I decided to take a look at what albums I have that were released during the last decade, and I discovered something: there aren’t that many that really just ‘rocked.’ The decade was pretty dominated by a more subdued ‘indie’ sound (if the ’90s was the ‘alternative’ decade, the ’00s was certainly the ‘indie’ decade).

Looking at what I have, here are 10 songs–one from each year–that I thought really kept rock alive. It’s sad to say that most of these bands didn’t actually get started in the ’00s (the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have the honor of being my only pick from a debut album), but in the end we had to leave it to the elder statesmen to really keep things rocking properly.

We start the list off with a last gasp of the ’90s (and one of my all-time favorite Pumpkins songs), and end the list with one of the very few bands that have kept rock alive for the past 3 decades (it’s hard to listen to “Anti-Orgasm” and then remember that Kim Gordon is older than both of my parents.)

1. 2000 - Stand Inside Your Love
   from the Smashing Pumpkins album “MACHINA/The Machines of God”
2. 2001 - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
   from the White Stripes album “White Blood Cells”
3. 2002 - First It Giveth
   from the Queens of the Stone Age album “Songs for the Deaf”
4. 2003 - Man
   from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album “Fever to Tell”
5. 2004 - Unlucky
   from the StarFlyer 59 album “I Am the Portuguese Blues”
6. 2005 - The Fox
   from the Sleater-Kinney album “The Woods”
7. 2006 - Comatose
   from the Pearl Jam album “Pearl Jam”
   
8. 2007 - Erase/Replace
   from the Foo Fighters album “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace”
9. 2008 - Living Well Is the Best Revenge
   from the R.E.M. album “Accelerate”
10. 2009 - Anti-Orgasm
    from the Sonic Youth album “The Eternal”

Special Jury Prize – Them Crooked Vultures – entire debut album
This album alone is evidence enough that rock will never die, and there is hope for the decade ahead. But once again, it’s up to the elder statesmen to show the kids how it’s done.

I’m sure you think I’m totally wrong about the past decade, and maybe I am, but I’m getting older and I’m perpetually stuck in the ’90s musically. (“Back in my day, rock music was blah blah blah…”)

Tell me why I’m wrong in the comments!

Every so often, music magazines, rock historians and random websites like to put out their list of the “greatest albums of all-time.” Many times, these lists end up with mostly the same results, with the only real variation being the ranking order. While I do enjoy a lot of the albums that make these kinds of lists, many times I think some of the choices are there simply because they are “supposed” to be there because of their historical significance, not because the writer actually enjoys and listens to them on a regular basis.

So, instead of wasting time talking about how “significant” an album is and creating the same old list everyone else makes, I decided to create my personal list of Most-Listened-To albums. Some of the albums on my list undoubtedly do make the “greatest albums” lists, because they truly are great to listen to, but some of them have never seen the light of day on a rock historian’s list. They aren’t ground-breaking and they aren’t particularly significant; they’re just worth listening to. And in the end, that’s all that really matters.

From time to time, I will present to you one of my most-listened-to albums, and I’ll try my best to convince you as to why it would be worth your while to give it a shot.