I was honored and more than a little nervous when asked by Andrew Careaga to participate in the Higher Ed Music Critics “Best Albums of the Decade” project. He pitched it as “like U.S. News & World Report, only we rank music instead of colleges, and our methodology is less suspect.” Each of us would rank our top 100 albums of the decade and submit them to him. He would plug them into a spreadsheet and come up with a cumulative ranking of the top 100 albums of the 2000s. We would then all comment on the rankings and then reveal 10 a day, countdown style on a group blog at http://higheredmusiccritics.blogspot.com (go visit, seriously).

I started by reviewing some of the major “best of the decade” lists (Paste, Pitchfork, NPR, eMusic, etc.). I carried a scrap of paper that I used to jot down those must-include albums that immediately (or later, randomly) came to mind.  Then I spent about three evenings poring over my iTunes library and digging through terribly unorganized stacks and shoeboxes full of old cds that never quite made the digital transition. Once our group members started to share lists I resisted the urge to check their lists until I finished.

I still I had a really hard time coming up with my rankings. While compiling my list I worked out an extended blog post in my head to describe my ranking process, what I think it reveals about me, and how it helped me reflect on a decade full of changes that saw me go from a 22 year old recent college grad to a married, mortgaged, father of three. (Not that I’m complaining or would change anything - just saying it was a busy decade.)

One thing that became very apparent to me through this process is that somewhere along the way I quit writing for myself. After years of focusing on writing for work, and the various web articles, press releases, correspondence, reports, etc. I’m a little rusty. I need to get back to doing some personal writing, and maybe now that I have this pseudo-blog I’ll make a better effort.

I still might write that detailed post (maybe it’s an essay). Or maybe not. But now it’s closing in on midnight on a Sunday night Monday morning, and I want to get my list published and linked to our main project before we come to the end of the list tomorrow.

So without further ado, here’s my top 100 of the 2000s. Not sure what the list itself says about my listening habits. I do know that If I did my list again tomorrow, I’m sure many of these would change.

1     Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
2     Gillian Welch, Time (the Revelator)    (2001)
3     Outkast, Stankonia (2000)
4     Neko Case, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006)
5     Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)
6     The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You (2009)
7     Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker (2000)
8     Okkervil River, The Stage Names (2007)
9     The National, Boxer (2007)
10   The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema (2005)

11    Kanye West, College Dropout (2004)
12    She & Him, Volume I (2008)
13    Lucinda Williams, World Without Tears (2003)
14    Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
15    Modest Mouse, Moon & Antarctica (2004)
16    M. Ward, Post-War (2006)
17    My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges    (2008)
18    Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend (2008)
19    Radiohead, In Rainbows (2008)
20    Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, Once (2008)

21    Justin Townes Earle, Yuma (2007)
22    Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, Raising Sand (2007)
23    The Postal Service, Give Up (2003)
24    Alejandro Escovedo, A Man Under the Influence    (2001)
25    Jay-Z, The Blueprint    (2001)
26    The Strokes, Is This It    (2001)
27    Loretta Lynn (w/ Jack White), Van Lear Rose (2004)
28    Blitzen Trapper, Furr (2008)
29    Barenaked Ladies, Snacktime    (2008)
30    Bright Eyes, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005)

31    DJ Danger Mouse, The Grey Album (2004)
32    The Decemberists, Picaresque (2005)
33    Justin Timberlake, Justified (2002)
34    Spoon, Ga Ga Ga (2007)
35    Whiskeytown, Pneumonia (2001)
36    Todd Snider, East Nashville Skyline (2004)
37    The New Pornographers, Challenger (2007)
38    Beirut, The Flying Club Cup (2007)
39    Elvis Costello, Secret, Profane and Sugarcane (2009)
40    The National, Alligator (2006)

41    Sufjan Stevens, Illinois (2005)
42    Jurassic 5, Quality Control (2000)
43    Ryan Adams, Gold (2001)
44    Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Elvis Perkins in Dearland (2009)
45    Neko Case, Middle Cyclone (2009)
46    Johnny Cash, American IV (2004)
47    Girls, Album (2009)
48    Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
49    The Shins, Chutes Too Narrow (2003)
50    Nappy Roots, Watermelon, Chicken and Grits (2002)

51    Pearl Jam, Backspacer (2009)
52    Monsters of Folk, Monsters of Folk (2009)
53    Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs (2008)
54    Taylor Swift, Fearless  (2008)
55    Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Jacksonville City Nights (2005)
56    Old Crow Medicine Show, Tennessee Pusher (2008)
57    The Frames, For the Birds (2001)
58    Oracular Spectacular, MGMT (2008)
59    John Hiatt, Master of Disaster (2005)
60    Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Cold Roses (2005)

61    Green Day, American Idiot (2004)
62    Thom Yorke, The Eraser (2006)
63    Kathleen Edwards, Failer (2003)
64    Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
65    Citation, Scott Miller & The Commonwealth (2006)
66    The Walkmen, You & Me (2008)
67    The Avett Brothers, Emotionalism (2007)
68    Dizzee Rascal, Boy in Da Corner (2004)
69    Charlie Louvin, Charlie Louvin (2007)
70    My Morning Jacket, Z (2005)

71    Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes (2008)
72    Outkast, Speakerboxx/The Love Below (2003)
73    Magnolia Electric Company, Josephine (2009)
74    They Might Be Giants, No!  (2002)
75    Alicia Keys, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)
76    Loudon Wainwright III, Strange Weirdos (2007)
77    Ben Folds, Rocking the Suburbs (2001)
78    Various, The Bottle Let Me Down: Sounds for Bumpy Wagon Rides (2002)
79    Radiohead, Kid A (2000)
80    Wilco, Wilco (The Album) (2009)

81    The White Stripes, Elephant (2003)
82    Arcade Fire, Neon Bible (2007)
83    Soundtrack, O Brother Where Art Thou (2000)
84    Kings of Leon, Aha Shake Heartbreak (2005)
85    Chris Knight, Enough Rope (2006)
86    Camera Obscura, My Maudlin Career (2009)
87    Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak (2008)
88    James McMurtry, Just us Kids (2008)
89    Norah Jones, Come Away With Me (2002)
90    Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters (2004)

91    TV on the Radio, Dear Science (2008)
92    Band of Horses, Cease to Begin (2007)
93    Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, It’s Not Big, It’s Large (2007)
94    Animal Collective, Merriwether, Post Pavilion (2009)
95    Lucinda Williams, West (2007)
96    Counting Crows, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings (2008)
97    Wilco, Sky Blue Sky (2007)
98    Various, The Oxford American Music CDs (Pick any year)
99    Cat Power, Jukebox (2008)
100  Wishing Chair, The Ghost of Will Harbut (2000)

I couldn’t make comments on these here, but I hope to soon have a couple of follow up posts with comments on some of these albums that are particularly obscure, personal, or otherwise strange. And please join the conversation on our group site, where you can find the comments I’ve made on many of these albums that made the main list. There you can also find links to the other participants’ lists. (Check them out. There’s a lot of overlap, but there’s also some really diverse stuff to discover. And they all know more about music than me. Not just being modest.)

And speaking of my fellow list-makers -  a big thanks to @andrewcareaga for organizing this project and inviting me to be a part of it, and to the other higher ed-working, Twitter-using music lovers from around the country who shared this experience: @TimNekritz, @radiofreegeorgy, @ronbronson, @hollyrae and @halogoggles.