The noughties were no nineties, but they were the last great decade of the rock ‘n’ roll era. Spoon, the White Stripes, Jenny Lewis/Rilo Kiley, Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller, the Strokes, Kings of Leon, AC Newman/the New Pornographers, and LCD Soundsystem were the aces in the deck for me, then and now. Plus, Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend both released excellent debut albums. I also like a lot of Death Cab and Decemberists albums from this decade, but none of them made the cut, which surprised even me.
I used the following criterion to separate the truly great from the many very good records that did not make the cut: if a record had more than two weak tracks, it was automatically disqualified.*
Also, there is no hip-hop on the list, because it’s not my area of expertise, and it was so huge in the 2000s (bigger than rock by the end of the decade) that it deserves its own list.
But enough foreplay; it’s time to get down to the “noughty” business. The top 100 albums of the 2000s are as follows (in alphabetical order):
Ryan Adams, “Heartbreaker”
Ryan Adams, “Gold”
Ryan Adams, “Cold Roses”
Ryan Adams, “Easy Tiger”
Arcade Fire, “Funeral”
The Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You”
Babyshambles, “Shotter’s Nation” (Pete Doherty of the Libertines other band)
Belle & Sebastian, “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”
Belle & Sebastian, “The Life Pursuit”
Beulah, “The Coast is Never Clear”
Blitzen Trapper, “Furr”
Bright Eyes, “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” (Conor Oberst’s second best album of the decade; his 2008 solo debut is even better)
Elvis Costello, “When I Was Cruel” (his last masterpiece)
Crowded House, “Time on Earth”
Dr. Dog, “Fate”
Drive-by Truckers, “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” (the best album of 2008 and the best double album of the decade)
Bob Dylan, “Modern Times”
Steve Earle, “Transcendental Blues”
Elbow, “Leaders of the Free World”*
Fiery Furnaces, “I’m Going Away” (this brother/sister combo sometimes used to test my patience with their over the top pretentiousness, but this record was their most accessible/enjoyable and final album)
Neil Finn, “One All”
Roddy Frame, “Surf”
Fugazi, “The Argument”
The Glands, “The Glands” (Ross Shapiro from Athens, GA only recorded one more batch of songs as the Glands after this, also excellent, but not released until after he was gone)
The Go-Betweens, “Friends of Rachel Worth” (my favorite of their three comeback albums; two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney serve as the rhythm section)
Guided by Voices, “Isolation Drills”
Guided by Voices, “Earthquake Glue”
Guided by Voices, “Half Smiles of the Decomposed”*
PJ Harvey, “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” (my favorite of her many fine albums)
Joe Henry, “Civilians” (best album of 2007 and top 10 album of the decade for me)
Robyn Hitchcock, “Ole Tarantula”
Robyn Hitchcock, “Goodnight Oslo”
The Hold Steady, “Almost Killed Me”
The Hold Steady, “Stay Positive” (even though I don’t like the opening track)
Hot Chip, “The Warning” (on LCD Soundsystem’s label, this record is a real grower; the Talking Heads of techno)
Kings of Leon, “Aha Shake Heartbreak”
Ben Kweller, “On My Way”*
Ben Kweller, “Sha Sha”
Ben Kweller “Ben Kweller”
Jon Langford & His Sadies, “Mayors of the Moon” (best album from the 2000s that’s not available for streaming)
LCD Soundsystem (the limited edition that included early singles like “losing my edge” was the best album of 2005)
LCD Soundsystem, “Sound of Silver”
The Lemonheads, “The Lemonheads” (Evan Dando made my 90’s list with “It’s A Shame About Ray”, and surprised the shit out of me by doing it again this decade)
Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins, “Rabbit Fur Coat”
Shelby Lynne, “I am Shelby Lynne”
Stephen Malkmus, “Stephen Malkmus”
Stephen Malkmus, “Pig Lib (w/bonus disc)”
Stephen Malkmus, “Face the Truth”
Stephen Malkmus, “Real Emotional Trash”
Aimee Mann, “Bachelor #2” (the first masterpiece of the decade; released in March 2000; Bachelor #2 was #1 for me that year ahead of Kid A; and the expanded version including the songs from Magnolia is even better)
Aimee Mann, “The Forgotten Arm” (produced by Joe Henry)
J Mascis & the Fog, “More Light”
J Mascis & the Fog, “Free so Free”
Midlake, “The Trials of Van Occupanther” (one of my more obscure faves from the noughties, this album casts a unique spell)
The National, “Boxer”
AC Newman, “The Slow Wonder” (debut solo album from the primary singer/songwriter of The New Pornographers; a perfect pop masterpiece)
AC Newman, “Get Guilty” (while not quite as good as the first one, “the palace at 4am” and “heartbreak slides” were arguably the best pop songs of 2009, and it was my #2 album that year a scooch behind the Wilco)
The New Pornographers, “Electric Version”
The New Pornographers, “Twin Cinema” (worth noting that alphabetically, New Pornographers follows AC Newman quite appropriately)
Conor Oberst, “Conor Oberst”
Of Montreal, “Hissing Fauna, Are you the Destroyer?”*
Okkervil River, “The Stage Names” (the most literate, smart, melodic folk rock of the decade along with Bright Eyes)
Peter, Bjorn, and John, “Writer’s Block”
Robert Pollard, “Normal Happiness”
Robert Pollard, “From a Compound Eye” (*technically, there are three weak cuts on this double album, but that’s out of 26 songs, so I decided to make an exception)
Queens of the Stone Age, “Rated R”
Radiohead, “Kid A”
Radiohead, “Hail to the Thief” (the best album of 2003, and that’s not even including the incredible b-sides, “Gagging Order” and “Fog (Again)”)
Radiohead, “In Rainbows”
R.E.M., “Accelerate”
Rilo Kiley, “More Adventurous”
Rilo Kiley, “Under the Blacklight”
Ron Sexsmith, “Blue Boy” (produced by Steve Earle)
The Shins, “Oh Inverted World”
The Shins, “Chutes Too Narrow”
Elliott Smith, “Figure 8”
Elliott Smith, “From a Basement on a Hill” (best album of 2004, and not only because it was released posthumously after his violent death)
Spoon, “Girls Can Tell”
Spoon, “Kill the Moonlight”
Spoon, “Gimme Fiction”
Spoon, “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”
The Strokes, “Is This It” (best album of 2001, duh, but the version with the original album cover, and including the track “New York City Cops”, which was removed after 9/11)
The Strokes, “Room on Fire” (holds up surprisingly well and is almost the equal of the debut)
Sun Kil Moon, “Ghosts of the Great Highway” (Mark Kozelek’s most consistently satisfying record, as I argued a couple of weeks ago in my newsletter about his body of work)
Sufjan Stevens, “Come on Feel the Illinoise” (*there are some interstitial songs and instrumentals I could live without on this album, but the highs are so high that I made an exception for this one too)
Super Furry Animals, “Rings Around the World”
Teenage Fanclub, “Howdy”
The Thrills, “So Much for the City”
The Thrills, “Teenager”
Vampire Weekend, “Vampire Weekend”
Eddie Vedder, “Into The Wild”
M. Ward, “Hold Time”
The Whigs, “Give ‘Em All a Big Fat Lip”
The White Stripes, “White Blood Cells”
The White Stripes, “Elephant”
Wilco, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” (the best album of 2002)
Wilco, “The Album” (the best album of 2009)
Lucinda Williams, “Essence”
Lucinda Williams, “World Without Tears”
Amy Winehouse, “Back to Black” (the best album of 2006)
This is a really great list and features sooo many albums that I love. Just want to shout out your inclusion of those Ben Kweller albums. His self-titled is a tremendous album, in particular. Also, I haven't given that Whigs album a listen in a bit - should rectify that soon.
Great list - particularly appreciate the Lucinda and Rilo Kiley appreciation. Need to check out that Drive-By Truckers album; keep meaning to properly dive into their work.