My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: 25-21

Though not on the list, I'd like to give an honorary award to the Dixie Chicks. I tried convincing myself that they were good, but they're really not. Still, anyone who annoys tiny dick Sean Hannity gets some kudos.

#25: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2: This is where U2 and I finally got on the same page. When I first really started getting into music, circa 1987, I didn't like U2 cause they didn't sing about boobs or cars, they were "grown up rock" and at the time that was quite a turnoff. Though in the years that followed, I learned that "Grown Up" wasn't bad, it just happened to be that Grown-ups when I was younger were all Baby Boomers, and well, yeah, they were bad. When I was 16 or 17 and finally got into classic U2 like Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum the band had done a 180 and got all technopoppy with their Zooropa crap. But here, Atomic Bomb, they returned to their roots and I was over the boobs and boomers and ready to enjoy. They lose points however, for the most annoying intro of the decade: Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce.

#24: In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson: Ever have a song that makes you hungry? That's what Banana Pancakes, track #3 here, does for me every time. To the point that I'm smelling banana pancakes. I think I need to play this song every time I wake up on a Saturday craving McDonald's breakfast, kill the crave and lower the cholesterol. This album rotates back and forth between a great rainy day, chill on the porch album, and a beautiful sunny day, pilsner on the deck CD. Sure, it's got some songs that can get stuck in your head and drive you nuts, in particularly Staple It Together and Situations, which unfortunately are back to back, but that makes them easier to skip. Any way you look at it though, this album really makes you wish you had Jack Johnson's life. Freakin Hawaiians man, they got it all figured out.

#23: Stand Up - Dave Matthews Band: Full disclaimer: This is the decade where Dave Matthews replaced Jesus in my life so I may skew a little more in his favor than others. Conversely, I also may hold him to a higher standard, so as far as Stand Up is concerned, we'll let it settle right here at good old number 23. Is it DMB's best? Not by a long shot. It doesnt rank among his first three classic full-length releases or another disc that will likely appear on this countdown. But it's the best of the rest. Louisiana Bayou is an instant classic, and you just have to love American Baby - a song that got so popular that the magnetic-ribbon-frat-boys didn't even realize he was making fun of them as they were going apeshit when he played it at concerts. And of course, the dual State of the Union tracks: Out of My Hands and Everybody Wake Up. You'll see as the countdown moves along, I give brownie points to those musicians who told it like it was in the mid-oughts.

#22: Only By The Night - Kings of Leon: Let me get this out of the way immediately: some that I've spoken to swear Aha Shake Heartbreak is the Kings' best release of the decade. I don't disagree, however, as I was getting into it, there was a computer/upload/copywright snafu of sorts that wiped it off my system and I havent replaced it yet. So I can't sit here and put it in perspective when I don't have an honest perspective to put it in, that would be disingenuous. Now that that's cleared up, despite the fact that the word "Somebody" is overused, abused and over-exagerated on this album, simply put - it delivers. It took a while to distinguish itself in my eyes from their previous release Because of the Times but I was also very, very late to the Kings of Leon shindig so really, take my opinion for what its worth. You want an album to put on for a road trip, well this has an Allman Brothers Band-like quality for that purpose: the tempo picks up comfortably (without causing palipatations) and mellows down, but never too down, even on some of the slower-paced tracks. I give it one of my highest compliments: Good Shit.

#21. Light Grenades - Incubus: Now here's a band who's career completely passed me by. When I went on my music gathering binge in 2006, I came across this album and a previous one, Morning View. I have no idea what's considered by "experts" to be the better of the two, but when I would play Music->Artists->Incubus->ALL - I found that most of the tracks I preferred were off of Light Grenades - in particularly Ana Molly - a classic "What Coulda Been" ode to a fallen chick, along the same lines of The Ballad of Jane and Fly High Michelle. And that's good enough for me. The album as a whole seems like a counter-argument to most of the rock produced in the 90s: "My life sucks, come join my pity party and let's die". The overall vibe I get from Light Grenades is "Life Sucks, Wear a Helmet" - a much healthier perspective if you ask me.