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Introducing Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums of the 2000s

Check out our eclectic list of the decade's finest LPs

July 19, 2011 12:30 PM ET
Best albums of the 2000s

Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Albums of the 2000s was originally unveiled back in 2009. Back then, the top 50 records were featured in the magazine and the bottom 50 were exclusively online, but now the full list is here complete with all-new write-ups that provide context and commentary for every LP.

he list – which was compiled by a group of over 100 artists, critics and industry insiders – reflects the eclectic spirit of the decade with major artistic statements from garage rock revivalists (White Stripes, the Strokes), dance-floor innovators (M.I.A., LCD Soundsystem), hip-hop icons (Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye West), resurgent classic rockers (U2, Bruce Springsteen) and unclassifiable art rockers Radiohead, who delivered the finest album of the decade along with three others in the Top 100.

Photos: Random Notes

Though many pundits had insisted throughout the Aughts that the album was on its way out in the era of iPods and a la carte downloads, this list makes a strong case that not only has the format survived the technological shift, but it has thrived in recent years.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Song Stories

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette | 1973

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."

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