Inspired by Rolling Stone’s recent issue profiling the music of the last decade, I have decided to do my own list:  Top Preppy Albums. These albums may not be especially good or even charted well, but they are must-have prep albums from the 00 decade.

• License to Chill: Jimmy Buffet’s first country album featuring songs like “Boats to Build” and “Hey Good Lookin.” You know you secretly downloaded it from i-Tunes
• Risen: O.A.R’s album of breakup music featuring “Untitled” and “Night Shift”
• Vampire Weekend: Played at every preppy party along with the Killers and My Morning Jacket
• The Black Album: Jay-Z, Frat Party Galore!
• Speakerboxxx/The Love Below: Outkast’s double album featuring 2003′s inescapable song “Hey Ya!”
• Stand Up: Dave Matthews Band – the “last” “good” Dave Matthews Band album
• Room for Squares: Preps love John Mayer
• FutureSex/LoveSounds: We love JT!
• Brushfire Fairytales: Jack Johnson’s soundtrack to preppy love, “Bubble Toes”

Thoughts on any albums I left out?

Round up a bunch of preps and what’s the one thing they have in common excluding their keen sense of style? Jimmy Buffett.

That’s right, Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy is the common denominator that binds all preps together. Think about the last time you were in a bar, singing with a bunch of strangers. Chances are a Jimmy Buffett song was playing. Who can resist a rousing rendition of Fins or Pirate Looks at Forty? His romanticized views of sailing and island living have inspired many a prep. Best known for Margaritaville, preps come out in full force when a Jimmy Buffet song comes on.

A favorite urban legend surrounding Jimmy Buffett, is the claim that every preppy knows someone who knows him. The next time you are sitting in a bar and you hear a Jimmy Buffett tune, ask away, its guaranteed that someone knows him. The cute guy in the green polo shirt’s mummy is from Mobile, she is friends with his sister. Ask the bartender, she used to bar tend at the bar where Jimmy performed in Alabama.

So the next time you seen a bunch of preppies standing in a line, jump in, you might be missing your chance to buy Jimmy Buffet concert tickets. That…or gain entry to a Brooks Brothers secret sale, which wouldn’t be a bad thing either.