Noughtie: The 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade (The Winner)

Overall Favourite Artists | Best of 2000 | Overall Least Favourite Artists | Best of 2001

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

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We're finally here. Before I reveal #1, here's a quick recap of the 99 songs before it:

#100: “Rebellion (Lies)” - Arcade Fire

#99: “Shut Me Up” - Mindless Self Indulgence

#98: “Grounds for Divorce” – Elbow

#97: “The Kill” - 30 Seconds to Mars

#96: “Bodies” - Drowning Pool

#95: “Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)” - Florence and the Machine

#94: “Sing” - Travis

#93: “99 Problems” - Jay-Z

#92: “Wires” - Athlete

#91: “Slither” - Velvet Revolver

#90: “Feel Good Inc.” - Gorillaz

#89: “Warriors Dance” - The Prodigy

#88: “Filthy/Gorgeous” - Scissor Sisters

#87: “Uprising” - Muse

#86: “Last Nite” - The Strokes

#85: “Empire” - Kasabian

#84: “Famous Last Words” - My Chemical Romance

#83: “Gives You Hell” - The All-American Rejects

#82: “B.Y.O.B.” - System of a Down

#81: “Time is Running Out” - Muse

#80: “Everyday I Love You Less and Less” - Kaiser Chiefs

#79: “Duality” - Slipknot

#78: “Bohemian Like You” - The Dandy Warhols

#77: “Dry Your Eyes” - The Streets

#76: “Monster” - The Automatic

#75: “The Shock of the Lightning” - Oasis

#74: “Danger! High Voltage” - Electric Six

#73: “Break Stuff” - Limp Bizkit

#72: “Tribute” - Tenacious D

#71: “Bonkers” - Dizzee Rascal

#70: “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” - Jet

#69: “Cochise” - Audioslave

#68: “Feeling This” - Blink-182

#67: “Sugar, We're Goin Down” - Fall Out Boy

#66: “Foundations” - Kate Nash

#65: “Kings and Queens” - 30 Seconds to Mars

#64: “We Are All Made of Stars” - Moby

#63: “Gay Bar” - Electric Six

#62: “Fat Lip” - Sum 41

#61: “Time to Pretend” - MGMT

#60: “Standing in the Way of Control” - The Gossip

#59: “That's Not My Name” - The Ting Tings

#58: “Clint Eastwood” - Gorillaz

#57: “Butterfly” - Crazy Town

#56: “Teenage Dirtbag” - Wheatus

#55: “For Lovers” - Wolfman feat. Pete Doherty

#54: “Paper Planes” - MIA

#53: “Crazy” - Gnarls Barkley

#52: “Brianstorm” - Arctic Monkeys
#51: "Dance Wiv Me" - Dizzee Rascal
#50: "Wake Me Up When September Ends" - Green Day

#49: "Ruby" - Kaiser Chiefs
#48: "Don't Upset the Rhythm" - The Noisettes
#47: "Complicated" - Avril Lavigne
#46: "Chop Suey!" - System of a Down
#45: "Fire" - Kasabian
#44: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Green Day
#43: "All My Life" - Foo Fighters
#42: "Bring Me to Life" - Evanescence
#41: "Shut Up and Let Me Go" - The Ting Tings
#40: "I Predict a Riot" - Kaiser Chiefs
#39: "Fell in Love With a Girl" - The White Stripes
#38: "Last Resort" - Papa Roach
#37: "Dare" - Gorillaz
#36: "Supermassive Black Hole" - Muse
#35: "The Pretender" - Foo Fighters
#34: "Use Somebody" - Kings of Leon
#33: "Oh My God" - Kaiser Chiefs/Mark Ronson
#32: "Hurt" - Johnny Cash
#31: "Run" - Snow Patrol
#30: "By the Way" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
#29: "Best of You" - Foo Fighters
#28: "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z
#27: "Smooth Criminal" - Alien Ant Farm
#26: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" - My Chemical Romance
#25: "Clocks" - Coldplay
#24: "Misery Business" - Paramore
#23: "Human" - The Killers
#22: "Welcome to the Black Parade" - My Chemical Romance
#21: "In the End" - Linkin Park
#20: "When You Were Young" - The Killers
#19: "The Scientist" - Coldplay
#18: "Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand
#17: "Viva la Vida" - Coldplay
#16: "Seven Nation Army" - The White Stripes
#15: "All Summer Long" - Kid Rock
#14: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - The Darkness
#13: "All the Small Things" - Blink-182
#12: "Somebody Told Me" - The Killers
#11: "Valerie" - The Zutons/Mark Ronson
#10: "Rockstar" - Nickelback
#9: "You've Got the Love" - Florence and the Machine
#8: "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" - Arctic Monkeys
#7: "Rollin'" - Limp Bizkit
#6: "One Day Like This" - Elbow
#5: "Hey Ya!" - OutKast
#4: "Chasing Cars" - Snow Patrol
#3: "How You Remind Me" - Nickelback
#2: "Sex on Fire" - Kings of Leon


Okay, here we go, the most important song of the last decade is...

#1. "American Idiot" - Green Day
Released: 31/8/04
Album: American Idiot
Accolades: #22 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004, #13 in Rolling Stone's Best of 2000s, #432 in Rolling Stone's Best Songs of all Time
Appearances: Wedding Crashers (movie trailer), Madden NFL 2005 (video game), The Andy Milonakis Show (TV series), The Simpsons Movie (movie), Johnny Test (TV series)
Chart Positions: UK - #3, US - #56 (#1 in Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Canada - #1

"American Idiot" is for me, the most important song of the decade. Now that might upset some of you people who don't like modern punk, and want to stick to your indie roots, which is fair enough. In fact, some could argue that "Boulevard" was a bigger hit, which it was. But the reason why it was a bigger hit is because at the time of "American Idiot"'s release, downloads weren't considered. Between the releases they were. I'm sure some of you think "Sex on Fire" is a more deserving entry, but here me out.

Imagine in your mind it was 2004 again. 9/11 happened not too long ago and every American is on high alert about the whole thing. The war on Iraq was a controversial decision. On a less serious side of things, Green Day not long released International Superhits!. They had just just passed 15 years of music making. They were now at the peak of their career in terms of the fact that everyone worldwide knew of their music and they had experience and maturity on their side.

They then release a concept album about a guy that hates his life and everything about it. "Emo" was on the rise not too long from the release of the album. "Emo", if you didn't know, is the rise of a 'new' fashion statement and music genre associated with teenagers who dress in dark makeup, tight black trousers and stripy tops. "Emo" culture fell into teenage life where these young individuals were questioning life and disliking the negative elements within it. It can stretch to self harm and even suicide, although I'm not going to talk about those dark elements in a strong way.

So, everything, in my eyes, came to a climax with the release of this song. It's anti-American lyrics, the attachment to the album with its punk/emo qualities were definitely part of the reason this song because such a huge hit. Green Day as I said, were getting to the stage of their career that they were an experienced well respected band, and they were about to get a huge influx of new fans. No, it didn't sell as well as "Sex on Fire", or many other songs in this listing, but I'll tell you now, since 2004, I've not seen one song played more on multiple video channels that's not an RnB or pop or rap song. I've heard this song more than any other song in the decade I'd say. It's revived Green Day's career, it was accepted as a great track by many diverse fans, rock, metal, pop, indie, and everything in between. It has a purpose in this decade, it was a form or rebel song in reference to the 9/11 attacks and American culture as well. America in this decade has started to be perceived as a silly nation and this song definitely pinpoints that.

"American Idiot" above all that is a decent little punk/emo song. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. And while a lot of people got fed up of the band after a while, the playing of this song hasn't really gone away. It ticks all my boxes when it comes to its importance in the decade, and that's why I believe, it's the most important song of the decade.

So Green Day, this award goes to you!

Agree? Disagree? Comment below. So there you have it, the 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade. But this Noughtie series hasn't quite finished yet. Tomorrow I'm going to explain myself further. How did I make this listing? How did I go about it? Read tomorrow if you want to know. On Friday will be the stats post, where I'll compile all the songs that featured in certain TV shows or games, as well as a compiled list from each year, and more.  Hopefully you'll find that interesting. Also you'll see a Mixtape in that post, if you want to create a Johnny Mercyside Important Songs of the Naughties playlist. After that, the whole thing will be finished. It's took nearly six months to put the whole thing down on the website and I've really enjoyed it. I hope you have too, if you agree or disagree. I'll see you again tomorrow I hope.

To view my methods and explanations, click here. 
To view a full archived stats index of the songs listed, click here.