Well, the list is out so now it's time for the second-guessing. It's time for each of you to say to yourself, "How could that idiot have forgotten about...?". As far as critically acclaimed indie rock, the most likely conclusion to that sentence might be one of the following:

Animal Collective - Ok, their 2 releases in 2009 were both great, but hardly life-altering or something that might make you redefine your taste. They definitely make interesting and creative music that is actually pretty fun to listen to, but from a personal perspective, it just doesn't make that strong of a connection. As an earlier post mentioned, "My Girls" is great and some other songs are very good. Honestly, though, it just didn't seem like Animal Collective needed to be on another list and if they had shown up around #17, it might have sparked more attention than just leaving them off all together.

Grizzly Bear - Again, a good album, but just not foolproof. Grizzly Bear just has such a unique sound that if it doesn't grab you, then it probably won't even really make an impact. That seems to be the reason they don't make the list. The album has a good sound, per se, but it just doesn't seem like something you'd want to listen to very often. Furthermore, Grizzly Bear just doesn't seem like it would be anyone's "favorite band". It may seem hypocritical since the Grizzly Bear side project Department of Eagles made the cut last year, but it just seemed better for all these reasons.

Dirty Projectors - Here's where things get interesting. Is it possible this album just wasn't very good? Sure, it's listenable, but even after multiple listens, not a single song sticks out. This might be the most overrated album of the year, which isn't the band's fault, so no ill will is intended toward them. Their music just isn't very remarkable, or at least not to every ear it comes in contact with.

Phoenix - This one was a challenge. This album is very easy to listen to and several songs linger after just one listen. A far cry from Dirty Projectors for sure. Anyway, it may be a victim of its own quality. If the idea is to write insanely catchy songs that make people feel good and make them hum/tap along, then this is easily album of the year. It just doesn't have any teeth and that makes it expendable.

The Flaming Lips - While they've never been bad at all, is it heresy to suggest that they might not be THAT great? Given the choice, The Soft Bulletin seems to be better than anything after it. They're obviously fun to see live and sometimes fun to listen to and even fun for reminiscing about listening to "She Don't Use Jelly" in 8th grade, but that seems to be about it.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - That "Heads Will Roll" song is really catchy, but so was The Macarena. Maybe if Karen O wasn't so annoying looking?

The Dead Weather - Jack White's third best band. No matter how good it is, if one of the members is already in two better bands, it just ain't happening.

As for mainstream albums, nobody really needs to be reminded that some bands put out strong albums this year. Even if the albums were among the 20 best of the year, it just doesn't flow right to list a great album by Dave Matthews Band or Pearl Jam with stuff like The Silent Years or Fanfarlo. A difficult decision was made on Muse's The Resistance. While they are not mainstream like DMB or PJ, they have made the crossover to the world of being bumper music for ESPN and other such outlets. You don't need to hear "Uprising" in this arena, even though it would sound great in an arena (Atlanta, 2/27; Nashville, 3/15). Muse is one of those bands that needs to be listened to for what they are, not for what list they appear on.

The final group of notable exclusions are albums by metal bands. Again, much like previously discussed, its hard to rank a Converge album alongside an Orenda Fink album. Let the record show that bands like Converge, along with Baroness, Mastodon and Isis made really great albums that could easily be among the 20 best of the year. However, the idea was to have a 20 song CD with 20 songs that people would actually want to listen to. Maybe there should be a companion disc that has only metal on it. If you're interested, make your interest known. Deal?