When an album hits its tenth anniversary, you end up thinking about where you were in life when it was released, how much you and the world around you have changed since then, or maybe what hasn’t, and then how that album still is or isn’t a part of your life. It becomes a strangely reflective time when you least expect it. There’s a built-in nostalgia that comes with music. You automatically have memories attached to songs and albums, so when all these 10-year anniversaries start popping up for albums that were a significant part of your life, you get taken by surprise a bit.
Over the last few years, several albums that I love hit that decade-old marker. Usually, I just read the comments when yet another Beck or Pearl Jam album turned 10, and all the people in the comments of a Stereogum article talk about their teen and 20’s life in the 90’s. But now all the retrospectives were suddenly albums that I do remember when they came out, and it's felt incredibly strange. Really? You're telling me it's been ten years since I first bought that on a CD? Because yeah, I went to Best Buy to get that on a CD. Let's take a look at some albums that celebrated their tenth birthday in the past couple of years to remind you that time is fleeting.
1. The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
This is it. It can be argued that The Strokes started the post-punk revival or helped boost it or did a variety of other things that somehow directly transformed the New York music scene into an international event that shaped rock music for the next few years. This was the album that can be attributed as being that catalyst, and even wilder, it’s 15-years-old. It’s attending driver’s ed and getting its learner’s permit in some U.S. states.
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell (2003)
The album that has a song that formed an Ezra Koenig tweet that launched a Beyonce song. But “Fever to Tell” is more than that. Yeah Yeah Yeahs came up alongside The Strokes in that same New York scene with the rise of the post-punk revival and had the most wonderful Karen O leading us to a better musical future.
3. The White Stripes - Elephant (2003)
This was their fourth album, but arguably their most commercially and critically successful. It put Jack and Meg White more solidly on the musical map, and everyone knows “Seven Nation Army.” Really, unfortunately, everyone. We’re actually getting dangerously close to hitting the decade since The White Stripes released their last album mark, but 13 years since “Elephant” is equally as strange to think about. Since the end of The White Stripes, Jack has really shown the world how amazing of a musician is and what type of guacamole he likes (shout out to my alma mater.)
4. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004)
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out // Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by Achille Beltrame
We don’t give enough credit to Franz Ferdinand for this album and how thanks to it so many other bands that embraced the 80’s during the 2000’s post-punk revival were able to flourish. “Take Me Out” also provides us with a nice supply of World War I history jokes thanks to the band’s name. I bet they sing it at karaoke at History Association conferences.
5. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004)
Did you have the speaking part intro to "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" memorized? Do you still? Were you part of the MCRmy? Are you still? Were you one of those people that thought Hot Topic was scary and didn't like MCR but then would pretend to in order to seem cool? You were the worst. Bands from the 2000s came and went, but of all the ones to no longer be, MCR was a loss. Their fanbase was, and continues to be, insanely strong and loyal as the members go into their respective projects, and “Three Cheers” still feels like a quintessential album for helping through rough times.
6. Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004)
This past week, Kings of Leon released their seventh album, 12 years after their second, “Aha Shake Heartbreak,” which is a personal favorite. Even though they really broke into popularity with their fourth album in 2008 “Only by the Night” in 2008 with singles like “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire” (songs that somehow never would go away), “Aha Shake Heartbreak” had a more homegrown feel. It might have come right before their commercial success, but songs like “The Bucket” and “Four Kicks” are always going to be great.
7. Fall Out Boy - From Under the Cork Tree (2005)
I openly admit that I cannot stand Fall Out Boy. What I will say though is that I have a level of respect for them and do commend them. "From Under the Cork Tree" was their second album, which gave us singles like “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down” and “Dance, Dance” that brought them to MTV and radio mainstream. They have managed to maintain that popularity and relevance with every subsequent album they’ve released in the past ten years. That’s damn impressive. So, congrats on 11 years of this album that is perfect for mumble-singing along to.
8. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
Okay, Sufjan never made it past two states on his quest to make an album for all 50 states, but he did give us the perfection that is “Illinois.” We’ve all been crying along to “Casimir Pulaski Day” and feeling a little uncomfortable at how beautiful “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” is for 11 years now.
9. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not (2006)
10. The Killers - Sam's Town (2006)
Wow, look at all these publications who suddenly want to talk about how “Sam’s Town” is one of the greatest American albums ever. Where were you 10 years ago? Oh, giving it two-star reviews or just being rude based on what other publications thought. Cool. I know the lyrics to “When You Were Young,” you know the lyrics to “When You Were Young,” your mom calls it “that looks like Jesus song.” Obama loves The Killers. We all do. It’s America’s album, you just might now know it yet. Happy 10th!
11. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006)
It's been a decade since JT saved us and brought sexy back. Rejoice.
