25 Most Important Albums Of The 00s

With the end of 2009 in firm sight, everyone who’s anyone is coming out with a list of albums that’s supposed to mean something to everyone. As such, here’s my first list for you guys, a list that culls together the most important albums of this decade. While many of my favorites are on here, many are not. I looked for albums that left big marks on the musical and pop culture landscapes, not just solid releases or ones I took to heart. In the end, I settled on 25 albums that I believe people will look back on as defining for the 00’s.

So without further adieu…

25. Thursday- War All The Time (2003)
24. Fall Out Boy- From Under The Cork Tree (2005)
23. TV On The Radio- Dear Science, (2008)
22. A.F.I.- Sing The Sorrow (2003)
21. Beck- Sea Change (2002)
20. Bloc Party -Silent Alarm (2005)
19. Animal Collective- Strawberry Jam (2007)
18. Coldplay- A Rush Of Blood To The Head (2002)
17. Interpol- Turn On The Bright Lights (2002)
16. Nine Inch Nails- Year Zero (2007)
15. Norah Jones- Come Away With Me (2002)
14. Kanye West- The College Dropout (2004)
13. Taking Back Sunday- Tell All Your Friends (2002)
12. Modest Mouse- The Moon & Antarctica (2000)
11. M.I.A.- Kala (2007)

10. Radiohead- In Rainbows (2007): No one will forget how the “pay-what-you-want” mechanism was for Radiohead’s seventh album. The bigger surprise, however, was that the band crafted an album so tight and focused, that the warm and lush songs never got lost in the media hullabaloo. Moreover, In Rainbows showed that high art could go hand-in-hand with innovative e-commerce.

9. Brand New- Deja Entendu (2003): While the Long Island sound had been perfected by other bands, Deja Entendu was held up as a gold standard for the melodic hardcore scene. Yet what made Brand New standout was the effortlessness of their witty song craft, and the sonic sophistication they held when compared to their contemporaries. While other bands mined Lifetime or The Promise Ring, Brand New mined The Smiths, Radiohead, and U2 to create a haunting dreamscape and a watershed album.

8. Sigur Ros- ( ) (2002): While Sigur Ros crept into mainstream consciousness with their previous album, ( ) was the album that made them a household name. Additionally, ( )’s cold and slow moving textures exposed the world to post-rock music in a way that no other artist has been able to do since. It’s safe to say that without ( ), the world would have to look for huge hazy movements and twinkling melodies in a much more structured form.

7. The White Stripes- Elephant (2003): If the public wasn’t sold on the garage rock revival when The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, and The Vines all came on the scene, they were after Elephant. Jack White became a serious artist after Elephant, the world taken with his abusive blues guitar and his penchant for hooks. Continuing the band’s modest trend of reinvigorating American blues and folk, The White Stripes reminded the world that rock music could have unbridled passion after an era of boy band pop. That’s exactly what they did with Elephant.

6. Eminem- The Marshall Mathers LP (2000): At the turn of the century, there was no other rapper more controversial or as angry as Eminem. While the Slim Shady LP showed how American society had created monsters, The Marshall Mathers LP displayed Eminem as a satirical Exhibit A. Over gritty beats and dark themes, The Marshall Mathers LP exposed everything ugly about Middle America as Eminem turned the conservative right’s hatred inwards. While he’s long past the point of relevancy, every rap album afterwards that has maintained an image of street credibility takes its cues from this record.

5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Fever To Tell (2003): Before Karen O was joyfully contemplating where the wild things were; she was busy screaming on this jagged art-punk masterpiece. While Fever To Tell will forever be remembered for the gentle atmospheres of “Maps” the majority of the disc revels in crashing riffs, stutter-stop drums, and O’s signature wail. Her feminist howl reminds listeners that in an age of pre-packaged beauty queens, one could still be empowered with just the right amount of hipster-laden moxie.

4. Death Cab For Cutie- Transatlanticism (2003): While indie pop was breaking through to the mainstream in the early 2000s, Transatlanticism became its flagship record upon release and the album to measure to there on after. It’s easily to see why; Ben Gibbard’s bittersweet poetry and Chris Walla’s clean but immersive guitar work drew listeners in by the thousands. While the group would go on to release bigger albums, Transatlanticism remains the rock that the church of indie pop was built on, paving the way for broken hearted lovers and anyone willing to tune into The OC.

3. Jay-Z- The Blueprint (2001): The Jigga Man might have been hip-hop’s Nostradamus, showing the future of the genre with his aptly titled opus, The Blueprint. The record’s old jazz/soul feel showcased the production talents of Kanye West, a man who single handedly slanted hip-hop’s production style for the decade, and featured Jay-Z’s ruthless rhymes as hip-hop’s top MC. From start to finish, The Blueprint’s back-to-basics approach and modern execution has, pun intended, served as the blueprint for every successful hip-hop record that preceded it in the 00s.

2. Green Day- American Idiot (2004): At a time where the nation’s social climate couldn’t be any more demoralized, Green Day released a punk-rock opera that kicked ass and took names. Critical and radio recognition was overwhelming, and the Bay Area trio had struck a chord in the American psyche, revitalized their career, and expanded their sound with one colossal release. While detractors and naysayers will moan about the eyeliner and merchandising, the songs do the talking, showing the importance of rebelling against the alienation and complacency of the digital age.

1. Radiohead- Kid A (2000): In many ways, Radiohead’s grand electronic experiment is the perfect summation of the 00s, and therefore, the most important record of the decade. It was the first record to truly leak onto the Internet (via Napster), the first record to really expose the mainstream public to dense electronic soundscapes, and the first record to be meticulously crafted with computers. Simply put, Kid A reflected the iGeneration’s zeitgeist in sonic form. Before Kid A rock albums were firmly rock albums with little room experimentation, no leniency granted for evolution or artistic exploration. After Kid A, however, artists could indulge any studio impulse they desired, creating synthesized arrangements to feel as intricate or haphazard as they wished. It’s the epitome of the 00s: The idea of human potential no longer inhibited by technology, but by one’s own ingenuity. All in all, Radiohead’s Kid A is the perfect album to represent the 00s.