20 Early Aughts Bands You Forgot You Loved

In 2004, no one was thinking about 1994, and that's not just because too few years had passed for nostalgia to really set in. The Naughty Aughties were transitional years loaded with their own great music — much of it indie rock, little of it actually naughty, most of it free of charge, thanks to peer-to-peer file sharing and the proliferation of CD burners. Sadly, some of the decade's defining bands have broken up or gone on hiatus. (Wherefore art thou, Postal Service, Rilo Kiley, White Stripes, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs?) But, many, like the Decemberists — back today with a new album — remain active in 2015.

Ahead are 20 groups still justifying their existence midway through the '10s. Some have technically been around since the '90s, but they all found fame in those crazy Regis-filled years following Bush v. Gore when the belts were white, the terror level was yellow, and one false move could get you voted off the island.