When we looked at Pitchfork’s 20 Greatest Songs Of The ’00s, we also went through the entire list and found the 15 songs they included from 2009, noting that Animal Collective was far and away the the highest placer from our current 12 months. A great song doesn’t always equal a great album, but in this case, it worked out for Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and Geologist: Merriweather Post Pavillion did very well in Pitchfork’s 20 Greatest Albums Of The ’00s, too. (Actually, A.C. and A.C.-related projects placed multiple times across the Top 200 list — two in the Top 20 — basically winning the > contest by a landslide.) Since Merriweather Post Pavillion is the only ’09 album in the Top 20, those of you with short memories will have lots of rediscoveries. (As far as other buzzed about ’09 records, Bitte Orca made it to 56, Veckatimest to 42.) Fans of a certain kind of rap should be happy. Your Dad might be, too. Fans of any kind of metal will weep bitter tears. Finally, if we’re to believe the folks at Pitchfork, 2002 and 2000 were pretty good years and 2001 wasn’t any slouch either.
20 Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights [Matador, 2002]
19 Spoon – Kill The Moonlight [Merge, 2002]
18 Kanye West – Late Registration [Roc-A-Fella, 2002]
17 LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver [EMI/DFA, 2007]
16 Sufjan Stevens – Illinois [Asthmatic Kitty, 2005]
15 The Knife – Silent Shout [Mute/Rabid, 2006]
14 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion [Domino, 2009]
13 OutKast – Stankonia [La Face, 2000]
12 The White Stripes – White Blood Cells [Sympathy For The Record Industry, 2001]
11 Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele [Sony, 2000]
10 The Avalanches – Since I Left You [Modular/Interscope, 2000]
09 Panda Bear – Person Pitch [Paw Tracks, 2007]
08 Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun [Smekkleysa; 2000]
07 The Strokes – Is This It [RCA, 2001]
06 Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antarctica [Epic, 2000]
05 Jay-Z – The Blueprint [Roc-A-Fella, 2001]
04 Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot [Nonesuch, 2002]
03 Daft Punk – Discovery [Virgin, 2001]
02 Arcade Fire – Funeral [Merge, 2004]
01 Radiohead – Kid A [Capitol, 2000]
Most of the writeups cover what you’d expect them to cover, but I like what Ian Cohen writes in his blurb on Funeral. Even if I don’t necessarily agree, it does raise some interesting (and appropriately dramatic) questions:
Will there ever be another album like Funeral? Sounds silly considering the second half of this decade has seen plenty of bands establish nice careers by ripping off the communal euphoria that Arcade Fire made fresh after four years of rock records that boasted metropolitan chic, emotional austerity, or lyrical removal– the music was amazing, but it was all kind of a downer. It’s debatable that Funeral itself is even original– considering they share a label, love of archaic brass and string instruments, and an undeniable ability to wring life affirmation in the face of personal tragedy, it might just be a crossover version of Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
But besides being a turning point for indie rock, Funeral was one for the indie community as well. Whether it’s due to increasingly fractious listening habits or the increased ability for dissenters to be heard, Funeral keeps on feeling like the last of its kind, an indie record that sounded capable of conquering the universe and then going on to do just that. The consensus hyperbole that met Funeral resulted in any record that threatened to reach that level becoming met with severe scrutiny or even outright derision. And still, we wonder if there will ever be anything quite like Funeral — something tells me that as music becomes even more readily available to us in the next decade, we’ll still go through it all in the hopes we can find something with the unifying force and astounding emotional payload that only albums like Funeral can provide.
Not one pun on the word “funeral”? You can read the rest of those Top 20 blurbs at Pitchfork.
You Might Also Like
 Hear Macy Gray Cover Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Radiohead, Arcade Fire |  Winners Of The 2007 Gummy Awards |  Quakers – “Fitta Happier” Video (Feat. Guilty Simpson &… |  Hear OK Computer & Kid A 8-Bit Style |
 |
 |
What if the most awesomest album of the decade comes out in the next 3 months?
srsly. Dylan XMas anyone?
they still gonna put kid a on top.
It will. It’s called “Yup, I just did that sh*t” by Kanye West.
Or the next 15 months, seeing as how that’s actually the amount of time left in the current decade.
Really, Johnnyboy? So, the year 2000 was actually part of the 90′s? You learn something new everyday.
The answer to your question is yes. 2000 is the 10th year of the decade spanning 1991 to 2000.
Seth (and anyone else who voted my comment down), it’s called the Gregorian calendar. Please look it up. Apparently Pitchfork has discarded it and resides in a universe in which there was a year zero, but the rest of the world hasn’t. With no year zero, the first decade of the Common Era was years 1 through 10. That means the current decade consists of the years 2001 to 2010.
While what you’re saying is correct, Pitchfork’s list isn’t called “The 20 Greatest Albums of the DECADE” it’s called the “The 20 Greatest Albums of the ’00s”. ’00 is part of that time span. ’10 is not.
I always think that. I always…always…think that.
What a failure of a list. The only agreeable ranking on there is “Kid A”
This list is actually full of great albums. I wish they included Let it Bloom by the Black Lips, though.
if you’re going to state an opinion such as that, back it up with suggestions. no hatin, I’d just like to see a barometer
Kid A and Funeral can stay where they are. Now let’s shuffle the rest up.
In Rainbows at 21 I found a little odd, higher than Amnesiac.
agreed
they are releasing a list in january of notable albums of the next 3 months
i dunno, i think it’s a pretty damn solid list. of course, it doesn’t exactly mirror what my own choices would be, but come on, you can’t expect that from a comprehensive list like this. my only beef is that, in my opinion, the second half of the decade had music being made by artists not named animal collective that was better than the music being made by artists named animal collective.
like Panda Bear?
Where is Bon Iver?
#29.
Where is Fever To Tell is more like it.
I agree. I thought For Emma was one of the best albums ever. :/
Ys should be top 20.
Most glaring omission I found was Demon Days/Gorillaz. I would have picked Lifted rather than Fevers and Mirror’s for Bright Eyes too.
Actually, the I found the most surprising, if not glaring omissions from the list (the whole list, not only the top 20) were The Unicorns (ranked in the top 10 in 2003) and PB&J’s Writer’s Block, which they totally loved. Personally I’ve listed to either of those albums more than I have Kid A in the past 10 years. But that’s just me.
Is ths list perfect? No. Is any list perfect? No. While I do think there were some albums that they missed(Frog Eyes? Menomena?), I have no problem with the top 20 and with this list. As for the whole AC v. GB thing, they’re both great. We all win.
My only gripe: omission of Apologies to the Queen Mary. Otherwise this list is good enough.
#89.
Eh, can always complain, but it’s not bad. Apologies to Queen Mary higher, top 50 at least. I’ve always liked I Am Not Afraid of You… better than And then Nothing… personally.
And, yeah, 13 of top 20 going to first three years? Either playing it safe or sentimental?
Those first three years were significantly better than any other stretch this decade.
2009 comes close, but it’s tough to put these albums in any context just yet. Also, I think 9/11 probably gave those albums a much stronger context in people’s lives.
Good list overall, despite some minor quibbles.
This makes me feel so cool because I own all of these except interpol
I signed up for an account just so I could say I didn’t like it.
The Moon & Antarctica being #6 makes me forgive them for anything else that happened on this list, but still The Glow, Pt. 2 is only #73, c’mon that’s a top 50 album easily
What about GSY!BE’s Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven? (2000)
#65.
Thank you for being here on this earth and blasting everyone’s ‘where is ‘blah” questions with an immediate answer. Thoroughly enjoying this comment read.
I can respect this list.
I wonder if someone will call pitchfork pretentious in the following comments – or grumble about how much they hate it.
Um, Primal Scream XTRMNTR where are you??
18 of the 20 there were easy calls for me, and even then only because i’m not well-versed in what rap is considered good. not dissatisfied with the top 20, just plenty that should’ve been higher (ys, blueberry boat) or included just at all (post-nothing)
Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Kanye West, and Arcade Fire have no place on that list. But otherwise it’s pretty good.
(I also strongly dislike LCD Soundsystem and “Sound of Silver” but i’m willing to concede that it’s everyone’s favorite album or something)
Elliot, I’ve got West and Stevens as two of the best artists of the decade myself; if you don’t like them, fine, but saying they don’t deserve to be on the list is a little much.
WOW.
Sufjan and Arcade Fire are incredible and Kanye’s a genius, look past who he is and listen to his music. It’s brilliant. Arcade Fire DEFINITELY deserved #2, if not #1.
Don’t get me wrong. I like listening to Kanye. I’m just saying,
sampling music like whoa! and having witty (read: not poetic. just humorous.) lyrics only makes you a really good rapper with catchy hooks. it does not make you a genius. He is not exactly reinventing a genre.
(also error on my previous comment. i meant to clarify that arcade fire belongs on the list but i just wouldn’t place them as high as pitchfork chose to. [not that i expected them to do otherwise of course given the perfect 10 it recieved])
Funeral got a 9.7 and beat out some other 10s like YHF and source tags and codes so shutup elliot
I soooooo agree with you with LCD, I’ve tried so hard to get into that dude… nothing still…
your comment is fucking moronic. my god
Insightful commentary! You really lent something to the discussion today! Have fun at dinner!
so why are you on stereogum or even reading anything remotely like pitchfork? you probably should be reading other sites that you agree with. its what everyone does on the internet.
How does “Kill the Moonlight” rate higher than Ga Ga…?
I am wondering the same exact thing. I liked Kill The Moonlight , but i find Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga to be absolute perfection.
I think ga ga ga ga ga is great, but nowhere near kill the moonlight. And in my personal opinion, neither of those are as good as gimme fiction. Have you listened to The Beast And Dragon, Adored lately? JESUS CHRIST
YES! gimme fiction is my favorite album of the decade
Where the fuck is Ursa Major?!?
Super bummed “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” didn’t make the list. But at least Fevers and Mirrors did. according to p4k Wide Awake=8.7 F&M=5.4 what?
what do you think this list will look like in ten years when they make it all over again? certainly different, yes, but kid a, yankee hotel foxtrot, and funeral aren’t going anywhere. they are one-of-a-kind, near-perfect albums.
you can’t possibly expect an objective list that chronicles an entire decade while you’re creating it within that decade. but pitchfork knows (certain types of) music, and their analysis (of those certain types) of music is pretty on pretty much all the time. that’s why stereogum pulls 90% of its news from pitchfork. that’s why we expected them to post something about this list right before the long weekend. and that’s why i’m pretty confident that this is a fairly legitimate list. did you read that description? that man feels music.
that being said, veckatimest higher than yellow house is a travesty, and that list in ten years will almost certainly reflect that.
I’M OLD GREEEGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! (mangina reference)
but why stay fixated on the best the greatest = i mean i know that this is america and i too (prolly like you) am a american not an americant. but why feed into it?
biggest building
fastest plane
largest burger
richest milkshake
yawn. who cares. is there such as thing as being too plugged in? leave something for those of the future.
NEWS FLASH – i would love to see a list of the years 1900 – 1909 top albums!
I just find it weird that the Lemon of Pink is completely missing.
Also a bit surpised Person Pitch out ranks MPP.
Seeing that I own 17 out the 20 albums on this top 20, I can agree with most but not all of the picks PF decided to go with. I would personally do some minor changes with it though…
20 OutKast – Stankonia [La Face, 2000]
19 Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes [Sub Pop; 2008]
18 Lill Wayne – Tha Carter III [Cash Money, Universal, Young Money, 2008]
17 The National – Alligator [Beggars Banquet; 2005]
16 Sufjan Stevens – Illinois [Asthmatic Kitty, 2005]
15 The Knife – Silent Shout [Mute/Rabid, 2006]
14 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion [Domino, 2009]
13 Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights [Matador, 2002]
12 The White Stripes – White Blood Cells [Sympathy For The Record Industry, 2001]
11 Jay-Z – The Blueprint [Roc-A-Fella, 2001]
10 Liars – Drum’s Not Dead [Mute; 2006]
09 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest [Warp; 2009]
08 Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun [Smekkleysa; 2000]
07 The Strokes – Is This It [RCA, 2001]
06 Portishead – Third [Island/Mercury; 2008]
05 Arcade Fire – Funeral [Merge, 2004]
04 The Libertines – Up the Bracket [Rough Trade; 2002]
03 …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – Source Tags & Codes [Interscope; 2002]
02 Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot [Nonesuch, 2002]
01 Radiohead – Kid A [Capitol, 2000]
There. That’s better.
their’s is better, and the reason being is that theirs has The Moon & Antarctica
Thank god you were here! Our of all the records that were released in the past ten years you barely rearranged their list to perfect it down to perfection. Brilliant!!
Your list makes much more sense. you should write for pitchfork or something.
I upvote you for Trail of Dead alone, a record that Pitchfork originally gave a perfect 10 to and now is… nowhere on the list. Okay, it may be on the list – I stopped looking.
Thank you so much for putting your time and effort into YOUR list and sharing it with us all. I will forget about it in a matter of minutes, but I do want to thank you before I move along with my day.
I agree that Fleet Foxes should have been there…but Kid A would’ve been my number 1 too… call me nostalgic if you will!
Doesn’t anyone else think green day’s american idiot should be on here. I know there not indie and too mainstream. But if its good music its good music. That album made a statement. It was the greatest punk album ever. If you can try to be balanced and put rapper on there, you can fit green day. Overall im cool with the list though
That’s better? You removed The Moon & Antarctica from the Top 20; that automatically makes things worse! Regardless of the other changes you made to the list to better suit your sensibilities. I could care less about your personal preference, it is morally reprehensible to remove such a flawless album from the Top 20, lol.
I think it’d be interesting to do this list based on the ratings that Pfork gives in its album reviews. For example, The Avalanches album, at #10, got a 9.5, while Panda Bear, at #9, got a 9.4. So according to that, The Avalanches should be ranked higher.
I don’t think the ratings make sense in relation to this list, Rooty by Basement Jaxx got a 3.5 but its in the top 40 I think
Daft Punk originally got a 6.4. Ryan Schreiber basically hated everything about it that everyone now loves.
The album ratings are the opinion of the specific writer assigned to review that album, while this list is the result of a vote by everyone at P4K. There are bound to be some discrepancies between the two.
I’m glad they didn’t rank this based solely on the scores assigned upon release. I think it’s pretty evident that the staff as a whole took stock of what albums had held up exceptionally well over the years (e.g. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was ranked number 11 on the ’00-’04 list, but here it was number 4…which is much more fitting).
The only albums for which this list isn’t “fair” are the recent releases, say those from 2008 and 2009, because they haven’t had time to sink in with people like, say, Kid A or YHF or Funeral. Kid A still sounds fresh and exciting and revelatory 10 years later, and that’s why it is number 1…however, who knows if something released recently is capable of usurping it. I guess we’ll know in 5 years or so after the recent releases have had time to really “sink in.”
(For the record, I don’t think any recent release is better than Kid A, but that’s my opinion. But I’d put Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born at number 1, and I don’t think it made the list at all. Oh well.)
I’m pretty sure that the reason it doesnt coincide is because each writer ranks the album themselves, not the whole staff. its the staff that votes and compiles the list. so brian would rank an album 9.5, but probably be trumped by the voting when a list was made.
“Dear Science” deserves to be in the top 20.
I cry for Brian Wilson.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed reading their list and passages about the albums, and I thought they did a good job with the placings. However, Pitchfork seem to be overdoing the lists these days. Everytime they do one, it seems to make all the previous ones obsolete because the placement (or non-placement as the case may be) of the albums changes so much. Albums like CYHSY’s debut and Brian Wilson’s Smile, which both got 9/10 and placed in their respective end of year lists ( the latter as high as #5!), didn’t even make the top 200 of the decade. Others like Daft Punk’s Discovery (I love it personally, just so you know before berating me), which got a 6.4 first time round and didn’t make the end of year list, comes in at #3 of the decade. It all seems strange to me, and makes me distrust any of Pitchfork’s ratings and lists.
Yeah, I know that reviews are only written by one journalist and it’s only that one person’s opinion, but you’d hope (if not expect) that there would be some consensus made between at least a few of the publication’s journalists before they hand out ratings.
ha, i agree they’re overdoing it a bit.
but i think it’s the benefits of the hindsight. evaluations at present moment are bound to differ from opinions from before, especially considering they take into account how influential each album is in this decade.
too much kanye west. nice to see madvillian at #25.
I do kinda sort like the West appearances on the list even though only Late Registration is the only album of his I’d place. I’d put that very highly, too, FTR.
Madvillainy (and Donuts) was great, and the scattered Outkast was fine, but there wasn’t a whole lot of backpacker rap on the list. It was mostly Wu and Jay-Z when they brought up rap. I would have liked to have seen Danger Doom, mmm….Food?, and maybe even the latest Monch on the list.
Even if you don’t love every album on this list, it’s pretty hard to argue against any of the picks. Yes, its easy to think, “well where’s (fill in any of your favorite albums)??” But then you need to remember, Pitchfork didn’t really compile a list of the “Best Albums” of the decade (if one could even be compiled), they compiled a list of albums that had a large impact on a wide group of people, and continue to be influential / highly regarded as definitive artistic statements.
With that said, there are definitely a few that I would toss out. I don’t really prefer to listen to hip-hop or (relatively) straight-forward rock music. Goodbye Kanye, Jay-Z, Ghostface, Spoon, White Stripes, Modest Mouse.
My top 20 would’ve included Boards of Canada – Geogaddi, Burial – Untrue, Royksopp – Melody AM, Basement Jaxx – Kish Kash, and Hot Chip – The Warning. But that’s because my personal preference is for electronic music.
This top 20 is very safe, as it should be. Most of these albums landed in the top 1/2/3 spots for their respective years. If they threw in any curveballs, people would call bullshit. Pitchfork put out a pretty bullshit-proof top 20, and I’m okay with that.
(But really, no Royksopp even in the Top 200, and so many of goddamn Kanye’s albums?!?! Really?!?!)
kid a should have been higher.
pitchfork is to animal collective as preteen girls are to the jonas brothers
that said, it’s nice to see kill the moonlight at #19
Hollinndagain was their original number 1 before they instituted the only 3 albums per artist rule.
Pretty great list actually. Most of the big ones are there. Some nice surprises like Bonnie Prince Billy, Andrew Bird, D’Angelo, “Alligator”, “Tallahassee”, Constantines, Jim O’Rourke, PJ Harvey, Beta Band, Ryan Adams’ only good record, etc…
I’m truly surpsised at the lack of big Deerhoof albums and Castaways and Cutouts. Also, I thought P-fork writers were crazy about Smile, Lemon of Pink, and the Liars debut. Those records are probably in the next 201-250 though.
Also, I wish more people cared about CYHSY debut. Such a good album. Overall, this is definately a fun list.
I would like to add that it’s funny how tentative the staff was to put more 2009 records on the list. You can tell they take it pretty seriously, and don’t want to place a 2009 record that in 2 years falls out of favor. Obviously they put the year’s Big 3, but I thought maybe Phoenix or Japandroids would be there.
Right, but the fact that they didn’t put Logos by Atlas Sound on there, is sort of lame. Also, it’s suprising that there was only oneElliott Smith album on the list. And another surprise was the lack of “big hyped” p4k approved lo-fi bands, where really only No Age(who made it twice), The Go! Team The Microphones, The Mountain Goats and Exploding Hearts. Big nod to having Cannibal Ox on there though, The Cold Vein’s one of the best rap albums of the decade.
How many albums has Neko Case released since 2000?
Exactly. Every album she releases is pure perfection.
Agreed! Kind of sad that isn’t included at all.
shouldn’t their top albums of the past 10 years, make up their top 10 records of the decade…? Or at least have them in the top 20….
individual staff lists coming soon i hope? surely dbt got love from someone…
Agreed! DBT should have had at least 2 albums on this list.
Decoration Day, Southern Rock Opera. & Brighter Then Creation’s Dark are better then a lot of albums on this list.
Maybe they need to move to Brooklyn or something.
some unfortunate omissions:
neko case – fox confessor brings the flood (blacklisted was great, but this is better)
the appleseed cast – low level owl vol. i and ii (for a while people called them “the american radiohead,” which is of course ridiculous, but one of the best double albums of the ’00s)
british sea power – the decline of british sea power (pure rock history, i.e. a historical text as rock music before the overrated flop “do you like rock music?”)
owls – owls (tim kinsella’s finest record and maybe my favorite of the decade, but that’s just my palate)
________
mclusky – do dallas – glad it made the top 100.
ba dum
I like SubSickAlien’s list better.
Still…. Pitchfork seem to be mostly on the ball with this list, despite a few personal disagreements.
keep listening to pitchfork you blind hipsters. top 20 shit list of 2000′s
You’re cool.
I really think that YHF and The Moon and Antarctica are tied for #1 with Kid A at #3, but my only real gripe is that Fever Ray did not make the top 200 at all. Imo, it is better than MPP, Bitte Orca, and Veckatimeist, as far as the recent albums go. (Tho I love all 4, obv)
Totally agree. Seeing it performed live this past week solidified it for me, that album is absolutely incredible.
where is kelly clarkson?!?!
man I hate these lists.
agreed that the unicorns, clap your hands say yeah and writer’s block should’ve been on the list…
would’ve liked to see beirut on there as well
I’d have the Unicorns in my top 5 and the Hot Snakes’ Suicide Invoice in my top 10 (Automatic Midnight would be on there somewhere too), but that’s just me. Also, Love + Theft by Bob Dylan is a great record, and I don’t see why that wouldn’t be included somewhere in the top 200, unless maybe they thought it was too dad rock/Grammys rock.
The thing that will date this list most in years to come is probably its emphasis on keyboards over guitars, especially since “rock was back” at the start of this decade, and it produced some really amazing shit, like Guitar Romantic, Up the Bracket, etc., that hopefully will be looked back upon fondly in addition to all the great electronic-leaning records that came out.
pitchfork suuuuuuuucks. where’s Pedro The Lion, M. Ward? A Ghost Is Born isn’t even in the top 200… effing loozers.
Pitchfork hated (or at least really disliked) A Ghost Is Born, which I think is a crime; it was my favorite album of the decade. But hey, opinion is opinion, right?
Smog/Dongs of Sevotion
Grandaddy/The Sophtware Slump
Danielson/Ships
Silver Jews/Bright Flight
Stephen Malkmus/Face The Truth . . .
. . . And two more Deerhoof albums (any from this decade, really, aside from “Halfbird”) should have been in the top 50 (not making the list at all is crazy–Bright Eyes instead of Smog when Conor Oberst is a poor man’s Bill Callahan? really??!). I think the majority of us will agree that the incredibly high placement of the Vampire Weekend album is the most egregious ranking of all. But otherwise a good list. Kid A is definitely number one.
No Blitzen Trapper’s “Furr” in the top-200 ? Sorry, but these guys don’t listen to a larger range of music I am afraid, so this list is pretty narrow IMO.
That’s very true.
They listen to the lightest electronic and rock, indie, some rap (obvious “underground” and the top 40 outliers who are generally quite good [i.e., Jesus Walks over Crank Dat]), and then the list gets pretty well shot.
Nothing from artists older than Radiohead or Tweedy. Nothing from metal (I don’t remember 1 from the 200, but I’m not even a tourist to metal these days and I might not recognize even the prominent band’s names), nothing from a whole lot of genres.
That’s not really a weakness–they’re fairly diverse in their reviews, and you can’t cover everything.
The best of this list is that the top 40 junk (save for Jaz-Z) is mostly gone. The singles list had just a few too many Clarksons and Beyonces for my taste.
What metal would people have had on here then?
and lightspeed champion-falling off the lavender bridge should have been way high on the list but it’s not even there
No At The Drive-In? Relationship of Command was probably the last great rock record of the 00′s…at least until the first Mars Volta record
wish I could add more upvotes!
a bright eyes album other than fevers should have made it at least into the top 50. (wtf they gave fevers like a 4, and im wide awake an 8.7 or something like that…)
this list is really cliche.
radiohead is fucking overrated.
PF need to get out a little more often. There is plenty of great music that is out of their little box. They seem more into what’s cool and hip instead of interesting and worthwhile. There’s more to music than indie and hip hop. Much more. And yes I do own or have listened to all 20 on that dumb list. Kanye West? Please.
I that most of the “cool and hip” music they placed is “interesting and worthwhile,” however I do agree there’s plenty of music that’s “interesting and worthwhile” that isn’t “cool and hip” and so it doesn’t make the list.
also, you gotta factor in that these guys MADE a lot of these albums “cool and hip” in the first place so you can’t really diss on pitchfork for repping certain albums that they were largely responsible for popularizing.
you CAN however look to the follower blogs and criticize them for making a list of “cool and hip” music and basically being the average between their own personal taste and pitchfork.
Stereogum for example. Do they HAVE to be like in their little blurb, “The albums that you fuckers are into are probably the one’s who have received 9′s RECENTLY and here’s how those three brooklyn bands performed.”
no one thinks the flaming lips should be higher? of course the veckamist album should!!
Where is Amy ?
where the fuck are the Arctic Monkeys ?
where is the Radiohead’s corollary : Portishead. ?? (with Third)
Although I can’t really complain about the overall albums in this list, Brian Wilson is a huge omission
“Smile”? That version though pleasing is really just a Civil War reenactment…But then the past 12 months might have been the most 1966 since 1966 which makes it maybe my favorite year for new music that I’ve actually been alive for…
And finally let’s do some french lobbying
where in the ranking are
Sebastien Tellier’s l’incroyable vérité (2000)
Noir désir, des visages des figures (2001)
Daniel Darc – creve coeur (2004)
by the way don’t we all agree that early 00′s were really great years ?
by the way #2 : Actually this ranking does not mean anything because we all now that the only true 1st one of the 00′s will ever remain Godspeed you black emperor’s four albums… Yes yes it will
A small comparison of the lists from different decades: The 70′s list had a couple of artists with 4 albums on the list (at least David Bowie and Led Zeppelin), 80′s had a few with 3 albums (Pixies, Sonic Youth, R.E.M., The Replacements, off the top of my head), in the 90′s list, 2 was the maximum (at least Radiohead, Nirvana, Weezer, Pixies, Björk, Massive Attack, probably others). I always thought that this was a consequence of more music being released. But, on the top 100 of this list, you again have several artists with 3 albums (Spoon, Animal Collective, Kanye West, and of course Radiohead). What does this mean?
I didn’t anyone on the comments mentioning the 00-04 list they did. How similar are these lists? I sort of felt like many of the voters went back to their lists five years ago and just moved things around a bit, because these lists are very similar, especially nearer the top.
Did you note that they gave “I Get Wet” 0.6 when it was released and now it was on the list of the best albums?
well for starters it means
– Kanye is the safe choice for white hipster boys to like, just like Ghosface. Spoon is also on the AC bandwagon, Radiohead is the only deserving one.absolutely expected everything on the: white – anglosaxon – hipstercentric – list of the albums of the decade blah blah blah…. don’t even know why i’m writing this, as pathetic as going trough this list and imagining the “diversity” in those offices… ugh ugh ugh and guacks and vomiting sounds…
horrible.
horrible…
yeah man, of course it’s all white hipstercentric music. why? because pitchfork’s readers are primarily white hipsters. and because pitchfork’s staff is mostly comprised of white hipsters. all these cries for diversity are ridiculous; it’s like coming down on a vibe magazine end-of-year list for not including animal collective. silliness.
yeah i know you’re right, but i still like to complain. i feel that if Pitchfork is in a position of influence, that they should use it for something good, who knows, maybe introduce people (white kids) to something they might not know about, something or somebody that is not Animal Collective.
Also its not exactly how you said it, because no, there is not Animal Collective in a Vibe list, but there is Kanye West and Wu Tang Clan and Jay-Z in a Pitchfork list, so you tell me… I think the list should have a diffferent name, maybe “inde rock – indie music” at least it would make a bit more sense. Or even give a shout out to Anti-Pop Consortium, some hip hop that’s not the mainstream.
Aaaaand… not to mention the fact that its a total douche move to jump the gun on this decade that’s not over yet. Specially with the new Atlas Sound on the way! whooo -hoooo! but nothing that will come out in the next 4 months will be aknowledged by them so they don’t look like idiots… aarrgh!! WTF!
well shit, i hear you. i guess what i’m trying to say is that you can’t reasonably expect pitchfork to include albums they haven’t previously shown an affinity for. they pick and choose what they want to hype up, and that’s just the way it is. and they can’t cover everything. agreed, though; i have no doubt that there were plenty of great albums this decade that pitchfork didn’t even bat an eyelash at. the list shouldn’t be taken as a definitive statement on the decade’s best music – it’s just the pitchfork staff’s opinion. i know my list would be pretty different.
but yeah, i too think it’s lame that, for whatever reason, pitchfork insists on having a hard-on for jay-z, lil’ wayne, kayne – mainstream rappers that don’t really fit in with pitchfork’s indie “aesthetic.” kinda feels like a misguided attempt to harness in more readers. and if you ask me, kanye is little more than a b-squad talib kweli and a fuckin d-bag to boot. number 18 my ass. i seriously do not understand the mass appeal of that guy.
and finally, yes, logos will be epic! they should’ve reserved a spot for it at, like, 75 or something. just to play it safe.
i think this list is pretty narrow too..
only popular / contemporary works / genres are cited here,
but then again, thats what this list is probably supposed to be.
if this were the 10 commandments of music in the ’00′s i’d be an ignorant sinner.
Any list that does not include Fennesz’s Endless Summer is broken.
This list is broken.
#26.
Juana Molina’s “Un Dia” has been just as big as “Merriweather” for me this past year…Bowie and Eno in the tropics at the height of their creativity…
How is it that so many other albums are better than Illinois? That record is a masterpiece.
I was surprised by the absence of Wolf Parade and Joanna Newsom in the Top 20, but it’s easy to forget that this is a voting system; a few guys and maybe one girl could’ve voted those two albums really high, while the rest either felt very strongly about not liking them and either didn’t list them at all, or placed them really low.
once again, we all agree “only by the night” sucked, but where’s the “youth and young manhood love”?
i also don’t get why “room on fire” gets such a bad rap. that album is grossly underrated.
kanye’s late registration did not come out it 2002.
so completely fucking sad that destroyer’s your blues was not in the top twenty. such a beautiful album.
The national’s boxer is better than alligator, and in my opinion, is a solid enough album to make the top 25….also, yellow house is better than veckatimest, because it is much more dense and moving!
the 2000s aren’t over yet. why do this today?
where’s the new girls record?
Was Labor Days really not on here? The whole list, that is. I didn’t see it.
TOOL – LATERALUS
or is that not cool enough for this ultra hipster list?
agree. Tool should be a critic’s fave but the hipster scene doesn’t agree. too bad Aenima isn’t from this decade, I would’ve put it in my top 5. also agree that Lateralus should be on this list, as well as at least one of TMV’s albums. too mainstream?
hot chip will break your legs!
have you guys never heard of subjectivity?
Here’s some specific albums I didn’t see on the list at all that should have been (excuse me if there are some errors).
Ambulance LTD – LP
Beck – Modern Guilt
Belle & Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Jon Brion – Meaningless
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
The Comas – Conductor
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia
Gorillaz – Demon Days
Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump
Islands – Return To The Sea
Les Savy Fav – Lets Stay Friends
Low – The Great Destroyer
Modest Mouse – Good News For People Who Love Bad News
New Pornographers – Electric Version
Peter Bjorn & John – Writer’s Block
Stephen Malkmus – Face The Truth
Shearwater – Palo Santo
Shearwater – The Rook
Sonic Youth – Rather Ripped
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
GOOD CALL on Ambulance LTD
Agreed. I still return to that album all the time, and every time I do I think, “Why the hell did this fly so far under the hipster radar?” Great band, great songs, stellar record.
Am I the only one who thinks The Drift wuz robbed? Scott Walker, come on!
The Lemon of Pink’s absence is also egregious, and a pretty significant oversight considering it was #20 on their mid-decade list.
So, does anyone know where I can read the list without the blurbs?
Kid A – Funeral sounds spot on to me. Some questionable entries, but overall not bad picks in the Top 20.
What about albums made by people over thirty? I realize that’s not exactly their target demographic, but Dylan, Springsteen, and Waits have put out some of the best releases of their careers, and that’s just to name a few!
fuck all these shitty electronic bands…. seriously best albums of the decade??? Christ…
people wonder why rock and roll needs saving play a god damned guitar..
i’m not sure how relationship of command ranked… but that shit hole of a band the knife can burn in indie hell, no one is going to remember that kind of poop 5 years from now besides pitchfork
No Silver Jews???
No Silver Jews???
WHERE IS THE POSTAL SERVICE AND WHY IS GIVE UP NOT TOP 10?
No Xiu Xiu?
I really would’ve expected Fabulous Muscles to be on the list, or at least Knife Play for being their stellar debut and the landmark for everything they’d release afterward. I don’t know, with all the coverage they’ve had for Xiu Xiu and everything Jamie Stewart has done, you’d expect some of their work to be recognized on this list somewhere.
That’s what I was thinking. I thought for sure Fabulous Muscles would be on the list. Xiu Xiu released six mind blowing full lengths this decade. Pitchfork loved each one too. Oh well, what can you do?
Hello, people? Where’s the Green Album?
White Stripes should be higher, but I’m surprised no Eminem…
What a lack of females.
No Fever Ray in the top 200 seems like a glaring dis. Especially given the high placement of Silent Shout and that her live shows have literally blown everyone away, including those who saw The Knifes short US tour. How many reviews are there out there already calling the live shows the highlight of the year? And it wasn’t just lasers and smoke. All the songs from the album were played and played pretty straight up. Maybe the visuals and volume made people realize they had underestimated the strength each of the songs on the album. Each stands on it’s own but the real power is in the complete album.
Feist makes the list? Vampire Weekend at 51? Yet Karin can’t even get a 199? Bullshit.
Illinois and Moon and Antarctica should be 3 and 4 imo, but I can definitely agree with this list
Good point, Coj. Daft Punk?s Discovery move from 6.4 -> #3 of the decade is strange but telling (they?re not afraid to revise, even when it?s the founder?s statement). Beck’s Sea Change was originally given a 6.9 before making the top 100 list.
Yes it?d be great if a magazine’s editors could vet every album/review, or get some consensus from multiple reviewers, but it doesn?t seem possible with the amount of content published daily. Should they publish so much content? I dunno, but this generation?s demanding ?fractious listening habits? must certainly influence the supply, or is it the other way around?? Food for thought.
These lists are nice because their collective revisionist treatment is much less frivolous than a single review. There will, however, always be great forgotten records:
Unicorns — Who will cut our hair when we?re gone?
Unwound ? Leaves Turn Inside You
Gorillaz ? Demon Days
Enon ? High Society/Believo
Deerhoof ? Runners Four/Milk Man
Xiu Xiu ? Fabulous Muscles
Brian Wilson — Smile
Sholi — Sholi
DJ Shadow ? Private Press
Grandaddy ? Sophtware Slump
I think history will show that In Rainbows by Radiohead was the best album of this decade.
I’m guessing you show In Rainbows by Radiohead to be the best album of the decade.
Quick note to people who are posting “Where’s ___________?” when that album is actually on the list: learn to read.
Anyway, can’t believe Deerhoof, Brian Wilson, Smog and Dungen were skipped. Truth is, Pitchfork’s lists are usually most interesting and least banal in the 100-200 range. That’s where some of the biggest and most pleasant surprises are – the most significant gap between original review and placement on the list would be Andrew WK. Anyway, here’s my list:
1. Dismemberment Plan – Change
2. Fugazi – The Argument
3. Jay-Z – The Blueprint
4. Dungen – Ta Det Lugnt
5. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Source Tags & Codes
6. Smog – Dongs of Sevotion’
7. Ghostface Killah – Fishscale
8. Boredoms – Vision Creation Newsun
9. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
10. The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls of America
11. Les Savy Fav – Inches
12. Ted Leo – Shake The Sheets
13. Hot Snakes – Suicide Invoice
14. Spoon – Kill The Moonlight
15. The Darkness – Permission To Land (what, I still like this album)
16. The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
17. Stephen Malkmus – Face The Truth
18. New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
19. Mastodon – Leviathan
20. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…PT II
are you serious? the strokes before interpol?! & ghostface needs to be in the top 10, although the avalanches are great.
10 (or more) albums I would have on the list (no particular order)
The Wrens – The Meadowlands
Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree (or Tallahassee/All Hail West Texas/We Shall All Be Healed/Get Lonely)
Drive-By Truckers – Southern Rock Opera (or Decoration Day/Brighter Than Creation’s Dark)
Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy
Chuck Prophet – No Other Love; Let Freedom Ring
Magnolia Electric Co. – What Comes After the Blues
Calexico – Feast of Wire
Joseph Arthur and the Lonely Astronauts – Temporary People
The Avett Brothers – Emothionalism
Two Gallants – Two Gallants
Feist? MIA?
I’d rather listen to any Calexico before most of what’s on that list. Animal Collective and Wilco may just be the two most overated bands of all time. I’ve listened to and seen both. Yawn. You can throw Sufjan and Modest Mouse in there too although I’ve never seen them. (nor would I want to) Yawn.
Feist: 125
M.I.A.: 103, 54, AND 22
Mountain Goats: 102 AND 176
Okkervil River: 174
Read sometime. It’s a fun thing to do.
I’m completely disappointed by every other commenter on this list. They happen to have no clue what there talking about where as you at least own Meadowlands. Radiohead and Arcade Fire are two of the most overrated musicians of this decade, and if I weren’t busy with my own music I’d make it my personal mission to see Thom Yorke exposed. Their entire career is founded on cheap rip offs of massive attack for one. Honestly, Black Sheep Boy (or anything after it) by Okkervil River has enough heavy substance to turn Radiohead’s entire discography into mush just by laying it on top of there stack of records. That doesn’t even start with Arcade Fire, who are basically about as highly esteemed a band as Coldplay.
That said, although Meadowlands was fantastic, I’d put the Moon and Antarctica on top of this list (the only record that deserves to be in the top ten)
Maybe it would go
1. The Moon and Antarctica – Modest Mouse
2. Meadowlands – The Wrens
3. Black Sheep Boy – Okkervil River
4. Red Devil Dawn – The Crooked Fingers
and of course, to finish this list
5. Full of Light and Full of Fire – The Mendoza Line
(for lack of Mel, or The Gasoline Age being written in the naughts)
agreed. completely
Lots of good ones included, but they left out Grandaddy’s The Sophtware Slump, DJ Shadow’s Private Press & Les Savy Fav’s Inches.
What? No “Youth & Young Manhood”? “Aha Shake Heartbreak? “Origin of Symmetry”? “Absolution”? And if you were going to put a Kanye West album in there, it should’ve been “College Dropout”, not “Late Registration”.
But who cares? This decade sucked, anyways. Except for the bands I mentioned. Also, I find it odd that no Mars Volta album made it in the 20.
Fantastic Damage by El-P should’ve at least been somewhere on the list. They gave it a great review and IMO it’s one of the best albums about paranoia in post 9/11 NYC.
Does everyone think that Funeral deserves to be #2? I mean I like that album a lot, but it doesn’t sound like the second best album of the decade to me. It actually sounds a little lackluster to me after all these listens.
after all these listens. like over 100.
I’m surprised Cymbals Eat Guitars isn’t somewhere on this list, I thought the album was impressive, considering it’s their first.