NME's top 50 albums of the decade

26. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner
27. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
28. Johnny Cash - Man Comes Around
29. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World
30. Elbow - Asleep In The Back
31. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
32. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
33. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
34. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
35. Babyshambles - Down In Albion
36. Spirtualized - Let it Come Down
37. The Knife - Silent Shout
38. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
39. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
40. Ryan Adams - Gold
41. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
42. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
43. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
44. Outkast - Loveboxxx/The Love Below
45. Avalanches - Since I Left You
46. Delgados - The Great Eastern
47. Brendan Benson - Lapalco
48. Walkmen - Bows and Arrows
49. Muse - Absolution
50. MIA - Arular

BUT...

Having that Babyshambles abomination anywhere near such a list is just a complete joke, surely?

Not much progressive rock, is there?

... how cool are we?

I also count seven débuts in the top 10

They are having a giraffe, aren't they?

The Strokes and where is Franz Ferdinand ? too many shade wearing bands fashioning themselves on Joy Division or The Velvet Underground

I only own 9 out of 50

1. The Strokes - Is This It
- tired of it very quickly

4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
- still love it would be my no. 1

6. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
- admire rather than like it

7. Arcade Fire - Funeral
- have no feel for it as an album bought on iTunes simultaneously with Neon Bible and shuffling has blurred the two. Love lots of it.

10. Radiohead - In Rainbows
- agreed

14. Radiohead - Kid A
- i'd have Hail to The Thief

18. The White Stripes - Elephant
- see PJ Harvey above

33. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
- see funeral

42. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
- I really like it but not sure I always will. Hope I'm wrong.

I think only 4,7,10 and 33 would make my list and I would have Madness' masterpiece The Liberty of Norton Folgate, The Crane Wife by the Decembrists, More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley, 23 by Blonde Redhead and possibly the Life Pursuit by Belle & Sebastian.

Is 9 out of 50 typical for the massive?

Is there anything else on the list I should seek out?

He's had a brilliant decade.

here's a list of 30 from this decade in no particular order of preference. To be honest I can't think of another 20 rock albums from the noughties that I'll still be playing in 10 years time.

1. You and Me - Joe Bonamassa
2. Modern Times - Bob Dylan
3. The Weirdness - The Stooges
4. Snakes and Arrows - Rush
5. The Rising - Bruce Springsteen
6. Black Ice - AC/DC
7. Songs from the Sparkle Lounge - Def Leppard
8. Fallen - Evanescence
9. Matter of Life and Death - Iron Maiden
10. Good to be Bad - Whitesnake
11. Deadwing - Porcupine Tree
12. Have a Nice Day - Bon Jovi
13. Death Magnetic - Metallica
14. One Day Remains - Alterbridge
15. Black Stone Cherry
16. 15 - Buckcherry
17. Octavarium - Dream Theater
18. Indestructible - Disturbed
19. Echoes silenc and patience - Foo Fighters
20. In your Honour - Foo Fighters
21. American Idiot - Green Day
22. Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park
21. Chocolate Starfish - Limp Bizkit
22. The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
23. Watershed - Opeth
24. Contraband - Velvet Revolver
25. The Outlaw - Alabama Three
26. 13 Tales of Urban Bohemia - Dandy Warhols
27. Rise - The Answer
28. Hot Fuss - Killers
29. Riot City Blues - Primal Scream
30. How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb - U2

If memory serves Babyshambles's Down In Albion was rumoured to have been mysteriously bumped up the Albums Of The Year chart in whatever year it came out , to Number 9 from considerably further down the list, because none of the writers liked it much but the publishers knew that Stinky Pete was box office ?

Have they decided that , actually, they like it now ? Or is the same again ?

Obviously opinion but......

I'd venture that Kid A is a deliberate squall of (mostly) impenetrable nonsense, specifically designed to loosen some psychological shackles and, in the most, is a band feeling their way around something new whilst the media addressed it as something akin to the Emporer's New Clothes.

I'd have Hail to the Thief and Amnesiac over Kid A and In Rainbows...

And no U2?

Whilst not a big fan, All That You Can't Leave Behind is one this decade's better records.

I've got 34 of the 50, but I started this decade as an avid NME reader and still pick it up from time to time.

I think it's a pretty good list in that it probably reflects the NME readership pretty well (in the same way that Pitchfork's non-more-hipster lists reflected their readership).

I love Kid A as well.

I have 28 of these albums, but I don't know all 28. A symptom of Hard Drive Collecting.

The only surprise in Brendan Benson, a pleasant surprise too...

1. The Strokes - Is This It (Very so-so)
2. The Libertines - Up The Bracket (Not heard it, looks rubbish)
3. Primal Scream - xtrmntr (Not heard it, all PS albums are rubbish anyaway save for two singles)
4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (Not heard it, looks rubbish)
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell (Brilliant super manic energy filled album)
6. PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (the best singer-songwriter album ever?)
7. Arcade Fire - Funeral (what I remember of it is that it's alright, but Neon Bible is better)
8. Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights (Not heard of it)
9. The Streets - Original Pirate Material (Not heard it, looks rubbish)
10. Radiohead - In Rainbows (I'm still working on it. In five years time I'll consider it to be a masterpiece. Today it's a bit boring)
11. At The Drive In - Relationship Of Command (Not heard it, not a big fan of Mars Volta)
12. LCD Soundsystem - The Sound Of Silver (Not heard it)
13. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away (Not heard)
14. Radiohead - Kid A (a masterpiece that took me about five years to appreciate)
15. Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (it's alright but I'm not amazed by them, and Rated R is better (and doesn't have annoying radio advert skits))
16. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free (Not heard it, looks rubbish)
17. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise (Not heard it and I have no interest in it. Too Uncut for it's own good)
18. The White Stripes - Elephant (it's alright)
19. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (amazing and by far their best album)
20. Blur - Think Tank (Not heard it)
21. The Coral - The Coral (Not heard it, means nothing to me)
22. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (Not heard it)
23. Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future (Not heard it)
24. The Libertines - The Libertines (Not heard it, looks rubbish)
25. Rapture - Echoes (Not heard it)
26. Dizzee Rascal - Boy in Da Corner (Not heard it, looks rubbish)
27. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (I hate blues ballads and this is an amazingly dull album)
28. Johnny Cash - Man Comes Around (it's good but very patchy and American III is much better)
29. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World (Not heard it)
30. Elbow - Asleep In The Back (Not heard it, looks dull)
31. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Not heard it)
32. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones (very, very good and it's a grower so it's a lot better than most people think it is)
33. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (I like it but it's far from perfect. The good bits are very good)
34. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump (Not heard it)
35. Babyshambles - Down In Albion (Not heard it, looks rubbish)
36. Spirtualized - Let it Come Down (I'm not a fan of this boring band)
37. The Knife - Silent Shout (Not heard it)
38. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (Not heard it)
39. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (Not heard it)
40. Ryan Adams - Gold (Not heard it and I dislike his slow paced music)
41. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (Not heard of them)
42. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (very good album)
43. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Not heard it)
44. Outkast - Loveboxxx/The Love Below (four or so good songs, the rest is awful filler)
45. Avalanches - Since I Left You (Not heard of them)
46. Delgados - The Great Eastern (Not heard it)
47. Brendan Benson - Lapalco (Not heard it)
48. Walkmen - Bows and Arrows (Not heard of them)
49. Muse - Absolution (one of the best metal albums of all time and their best release so far)
50. MIA - Arular (Not heard it, looks a bit rubbish)

As a whole though its a bit of a pudding - it doesnt seem in any way 'era-defining'. Maybe you need hindsight to do that.

Or maybe you just don't bother

Is it me or is the list quite heavily weighted towards the first half of the decade, with a slight trickle towards the middle then not many from the past couple of years?

I'm amazed at both how many I know and how many I own. And I've lost a lot of interest in the bands the NME champions of late.

In fact I can't remember the last time I bought one.

The first Streets album and Ryan Adams' 'Gold'.

Must try harder to get none next decade :-)

Pretty predictable list from NME - nice to see Grandaddy acknowledged.

Surprised they didn't include either of Coldplay's first two albums - hugely influenced the rest of the decade for good or (mostly) bad

for my song of the noughties. I'm a little surprised they don't feature on this list, but what do I know?

According to the NME's website, the list was compiled by "a panel of musicians, producers, writers and record label bosses". Doesn't say who they were, mind you...

I win (or lose, depending on perspective)! I was at university when Is This It opened the garage-revival floodgates, I saw Jack White get on stage with The Strokes as they headlined Reading festival in 2001, when I worked for HMV I giddily anticipated the releases of Down In Albion and Whatever People Say... I've seen 12 of the bands on the list live, more than once in a few cases. It's also easily five years since I touched a copy of the NME, a situation which seems unlikely to be reversed. Still, rights of passage, freshly cut grass, jumpers for bass amps, ahhh.

And only one of them (Bloc Party) I don't like any more. Really good list actually. Lots I would add (Jenny Lewis) and lots I would take away (Muse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

It's great to see Xtrmtr getting the recognition it deserves - it blew my mind when I first heard it and I can't think of many other bands with the breadth of vision to produce Blood Money, If They Move Kill 'Em and Accelerator on the same album.

In fact, I'm going to listen to it again now

It's Select Magazine's best albums of the 90s

1. Primal scream - Screamadelica
2. Oasis - Definitely maybe
3. Nirvana - Nevermind
4. Massive attack - Blue lines
5. Jane's addiction - Ritual de lo habitual
6. Blur - parklife
7. Happy mondays - Pills n' thrills & bellyaches
8. Pulp - Different class
9. Beastie boys - Check your head
10. Prodigy - Music for the jilted generation
11. Radiohead - The bends
12. Tricky - Maxinquaye
13. Boo radleys - Wake up!
14. REM - Automatic for the people
15. Pixies - Bossanova
16. Oasis - Morning glory
17. Suede - Dog man star
18. Pj harvey - Rid of me
19. Public enemy - Fear of a black planet
20. Portishead - Dummy
21. Wu tang clan - Enter the 36 chambers
22. Manics street preachers - Generation terrorists
23. Paul Weller - Wild wood
24. U2 - Achtung baby
25. Morrissey - Vauxhall and i
26. Bjork - Debut
27. Hole - Live through this
28. Method man - Tical
29. Elastica - Elastica
30. Various artists - Help
31. Sonic youth - Dirty
32. Stereo mc's - Connected
33. Sugar - Copper blue
34. Blur - The great escape
35. Black grape - It's great to be straight,yeah
36. Julian cope - Jehovahkill
37. Supergrass - I should coco
38. Smashing pumpkins - Siamese dream
39. Chemical brothers - Exit planet dust
40. Nirvana - In utero
41. Goldie - Timeless
42. Genius/gza - Liquid swords
43. Charlatans - Charlatans
44. Primal scream - Give out but don't give up
45. The orb - Adventures beyond the ultraworld
46. Stone roses - Second coming
47. Beastie boys - Ill communication
48. Teenage fanclub - Grand prix
49. Paul weller - Stanley road
50. Therapy - Troublegum

a 1000 records this decade but still surprised I have 18 on the NME list as my taste hasn't coincided with them since 1977. Anyway I have
1. The Strokes, believed the hype, bought it, never play it cos it's shite.
4. Artic Monkeys. Ditto.
6. PJ Harvey, class
7. Arcade Fire, good but don't play it a lot
14. Kid A, who are they kidding, the only Radiohead album I don't play
16. Streets, Like a comedy record, play once
18. Elephant, poor
19, White Blood Cells, era defining record
20, Think Tank, superb
21, The Coral, blink & they are gone
27, Amy, god knows why I have this
28. The Man Comes Around, brilliant last gasp from a true great
31, Bright Eyes, His best album, I like it & so does my 16 year old son
33. Neon Bible, good effort
40.Ryan Adams Gold, This & Heartbreaker were so good offering so much promise, what went wrong?
43.Wilco, the only one here that would be in my top 20

I am officially a child of NME. I own (and quite like) 37 of these.

But I wouldn't say they were the best. Oh well. Each to their own. Also refreshing to see that Ben Patashnik / James McMahon haven't filled the list with a load of unlistenable "post-hardcore" that they bang on about with rabid frequency. Good.

we will be seeing a few top albums of the 00s lists over the next month or so. Can I predict that Uncut will be a Hold Steady lp and Mojo will be a Dylan one? As for the Word, well i'm struggling for them, but I guess thats the beauty of the mag

And out of that 41 none of them are Libertines/ Babyshambles based

I'd have liked to have seen
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Third - Portishead
Dear Science - TV On The Radio
Tarot Sport - Fuck Buttons
Lost Souls - Doves

looks like I'm missing something...!

is my score.

"Funeral" is sometimes my favourite album of the decade.

I think its an excellent list. I have 31 out of the 50.

I'm all for lively debate but sometimes we all get a little petty on here, don't we? What's with the slagging of Uncut and Mojo? Anyone who loves their music should still buy these publications, if not every month, than certainly now and again.

Sure, there's bound to be stuff on there that some of us might not like but if we all liked the sames things life would be pretty boring wouldn't it? And just because you don't like something doesn't mean that its rubbish.

OK, they might re-tread old ground now and have their own agendas but doesn't Word do?

Looks like I might still be buying new music in my dotage based on this rate of decline!

Yet I've got 29 of their top 50, including all of the Top 10 and 22 out of the Top 25! Sounds like they've got me pegged.

I've also got 29 of the Select Top 50 of the '90s - I still miss that magazine!

Five of them I've binned.

Of the other three, I listen to one of them.

I've never purchased a copy of the NME.

Why are we discussing this list?

Heathen should be there, surely.

but if Outkast only made it to 44 and Daft Punk didn't make it in at all I can't take any of the rest of the list seriously.

Even if you accept the parochialism (sorry, 'focused brand values') of the NME these days as given, the relevance of those two to NME readers and to the bands they love nowadays is absolutely undeniable. They did more to form the sound of modern music, alternative or otherwise, than the whole top 10 put together. I mean come on, be serious... INTERPOL? An OK band and that, nice haircuts, good posture etc, but they are only of interest to people who actually know them, surely?

...I only have one (Kid A, which I don't listen to) and have only even considered getting one other (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), so what does that say about me ? Or noughties music ? Or the NME ? I'm guessing based on this thread that it's the NME's demographic being almost entirely separate from the Word Massive.

especially if you look at the 50-100 which is also published. Those I was surprised not to see (as opposed to those that I'd have included which is a much longer list) in that 100 are:

Mark Lanegan- Bubblegum
Malcolm Middleton - Into the Woods
James Yorkston - any of the albums really...
Bonnie Prince Billy - Master and Everyone.
The Decline of British Sea Power
Richard Hawley - Coles Corner

As to why it's being discussed - well it's the internet innit?

Here's my favourites of the decade.

In no particular order of preference except TSOOL's Behind The Music would be my definite Number One and the rule was only one album per artist.

Soundtrack of Our Lives - Behind the Music
Sparks - Li'l Beethoven
Go-Betweens - The Friends of Rachel Worth
Cardigans - Long Gone Before Daylight
Guided By Voices - Universal Truths & Cycles
Graham Day & The Gaolers - Soundtrack To The Daily Grind
Cosmic Rough Riders - Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine
Duke Spirit - Neptune
Dandy Warhols - 13 Tales From Urban Bohemia
Eels - Daisies Of The Galaxy
Hamell On Trial - Choochtown
New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Teenage Fanclub - Howdy!
XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Vol. 2)
Charlatans - Wonderland
David Byrne - Look Into The Eyeball
Dirtbombs - Ultraglide In Black
Frank Black & The Catholics - Dog In The Sand
Apples In Stereo - Velocity Of Sound
Brendan Benson - Lapalco
Coral - The Coral
Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Fountains Of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
Matthew Sweet - Kimi Ga Suki Raifu
Shack - Here's Tom with the Weather
White Stripes - Elephant
Eagles Of Death Metal - Death By Sexy
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
Brian Jonestown Massacre - And This Is Our Music
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Streetcore
Beck - Guero
CSS - CSS
Fall - Fall Heads Roll
Fleshtones - Beach Head
Kate Bush - Aerial
New York Dolls - One Day It Will Please Us…
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Ole! Tarantula
Stranglers - Suite XVI
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
Len Price 3 - Rentacrowd
British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree
Julian Cope - Black Sheep
Mattias Hellberg & White Moose - Out Of The Frying Pan...
A Camp - Colonia
Madness - Liberty Of Norton Folgate
Raveonettes - In And Out Of Control

I'd love a review of that lot from LOUDspeaker!

Not heard them - look rubbish.

I ignored any 1 album / 1 band restrictions. It would have skewed the results and turned them into lies!

And yes, the albums by certain artists may not be the most obvious choices, but they are the ones I prefer. Deal with it.

Without further ado, in (roughly) correct order:

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
2. Alfie - A Word In Your Ear
3. Larrikin Love - The Freedom Spark
4. Burial - Untrue
5. Sigur Ros - Takk...
6. M. Ward - Transfiguration Of Vincent
7. The Strokes - Is This It
8. I Am Kloot - Natural History
9. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
10. Mum - Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy
11. Buffalo Daughter - I
12. Tom Waits - Blood Money
13. Tom Waits - Alice
14. Radiohead - Amnesiac
15. The Webb Brothers - Maroon
16. Tom Baxter - Skybound
17. Psapp - Tiger, My Friend
18. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
19. Jay-Z - The Black Album
20. Muse - Origin Of Symmetry
21. Bjork - Vespertine
22. Gemma Hayes - The Hollow Of Morning
23. Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me
24. Portishead - Third
25. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BRMC
26. JJ72 - JJ72
27. Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell
28. Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go
29. Efterklang - Parades
30. Super Furry Animals - Mwng
31. The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
32. Radiohead - Kid A
33. Mos Def - True Magic
34. Devics - The Stars At Saint Andrea
35. Akala - It's Not A Rumour
36. Hope Of The States - The Lost Riots
37. The Coral - Magic And Medicine
38. Blur - Think Tank
39. Elbow - Cast Of Thousands
40. Eels - Souljacker
41. The Coral - The Coral
42. Onehundredhours - Stronger Than My Heart
43. TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
44. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
45. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
46. All Saints - Studio 1
47. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
48. Amiina - Kurr
49. Tricky - Knowle West Boy
50. Rob Dougan - Furious Angels

Exactly!

.

... that the space and elacticity offered by a top 20 or a top 50 stops you from having to make the really tough decisions. If you stick to a top 10, then every choice dramatically reduces your ability to pick something else. In that case, my answer, in order, is:

1. Joanna Newsom – Ys
2. Vernon Eliott Ensemble – Music from Ivor the Engine/Pogles Walk
3. Richard Hawley – Coles Corner
4. Super Furry Animals – Rings Around The World
5. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
6. Scott Walker – The Drift
7. Punch Brothers – The Blind Leaving the Blind
8. Fennessez/Sakamoto - Cendre
9. Roots Manuva – Slime and Reason
10. Fountains of Wayne – Welcome Interstate Managers

Any thoughts? I'd be happy to give a pal a copy of any of those records and say "This is why the 2000s stands up as a decade".

NME - I have 22 out of the 50 including 9 of the top 10 - I'm surprised as I haven't read the NME for yonks. I have (in some cases had) 27 of the Select list.

I'd definitely have Foburg by Cathal Coughlan, something by the Decemberists, Nick Cave, Amanda Palmer/Dresden Dolls and Shena Ringo in my list.

Does that make me a bad person?

I've got 9.

*I'll come back later and add something dismissive and/or funny, will this do?*