The dawn of the 21st century didn’t give us monoliths orbiting Jupiter and sentient computers that kill astronauts, but it did give us a surprising amount of good music. The whole “information age” thing meant that word of good music was spread via computer and downloads, and forever made the idea of mix tapes obsolete. Meanwhile, the music industry took to the airwaves, creating “American Idol” and insuring that the world would be brainwashed into forever voting for whatever nubile pop star could wail the best. Hip Hop reached the lowest point of intelligence quite possibly seen in any genre of music, with producers sampling two or three notes on a keyboard while some kid rapped about how hot he was. Aging punk bands came out of the retirement home to try and recapture their glory days.

Even though all of this went on, the 00’s produced a great amount of music that was influenced and influential. With this knowledge, I have compiled the 10 best albums that have come out during this first decade of the 21st century. They are ranked by not only the quality of music they contain, but also how they reflected the spirit of this turbulent time.

With every list, there’s always contention, to which I answer, go make your own goddamn list. I will also take time to answer some questions that I think I will face.

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