The smart dudes and dudettes at the Onion A.V. Club spent some time this week recalling what was yankin’ their collective crank ten years ago, and the list reads like a “intro to independent music” for a twenty-something like myself. These are the albums that first turned my ear from classic rock radio and Top 40 and opened the door to the underground, and I couldn’t be happier to have the inspiration to dust off some of these gems and be 17 again. Check out their excellent analysis of each record, but here’s the quick and dirty version:

1. Radiohead - OK Computer
2. Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West  
3. Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
4. Elliot Smith - Either/Or
5. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
6. Spiritualized, Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
7. Company Flow, Funcrusher Plus
8. Björk, Homogenic
9. Belle And Sebastian, The EPs
10. Notorious B.I.G., Life After Death / Wu-Tang Clan, Wu-Tang Forever
11. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott, Supa Dupa Fly
12. Erykah Badu, Baduizm
13. Mogwai, Young Team
14. Daft Punk, Homework
15. Helium, The Magic City
16. The Promise Ring, Nothing Feels Good
17. Bob Dylan, Time Out Of Mind

My brilliant assessments continue after the jump.

Of the albums on that list, I’d have to break down the importance question to a) those that affected me in 1997, and b) those that affected me at a later point, probably in college a couple of years after they were released.

In the former catagory: The Promise Ring (I spent my formative teenage years in Milwaukee, after all), Modest Mouse, Yo La Tengo, Elliot Smith, and  Bob Dylan.

In the latter: Helium, Sleater-Kinney, Radiohead, Belle & Sebastian, and Bjork

Add to their list: Pavement - Brighten the Corners

I feel old.

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