My girlfriend and I spent the day in bed figuring out lists of our favorite albums for each year we've been alive. Some years were obvious (The Queen is Dead trumps all '86 releases, fools), but '89 through '98 was really hard. I had Fugazi vs. The Cure vs. The B-52's vs. The Stone Roses vs. Nine Inch Nails in 1989. "The Blue Album" vs. The Downward Spiral in 1994, and the result is pure snap decision. Less Than Jake vs. Refused in '98 was another hard one. I've been making best-of lists since like 2004, and while We Shall All Be Healed, Searching for a Former Clarity, and Year Zero remained tops for me, 2006 was a tough decision. My original pick was The Mountain Goats' Get Lonely, but then I heard Camera Obscura's Lets Get Out of This Country, The Menzingers' A Lesson in the Abuse of Information Technology and Silversun Pickups' Carnavas. UGH. I think later in the year, as a sort of countdown to my best of music 2008 post, I'm going to write out a top 10 for '86-'07.


1986 – The Smiths – The Queen is Dead

1987 – The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

1988 – R.E.M. – Green

1989 – The Cure – Disintegration

1990 – Fugazi - Repeater

1991 – My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

1992 – Jawbreaker – Bivouac

1993 – Counting Crows – August and Everything After

1994 – Weezer – "Blue Album"

1995 – Jawbreaker – Dear You

1996 – Counting Crows – Recovering the Satellites

1997 – Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape

1998 – Less Than Jake – Hello Rockview

1999 – New Found Glory – Nothing Gold Can Stay

2000 – The Weakerthans – Left and Leaving

2001 – The Bouncing Souls – How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2002 – Ben Kweller – Sha Sha

2003 – Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros - Streetcore

2004 – The Mountain Goats – We Shall All Be Healed

2005 – Against Me! – Searching for a Former Clarity

2006 – Camera Obscura – Let’s Get Out of This Country

2007 – Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero

2008 (so far...)– The Mountain Goats – Heretic Pride