Where Are They Now? | Best of 2002 | Best New Artists | Best of 2003 | My Guilty Pleasures
Best of 2004 | My Favourite Riffs | Best of 2005 | Underrated Artists | Best of 2006
My Favourite Albums | Best of 2007 | Best Videos | Best of 2008 | Most Important Artists
Best of 2009 | 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade | 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade
Best of 2004 | My Favourite Riffs | Best of 2005 | Underrated Artists | Best of 2006
My Favourite Albums | Best of 2007 | Best Videos | Best of 2008 | Most Important Artists
Best of 2009 | 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade | 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade
To view part 1, click here.
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.
