Fan Poll: 5 greatest albums of the 2000s
The 2000s was a pivotal period for alternative music. The genres that had been born and nurtured by the ’90s were now at their commercial and critical peak. Rock ‘n’ roll fused with heavier music, digging into darker, more emotion-driven themes while weaving in the stickiness of pop. Post-hardcore had learned to walk and was starting to run. Pop punk and emo were in their prime, having taken notes from the grunge, hardcore, and darkwave scenes and sounds that had been sharpened by the previous century. But whether or not you were there for Warp Tour’s heyday, it’s undeniable that the millennium’s impact on music, fashion, and culture today remains stronger than ever.
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Needless to say, given the diversity and quantity of creative projects that era produced, it’s frustrating to try and pin down the “best album of the 2000s.” From Paramore’s Brand New Eyes to Brand New’s Deja Entendu, the possibilities and worthy contenders are almost endless. So, we’ve asked our readers to choose the greatest 2000s albums of all time for us. The top five fan picks are ranked accordingly below.
5. In Rainbows
Similarly to OK Computer, the inspiration behind Radiohead’s 2007 self-released album In Rainbows, according to Thom Yorke, was “that anonymous fear thing” but he claimed that with this album, it’s “much more terrifying.” And the album, which overflows with caustic, doom-filled lyrics that Yorke delivers with his most soulful performance, replete with heavy reverb on guitar, certainly does his artist statement justice. Both production and structure of this album feel intense and scientific, with arrangements that play anatomical and digital rhythms against each other. When it comes to really unpacking the human condition, if there’s any band who could get it right, it’s Radiohead — and it’s with In Rainbows. The album is meticulous, mentally challenging, and a piece of music history for more reasons than we can name.
4. Hot Fuss
Allegedly, the Killers’ acclaimed debut album was inspired by the depression frontman Brandon Flowers felt when he first listened to the Strokes’ This Is It. After announcing that the Strokes had made the “perfect” album, Flowers threw out nearly all of the work he’d done — save for “Mr. Brightside,” and started fresh. However, the Killers didn’t let the idea of matching “perfection” get in the way — for “spontaneity”’s sake, the Hot Fuss album includes demo recordings, and a track written in eight minutes. And whatever happened in those eight minutes, it’s pretty close to perfection. The album is replete with anthems that fuse post-punk, new wave, and synth-pop — and the massive success of tracks like the almost-scrapped “Mr. Brightside” continue to fill arenas today.
3. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
My Chemical Romance‘s second studio album gave us a cleaner, more refined taste of what they could do. After the first studio album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, which proved to their growing audience that they could show up in the alternative ring, Three Cheers let us know that they could fight. MCR began to find themselves in this album, moving away from the looser sounds of screamo and hardcore and into tighter lyricism, more complex structuring, and the theatrical pop-punk style that would become their signature, which would also foreshadow The Black Parade’s operatic nature. However, the album is not only a foundational work for MCR that has left an impact on their fanbase, but has inspired and influenced the industry as a whole with some of alternative’s biggest hits such as “Helena” and “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).”
2. Hybrid Theory
In October of 2000, Linkin Park released their debut album. And they were not like other boy bands. This album, and group, approached a fusion of heavy rock music, nu metal and hip-hop with a level of honesty and authenticity unparalleled in the industry up to that point, perhaps today. The late lead singer, Chester Bennington, left nothing out with the lyrics, divulging his adolescent traumas from drug misuse to divorced parents through dark and chugging vocals that were met with almost instantaneous commercial success.
1. The Black Parade
According to My Chemical Romance guitarist Ray Toro, the intention with their third studio album, “was to make something that was classic, something timeless.” And they certainly delivered. The Black Parade has, since its release in 2006, triumphed in music history for its profound technical and lyrical prowess. The rock opera, which follows the narrative of “The Patient” from life, to an encounter with death, to the afterlife, takes astute notes from Queen, David Bowie, and Pink Floyd, and applies them with an alternative spin that truly encapsulates the energy of the 2000s music scene — while standing the test of time.
