Vinylcast

A daunting task for a magazine, or single-handed blogger, a list of 100 “best” albums of a decade seems like a great way to celebrate a generation of music.  Every decade becomes a self-contained generation of music, as the 80′s saw post-disco synth-pop, and the 90′s was filled with post-metal classics from grunge to a 2-year thrash-metal explosion.

Here is my small contribution to the previous decade with a passionate, thought-out, slaved-over “Decade’s Best” list of albums.  The past decade has had the most complicated and varied music of any 10 years in history, from indie to post-metal, to a resurgence in 80′s metal bands, to bands inspired by the best the 70′s had to offer.  I sincerely hope that 2010-2020 expands on the complexity of the last decade.

Love it or hate it, but if it’s on this list it made a contribution to modern music or expanded on past contributions to earn it’s place on my list.  Any list is highly subjective, and if your favorite band is on this list, you will wish it were in the top 10.  My wife, for example wanted Depeche Mode much higher on the list, and while I thought it was the best Depeche Mode album, skyrocketing over their other albums, mature, and original, it just couldn’t “beat” bands that I thought were less polished and more original.  Regardless of your love or hate for my list, please enjoy the Vinylcast 100 albums of last decade!

1    Isis – Panopticon
2    El Caco – Viva
3    Them Crooked Vultures
4    Mars Volta – Deloused in the Comatorium
5    Clutch – Blast Tyrant
6    The Sword – Age of Winters
7    Shrinebuilder
8    Wolfmother
9    Clutch – Robot Hive
10    Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
11    Mars Volta – Tremulant EP
12    Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R
13    Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
14    Red Sparrowes – Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun
15    Hellacopters – High Visibility
16    Dwarves – Come Clean
17    Goatsnake – Flower of Disease
18    High on Fire – The Art of Self Defense
19    Mastodon – Leviathan
20    YOB – The Unreal Never Lived
21    Sleep – Dopesmoker
22    YOB – Catharsis
23    White Stripes – De Stijl
24    Ryan Adams – Rock N Roll
25    Che – Sounds of Liberation
26    Solace – 13
27    Witchcraft
28    Blind Dog – The Last Adventures of Captain Dog
29    Color Haze – All
30    Dozer – Call it Conspiracy
31    Sunny Day Real Estate – The Rising Tide
32    Probot
33    The Hives – Vini Vidi Vicious
34    Down – Down II: A Bustle in your Hedgerow
35    High on Fire – Surrounded by Thieves
36    Explosions in the Sky – Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever
37    Neurosis – Eye of Every Storm
38    Fu Manchu – California Crossing
39    Queens of the Stone Age – Lullabies to Paralyze
40    Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
41    Ryan Adams – Gold
42    White Stripes – White Blood Cells
43    Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
44    Isis – Oceanic
45    Mastodon – Crack the Skye
46    Dozer – Madre de Dios
47    Hellacopters – By the Grace of God
48    Fu Manchu – King of the Road
49    Gnarles Barkley – St Elswhere
50    Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
51    Jets to Brazil – Perfecting Loneliness
52    Egypt
53    Firewater – Psychopharmacology
54    Foo Fighters – In Your Honor
55    Abdullah
56    Black Mountain – In the Future
57    Mystic Krewe of Clearlight
58    Red Sparrowes – At the Soundless Dawn
59    Tom Waits – Alice
60    Spiritu
61    Thumlock – Sojourns Lucid Magic
62    Sunn 0))) – Altar
63    Mellowdrone – Box
64    Sucking the 70s – Compilation
65    Hank Williams III – Lovesick, Broke and Driftin’
66    Deftones – White Pony
67    The Black Keys – Thickfreakness
68    Sunn 0))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
69    Pelican – The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
70    Depeche Mode – Playing the Angel
71    Cave In – Jupiter
72    Corrosion of Conformity – In the Arms of God
73    Alabama Thunderpussy – Constellation
74    At the Drive In – Relationship of Command
75    Sixty Watt Shaman – Seed of Decades
76    Fireball Ministry – FMEP
77    Mushroom River Band – Music for the World Beyond
78    Pelican – City of Echoes
79    Minus the Bear – Highly Refined Pirates
80    Mastodon – Blood Mountain
81    Kevin Drew – Spirit If
82    Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris
83    Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
84    The Black Keys – Attack and Release
85    Girls Against Boys – You Can’t Fight What You Can’t See
86    Spirit Caravan – Jug Fulla Sun
87    Torche – Meanderthal
88    Brant Bjork – Local Angel
89    Beck – Modern Guilt
90    Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Baby 81
91    Dead Meadow – Shivering King and Others
92    Earth – The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull
93    Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
94    Electric Wizard – Let Us Pray
95    Beck – Sea Change
96    Derek Trucks Band – Songlines
97    Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
98    Metallica – Death Magnetic
99    Burning Brides – Fall of the Plastic Empire
100    Dead Meadow – Old Growth

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