Nick's Blog #018: My 50 Favorite Albums of the Decade, Pt. 5

This is the fifth in a series of five posts. The other posts in this series have been archived due to them being too long for the front page of the website. All of the posts can be found using the links below:

(Albums 50 - 41) --- (Albums 40 - 31) --- (Albums 30 - 21) --- (Albums 20 - 11) --- (Albums 10 - 1)

From the original post: I was browsing the internet the other day and came across an article that was titled "Best (so-and-so's) of the Decade". I realized that, as crazy as it seems, with this coming New Years the 00's decade was coming to a close! Well every year me and Easton like to write a little blog naming our favorite 10 albums of that year. So I thought why not throw together a list of my favorite and most influential (on me!) albums of the past 10 years! Narrowing my favorite albums from the past 10 years down to just 10 albums was ridiculously hard, so I decided to expand the number to 50. So in 5 parts, I'm going to try and list the top 50 albums that have been my personal favorites and have influenced my music the most that were released in the past decade (2000 - 2009).

I personally love reading these types of lists because whenever I do I tend to find really awesome music. So hopefully by checking out my personal favs you will find something that you love that maybe you haven't had the chance to check out yet! With each album I'll throw in a stream from grooveshark.com of a song that I think is particularly interesting. As well as some quick notes from me telling why I like each album so much.

Here are the top ten albums I chose for my list:


Favorite Albums of the 00's
(Albums 10 - 1)

10. The Format - Interventions and Lullabies
Released on October 21st, 2003

More info at Last.fmI can remember the first time I listened to this album. I specifically remember thinking: Holy shit, how have I been missing out on this? The Format quickly became one of my favorite and most inspiring bands of all time.

9. Blink 182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Released on June 12th, 2001

Listen at Last.fmI have so many great memories associated with this album. A great majority of these memories involve underage drinking. Me, Easton, and our high-school friends would wander aimlessly around our relatively small home town armed only with this album and Mickey's 40's.

8. Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This to Memory
Released on June 7th, 2005

More info at Last.fmFor some strange reason as I get down to these last few albums I am finding it harder to express why I love them so much. This one is really tough. I guess I'll just say this album is good, really good. It is an album filled, first song to last, with amazing pop rock songs. Every song is amazingly catchy and has great vocal melodies that are fun to sing along with (in a lower octave of course!). For some reason, I'm not sure why, but I am particularly attached to this album. If you've never given this album or band a listen all I can say is you're missing out!

7. Angels & Airwaves - I-Empire
Released on November 6th, 2007

Listen at Last.fmI tend to keep up pretty well with my music news which sometimes includes a bit of gossip. I visit absolutepunk.net along with a bunch of other sites more than once throughout the course of a day. I was along with many others was super bummed when Blink 182 split. I was there reading along when former Blink member Tom Delonge went absolutely off his rocker in 2006, basically stating that Angels and Airwaves was the best thing... ever. I've seen the incredible amount of hate slung the band's way since then. And I will admit, in the past I have let some of the things I read on these websites get in my head. If you read "so-and-so's band sucks!" enough times, it gets hard to not think that "so-and-so's band" actually does suck. So I fully get why there is so much hostility towards this band. But somehow I have managed to quietly stick to my guns. I have managed to put Tom's craziness behind me. I have managed to ignore the absolute stinky-ness of this band's live show. I have managed to like Angels and Airwaves for what (I think) they truly are: A truly epic sounding rock band. Nothing more, nothing less.

6. Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
Released on October 25th, 2005

More info at Last.fmThis album has a more distinct and original sound than maybe every other album on this list. Every song on this album is drenched in this quirky indie sound that only Rogue Wave can produce. At the same time every song is extremely catchy and will stick in your head for days. It's tough to really explain this album, you will be best just checking it out yourself!

5. Cassino - Sounds of Salvation
Released on March 19th, 2007

When the band Northstar broke up I can remember them announcing that they were forming a new band. This band was called Cassino and it would be a very different type of music than Northstar was. They released one song: Tin Man's Throne. From the first listen I was hooked. I waited months for their debut, self-released album Sounds of Salvation to come out. When it did it lived up to all of my expectations and more (which is rare for some reason). Since this album was released in March of 2007 it has been playing in my car stereo fairly consistently. It may be a little hard to find but if you can get yourself a copy of this album I highly recommend it.

4. Eve 6 - Horrorscope
Released on July 25th, 2000

Listen at Last.fmAs I stated on the previous Eve 6 album I talked about on this list I can definitely see how someone would find this music irritating. The lead singer has a very distinct voice and vocal delivery. And well, if you don't get it, you don't get it. But in my opinion, song for song, this is one of the best pop-punk albums ever recorded. Every song explodes with energy at one point or another and EVERY SONG is catchy as all holy hell. I think of this band as sort of a mix between Blink 182 and Third Eye Blind. They have a ton of similarities to both so if you enjoy these bands as much as I do you will love Horrorscope.

3. New Found Glory - New Found Glory
Released on September 26th, 2000

Listen at Last.fmWithout this album The Dreamer and the Sleeper does not exist. I got this album for free when I was a Junior in High School. It completely changed the way I looked at music forever. It was something I had never heard before. Before this album I was a fairly big music fan but my catalogue didn't reach any further than what was on the radio. This album led me to discovering a whole new world of indie and lesser known music. The rest is history.

2. Brand New - Your Favorite Weapon
Released on October 9th, 2001

More info at Last.fmOkay, so remember a couple of albums back when I stated "one of the best pop-punk albums ever recorded"? Well, this album is the best pop-punk album ever recorded. I'm really at a loss of words when it comes to Brand New's Your Favorite Weapon. If you enjoy any sort of pop-rock, pop-punk, indie... etc. and you don't own this album... what are you waiting for? Go out and buy it right now.

1. The Format - Dog Problems
Released on May 18th, 2006

Listen at Last.fm
Certain albums seem to attach themselves to you. For personal reason's this album means more to me than any other album, ever. It may get played out. The band may break up. The members may go on to create even more creative, original music. I hope that I never have to find another Dog Problems again, but I sure am glad I did.