This is a little piece I've been wanting to write for a little while now, I listen to a good heap of music which is mostly from the 90s so when I like something new it usually blows me away to some extent. What I am about to give you is the list of albums that seemed to have blown me away, and are in the order of how good I feel they are right now. For each I would like to give a short explanation of why I like it and specific songs worth listening to and hopefully for each a suggestion of songs that should have been released as singles. The only rules to this list are that only one album is allowed per artist, no compilations/greatest hits albums and it is solely based on my opinion. So starting with the bottom we will work our way to the top, which brings me to my list...
10. The Reason - Hoobastank
I really for the life of me don't know what I like so much about this album, but I know it is one I can listen to at any time and enjoy so that means something there. I also find it funny that the single that made this album famous, and also from which the album gets it's title is easily my least favorite song on the album. The album starts out really strong seeing that Same Direction and Out of Control are probably the two best songs on this album and I would especially recommend the first for anybody to listen to (love the guitar in that song). The rest of the album (save for The Reason) follows in the same vein and while it sounds similar throughout, it is always a good listen. Since every song I have already mentioned was released as a single, I need to name another to fill my quota, so I would elect my third favorite song on the album, that being Escape, mostly because I like the drums and the chorus is a little catchy.
9. Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant
This album I really know why I put it on, and the reason is because they take all the qualities I enjoy in Jack White's music (more about this later), and apply a different energy to it. Seriously, try to listen to Ain't No Rest for the Wicked without thinking to yourself that this is just a really sweet song. All of the songs on this album are, at the very worst, easy to listen to and if you are one for playing an album full through to listen to without having any real changes, this is as good an album as many. This album shows a hell of a lot of energy in it, more notably seen in In One Ear, Tiny Little Robots, Lotus, and Judas. The singles released from this album, Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, In One Ear, and Back Against the Wall were all excellent calls in my idea, but if I had to make a complaint, it would be that Lotus wasn't a single (but there is still time for them to remedy this situation.
8. Consolers of the Lonely - The Raconteurs
Didn't I just mention my love for Jack White? This album was released far past the point when I began loving his work, but it succeeded in showing me some more ways that he can kick some ass with a guitar in his hands. After a first Raconteurs album that I wasn't particularly interested in, this album was released and brought with it a really cool southern vibe to it. To suggest some songs, I would recommend to listen to at the very least the first 8 songs on this album, each of which are really cool to me and very enjoyable. For example the piano-heavy You Don't Understand Me, and bringing in a brass section for The Switch and the Spur were some really nice ways to mix their album up. Again, no complaints with the single selections, Salute Your Solution and Many Shades of Black (both of which among my favorites on the album), I would've liked to see either the title track, or The Switch and the Spur get the single treatment, but again, no complaints at all.
7. The College Dropout - Kanye West
This was the beginning of the end for Mr. West. Before he got extremely famous and began to lose the qualities that made him famous in the first place (yet somehow got more famous for it), he was a young man with issues to discuss and did so with many heartfelt rhymes. This debut was pretty much an instant hit on the power of his first single Through the Wire, in which he rapped about an injury which caused his jaw to be wired shut with his jaw wired shut. You can't get many raps more real than that, and he even followed that up with the semi-prophetic All Falls Down, and the religiously-driven Jesus Walks. This is easily one of the most important rap albums released in the decade, and one of the very few that I genuinely enjoy listening to. I would recommend anybody to listen to Family Business, We Don't Care, Get Em' High, and Spaceship, although would only wish the last one would have been a single.
6. Audioslave - Audioslave
A supergroup?!? Yes, I put an album from a supergroup on my top 10 albums of a decade, and you know what? I would probably do so with the 90s as well. Grunge artists manage to do great things with supergroups. This time being Chris Cornell with the backing band from Rage Against the Machine, and even though sometimes in the album I pined to hear Zach De la Rocha doing his thing, this is a respectable rock album. Listen to the songs Like a Stone, Getaway Car, Shadow on the Sun and Show Me How to Live. I hope you listen to this album before any of the others because this is what should have been and Audioslave's later works were complete let downs (except for Be Yourself, which is probably their best song as a band).
5. Artist in the Ambulance - Thrice
This album is not for everyone, but I have had a love for it since the first time my brother told me to listen to it and this list is not for everyone. This is without a doubt the heaviest album on this list and is my favorite for the guitar. If you would like to listen to 12 songs of someone just thrashing on a guitar with a pretty versatile singer more or less yelling in the background (most people who I tell I like Thrice wonder how I like the singing, but truth is I love the vocal range he as and is the one thing that I think sets them apart from other bands of their type.) Their singles are all very good from this album, All That's Left was the first heavy song I learned to play, Artist in the Ambulance is easily the most approachable song on the album, and Stare at the Sun is a close second. I wouldn't really recommend any singles to be released because this isn't a mainstream album, but I would love to suggest anybody listen to Blood Clots and Black Holes for one of my favorite guitar songs ever, and also Abolition of Man is well worth listening to even if it is just for the ending.
4. White Blood Cells - The White Stripes
The first album in which I actually had to think about which album was my favorite from that artist (even if I chose Elephant it would be #4). I ended up deciding on White Blood Cells because it was a more bluesy album, and when I listen to the White Stripes I like to hear some of the blues. To talk more about my love for Jack White, this album might not be his best on the guitar, but I'm not let down by it at all, mainly because I just like the small town kid vibe of the entire album. The singles from this album, Hotel Yorba (my favorite on the album), Fell in Love With a Girl, Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground, and We're Gonna Be Friends (more commonly known as the song that plays during the intro credits of Napoleon Dynamite) were all perfect choices and in that order are probably my favorite songs on the album. But I really am disappointed I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman and Same Boy You've Always Known weren't singles either, they are both really good.
3. Hot Fuss - The Killers
It really is hard to describe how good this album is, and it is really hard to believe that even though I had this album since shortly after it's release, that it took me nearly 5 years to finally give it the full-through listen that it deserves. This album really does not have any bad songs, or hell even a bad note. To recommend a song I would just tell you to sit down and play it all the way through,. You will enjoy the singles released, Mr. Brightside (simply amazing), Somebody Told Me (barely less amazing), All These Things That I've Done and Smile Like You Mean It, and you will enjoy all the rest of the songs just as much. This album does a great job of maintaining a similar song throughout but at no point do any of the songs sound alike, which is something I find quite awesome. But please listen to Midnight Show and Andy, You're a Star, you won't regret it.
2. Speakerboxx/The Love Below - Outkast
There are incredibly many reasons why I should have put this as number one on my list. First, even though this was a set of two albums, either one would have been on this list had they been released separately under the names Big Boi and Andre 3000 respectively. Secondly, I listened to this album when it first came out and was stunned by it, I listened to this album years later and was stunned by it, and am currently listening to it and am stunned by it. This album is not number one for the sole reason that I am a total fanboy (you will understand in a second). Speakerboxx is one of the best straight rap albums that I have ever listened to, only rivaled by The College Dropout and Dr. Dre's 2001. The Love Below is a series of love songs from Andre 3000, who despite being a rapper first in old times only raps in a handful of songs on this album. To understand why Speakerboxx is so good, listen to The Way You Move and War. For a taste of the Love Below, listen to Hey Ya, Roses, and Behold a Lady (which I am going to post a video below because it is that amazing. )
1. A Crow Left of the Murder... - Incubus
To me, choosing my favorite Incubus album is what I expect it is like for a parent to choose their favorite child. Either you just are unable to do it, or it fluctuates so often that you couldn't even say because it would only be moments before the answer has changed. Luckily the decision was made a little easier since S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Make Yourself (my favorite of the bunch) were both released in the 90s. So really this spot belongs to A Crow Left of the Murder..., Morning View and Light Grenades. I chose ACLotM, because of the power that it brings with songs like Megalomaniac, Talk Shows on Mute, Sick Sad Little World, Here in My Room, and the title track A Crow Left of the Murder. I am not even going to recommend any songs for this album, but I rather will tell you to go out and buy the entire Incubus discography, I have never told anybody to do that who hasn't later returned to me agreeing that it was necessary. So yes, I am an Incubus fanatic, and only put this album above some others because I have such a deep love with them that I owed it to them. You know what I have to say to that? I genuinely do think Incubus's three albums during the 2000s were the three best albums released in the 2000s. So step off and don't try to tell me otherwise.
Honorable Mentions:Black Gives Way to Blue - Alice in Chains, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix, Backspacer - Pearl Jam, Only By the Night - Kings of Leon, and As Daylight Dies - Killswitch Engage.
If you like this list, like my recommendations, or have any music recommendations for me please write it in my comments. I'm all ears.
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