Best of the Decade: Introduction

As the decade of the MP3 draws to a close, I am jumping on the "let's make a list" bandwagon. Take this list (spoiler alert: the whole list is here, in a really boring HTML table) with the usual mountains of salt:

1. I am not an expert in anything, least of all music. Just because I write about music on the Web via a free blogging service doesn't mean a damned thing. Need I remind you, I am a fool. I spend one day a week dressed like this.


2. I did my best, but I surely forgot something. I have a nice collection of music, but I do not remember ever record that's come outin the last 10 years.


3. The more recent stuff has probably gotten short shrift. Timing is like that, I guess.


4. My tastes are my tastes and they probably don't reflect your tastes. Please don't e-mail me with something about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, the Hold Steady or whatever. I like Sufjan Stevens, Mogwai, etc.


5. As such, I don't listen to enough hip-hop. Take that for what it is.

I've already written about a lot of these records, including (sorta spoiler alert, if you're a detective) four of the top five and seven of the top 10. In the interest of keeping your suspense, I will post this list in 10 separate posts, over the course of the final 10 weeks of the year. Two albums came in just under the wire (including no. 100), having been released just a few weeks ago.

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The 2000s are my decade, in a lot of ways. I spent my 20s -- my defining decade -- during this decade. I fell in love. My family situation, uh, changed. I went through college and spent four years giving a lot of effort toward the greatest college radio station in the world. A scant four months before Jan. 1, 2000, I moved away from home and started college. Four years later, I left the womb of the University of Missouri for the East Coast.

When the decade began, I was 18. I am 28 now. Despite being raised Jewish, I didn't become a man in March 1994 (my Bar Mitzvah); one becomes an adult in his or her 20s. Living on one's own for the first time. It was the first time I'd had a roommate; later I had two and had to play mediator between them. I got my first job, got my first promotion and changed jobs for the first time. I

Maybe I say this because I'm in it now, but this was my defining decade. No, my favorite album of all time didn't come out in this decade; that record was released before I was born. But, the years 2000-2009 define me and will have the most lasting of all memories for me. This is the music that soundtracked those memories.

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So, without any further nonsense, I present my top 100 albums of the decade. I welcome any and all comments, of course.