Greetings, pop-pickers!

It's that time of year again. I am now looking for your nominations in The Spaced Out Ultimate Albums of the Noughties Poll!

As per the Nineties albums poll, I politely request your top twenty studio albums, released during the years 2000-2009.

To aid your selection process, here are a number of links to albums released throughout the Noughties (please note, these may be far from complete):

2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

Closing date for nomination entries is at present 7th February. I might yet extend this to allow for last minute entries, or indeed if there aren't sufficient entries to justify posting the end results. My target is as close to twenty sets of votes as possible - although more would be terrific.

If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to post your comments below.


Many thanks!!

This will be difficult. I looked at some top albums of the 00s lists yesterday and I hadn't heard most of the albums and quite a few of the bands. Damn young people and their noisy rackets.

This may also help

http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/

It features music poll results over the years

Good call, Sostie.

Ooh, this'll be interesting. This was the decade where I really started listening to music, so whittling it down is going to take some effort (and a lot of listening to good music).

Looking through the polls & lists I'm surprised how poor the 00's were compared to the previous 3 decades.

Lil Chris to win of course.

Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing. Nevertheless, I think the outcome of this poll will prove an interesting and wildly varied one.

Should I limit the number of albums by one artist?

It would probably be best.

I can only think of one, maybe two albums, I would predict as appearing in the Top 5, and I doubt they'll make my 20




I'm toying with the idea of including all of Nick Cave's output for the decade.


Ade can we make suggestions in thread of great albums people may forget to include?

Not at all. A piss poor nostalgia infested excuse of a decade. This current generation is a boring tragedy.

There have been some brilliant albums, but they have certainly been a little more spaced apart than I remember in the 90s.

My top ten is nearly formed already.

I thought at first I was going to find compiling my favourites for this decade extremely difficult, but on reflection there are a definite 10-20 that are already standing out leagues ahead of anything else I've purchased in the past ten years.

I think that quite a lot of music released since 2000 has been quite 'throwaway' compared with the overall quality of the 90s, thus making the choices far easier than I'd initially anticipated. I'm looking forward to rediscovering my CD collection again.

I'm finding that some "oldies" are making my top 20 with no difficulty whatsoever - Morrissey, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Nancy Sinatra domination may be on te cards.

I might have spoken in haste. I've got a Top 50 already.

This will be by no means a hasty decision, but already the cogs are whirring. I've got a pretty good idea of my absolute number one, but I'm going through a few old favourites, and trying a few ones I missed out on. I think with the Noughties, there were still just as many great albums as decades previous, but they were mostly smaller and less well-known efforts, with few that could be safely considered both critical and commercial successes.

Here's Pitchfork's staff list anyhoo

That's an interesting Top 200 list, for sure. Some interesting inclusions (I have some hasty catching to do up on a few titles) but some glaring omissions too, in my humble opinion.

Far too much rap. Number 1 is hardly a shock for a Pitchfork list, although it is a brilliant piece of work.

There were a lot of great releases in 2000 actually. This could be harder than I was expecting.

I think I've got just enough studio albums from the last decade to actually give this some proper thought. Otherwise it would simply be a showcase of my HMV receipts.

Indeed. I got into music when I was 14, but I was 16/17 years old at the beginning of the decade, and then my mind was open to a hell of a lot more, this will definitely be interesting to say the least.



This is true of the last 2 years in the mainstream, particularly. Suddenly everyone loves the 80s.

Exactly my thoughts.


As 'creative' a piece of work as it is, Number 1 is a joke, frankly. A few of the tracks are excellent for certain, but it's not substantial enough to make even my Top 50. It's certainly not an album I've given a great deal of airtime this past nine years.

It'd be in my Top 5 without a doubt.

I don't think I've ever heard it.

I feel strangely vindicated that 5 of my 20 so far are listed there (reasonable obscure ones too), but i really need to go home and look and my shelves.

I'm amazed too how many of the top 20 I own and that The Avalanches Since I Left You is so high. I love that album.

Keeping this down to only twenty is going to be tough.

I've thought of at least 30, going to end up thinking of a lot more too.

Since I got majorly into music around 2000/2001, I got in the habit via mates of listening to any obscure(ish) music i could to feed a crazy music appetite. Couple this with the fact I still enjoyed a lot of mainstream music, its going to be tricky. My 90s list was really quite mainstream.

I reckon it's pretty much going to include nothing beyond 2006. I got that feeling, first half of this decade was great time for me discovering new music.

That least, to me at least, just looks like they've taken popular indie-cool bands (eg White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire) and just chosen their first album as if to say 'we were there before you were', even if later albums were better.



Depends how you define 'rap'. I'd say out of the top 20 there the only rap album is Ghostface Killah. Jay-Z, Kanye West and OutKast are much closer to hip hop really.

Also, why is rap less worthy of being included? I would put at least 3 rap albums in my top 20 without a doubt, and that's just off the top of my head. It's a shame that it gets marginalised as 'not proper music' by a lot of people, when it's got as much quality as any other genre. I'm not saying that's your point of view necessarily, just a general annoyance.

Though, in those cases, the first albums were better than what followed.

I like Pitchfork, they're passionate about music and that shines through in their reviews. I don't think they are being uber-hipster or anything in their choices; they just reflect the reviews they gave the albums at the time. Plus, it's easier to say that those albums are better because you have a greater sense of perspective on them and how well they stand up than you do about the more recent releases.

I think I was just annoyed by Kanye West being in there because I really don't like his music. I have heard some very good rap/hip-hop albums from the noughts and think one or two will be on my list. Something involving MF DOOM is certain to make it I think, plus The Marshall Mathers LP will probably be a shoo in. I like my rap/hip-hop a bit freaky.

It's definitely proper music, it's just a genre in which that you really have to pick the wheat from the chaff.

I really like Kanye, I think he's a very interesting, honest and funny lyricist who, for better or for worse (probably for worse) has had a huge impact on an entire genre both as a producer for Jay-Z and as an artist in his own right. I love or like all of his albums to date and I think that at least one of them will be in my Top 20.

Despite my agreement there's 'too much rap' in that list, I do like rap, but in far smaller doses than I used to - I really have to be in the right mood for it.

I loved Eminem's Slim Shady LP when it appeared ten years ago, it was the funniest (and darkest) album I'd heard in years, and it still gets the occasional rotation every once in a blue moon. I'll grant you, RnB/rap/hip-hop in general has produced some ear-catching moments as the genres have developed over the past two decades, but I get bored of it too quickly, so I've never really had much time for anything of that oeuvre for very long. UK's Roots Manuva though, is one of the few rap artists who has really caught my attention in the last ten years - he might, or might not, make my final 20.

I've managed to round it down to a Top 100 now.

Wasn't Ágætis byrjun released in 1999?

It was only released in the uk in 2000. Where does it stand in the poll?

Well, I've factored it into my reasoning by the fact it wasn't released here until 2000. More to the point, I recall asking someone to discount it from their Top 20 in the 90s Poll, so I say it's a Noughtie.

I'm struggling with this one. I was a late bloomer with music but really got into it around 1999/2000 so to me, almost all music is of this decade, even if it was recorded half a century ago (if that makes sense?) Also, a lot of the albums I'm coming up with meant a huge amount to me at the time, and for a long time, but have since fallen out of favour with me as my tastes have changed. I think I'll still include them in my top 20 though, purely for the impact they've made on me. Very interesting indeed.

Will the final list be a Top 20 itself or will it be a Top 50/Top 100 of all entries?

It'll be a No-Holds-Barred Top However Many.



That's been my thought process too, I shall be applying that rule to some extent. It's very easy though to dismiss material from the early part of the decade in favour of more recent material. It's an interesting balancing act indeed, and proving far more difficult for me than the 90s Poll did. I think the way musical styles and sub-genres have exploded over more recent years has resulted in a far broader scope of artists to take into consideration than ever. The 'agony of choice' never rang truer.

Wow, I'm going to really make that list look interesting!

On the subject of rap music/hip hop, I find it less interesting as the years go by. The glories of Public Enemy are yet to be equalled. Whilst musically it's one of the richest, most inventive areas of production, lyrically it mainly leaves me cold. There have been plenty of great singles but not really any great albums IMO, with the exception perhaps of The Streets 2nd offering. I'd say as a whole Missy Elliot has been the most interesting act in the genre.

The poll has prompted me to re-discover some classics. Anyone remember Andrew WK? It's the album Lil' Chris would make if he was 10 years older and drank a lot of beer. Great stuff.

I liked Andrew WK, ha. "Parrrty Hard, party hard, party hard, party hard"

So simple but fun.

I'm the opposite really. My initial (definitely not final in case I've forgotten something) top 20 list is mostly 2000-2005. I've not bought much new music in the last few years, and those that I have bought recently haven't been played nearly as much as some of my recent retro purchases.

Mine come from all over the decade, with a couple (one definitely) coming from this year.

I'm starting to think about making it one album per artist as there are quite a few that could have a couple in there. Just see how I feel when making a final selection. A long way to go yet, though.

I think I have one absolutely definite 2009 release in there, although there have been several corking releases this year that could have made the cut. With an initial balanced average of two album selections per year, I'm trying to be objective, even and fair regarding my own choices. However, there are two or three years that are significantly outweighing the others, 2004 for one. Makes selecting at least one per year a little trickier.

What's the dealio on soundtracks/scores/compilations?

I am thinking of those with tracks only from the noughties, or scores by one particular artist/composer or made specifically by a group of artists for one album.

I'd say if the music was specifically for a soundtrack, that's cool.... but if it's a compilation then it's not counted.

...but then what do I know?

I'd say soundtrack scores are absolutely fine - I'd been pondering this myself, actually. I'm a little hesitant to include soundtrack compilations though, as they invariably don't represent a singular body of work by a specific artist/band. I'm happy to throw it open to wider general consensus though.


As far as general 'Greatest Hits'/'Best Of' compilations by a singular artist or band go, I would rule those out full stop. [/iron fist]

Re: compilations, I wasn't thinking Best Ofs. For instance, this year has seen both Dark Was The Night and Dark Night of the Soul which constituted tracks involving various artists but all for one album.

Hmmmmm. I might allow it. Let me ruminate upon it further.

I see what your saying, but then would we need a ruling on Mix CDs by the likes of say 2 Many DJs and Andy Votel.. A compilation, yet a mixed by and credited to an artist.

To be honest, there's plenty of choice without including compilations as well, so I'll be happy either way if it's going to foggy the issue.

Oh, and nothing from Japan.