Editors' Roundtable: RS Staffers Debate the Decade's Best Music

Determining the best albums, songs and artists of the decade was no easy task, and as our roundtable discussion about the 2000s' best music demonstrates, there's quite a diversity of opinions in the Rolling Stone reviews department. Watch as managing editor Will Dana talks with critics David Fricke, Rob Sheffield and Jody Rosen about how music changed over the past 10 years and their personal picks for the greatest music of the decade.

"Pop divas are the rock stars of the 'naughts," says Rosen, arguing that "in terms of radical sounds, the Top 40 has been dominated by hip-hop production." "I think the first important rock record that had an important pop influence was Kid A by Radiohead," Fricke says, adding he was surprised it was voted Number One on our albums list.

Sheffield's favorite album belonged to the Hold Steady, and he recalls seeing the band (accidentally) in Brooklyn several years ago. Fricke explains why Green Day's American Idiot topped both his albums and songs lists, and Rosen chats about his two Number Ones: Brad Paisley and Missy Elliott. Plus, don't miss Sheffield making his case for Britney Spears' "Toxic" as the era's definitive track.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

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