Straight Up Random

A Decade Under The Influence: Top Albums In The Past 10 Years

A Decade Under The Influence: Straight Up Random’s pick of some of the top albums from the past 10 years

2000: Green Day toned down the punk a bit with their 2000 release Warning. The album was more on the mellow side of the spectrum, but it only seemed like a natural progression after the success of their acoustic ballad “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” from their 1997 album Nimrod. Green Day managed to include one upbeat punk anthem which turned out to be their first single “Minority.” The song stayed on the U.S. Modern Rock charts for five weeks as the number one song, and then the band would later release “Warning,”and “Waiting,” and as their second and third single respectively.

2001: Sugarcult came onto the scene with their debut album Start Static in 2001. Start Static brought about rambunctious tunes that gave Sugarcult some minor success for their songs “Bouncing Off The Walls,” and “Pretty Girl (The Way).” The band essentially made pop rock music, but added more attitude to their songs than today’s standard pop rock. Start Static was fun and frisky, and Sugarcult would go on to make two more albums before taking a minor break in 2009 to work on side-projects.

2002: Taking Back Sunday’s debut album Tell All You Friends defined emo with its heart-wrenching lyrics about friendships, relationships, and life. Their single “Cute Without The ‘E’,” is usually the song most people associate with this album and is an example of their emo-tastic lyrics by singing “And will you tell all you friends/you’ve got your gun to my head/this all was only wishful thinking.” The combination of Adam Lazzara’s pre-mature voice and dual vocals with then-guitarist John Nolan as well as the band’s heartfelt lyrics and melodies made Taking Back Sunday stand out above all of the rest that year. The band would go on to influence many other bands within the coming years, and they themselves would release three more albums, including this year’s New Again.

2003: The world was first introduced to Fall Out Boy in 2003 with their debut album Take This To Your Grave. Take This To Your Grave showed the pop punk style of music that was standard to that year in music, but Fall Out boy always managed to have a little something extra-special about their music. Perhaps it was the fact that they briefly played around with “screamo” on songs like “Saturday,” and “Calm Before The Storm,” or maybe fans liked that the entire album was fast-paced or that their lyrics were sincere. It’s hard to believe that there was actually a time before bassist Pete Wentz wasn’t a poster boy for emo-scene kids everywhere, but that wouldn’t happen until the release of their 2005 album From Under The Cork Tree. Fall Out Boy would release two more studio albums (Infinity On High and Folie A Deux) after that, before announcing their “break” this year.

2004: Even if you didn’t listen to Green Day, you were bound to hear their songs anywhere and everywhere after the release of their politically charged album American Idiot. This concept album propelled Green Day back into the spotlight after years of not being able to top the success of their major label debut Dookie. Green Day’s American Idiot was a world-wide phenomenon and definitely goes down in the books as one of the best albums released this decade. The band released their follow-up album to the über popular American Idiot, this year called 21st Century Breakdown.

2005: Squeaky-voiced pop music was “in,” in 2005, and The All-American Rejects were at the forefront of this wave of pop rock with the release of their hit album Move Along. They exploded onto the mainstream with their single “Dirty Little Secret,” and continued to gain popularity with singles like “Move Along,” and “It Ends Tonight.” With the help from MTV and your local radio station, Move Along was a huge success for The All-American Rejects. The band would go on to release their third album When The World Comes Down, in late 2008.

2006: My Chemical Romance was already becoming increasingly popular due their singles “Helena,” and “I’m Not Okay,” from their album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, but it wasn’t until 2006 when the band released their album The Black Parade that My Chemical Romance would become a household name. Their singles “Welcome To The Black Parade,” “Famous Last Words,” and “Teenagers,” dominated MTV (back when they actually played music videos). My Chemical Romance mainstreamed the gothic style, and made it cool for kids to shop at Hot Topic without being looked upon as a freak. The band has been working diligently on their follow-up album and has plans to release it in 2010.

2007: Scene girls everywhere dyed their hair to match the signature burnt-orange/red that front-lady Haley Williams of Paramore rocked. Paramore’s sophomore release Riot! had made quite the riot in 2007 with the band’s lead single “Misery Business.” There wasn’t a person who didn’t sing along to “Misery Business” every time it came on and played. Although classified as pop rock, Paramore’s songs didn’t pigeon-hole them to one niche of the music industry and the band were able to continue their mainstream success with their singles “CrushCrushCrush,” and “That’s What You Get.” The band inspired a slew of up & coming female-fronted bands, and would go on to release their latest album Brand New Eyes earlier this year.

2008: The hype that surrounded Forever The Sickest Kids was incredible in 2008. There wasn’t a show that you went to that didn’t include Forever The Sickest Kids on the bill, or a fan who wasn’t wearing their merch. All of this came with the release of their debut album Underdog Alma Mater. The band continued to ride the wave of success throughout the entire year, and into 2009, and released an EP called The Weekend this year.

2009: Cobra Starship made “Good Girls Go Bad,” in 2009 with the release of their third album Hot Mess. This electro-pop group is the type to create trends and was the driving force behind the neon wave to the scene in 2007 with the release of their album Viva La Cobra. It was this year though that the band brought their dance-rock tunes to the mainstream by collaborating with Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester for their hit single “Good Girls Go Bad.” Cobra Starship’s music is just as unique as their name, making it easy for their songs to transition from the airwaves to the loudspeakers of a dance club.