#sfmc

Album Out June 19th

Pre-Save Link Below! 👇🏽

Hello all!

We’re on the very last legs of 2019, which means a time for reflection on the year, as well as on the decade at large. Here at SFMC, that means - almost exclusively - an examination of the music I’ve consumed over the past 10 years. And what a decade it has been. In the past ten years, I’ve graduated college, held residence in seven different states, and am daily adding to the record of “longest time worked at a single place of employment” (go me). Along the way, I’ve always had a rollicking soundtrack to score the highs and lows of my itinerant twenties, which is what we’re here to discuss.

What follows is a list of what I consider the 50 “best” albums of the past ten years. “Best” is a subjective term no matter which way you slice the cake, and I’m sure that those of you reading this will have your own opinions as to what should or should not be on such a list. Therefore, a minor disclaimer, and then we’ll get things underway. When I was putting this list together, I had a handful of criteria, but they all largely boiled down to a few questions I could ask of any album: Did I enjoy listening to it, front to back? Did it bring me back for repeat listens? Did it make me feel something (joyous or sombre - I can take a good cathartic cry with the best of them)? Has it held up to my tastes in 2019? With those questions in mind, I whittled a list of 73 long-list contenders into the final 50 you’re about to see.

And that should about cover it. Without further ado, the list, and then onward into whatever the ‘20s has waiting for us.

50) The Death of the Self Preservation Society - Two Cow Garage (2013) 49) Interrobang - Bayside (2019) 48) Live the Dream - Ramshackle Glory (2011) 47) The Suburbs - Arcade Fire (2010) 46) Father of the Bride - Vampire Weekend (2019) 45) Wasteland, Baby! - Hozier (2019) 44) Emotion - Carly Rae Jepsen (2015) 43) Paramore - Paramore (2013) 42) Puberty 2 - Mitski (2016) 41) The Winter of Mixed Drinks - Frightened Rabbit (2011) 40) Handwritten - The Gaslight Anthem (2012) 39) Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied - The Fratellis (2015) 38) Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing - The Wonder Years (2011) 37) Beat the Champ - The Mountain Goats (2015) 36) Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon - Murder By Death (2012) 35) Romance Is Boring - Los Campesinos! (2010) 34) Avalanche United - I Am the Avalanche (2011) 33) Steel Train - Steel Train (2010) 32) The Desired Effect - Brandon Flowers (2015) 31) Songs of God and Whiskey - The Airborne Toxic Event (2015) 30) American Slang - The Gaslight Anthem (2010) 29) How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful - Florence and the Machine (2015) 28) Tape Deck Heart - Frank Turner (2013) 27) Harmlessness - The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (2015) 26) Brill Bruisers - The New Pornographers (2014) 25) After It All - Delta Rae (2015) 24) Foxy Shazam - Foxy Shazam (2010) 23) White Paint - Hollerado (2013) 22) Contra - Vampire Weekend (2010) 21) Theatre Is Evil - Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra (2012) 20) Hebrews - Say Anything (2014) 19) Bury Me in Philly - Dave Hause (2017) 18) Wolves - Rise Against (2017) 17) Transcendental Youth - The Mountain Goats (2012) 16) Calm Down, Everything Is Fine - Mike Mains & the Branches (2014) 15) No Closer to Heaven - The Wonder Years (2015) 14) Engine of a Million Plots - Five Iron Frenzy (2013) 13) The Other Shore - Murder By Death (2018) 12) America, Location 12 - Dispatch (2017) 11) Morbid Stuff - PUP (2019)

10) Going Out in Style - Dropkick Murphys (2011)

9) Ceremonials - Florence and the Machine (2011)

8) Sleepwalkers - Brian Fallon (2018)

7) Death of a Bachelor - Panic! at the Disco (2016)

6) The Hands That Thieve - Streetlight Manifesto (2013)

5) Talon of the Hawk - The Front Bottoms (2013)

4) On the Impossible Past - The Menzingers (2012)

3) My Dinosaur Life - Motion City Soundtrack (2010)

2) Pedestrian Verse - Frightened Rabbit (2013)

7) “Coffee and Cigarettes” - Jimmy Eat World

You know, for whatever reason, I never really got into Jimmy Eat World. To this day, I don’t know why; they’re in my wheelhouse stylistically, and I was coming into my own as a connoisseur of music right about the time they were blowing up, so it would have been easy for me to latch onto them. But, I didn’t. I was always aware that they were around, and the Roommate was fairly into them so I got to hear a fair amount of their stuff during my time in college, but that was mostly it.

Until Invented.

This album came out in September of my senior year of college, and I’ll tell you - the first time I heard “Coffee and Cigarettes,” it was like a punch to the gut. I mean, you couldn’t find a more perfect song to summarize what I was rapidly beginning to realize I was going to miss about the college experience. That line in the chorus, “Of all the things I think I’ll miss / There’s staying up with you, coffee and cigarettes,” that was just about every Friday and/or Saturday night for most of my final year in school (though, it was generally whiskey rather than coffee, if we’re being totally honest). It was a reflection of hazy nights spent with a dozen or so different people, all of whom I loved deeply, and all of whom with which I would all too soon be parting ways. The song was a staple for me during my last semester, and the capstone on a twenty-song playlist I made shortly before graduation commemorating my time in college. So, this one’s for you, my impromptu Smoker’s Club. Wherever you are, I hope things are going your way (and also, I hope you’ve all stopped smoking because dear god that shit will kill you).

3) “A Better Place, A Better Time” - Streetlight Manifesto

Well, we’ve made it all the way down to our medalist finishers. I’ll be honest with you, the final three songs are on this list largely because they represent three bands that it is neigh impossible to avoid mentioning in telling the story of my life. Like, a prose biography of my life that wasn’t even focused on my musical tastes would be incomplete if it didn’t at least mention these bands in passing, I’ve listened to them that much. With that said, let’s get started.

I’ve been a fan of Streetlight about as long as they’ve been a band. I’d been on a ska kick since early middle school, cutting my teeth on the likes of Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and Five Iron Frenzy (more on that last one in a bit), so when a friend lent me their copy of Everything Goes Numb at some point during freshman year, I took to it like the proverbial moth to flame. It was everything that I was looking for in my music at the time; driving guitars, soaring horn melodies and counter-melodies, gang vocals all over the place, lyrics that were somehow simultaneously caustic and uplifting. I was in love. For the better part of the next decade and a half, Streetlight was the easy answer for me to the question, “what is your favorite band?”

I chose “A Better Place, A Better Time” as the song for the entry to also serve as something of a coda on the story of my relationship with my first girlfriend. I’ve chronicled a decent number of our ups and downs in the pages of this process; by my count, this is the 11th song that mentions our relationship either directly or obliquely (I’m not going to tag them - if you want to go looking for them, they’re not hard to find). It feels right to end the story here. I won’t go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that she had something of a rough childhood, emotionally-speaking. This song was the blazing emblem of my white-knight naivety; I was going to be the one to treat her right, the one to “save” her. I would discover later that she, too, had been drawn to this song, but not quite to the same lyrics that I had. Taken as a whole, the song paints a pretty decent portrait of the duet that was our relationship: two lost souls spiraling through the void, reaching out for something to grab onto.

Discover key innovations in Salesforce Marketing Cloud Core—from Einstein AI to Flow automation and unified data models. Built natively on Salesforce, Core offers faster, smarter marketing execution.

🔗 Read more:

Explore the key differences between Salesforce Marketing Cloud Core and Classic in this expert breakdown by GetOnCRM. Learn how Core’s native Salesforce integration, AI-powered automation, and unified data model drive faster, smarter marketing.

Discover industry-specific benefits, migration tips, and why moving to SFMC Core is a strategic advantage for growth-focused businesses.

👉 Read more:

Imagine you are planning a big dinner party. There is guests on your list, however every guest has their own preferences. Some prefer spicy food, whereas others prefer mild meals. There are vegetarians and some are meat-lovers. To ensure that everyone is having the best time, it is essential to understand their preferences and offer the food they love. This is how marketing should look like in the present-day world of customer-centricity. It is also true that Salesforce Marketing Cloud acts as the ultimate dinner party planner - a tool that allows companies to provide precisely what their customers need.

What is Salesforce Marketing Cloud?

At its heart, Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an online marketing platform that allows businesses to communicate with their customers in a highly personal way. It does not matter if it is via email or mobile messaging, social media or web based experience, the platform lets marketers communicate the appropriate message at the right timing to the right audience.

In our modern world, where consumers expect brands to be able to comprehend their requirements without becoming intrusive, Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides the ideal balance. It offers tools to gather data, analyze behaviors, and create meaningful interactions--essentially transforming customer relationships from transactional to emotional.

Why Salesforce Marketing Cloud Stands Out

Imagine Salesforce Marketing Cloud Training as a Swiss Army knife for marketers. It is not a singular tool, but rather a set of integrated tools designed to tackle every aspect of modern-day marketing. Lets look at how it is broken down:

Journey Builder It is like an GPS to track customer-related journeys. It doesn't matter if someone is learning about you brand's name for first-time or is an avid fan, Journey Builder helps create custom paths for each individual.

Email Studio: Imagine it as your personal assistant to email. From composing personalized email campaigns to analyzing the performance of your email, Email Studio ensures your communications strike the right chord.

Social Studio The Web 2.0 Social Studio the world of today's social media-driven society this tool acts as your megaphone. It lets you hear the people you interact with and comprehend your audience on different social networks.

Advertising Studio Imagine reaching your target audience via channels such as Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn with a laser-like precision. Advertising Studio does just that.

Datorama and Analytics It's the gold of today as well Salesforce Marketing Cloud knows how to mine it. These tools offer insights that can help you determine ROI and make educated choices.

How Salesforce Marketing Cloud Transforms Marketing

To truly understand the power to fully appreciate the power of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, let is look at the real-world examples:

Hyper-Personalization at Scale: Imagine a retail brand sending you an email about a sale on running shoes just when you're planning to replace your old pair. This isn't a coincidence; it's a result of a sophisticated analysis of data provided through Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

seamless Omnichannel Experiences The user browses your site, interacts with your brand's message on social media and purchases a product in the store. When using Salesforce Marketing Cloud, all these interactions are synchronized making a seamless and seamless experience.

Predictive intelligence Utilizing intelligence from AI Salesforce Marketing Cloud can determine what your customers' needs before they even know it. For example streaming services could suggest shows based on your previous viewing habits and your mood. That is a lot of magic.

Why Salesforce Marketing Cloud Matters for Businesses

In a time where customer expectations change constantly, Salesforce Marketing Cloud Certification gives businesses the flexibility to stay ahead. The reason it is so revolutionary is this:

Improved Customer Loyalty by providing personalized experiences, companies can increase trust and build loyalty. Customers who are happy are not just more likely to return, but as well, they will refer your brands name to friends and family.

Enhances Efficiency The platforms automated tools can save time and energy and allow marketers to concentrate on strategy instead of routine tasks.

Actionable insights Through complete analytics, businesses are able to know what is effective and not working, helping them refine their strategies.

Flexibility: If you are a small-scale business or a multinational business, Salesforce Marketing Cloud scales to meet your requirements.

The Future of Marketing with Salesforce Marketing Cloud

As technology advances, Salesforce Marketing Cloud remains at the forefront of technology. With features such as real-time customer interaction as well as AI-driven recommendations and advanced security of data, it's more than just keeping up with the times, it's creating the future of marketing.

Here is the thing: Salesforce Marketing Cloud isn't exclusively for marketers. It is a tool for bridges the gap between service, sales and marketing departments, providing an unifying method of customer engagement. In a sense it's more than an advertising platform. It's an enterprise growth platform.

Wrapping Up