"Starting today, NPR Music is looking back at some of the memorable moments and recordings of the past decade. We'll have a lot of new features on the site every day for the next two weeks, starting with our Question of the Day from Carrie Brownstein on the Monitor Mix blog, and The Decade Defined on All Songs Considered. Next week on All Songs Considered, beginning Nov. 16, we'll feature our picks for the 50 most important recordings of the decade. As we compile the final list, we'd love your input. Using the comments section below, tell us what albums or songs you think should be included." - Michael W. May from Bookmarklet

"An important distinction: We're not looking for everyone's favorite albums or songs, but rather ones that had some sort of historical significance. These are the game-changers -- ones that signaled some sort of shift in music, or ones that were particularly influential in some way. We're looking for the albums and singles people will still buy, share, listen to and talk about for years or decades to come." - Michael W. May

Interesting. I'm inclined to think that Outkast were the most important artists of the decade but I'm not sure between Stankonia and Speakerboxxx\The Love Below which is the more important album. - Jason Toney

Jason, not gnarls Barkley? Although I guess I see outkast's speakerboxxx as an influence. - edythe from iPhone

Yeah. I don't think we get Gnarls without Outkast. Particularly Ms. Jackson and Bombs Over Baghdad (and, of course, Hey Ya) as genre pushers and barrier breakers between hip hop and indie/alternative sounds. - Jason Toney

Yeah, that sounds right. Astute!! - edythe from iPhone

I seem unable to have an opinion. I'm trying. Nothing is opinionating. - Michael W. May

Maybe it's too soon. I can come up with stuff easily for prior decades, but not this one. - LogEx

JT knows his stuff; today's NPR piece on the topic concerns OutKast: "As the music industry began to break apart and go niche, it's remarkable that a group as artistically ambitious as OutKast could break through the way it did. But Stankonia was one of those game-changing records that made everyone perk up and pay attention." http://n.npr.org/npr40... - Michael W. May

*bows* - Jason Toney

I remember in 2001 when I first heard The Strokes album "Is This It"? It's low-fi griminess really caught my attention as it sounded like nothing else popular at the time. Go back and listen to that album now and compare their sound to the music that is being put out today nearly 10 years later. - Steve

It's hard to sit still while listening to B.O.B. in a cubicle O_O - Daniel J. Pritchett