Posting slackard that I am, here's another at least half post on the shoulders of yet another of our faithful commenters - Anonymous, (signed) BP. Back on the MRVSS post, Brett mentioned to me:
Oh, and Rich, a silly project I've been torturing myself with in my spare time this week is trying to determine the 10 best songs (or my 10 favorite, anyway) of '00's. A blog post on this subject might be enough to make Ken's head explode?
Seeing Ken's head explode always being a good thing, this exercise might be a good one to try. What are your 10 (more or less) best songs of the 2000s? We should get a lot of divergence on this one, if people participate.
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I had been thinking of this one for a while, and I just decided to include this one with the other because I think it's easier. Obviously, music is dynamic and fluctuating, and favorites and bests can come and go depending on moods, age or stages of life, hearing a new great song, and on and on. However, looking back over your life, what five or ten songs are the most meaningful to your life? This can be any type or genre of music, any type of song. Rock, country, jazz, blues, soul, gospel, and then hymns, holiday favorites, national anthems, lullabies, opera pieces ~ nothing is excluded. Music that has influenced you, moved you, gotten you through tough times, tunes that remind you of someone dear, these are the songs I'm looking for, not necessarily and likely not your favorite or best five to ten songs. That would be a different post. For instance, I know two of mine 
would be:
would be:1) The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes, and the Pride of Life by the 77s
and
2) The Little Drummer Boy
So, if you're game, pick a list and let me know what you think. Best songs of the '00s, which is tough, or most meaningful songs to you, which should be easier.
12 comments:
Most Meaningful Songs:
Yellow Submarine – The Beatles
Shake Your Booty – KC and the Sunshine Band
Mmm…Bop – Hanson
Do Your Ears Hang Low? – Anonymous
Rock Me, Amadeus – Falco
Henry, the VIII, I Am – Herman’s Hermits
If I Were a Boy – Beyonce
Auld Lang Syne – Drunken Revelers
Take Off – Bob and Doug McKenzie
Theme Song from District 9
Just to name a few.
MOST MEANINGFUL OR FAVORITE - NO PARTICULAR ORDER
MR TAMBORINE MAN - BOB DYLAN
BLOWING IN THE WIND - BOB DYLAN
THE ANGEL - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
AMAZING GRACE
I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS - BOOMTOWN RATS (BOB GELDOF)
YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE - DEBBIE BOONE
CRAZY ON YOU - HEART
COVER OF THE ROLLING STONE - DR JOHN
SAM STONE - JOHN PRINE
PARADISE - JOHN PRINE
mmmmm Bop!
Zak Hanson was in the place where I work not long ago. And Dwight Twilly. It was a big star night for us.
Ken,
You missed The Bunny Hop, The Hustle, five Black-Eyed Pea songs, Tubthumping by Chumbawumba, Double Dutch Bus, Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant, and Dancing Queen.
Now if you don't mind, I'm going to drop a stink bomb on your big wheel post.
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Laura Leigh,
Thank You. Seriously.
But what about "Muskrat Love" and "It Was a One-Eyed-One-Horned-Flying-Purple-People-Eater"?
WandaV
The Authoritative Best Mainstream Songs of the '00s (in chronological-ish order):
2000
Beautiful Day - U2
I Hope You Dance - Lee Ann Womack
With Arms Wide Open - Creed
Who Let the Dogs Out - Baha Men
Only Time - Enya
2001
There You'll Be - Faith Hill
I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me
May It Be - Enya (for the LOTR impact)
God Bless America (for its resurgence following the horrors of 9/11)
Superman - Five for Fighting
I'm Already There - Lonestar
2002
Soak Up the Sun - Sheryl Crow
2003
This Love - Maroon 5
Hey Ya! - Outkast
The First Cut is the Deepest - Sheryl Crow
2004
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
100 Years - Five for Fighting
Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson (for the indisputable influence that American Idol has had on music)
2005
Move Along - All American Rejects
Lonely No More - Rob Thomas
2006
What Hurts the Most - Rascal Flatts
It's Not Over - Daughtry
2007
Teardrops on My Guitar - Taylor Swift (for the beginning of what is sure to be a legendary career)
Hey There, Delilah - Plain White T's (because of its simplicity and catchiness and in spite of its overexposure and airplay)
2008 and 2009
Not enough time has passed for proper perspective, but potential candidates are:
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Human - The Killers
Just Dance - Lady GaGa
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
All Summer Long - Kid Rock
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Much better, Ken. I'm compiling my Best/Favorite list of the 00s, and I'll put it here in the comments tomorrow. I may even have one of your songs and a couple of your bands on my list. Fancy that!
I'm glad you semi-approve.
Accepting my own challenge...
The 10 finest songs of the '00s, in no particular order (and whioh most of you have probably never heard):
"Killer Parties" - The Hold Steady
I'm trying to limit myself to one song by any single act (which means my list may not be definitive), and it's almost impossible to pick one single finest track by the current World's Heavyweight Champ of rock bands, but this song is almost impossibly good, and it more or less kick starts the mythology that runs throughout the first three Hold Steady albums. The bass line is absolutely monstrous.
"This Is a Fire Door Never Leave Open" - the Weakerthans.
John K. Sampson is a genius lyricist and this song is a perfect dissection of a failing relationship. Plus, unlike a lot of their stuff, it absoultely rocks.
"Pounding" - Doves.
The Last Broadcast is the only really great album Doves have made. "Pounding" is the best track on it. The record came out in the months following 9/11, and this song became my anthem for that time. It seemed a perfect, hopeful response to the event itself and the horror, rage, sorrow, and fear we all felt in the aftermath.
"Snow Is Gone" - Josh Ritter
I don't know how to pick a best Josh Ritter tune, but this is a really, really, really great song from the best singer-songwriter currently working the beat. Optimistic, romantic, poetic - sort of a microcosm of his early songwriting.
"Transatlanticism" - Death Cab for Cutie
This one starts simply enough, but just confidently - almost relentlessly - builds to its climax. Great, ambitious indie rock from a really smart, cool band.
"Imaginary Girl" - The Bees
The Bees are now known as the Silver Seas. You've probably heard a piece of this song on commercials for GE appliances or something like that. It's a perfect pop song. Whimsical and totally charming.
"Do You Realize?" - the Flaming Lips
To me, this one kind of reflects just how gorgeous a piece of pop music can be. It also manages to be both incredibly fun and deceptively complex (musically and thematically). Really a brilliant moment.
"Suitcase" - Over the Rhine
OtR's Ohio album is an absolute triumph. This is a low-key little number that manages to be one of the saddest songs I've ever heard.
"Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur" - Sigur Ros
I don't know what they're going on about in this song, since I don't speak Icelandic. But this song demonstrates Sigur Ros's ability to move away from the glacial post-rock of their earlier stuff and write and arrange incredibly brilliant and adventurous pop songs. All the elements work perfectly (give it a spin and you'll know what i'm talking about). I challenge anyone to listen to this song and not feel happier by the time it ends. The song is an absolute carnival.
"The Only Moment We Were Alone" - Explosions in the Sky
An instrumental made the list! If you've seen the movie Friday Night Lights, you're familiar with EitS. This song is beautiful - a successful attempt to write a love song without any lyrics.
The whole best/favorite thing is a little tricky, and we're all limited in some respects to the stuff we listen to with the time we have. Here's my list, which includes one of Ken's and one of Brett's (and a couple of same acts Brett listed):
All These Things That I've Done -- The Killers ~
Could have gone with a couple of Killers songs here... I like their sound. This one's pretty anthemic, and the lyrics are thought-provoking.
This Is a Fire Door Never Leave Open -- The Weakerthans ~
As soon as I thought about making a post about Best Songs of the '00s, this song is the first one that popped into my mind. Fantastic.
Extraordinary Girl -- Bill Mallonee ~
Just about my favorite little rave-up of all time. Mallonee's a lyrical genius, and this song hits on every level for me.
Pickin' It Up -- Hot Hot Heat ~
Probably the most fun, foot-stompin', sing-a-long song of the bunch.
Beautiful Day -- U2 ~
Great, great song from the one of Rock's finest bands of all time. U2's music has matured with the band members' ages, and Beautiful Day showed U2 still on their game twenty years after they began.
Show Me -- Over the Rhine ~
Elegant, sexy, deep, passionate. Beautiful song evoking the spirits of life, love, marriage, and sex.
Last Nite -- The Strokes ~
Not sure this is my favoite Strokes tune, but it's the one that reminds me most that, "Hey, these are The Strokes!"
Dulce Et Decorum Est -- Matthew Ryan ~
My favorite CD of the 00s. As soon as I heard this song, immediately I knew it was great and that I'd love the CD. An artist, like Bill Mallonee, that I wish more people knew.
Yellow -- Coldplay ~
Coldplay's not my favorite band by any stretch, but Yellow is a cool and fabulous song and one I always associate with band's greatness.
Hold On Hope -- Guided by Voices ~
Guided by Voices have a lot of really great tunes that it seems few know about - I love this one.
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Some Honorable Mentions:
Stuck Between Stations -- The Hold Steady
The One Before Me -- The Derailers
Maps -- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Wedding Day -- Rosie Thomas
Chicago -- Sufjan Stevens
Such Great Heights -- The Postal Service
Bare -- Matt Nathanson
The Leavers and the Left Behinds -- Stephen Jackson and the Leavers
Via Chicago -- Wilco
The Way We Get By -- Spoon
Quite a few others I could list. As a disclaimer, my musical tastes, at least so I hear, are pretty narrow, so yeah, there wasn't much country, hip hop, pure candy pop, soul, or jazz even considered. Like I said, we're limited by that to which we listen.
Uh, yipes -- Via Chicago was 1999. I think Josh Joplin Group's Camera One was in the 00s, so that could replace it in the Honorable Mentions or Josh Ritter's Girl in the War or Kathleen Edwards 6 O'Clock News. Of those, I like Camera One as a fav, but Girl in the War is probably the best of the three songs.
I was hoping that I wouldn't have to call you on that mistake.
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