When we publish our list of the 20 best albums of the 2010s, we know it will bear little resemblance to the Best of the вЂ™10s lists from other, less discerning sites. вЂњPopular musicвЂќ these days contains precious little rockвЂ™nвЂ™roll ( have you seen that horror show which is the Grammies?) If you wanted to be mean, you might even say that Tulip Frenzy - which used to believe it was dedicated to a highly refined subset of вЂњpop musicвЂќ - is today better defined as passionate supporters of unpopular music. 2010 to 2020 was a really great decade for real rockвЂ™nвЂ™roll.ДЄnd yes, weвЂ™re painfully aware that rockвЂ™nвЂ™roll is no longer the common language of our culture. We would chose the decadeвЂ™s bestвЂ¦ 20 sounds like a good number вЂ¦ albums.Д«efore we reveal the list in full, a few words about the decade. To my surprise, from outta left field came this logical suggestion: since Tulip Frenzy has done an annual Top List each year since 2010, why not look at which records were included and jump-start deliberations by culling from the 90 chosen in each of nine one-year increments? One editor suggested, вЂњLetвЂ™s just figure out which albums from 2019, if any, should be considered, and throw them into the mix itвЂ™s not like we have to do our whole annual Top 10 list before we can say which ones would make the decadal grade.вЂќ

We all got together and, like, talked it out. The mid-afternoon guzzling momentarily fell silent. Pool cues, far from being raised in anger, were gently rested on felt. Which prompted a remarkably coherent and efficient response from the Tulip Frenzy editors. Thee Oh Sees) it consistently chose the wrong record (e.g. While it named many of the right bands (e.g. Choosing from a ten-year span when we havenвЂ™t fully considered the options from the present one seemed, if not quite ass backwards, then at least as unaligned with Cause and Effect as SlothropвЂ™s map of conquests was with the Poisson distribution of fallen V2 rockets.Д«ut then along came Friend of the Site Allen Goldberg who taunted us, in like late October, with Paste or someoneвЂ™s list of the decadeвЂ™s finest. We need a deadline, the looming end oвЂ™ year - not to mention all the other glam sites we compete with putting out their lists - to force a determination of which record ranks supreme.

Much of the unwillingness to dig in, though, was due to the teamвЂ™s needing Thanksgiving to get a quorum, set time for debate and invoke cloture. Moreover, with the hindsight of 40 years, can you really pick the вЂ™70вЂ™s best album?

Some of us are still squabbling over whether OK Computer or Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space were the best albums of the вЂ™90s. Some of the gangвЂ™s resistance stems from their admittedly deep knowledge of rockвЂ™nвЂ™roll history, wherein choosing the best record from the decade not even past calls up Chou En LaiвЂ™s response to Henry Kissinger, who asked ChouвЂ™s opinion of the French Revolution: вЂњToo early to say.вЂќ It was 1972. Things can go terribly wrong when you start such discussions. That lowly scrum of slackers who moon about Tulip FrenzyвЂ™s Global HQ like the gangsters of the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club were hoping to avoid the debate over the decadeвЂ™s best album. White Fence For The Recently Found Innocent

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