirrors (2000)

15. Saves The Day - Stay What You Are (2001)

16. Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave (2003)

17. The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)

18. Frank Turner - Love, Ire and Song (2008)

19. Damien Rice – O (2002)

20. The Academy Is… - Almost Here (2005)

21. Say Anything - Is A Real Boy (2004)

22. Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit (2005)

23. Cartel – Chroma (2005)

24. Glassjaw – Worship and Tribute (2002)

25. Alexisonfire – “Watch Out!” (2004)

26. Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be (2004)

27. Funeral For A Friend – Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation (2004)

28. Four Year Strong - Rise or Die Trying (2007)

29. Weezer – S/T (Green Album) (2001)

30. Thursday – War All The Time (2003)

31. Alexisonfire – Crisis (2006)

32. The Killers – Hot Fuss (2004)

33. Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory (2005)

34. Hit The Lights - This is a Stick Up … Don't Make it a Murder (2006)

35. The Movielife - Forty Hour Train Back to Penn (2003)

36. Rival Schools - United By Fate (2001)

37. City & Colour - Bring Me Your Love (2008)

38. Kanye West – Late Registration (2005)

39. Enter Shikari - Take to the Skies (2007)

40. The Kooks – Inside In Inside Out (2005)

41. The Used – The Used (2002)

42. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager (2006)

43. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004)

44. The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It (2002)

45. Imogen Heap – Speak for Yourself (2005)

46. Relient K – Mmhmm (2004)

47. Sugarcult - Start Static (2001)

48. Yellowcard- Ocean Avenue (2003)

49. Armor for Sleep – What to Do When You’re Dead (2005)

50. Matchbook Romance – Stories and Alibis (2003)

And that's it, let me know what you think!

Catch you on the flipside....