Yeah, I thought I could look at the last 2 decades (where most of the music I listen to is) and see which albums were the best for each year. Now, it will change in the future as I acquire even more albums and listen to the remaining albums from 2009, but here’s what it is right now. Best album for each year + 2 honorable mentions. For each of the best albums per year, I'll give out my 3 favorite tracks from the albums.
Some years were heavily stacked with a lot of 9/10 and 10/10 albums. Some decisions were tough to make too :(
1990
Depeche Mode –
Violator - The album that got me right into Depeche Mode and is one of the best albums of all time, especially the songs
Enjoy The Silence,
World in My Eyes, and
Personal Jesus.
Honorable Mentions:
Megadeth –
Rust in Peace
Pantera –
Cowboys From Hell
1991
Pearl Jam –
Ten - Pearl Jam's best album to date...their most classic, and the 2009
Ten Redux version made it better with some bonus tracks. The song
Alive has one of the best guitar solos of all time, courtesy of under-rated guitarist
Mike McCready.
Once sets the tone for the album, and who can’t forget
Jeremy.
Honorable Mentions:
Red Hot Chili Peppers –
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Michael Jackson –
Dangerous
1992
Alice in Chains –
Dirt - Major Alice in Chains fan, and this album helped solidify their place as my favorite band. The vocals of Layne Staley combined with the slow sludgy riffs and atmosphere makes this overall my #1 favorite grunge rock album. My favorites include the hard rocking
Dam the River, the heavy power ballad
Down in a Hole, and the lengthy slow-moving
Rain When I Die, a song that fades out near the end, then suddenly few seconds later after some silence, comes right back!!
Honorable Mentions:
Faith No More –
Angel Dust
Rage Against the Machine –
Rage Against the Machine
1993
Pearl Jam –
Vs. - Yeah, Pearl Jam continued their string of success. 1993's album while not up to Ten, saw PJ not losing their edge and keeping their hard rock up. Once again, Pearl Jam answered with another strong opener
Go.
W.M.A. is a catchy song with a cool drum rhythm, and the soft and mellow
Indifference gives the album a fitting end.
Honorable Mentions:
Depeche Mode –
Songs Of Faith And Devotion
Nirvana –
In Utero
1994
The Offspring –
Smash – While Ixnay on the Hombre is my favorite Offspring album (and it’s not even the best album for 1997), Smash brought The Offspring into the mainstream with their hard rock/grunge influenced style of punk rock. Many of the songs are fast hitting, and provided the soundtrack of my middle school.
Come Out and Play could be considered one of the best songs of the 90s, but my personal favorite is the angry
Bad Habit with one of my favorite bridges of all time.
Genocide is another favorite of mine.
Honorable Mentions:
Green Day –
Dookie
Soundgarden –
Superunknown
--Another overstacked year
1995
Green Day –
Insomniac – most Green Day fans will say Dookie was their best, but nothing really beats Insomniac…a band releasing their anger at those who’ve accused them of selling out due to Dookie with darker lyrics. Most will remember the epic apocalyptic video to
Walking Contradiction. A few other standout tracks include
86 (written to a club that gave GD no admittance after Dookie), and the short but sweet
Stuart and the Ave.
Honorable Mentions:
Alice in Chains –
Alice in Chains
Foo Fighters –
Foo Fighters
1996
Alice in Chains –
Unplugged – Layne Staley was slowly dying, but one of his final live performances proved to be memorable. Talk about hearing your favorite AIC songs, stripped down into acoustic forms. Many of these versions IMO are better than the original, particularly
No Excuses (Unplugged) and
Nutshell (unplugged), but the version of
Over Now (unplugged) takes the cake as the best on the album, and a fitting farewell to Layne Staley.
Honorable Mentions:
Weezer –
Pinkerton
Rage Against the Machine –
Evil Empire
1997
Foo Fighters –
The Colour and the Shape – the first Foo Fighter album I listened to, and it is truly THE BEST THE BEST THE BE…bad fad. Originally it was some of the radio singles including
Everlong (one of the best songs of all time) that got me hooked to the band. Compared to most post-grunge bands, the Foo Fighters had a style that none could match, combining up hard rock with many alternative rock and grunge elements. Along with Everlong, my other faves include
My Poor Brain and
My Hero (accompanied by one of my favorite videos of all time).
Honorable Mentions:
The Offspring –
Ixnay on the Hombre
The Prodigy –
The Fat of the Land
1998
System of a Down –
System of a Down – an interesting album that would lead to the growth of a pioneer in alternative metal. Their self-titled showed tons of experimentation. In addition to the crazy/wacko
Sugar and the dark
Spiders, there’s the interesting song
Peephole, the only song that can combine the atmosphere of a fucked up circus with the heavy alternative metal riffage.
Honorable Mentions:
OutKast –
Aquemini
Beastie Boys –
Hello Nasty
1999
Nine Inch Nails –
The Fragile – 2 Discs, one masterpiece. Honestly, one of my ultra favorites of all time.
Trent Reznor creates an album revolving around things falling apart. Throughout the album, you can hear chord progressions of other songs on the album repeated. The album must be listened from start to scratch to understand it. Among my favorites include the chaotic march song
The Wretched, the synth funk
Into The Void, and the instrumental which gained more of a meaning after a certain Spartanic movie,
Just Like You Imagined
Honorable Mentions:
Rage Against the Machine –
The Battle of Los Angeles
Incubus –
Make Yourself
2000
Green Day –
Warning – some people thought GD was losing it after their Nimrod days...well, they were WROOOONG! Warning goes down into acoustics, creating a mix of acoustic folk with the feel of punk rock. If Green Day was political on any album, it was this one. The song
Misery feels like a take on a folky song. Other faves of mine include the fast-paced
Castaway, and the celtic-influenced
Minority. Unfortunately, this album has been overlooked by most of GD’s fanbase…I highly recommend all GD fans to take a listen to this album, easily better than their new stuff.
Honorable Mentions:
OutKast –
Stankonia
Rage Against the Machine –
Renegades
2001
System of a Down –
Toxicity – Oh yeah…around now is when System of a Down hit their peak with ultimately one of the best albums of the decade. Toxicity, taking in some of the strangest elements of music. This album is what separates SOAD from the other “nu metal” bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and KoRn.. Many songs follow unconventional patterns, for example,
Aerials, the album closer, does not really have a distinct chorus (music video’s worth checking out).
Psycho is what happens when you’re on too much cocaine (I saw a great live performance of the song on youtube where guitarist
Daron Malakian really rips out an additional guitar solo.
Deer Dance is another great track with the lyrics “Pushing little children with their fully automatics, they like to push the weak around”.
Honorable Mentions:
Muse –
Origin Of Symmetry
Incubus –
Morning View
2002
Red Hot Chili Peppers –
By the Way – This is my 3rd favorite RHCP album, behind their sexual orgies Uplift Mofo Party Plan and BSSM. Now, many thought BTW was a repeat of Californication, but there is one thing that listeners didn’t realized. The album’s more mellow, less funk, but still a great album. And many other tracks on the album utilize other elements. Some of my favorites include the heavily funk-driven
Throw Away Your Television, the soft mellow
the zephyr song (accompanied by a groovy music video), and the album closer, a lengthy piece called
Venice Queen.
Honorable Mentions:
Eminem –
The Eminem Show
KoЯn –
Untouchables
2003
Queens of the Stone Age –
Songs For The Deaf – Imagine you’re in the middle of a desert in California…you switch through the radio stations, and take a drive through the desert into a bustling metropolis in one day…ladies and gentlemen, this is Songs for the Deaf. Easily QOTSA’s best album to date…and perhaps maybe one of the best albums this decade. With the assistance of drummer
Dave Grohl and Screaming Trees vocalist
Mark Lanegan, QOTSA provides a blend of hard rock, stoner rock, and garage rock. Grohl and Lanegan shows off their skills on
A Song for the Deaf. The 2 hit singles rock as well, especially
Go With The Flow (accompanied by a great rotoscopped music video…with a hot chick…LOLOLOL).
You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, but I Feel Like a Millionaire features some harsh vocals coming from
Josh Homme Nick Oliveri (mistake, sorry) provided by a straight out hard rocker, sending the driver on a voyage out of the desert. Honestly, I could go on about this album, and if you haven’t listed to Songs for the Deaf and enjoy a lot of hard rock/garage rock stuff, check it out.
Honorable Mentions:
Linkin Park –
Meteora
Muse –
Absolution
2004
Breaking Benjamin –
We Are Not Alone – These days, many consider post-grunge, the main virus that’s bringing down rock. But like any controversial genres, there are the negatives, and the positives. Breaking Benjamin is one of the pluses, and on 2nd album We Are Not Alone, Breaking Benjamin brings out a full album with themes of loss and hate.
Billy Corgan provides some assistance on 2 track on the album including the simple pop ballad
Forget It. Other standouts include
Firefly, and the epic opener
So Cold.
Honorable Mentions:
The Killers –
Hot Fuss
Killswitch Engage –
The End of Heartache
2005
KoЯn –
See You On The Other Side – WHAT? MAPLEJET! YOU WAITED UNTIL 2005 TO PUT KORN AS THE TOP ALBUM…BUT THEY SUCKED AFTER HEAD LEFT! No…they didn’t. Korn simply evolved. The sound you hear on the album is not the nu metal sound of the 2000s. It’s a mix of alternative metal, experimental rock, industrial rock, and at times, ambient. The industrial sound comes from the work of producer Atticus Ross (best known for his work with NIN in the 2000s). The song
Coming Undone experiments with the signature drum beat of Queen’s classic “We Will Rock You”, creating a slow sludgy melody.
Love Song is a pure industrial rock song and the album closer
Tearjerker is a ambient song that slowly gets louder near the end, one of my personal KoRn favorites.
Honorable Mentions:
Disturbed –
Ten Thousand Fists
Kanye West –
Late Registration
2006
Killswitch Engage –
As Daylight Dies – I still don’t get why KSE purists claim the band dies when former lead vocalist Jesse Leech left the band. To be honest, I see As Daylight Dies as KSE’s best album to date. What separates Killswitch Engage from other metalcore bands is their emphasis on melodic structures while keeping the sound heavy. Also, guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz provides some vocals on several songs along with lead vocalist Howard Jones (an element dropped on their S/T which I was disappointed with). The song that got me into KSE,
My Curse remains a classic in my library, other favorites include
Break the Silence, with an great breakdown, and a bonus B-Side
Let the Bridges Burn which has one of my favorite riffs right after the first chorus.
Honorable Mentions:
Lupe Fiasco –
Food & Liquor
Rise Against –
The Sufferer & The Witness
2007
Lupe Fiasco –
The Cool – I’m still looking into hip-hop, but I think I may have found my new favorite hip-hop act. Lupe Fiasco…the only rapper that can rhyme about video games and a fictional story of a druglord and the choices he can make. Many have praised Lupe for his lyrical substance, something many believe hip-hop has been lacking as of lately (I’m speaking to you Soulja Boy). The Cool revolves around a character created by Lupe, a druglord killed by a rival, and now walks with a skeletal hand. Should he rebuild his empire, or continue to live in fear among others. One of the interesting things on the album is the people who looked at to help his album, including Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump producing the song
Little Weapon, a track with military themes around a little boy. Some of my other favorites include
Hello/Goodbye (Uncool), featuring UNKLE and guess who…Josh Homme. The RNB/rap number
Intruder Alert is quite haunting.
Honorable Mentions:
Alter Bridge –
Blackbird
Kanye West –
Graduation
2008
Disturbed –
Indestructible – Most nu metal bands spent the decade trying to distance themselves away from the hated genre among metalers and pitchforkers who have no business attacking hard rock since they don’t listen to it anyways…anger aside, Indestructible was one my most anticipated albums in 2008, and Disturbed delivered.
Dan Donegan gets out his guitar and rips out a ton of awesome guitar solos. Songs like
Haunted and
The Night explores dark themes. The song
Indestructible launches the album…a strong unifying fight song that ranks up as one of my favorite songs of all time.
Honorable Mentions:
The Offspring –
Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace
Nas –
Untitled
2009
Alice in Chains –
Black Gives Way To Blue – Originally, albums by Muse, Eminem, and Green Day were my most hyped albums for 2009…I didn’t take AIC seriously seeing as this would be their first album without
Layne Staley, and their first with
William Duvall. But once I heard their first 2 singles, AIC quickly jumped to the top of my list, and after the leak of Black Gives Way to Blue, I quickly hailed it as the best album of the year. AIC continues their signature sound heard on albums like Dirt, Jar of Flies, and S/T. The title track
Black Gives Way To Blue (with piano played by Elton John) pays tribute to fallen Layne Staley.
Acid Bubble swaps between a soft ballad and a hard sludgy chorus with heavy riff by Cantrell. While most of the vocals come from Cantrell with DuVall providing backup vocals on songs, DuVall shows of his vocal skills on
Last Of My Kind, something most AIC fans will want to hear for future releases. It almost felt like AIC never lost their edge after the death of Layne, and hopefully they can continue to rock as the next decade approaches
Honorable Mentions:
The Prodigy –
Invaders Must Die
Green Day –
21st Century Breakdown
This list could change in the future. Also, once I get more albums from the 70s and 80s, I’ll expand the list to include releases from those decades.
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