My Top 100 Favourite Music Videos: #33

#33: "All the Small Things" - Blink-182
Release Date: 2000
Director: Marcos Siega
Fun Fact: This was one of the last songs that the band worked on, for their album "Enema of the State"; they wanted a simple catchy pop-punk song for the album. It's since become arguably their biggest hit!

I have mixed feelings about putting this song so high on the list. In honesty it deserves its placement, if not maybe even higher. The reason why I have the mixed feelings is just due to the general overplayedness of this video. You turn on the rock music channels and you can barely get away from it, even 15 years later.

But when I justify why it's got to where it is on the list it's not hard. It was, and is, genuinely one of the funniest videos ever. I honestly don't think there's many better videos that accurately mock boybands as well. It's just hilarious, the "promo shots", the posing, the airplane, the white suits, the, erm, licking metal objects, dramatic toilet scenes, it's just brilliant. If I never saw this video for the next five years then saw it again, I'd laugh my ass off. That's why it's one of my favourite videos ever. If only they let it go unheard for a few years...

Here is the video for your enjoyment!

Click here to see #32 on the list or here for #34!

Noughtie: Important Songs? Important Artists? Really Johnny Mercyside?

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

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.
To view the winner, click here. 

Hey everyone, I've finally posted the entire of the Noughtie series. The whole thing is nearly six months long, some would argue it's been too long, and in a way I definitely agree, but regardless, it's been a heck of a ride and I've enjoyed it. But some people still weren't sure where I was coming from with some of my suggestions. Some found them baffling. I want to draw a line behind both the Most Important Artists list and most importantly, the Most Important Songs list. At the end of this article is a list of 50 songs that in the end didn't make the 100. I'm revealing them as alternatives, but also to show you other songs that you could argue are also important. But let's hit some of this criticism head on.

The most frequent criticism I've had for my listing is for the word 'important'. It was difficult what word to choose to describe what I was trying to pinpoint in my listings, both important artists and songs. For the artists list, I was looking for the artists that have had an incredible amount of success throughout the decade, in the singles department and the albums department. Sales did have a say as well. It was primarily success in this country, but America also plays its part and worldwide success. In the end Nickelback was my choice for #1, a band I personally really REALLY dislike but you'd be an idiot if you were ignorant to their success and popularity. I pissed off a lot of people with that decision, mainly because I found out there's a lot of people who dislike Nickelback as much as I do. They haven't gone away, they haven't dipped in popularity, they had huge hits in the US and the UK, they have sold a ridiculous amount of albums.

Consistently throughout the decade, Nickelback made hit after hit after hit. Their albums were always well received. Their songs were always on the radio, or on music television. As far as I'm concerned, frustratingly, they are the most prominent band of the decade.

My intention was to balance all the criterias that define what is a good or successful artist, this include success, hits, memorable songs, albums, critics and fans, all of it. That's what makes it important. And that's what I felt I achieved.

I want to talk about some artists that didn't make the important artist listing. Someone mentioned it being quite a disgrace that I never put The Strokes down in the important artist listing. I can see why they would think The Strokes deserve a mention, I mean they definitely have the critics love them. But how popular are they commercially? Also throughout the decade? I can't say they performed much in the second half of the decade. Chart success is important, if you like it or not. And it played a part in my listing. Another band that follows a similar vein is The Streets, although they did get a #1 hit (which featured in my 100 Important Songs). Same applies to The Libertines, and Arcade Fire. Arcade Fire, and another band that do this is Fleet Foxes, they sell albums, but they don't do well with singles. This is a broad search in terms of consistency in the decade, album sales, single sales, critical and commercial success, and their songs standing out as being memorable in the decade. Arcade Fire and Fleet Foxes are what I call album bands, they produce critically praised albums, they have a cult fan base. They don't have mainstream popularity, unfortunately Nickleback do.

There's a band that I've not drawn much attention to in this entire series that I need to address. That band is Radiohead. Now Radiohead is a difficult one for me, because while you can argue that Radiohead are an 'album band' not too dissimilar to Arcade Fire, they do sell music well. They're a band who have broke through the critic favourites yet uncommercially successful barrier, and have done so for some time. They are also a band that released material throughout the decade. But... how many of the songs released in this decade really stand out? I mean personally, one of my favourite songs by them is "2+2=5", but when did you last hear it? I can't say any Radiohead single released in this decade gets much airplay anymore, if any. "Just" gets played much more, so does "Paranoid Android" "Street Spirit" and "Just". The songs from this decade just don't stand out much, in terms of prominence unfortunately.

Some people say that Radiohead deserve immediate entry because they were the first major band to release their album for free on the internet, and this was a major event in music history, so therefore that makes the band important. It's a good point no doubt, but the Important Artists listing wasn't about a history lesson, it was about consistency throughout the decade, a mixture of consistent success in the album and singles chart as well as the impact they had. And... on the grand scale of things, Radiohead as a band didn't make much of an impact. Their decision to release their 'In Rainbows' album for free is most certainly an important moment, and it was extremely innovative, but that doesn't take away that Radiohead didn't really stand out much in this decade.

Another criticism I've had in both listings was Green Day's part. Some felt that I made Green Day seem like their success was more significant in this decade than in the last. It's a valid opinion. "Dookie" was a huge hit in the early nineties, it's no doubt. The singles off that album are still played today. But I just feel "American Idiot" had a bigger impact in all faces of music, and also, as much as it sucks, pop culture. The 'emo' fad is horrible and can't be ignored. I'm sorry I have to say it, but Green Day played their part in that. Their 'modern punk' was just that on Dookie, 'modern punk'. But this new 'emo' genre that was surfacing around this time, was all new. And that's why I think ten, twenty years down the line, "American Idiot", the song and the album, will be forever seen as the band's biggest work. I didn't say finest, I said biggest. It'll go down as their important album.

Now was I wrong to use the word 'important'? The more I think about it, the more I might be wrong to have used it. What I define before you might not be important, some say it should be just successful. But if I were to make a listing of the most successful songs and bands, then I can just pull out a load of facts and stats to do with commercial success. So that's why I refrained from using that word, and I still think it's the wrong word. I sometimes think using 'impactful' might be a better word. These bands and artists are what I believe will create a legacy for this decade that has passed. Bands like Arcade Fire won't be remembered in ten, twenty, thirty years time, neither will Sigur Ros. Unless they have a freak surprise hit, in which they will then get the fame they arguably deserve, they will fade away. One of my favourite bands from the eighties is Bauhaus. You barely hear their music now. Yet they are arguably responsible for goth rock and metal of today. But you hear of The Smiths, The Cure and Metallica don't you? I hope this makes sense a little. Is 'impactful' the right word?

Moving on to the Important Songs listing, the idea behind the 100 songs is that it is an unbiased list of songs that were popular, successful, well received and have longevity going into this decade. It's not a list of my favourite songs and there are many songs in this list that I don't like. This listing is about many things, which tally up to the important 100 songs of the decade, in my opinion. The listing is about its impact on the decade, the awards it may or may not have won, its chart success predominantly in Britain but also in America, and other countries too. But most importantly, this is a list about what songs will be played from the last decade, in the decades of the future.

It sucks to say it, some people hate the fact that popularity of a song comes into this listing, but sales are important, it’s a form of measuring stick of success. It’s not the be or end of, but if your song was successful, chances are it will be remembered for years to come.

I set a single cap of three singles per artist, so that a lot of artists would get a chance for a song on the list. I also tried to cover all ten years of the decade, instead of concentrating on the early part of the decade. Take for example, "All the Small Things" by Blink-182, is pretty much a rock classic now. You'll hear this song played many years down the line as one of the biggest and best songs from this decade. I'd put money on it. But that song is currently eleven years old. Yet higher up in the listing was "You've Got the Love" by Florence and the Machine. Am I saying that as of right now, "All the Small Things" is a less important song than "You've Got the Love"? Not necessarily. But I needed to cover all ten years, and in an unbiased fashion. The former song as I said is eleven years old, the latter is only two. There's nine years of airplay between the tracks. So keep that in mind if you look at the listing again. Tomorrow I'm going to run down a load of stats, you'll see that there's a fair bit of balance between the ten years of music, I mean some years have more songs than others, but one thing is for certain is that all ten years have been considered to some degree.

Another thing to think about. Think of what songs are always played from the eighties. Those new wave tracks? Those post punk tracks? Those electronica songs? And what of the nineties? Brit-pop? Boybands? Girlbands? Dance music? This is what this listing is about. What songs people will associate with this decade, for good or for bad, is what this listing is about. I'm predicting what songs will be played for many years from now. What songs will be played on the radio when people reminisce about the decade gone past? What songs will be available on a CD, or a more advanced music playing device, as the "Best of the Naughties"? That's what this listing is about.

Trying to put them into an order that respected all ten years of the decade AND on vibes that I feel from critics and music fans, from rock and metal (with alternative rap and dance) was a difficult task. I hope you all respect that if you look through the list again.

I'd also like to mention about the appearances and accolades of each song. I chose the order of the listing before I checked out the appearances and accolades, so I think it's only fair to explain that they didn't affect my charting, they were there to emphasise why each song is important, in different ways. It was also to bulk out each entry.

Some songs people felt should have been higher. One was "Last Nite" by The Stokes, or just Strokes songs in general. In fairness I think The Strokes deserve more praise than I gave them in the singles listing, especially "Last Nite". If I were to redo the list some time, it's something I'm open to doing in the future, I think I'd put some more emphasis on this band and that song.

Another song was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. Someone said that this song should be very high, if not #1, based on the fact that it was downloads alone that got the song to #1 in the UK charts, a first for this country. While that was a very important landmark in the decade historically, I feel there are other songs that will be played more, remembered more, and thought of more in the decades to come. But I do, once again, feel it should merit a higher place on the listing.

An artist that didn't get one song in the Top 100 was Eminem. Now there's a few reasons for that. The first was that I felt that all the big hits from Eminem's career were released in years where I felt there were big rock and metal songs also released. I prioritised rock, indie and metal over rap and dance, as these are popular genres with alternative fans. Eminem had many big hits in his career, and tomorrow when I release the "50 runner ups", you'll see what songs marginally mised out of the Top 100. You might find this to be a lame excuse, but at the time it made sense. Once again looking back on it, Eminem deserves at least one placement in this decade listing.

To emphasise, the only thing I'm trying to refrain from is dance, pop and RnB, unless it has an alternative audience (eg Eminem, The Prodigy). I'm predominantly sticking to indie, rock, punk, and metal and any subgenre around these genres.

One song that got under people's skins was "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock, which got to #15 in my list. I don't like "All Summer Long". It's a shit song. "All Summer Long" got to #1 in 6 different countries. How many other songs on this listing to to #1 in 6 different countries? Not many.

Sorry this post is in note form but there are was a lot of criticism for a lot of different things to do with these aspects of my work. And while I don't mind criticism (as long as it's constructive) I want to try and get people to understand where I'm coming from. I don't want to just concentrate on the critisicm, I've had a lot of praise for my efforts on this project and also some of the decisions I've made on route. It's not all bad, in fact it's mainly been good, the site is still quite new and this project has brought a lot of attention to my work so I'm happy about that. I just want to you all to understand this project, if you understand and still disagree then that's fine by me. The least I can do is explain where I'm coming from.

So there you go. I hope you understand the logic behind some of the decisions I made. There are songs on this list that you don't like. There are songs on this list I despise. But they were successful, they are thought of well by other people. Don't be ignorant to other people's feelings. Respect that some people like Nickelback, or other artists that are debated to be crap.


To finalise, here are the 50 'rejects' that didn't make the Top 100. Keep in mind these songs also work with the three song cap (for instance, Coldplay had three songs in the Top 100 so I didn't have any more songs by them in the listing). They're in order of what year they were released.

• Girl All the Bad Guys Want - Bowling for Soup
• The Real Slim Shady - Eminem
• One Step Closer - Linkin Park
• Original Prankster - The Offspring
• One More Time - Daft Punk
• Purple Hills - D12
• Beautiful Day - U2
• With Arms Wide Open - Creed
• It's My Life - Bon Jovi
• Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives
• Weapon of Choice - Fatboy Slim
• Buck Rodgers - Feeder
• Burn Baby Burn - Ash
• Toxicity - System of a Down
• Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
• No One Knows - The Queens of the Stone Age
• Sk8er Boi - Avril Lavigne
• Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous - Good Charlotte
• Too Bad - Nickleback
• The Hindu Times - Oasis
• Without Me - Eminem
• Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Faint - Linkin Park
• Jerk it Out - Ceasars
• Stacy's Mom - Fountains of Wayne
• mOBSCENE - Marilyn Manson
• Underdog - Kasabian
• Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand
• Vertigo - U2
• I'm Not Jesus - Apocalyptica
• The Importance of Being Idle - Oasis
• Spitfire - The Prodigy
• Lyla - Oasis
• Woman - Wolfmother
• Roses - OutKast
• Here it Goes Again - OK Go
• Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
• White and Nerdy - Weird Al Yankovic
• Hard Rock Hallelujah - Lordi
• Goodbye Mr A - The Hoosiers
• Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Baby Fratelli - The Fratellis
• A Beautiful Lie - 30 Seconds to Mars
• Saturday Superhouse - Biffy Clyro
• Granite - Pendulum
• Since U Been Gone - A Day to Remember
• No You Girls - Franz Ferdinand
• Ignorance - Paramore
• We Made You - Eminem
• Rusted From the Rain - Billy Talent

Overall this has been a great experience. I really enjoyed this project. So much in fact, I'm going to start going backwards through the years, starting with 1999. But it won't be done in the same style as this Noughtie series. You'll see it when it happens. Stay tuned.
Tomorrow I'll be back with the final FINAL piece to do with this project, and that's a load of statistics and fact to do with the Noughtie 100. I hope to see you then.

To view a full archived stats index of the songs listed, click here.

Noughtie: The 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade (Part 9)

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

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.

Noughtie: The 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade (Part 4)

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

Let's continue this daily listing, from #70 to #61!

To view part 1, click here.
To view part 2, click here.
To view part 3, click here.

#70. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" - Jet
Released: 25/8/03
Album: Get Born
Accolades: APRA's Most Performed Australian Work Overseas Award
Listings: Top 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade
Chart Positions: UK - #16, US - #29 (#3 in Alternative Songs), Best Elsewhere - Australia - #20

What happened to Jet recently? Doing a little research brings me to the conclusion that they're striving as a band in Australia but overseas, they haven't really been relevant since their first album. Which of course, this was the debut single from. This song was a sleeper hit here, where as it strived in America. Jet re-released the song and it then climbed the charts better on its rerun. But you can't deny the catchiness of the track. You can't deny the Motown beat resurrected into an indie track, wasn't a successful merge. This song was fucking awesome when it was released. It's still played sometimes now, especially in clubs as it's just a proper toe-tapper. Jet really paid homage to 60s and 70s rock 'n' roll with this track and it was brilliant. It was a good highlight in the decade.

#69. "Cochise" - Audioslave
Released: 14/10/02
Album: Audioslave
Appearances: Guitar Hero (video game), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (movie), The Simpsons (TV series), Super Bowl XLII (American football game montage), Iron Man (movie trailer)
Chart Positions: UK - #29, US - #69 (#2 in Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart)
In terms of successful supergroups of the Naughties, two bands really stand out, the first was Velvet Revolver, but Audioslave were incrimentally more successful. They were a better supergroup as well, in my opinion. "Cochise" was their debut track, and it was their biggest hit in the UK (although they had better success with other singles in the US). "Cochise" had the great innovative riff by Tom Morello, and combined with Chris Cornell's easily recognisable vocals, we had a hit on our hands. This was another hard rock great from the decade, and on a personal note, it's a great song to play on the original Guitar Hero!

#68. "Feeling This" - Blink-182
Released: 2/10/03
Album: Blink-182
Appearances: Madden NFL 2004 (video game)
Chart Positions: UK - #15, US - #102 (#2 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Australia - #20 
 
Wow, a song about sex getting high up in the charts? Who would have thought! Of course I'm being sarcastic but you can't deny that this song was catchy, and it was a successful transition for the band, who had clocked that there was a transition in music preferences (from the poppy punk songs of the early decade, to the alternative emo sound that was rising around this time) and changed their style slightly. The change was a success, as this charted very well. "I Miss You" charted higher mind, but this song has had more airplay since of the two tracks. "Feeling This" was a soft punk track that appealed to both old and new Blink audiences, and that's why it appears at #68.

#67. "Sugar, We're Going Down" - Fall Out Boy
Released: 26/8/05
Album: From Under the Cork Tree
Accolades: #4 in Blender's "The Top 100 Songs of 2005", #3 in About.com's "Top 100 Pop Songs of 2005
Appearances: Lips (video game), Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol (video game), Band Hero (video game)
Chart Positions: UK - #8, US - #8 (#1 in Hot Digital Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Ireland - #33

"Sugar, We're Goin Down", like many songs in this list, is important because it was the song that raised the profile of Fall Out Boy, for better or worse. With its poppy emo sound, many teenagers loved listening to this track and the video was inventive enough to get it good airplay. The song went up and down the American charts for many weeks, but the constant promotion and the online community raised the song and the bands status to new heights, heights that would stay at a similar level for many a year with "Dance, Dance" and "This 'aint a Scene..." and the horrifically titled "Thnks fr th Mmrs". Fall Out Boy were here to stay.

#66. "Foundations" - Kate Nash
Released: 18/6/07
Album: Made of Bricks
Accolades: #17 in Slant Magazine's Top 25 Singles to be Released in the US,
Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #16 (in the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Charts), Best Elsewhere - Canada - #7

Kate Nash's 2007 hit "Foundations" hasn't actually been topped by the Lily Allen-esque indie pop chapess. It was a surprisingly big hit in a lot of countries, more so critically than commercially, everyone loved this song when it came out. I have no idea what's happened to Nash since, she has gone off the rader. But there was no denying that this song was popular upon its release. It's light hearted and easy to relate to lyrics to romance and breaking up was definitely a factor that many people considered. It's not my cup of tea, but this listing isn't bout my cup of tea, it's about what I perceive to be the big and important songs of the decade.

#65. "King and Queens" - 30 Seconds to Mars
Released: 13/10/09
Album: This is War
Accolades: #7 on AOL's Top Alternative Songs of 2009, #1 in Virgin Radio Italia's Top Songs of 2009, Rock Sound's Top in Rock Award, Best Single of 2009 according to Rock Sound, #30 in Alternative Addiction's Top 50 Songs of 2009,
Chart Positions: UK - #28, US - #82 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Portugal - #9

After a four year break, 30 Seconds to Mars returned stronger than ever in 2009 with their hit album "This is War" and the even bigger hit single "Kings and Queens". The songs almost stadium rock approach, howling and inventive video gave it critical and commercial acclaim worldwide. It got very high in the charts in many countries, as you can see Portugal and Italy love it, but also New Zealand, Belgium, Austria, Holland, Germany and Norway found the song entering their Top 40's. If Jared Leto was under any illusions his aspirations for being a singer and an actor was failing, then looking at the success this song had should change his mind.  The video got many awards too, but I'm not going through those as it's the songs I'm reviewing here. But yeah, the video is worth checking out below if you haven't before.

#64. "We Are All Made of Stars" - Moby
Released: 29/4/02
Album: 18
Chart Positions: UK - #11, US - #13 (in the Hot Dance Club Play Charts), Best Elsewhere - Italy - #4

It's funny, this song hasn't won any major accolades, or been featured in anything worthwhile. It also wasn't that big a hit in the states. Yet this song is one of those songs that you tend to forget about, and then like a lightbulb, you remember it and feel ashamed to have forgotten about it in the first place! It's arguably Moby's finest moment, the lyrics, the video (which did win some awards), and just the general feeling about it was all good. Critics and European sales were fantastic, I still can't believe this got to #4 in Italy! It's good though, it's frustrating that it's not recognised more often, but when people play it they have that "who sung this again" moment. Good stuff.

#63. "Gay Bar" - Electric Six
Released: 2/6/03
Album: Fire
Appearances: Rock Band (video game)
Listings: Best Videos
Chart Positions: UK - #5

Gay Bar is one of those songs that will be played for a long time as it's just too simple, too silly to forget. The good thing about modern day life is the fact that we are open to homosexuality and that we frown on homophobes. So this song being played today, so openly is fantastic. And it's just taking the piss from start to finish. It's a catchy track, with a hilarious (yet slightly hard to watch video) that just plays on homosexuality. Kudos have to go to the appropriately named (at least for this song) lead singer Dick Valentine for the fact that he's more than open to doing this silly stuff for our entertainment.

#62. "Fat Lip" - Sum 41
Released: 3/7/01
Album: All Killer No Filler
Appearances: NHL 2002 (video game), American Pie 2 (movie), Guitar Hero (video game), GuitarFreaks V4 (video game), DrumMania V4 (video game), Guitar Hero 5 (video game), Smallville (TV series),
Chart Positions: UK - #8, US - #66 (#1 in the Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Austria - #21

Fat Lip has always been Sum 41's most popular song. It's also arguably their best. They mix a good level of modern punk with modern rap to make a song that sounds really cool. It's also got lyrics that really appeal to a general teenage audience, just about hanging out, having fun, getting drunk and maybe causing a bit of trouble. The video is very lively as well, it's a very popular video. My favourite part definitely has to be the "Pain for Pleasure" segment featuring fake metal band Satan's Sluts (a mock of Iron Maiden), it's really good stuff.

#61. "Time to Pretend" - MGMT
Released: 3/3/08
Album: Oracular Spectacular
Accolades: #8 in Time's Songs of 2008, #3 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2008, #4 in NME's Best Singles of 2008, #18 in Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2008, #3 in Bringgoodstuffbout's Best Songs of the 2000s, #12 in Rolling Stone's Best Songs of the 2000s, #493 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, #2 in NME's Best Songs of the 2000s
Appearances: Pacquiao-Hatton 24/7 (boxing programme), Gossip Girl (TV series), Skins (TV series), 90210 (TV series), Sex Drive (movie), How to Lose Friends and Alienative People (movie), 21 (movie), Eagle Eye (movie), Alice in Wonderland (movie trailer), Warrior (movie), Exitosos Pells (TV series), Total Football (radio show theme), Ferrero SpA (chocolate advertisement), Shaun White Snowboarding (video game), NHL 2K10 (video game), LittleBigPlanet (video game), Champions League (live football coverage)
Chart Positions: UK - #35, US - #109 (#23 in the Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Latvia - #17

Wow it's been a long time since we've had a song produce so many accolades and appearances on this listing. Just in case you didn't know I made this listing before I saw any accolades or appearances on the songs, they're there to justify why they appear on this list. But man, totals like the above do make me contemplate jigging the listing around. But sometimes I wonder why, I mean "Time to Pretend" is a decent track, I like it, and it has a unique sound to it, like many MGMT songs, but I just sometimes think... will this song be remembered in 10 years time? That's what drives this list. The songs at the top are songs I'm convinced will be. But this song might, it's unique electronic sounds are memorable, and it's used on TV very very often. It's definitely a possibility, and I think with that being said, it's going to stay at #62 for the time being. Agree or disagree? Let me know!

To view part 5, click here. 
To view part 6, click here. 
To view part 7, click here. 
To view part 8, click here.
To view part 9, click here.
To view part 10, click here.
To view the winner, click here.
To view my methods and explanations, click here. 
To view a full archived stats index of the songs listed, click here.