20. Various Artists
Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture 8 Mile
Eminem and others deliver the blazing soundtrack to Slim Shady’s acting debut. Newcomer 50 Cent’s first major label track, “Wanksta” lives up to the hype.
Standout tracks: “Lose Yourself,” “Wanksta.”

19. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs/ Machine
So it’s an EP and a single. They both rock, and have fans salivating for more. If Karen and company would finally sign to a label, we’ll really hear what they’re capable of.
Standout tracks: “Bang,” “Art Star,” & “Machine.”

18. Nirvana
Nirvana
Okay, so there’s only one new song here, the brilliant “You Know You’re Right.” The simple fact: the song’s just that good.
Standout tracks: All.

17. Scarface
The Fix
The godfather of southern hip-hop does it yet again. A must listen for anyone who thinks the Dirty Dirty can’t bring it lyrically.
Standout tracks: “My Block,” “Guess Who’s Back.”

16. Andrew W.K.
I Get Wet
Dirty T-shirt, dirty jeans, greasy hair, and an album that’ll kick your ass up and down the block. Unashamedly stupid fun.
Standout tracks: “Party ‘Till You Puke,” “She is Beautiful.”

15. Queens of the Stone Age
Songs for the Deaf
The Queens get funky, trippy, acid-y. It’s a blast.
Standout tracks: “The Sky is Fallin’,” “No One Knows.”

14. Nappy Roots
Watermelon, Chicken, and Gritz
Southern-fried, laid back tracks, dripping with the funk.
Standout tracks: “AwNaw,” “Ballin’ on a Budget.”

13. Interpol
Turn on the Bright Lights
More New York City rock. Sporting suits, ties, and a heavy Joy Division influence, Interpol bring the mope back to rock n’ roll. The second best newcomer of the year.
Standout tracks: “Obstacle 1,” “NYC,” & “PDA.”

12. Tom Waits
Alice
Tommy gets lighthearted (yeah, right) on this extraordinary album concerning the sexual proclivities of Victorian writer and probable pedophile Lewis Carroll. The most eerily beautiful record of the year.
Standout tracks: “Alice,” “Table Top Joe,” & “Flower’s Grave.”

11. Bob Dylan
The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: The Rolling Thunder Revue
One of the most bootlegged tours in history finally gets the official treatment. The reworkings of Dylan classics like “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Mama, You Been on My Mind” are nothing short of stunning.
Standout tracks: See above, along with “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” “Simple Twist of Fate,” and “Hurricane.”

10. Pink
Missundaztood
Love or hate her, the ubiquitous Pink was a force to be reckoned with in 2002. While a tad melodramatic, her songs of growing pains and familial strife struck a chord with more than just little girls. Not only that, she was visibly trashed at the VMAs. Rock on.
Standout tracks: “Don’t Let Me Get Me,” “Just Like a Pill,” “Family Portrait,” & “My Viet Nam.”

9. The Streets
Original Pirate Material
Mike Skinner is Britain’s hip-hop hero. This album’s a solid bid to make him an American one too. The best expression of disaffected British youth since Black Sabbath’s debut.
Standout tracks: “Don’t Mug Yourself,” “Weak Become Heroes,” & “It’s Too Late.”

8. Jay-Z
The Blueprint Volume 2: The Gift and the Curse
Jigga proves why he’s still king of New York on this double album classic. He’s the only rapper who could sample “My Way” and make it all his own. As always, he’s hinted this may be his last. Keep it prolific, Jay. Don’t leave rap alone, the game needs you.
Standout tracks: “A Dream”, “U Don’t Know (Remix),” “Meet the Parents,” & “Some How Some Way.”

7. The Vines
Highly Evolved
Splendidly crafted rock n’ roll album from a band that’s gonna be great, provided their leader doesn’t self-destruct like his obvious biggest influence, Kurt Cobain. The Vines are newcomers of the year.
Standout tracks: “Highly Evolved,” “Get Free,” “The Factory,” & “1969.”

6. The Hives
Veni, Vidi, Vicious
The Hives are Sweden’s best import since the army knife. An album that’s pure energy, with some of the best song titles of the year, including one called “The Hives (Introduce the Metric System in Time).”
Standout tracks: “Die, All Right,” “Supply and Demand,” & “Hate To Say I Told You So”

5. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
The Rising
The Boss and the boys hit the world with the most insightful depiction yet of the American psyche post 9/11/01. An album that makes you wonder why Bruce left these guys behind all those years ago.
Standout tracks: “The Rising,” “Lonesome Day,” “Mary’s Place,” & “My City of Ruins.”

4. The White Stripes
White Blood Cells
Jack and Meg White show why they’re so cool on this one. Combining blues, metal, folk, country, AND good ol’ r n’ r, the Stripes delivered a record that firmly established the beloved gritty garage duo as a force to be reckoned with.
Standout tracks: “Fell in Love With a Girl,” “Hotel Yorba,” “The Union Forever,” “I Think We’re Going to be Friends.”

3. Beck
Sea Change
The sound junkie tones it waaaaaaaay down with songs of heartbreak and disillusionment. Beck’s tracks get bloody. What a record.
Standout tracks: “Lost Cause,” “The Golden Age,” & “Guess I’m Doing Fine.”

2. Eminem
The Eminem Show
Marshall Mathers, grown older, wiser, and even angrier. Lyrical brilliance and a newfound skill at the mixing board. An artist grows in Detroit. The fruit of his labor’s sweeter than ever.
Standout tracks: “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” “Hallie’s Song,” “’Till I Collapse,” and “My Dad’s Gone
Crazy.”

1. Bright Eyes
Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
The seemingly limitless promise of Conor Oberst is fully realized on this wonderfully titled album. Never at a loss for words, Oberst has written some of the most achingly beautiful, lyrically complex, thought provoking songs in recent memory.
Standout tracks: Everything, really, but the absolute best are “Make War,” “Lover I Don’t Have to Love,” & “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and be Loved).”

Tom Donnelly