2000-2009: My Music

The first decade of the millennium saw a change in my music listening habits. About half-way through the decade, I was given an iPod as a wedding present. Almost overnight, I went from listening to full albums to listening to my vast music collection on shuffle. The idea of creating a list of my personal top ten albums of the decade seemed almost silly because of this change, but then I realized that there were a few albums that I did listen to in their entirety over and over even though I had that lovely piece of technology.

In alphabetical order because I really couldn't rank them:

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood To The Head: Undoubtedly, this will end up on a lot of "Best of the '00s" lists for music. It was a stellar sophomore album that I couldn't get enough of when it was released. I haven't enjoyed Coldplay's latter efforts and this remains my favorite album by them to date. While the tour was in support of X&Y, the 2005 concert was one of the best we've seen.

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine: After an alternate version was leaked online and fans begged her label to release the album, we finally got this from Fiona Apple. Thank god.

The Format - Dog Problems: What I wrote in my 2006 review still holds.

Fountains Of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers: This is my favorite album by FOW. It completely blew me away as I listened to it on a road trip to Rochester back in 2003. It got a mention in a Six Degrees of Music Separation post. Classic power pop music.

The Killers - Hot Fuss: "Somebody Told Me" was the hot first single and then I heard a few more on a mix CD a co-worker made for me. When Hot Fuss finally landed in my hands and was put into my portable CD player, it stayed there for months. I only wish The Killers could have matched what they accomplished on this album. It's solid.

MC Lars - The Graduate: WBER and eMusic were the two things that turned me into an MC Lars fan. I love his nerdcore style and the way he embraced the online music culture. My only regret is that I've never seen him live, but with the frequency that he comes through Rochester, NY I hope to some day!

Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious: I loved Soul Coughing in the 1990s, so I was delighted to hear that Mike Doughty had put out some solo albums. His first two albums, Haughty Melodic and Skittish/Rockity Roll, had a couple great tunes but Golden Delicious had the sound that connected. I think I could listen to "Like A Luminous Girl" on repeat all afternoon.

Morrissey - You Are The Quarry: This is the album that made me say, "He's back. This is it. This is the best thing he's done since Vauxhall And I." I was ever so glad to get to see him a second time this past March. Morrissey will always be one of my top favorite musical artists of all time.

OK Go - OK Go: Would you believe I bought this album without hearing one song off of it simply because I liked the cover and it was $9.99 at Walmart? One of my best impulse purchases ever. I had read about the album in Elle magazine, of all places, so I figured it was worth chancing $10. More power pop than you could shake a tambourine at and part of that I'm sure has to do with Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger's involvement.

U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind: This album gave me and Matt one of "our songs." We did end up using "Beautiful Day" as our "entrance music" at our wedding reception. The album was a great "come back" after putting up with Pop back in 1997. It was no small relief to hear that U2 could still create amazing music.