Accessibility links
The Decade In Music: '00s NPR Music explores the music and meaning of the '00s. Hosted by Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein.
Special Series

The Decade In Music: '00s

The music and meaning of the '00s. Hosted by Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein.
The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings

All Songs Considered

The Decade's 50 Most Important Recordings

With the decade coming to a close, we compiled a list of the 50 most important recordings of the past 10 years in a wide range of styles and genres. These are the game-changers, the influential or historically significant recordings that signaled a shift in the way music is made or sounds.

NPR Music Staff Discuss The List

Listen · 1:19:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120326033/120326032" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
The Decade In Music: The Way We Listen Now

The MP3 puts every song at your fingertips anytime and anywhere. Is it too much? dead redhead via Flickr hide caption

toggle caption
dead redhead via Flickr

The Decade In Music: The Way We Listen Now

For the past 10 years, the record industry has struggled to control how we listen to music. But the shift from CD to MP3 is just the latest iteration in the evolution of formats. The MP3 file has yanked music free from physical formats entirely, and the number of ways fans can experience music has exploded.

The Decade In Music: The Way We Listen Now

Listen · 6:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121023882/121033257" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse

Christopher Clark graphed the peak levels of and RMS levels of three hit songs a year over the past three decades. This image links to a PDF of his full poster, "A Visual History Of Loudness." Christopher Clark hide caption

toggle caption
Christopher Clark

The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse

In the past decade, recorded music has gotten louder — and has deteriorated from a sound-quality standpoint. A recording engineer discusses "the loudness wars," and a psychology professor explains why the ubiquity of MP3s has changed what we hear.

The Loudness Wars: Why Music Sounds Worse

Listen · 8:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122114058/122125083" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Decade In Music: How Musicians Create

Even with creative MP3 packaging for his music, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes still believes in the concept of the album. Patrick Heagney hide caption

toggle caption
Patrick Heagney

The Decade In Music: How Musicians Create

How has technology changed the relationship between musicians and their fans? While major record labels still struggle to grasp the power of the MP3, artists, including Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes, have embraced and even found creative solutions around file-sharing.

The Decade In Music: How Musicians Create

Listen · 6:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121061383/121064693" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Summer Jam And The Return Of The Single
courtesy of Def Jam

The Summer Jam And The Return Of The Single

This past decade has seen the return of the single. Not since the 1950s and '60s have singles been so important to musicians' careers or so often accounted for the bulk of their sales. No phenomenon illustrates this more clearly than the wondrous, illogical beast known as The Summer Jam.

The Summer Jam And The Return Of The Single

Listen · 3:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122066527/122093323" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The iPod: 'A Quantum Leap In Listening'
Courtesy of Apple

The iPod: 'A Quantum Leap In Listening'

It wasn't the first player to offer music on the go; remember the Walkman? And it wasn't the first portable MP3 player. But its impact is undeniable. Launched in 2001, the iPod represents one of the signal musical events of the decade that's coming to a close.

The iPod: 'A Quantum Leap In Listening'

Listen · 3:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121731130/121746114" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Obscure Music Finds An Outlet On The Web

Advances in digital technology over the past decade have made it easier and cheaper to distribute music online. But it's fans, not labels, who are taking the lead. Fensterbme via Flickr hide caption

toggle caption
Fensterbme via Flickr

Obscure Music Finds An Outlet On The Web

Advances in digital technology over the past decade have made it easier and cheaper to distribute music. But that doesn't necessarily mean those cherished, obscure LPs are turning up online — at least not legally.

Obscure Music Finds An Outlet On The Web

Listen · 6:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122063363/122042918" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
YouTube: Online Fame For Everyone
courtesy of the artist

YouTube: Online Fame For Everyone

Launched in early 2005, YouTube has changed the way we communicate. The video-sharing Web site has given us a new way of reaching each other, not to mention shortcuts to fame, nostalgia and togetherness.

YouTube: Online Fame For Everyone

Listen · 4:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121867031/121963850" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Napster: The File-Sharing Service That Started It All?
John G. Mabanglo/AFP/Getty Images

Napster: The File-Sharing Service That Started It All?

The "aughts," as some are calling these years, have seen the music industry turned on its head. The revolution actually began in 1999, with a little project by college student Shawn Fanning. By 2000, the online file-sharing service was being sued by record labels and musicians. The next year, it was gone. But Napster's legacy lingers on.

Napster: The File-Sharing Service That Started It All?

Listen · 3:52
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121690908/121701917" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'In Rainbows': A Pragmatic Experiment

Radiohead shocked the music industry by letting fans pay the price they wanted to download In Rainbows. John Shearer/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
John Shearer/Getty Images

'In Rainbows': A Pragmatic Experiment

In 2007, Radiohead shocked music fans and the industry by releasing their record In Rainbows without a label, via its own Web site, and for whatever price listeners wanted to pay to download it. Whether it was a success or not, the much-talked-about release reflected changes in the record industry and shaped the decade in music.

'In Rainbows': A Pragmatic Experiment

Listen · 3:48
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122006767/122042993" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'American Idol' And The Making Of A Star
Jason Merritt/Getty Images

'American Idol' And The Making Of A Star

Launched in 2002, American Idol wasn't the first TV show to make a pop star, and it hasn't been the last. But the show has changed the way the public interacts with the machinery of the music industry. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson looks at the show and describes his own brush with Idol glory.

'American Idol' And The Making Of A Star

Listen · 3:40
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121776666/121798338" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Musicians We Lost, 2000-2009

Musicians We Lost, 2000-2009

The music world lost many greats in the past decade, including artists who shaped the sounds of rock 'n' roll, soul, pop and country as we know them today. Hear remembrances of some of these legends, culled from the NPR archives. Add your own remembrances of these and other musicians who died during the past decade in the comments section.

Musicians We Lost, 2000-2009

Listen · 3:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122117007/122142326" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
2006 And The Death Of Tower Records
Paolo!/flickr

2006 And The Death Of Tower Records

Once, Tower Records was the place to go if you were searching for obscure music in any genre. The chain's exhaustive inventory and knowledgeable staff earned it adoring fans. But it wasn't the Internet that killed the retailing star.

2006 And The Death Of Tower Records

Listen · 3:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121975854/121998605" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Decade In Classical Recordings

The Decade In Classical Recordings

From Osvaldo Golijov's cross-cultural musical fiesta to the chestnut-colored voice of Rolando Villazon, NPR Music's Tom Huizenga and All Things Considered host Guy Raz spin a few of the most notable classical recordings of the past ten years.

The Decade In Classical Recordings

Listen · 10:42
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121772989/121954356" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
2004: The Year Of The Music Blog

One of the earliest examples of music blogs' influence was the success of Arcade Fire in 2004. Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images

2004: The Year Of The Music Blog

As the Internet has altered how people get music, blogs and Web sites have emerged over the past decade as important arbiters of musical taste. One of the earliest examples of their influence was the success of Arcade Fire in 2004.

2004: The Year Of The Music Blog

Listen · 4:02
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121861409/121900321" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Beyond Country: Not Your Father's Nashville

The sound of success coming from Nashville has become much less predictable — by necessity. After a tumultuous decade, Music City isn't just leaning on country music, if Kings of Leon, Paramore and Jack White are any indication.

Beyond Country: Not Your Father's Nashville

Listen · 4:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121866373/121884010" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
MySpace: Still The Musician's Friend
Courtesy of the artist

MySpace: Still The Musician's Friend

The site launched in 2003 as an open social network — a new idea at the time. Today, it's been overtaken by Facebook, but it's still the place musicians go to post their work and build a fan base.

MySpace: Still The Musician's Friend

Listen · 4:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121834479/121853097" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Nashville Reels To A Somber Tune

The mainstream country music business found some immunity from the trends devastating sales in other genres over the past decade — at least for a while. As country sales have also begun to drop, Music City is struggling to find its identity.

Nashville Reels To A Somber Tune

Listen · 6:03
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121828316/121835070" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org