91. System Of A Down - Mezmerize
(American/Columbia Records, 2005)
I don’t know if metal people consider this band metal because I am not a metal person, but I don’t really think of it that way either and this is pretty much the closest thing to metal you’ll find on this list (I might get into this in detail someday, but basically I think ‘70s hard rock and early metal are some of the greatest music in the world and 99% of the stuff that’s followed in its path has gotten it wrong and sucked out all the fun). But really, in my brain I categorize System Of A Down more alongside punk-derived bands like the Minutemen or the Dismemberment Plan, splatting out weird spastic jams with precise time signatures and big hooks, and this is their fastest, shortest and funniest album.

92. John Legend - Once Again
(G.O.O.D. Music/Sony, 2006)
Perhaps bolstered by the fact that the most minimal and old-fashioned single off of his debut, “Ordinary People,” turned out to be his big breakthrough hit, John Legend’s sophomore album boldly went further in an artsy fartsy direction, with multi-song suites, bossa nova and “Show Me,” a shockingly spot-on Jeff Buckley impression. And even though the more beat-driven tracks like the incredible “Another Again” and the soul-sampling productions by Kanye and friends never did much at radio, they at least anchored the album in something modern to make into more than just one eclectic retro exercise after another.

93. Carla Bozulich - Red Headed Stranger
(DiCristina Stair Builders, 2003)
Carla Bozulich was the first person arouse my interest in Willie Nelson’s 1975 epic Red Headed Stranger, when she covered the gorgeous “Hands On The Wheel” with her ‘90s band the Geraldine Fibbers. So once she got around to covering the entire album years later, I was a fan of the original and was really excited to see what she’d do with it, which was ultimately to turn the whole thing inside out, stretching it from 33 minutes to nearly an hour with long Nels Cline guitar explorations. And yet the basic character of the songs and the story is maintained remarkably well, to the point that it’s not surprising that Willie himself saw fit to make a cameo.



94. Petra Haden - Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
(Bar/None, 2005)
What are the odds that two of my favorite albums of the last few years would be SoCal gal pals of Mike Watt covering decades-old classics? Pretty good, it turns out. Sell Out is far from my favorite Who album, but it’s perfect for this exercise, full of odd skits and interstitial radio bumpers for Haden to impersonate with her perfectly imperfect a cappella rendition of virtually every sound on the album. Her a cappella renditions of “Thriller” and “God Only Knows” are also essential listening.

95. 50 Cent - Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
(Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records, 2003)
When this album first came out, I thought 50 was an extremely limited talent and overall pretty boring. Actually, I still think that, but I’ve come around to appreciate what he accomplished early in his career. If “Poor Lil Rich” and “What Up Gangsta” were singles, I’d put them on a singles list and be done with it, but uneven as this album is it still contains some of my favorite rap songs of the decade, and more or less deserves to be here. In 2003 you were the man, homie, what the fuck happened to you?

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