To give you an idea of how long ago this decade began, this was the most popular meme on the internet circa 2010:
Needless to say, it’s been a time. Here’s SCAD Radio’s 10 favorite albums of the decade. Also, don’t forget to disagree with our Top 10 Song of the Decade list and our 2019 lists on the best songs and albums from this year.
#10 The Suburbs– Arcade Fire (2010)
“You only get one childhood.” Every Grandpa was onto something. Now we’re stuck reminiscing on our youth just like the Montreal collective, but with a fitting mix of good and bad recollections. Sure, you hated Middle School, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t pounce on the opportunity to go back and play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with your friends again. It’s this love/hate relationship we hold with our childhood that Arcade Fire dug up in a way only they could.
#9 Good Kid, M.A.A.D City– Kendrick Lamar (2012)
By the time 2012 rolled around, hip-hop had seen its fair share of hood-set origin stories. That didn’t stop Kendrick Lamar from making an album with a sprawling cast to detail his upbringing. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City plays like a biopic of the man behind it as a teen born into the violence and poverty of Compton. Its resonance comes in the LP’s ability to reach those beyond Section 8. Sure, it’s a tale of a kid coming up through the ghetto on the surface, but it’s a coming-of-age tale on the fight to fit in, a war the youth inevitably enter no matter their background.
#8 Electra Heart– Marina and the Diamonds (2012)
The artist of the alt-pop aesthetic back at a time when Billie Eilish was busy watching Saturday morning cartoons, Marina Diamandis’ soapy tale of the tragic titular starlet flashes a wider lens of commentary than its genre would have you believe. Electra may not have received as much mainstream recognition as Taylor or Katy- the LP’s themes were far too mature for family-friendly radio. That’s part of the appeal to Diamandis’ second full-length: it harbors the sound of our other pop heroes, but dares to go darker than your niece’s beloved boy bands.
#7 Blackstar– David Bowie (2016)
The world may have lost Ziggy back in 2016, though he got around to one final release two days before riding a tiger made of lightning into the afterlife. Blackstar makes up for Bowie’s 21st century hiatus, a swan song equivalent to Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” from an icon who proved to be a music genius ‘til the day he died.
#6 Blonde– Frank Ocean (2016)
The trademark example of “there’s no way it’s gonna be better than the debut” turned “holy sh*t, this is better than the debut,” Frank Ocean’s creamy style of sonically downbeat complexities is even more alluring than 2012’s Channel Orange. The gentle record dove deeper into Christopher Breaux’s fragile alter ego, one of the decade’s most fascinating enigmas.
#5 Lemonade– Beyoncé (2016)
First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes Blue Ivy in a baby carriage. Then comes Solange ambushing Hov in an elevator, and the saga is on. Lemonade was the precise type of medicine the A-list pair needed, but also a reminder to crumbling couples that love can conquer all. Not even Nicolas Sparks could craft such an authentic telling of the confusion, ire, and forgiveness of a love story rocked by infidelity.
#4 Contra– Vampire Weekend (2010)
Unless you’re the woman who never consented to be used as the LP’s cover model, what’s not to like about Ezra Koenig & co’s second effort? Released all the way back in early January of 2010, the first great album of the decade elaborated on the chamber pop perfection of their eponymous debut, capitalizing on a VW trademark of upbeat sounds contrasting heavy lyrics.
#3 To Pimp a Butterfly– Kendrick Lamar (2015)
Call Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 opus what you want: a dig on institutional racism, a gaze through the eyes of a celebrity headed for a downward spiral, a call to action for black communities, any of those and more are right. Every word from the Compton MC’s pen seeps into your soul, so much so that it’s impossible to gain everything without multiple respins. He hits with the smash of a slam poet and the layers of a Christopher Nolan film in hip-hop’s most epic adventure to date.
#2 AM– Arctic Monkeys (2013)
The official album of kids who were “too cool” to give in to the One Direction hysteria of 2013, the British rockers’ fifth effort is easily one of the most purely listenable LPs ever. The villain-intro riff to begin “Do I Wanna Know?,” the raging solo on “Arabella”, so many moments that have cemented a legacy to this generation, as well as good old rock ’n’ roll.
#1 Because the Internet– Childish Gambino (2013)
This LP holds the power to invoke cherished iPhone 5 playlist memories with the utterance of any of its quirky phrases. It was some kind of universal language to reference quips like the many puns or the monumentally simplistic Chance the Rapper feature. And my, how fitting the title is. One can imagine all the traffic Urban Dictionary must’ve picked up from awkward 14-year-olds wondering what a “GPOY” was. It’s got music for casual ears (“3005”), Monster-chugging teens cutting class (“Worldstar”), and Summer beach parties (“The Worst Guys”), all told from the perspective of its resident insecure weirdo. The dude even wrote a screenplay for it. If that doesn’t scream art school for you, I don’t know what does. No wonder SCAD kids voted it the best album of the 2010s.
