#87: "Rockstar" - Nickelback Release Date: 2006 Director: Dori Oskowitz Fun Fact: So many celebrities feature in this video, to name a few, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top (who also has spoken parts in the verses), Dominique Swain, Gene Simmons of KISS, Eliza Dushku, Wayne Gretzky, Kid Rock and Ted Nugent!
I'm expecting a mixed to negative reaction to this inclusion simply for praising Nickelback in any format, and for the fact that some people absolutely hate this song.
But I'm sorry to say, I've always liked both the song and the video. I do very much dislike this band and like maybe two of their songs? But this video is great. If you don't agree, fine. But I'd put money on the fact that I bet the first time you saw this video, you didn't turn it over. I bet you watched it the entire video. Why? Because you wanted to see who was in the video. How many celebrities are in the video? There's loads, the list above is just a sample. So like it or not, this video gets your attention, and I thoroughly enjoy/enjoyed watching it... until it got overplayed massively!
Here's the video for your enjoyment!
Click here to see #86 on the list or here for #88!
Hey everyone, welcome to the first edition in a series of reviews I'll be doing on music on a yearly basis. I covered the entire of the Naughties in a 6 month epic saga that ended with me counting down what I thought the 100 most important songs are. This will be done in a completely different style to that series. I might do a similar thing at the end of the nineties where I countdown my favourite 100 and what I think the 100 most memorable (refraining from using the word important) songs are, but at the moment I'm just concentrating on one year at a time.
This will be done in five parts. I'll do a brief history of what happened in that year, followed by my five favourite albums of the year, then what I think the five best videos are. I'll then do a Top 10 most impactful (still refraining from using the word important) songs from that year. To wrap it up, I'll do my favourite songs in a mixtape format. So now that you know where I'm going with this, let's get to it!
Brief History of the Year 1999 in Music
Eminem releases his official debut album "The Slim Shady LP" (he released an EP with the same title two years prior), starting his rise as one of the brightest young hip hop artists.
The Columbine High School massacre happened. Industrial metal artists Marilyn Manson, Rammstein and KMFDM were blamed for the massacre, although there was no evidence suppporting this.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers release "Californication", which went on to sell over 13 million copies.
Slipknot release their self titled debut album, starting a career as one of the most popular heavy metal artists of the next decade.
Limp Bizkit release "Significant Other" which sold over 14 million sales worldwide.
Glam rock star Gary Glitter is jailed for four months for downloading pornographic images of children.
Muse's debut album was a solid yet barely ground-breaking effort. Every song on the album is decent, and I could put this album on and play it and barely notice it's presence. I sound like I'm dissing it but I'm not. It's very good. It's just that nothing really stands out, it's barely inspiring. But as I said, it's solid, Muse would go on to become one of the best British bands of the next decade. And if it wasn't for these songs, Muse wouldn't have got there. This mini review is actually making want to listen to it again, in the background while I do something else. Because as I said, it's a great album for something like that.
#4 - "Hooray for Boobies" by Bloodhound Gang
Released: 4/10/99
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Mope", "The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope", "Yummy Down on This"
Released on the same day as "Showbiz" above, this awesome album came out. It's definitely my favourite album by the group. I was taken aback by how good it was, as the singles that were released were okay yet not fantastic (in my opinion). But there's some great rap/rock tracks on here, and some funny shit as well. It's toilet humour at best, yet they do it with enough dignity that makes it quite fun. If you don't like your music crude, then avoid this album. But if you liked this genre of music that the end part of the nineties brought you, then seriously, give this a go. It's great.
#3 - "The Battle of Los Angeles" by Rage Against the Machine
Released: 2/11/99
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Born of a Broken Man", "Calm Like a Bomb", "Guerrilla Radio"
Look at that. The Battle of Los Angeles album has a guy fist pumping to his death as the cover. Awesome stuff. Anyway, this album is actually my favourite by Rage Against the Machine. From start to finish, I think it just sounds great. The problem with Rage is that their songs sound quite similar (although their sound is innovative and there's not a single band out there like them) but I find this to be the most diverse. Also both the singles and album tracks are great. My favourite is definitely "Born of a Broken Man", I just love the guitar, the quite yet angry way Zach de la Rocha sings yet somehow sounds like he's gritting his teeth his awesome. Trivia for you, Saul Williams samples this in his song "Om Nia Merican" off his "Amethyst Rock Star" album. Anyway it's just a great album, my favourite.
#2 - "Tight" by Mindless Self Indulgence
Released: 6/4/99
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Stand-out tracks: "Bring the Pain", "Tight", "Pussy All Night"
Mindless Self Indulgence's official debut album is still my favourite. I mean, they're all excellent (if, very similar) but this one trumps the rest if only slightly. I just love their raw energy, their complete innovation, their ability to just crank up random songs with punk, rap, electronic, and industrial metal all into 120 seconds of pure bliss. "Bring the Pain" is one of my favourite cover versions of all time, it's very difficult to do a cover, but doing a completely different genre of music and twisting it into yours AND trumping it, is a feat not many artists can claim to have done. "Bring the Pain", originally sung by Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan, is arguably more famous by this band now. "Tight" is another belter, with it's fantastically cool guitars and Little Jimmy Urine's unique vocals. It's just a brilliant album, one that I'd recommend you get if you've never heard this weird and wonderful band.
#1 - "The Fragile" by Nine Inch Nails
Released: 21/9/99
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Stand-out tracks: "I'm Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally", "Just Like You Imagined", "Starfuckers, Inc."
My #1 album of 1999 is probably unsurprisingly by my favourite band, Nine Inch Nails. "The Fragile", while not Trent Reznor's best effort, was an incredible masterpiece, a depressing and angry 23 song concept that really pulls on the heartstrings at times. It's a concept album about being at your lowest ebb and trying and failing to get better. That's the story of the album. But don't let that put you off, what's important is how Trent tells you this story through music. The composition of songs is incredible, there's some really good stuff on this album, some lovely, tranquil tracks like "La Mer" and "The Day the World Went Away", there's some cool shit like "Please" and "Into the Void" and there's some kickass metal tracks like "Starfuckers, Inc." and "No You Don't". It's a heavy album, and it's also a very long album at over 100 minutes (in comparison, "Tight" above is only around 30 minutes), and it's definitely not the NIN album I'd recommend you listen to first. But if you like NIN, like concept albums, like music done artistically and differently, then this is a must. It's just one of those albums that has a place in music history on a platform on its own. Because no album is like it, but it's too important to be ignored.
My Top 5 Music Videos of 1999
#5 - "Coma White" by Marilyn Manson
This is one of my favourite Manson videos, and songs for that matter. It just shows a different side to Manson that not many people see, and while his voice isn't commercially considered great, this is one of his best songs in terms of showing that he can sing. The video, a twisted version of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, features Rose McGowan, his then girlfriend. It's just a beautifully dark video, arguably one of Manson's finest moments in his now dwindled career.
#4 - "Learn to Fly" by Foo Fighters
Arguably one of the funniest videos of all time, the Foo Fighters board a plane which has many passengers played by themselves but cross dressing (and not for the first time). It features the great duo Jack Black and Kyle Gass from Tenacious D, who accidentally drug everyone's coffee, which makes everyone fall asleep, including the pilot. The band, who decided to drink alcohol instead, manage to land the plane safely. It's just a very funny video, probably my favourite moment being when the pilot receives his coffee, pauses, and then says "thank you", and winks. It's just a moment of awesomeness.
#3 - "We're in This Together" by Nine Inch Nails
Not particularly one of my favourite NIN singles, but this video always brings me back to my childhood. Funnily, I discovered NIN properly a good eight or nine years ago, but I remember quite vividly watching this video back in 1999, although it felt like it was much earlier than that (which is scientifically impossible I know). I saw this video, thought it was cool but I didn't know who the band was or anything. But the video is great, it shows loads of people, one being Trent Reznor, all running away from 'something'. For some reason everyone is wearing a black shirt and black trousers. In the end whatever that 'something' is catches them, and everyone disappears, leaving Trent on his own. All that remains is everyone's black clothes, just lying there, desolately in the ground. It's a powerful video, one that makes the song much deeper in context and adds layers to one of the tracks from "The Fragile" that ironically, seems to lack the support other songs do.
#2 - "Freak on a Leash" by KoRn
This Grammy award winning video is just excellent. It mixes animation and live footage. The beginning is animation, where a bunch of kids are playing hopskotch near an edge of a cliff where a policeman accidentally falls and his gun triggers a bullet. It then turns into live footage, of a poster with this cartoon scene occurs and a bullet pierces the poster and starts tearing through anything and everything in it's path, regardless of it being capable of doing it in real life or not. It goes through walls, glass, but more artistically, it goes through squirty cream cans and a large water container. The idea is unrealistic, yet it looks so good when it's happening. Eventually the bullet goes through a wall where the band are playing, and the lead singer Jonathan Davis somehow gets this bullet to stop it's surge and retreat back to where it came from. It then arrives back into the poster, and into the policeman's hand, thankfully not killing any of the children. It just looks so much better than to describe it in this paragraph, have a look above if you haven't seen it before.
#1 - "Coffee and TV" by Blur
In at #1 is one of the best music videos of all time. I hold that statement very seriously. It's just a brilliant video. If you haven't seen it before, it would be criminal to avoid watching it above. And don't worry, it's not controversial in any way, it will appeal to most if not all audiences.
The video is about Milky, a milk carton, who has a missing person (Graham Coxon) printed on his design. He finds that other milk cartons also have his face on them and sees the family deeply upset about this man becoming a missing person and decides to go out into the world and find him himself. On his travels he finds loads of things that are dangerous and almost kill him, like a dog and a garden strimmer, and evil bottles of pop (which, of course, are also animated). Eventually he finds a female milk carton on the opposite side of the road and they start to approach each other, only for the love of his life to get run over by a passenger's foot. This sends Milky heartbroken and even more scared, that he runs away and ends up finding the missing person on his milk carton. The missing guy picks Milky up and drinks the entire carton, and puts him in the rubbish bin. Milky ends up dying, but develops angel's wings and flies to the heavens, where he joins the female milk carton he fell in love with earlier.
It's just a beautiful video, a truly magnificent one at that. It's such a simple concept, but it's just directed so well and the designs of the milk cartons and the pop bottles and stuff are excellent. It's a true little mini children's movie in honesty, three minutes long, but it's just so great. Seriously, if you haven't seen it before have a look. It's fantastic.
The Top 10 Most Impactful Songs of 1999
As I said, I'm NOT calling it the 'important' list, although it's more than just popularity as well. Anyway, here's the 10 songs of the year. It's an unbiased list.
#10 - "What's My Age Again?" by Blink-182 While Blink-182 will forever be renowned for their #2 hit "All the Small Things", you can argue that this song had a say in that. They were both released off the same album, and this peaked at #17 here in the UK. The video with the band running around nude, the lyrics about grown men not wanting to grow up, it was a huge hit with the teens. It preceded the huge popularity of pop-punk that filled the charts in the early Naughties. It's still played to a decent amount today, and is seen as one of Blink's best songs.
#9 - "Every You and Every Me" by Placebo I didn't feature much Placebo in the Naughties listing but truth is their memorable songs and significance slightly waned (only slightly) in the last decade. Their popular stuff was really in the late nineties, and this is arguably the last huge song they did. Part of that was it's significance to the great soundtrack to the film "Cruel Intentions" but it's also because the song was so great anyway. It's not the chirpiest or catchiest of songs, but the lyrics are great, so good that it managed to get to #11 in our British charts. It was the third single off their most successful album, "Without You I'm Nothing" which was also a critically acclaimed album, one I recommend you get if you like the sound of Placebo.
#8 - "Pumping on Your Stereo" by Supergrass As far as I'm concerned, this is the last major Supergrass song (although they released "Moving" afterwards, which got slightly higher in the charts) of their career. It was a quick, simple, easy belter in honesty. It's just so simply catchy, apparently once the band started to get going it only took them 10 minutes to get it all down to what we hear today. It's a shame Supergrass' career dwindled so quickly after the new decade kicked in as they were as big a part of Brit Pop in the mid nineties as anyone really. But some bands just lack longevity, and Supergrass unfortunately was one of them. Here's a fact for you, I once saw Supergrass, they supported the Foo Fighters. I saw the drummer Taylor Hawkins discretely watching the set, bopping, when they were playing. They were good.
#7 - "The Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound Gang The Bloodhound Gang haven't really had a bigger hit than this one, not in this country anyway. Around the late nineties and early naughties there was a lot of crude lyrical bands who did their music in either a hybrid of rock, rap or punk and there's arguably no better band at it than the Bloodhound Gang. The Bad Touch, most famously for the line "Do it like they do it on the Discovery Channel", was just a huge international hit. It was a great song and the video, albeit odd, was good too.
#6 - "Scar Tissue" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers The album "Californication" was the beginning of a return to form for the Chili's, it was a huge success. "Scar Tissue" was the first release off the album, and as one of the softest Chili's singles, it was a surprise success. They took a punt releasing this first, instead of the very catchy, heavier "Around the World" which on paper, sounds like the best song to release first off an album. But the risk paid off, it was a fantastic success and the slide guitar in the track is still well thought of as one of the best guitar moments in recent history.
#5 - "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim Fatboy Slim's fonly #1 hit so far came as a surprise. "The Rockerfella Skank" was the first release off the album, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" and was a big hit, reaching #6. But Fatboy Slim's rising stars weren't ending there, and "Praise You" was the big climax by Norman Cook. Partly because of the now legendary video, and partly due to it's soft dance beat, "Praise You" appealed to many different people rather than the usual dance music fans. It's arguably Fatboy Slim's biggest moment, although I personally think the efforts were bettered by "Weapon of Choice" a few years later.
#4 - "Coffee and TV" by Blur We touched on this song earlier as it's featured in the videos section but the song itself was also big. It got to #11, not particularly impressive for Blur who at this point had eight songs hit the Top 5. But this song gets played more than most of those tracks, more than a lot of Blur tracks actually. It's a staple Blur song, a great one at that, and yes you can thank the video for a lot of the success it has had long term, but the song is great too and is well thought of as a great moment in the band's career.
#3 - "Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters Following a similar vein to Blur, with both the great videos and past successes, "Learn to Fly" too wasn't a huge chart hit for the band, getting to #21. But similar as I said to Blur, "Learn to Fly" is played more than most other Foo Fighters songs, especially those ones from the nineties. It was released at a time when the band was starting to grasp their key sound, with a lot of the naughties singles being slightly similar in style, and most definitely in terms of how good the singles sound as individual songs. "Learn to Fly" is arguably the pedestal Dave Grohl and co. used to build their now flourishing success on. I fucking love the Foo Fighters by the way.
#2 - "My Name Is" by Eminem One of my major criticisms from my Noughtie series was that there is a major lack of Eminem involved. True that. I tried to stay away from rap and dance as much as possible, yet Eminem simply cannot be ignored. Similar to that is this song, it's simply incapable of being ignored. It's not really in my eyes Eminem's finest moment, but man, without this song making the BANG it did, his fantastically accomplished rap career wouldn't have been anywhere as big as it is now. "My NameIs", like the Foos before, based the style of song Eminem has now been rapping for over a decade. It was a huge hit too, getting to #2 in the UK. The song has remained one of Eminem's most popular, and is still played very often today.
#1 - "Freak on a Leash" by KoRn I have my doubts, I have a hunch this is going to be a controversial call. But for me, the highlight of the year 1999 was this song. "But Johnny, KoRn's song was no where near as successful as Eminem or the others!" True that. But similar to my Noughtie series, this isn't just about chart success. It's also not just about longevity. I just think personally, "Freak on a Leash" did more for metal than "My Name Is" did for rap. "Freak on a Leash" is one of the modern classic metal songs, not many metal songs released since this track have had the long term impact this did. It's a classic now. And it's fricking awesome too, in a biased way. But as I said, this is an unbiased listing, covering rock, metal and alternative genres. And for metal, this song was just huge.
The Year 1999 Mixtape
Just in case you didn't know by now...
"A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further recommendations if some of the songs aren’t to your taste. Remember kids, downloading is wrong!"
So here we go! My favourite songs from the year 1999. Yes, this is a biased list.
And there we go! The year 1999 in review! I hope you've enjoyed this. It's the new format going forward, that I'll be doing on a monthly basis or so. So yes, in September, I'll hopefully be covering the year 1998. Any comments or queries? Raise them below. Also just in case you didn't notice, my lovely wife has made me a Facebook page, so on the top left of this site you can 'like' me on Facebook. Or just click here if you're lazy! On that left hand side there are other ways to contact me and follow me too, like Twitter and Formspring.
I'll be back in a few days with something, not quite sure what I'm doing next actually. I have a lot planned, I'm just not sure what order it'll be posted. See you soon anyway.
To view part 1, click here. To view part 2, click here. To view part 3, click here. To view part 4, click here. To view part 5, click here. To view part 6, click here. To view part 7, click here. To view part 8, click here.
20 songs to go. Here are what I consider are the 20 most important songs of the decade, from #20 to #11. Enjoy.
#20. "When You Were Young" - The Killers Released: 18/09/06 Album: Sam's Town Accolades: Nominated for Best Rock Song at the Grammys, #4 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2006, #37 in XFM's 100 Greatest Songs of All Time, Nominated for Best Track at the Shockwaves NME Awards Appearances: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (video game), SingStar Amped (video game), Rock Band (video game) Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #14 (#1 in Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Australia and New Zealand - #10 After the amazing success of "Hot Fuss", The Killers surely knew that the next album had to have an impact for them to maintain their major success in the UK, and further stamp their feet in their homeland of the US. "When You Were Young", the lead single off the second album, did exactly that. Sure it's not as catchy and dancy as "Somebody Told Me", and it's not as indie rock as "Mr. Brightside", but there was something nice and fresh about "When You Were Young". The band mention a huge Bruce Springsteen inspiration going into the studio for "Sam's Town" and you can definitely feel it in this track. It was remarkably successful, it's still their highest charting song here in the UK, despite there being just one more song by the band that I think tops it. You'll see that song further into the Top 20.
#19. "The Scientist" - Coldplay Released: 4/11/02 Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head Chart Positions: UK - #10, US - #18 (in Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Poland - #1 No accolades, no appearances. In fact at the time, it wasn't that huge in sales either. Yet I don't think that many songs by Coldplay have had the long term impact this song has. "The Scientist" has longevity that emphasises what this list is about. This list is about many things, it's about chart successs and sales, it's about accolades. It's about how often the song appears in other media. But most importantly, these are the songs that I'm predicting will still be played in 10, 20, 30 years time from now. And I'm telling you, this song will be played for many years to come. "The Scientist" isn't an energetic song, it isn't a foot tapper. But the melody, the piano, the memorable chorus, the video, everything about it is iconic. This is arguably THE Coldplay song of the decade. I say arguably, as I think there is one more song by the band that has more importance. You'll see that song soon.
#18. "Take Me Out" - Franz Ferdinand Released: 12/1/04 Album: Franz Ferdinand Accolades:
#1 in Village Voice Pazz and Jop's Best of 2004, #1 Triple J's Hottest
100 of 2004, #100 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time, #41 in Q
Magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, #34 in Q Magazine's Best Songs by
British Bands, #6 in Q Magazine's 100 Greatest Indie Anthems, #16 in
NME's 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever, #7 in MTV2's Greatest Indie
Anthems Ever, #44 in Pitchfork Media's Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s, #327
in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time Appearances:
Sony PSP (handheld consone advertisement), NHL 2005 (video game),
Madden NFL 2005 (video game), Sports Tonight (sports TV show), Guitar
Hero (video game), Guitar Hero Smash Hits (video game), SingStar Party
(video game), SingStar Pop (video game), Just Dance 2 (video game),
Dance Dance Revolution Universe 2 (video game), Rock Band (video game),
Hancock (movie trailer), PBS Kids GO! (childrens education
advertisment), Meet the Fockers (movie trailer) Chart Positions: UK - #3, US - #6 (#3 in Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Canada - #7 Finally!
A song with LOADS of accolades and appearances! I haven't had a song
with this many entries in both sections for a while, I was starting to
lose faith! Seriously though, it's hard to deny how much of an impact
this song made. An arguement can be made that this song started the Art
Rock revival (Radiohead aside of course), with bands like Art Brut, Bloc
Party and Athlete rising afterwards. And the song was so damn catchy as
well. Franz Ferdinand won't beat this track in terms of impact,
although on a personal level I prefer other tracks. The best thing about
"Take Me Out" was that it pretty much at the time came out of nowhere.
It got a small amount of airplay before it gor released, and then all of
a sudden it just got more and more popular as the week went on. It
ended up getting to #3, but I reckon it would have gone straight to #1
if they promoted it earlier. Regardless, this song is a classic now I'd
say.
#17. "Viva la Vida" - Coldplay Released: 25/5/08 Album: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends Accolades:
Winner of the Song of the Year at the Grammys, Nominated for Record of
the Year at the Grammys, #9 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2008,
#2 in Rolling Stone's Readers Best Songs of 2008, #5 in Blender's Top
144 Songs of 2008, #8 in Village Voice Pazz and Jop's Best of 2008 Appearances:
iPod (portable media advertisment), iTunes (digital media
advertisment), Medium (TV series), 90210 (TV series), Moving in America
(radio show), A Favorita (TV series), The Simpsons (TV series), Chart Positions: UK - #1, US - #1 (#3 in Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Czech Republic and Slovakia - #1 This
song got to #1 in America. It's the first British song that got to #1
in America since 1996, when the Spice Girls got there with "Wannabe".
That on its own is a remarkable achievement, and Coldplay should be damn
proud of that. I touched on this on my Most Important Artists of the Decade
listing, where I said Coldplay got closer and closer to the #1 spot in
the UK and the US, but they kept failing. When this song came out, I
don't know why, but it just felt right. Man, I don't really like this
band but I can see why this song was so successful. It just sounds so
pure, it's the buildup of all the Coldplay songs built into one track.
The classical music, Chris Martin's vocals, the chanting, the song
manages to be beautiful and catchy at the same time, and it's hard for a
song to do that. So all in all, I'm happy we got another band to break
America officially, regardless if I like them or not.
#16. "Seven Nation Army" - The White Stripes Released: 7/3/03 Album: Elephant Accolades:
Winner of the Best Rock Song at the Grammys, #6 in Rolling Stone's 50
Best Songs of the Decade, #8 in Q Magazine's 100 Best Guitar Tracks, #5
in NME's 50 Greatest Tracks of the Decade, #75 in VH1's Greatest Hard
Rock Songs, #21 in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All
Time, #20 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time, #30 in Pitchfork
Media's Top 500 Songs of the 2000s, #2 in Observer Music Monthly's 75
Songs of the Decade, #2 in Channel V Australia's Top 1000 Songs of the
2000s, #1 in Consequence of Sound's Top Rock Tracks of the 2000s, #1 in
WFNX Radio's Top Rock Tracks of the 2000s, #286 in Rolling Stone's Top
500 Greatest Songs of All Time, #1 in Rhapsody's Top 100 Tracks of the
Decade Appearances: Democracy Now! (news program) Listings: Best Riffs, Best Videos, Top 100 Songs of the Decade Chart Positions: UK - #7, US - #76 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Germany - #4 Wow.
So far in this listing no song has got THAT many accolades. Even though
I've only put one appearance down, it's important to note that this
song was a HUGE anthem in the FIFA World Cup in 2006. Loads of different
fans from many different countries world wide sung the tune to this in
the crouds, it was amazing. It's also important to note that on a
personal note, this song has featured in FOUR of my categories now,
which are my favourite riffs, my favourite music videos, my personal top
100, and now, the unbiased top 100. No other song has done that on this
website. In fact, just in case you wanted to know, this song is the
last song that is featured both on the biased and unbiased listings. So
why is this song so well received? It's just a simple guitar riff that
is played over and over again. The truth is that I have no idea really,
it's just so fricking catchy, the lyrics are quite smart, that guitar
riff is just beautiful despite it being so simple, and while I try not
to use music videos as reason for each entry, the music video is just as
simple a concept as the guitar riff, but equally as effective. It's
just quite simply, a piece of genius this song. I honestly don't think
The White Stripes will top this effort popularity wise. It's just
perfect.
#15. "All Summer Long" - Kid Rock Released: 5/4/08 Album: Rock 'n' Roll Jesus Appearances: WWE Backlash 2008 (wrestling pay-per-view) Chart Positions: UK
- #1, US - #23 (#4 in Hot Country Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere
- Australia, Austria, Europe, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland - #1 Getting
to #1 in 6 different countries is impressive on any scale and Kid Rock
did just that with this huge summer hit. If you listened to music much
in the summer of 2008 then you simply couldn't get rid of this song, if
you like it or not. With it's riff that was borrowed from "Sweet Home
Alabama", and its general warm lyrics about having a good time in the
summer (Kid Rock manages not to be so crude in this track) it was just
universally popular with a lot of people. It wasn't musically his finest
piece, hell I don't think he even put much effort into the track but
that's probably the key, Kid Rock just got everything right with this
song, he didn't need to overload it. It's just a nice summer song.
#14. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - The Darkness Released: 17/3/03 Album: Permission to Land Accolades:
#47 in Q Magazine's 101 Greatest Guitar Tracks, #493 in Blenders
Magazine's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born, #276 in Pitchfork's
500 Top Tracks of the 2000s, #94 in VH1's Best Hard Rock Songs Appearances:
Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 (video game), Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades
(video game), The Bill (TV series), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
(movie), SingStar (video game) Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #35 (in Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Ireland - #5 Regardless
of how badly The Darkness fell from their hill back halfway through the
decade, this song was a huge hit. It was the pinnacle of success, it
was the song that if you would choose if you had to describe the band
with a single track. The ridiculous falsetto, the awfully cheesy video,
the leotards, the Queen-esque guitar solos, the lyrics about cheesy
love, everything. It's what The Darkness was. And it was only denied the
#1 spot by the huge RnB hit "Where is the Love?" by the Black Eyed
Peas. The Darkness really set the bar with this track, unfortunately for
them it was a bar they were never able to reach again (unless an
amazing comeback proves me otherwise). Either way, the song is still
definitely well thought of by many people.
#13. "All the Small Things" - Blink-182 Released: 18/1/00 Album: Enema of the State Appearances:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series), Charlie's Angels (movie),
Clockstoppers (movie), Rock Band (video game), Guitar Hero 5 (video
game), Guitar Hero: On Tour (video game), Rock Revolution (video game) Listings: Best Videos Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #6 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Austria - #4 Well
this song is a classic. It really is. The reason why it's not higher is
because I need to spread 10 years evenly. This song is just oozing of
pop punk. It'll forever be known for its video, where the band take the
piss out of boybands to fantastic comical effect. But the song itself,
in its simplicity, is just a charming teenage boy's track. And there's
nothing wrong with that. When I think about how I made this listing, I
thought about predicting what songs will be played from the decade in
10, 20, 30 years time. And this song fits into that category. No
dispute. This song is a classic, it will never go away. And kudos to
Blink-182 for that.
#12. "Somebody Told Me" - The Killers Released: 15/3/04 Album: Hot Fuss Accolades:
#9 in XFM's Top 100 Songs of the Decade, #4 in Triple J's Hottest 100
of 2004, #60 in Absolute Radio's 100 Best Songs of the Decade, #41 in
NME's 100 Greatest Tracks of the Decade, Nominated for Best Rock Track
at the Grammys, Nominated for Best Alternative/Rock Dance Track at the
International Dance Music Awards Appearances: Rocky Balboa (movie), Rock Revolution (video game), DJ Hero (video game) Chart Positions: UK - #3, US - #51 (#3 in Hot Modern Rracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Poland - #1 Another
song that you pretty much call a classic now. The Killers started their
very successful career with this indie belter. "Somebody Told Me" got
very high for a debut rock song, and it still pretty much remains the
song to beat for the band in terms of impact. They've had hit after hit
after hit, yet they've not shook this song away as being THE song to
represent The Killers. "Human", "When You Were Young" and "Mr
Brightside", all great tracks, but in my eyes are inferior in importance
in comparison to this song. Look at those accolades, this song is rated
highly by the NME, Triple J, Absolute Radio and XFM, four highly
reputable music critics.
#11. "Valerie" - The Zutons / Mark Ronson Released: 19/6/06 / 15/10/07 Album: Tired of Hanging Around / Version Accolades: Nominated for Best British Single at the BRIT Awards Appearances: 2006 FIFA World Cup (football coverage), 27 Dreses (movie) Chart Positions: UK - #9, Best Elsewhere - Ireland - #32 / UK - #2, Best Elsewhere - Holland - #1 Yeah
this song only got to #1 in one country, but what you may not have
known is that this song got to #1 in Holland, then they released an
acoustic version, and they both versions the iTunes #1 and #2 spots.
That was the Mark Ronson version by the way. But
before that, The Zutons released the original version. Now the original
was a surprise hit, it was the second single off the album and it more
than matched the first single ("Why Don't You Give Me Your Love". It's
by far their biggest hit.
But... let's
be honest, it's the Mark Ronson version that made this song just
marginally miss a place in my Top 10. It was just huge. He really made
the song his own. Amy Winehouse's vocals were perfect for the song, and
the chirpy music was just splendid. I bet The Zutons love AND hate Mark
Ronson for completely picking their song to pieces and remodelling it in
his image. But it was an incredible cover version, and the amazing this
is that it was only released ay ear later. It wasn't an old track
rehashed, it was a recent song that got reworked, and the quality
between the two is ridiculously obvious. Mark Ronson solidified his
reputation immensely after this song.
Top
10 time tomorrow. We're almost there. It may have took a long time for
us to get here, but I've enjoyed it and I hope you have. What song will
be in the Top 10? Make your predictions in the comment section below.
Have a good night.
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.
To view part 2, click here. To view part 3, click here. To view part 4, click here.
Here we are, Part 5, we’re approaching half way, I hope you haven’t fallen asleep yet! The songs are getting better, well I think so anyway! This is a biased list! Let’s get to it!
#60. “Running Up That Hill” – Placebo
Released: 5/3/07
Album: Once More With Feeling
I’ll put my hands up. I never knew Placebo did a cover version of Kate Bush’s classic. I only heard it last year, being the huge wrestling fan I am, watched the fantastic promotional video between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels a few weeks before their brilliant 5 star classic at Wrestlemania. But since I heard it, I loved it. I prefer it to the original. It’s just so elegant, so light on its feet but heavy on the heart. It’s a modern day cover version classic in my eyes.
#59. “Red Morning Light” – Kings of Leon
Released: 15/7/03
Album: Youth and Young Manhood
Kings of Leon’s debut track was a fantastic little ditty. It’s probably my favourite single by the band, it just sounds really cool, and it’s everything that is good about Kings of Leon, namely, their great combination of country and garage rock. It was the main song for FIFA 04 as well, oh those were the days…
#58. “I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News) – Eagles of Death Metal
Released: 28/8/06
Album: Death by Sexy
I heard “I Only Want You” back when it came out, thought it was a decent track and then moved on. I was aware that Josh Homme was the drummer of the band but naturally the interest in this band didn’t go much beyond that.
But then this cracker came out. This song really kicks ass. The video is pretty funny as well, with Jack Black and Dave Grohl making cameos wearing wigs (which eventually blow off due to Jesse “The Devil” Hughes ‘mind-blowing’ guitar riffs). It’s by far their best single, but the album “Death by Sexy” is freaking awesome as well.
#57. “Harmonic Generator” – The Datsuns
Released: 28/10/03
Album: The Datsuns
This song kicks real ass. The Datsuns are a barely remembered footnote in history now, but back in the early Naughties they were a decent little band that had some exposure on MTV2. This was my favourite track. I love the riff, the back vocals in the chorus, the lead singers voice as well. The video is nice and colourful too. It’s just a great track, an underrated one, that’s for sure.
#56. “Burn the Witch” – The Queens of the Stone Age
Released: 10/1/06
Album: Lullabies to Paralyze
Unless you’re a decent TQotSA fan, chances are this song slipped past you. Which is a shame really as it’s my favourite single off “Lullabies”, more so than the relatively successful “Little Sister”. I just love the riff, the way the song is sung, the lyrics, it just sounds really cool. The clapping towards the end and the wooo-ing gives it that ritual-esque feeling as well.
#55. “Pretty Like Drugs” – QueenAdreena
Released: 8/7/02
Album: Drink Me
Man, if QueenAdreena released more singles then they’d find themselves on this list more. They probably don’t care mind. Anyway, QueenAdreena’s “Pretty Like Drugs” is probably their most popular song, and is one of the few tracks actually released as a single by the band. Like in a lot of their tracks, KatieJane Garside manages to combine her beautiful vocals with her screaming vocals in the same track, which really work well with the topic of the song, drugs being seen in a positive and negative light. It’s a fantastic track, and if you’ve never heard of this band before, I’d recommend you start with this song.
#54. “Rise of the Eagles” – The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Released: 4/1/05
Album: The Royal Society
I announce this entry with news that TEMBLD have officially split up. They put it on their Facebook today. It's been on the cards since about November last year. It's a serious shame as I fucking love this band and they are the one of the most underrated bands of the decade. Rant over. Anyway, TEMBLD’s second entry into this Top 100 brings the final single off The Royal Society into the mix. It’s probably my favourite of the three, although “Mister Mental” is a quality track too. Rise of the Eagles is a more mainstream effort by the gothabilly group; it’s very catchy and the “All dressed up and ready to go” hook is great. But the video is also epic, with lead singer Guy pretending to be an American president and having all the ladies wanting him. Great stuff.
#53. “Mope” – The Bloodhound Gang
Released: 5/9/00
Album: Hooray for Boobies
This is the only Bloodhound Gang effort to make any of the Mixtapes and the Top 100 biased listing. I did like Foxtrot Unicorn Charlie Kilo but not enough unfortunately. Hooray for Boobies, released in 1999, was a brilliant album and had this awesome effort on it. “Mope” has a ridiculous amount of references to other artists and pop culture, and samples a few different tracks into the song, most prominently “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The song is very catchy and the rapping is decent. I’m not a huge fan of the “Pacman on crack” business though, but that aside, it’s an awesome song.
#52. “Coming Undone” – KoRn
Released: 21/2/06
Album: See You on the Other Side
KoRn appear three times in this listing and for the first to be at #52 is pretty good really. “Coming Undone” is a funny one; I didn’t really think much of it at the time of release. Then I got KoRn’s Unplugged album (which by the way, I thoroughly recommend you get if you like KoRn) and the acoustic version of it sounded fantastic. As I said it’s a funny one, as I prefer the original now, but at the time I thought the stripped down version sounded greater. It still sounds good and the great clap sounding drums throughout the song are a highlight for me. Jonathan’s whaling vocals in the chorus are also good.
#51. “American Bad Ass” – Kid Rock
Released: 30/5/00
Album: The History of Rock
Kid Rock is one of those damn artists that as people, man, I could just punch in the face. Same applies to Fred Durst. But, if they release songs I like, I’ll own up to it. American Bad Ass is one of those tracks, that along with “Bawitdaba” are his finest pieces of music. With the great choice of “Sad But True” by Metallica to sample, this song just sounds immediately kickass. It also helps that it worked fantastically well with WWE Legend The Undertaker, one of my favourite wrestlers, and his biker gimmick back in 2000. The lyrics are shit but as I said, the song sounds fantastic, and sometimes that’s all you need in a song.
Well we’re officially half way now. You’ve seen my favourite tracks from #100 to #51. We’ll be back tomorrow to kick start the second half, from #50 to #41. Take care.
