2003 - "Get Rich or Die Trying" by 50 Cent
2005 - "Late Registration" by Kanye West
2006 - "Black Holes and Revelations" by Muse
2009 - "Relapse" by Eminem
2010 - "Brothers" by The Black Keys
2011 - "El Camino" by The Black Keys
Songs:
2003 - "In Da Club" by 50 Cent
2004 - "A Decade Under The Influence" by Taking Back Sunday
2005 - "Title & Registration" by Death Cab For Cutie
2006 - "Welcome To The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance
2009 - "New Divide" by Linkin Park
2011 - "You Are A Tourist" by Death Cab For Cutie
2012 - "The House That Heaven Built" by Japadroids
El Camino + Brothers. Those albums rock! Besides, they are great when playing crazy eights or poker.
I didn't know (or forgot to know) that you had The House That Heaven Built at 1 last year. I saw Japandroids live in 2013 and their energy is incredible. Just pure dynamite.
Warning: This next set does not rock at all. Unless you're using rock as a substitute for good, in which case it rocks alot.
16. Shaking The Habitual by The Knife
Favorite Song - "Full Of Fire"
It's time to get weird! Much like the #21 album, "Sunbather", this is one that's not exactly easy to get into, but one that rewards patience. It's kind of funny how much this duo has changed since I first heard them back in 2009. I remember listening to "Heartbeats" and thinking The Knife was in line for big time crossover success. Maybe if that song had come out a few years later it would have, but 2009 was the first year of Gaga and EDM was just catching on. So rather than follow that up with an attempt at a hit album, they went the complete opposite direction and started making weird concept albums. While I wasn't that into the second album, which was about the universe or some shiz, "Shaking The Habitual" hit just the right way. It's telling a story, but one that you can interpret on your own, rather than straining to catch every lyric ... getting lost otherwise. And the songs are catchy! Weird and catchy! "Full Of Fire" is easily my favorite, but also nine minutes long. "Stay Out Here" would be my second favorite, but that's over ten minutes long. So I posted the only one of my favorites that can be listened to somewhat quickly lol. When listening to the album just make sure to skip tracks 3 and 7. Nearly twenty-eight minutes of ambient nonsense between those two songs. That bumps the album down a peg, but the rest is still so good that it pushed it into the top 20 and was a big part of my 2013.
15. Pure Heroine by Lorde
Favorite Song - "Team"
"It's a new art form showing people how little we care". Earlier I said that HAIM was the runner-up best new artist of the year. This was a lie, or a mistake if you've already forgiven me. Lorde is the true runner-up for Best New Artist, with the winner coming up in the next set. That one should be obvious, since they're the trendiest band on the market right now. However, now it is Lorde time. Honestly, I didn't even like "Royals" the first few times I heard it and was ready to completely dismiss this Australian teen sensation. Yet all the hype convinced me to check out her other single "Tennis Court" and it was there I became hooked. Now I like "Royals" too, but the rest of the non-singles are just as great especially the above "400 Lux". I think it's the "we seek a different kind of buzz" part of "Royals" that people are loving though. It doesn't really apply to the singer herself anymore, but the rest of us can still relate. We'd love to have castles in the sky, it just isn't in the cards so we make do with what we can. And that is bloodstains, ballgowns, gold teeth, grey goose and so on. BTW what is with her and teeth? She mentions them in almost every song. I must have missed the metaphor. What I didn't miss was her aim to make an alternative pop album, and "Pure Heroine" might usher in a new wave of alternative everything. #20 Beyonce made an alternative R&B album and that went over great. Lorde wasn't the first to do alt-pop, but she's been the most successful thus far. "I'm kind of over being told to throw my hands up in the air" ... me too, Lorde, me too. Thanks for giving us something different.
14. Heartthrob by Tegan and Sara
Favorite Song - "I Was A Fool"
I've always liked Tegan and Sara, but they had never placed an album on these charts. I guess they were more of a song whose songs I'd hear over the years, wonder who it was, and then say "Oh yeah, I like them." So I wanted to be ahead of the curve this time, and I grabbed "Heartthrob" as soon as it popped up. Who knew that it all it took was T&S making glam-pop to hook me in? I may be delusional, in fact it's very likely, but I feel like this album was heavily influenced by the movie Drive. My favorite song "I Was A Fool" sounds like it was pulled right from the Drive soundtrack. Nobody gets stabbed in the neck, but the romance tinted lenses that Ryan Gosling wears in that movie leak over into this album. Also kind of weird is that when I first heard this album, "Closer" was the song that stuck out and was the only I played over and over. Now it is the opposite. I barely ever play "Closer" anymore, even though I still like it, but "I Was A Fool" , "Love They Say" , "I Couldn't Be Your Friend" and "How Come You Don't Want Me" are songs I play almost every day. True story, in the first draft of this list I had "Heartthrob" ranked in the 30s. It just kept moving up though, as I remember how amazing it was. Now even top 15 seems low for it, but as I've continued to mention, 2013 was a banner year for music, and everything is bumped a couple spots lower than it would normally be due the sheer amount of excellence. Tegan and Sara are coming here in like a month or so, and I think I'd like to be there.
Full Of Fire is an amazing song, really need to check out that album. Pure Heroine is amazing! One of my fave albums from 2013, I love every track. Heartthrob is nice too
I swear I'm not just trying to be cute here. I was pretty torn on where to put this, but in between Tegan and the #12 album fit just right, so here we are with "13" at #13. I mentioned earlier how Bowie had flawlessly adapted to the modern sound, and how another classic rock artist had not done so. Well thankfully Black Sabbath didn't even try. Not to say they couldn't do it, but this sound just works for them. If it wasn't for the production values, you could easily convince someone that this was an album from the late 70s/early 80s. Hard rockin and eerily haunting, Ozzy and crew fired off a near flawless record after not recording anything for decades. Kind of incredible when you think about it. I mean, even the most optimistic of us probably thought we'd get another "Chinese Democracy" at best. Instead we got a near flawless addition to an already amazing discography.
12. The Bones Of What You Believe by CHVRCHES
Favorite Song - "Gun"
The winner of Best New Artist 2013! Judging by the other lists, CHVRCHES ascension did not go unnoticed by the ATRL community. And while they've been blowing up everywhere on the internet and in hipster joints, I'm kind of surprised that "The Mother We Share" did not achieve crossover success. Goes to show that pop music makes no damn sense. I guess it's a good thing though. Now we all get to have CHVRCHES to ourselves while eagerly anticipating album #2. Hopefully on the second album they won't let the dude sing, as those are easily the weakest parts of "The Bones Of What You Believe". The rest? "We Sink" , "Gun" , "Recover" , "Night Sky" and "Lungs" are all wonderful and deserve all y'alls respect! Lauren is such a great singer. Don't try to hog her spotlight men! You already get plenty of props for making completely awesome electronic music!
11. Reflektor by Arcade Fire
Favorite Song - "Normal Person"
Wow, so if anything was going to show you how great a year 2013 was for music, it is this right here. An Arcade Fire album produced by JAMES MURPHY does not even crack the top ten. How the heck did this happen? In my 2010 write-up for "The Suburbs" I said that we're all so used to Arcade Fire making great albums that it isn't a revelation when they do it anymore. That might be the case here as well, although I still blame 2013. While this album certainly has Murphy's dancepunk elements, I came out of it thinking this is Arcade Fire's first stadium rock record. All of these songs were built for a transcendent live experience. "We Exist" , "Normal Person" , "Reflektor" , "Here Comes The Night" , "****o" and "It's Never Over" will reach he rafters with their booming pulses. Ironically, in my favorite song "Normal Person" Butler states that he doesn't know if he likes rock and roll music anymore. Now I'm still not 100% sure if that's coming from him or the normal person he's describing in the song, but it does kind of contradict my take on the record. Since they proceed to rock the hell out on that song, I'm gonna guess he's not as sick of rock as he's letting on. Despite their aptitude at creating great atmosphere and moving lyrics, I still feel like they're at their best when they go HAM.
So with these three out, what is left for the top ten? Find out tomorrow!
In a bit of a hurry today, so less update than usual. Thanks for sticking around this far, we're almost there!
10. The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake
Favorite Song - "Pusher Love Girl"
Welcome back Mr. Timberlake! After a couple years of making mediocre/bad movies (with one really good one), JT returned to the music scene with new ideas of how a pop album should be. Specifically, that every song should be eight minutes long and have long outros lol. Sure there's a lot more going on here, including adopting an older sound rather than the current EDM pop sound, but I think only Justin could get away with these ridiculously long songs. I should also note that this spot is only for part one of the 20/20 experience. Part two isn't terrible or anything, but really does sound like a part 2. The songs that weren't good enough to get on part one. "Take Back The Night" , "TKO" , "Only When I Walk Away" are solid songs, but don't even compare to stuff like "Pusher Love Girl" , "Suit & Tie" , "Tunnel Vision" , "Spaceship Coupe" , and of course "Mirrors". I actually didn't like "Mirrors" all that much on first listen to the album. Crazy huh? It grew on me though just like it did everyone else. That beat is amazing!
9. Common Courtesy by A Day To Remember
Favorite Song(s) - "City Of Ocala" / "Right Back At It Again"
ADTR are back!!! Not from a self-imposed exile like Mr. Timberlake, but rather from a land of uncertainty. I rated their last album pretty high on my 2010 charts, but that was with blinders on. It sucked to be perfectly honest. So for three long years I waited and wondered if my favorite punk-pop band would ever make another good album. A Day To Remember's bread n butter has always been their ability to mix pop-punk with hardcore, going back and forth between the two so easily it blew me away. On 2010s "What Seperates Me From You" they decide to just blend the two sounds together at once ... which didn't work. "Common Courtesy" doesn't take them back to their roots, it progresses them in the way they wanted to last time. They just do their different genres in different songs. The first two are straight pop-punk, we have a couple of all-acoustic songs "I'm Already Gone" and "Surrender" that are fantastic and then 100% hardcore songs like "Violence (Enough Is Enough)" and "Life Lessons Learned The Hard Way" with the roaring and all ... which are also fantastic. They conquer each genre like the pros that they are.