Top 40 Rock Albums of 2009

I apologize ahead of time to the editors of Rolling Stone, who are quickly driving me away from their magazine by devoting 40 pages of every issue to a coverage of U2, Green Day, the Stones, Bob Dylan, and Bruce. Nothing against any of those artists, but you won't find any of their albums in this list (although Green Day and Springsteen had releases in 2009 that were very, very solid). My list proclaims: "Out with the old and in with the new." There are a ton of promising new artists included here that help go to show that rock is far from dead ...

40. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
39. Little Joy (pictured) - Little Joy
38. Ben Kweller - Changing Horses
37. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle
36. Ben Lee - Rebirth of Venus
35. God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl
34. Absentee - Victory Shorts
33. Tiny Masters of Today - Skeletons
32. Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Pains of Being Pure at Heart
31. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

30. Phish - Joy
29. Pearl Jam - Backspacer
28. M. Ward - Hold Time
27. Doug Gillard - Call From Restricted
26. The Boy Least Likely To - The Law of the Playground
25. Japanese Motors - Japanese Motors
24. Kaiser Chiefs (pictured) - Off With Their Heads
23. Tahiti 80 - Activity Center
22. Tinted Windows - Tinted Windows
21. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

20. Tegan & Sara - Sainthood
19. Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
18. Meat Puppets - Sewn Together
17. Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
16. Girls (pictured) - Album
15. Echo and the Bunnymen - The Fountain
14. Weezer - Raditude
13. Telekinesis! - Telekinesis!
12. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
11. I Was a King - I Was a King

10. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
09. Boston Spaceships - Planets Are Blasted
08. Apollo Ghosts - Hastings Sunrise
07. Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
06. The Thermals - Now We Can See
05. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
04. Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend
03. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
02. Darlings - Yeah I Know
01. Avett Brothers (pictured) - I and Love and You