Sarahindie

College jam-rock legends Guster did a mini-tour this fall to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their breakthrough album Lost and Gone Forever. As seeing them in their heyday marked the beginning of this decade of falling in love with rock for me, I had to go. To see what is almost a legacy band play an album straight through has become a staple of the concert-going calendar. Because albums still mean so much. Singles are fun for listening to in the car and playing at parties, but most of us have albums we associate with times in our lives – the album that got me through that breakup, the album I played at my summer job. They form time capsules for both the listener and the artist, capturing a point in life when your roads, and the roads of countless other fans, merged, and left a mark on all of you.

So, I’m going to spend this week sharing what I consider to be the best albums of the decade with you. But first, ground rules:

1. There will be nothing from this year. Part of my criteria is longevity, albums that stick with you. I’ll post my Best of ’09 list a little later on.
2. This list is about albums, not bands. Some bands that I love dearly (Foo Fighters, They Might Be Giants) won’t make the list because their best work this decade was spread over multiple releases.
3. This list is limited by my own experience. I’m not a huge fan of prog, for example, so I never listened to the albums of Coheed and Cambria.
4. I’m not counting Best-Ofs or reissues. That would just tempt me to cheat. And I’m untrustworthy.

Got it? Excellent. Now you get to make fun of my choices in comments all week. Won’t that be fun for everyone?