The Ten Best Records of the Decade: 2000-2009
In the last ten years I’ve noticed more and more people, peers and otherwise, expressing concern over an apparent decline in the quality of music. In a lot of ways the decline is real; look at the pop music of our parents’ generation. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers Band, Fleetwood Mac, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, Velvet Underground, The Pixies…how can we compare these acts to what we have today? Lady GaGa isn’t innovative; she’s downright formulaic. Run DMC and Biggie Smalls would be ashamed to have had influence on 50 Cent or, even worse, Soulja Boy. Even the Red Hot Chili Peppers aren’t what they used to be. Stadium Arcadium was no Californication, and John Frusciante seems to have noticed, leaving the band in late December to pursue his solo interests.
What does that leave us with? It would seem, to any casual listener, that music with any artistic merit has ceased to be. The records our fathers used to listen to are the records that we too must listen to if we wish to escape the bland, spoon-fed garbage that some higher-up decided was worth marketing. And I guess, in many ways what that higher-up did was smart. He gave the people what the people wanted: mindless music for mindless listening.
I fucking hate mindless listening. Here are ten albums from the last ten years that are really worth LISTENING to.
Kid A - Radiohead (2000) 
De-Loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta (2003)
Censored Colors - Portugal. the Man (2008).jpg)
Mirrored - Battles (2007)
The Empyrean - John Frusciante (2009)
The Moon & Antarctica - Modest Mouse (2000)
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips (2002)
De Stijl - The White Stripes (2000)
Demon Days - Gorillaz (2005)
Guero - Beck (2005)
