To celebrate the 30th anniversary of World Cafe, we're looking back and posting playlists from each year of the show. As music has evolved over the years, so have our playlists, which have grown to reflect a much wider range of music than when we first set out.
2006 was a great year in music, marked by excellent releases by Amy Winehouse, Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins, Neko Case, My Chemical Romance and Bob Dylan. That year, 16-year-old Taylor Swift released her first single, "Tim McGraw," and Arctic Monkeys' debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not won the prestigious Mercury Prize. OutKast released its final album, and Gnarls Barkley released its debut album, St. Elsewhere, with the hugely popular crossover hit "Crazy."
The influential hip-hop record Donuts by J Dilla was released three days before his death, and indie musicians like M. Ward, Camera Obscura, The Decemberists, Grizzly Bear, The Hold Steady, TV On The Radio and Joanna Newsom all released critically acclaimed albums. The one billionth song was downloaded from iTunes ("Speed of Sound" by Coldplay), the best-selling album of the year was High School Musical, and Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Clipse all released their sophomore albums. While it was released in November 2005, Madonna's Confessions On A Dance Floor was a go-to listen for many fans in 2006, and she played Coachella that summer with Depeche Mode, Tool and Daft Punk.
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