2000s: Albums
What an amazing decade for albums! Maybe our favorite decade since the 1970s, even! So many classic bands working at the top of their gang. More than anything else, this was the decade of indie labels and indie bands. As the record industry crumbled the indie labels thrived.
Artist of the decade? Tough one. Radiohead, Ryan Adams and Wilco would surely all be up there, as would Sufjan Stevens, The Flaming Lips, Spoon and Arcade Fire. The best year of the decade? Probably 2002, followed closely by 2007. So many great new bands … almost too many to count.
So, here we go, Ze Catalist’s Top 60 Albums of the Naughts:
60. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
59. The White Stripes - Elephant
58. Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
57. Ryan Adams - Jacksonville City Nights
56. Outkast - The Love Below
55. Buck65 - Square
54. Sole - Bottle of Humans
53. Granddaddy - The Sophtware Slump
52. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - Master and Everyone
51. Thunderhawk - Thunderhawk IV
50. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
49. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
48. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
47. Snowglobe - Our Land Brains
46. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
45. Sufjan Stevens - Greetings From Michigan
44. Magnolia Electric Co. - Nashville Moon
43. Paul Westerberg - 49:00
42. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
41. Buck65 - This Right Here is Buck65
40. Radiohead - Amnesiac
39. Evan Dando - Baby I’m Bored
38. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
37. Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy
36. Lee Miles - Heathen Blux
35. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi
34. Black Label Summer - Dirty All-Star Band
33. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
32. Grandpaboy - Mono
31. Stephen Malkmus - Pig Lib
30. Radiohead - In Rainbows
29. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
28. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
27. The New Pornographers - Challengers
26. Killer Robots From Space - Powerlifting
25. The Mircophones - Mount Eerie
24. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
23. Paul Westerberg - Come Feel Me Tremble
22. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
21. Ryan Adams - Gold
20. The Wrens - The Meadowlands
19. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
18. Bright Eyes - Lifted …
17. Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things
16. The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America
15. Joanna Newsom - Ys
14. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
13. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
12. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2
11. Thunderhawk - Gravity Wins!
10. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
9. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
8. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
7. The Strokes - Is This It
6. Radiohead - Kid A
5. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
4. Silver Jews - Bright Flight
3. Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus
2. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
1. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrox
Written by G. William Locke