Album of the Decade

Since this is not only the end of the year but the end of a decade, and since I am in a mood of ranking things lately, I thought I would look back at the last 10 years and find the one album that really defined (for me at least) this decade. And to be honest, it was really really easy. Only one album really stuck with me and could really define what it was like to live in America these past 10 years.

And that album is:

Yes, no other album that came out in this decade (and trust me, there were a lot) grabbed me like this one. No other got more listens than American Idiot did. I studied and memorized all the lyrics. Hell, I even bought the physical CD twice (long story actually). It came to me in a very important part of my life: I was 16 and in high school. The 2004 election was coming up. Before American Idiot, I could care less about politics, but after hearing the anti-war and anti-Government anthems on American Idiot, I felt an urge to care about the country I live in.

But besides the strong rock-opera concept and political tone of the album, you can't look past how amazing the actual music is. This is Green Day at an very important and genre-defining moment. Hell, it's more than a genre-defining moment, it's a band-defining moment. Sure Dookie might be Green Day's best, but American Idiot is the single most important album of their career. At a time when their popularity and creative juice was running out, Green Day came to the conclusion to go all in. This could have easily been a colossal failure, but somehow it all worked. Writing not just one, but two 9-minute long punk songs? That just isn't possible. But Green Day made it work. No other band would have had the balls to risk their career on a politically charged album like this, not to mention that it's also a rock-opera, a concept that hadn't been utilized well for a long time.

The most important thins about American Idiot is this: there really isn't a single bad song on the album. Whenever I listen to it, I always start at the beginning and don't skip over any song until it ends. It's only fault may have been that the radio played it to death, as American Idiot had 5 singles and 5 videos. But that isn'y much to complain about. American Idiot is the best album of the past decade for one reason: it defined my generation with it's message and transcended rock history with it's songs.

- - -

Since there were a lot of really good albums that came out in the past 10 years, I thought it would only be fair to list the rest of my Top 10 favorites:

1. Green Day - American Idiot

2. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

3. Muse - Absolution

4. Blink-182 - Untitled

5. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

6. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

7. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind

8. Radiohead - Kid A

9. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

10. Gorillaz - Demon Days

So there you have it, my absolute favorite albums of the past ten years. If you haven't listened to them, shame on you. Buy them now.