Where Are They Now? | Best of 2002 | Best New Artists | Best of 2003 | My Guilty Pleasures
Best of 2004 | My Favourite Riffs | Best of 2005 | Underrated Artists | Best of 2006
My Favourite Albums | Best of 2007 | Best Videos | Best of 2008 | Most Important Artists
Best of 2009 | 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade | 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade
Best of 2004 | My Favourite Riffs | Best of 2005 | Underrated Artists | Best of 2006
My Favourite Albums | Best of 2007 | Best Videos | Best of 2008 | Most Important Artists
Best of 2009 | 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade | 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade
To view part 1, click here.
To view part 2, click here.
To view part 3, click here.
#70. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - Jet
Released: 25/8/03
Album: Get Born
Accolades: APRA's Most Performed Australian Work Overseas Award
Listings: Top 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade
Chart Positions: UK - #16, US - #29 (#3 in Alternative Songs), Best Elsewhere - Australia - #20
What happened to Jet recently? Doing a little research brings me to the conclusion that they're striving as a band in Australia but overseas, they haven't really been relevant since their first album. Which of course, this was the debut single from. This song was a sleeper hit here, where as it strived in America. Jet re-released the song and it then climbed the charts better on its rerun. But you can't deny the catchiness of the track. You can't deny the Motown beat resurrected into an indie track, wasn't a successful merge. This song was fucking awesome when it was released. It's still played sometimes now, especially in clubs as it's just a proper toe-tapper. Jet really paid homage to 60s and 70s rock 'n' roll with this track and it was brilliant. It was a good highlight in the decade.
#69. "Cochise" - Audioslave
Released: 14/10/02
Album: Audioslave
Appearances: Guitar Hero (video game), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (movie), The Simpsons (TV series), Super Bowl XLII (American football game montage), Iron Man (movie trailer)
Chart Positions: UK - #29, US - #69 (#2 in Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart)
In terms of successful supergroups of the Naughties, two bands really stand out, the first was Velvet Revolver, but Audioslave were incrimentally more successful. They were a better supergroup as well, in my opinion. "Cochise" was their debut track, and it was their biggest hit in the UK (although they had better success with other singles in the US). "Cochise" had the great innovative riff by Tom Morello, and combined with Chris Cornell's easily recognisable vocals, we had a hit on our hands. This was another hard rock great from the decade, and on a personal note, it's a great song to play on the original Guitar Hero!
#68. "Feeling This" - Blink-182
Released: 2/10/03
Album: Blink-182
Appearances: Madden NFL 2004 (video game)
Chart Positions: UK - #15, US - #102 (#2 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Australia - #20
Wow, a song about sex getting high up in the charts? Who would have thought! Of course I'm being sarcastic but you can't deny that this song was catchy, and it was a successful transition for the band, who had clocked that there was a transition in music preferences (from the poppy punk songs of the early decade, to the alternative emo sound that was rising around this time) and changed their style slightly. The change was a success, as this charted very well. "I Miss You" charted higher mind, but this song has had more airplay since of the two tracks. "Feeling This" was a soft punk track that appealed to both old and new Blink audiences, and that's why it appears at #68.
#67. "Sugar, We're Going Down" - Fall Out Boy
Released: 26/8/05
Album: From Under the Cork Tree
Accolades: #4 in Blender's "The Top 100 Songs of 2005", #3 in About.com's "Top 100 Pop Songs of 2005
Appearances: Lips (video game), Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol (video game), Band Hero (video game)
Chart Positions: UK - #8, US - #8 (#1 in Hot Digital Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Ireland - #33
"Sugar, We're Goin Down", like many songs in this list, is important because it was the song that raised the profile of Fall Out Boy, for better or worse. With its poppy emo sound, many teenagers loved listening to this track and the video was inventive enough to get it good airplay. The song went up and down the American charts for many weeks, but the constant promotion and the online community raised the song and the bands status to new heights, heights that would stay at a similar level for many a year with "Dance, Dance" and "This 'aint a Scene..." and the horrifically titled "Thnks fr th Mmrs". Fall Out Boy were here to stay.
#66. "Foundations" - Kate Nash
Released: 18/6/07
Album: Made of Bricks
Accolades: #17 in Slant Magazine's Top 25 Singles to be Released in the US,
Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #16 (in the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Charts), Best Elsewhere - Canada - #7
Kate Nash's 2007 hit "Foundations" hasn't actually been topped by the Lily Allen-esque indie pop chapess. It was a surprisingly big hit in a lot of countries, more so critically than commercially, everyone loved this song when it came out. I have no idea what's happened to Nash since, she has gone off the rader. But there was no denying that this song was popular upon its release. It's light hearted and easy to relate to lyrics to romance and breaking up was definitely a factor that many people considered. It's not my cup of tea, but this listing isn't bout my cup of tea, it's about what I perceive to be the big and important songs of the decade.
#65. "King and Queens" - 30 Seconds to Mars
Released: 13/10/09
Album: This is War
Accolades: #7 on AOL's Top Alternative Songs of 2009, #1 in Virgin Radio Italia's Top Songs of 2009, Rock Sound's Top in Rock Award, Best Single of 2009 according to Rock Sound, #30 in Alternative Addiction's Top 50 Songs of 2009,
Chart Positions: UK - #28, US - #82 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Portugal - #9
After a four year break, 30 Seconds to Mars returned stronger than ever in 2009 with their hit album "This is War" and the even bigger hit single "Kings and Queens". The songs almost stadium rock approach, howling and inventive video gave it critical and commercial acclaim worldwide. It got very high in the charts in many countries, as you can see Portugal and Italy love it, but also New Zealand, Belgium, Austria, Holland, Germany and Norway found the song entering their Top 40's. If Jared Leto was under any illusions his aspirations for being a singer and an actor was failing, then looking at the success this song had should change his mind. The video got many awards too, but I'm not going through those as it's the songs I'm reviewing here. But yeah, the video is worth checking out below if you haven't before.
#64. "We Are All Made of Stars" - Moby
Released: 29/4/02
Album: 18
Chart Positions: UK - #11, US - #13 (in the Hot Dance Club Play Charts), Best Elsewhere - Italy - #4
It's funny, this song hasn't won any major accolades, or been featured in anything worthwhile. It also wasn't that big a hit in the states. Yet this song is one of those songs that you tend to forget about, and then like a lightbulb, you remember it and feel ashamed to have forgotten about it in the first place! It's arguably Moby's finest moment, the lyrics, the video (which did win some awards), and just the general feeling about it was all good. Critics and European sales were fantastic, I still can't believe this got to #4 in Italy! It's good though, it's frustrating that it's not recognised more often, but when people play it they have that "who sung this again" moment. Good stuff.
#63. "Gay Bar" - Electric Six
Released: 2/6/03
Album: Fire
Appearances: Rock Band (video game)
Listings: Best Videos
Chart Positions: UK - #5
Gay Bar is one of those songs that will be played for a long time as it's just too simple, too silly to forget. The good thing about modern day life is the fact that we are open to homosexuality and that we frown on homophobes. So this song being played today, so openly is fantastic. And it's just taking the piss from start to finish. It's a catchy track, with a hilarious (yet slightly hard to watch video) that just plays on homosexuality. Kudos have to go to the appropriately named (at least for this song) lead singer Dick Valentine for the fact that he's more than open to doing this silly stuff for our entertainment.
#62. "Fat Lip" - Sum 41
Released: 3/7/01
Album: All Killer No Filler
Appearances: NHL 2002 (video game), American Pie 2 (movie), Guitar Hero (video game), GuitarFreaks V4 (video game), DrumMania V4 (video game), Guitar Hero 5 (video game), Smallville (TV series),
Chart Positions: UK - #8, US - #66 (#1 in the Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Austria - #21
Fat Lip has always been Sum 41's most popular song. It's also arguably their best. They mix a good level of modern punk with modern rap to make a song that sounds really cool. It's also got lyrics that really appeal to a general teenage audience, just about hanging out, having fun, getting drunk and maybe causing a bit of trouble. The video is very lively as well, it's a very popular video. My favourite part definitely has to be the "Pain for Pleasure" segment featuring fake metal band Satan's Sluts (a mock of Iron Maiden), it's really good stuff.
#61. "Time to Pretend" - MGMT
Released: 3/3/08
Album: Oracular Spectacular
Accolades: #8 in Time's Songs of 2008, #3 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2008, #4 in NME's Best Singles of 2008, #18 in Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2008, #3 in Bringgoodstuffbout's Best Songs of the 2000s, #12 in Rolling Stone's Best Songs of the 2000s, #493 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, #2 in NME's Best Songs of the 2000s
Appearances: Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7 (boxing programme), Gossip Girl (TV series), Skins (TV series), 90210 (TV series), Sex Drive (movie), How to Lose Friends and Alienative People (movie), 21 (movie), Eagle Eye (movie), Alice in Wonderland (movie trailer), Warrior (movie), Exitosos Pells (TV series), Total Football (radio show theme), Ferrero SpA (chocolate advertisement), Shaun White Snowboarding (video game), NHL 2K10 (video game), LittleBigPlanet (video game), Champions League (live football coverage)
Chart Positions: UK - #35, US - #109 (#23 in the Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Latvia - #17
Wow it's been a long time since we've had a song produce so many accolades and appearances on this listing. Just in case you didn't know I made this listing before I saw any accolades or appearances on the songs, they're there to justify why they appear on this list. But man, totals like the above do make me contemplate jigging the listing around. But sometimes I wonder why, I mean "Time to Pretend" is a decent track, I like it, and it has a unique sound to it, like many MGMT songs, but I just sometimes think... will this song be remembered in 10 years time? That's what drives this list. The songs at the top are songs I'm convinced will be. But this song might, it's unique electronic sounds are memorable, and it's used on TV very very often. It's definitely a possibility, and I think with that being said, it's going to stay at #62 for the time being. Agree or disagree? Let me know!
To view part 5, click here.
To view part 6, click here.
To view part 7, click here.
To view part 8, click here.
To view part 9, click here.
To view part 10, click here.
To view the winner, click here.
To view my methods and explanations, click here.
To view a full archived stats index of the songs listed, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment