Hopeless Case of a Kid in Denial: My Albums of the Decade

Lists are hard. You decide what goes on the list. You decide what order they go in. You worry about what people will think. You wonder have you missed anything. You add things in. You cross things out. You bang your fists. You curse the gods. You pour blood, sweat and tears onto the page. Finally at the end of it all you get to the shop and you realize you left your bloody list at home.

Anyway, enough about groceries. Here are my ten favourite albums of the last decade.

10. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise (Asthmatic Kitty, 2005)

9. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away (Sub Pop, 2007)

8. The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet, 2007)

7. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin (Sub Pop, 2007)

6. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop, 2008)

5. Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker (Bloodshot Records, 2000)

4. Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day (New West Records, 2003)

3. The Hellacopters - High Visibility (Univseral, 2000)

2. Bon Iver - For Emma, For Ever Ago (Jagjaguwar, 2008)

1. Drive-By Truckers - The Dirty South (New West Records, 2004)

About johnmfinn

I started out drawing cats wearing glasses, now I mostly write about music, draw cats and wear glasses. johnmfinn[at]gmail[dot]com www.twitter.com/johnmfinn

17 Responses to Hopeless Case of a Kid in Denial: My Albums of the Decade

  1. Allan says:

    I haven’t seen Sufjan Stevens make any of these lists so far. Brilliant album.

  2. Ronan says:

    Son, I think I may love you. 2 DBT albums in the top five? RAWK!!!!!!!

    6 of those are in my top 110 ;)

    I also got to interview Patterson Hood a few weeks ago. Jealous?

  3. Niall says:

    I don’t think I own any of those. My list is a little more mainstream:

    1 - Muse - Origin of Symmetry
    2 - Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
    3 - Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights
    4 - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
    5 - Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
    6 - Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
    7 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
    8 - Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
    9 - Morrissey - You Are the Quarry
    10 - Arcade Fire - Funeral

  4. johnmfinn says:

    @Allan Songs about UFO’s, serial killers, Abe Lincoln. What’s not to love.

    @Ronan Did other albums by some of the same bands make it? To be honest Southern Rock Opera should have been in there too and it was pretty close to being a DBT 1/2. And yes i am extremly jealous, how did it go?

    @Niall Johnny Cash & QOTSA were both pretty close to making it. Definately top 20.

  5. Darren Byrne says:

    Band of Horses and Fleet Foxes - definitely. How about Duckworth Lewis, Richard Walters, Portishead and Placebo. I’ll have a think and come back with more.

  6. Voodoolady says:

    Sufjan Stevens is incredible live.

  7. Ronan says:

    @Darren Duckworth Lewis Method is a good album, but not top ten of the decade. It’s one of the best Irish albums this year, but Neil’s main project’s albums are better.

    Think six of Niall’s are in my 110. FF at 110. :D

    @John I have the other main Shins album there (it’s outside of the top 100 too), 110-91 are here (more tomorrow)
    and the PHoody interview here

  8. johnmfinn says:

    @Ronan How did you land the Hood interview?

  9. Ronan says:

    @John That was the last link I posted. Went great. Such a nice fella. Although he was a bit reluctant to talk about Jason, but that’s probably to be expected.

  10. travors says:

    Love, love, love Heartbreaker. When I heard Come Pick me up for the first time it blew me away. I think it’s because it was the first time someone my age, sang about something I related to so well, in a medium I love. I was hooked on Ryan Adams music from then on.

    Some great alt-country in there in general, we have similar tastes - wanna start a band?!

  11. johnmfinn says:

    @travors Let’s do it. Do you want to bring the whiskey or the heartbreak?

  12. travors says:

    @johnmfinn I’ve got barrels of both!

  13. johnmfinn says:

    @travors Give me a couple of weeks to get my beard up to scratch and we’re good to go.

    For anyone wondering about any of these albums there is now a playlist here.

  14. Pingback: How The Other Side Lives < techmodelrailroadclub.com

  15. Pingback: Culch.ie » Blog Archive » How The Other Side Lives

  16. Jesse Custer says:

    Yay for The National!!

    Boxer is the one album I recommend to everyone I know, it is an absolute masterpiece.

    And props for Band of Horses too!

  17. johnmfinn says:

    @Jesse Custer When the voice of God tells you to listen to album, you do it.