"Take off your band-aid 'cause I don't believe in touchdowns/I am trying to break your heart"

Some may say this should have been counted for 2001, but the major album release occurred for this Chicago-based group in 2002.  Less like Uncle Tupelo, more like Radiohead.  Unbelievable.

"Let them know you realize that life goes fast/It's hard to make the good things last/You realize the sun doesn't go down/It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round"

Seemingly invisible to almost everyone since She Don't Use Jelly, this Oklahoma City based-group created the best concept album in the past three decades.

You may recognize this Liverpool band's singer from the Phillips commercials a few years ago (where he covers The Beatles' It's Getting Better). 

"Coffee laughs at us every morning/We always laugh at the choices we made/And ask ourselves, 'how did it get so early?'/We're boring enormous"

Former frontman from The Replacements (and notable contributor to The Singles Soundtrack) returns with a Pseudonym, dual album ... one in stereo, the other in dynamic mono.

London-based band who've experienced more stateside success recently than Oasis and Travis combined.  Follow-up to their Grammy winning debut is simple, yet pretty.

"Lyrics are a mystery, I've heard/Till you turn it down to 33 and 1/3/45."

English crooner has returned with style, sound, and punch.  An unbelievable album and return to grace.

Their second straight year in Cuckoo's Eleven, another Liverpool band that supported Radiohead in their European tour in 2001.  Less of a garage sound than Internal Wrangler, but still with the same power.

"If I had a dime for every time/I should stop playing guitar and put my head in a book/Then my head would be healthy and my guitar would be dusty/And that would save me from a bunch of bad songs."

Could have been THE Emo band.  Unfortunately, they broke up before we got to hear more of them.

Dan Schleicher, I am rescinding my comments from last year.  Rap is not stale, thanks to J5 and N.E.R.D. (Honorable Mention this year). 

"There's too many people/You used to know/They've seen you coming/They've seen you go/Baby, you're a lost cause."

Beck stripped down from his Odelay and Midnight Vultures sounds ... acoustic and supreme.

"We have 200 couches where you can feel right/Sleep tonight."

If they mated: David Byrne and Johnny Marr.  NY based band that evokes the former, along with Joy Division.  You cannot go wrong with this album.