So, the discussion about my 100 best '90s albums list was interesting enough that I decided to give the current decade the same treatment. It's a somewhat different exercise, though, because the recent years really haven't had as much time to sink in yet. Strangely, though, my yearly favorites were much easier to pick this time (though it was a close call between Eminem and Steely Dan in 2000). It will be interesting to revisit all this in another ten years.

The same rules apply, but again there's an exception or two. I allowed two System of a Down albums for 2005, on the grounds that they're really two halfs of one work, despite being released separately. Also, Brad Mehldau managed to sneak on there twice by cloaking himself with Pat Metheny.

2000

• Meaningless, Jon Brion
  
• Parachutes, Coldplay
  
• The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem
  
• Whoa, Nelly!, Nelly Furtado
  
• Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, P J Harvey
  
• The ConstruKction of Light, King Crimson
  
• Kids in Philly, Marah
  
• Solo: Improvisations for Expanded Piano, Lyle Mays
  
• Sci-Fi, Christian McBride Band
  
• Haunted, Poe
  
• Kid A, Radiohead
  
• Tourist, St Germain
  
• Two Against Nature, Steely Dan
  
• Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2), XTC

2001

• Open, Cowboy Junkies
  
• Change, The Dismemberment Plan
  
• Rockin' the Suburbs, Ben Folds
  
• Isolation Drills, Guided by Voices
  
• Need New Body, Need New Body
  
• Distorted Lullabies, Ours
  
• We Love Life, Pulp
  
• Passage of Time, Joshua Redman Quartet

2002

• About a Boy, Badly Drawn Boy
  
• Sea Change, Beck
  
• Heathen, David Bowie
  
• The Private Press, DJ Shadow
  
• Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Flaming Lips
  
• In Our Gun, Gomez
  
• Largo, Brad Mehldau
  
• Traveling Mercies, Chris Potter
  
• Überjam, The John Scofield Band
  
• Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco
  
• Mind if We Make Love to You, Wondermints

2003

• These Are the Vistas, The Bad Plus
  
• Dear Catastrophe Waitress, Belle and Sebastian
  
• Permission to Land, The Darkness
  
• Transatlanticism, Death Cab for Cutie
  
• Seven Days of Falling, E.S.T.
  
• St. Anger, Metallica
  
• Down with Wilco, The Minus 5
  
• Coverage, Mandy Moore
  
• Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, OutKast
  
• Give Up, The Postal Service
  
• Country Music, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives
  
• Elephant, The White Stripes
  
• World Without Tears, Lucinda Williams
  
• The Meadowlands, The Wrens

2004

• Funeral, The Arcade Fire
  
• Heroes to Zeros, The Beta Band
  
• Medúlla, Björk
  
• The Grey Album, Danger Mouse
  
• Blueberry Boat, The Fiery Furnaces
  
• Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand
  
• American Idiot, Green Day
  
• Brain, Hiromi
  
• End of the World Party (Just in Case), Medeski Martin + Wood
  
• Good News for People Who Love Bad News, Modest Mouse
  
• Fly or Die, N*E*R*D
  
• Feedback, Rush
  
• Now Here Is Nowhere, Secret Machines
  
• From a Basement on the Hill, Elliott Smith
  
• Soviet Kitsch, Regina Spektor
  
• A Grand Don't Come for Free, The Streets
  
• Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, Tears for Fears
  
• Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, TV on the Radio
  
• Smile, Brian Wilson

2005

• Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple
  
• In Space, Big Star
  
• Lost and Safe, The Books
  
• Aerial, Kate Bush
  
• Playing the Angel, Depeche Mode
  
• Demon Days, Gorillaz
  
• I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, Bettye LaVette
  
• Suit Yourself, Shelby Lynne
  
• Arular, M.I.A.
  
• Z, My Morning Jacket
  
• Gimme Fiction, Spoon
  
• Mezmerize/Hypnotize, System of a Down
  
• Late Registration, Kanye West

2006

• You in Reverse, Built to Spill
  
• Uninvited, Like the Clouds, The Church
  
• Yeah!, Def Leppard
  
• Yes, Virginia..., The Dresden Dolls
  
• Morph the Cat, Donald Fagen
  
• On an Island, David Gilmour
  
• St. Elsewhere, Gnarls Barkley
  
• Donuts, J Dilla (Jay Dee)
  
• All the Roadrunning, Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
  
• Last Man Standing, Jerry Lee Lewis
  
• Metheny Mehldau, Pat Metheny & Brad Mehldau
  
• Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam
  
• 3121, Prince
  
• Ta-Dah, Scissor Sisters
  
• Surprise, Paul Simon
  
• Broken Boy Soldiers, The Raconteurs
  
• The Invisible Deck, The Rogers Sisters
  
• The Eraser, Thom Yorke

2007

• The Good, the Bad & the Queen, The Good, the Bad & the Queen
  
• The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, Rickie Lee Jones
  
• Meet the Smithereens!, The Smithereens

[2007 is, of course, not very old yet, so these three represent the bulk of what I've purchased so far this year. After a couple listens apiece, I think Rickie Lee Jones's quirky channeling of Jesus is winning, but time will tell. I've enjoyed all three of these.]

On second thought, I don't really want that VH1 talking head job I mentioned last time. I'd hate to have to be that snarky every week.

A few weeks back, for no reason but avoiding work, I assembled a list of the 100 best albums of the '90s. Okay, maybe not the best, but my favorites anyway, the ones that I seem to have listened to most obsessively over the years. In an effort to avoid more work, I will now share the list with you.

I limited myself to one album per artist (although Medeski Martin + Wood kind of slipped in there twice through a loophole), and I allowed myself only studio albums, nothing live and no compilations (the exception there being The Beta Band's Three E.P.'s). For each year, I have bolded my top choice, though in many cases it was a very close call.

1990

• Question and Answer, Pat Metheny w/Dave Holland & Roy Haynes
  
• Missing ... Presumed Having a Good Time, The Notting Hillbillies
  
• Fear of a Black Planet, Public Enemy
  
• The Rhythm of the Saints, Paul Simon
  
• Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, The Sundays

1991

• Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
  
• Travelers & Thieves, Blues Traveler
  
• Laughter & Lust, Joe Jackson
  
• Mental Jewelry, Live
  
• Ten, Pearl Jam
  
• Roll the Bones, Rush
  
• Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Spin Doctors
  
• Achtung Baby, U2

1992

• 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of..., Arrested Development
  
• Gordon, Barenaked Ladies
  
• Return of the Brecker Brothers, The Brecker Brothers
  
• Black Eyed Man, Cowboy Junkies
  
• Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
  
• Automatic for the People, R.E.M.
  
• 99.9 F°, Suzanne Vega

1993

• Kamakiriad, Donald Fagen
  
• Love & Liberté, Gipsy Kings
  
• Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
  
• Siamese Dream, The Smashing Pumpkins
  
• Ten Summoner's Tales, Sting
  
• Elemental, Tears for Fears

1994

• The Sweetest Illusion, Basia
  
• 11 Tracks of Whack, Walter Becker
  
• Boingo
  
• Grace, Jeff Buckley
  
• She, Harry Connick, Jr.
  
• Dis Is da Drum, Herbie Hancock
  
• Under the Table and Dreaming, Dave Matthews Band
  
• Dummy, Portishead
  
• MoodSwing, Joshua Redman Quartet
  
• Ruby Vroom, Soul Coughing
  
• Home, Spearhead
  
• Chocolate & Cheese, Ween
  
• Sleeps with Angels, Neil Young & Crazy Horse

1995

• Post, Björk
  
• Friday Afternoon in the Universe, Medeski Martin + Wood
  
• Tragic Kingdom, No Doubt
  
• Hello, Poe
  
• 311
  
• Secaucus, The Wrens

1996

• Odelay, Beck
  
• If You're Feeling Sinister, Belle and Sebastian
  
• Fashion Nugget, Cake
  
• Unchained, Johnny Cash
  
• This Fire, Paula Cole
  
• A Few Small Repairs, Shawn Colvin
  
• Walking Wounded, Everything but the Girl
  
• We the People, Groove Collective
  
• Mic City Sons, Heatmiser
  
• Colossal Head, Los Lobos
  
• Fever In Fever Out, Luscious Jackson
  
• Who Can You Trust?, Morcheeba
  
• Dusk at Cubist Castle, The Olivia Tremor Control
  
• Archaeology, The Rutles
  
• Duncan Sheik, Duncan Sheik
  
• Hot, Squirrel Nut Zippers

1997

• Earthling, David Bowie
  
• Cheap Trick [1997]
  
• Let Us Play!, Coldcut
  
• When I Was Born for the 7th Time, Cornershop
  
• Whatever and Ever Amen, Ben Folds Five
  
• Yeah, It's That Easy, G. Love and Special Sauce
  
• Marcy Playground
  
• You Will Go to the Moon, Moxy Früvous
  
• Happy End of the World, Pizzicato Five
  
• OK Computer, Radiohead
  
• Dig Me Out, Sleater-Kinney

1998

• Moon Safari, Air
  
• The Way We Were, Babe the Blue Ox
  
• Hello Nasty, Beastie Boys
  
• Fantasma, Cornelius
  
• Painted from Memory, Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
  
• You've Come a Long Way, Baby, Fatboy Slim
  
• 4-Sight
  
• Mini-King [unreleased]
  
• Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too, New Radicals
  
• Aquemini, OutKast
  
• A Go Go, John Scofield (w/Medeski Martin + Wood)
  
• XO, Elliott Smith
  
• Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams

1999

• When the Pawn..., Fiona Apple
  
• The Three E.P.'s, The Beta Band*
  
• Stereo Type A, Cibo Matto
  
• Emergency & I, The Dismemberment Plan
  
• The Slim Shady LP, Eminem
  
• Utopia Parkway, Fountains of Wayne
  
• Liquid Skin, Gomez
  
• On How Life Is, Macy Gray
  
• Next Move, Hue and Cry
  
• Bachelor No. 2; or, The Last Remains of the Dodo, Aimee Mann
  
• Play, Moby
  
• The Time Machine, Alan Parsons
  
• Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers
  
• Summer Teeth, Wilco
  
• Apple Venus Volume 1, XTC

[One album there that deserves further explanation is 1998's Mini-King, which is an album that as far as I know existed only in advance promo form. It was to be released by N2K Encoded Music, the record label of a company I used to work for, but as far as I know was never released. (The company folded.) That was a big shame, because Mini-King had a lot of talent, not to mention an ultra-sexy (male) lead singer. People would say, "What does Mini-King sound like," and I would say, "Spandau Ballet," and my boss would say, "Don't say that! They'll tank if you say that!" Well, I guess they worse than tanked.]

So, can I be a talking head on VH1 now? Huh? Huh? Do I qualify?