Rolling Stone's Greatest Albums of the Decade

[Hotwire]

Here's the list. What are your thoughts?
Albums of the Decade
1 | Radiohead: Kid A
2 | The Strokes: Is This It
3 | Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
4 | Jay-Z: The Blueprint
5 | The White Stripes: Elephant
6 | Arcade Fire: Funeral
7 | Eminem: The Marshal Mathers LP
8 | Bob Dylan: Modern Times
9 | M.I.A.: Kala
10 | Kanye West: The College Dropout
11 | Bob Dylan: Love and Theft
12 | LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
13 | U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind
14 | Jay-Z: The Black Album
15 | Bruce Springsteen: The Rising
16 | OutKast: Stankonia
17 | Beck: Sea Change
18 | MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
19 | Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
20 | The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
21 | Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head
22 | Green Day: American Idiot
23 | D'Angelo: Voodoo
24 | Bruce Springsteen: Magic
25 | Radiohead: Amnesiac
26 | Cat Power: The Greatest
27 | The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
28 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell
29 | Sigur Rós: Ágaetis Byrjun
30 | Radiohead: In Rainbows
31 | My Morning Jacket: Z
32 | Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III
33 | Daft Punk: Discovery
34 | OutKast: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
35 | PJ Harvey: Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
36 | U2: No Line on the Horizon
37 | 50 Cent: Get Rich or Die Tryin'
38 | Ryan Adams: Heartbreaker
39 | Kings of Leon: Aha Shake Heartbreak
40 | Kanye West: Late Registration
41 | Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
42 | Elliott Smith: Figure 8
43 | The Killers: Hot Fuss
44 | System of a Down: Toxicity
45 | Kanye West: Graduation
46 | Justin Timberlake: FutureSex/LoveSounds
47 | Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes
48 | TV on the Radio: Dear Science
49 | Fiona Apple: Extraordionary Machine
50 | Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
51 | Spoon: Kill the Moonlight
52 | M.I.A.: Arular
53 | Kings of Leon: Only By the Night
54 | Norah Jones: Come Away With Me
55 | Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
56 | Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
57 | Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism
58 | Danger Mouse: The Grey Album
59 | Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights
60 | Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
61 | The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
62 | Johnny Cash: American III: Solitary Man
63 | Kanye West: 808s and Heartbreak
64 | Gillian Welch: Time the Revelator
65 | Manu Chao: Próxima Estación Esperanza
66 | Antony & the Johnsons: I Am a Bird Now
67 | Björk: Vespertine
68 | U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
69 | Missy Elliott: Under Construction
70 | Sleater-Kinney: The Woods
71 | Bright Eyes: Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Eart to the Ground
72 | Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand
73 | Coldplay: Parachutes
74 | Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Arcadium
75 | Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
76 | Sigur Rós: ()
77 | Yo La Tengo: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
78 | Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
79 | The New Pornographers: Electric Version
80 | Kings of Leon: Youth and Young Manhood
81 | Ryan Adams: Gold
82 | Queens of the Stone Age: Rated R
83 | The Black Keys: Attack & Release
84 | Eminem: The Eminem Show
85 | Coldplay: Viva La Vida
86 | The Postal Service: Give Up
87 | Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere
88 | Brian Wilson: Smile
89 | Radiohead: Hail to the Thief
90 | Amadou & Miriam: Dimanche a Bamako
91 | The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious
92 | Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
93 | Johnny Cash: Unearthed
94 | The Libertines: Up the Brackett
95 | Alicia Keys: Songs in A Minor
96 | The Streets: Original Pirate Material
97 | Wilco: Sky Blue Sky
98 | TV on the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain
99 | The Hold Steady: Almost Killed Me
100 | Leonard Cohen: 10 New Songs

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Yeah, a pretty good list.

TVOR's Return To Cookie Mountain should be much higher, though. As good as Dear Science is, it's better.

 

[Motown Marvel]

oh, rolling stone! you try so hard.

 

[The Chairman]

I think it's a really good list. I'm particularly glad American Idiot got as low a ranking as it did. I totally expected to be # 1 or # 2 on the list. It got hyped way too much back in ' 04. But looking over the list, it's very, very solid.

My one qualm is that the two Springsteen entries, should be flipped. As good as The Rising is, Magic is much better (and there's a lot of crap on The Rising).

 

[david icke]

I haven't heard 'Kid A' for quite a while, but i thought 'In Rainbows' was much better.
I would've put the Strokes at no1.
and with Outkast, if you ignore the Speakerboxx half of the (double)album and just counted The Love Below, that should be top10.

edit: Muse's 'Black holes and revelations' should be in there somewhere.
I'm not really sure that Brian Wilson's 'Smile' should qualify, considering some of the material was released on other albums over the years. But, since he had a hard time of it with that one, I don't blame them for putting it in.

 

[Speedball]

Anytime Eminem is on a list, I automatically ignore it. that man doesn't deserve anything, other than a swift kick to the balls.

 

[david icke]

Anytime Eminem is on a list, I automatically ignore it. that man doesn't deserve anything, other than a swift kick to the balls.

Eminem's first 3 albums are good, he is a good artist. He's probably a saint compared to most folk in the entertainment industry. I doubt he stabs folk in the back to get ahead like a lot of managers, performers, agents etc do. He might seem a bit brazen and a bit of a fruitcake when he loses it, but he has always seemed quite honourable.

 

[Speedball]

Eminem's first 3 albums are good, he is a good artist. He's probably a saint compared to most folk in the entertainment industry.

...
...
...
no...
...
...
...
Just...
No...
...
...
...

 

[SuperFerret]

Am I the only one who thought "damn, how many albums did the Stones put out this decade"?

As for my comments on the list, I have only one, that being "Wow, Rolling Stone has a hard on for crappy music."

 

[Speedball]

Am I the only one who thought "damn, how many albums did the Stones put out this decade"?

As for my comments on the list, I have only one, that being "Wow, Rolling Stone has a hard on for crappy music."

 

[Moridin]

Total fail for the exclusion of Tool's "Lateralus" & "10,000 Days" and Metallica's "Death Magnetic". (Especially Lateralus)

 

[Motown Marvel]

it always amazes me when people rate "elephant" over "white blood cells".

 

[david icke]

Am I the only one who thought "damn, how many albums did the Stones put out this decade"?

As for my comments on the list, I have only one, that being "Wow, Rolling Stone has a hard on for crappy music."

I am wondering what bands you guys would offer up as alternatives, or whether you are in fact just a couple of old grandpas and are excercising your right to completely dismiss contemporary music in general.

 

[SuperFerret]

Yeah, that's exactly it. It has nothing to do with how much I dislike Radiohead, The Strokes, Beck, Amy Winehouse, Coldplay, Green Day (post American Idiot), Kings of Leon, Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, and The Hives. That's not including all of the rap artists (which I generally don't like as a genre) and the bands that I've never heard of.

 

[Hotwire]

I am wondering what bands you guys would offer up as alternatives, or whether you are in fact just a couple of old grandpas and are excercising your right to completely dismiss contemporary music in general.

I would have put Metallica's Death Magnetic on the list. As well as System of a Down's Toxicity. Maybe even Cage the Elephant.

 

[david icke]

Yeah, that's exactly it. It has nothing to do with how much I dislike Radiohead, The Strokes, Beck, Amy Winehouse, Coldplay, Green Day (post American Idiot), Kings of Leon, Bjork, Franz Ferdinand, and The Hives. That's not including all of the rap artists (which I generally don't like as a genre) and the bands that I've never heard of.

Ok, it was just a jokey way of asking who you would have liked to have seen in the list.

 

[SuperFerret]

Well, the only album that I noticed was missing that I think would've warranted inclusion on the list would be Weird Al Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood. It's his most successful album yet. Aside from that, I can't think of any other albums released this decade (it's been a long one, and 01-03 seems like centuries ago) that I liked.

 

[david icke]

Well, the only album that I noticed was missing that I think would've warranted inclusion on the list would be Weird Al Yankovic's Straight Outta Lynwood. It's his most successful album yet. Aside from that, I can't think of any other albums released this decade (it's been a long one, and 01-03 seems like centuries ago) that I liked.

I have only heard a couple of tracks from him, but don't know his stuff so much, I don't tend to get into musicians that use comedy as their main thing.

You said you don't like rap music, but the 'Love Below' half of the Outkast double album is actually a rock/pop album, if you haven't heard it you should check it out, it is a great record. You will have already heard 'Hey ya!' if you own a television set. I like rap music but don't own much at all.

 

[Alistair]

Heya,

There is a few good projects up there, but most of it is Corporate wankery, IMO. Kinda like Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. =D How can Madonna, get in before Rush? =/ That's just messed up, and Rolling Stone has always hated the true music, IMO. Except Radiohead, and a few others, but for the most part.


I mean, Porcupine Tree missing? =/ Heck, even poor Mastodon, Tool, RiverSide, Kamelot (Just for Khan Alone!), Kylesa and so on. =/ Tragic, really

My 2 cents,
Ali

 

[darkseid26]

what!? no Consolers of the Lonely by The Raconteurs or Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta?

Edit: shouldn't be too mad, as long as these weren't the same people who had kurt Kobain as the 12 greatest guitarist of all time...

 

[Hotwire]

Heya,

There is a few good projects up there, but most of it is Corporate wankery, IMO. Kinda like Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. =D How can Madonna, get in before Rush? =/ That's just messed up, and Rolling Stone has always hated the true music, IMO. Except Radiohead, and a few others, but for the most part.


I mean, Porcupine Tree missing? =/ Heck, even poor Mastodon, Tool, RiverSide, Kamelot (Just for Khan Alone!), Kylesa and so on. =/ Tragic, really

My 2 cents,
Ali

You should see their list of the 100 greatest guitarists. Of course, the list is 6 years old.

 

[david icke]

Edit: shouldn't be too mad, as long as these weren't the same people who had kurt Kobain as the 12 greatest guitarist of all time...

Personally I put more stock into someone that can put more feeling into their playing, get crazy noises out of it and use them only when needed or are just more expressive, than the umpteen guitarists who are technically accomplished but sound more akin to a robot playing, and as a result are indistinguishable from each other when it comes right down to it.
12 is a little high for KC though, but he can play very well live, very expressive and unpredictable, and get the right sounds out on record when they are needed, no overplaying or show off-y bs.

sometimes you get the technically accomplished combined with the expressive, Hendrix, Dave Gilmour.
But others like Van Halen, Satriani and their ilk, no thanks, i prefer guys who actually put some thought into how much to put in and don't over egg it to the point of ridiculousness, who feel the need to show you how much they have practiced over the years to the detriment of the music.

 

[Raiden]

Muse's "Black Hole and Revelations" should be on that list.

 

[Moridin]

sometimes you get the technically accomplished combined with the expressive, Hendrix, Dave Gilmour.
But others like Van Halen, Satriani and their ilk, no thanks, i prefer guys who actually put some thought into how much to put in and don't over egg it to the point of ridiculousness, who feel the need to show you how much they have practiced over the years to the detriment of the music.

To say Satriani's stuff is not expressive or well thought out is.. well, quite laughable really.

 

[darkseid26]

Personally I put more stock into someone that can put more feeling into their playing, get crazy noises out of it and use them only when needed or are just more expressive, than the umpteen guitarists who are technically accomplished but sound more akin to a robot playing, and as a result are indistinguishable from each other when it comes right down to it.
12 is a little high for KC though, but he can play very well live, very expressive and unpredictable, and get the right sounds out on record when they are needed, no overplaying or show off-y bs.

No disrespect to KC, i just though so many other guitarist deserve to be higher up in RS's list.

PS. i'm also more into guitarist who play with feeling and don't worry how precise their playing is, they just play to play. my comment on KC was not based on his technicality.