10 Greatest Final Rock Albums Of The 2010s
The most recent full decade saw some legends of the game say goodbye.
After a pretty turbulent time in the noughties, the world was ready to settle down and enjoy a nice, quiet next ten years when 2010 came around. Oh how little they knew...
At the start of the decade, Obama was still President, Britain was still in the EU, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe was just two films. All this to say that the world was a very different place by the end.
Other seismic shifts came in the world of rock music, which saw several of its most beloved acts drop the curtain on their iconic careers. Whilst there is still every chance that some of these groups could return and put out more work, for the time being, these are the final outings for some of the genre's top stars.
This list should come with a very stern preface; the 2010s saw a lot of beloved rock musicians pass away, so the following countdown will include a lot of mentions of death and all-round sad things. If that's not your bag, then maybe give it a skip.
With that unpleasantness out of the way, let's revisit one hell of a decade.
10. King Animal - Soundgarden
The 2010s got off to a flying start for fans of grunge music, as flagbearers Soundgarden announced they were getting back together after over a decade apart.
Chris Cornell had already sung a Bond song by this point, so there was nothing else for him to really do as a solo artist.
They marked their return with a song called Live to Rise for the soundtrack to Marvel's The Avengers; a criminally underrated tune that somehow only got played over the film's end credits. Following that, they released King Animal, their first studio album since 1996.
Despite Live to Rise not being present, which was a real shame, King Animal still impressed with a mixture of commercial, radio-friendly bangers and some of the band's weirder tendencies that had gotten them noticed in the first place.
Just five years after their comeback, Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell tragically passed away in 2017, putting the group on hiatus until, in 2018, they formally split.
Who knows what might have happened had Cornell lived longer, but at least fans got one last glimpse at his brilliance before his untimely passing.