GooseRadio

Entertainment, Information & a General Sense of Well Being

  • Home
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Contact Us
  • Podcast
    • Interpretations
    • Obama Guy
    • On ITunes
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Faith
  • Life
  • Features
    • GooseRadio Demotivators
    • GooseRadio Memes
    • Voiceover
  • Archive
You are here: Home / Culture / Best Albums of the Decade (or ‘Sorry, ’04 and ’05, You’re Not Invited’)

Best Albums of the Decade (or ‘Sorry, ’04 and ’05, You’re Not Invited’)

January 23, 2010 By Ryan Howard 6 Comments

January might be almost over, but if we concentrate hard enough, most of us can still remember those days of yore, those faint and misty memories, those nostalgia laden yesteryears that were the … um, the … the last 10 years. What are we supposed to call that decade, anyway? The two-thousands? The zeros? The aughts?

Anyway, the 00s are over, but, like any dearly departed decade, they’re still worth squeezing for every bit of sentimentality that they’re worth. In 20 years, that means the retro kids will be wearing skinny jeans while the classic rap stations play “Boom Boom Pow,” but for now, it means that I’m going to write a top 10 albums of the decade list.

“What?” you say. “A music article on GooseRadio? Isn’t that Alex’s job?” Touché, dear reader, but this is a special list: that is, it’s a list for people who aren’t Springsteen fans.

10. Black Holes And Revelations (2006), Muse

It’s a toss-up between this release and their prior effort, “Absolution,” but the British superstars showcase their variety just a little bit more on this outing. From the dramatic “Take A Bow” to the verve-driven “Supermassive Black Hole” to the incredibly flamboyant closer of “Knights of Cydonia,” you know you’re listening to a rock band that can do whatever it wants.

However, complete creative freedom didn’t ruin the three-piece band, or at least not right away. While some tracks (particularly “Cydonia”) served as forbearers of the self-aggrandizing self-parody that was 2009’s “The Resistance,” Muse managed to keep their egos in check on “Black Holes,” providing us with an album that’s just riff-laden and epic enough to enjoy.

If you’re going to buy one song on iTunes: “Supermassive Black Hole”

9. American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002), Johnny Cash

The Man in Black still had one more in him. Released less than a year before his death, “The Man Comes Around” is (mostly) an eclectic group of stripped-down covers, from bands and artists as diverse as The Beatles, Sting, Cash himself and even Nine Inch Nails.

Yes, you read that right. Cash tackled Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” on this album, and, even more amazingly, he nailed it. In fact, almost every song on the album fits Cash so perfectly that you’d swear he had penned them all himself. He imbues each track with his own personality and experiences, and those who know anything about Cash’s life will understand the parallels that each song makes to the singer.

While the covers are already fantastic, Cash saved the best performance for the title track, the one new song he wrote for the album. It has an eerie, apocalyptic feel, which is only accentuated with the passage from Revelation that Cash reads at the end. Quite simply, “The Man Comes Around” is an album written by a man who knew he was not long for this earth. He didn’t waste the opportunity.

If you’re going to buy one song on iTunes: “The Man Comes Around”

8. Fantasies (2009), Metric

The name fits, as the topics on display in the Canadian band’s lyrics flit from the serious (desensitization toward sex and violence on “Gold, Guns, Girls”) to the slightly thoughtful (an analysis of The Beatles’ longevity on “Gimme Sympathy”) to the truly fantastical (pretty words strung together on “Stadium Love”). However, the lyrics are far less important than the music on this album.

This is one of the most disciplined albums I’ve ever heard, not because of the extraordinary talent of the musicians (though they are talented) but because you get the sense that every song came out exactly the way the band wanted. Every strum is in place, every beat is precisely as catchy as it was intended to be, and every song packs just the perfect amount of aural punch.

Lead singer Emily Haines’ voice is mixed perfectly as well, acting as a finely tuned instrument of its own that ties every song together just right. Pick this one up if you’re in the mood for an album that set out to be a finely tuned exercise in catchy alternative and ended up as exactly that.

If you’re going to buy one song on iTunes: “Help I’m Alive”

7. Give Up (2003), The Postal Service

Ben Gibbard’s music fascinates me. He has experimented with folk and alternative and various other things with “Death Cab For Cutie,” goofily covered Avril Lavigne in his solo work and has now even delved into some vaguely country roots with his new project with Jay Farrar. However, my favorite entry in his catalogue is his dabblings with electronic music in The Postal Service.

Gibbard’s vocals are pitch perfect, and Jimmy Tamborello’s electronic stylings create an almost ethereal feel while still remaining pure pop. It’s also nice to hear a less dour side of Gibbard, as songs like “Such Great Heights” and “Sleeping In” mark some of his happiest work to date.

The album is so smooth and polished that it almost qualifies as easy listening, but it’s so well-crafted that you can’t dismiss it as lightweight. It’s also super accessible, so those wary of an out-of-key Japanese woman singing over terrible loops need not worry.

If you’re only going to buy one song on iTunes: “Sleeping In”

6. Lightbulb Sun (2000), Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band, which is sometimes a code name for a band that is composed of theoretically good musicians playing completely inaccessible music. Ever since 1999’s “Stupid Dream,” however, Porcupine Tree have been combining an incredibly talented and unique rock ensemble with pop sensibilities, resulting in an odd sort of genre that I’d call “prog rock for the rest of us” or, in their later albums, “the thinking man’s metal.”

Lightbulb Sun is in the first category, and it’s probably the band’s most eclectic album to date. It has all of the trappings you’d expect from a prog album – the 13-minute song, the insane guitar riffs, the audio clipping of the leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult – but it blends these elements with a desire to make truly good, even catchy, standalone songs.

While this still results in some things that sound weird – particularly the song with the Heaven’s Gate clipping and another short piano ballad about the death of a cat – the musicianship is impossible not to respect, and what sounds like a mishmash on paper actually turns out to be some finely crafted rock songs.

If you’re going to buy one song on iTunes: “Shesmovedon”

5. Keep Color (2008), Republic Tigers

This album, like “Give Up,” could be mistaken for easy listening to the untrained ear, particularly because so many of the songs (purposefully, I would argue) blend together to form a cohesive unit. Don’t let that detail throw you.

This album kind of defies a genre. It’s almost always a bit too mellow to be considered rock or alternative, but if it’s not one of those things, what is it? Heavy layering and good production values create a dense soundscape populated with both musings and flowery language, and before you know it the album is over.

That’s when you realize how catchy it was and how many well-executed musical gems are hidden beneath the seemingly innocuous presentation.

If you’re going to buy one song on iTunes: “Buildings And Mountains”

4. Rockin’ The Suburbs (2001), Ben Folds

The master of modern piano pop/rock, Folds here presents what I suspect will be remembered as his best album when all is said and done (although it will face fierce competition from his band’s “Whatever And Ever Amen”). Folds craved complete studio control over this album, and it shows: he played piano, drums, guitar and bass on the album, and several tracks rank at the top of his impressive repertoire.

Most people remember this album for the title track, which humorously takes whiny “male, middle class and white” bands like Korn to task, or for the closer “The Luckiest,” a sweet and simple love song (albeit one that is soured by knowing that most of Folds’ last album was dedicated to trashing the woman that song is written about). While those songs are good, they’re nowhere near the best of what “Suburbs” has to offer.

“Annie Waits” is an incredibly catchy, oddly upbeat song with melancholy lyrics, “The Ascent of Stan” sings mockery of the hippie wiseguy over a beautiful piano track, and “Fired” is nearly unparalleled in its snarky lyrics and jazzy keys. The best track, however, is “Fred Jones, Pt. 2,” one of Folds’ best story songs and proof that there’s a sentimental fool behind the cynical veneer. .

If you’re going to buy one song on iTunes: “The Ascent of Stan”

2. Good Monsters (2006) and Who We Are Instead (2003), Jars of Clay

Jars of Clay astound me. First of all, they are virtually unrivaled in lyrical depth, as songs like “Instead’s” “Jealous Kind” make abundantly clear. Second, their musicianship is wholly underrated, as shown by the veteran rocker sounds of tracks like “Good Monsters’” “Work.” Third, they have a nigh uncanny ability to reinvent themselves with every album and still sound exactly like Jars of Clay.

Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in a comparison of “Instead” and “Monsters.” The former deals primarily with bringing gospel and roots music into an acceptable pop format, all the while weaving in worshipful and thought-provoking lyrics. The latter album is a driving, 80s tinted rock album whose lyrics create a real sense of world weariness. Are they both Jars of Clay? Unmistakably so.

Lead singer Dan Haseltine’s vocals and lyrics shine in their uniqueness, Charlie Lowell’s keys create a perfect backdrop, Stephen Mason’s electric guitar never does too much or too little and Matt Odmark’s acoustic guitar is always impressive. While almost every album in Jars’ catalogue is worth a listen, these two stand out in front of the other four that were made in the last 10 years.

If you’re going to buy one track on iTunes (from each album): “Mirrors and Smoke” from “Good Monsters,” “Jealous Kind” from “Who We Are Instead”

1. Trampoline (2007), Steel Train

This album dominated my CD player for the better part of a year, as every friend I gave a ride to can complain – er, I mean, attest. I just couldn’t help it. “Trampoline” is the quintessence of a rock n’ roll album.

I don’t know why Steel Train decided to do an about face from their (admittedly quite good) roots as a folk/jam band, but “Trampoline” makes them sound like old hands in the genre. That’s one of the many great things about the album: while there is an undeniable freshness, rawness and “live sound” throughout the album, there are moments when the band sounds far more experienced than they really are. This is perfectly embodied in the lyrics and raspy-yet-still-melodic vocals of lead singer Jack Antonoff, who, while knowing how and when to kick a song into high gear, also has some older-than-his-years moments reminiscent of the best of Paul Simon.

That being said, it is a rock album at its heart, and rock it does. The relentless “I Feel Weird” opens the album, followed by “Black Eye,” which contains one of the best screams I’ve ever heard in a song. From there, it knows when to scale back and when to come roaring back in. In short, it’s almost perfectly paced, and there’s not a bad song on the album. Listen to it now, and support one of the most underexposed bands out there.

If you’re going to buy just one song on iTunes: Either “Black Eye” or the blatant Beatles tribute “A Magazine” (But seriously, just buy the whole thing)

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google
  • Email
  • Print

Related

Filed Under: Culture, Music Tagged With: "Shesmovendon", Ben Folds, Black Holes and Revelations, Good Monsters, Jars of Clay, Keep Color, Lightbulb Sun, Republic Tigers, Rockin' The Suburbs, Steel Train, Trampoline, Who We Are Instead

About Ryan Howard

Currently working as a journalist in Fergus Falls, Minn., Ryan enjoys writing, reading a copious amount of books and over-analyzing various ABC science fiction series. He enjoys writing about a cacophony of topics, particularly movies, music and politics.

Comments

  1. Mariah Barnes says

    October 6, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    i am like addict on trampolines, they are very nice addition to you gaming stuffs:.*

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention Best Albums of the Decade (or ‘Sorry, ‘04 and ‘05, You’re Not Invited’) | GooseRadio -- Topsy.com says:
    January 25, 2010 at 12:16 am

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by marc allan, steel train and GooseRadio, Zach Spear. Zach Spear said: RT @steeltrain RT @gooseradio The best albums of the decade (#SteelTrain is #1) http://bit.ly/8O8sDl […]

    Reply
  2. uberVU - social comments says:
    January 25, 2010 at 9:22 am

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by GooseRadio: The best albums of the decade (featuring #JarsofClay, #JohnnyCash, #SteelTrain) from new author Ryan http://bit.ly/8O8sDl #bestofthedecade…

    Reply
  3. Taking ‘Shelter’: Jars of Clay continues its slide | GooseRadio says:
    September 12, 2010 at 3:32 pm

    […] hit the stands. Why shouldn’t I have been? The band was coming off of “Good Monsters,” which I recently listed (along with another Jars album) as the second best album of the last decade. Throw in a preview EP […]

    Reply
  4. The Best (and Worst) of 2012 « Matinee Culture says:
    December 18, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    […] my best albums of the 2000s list*, I included Metric’s 2009 release “Fantasies.” Praising its seemingly meticulous […]

    Reply
  5. singapore best tourist attractions says:
    December 22, 2017 at 8:40 am

    things to do around singapore

    Best Albums of the Decade (or

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Most Popular Now

  • The 15 Greatest Moments in The History of “The Office” under Culture, Media, TV
  • GooseRadio Demotivators under Politics
  • GooseRadio Memes under Culture
  • Obama, Reagan and Feeling Wistful under Politics
  • “Lost” Lists: The Best and Worst Episodes under Culture, Media, TV

Dig in by Subject

5 Things 10 Things 2012 2016 Al Gore Barack Obama Bill Clinton Brett Favre Britney Spears Carrie Prejean Conservatism Dave Clutter Democratic Party Donald Trump Economics featured Francisco Liriano George W. Bush Goose Radio Demotivators GooseRadio Play by Play Hillary Clinton Jim Thome Joe Mauer John McCain Justin Morneau Kristina in Singapore Liberalism Massachusetts Senate Race Megyn Kelly Mike Huckabee Miley Cyrus Minnesota Twins Minnesota Vikings Mitt Romney Nancy Pelosi New York Yankees Obamacare Ronald Reagan Rush Limbaugh Sarah Palin Scott Brown Tea Party Ted Cruz Tim Pawlenty Vladimir Putin

The Latest

Connecting Our Work and Our Faith

Connecting Our Work and Our Faith

December 18, 2016 By Goose Nissley

The Trumpless Debate and the Impending Cacuses

The Trumpless Debate and the Impending Cacuses

January 30, 2016 By Goose Nissley

Hope from the Superstore

Hope from the Superstore

January 27, 2016 By Goose Nissley

The 15 Greatest Moments in The History of “The Office”

The 15 Greatest Moments in The History of “The Office”

October 24, 2015 By Goose Nissley

5 Things Mitt Romney Will Do Instead of Running for President

5 Things Mitt Romney Will Do Instead of Running for President

October 6, 2015 By Goose Nissley

My Tweets

Blogroll

  • Charles Krauthammer
  • George Will
  • Hot Air
  • Obituary Limericks

Goose Radio

  • About
  • Podcast
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Faith
  • Life
thevoicegoose
Fiverr
Seller
Crafting voice work & audio projects has been a central part of my life for 8 years now. I've worked as a pro VO guy, regional radio talk show host, radio dj & audio creative services director at American radio stations, including currently in a top market. Is coffee available?!

Subscribe!

Enter your email to receive our latest posts when they go live.

Goose Radio © 2018 · Outreach Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Podcast powered by podPress v8.8.10.17
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.