Jonny Leather’s 100 Favorite Records of the Decade: 2000-2009
It's all arbitrary. Ask me again in a month and this list will be in totally different order, and a a few different records will be on the list. Actually, give me 5 minutes and this list would be different. This is just a list of my favorite records. I can't even imagine the procedure in ranking them as "best records of 2000s". I don't know if Kid A is the best record of the decade or how anyone would be able to measure something so subjective, but I know that I like Kid A better than any other record of the decade. I would love for publications such as Pitchfork, NME, and Paste to really elaborate on their processes in measuring the rankings of their year-end and decade-end lists, because to say something is the greatest album of an entire decade is a pretty huge honor. In other fields it's a bit less subjective to measure greatness. For example, Michael Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player ever based on his superior stats and the awards and championships he won, but it's not that easy with music. Ranking music is like ranking food. We all have different tastes, and there are a lot of different categories that are tough to judge against each other. Sure, we all know Nickelback sucks and some burgers taste like hockey pucks, but how do we decide if one incredibly succulent steak is better than another? We can't really.
Jonny Leather's 100 Favorite Records of 2000-2009:
- Radiohead - Kid A
- The Avalanches - Since I Left You
- Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
- The Walkmen - Bows & Arrows
- Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
- The Arcade Fire - Funeral
- The Strokes - Is This It?
- Radiohead - In Rainbows
- Beulah - Yoko
- The Walkmen - You & Me
- The Wrens - Meadowlands
- Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
- Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
- Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
- Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
- Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
- Liars - Drum's Not Dead
- Fugazi - The Arguement
- Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun
- Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly
- Panda Bear - Person Pitch
- The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
- The National - Alligator
- Pulp - We Love Life
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
- Blur - Think Tank
- The Walkmen - Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone
- Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
- At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command
- Radiohead - Amnesiac
- Sigur Ros - Takk
- Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
- Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
- The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
- Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
- Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
- The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
- Wilco - A Ghost is Born
- Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
- The Dears - Gang of Losers
- Explosions in the Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
- Blonde Redhead - Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons
- The Veils - Nux Vomica
- The Libertines - Up The Bracket
- Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
- Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
- Nada Surf - Let Go
- Spiritualized - Let It Come Down
- Elliot Smith - Figure 8
- ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
- Shellac - 1000 Hurts
- Tomahawk - Tomahawk
- The Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love
- Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
- The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
- The Microphones - Mount Eerie
- The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off
- Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
- Animal Collective - Feels
- Spoon - Gimme Fiction
- Bjork - Vespertine
- Motel Motel - New Denver
- Capybara - Try Brother
- Elbow - Cast of Thousands
- Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
- Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
- Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
- Walking Bicycles - GO
- Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
- Hooray For Earth - Momo EP
- Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block
- The Dears - No Cities Left
- The Veils - The Runaway Found
- TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
- Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
- Flaming Lips - Embryonic
- Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
- Gutter Twins - Saturnalia
- The Faint - Danse Macabre
- Hot Chip - The Warning
- The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
- Clinic - Internal Wrangler
- Man Man - Six Demon Bag
- Hot Snakes - Suicide Invoice
- The Microphones - The Glow pt 2
- Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
- The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave
- Belle & Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
- Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
- Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
- The Joggers - Solid Gold
- Liars - Liars
- Black Mountain - In The Future
- French Kicks- The Trial of the Century
- Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone
- Deerhunter - Microcastle
- Built to Spill - There is No Enemy
- Destroyer - Rubies
- Beck - Sea Change
- Xiu Xiu - Women as Lovers
You gotta hear this one song. It’ll change your life, I swear: Blur - “1992″
Blur - "1992"
There are 2 songs that best represent Brit Pop icons Blur. The bouncy Parklife opener "Girls & Boys" is as fun a song as there's ever been. It's the song that makes Blur the kings of the Brit Pop movement, just as Parklife is the album that defines it.
"Song 2" represents the Blur most of America knows. It was a hit, and you'll hear it at countless sporting events in the US. And even though Blur was one of the biggest bands in England during the 90s, most Americans see them as a one hit wonder thanks to "Song 2" which is one of the most un-Blur-like songs they ever recorded.
Released in 1999, Blur 6th album 13 was their most experimental work—drifting far from their poppier sound of the early 90s. It's a dark album inspired by by Damon Albarn's breakup with Elastica singer Justine Frischmann. But as much as it was Albarn's album, guitarist Graham Coxon may be the star, playing on his final Blur record. "1992" would be considered a deep cut from the album. It wasn't a single, and nor should it have been, but there is something really magnificent about it. It's slow, it's sad, and it drifts along in a hushed manner, but then Coxon's guitar comes along and rips the whole song to shreds. Possibly Coxon's greatest finest moment, if played loud enough there will be chills sent down your spine. It's the sound of your mind expanding.
