OUCH... my head hurts. I've been trying to turn 10 years' worth of music into a concise list - replaying albums, thinking about their impact, how the fans and critics raved. At the heart of it, I've tried to lay personal feelings aside and think objectively about the albums that shaped the Double-Os - the ones that shaped music, culture and really affected people. There's a couple of albums here I don't even like but can't ignore. But we all know deep down that musical taste is pretty subjective... oh well. Also I've limited each band to one entry only on the list so it doesn't fill up with Radiohead, Muse and Gomez albums.
41. Married Alive - The Mood Elevator (2003)
THE best album you didn't hear this decade. If you were lucky enough to hear this criminally ignored record about love gone wrong than you'll understand its power-pop charms as The Wellfed Boys re-arrange themselves to become The Mood Elevator. There are plenty of hard-rockin'-it-old-school guitars, new wave flourishes, pants-wettingly good melodies, lyrical gems and more hooks than a pirate convention. Every track is a '60s- & '70s-influenced winner, arranged perfectly for garage-pop gorgeousness or happy-angry rock 'n' roll. Buy this album... now.
42. Mer De Noms - A Perfect Circle (2000)
TOOL frontman Maynard Keenan and alt-rock guitar tech Billy Howerdel combined to make this gothic-rock/light-metal distillation of the bands Howerdel had teched for - Tool, Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails. Despite a more mainstream sound than Keenan had ever worked before, he rose to the occasion, providing pop-like hooks to the songs, which ranged from surging guitars, notably on the punchy single Judith, to disquieting tranquility of Orestes.
43. Z - My Morning Jacket (2005)
THESE critical darlings got off the family farm and into a "proper" studio, embarking on a newly focused era that took them further into The Flaming Lips territory of psychedelic-pop. Despite being about a friend's suicide, the album sounds remarkably positive, almost transcendent, as Jim James's reverbed voice swims through hints of synth and beautifully clever arrangements. The ultimate highlight amid the near-overwhelming and lingering lushness is lone single Off The Record - one of the best pop songs of the decade.
44. The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance (2006)
WHILE it remains to be seen whether emo is a passing fad, this theatrical collection will stand as the genre's benchmark. Ambitious and pomped up with rock opera elements, Gerard Way and his fellow fringe-bearers crafted a suitably death-fixated concept album that struck a chord with the black-clad crowd and left their fellow emo bands for dead. Mama and Welcome To The Black Parade remain their most elaborate and fully-formed moments to date, and for all their lyrically predictability, it's hard to knock the musical effectiveness of The Sharpest Lives or the insanely poppy Teenagers.
45. Alphabetical - Phoenix (2004)
PRODUCED within an inch of its life, the songs on this French band's second album were in danger of being swamped by the chopping, pasting and touching up. But that's part of this record's strength - that the songs are good enough to breathe within this ProTools-heavy environment. Perfect example is the stuttering funk of Everything Is Everything or the soulful pop of Victim Of The Crime. The albums that followed were also good, but the songs here are stronger, notably Run Run Run, I'm An Actor, Love For Granted and (You Can't Blame It On) Anybody.
46. Lateralus - Tool (2001)
LESS liquid than previous outing Aenema (pardon the pun), this was a mechanical monster of a metal album, filled with pummeling and grinding polyrhythms and seemingly impossible time signatures. Between the barrages of carefully constructed bombast, there were moments of beautiful eerieness, like the machine cooling down before another blast. Maynard Keenan's voice soared again, as well as taking on a new savageness on Ticks & Leeches, while Danny Carey's drumming remained breath-taking. An album of mathematical and biological complexity, Lateralus is a pleasantly puzzling combination of man and machine.
47. Renegades - Rage Against The Machine (2000)
THE definitive rap-metal act ended their recording career by going back to the beginning and re-imagining the songs that inspired them. From hip-hop heroes Afrika Bambaataa and Eric B & Rakim, to punk originators MC5 and The Stooges, to folk freedom cries from Dylan and Springsteen, it all makes up the blueprint for their rage. Full marks here to guitarist Tom Morello who managed to keep the spirit of each track yet turn each one into a piece of RATM-worthy riffage - just compare their Maggie's Farm to Dylan's.
48. Daisies Of The Galaxy - The Eels (2000)
E'S unadorned voice, simple progressions and his not-afraid-to-swear lyrics make it all seem too easy. Given that, there's almost a surprising amount of awesome songs on this record, reinforced by his habit of performing in his pyjamas, making it seem like he could make music in his sleep. But that's not giving credit where credit is due. E's ability to craft brilliantly bittersweet pop songs and embellish them with succinctly tasty arrangements is not to be scoffed at. Grace Kelly Blues, Sound Of Fear, I Like Birds, the title track, Flyswatter, It's A Motherfucker, Tiger In My Tank and Mr E's Beautiful Blues - all awesome songs on the first great album of the '00s.
49. Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - OutKast (2003)
ESSENTIALLY two solo records stuck together, this hefty double album showcased Big Boi's straight-up hip-hip on Speakerboxxx and Andre 3000's more adventurous soul-funk-pop stylings on The Love Below. The latter disc is the highlight (although Speakerboxxx is not without its moments), yielding Hey Ya!, one of the songs of the decade, as well as delivering a bold song-cycle that perhaps gave away that Andre was the real creative force behind Outkast. Despite it's diversity (or perhaps because of) the album topped the US charts not once but four times - almost unheard of in this decade.
50. Wolfmother - Wolfmother (2005)
UNFAIRLY dismissed as overly derivative (Led Sabbath or Black Zeppelin anyone?), the fact remains this a head-banging, two-devil's-horns-in-the-air rock record. Their homage to the inventors of hard rock doesn't get in the way of this being fresh yet familiar or ludicrously fun. Psychedelic dabblings, some wonderfully naff references to unicorns and other LSD touchstones and a knack for writing some serious riffage make this a big fat bag of smokin' hot rock'n'roll.
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