By now you either hate this song or probably feel that it’s overplayed. I mean there’s probably a smaller minority of people that aren’t fed up of this song by now.
But back at the end of 2014 and for the first half of 2015 (I know that year isn’t covered in this listing but still, the release date was 2014) – this song was played. A LOT. And you know what? I didn’t care. I absolutely loved this song, I was never tired of hearing it, it’s for me one of the funkiest, coolest tracks ever made. It was an instant classic. When we look back on this decade for music, and we think about what the best songs were, this song will be on many MANY lists. Because it was, and is, that damn good. I don’t hate on the song at all, I mean yeah, sure, I skip it now when it comes on just because of the sheer volume of times I’ve heard it over the last 2 years but there will be a point probably in the next few years when this song will stop being in that “overplayed” category and start to transcend into the “classic tracks” category.
It really reminds me of “Hey Ya” by The Outkast, for me this song is this decade’s equivalent. They’re both funky tracks that got played over and over again, one is now considered to be a classic, time will tell if this one will be. But if I were a betting man, I’d say I’m very very sure this song will follow suit.
Here's the video if you want to hear it! If you missed #4 go here.
For the latest updates on my work, including all my latest radio shows, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!
Hey there, welcome to my new Mixtape. The Noughtie series
aside, this is the first Mixtape I’ve done for this site. This is a Mixtape of
my favourite collaborations in music. By collaboration, the definition I’ve
used is a group and a singer, or two singers, who don’t work together on a
regular basis, in the same song. There’s has to be at least two voices, for
instance, as great as Mark Ronson’s version of “Just” is, he doesn’t sing so
it’s not even in contention. Not familiar with my Mixtapes? Here are the rules
of the Mixtape.
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 with that out of the way, here are my favourite music
collaborations!
Well I hope you like this list. I’ve covered rap, rock and
metal here, which is good. There will be songs you like, and songs you don’t. I
think in a list as diverse as this, everyone’s going to have a different
personal list. If you’ve heard and liked stuff by some of these artists but
have not heard these particular collaborations, check them out, they’re all
good songs, well I think so anyway!
Do you have any suggestions for Mixtapes? I don't like doing artist Mixtapes to often, so a certain era, genre or distinctive element (like this collaborations one) is what I prefer. Any suggestions are welcome in the comments section below. Until next time, take care.
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. To view part 9, click here. To view part 10, click here.
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.
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 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.
Here's the beginning of my official Top 40, from #40 to #31!
#40. "I Predict a Riot" - Kaiser Chiefs Released: 1/11/04 Album: Employment Accolades: #36 in NME's 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever Chart Positions: UK - #9, US - #34 (in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Ireland - #25 For a song with no appearances in the media and one major accolade it's ridiculous that this song hasn't gone more. This song is just simply one of the biggest anthems of the decade. It's a proper lads song, it's one of those songs that you can just shout the lyrics to at the top of your voice. It sounds great, it's got awesome lyrics and it's quite simply one of the most important songs of the decade. If it wasn't for this song or the popularity of it, the band wouldn't have been the same.
#39. "Fell in Love With a Girl" - The White Stripes Released: 23/4/02 Album: White Blood Cells Accolades: Rolling Stone's 40 Songs That Changed Rock History Chart Appearances: Rock Band (video game) Chart Positions: UK - #21, US - #121 (#12 in Modern Rock Tracks Chart) Another song that makes you wonder how it hasn't got any more accolades or appearances to its name. But this isn't a list just about accolades and appearances, it's about other things. It's about airplay, it's about how often the song was played at the time, and more importantly, going in to the future. And "Fell in Love" is one of those songs that just stand out so well in the decade as a quick little ditty of greatness. It's a song that sounds so raw yet it has such fantastic charm it's unbelievable. How often can you describe something as raw and charming in the same sentence? Well this song does both. Naturally the video is the appeal to a certain extent, such a simple idea of getting band playing in lego form made such cool viewing. But the song itself, while probably wouldn't have been commercially as successful without the video, can stand on its own two feet against other songs and win many climatic battles as one of the most important songs of the decade. This song won't leave our radio stations and music channels anytime soon, trust me.
#38. "Last Resort" - Papa Roach Released: 23/4/00 Album: Infest Appearances: The One (movie), Training Day (movie), Pay it Forward (movie), Smallville (TV series), Cold Case (TV series), Rock Revolution (video game), Rock Band (video game), Tap Tap Revenge 2 (iPhone game), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (movie) Chart Positions: UK - #3, US - #57 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Germany - #4 Wow I never knew this song got to #3 in the UK. For a song of its genre, of its lyrical theme, you wouldn't have imagined it getting this high up our pop and RnB orientated charts. You can easily make a case for this song to being on of the first true modern "emo" songs, although it was in the badly reputable "nu-metal" genre at the time. "Cut myself into pieces, this is my last resort" is arguably one of the most well known lines in any song of the decade. The video, while very simple in its broadcast, is very iconic, showing poor little kids being depressed in their homes, and then apparently enjoying a Papa Roach gig. Papa Roach have had a decent career, their lifespan is longer and more respected than Limp Bizkit's and they haven't "sold out", something a lot of people Linkin Park have done. But this song will never be beat for popularity, and most importantly, it's significance and impact on the world of music.
#37. "Dare" - Gorillaz Released: 29/8/05 Album: Demon Days Chart Positions: UK - #1, US - #87 (#8 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Belgium - #3 For a song with no appearances, no major accolades, this song gets a TONNE of airplay. Surely this song is one of the most played songs of the decade, in clubs, radio stations and music stations? This song was much more prominent on its release than "Feel Good Inc" was, although the former was a bigger hit in the US. "Dare" was just a fantastic blend of alternative rock, brit pop, techno and dance music. This song pretty much sums up the Gorillaz in one sweep in terms of what their music sounds like. It's still the bands only #1 hit in the UK so far, and you could argue it was universally accepted by all music fans of all diversions. It's a true quality track that lives up as arguably the bands most popular time in their career so far.
#36. "Supermassive Black Hole" - Muse Released: 19/6/06 Album: Black Holes and Revelations Appearances: Twilight (movie), Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (video game), FIFA 07 (video game), Supernatural (TV series), Doctor Who (TV series) Chart Positions: UK - #4, US - #6 (in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Denmark - #7 It's quite hard to choose one single by Muse as their most important, their most groundbreaking, their most popular, their best song in the decade. My punt is "Supermassive Black Hole". It's arguably their first worldwide hit, with it hitting the Danish, Finnish, European, Irish, Italian Top 20's. When "Time is Running Out" came out, America still paid very little attention to the band. When "Uprising" came out they were all over Muse. Yet this was the middle ground, this was when America started to notice this cool British band, yet Europe embraced them. It's still their biggest hit in this country. It's also, in a biased way, one of their coolest songs, the riff is fricking awesome. So that's my justification for it being the highest Muse entry in this listing.
#35. "The Pretender" - Foo Fighters Released: 21/8/07 Album: Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace Accolades: #47 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2007, Nominated for Best Rock Song at the Grammy Awards, Nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards, #5 in Triple J's Hottest 100 Songs Appearances: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (video game), Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (video game), Rock Band (video game), Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (video game), Californication (TV series), CSI: Miami (TV series) Chart Positions: UK - #8, US - #37 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Norway - #3 This was a huge song. For a hard rock track it got very high in many charts and it topped the US Alternative Songs Chart for longer than any other song in the year 2007. It was #1 for 18 weeks. Not only is it a big song chart wise but look at those appearances and accolades, despite it not winning, I don't think any song so far on this chart has been nominated for two Grammy awards. The Foo's always pull big about of the bag and have done so now consistently for a good 12 years, they're just this big and fantastic band that has universal praise. I just have an infinite amount of respect for this band and this song was easily one of their biggest of the decade, there is one more song by the band that I think is more important however... stay tuned to see it and how high it gets on this chart!
#34. "Use Somebody" - Kings of Leon Released: 8/12/08 Album: Only by the Night Accolades: Winner of Record of the Year Award at the Grammy's, Winner of Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal Award at the Grammy's, Winner of Best Rock Song Award at the Grammy's, Nominated for Song of the Year Award at the Grammy's Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #4 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Belgium - #1 What was the bigger song? "Use Somebody"? Or "Sex on Fire"? They were both HUGE hits, and both are responsible for the Kings of Leon being on top of the rock world right now. For me, "Sex on Fire" is the bigger song, you'll find out how much bigger in this listing later on. "Use Somebody" was the song that finally brought the band's breakthrough in America. It was a beautiful ballad, and was proof that the band's sound was changing, for better or for worse. It was definitely a more mainstream sound that's for sure. But the transition of Kings of Leon, including their beards, is a fascinating story, it's one of the most interesting stories of the decade artist wise. I remember, and I'm sure many of you do too, a time when Kings of Leon were just random Americans singing country and garage rock hybrid songs on MTV2. Now look at them, you couldn't have imagined this song being any wheren near as big as it was six or seven years ago. It's fascinating, and kudos to them for that.
#33. "Oh My God" - Kaiser Chiefs / Mark Ronson Released: 17/5/04 / 16/7/07 Album: Employment / Version Appearances: Driver: Parallel Lines (video game) Chart Positions: UK - #6, Best Elsewhere - Ireland - #27 / UK - #8, Best Elsewhere - Ireland - #21 / I was debating whether or not to put this original song in, the very well received Mark Ronson cover version. So I thought I'd put both as one entry as they're both important and successful. Also, it's the same song. Now I'm effectively cheating as this is the fourth and final Kaiser's song on the list, when I said in the beginning that I'd be setting a cap of three songs per artist. But if we're getting THAT picky, consider it Mark Ronson's entry. "Oh My God" is still arguably the Kaiser's most important song, it's got one of the greatest, catchiest and simplest choruses in the decade. The song, while being released the second time, did very well in the charts and shows you how far the band had came. In 2004, this song got to #66, yet in its re-release it jumped 60 places. The Kaiser Chiefs, as explained in other entries, are just a great, humble band that are just so happy making music and enjoying the fame they are getting. "Oh My God" was their little baby that started it all off, and it's arguably their finest moment. The Mark Ronson cover version was great, the band also appeared in the video and it was just a really cool jazz version of the song. Mark Ronson did a great job of covering many songs, and this one is one of the bigger and more important songs. I don't think you can go through this decade of music without mentioning Mark Ronson.
#32. "Hurt" - Johnny Cash Released: 8/3/03 Album: American IV: The Man Comes Around Accolades: Winner of Single of the Year Award by the Country Music Association, #1 in Rate Your Music's Top Singles of the 2000s, #1 in UpVenue's Top 10 Best Music Covers, #60 in Triple J's Hottest 100 Songs of All Time, #15 in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Songs of the Decade, #2 in CMT's Songs of the Decade Listings: Best Videos, Top 100 Songs of the Decade Chart Positions: UK - #39, US - #33 (in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Norway - #8 No song in the world, even the original Nine Inch Nails version, gives me the goosebumps, the feeling, the emotion that this song gives me. I could probably babble on for paragraphs about how this song makes me feel, I've already talked about it twice on thie site before, on the Best Videos page, and on the Favourite 100 Songs page. It's not hard to explain why this song was important. No, the song didn't chart well, but some songs on this list have a legacy no sales records can touch. Johnny Cash, country rock 'n' roll legend, took a song from an industrial metal artist from 1994 and turned it into this heart wrenching, tear dropping, dark yet elevating masterpiece. It's hard to imagine a better way to end your long 50 year career than this way. Most rock stars (I know he's a country star but I always see him as a rock star too, he's far cooler than other people who call themselves "rock stars") die in their prime, or just after their prime. But was there a prime with Cash? Was there a sparkling moment in his career? You could argue it was the Folsom City Blues era, yet "Hurt" is arguably more prominent than any of his original songs, I think "Ring of Fire" is the only song that touches the song for popularity and "I Walk the Line" for importance. This was a man around half a century in his career. And look at the song. It's just so amazing, so real, his iconic vocal chords trembling through the guitar and piano. It's just an iconic moment in the decade, and in music history in my personal opinion, it's the hardest song to place in this list that's for sure, but I've put it here at #32.
#31. "Run" - Snow Patrol Released: 26/1/04 Album: Final Straw Appearances: The Chumscrubber (movie), Rescue Me (TV series), The Guardian (movie trailer), Doctor Who Confidential (TV series), Cold Case (TV series), Jericho (TV series), Life As We Know It (TV series), Wide Sargasso Sea (TV series), One Tree Hill (TV series), Empire Falls (TV series), Mad Dogs (TV series) Accolades: #874 in The Rock FM's The Rock 1000 Songs Chart Positions: UK - #5, US - #15 (in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Netherlands - #22 Someone like myself, who doesn't hasn't (until now) done a great deal of research on Snow Patrol, never knew that "Run" was on their third album. Third time lucky I guess, as this was a mega hit. It was also the second single off that album too, so the song's quality shines very well. More evidence is the fact that Leona Lewis chose to cover this song, and got it even more mainstream attention, so much in fact that it this original version re-entered the charts as a result four years later. Snow Patrol would later have more chart success than this track, yet when I, as someone who isn't a fan of the band, think of one song by them, this comes to the front straight away. I'm sure a lot of people feel exactly the same.
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.
/ 
