Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

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Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

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#10



CHIEN

The White Stripes. Seven Nation Army (2003)

There are rock songs, and there are rock songs. Seven Nation Army is a song, the first time I heard it, I knew I would love seconds into it, and I knew I would love it forever. There’s a reason that song has been everywhere, heard in every stadium, turned into anthems in each town of Europe. Yes, it’s been overplayed, but that song is just near perfect, so that’s understandable. I’m not the first one to list it here, so maybe you won’t listen to it again. Or maybe just a bit of that bass intro. But once you listen to that bass, there’s no way to turn it down.





GEEZER

The Airborne Toxic Event, Sometime Around Midnight (2009)

This has already been chosen twice, a complete rarity from my list. I also chose it ten years ago, at number 13. Here's what I said then:

"This song just devastates me. I have cried multiple times listening to this song. Its so damn heartbreaking. The Airborne Toxic Event burst onto the scene with an outstanding first album, but nothing even comes close to matching their big single from the album. Mikel Jollett's vocals just cut me to ribbons, as you can feel the pain in his voice, this is real. Anyone that has had any type of heartbreak in their life should be able to relate to this song. And this was actually another song that took me a while before I paid close attention to the lyrics and the story, as I was so initially blown away with the beauty of it musically. This is the newest song on my list, but I guarantee that it won't be leaving the list any time soon. This paragraph is getting longer and longer, and I still am not even close to saying all that I can say about this song. But for the rest, I'll just let the music speak for itself."

And guess what, I was right, as here it is, in my top 10. I don't listen to Airborne Toxic Event much anymore, their last couple albums weren't as good as their first couple, and I haven't listened to the one they just released yet. However, I still absolutely adore this breathtaking achievement. I also respect the hell out of Mikel Jollett, who is constantly tearing apart the current political abomination of this country on twitter.





JOHNERLE

Steve Earle, Burnin' It Down (2013)

One of the many things I admire about Steve Earle is his audacity. This song could have gotten him into so much trouble, but he felt it needed to be said so he said it, consequences be damned. Wal-Mart was and probably still is the #1 music retailer in the US, especially in the rural areas where fans of his early country albums live, so Wal-Mart would have been totally justified in refusing to stock any of his albums after this. And imagine if some over-zealous fan had actually fire-bombed a Wal-Mart and told the police "Steve Earle made me do it." Wal-Mart would have lawyered up and made that Judas Priest suicide case look like a walk in the park. The album version has a full band but this live solo version makes it easier to focus on the lyrics and his boy band good looks. Don't be fooled by the acoustic guitar. This is punk as fuck.

Also: F The CC, Oxycontin Blues





LEESTU

Violent Soho, Viceroy (2016)

I think these guys grew up listening to their parents record collection which must have featured a lot of Nirvana and others of that era and genre. The whole album this song comes from, WACO is the best modern grunge/punk hybrid of the last decade.





NSPAN

Eisley, Marvelous Things (2005)

The first Eisley song I ever heard. As much as I like the rest of their catalogue, I feel like I've been chasing the dragon. This debut track always remained my favorite.





RON B



SCREEN203

Route 94 feat. Jess Glynne, My Love (2013)

The killer hook here is a combination of her voice and those synths - you can feel them vibrate. The lyrics are obviously simplistic, even for pop, but it kind of adds to the charm.





SHRYKE

Erasure, Don’t Say You Love Me (2005)

I’ve heard all the complaints about Erasure – too poppy, too happy, too mainstream. I’ve featured them several times in this countdown, a testament to the staying power they’ve had for three and a half decades. This song is my all-time favorite of theirs – musically simple, lyrically even more so, but with a catchy beat and a memorable chorus that I never seem to tire of despite listening to it hundreds of time. Say what you will, Andy Bell and Vince Clarke have carved out their own niche in the music biz, and I’m glad to have been along for the ride for most of it.





SIX

The Rapture, Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks (2002)

And on we get to the final 10 tracks. Any of these could be my favourite, so this is all dependent on the day. Anyway, there has been plenty The Rapture songs across this list, but this is one of their earliest. I first discovered it on the life-changing Rough Trade Shops Post-Punk collection, and it has remained a favourite. Like House of Jealous Lovers (also produced and virtually made by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy), it takes the rawness of punk but the bass and drums and funk and mashes into a glorious, energetic track. Hearing this played live, in a tiny tent at a music festival at 1 in the afternoon while everyone else was at some duller act, is one of my most treasured musical memories.





SURFER

Radiohead, Nude (2007)

There has been quite a bit of Radiohead featured on the countdown thus far, but not so much from my favourite album of theirs this millennium. In Rainbows was a huge return to form for me, as the band finally felt liberated from the need to try something different or weird just for the sake of it and instead embrace melody and real beauty in their compositions. And while the record is filled with many of these real moments of beauty, from All I Need to Jigsaw Falling Into Pieces, Nude is the song I fell in love with. It is a song which had existed in various forms for over a decade, though I felt this final, studio realised version is its best, where the dub replaces the earlier organ driven sound with immaculate production. I have felt it a perfect companion piece to Street Spirit at least in sound, showing the transition of the band over the years while still maintaining that core of something ethereal, and it is a song I often just get lost in.





TRANSFORMERS

Mastodon, The Czar (2009)

This without question the most ambitious and rewarding of the pure prog epics Mastodon has concocted over the course of their career. With its atmospheric verses, booming mid-section and huge, hazy closing fireworks display, this nearly 11-minute saga plays out like a space epic that is truly breathtaking to behold.

Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by numbersix »

Top 10 here we go

Chien: A very uncharacteristically heavy song from you ;) . Still surprised this has made so few appearances on the list. A great song!
Geez: I forgot this appeared before, which probably says most of what I think of it. It's not bad, and I certainly remember hearing it, but it doesn't move the dial either way. Like eating lettuce.
John: I would have thought songs about towns and mom-n-pop stores suffering from big business would be a staple of folk and country music. Regardless this sounded pleasant.
Leetsu: Very heavily reliant on 90s sound, but it didn't quite do anything particularly surprising or different.
NSpan: Never heard of them. Another act with a 90s sound, although it didn't really appeal to me.
Screen: Feels very much like something that belongs in the clubs of Ibiza. Where I am not welcome.
Shryke: Well, you very much justify your love of the band and the song, so I've nothing to add to that!
Surf: I sorta ragged on it before, but I'll justify my thoughts. This is a decent song, but having heard the demo I'm more in favour of a stripped down version. In the context of radiohead's music, this song was startling because it felt more raw and lyrically emotional than any of their other songs. So it suited just an acoustic guitar and nothing else. Every other version, including this one, just detracts from that rawness.
Tranny: As your metal picks go, this isn't bad. It has a more classic, 70s/80s metal feel to it.

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Leestu »

The I Love It

The White Stripes, Seven Nation Army - finally we share a song on our lists

The Airborne Toxic Event, Sometime Around Midnight - moves me every time

The Great

The Rapture, Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks - I need to hear more of The Rapture...loved the vocals while also being caught up in the rhythm

The Good

Radiohead, Nude - interesting choice, one of the lesser tracks on the album for me personally, I would have chosen Weird Fishes/Arpeggi for sure as the best song on the album, very closely followed by Jigsaw Falling Into Place, and after that Videotape, and probably three others over this. Still a very good album though and great to see another song from it

Mastodon, The Czar - first listen...not bad, didn't even feel like a long song, which is a good sign, but as prog metal goes it's no Tool

Eisley, Marvelous Things - vocally a strong song

The Okay

Erasure, Don’t Say You Love Me - first listen...there was some decent synth pop things happening in the song that kept it interesting, and of course the vocals are good

Steve Earle, Burnin' It Down - first listen...sure the lyrics make a point but it seems a bit standard for the genre musically

The Meh

Route 94 feat. Jess Glynne, My Love - first listen...I've heard many better club bangers of this ilk

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by JohnErle »

#10

Seven Nation Army – Stairway To Heaven, Stir It Up, Seven Nation Army. All massively overplayed classics incapable of bringing me any joy at this point.

Sometime Around Midnight – Classic. Nice to see a song overlap with you. I'm sure we'll have more once you explore Steve Earle and Jason Isbell. ;)

Violent Soho – Another band that feels like they're stuck in a timewarp. I had my fill of 90s rock in the 90s.

Eisley – A little too goth to be effective pop, and a little too pop to be effective goth. It's pleasant enough but didn't really grab me.

My Love – If you'd told me this was Moby I would have believed you. Easy enough to listen to, and more enjoyable than most of your pop picks, but still not for me.

Erasure – They definitely fall into the safe, pleasant side of synth-pop. Like the previous track, very easy to listen to, but missing that x-factor that draws me in. FWIW, Erasure are yet another band who were inspired by and later collaborated with Sparks. 90's Sparks like “When Do I Get To Sing My Way?” might be right up your alley.

Rapture – Definitely not as shrill as that screamy Rapture song I hated, so pretty good. ADDED.

Nude – There's Radiohead I love and Radiohead I hate, and this track falls somewhere in between. Still a bit too ponderous for me.

Mastodon – This is a million times more interesting that your go-to picks, with no shouty demons or cliched machine gun kick drums to be found. Unfortunately it's also extremely compressed so it ends up sounding flat to me.

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Shrykespeare »

#9



CHIEN

Benjamin Biolay, Ton Héritage (2009)

Biolay, the one and only, once again. “Your legacy”, is the title of the song. It’s a message for his daughter, about life, the universe, and everything else. A parent letting his child know what may be ahead of her, and by doing so, gives away about his own fears, obsessions, passions. It starts off as a simple piano ballad, but the more the song advances, the more it opens its musical wings, so gracefully, adding sounds, instruments, with a touching delicacy.

There are many, many lyrics in this song, so I found a site with a complete translation that is not just google translate but rather good translations, if you want to listen to the song and read what it’s about in details : http://lyricstranslate.com/fr/ton-herit ... egacy.html





GEEZER

Jimmy Eat World, Hear You Me (2001)

The sad song train continues. I did warn you. This song is so damn personal to me. I've cried countless tears listening to it. I'm sure its something everyone can relate to in their own way. You all know how I do. I think that's a big reason why it ranks so much higher for me today than it did even ten years ago. Fun story, when I road tripped on a 3 hour drive with the drummer from Off With Their Heads to go see an Against Me! show in New Haven, CT, we were listening to this album and he said about this song "I'd pay $100 to see this band play this song and just walk off the stage." Well I've been lucky enough to see them play it. I actually recorded the performance on my phone so I'd always have it. It was a special,special thing for me.





JOHNERLE

The Tragically Hip, My Music At Work (2000)

"Everything is bleak, it's the middle of the night
You're all alone and the dummies might be right"

I think we've all been there.

Also: Putting Down, In A World Possessed By The Human Mind





LEESTU

Silversun Pickups, Lazy Eye (2007)

Love the vocals, how they start with a calm beauty but explode with passion later in the song, and the ‘90s sounding music is exactly my jam.





NSPAN

XTC, I'm the Man Who Murdered Love (2000)

I know some people dismiss the last couple of XTC albums as disposable... but I think their last gasp makes for some essential listening.





RON B

Daft Punk, Robot Rock (2005)





SCREEN203

Adele, Rolling In The Deep (2011)

Is it really surprising this is on my list? Considering my all-time favorite song is You Oughta Know, female-led tales of revenge (I guess you could arguably use the old adage "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", these artists add their own twist to a often-misogynistic stereotype) are a favorite of mine. Love the blues influence!





SHRYKE

Korn, Here To Stay (2002)

There’s nothing like pounding bass rhythms to bang your head to, is there? There can’t be many songs that pound out the bass harder than this one, my favorite “angry rock” (as my wife calls it) song of the past twenty years. No further explanation needed, though I will say that Jonathan Davis has the most badass mic-stand I’ve ever seen.





SIX

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Maps (2003)

I’m glad most of you respond well to this song, as it’s such a beautiful track. Taken in context, it’s the only slow moment on a brilliantly relentless album. But in itself it’s a powerful love song at a time where feelings were ignored for swagger. Written in a matter of minutes, it’s simple, it’s beautiful, and in the video when Karen O sheds a single tear, it’s actually real as she was waiting for her boyfriend (the singer of Liars) to arrive and he never did.





SURFER

Queens Of The Stone Age, Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret (2000)

My favourite QOTSA song from my favourite record of theirs. This is the song that formed my introduction to the band and I still never tire of it. After a solid first record, Josh Homme recruited former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan and screaming golem Nick Oliveri for his new band, and what resulted was an intoxicating and fearless new record in Rated R. Yet this was not just stoner rock, as they were initially described, as there was a determined precision to crafting melody within the album, as most expertly demonstrated here on The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret, in which Homme uses a driving riff and his full vocal range to deliver a fantastic pop song. The band may have gotten bigger after this record, but they were never better.





TRANSFORMERS

Danny Brown, Ain't It Funny (2016)

Danny Brown has solidified himself as my favorite rapper ever over the past few years. Fearlessly original, experimental tracks like "Ain't It Funny" are a huge reason why I hold him in such high regard. This is a raw, chaotic look at addiction through the lens of a man who knows he has a serious substance abuse problem, but feels that people aren't taking his condition seriously and seeking treatment is a sign of weakness. It's definitely not a pleasant or easy listen, but it's a remarkably potent track that never fails to get under my skin.

Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by silversurfer19 »

Round 10 thoughts

Chien, The White Stripes - When it was first released, I liked the song but felt it lacked the rawness of their earlier work. I still enjoy it quite a lot, it has a great video and the riff is undeniably catchy. And btw, although it's being picky, but Jack never played bass on the track, it was actually just an electric guitar played an octave lower to create the 'bass' sound.

Geezer, Airborne Toxic Event - Surprised this is quite so popular, but it is a good song, and definitely a Geezer song, meant in the best of respects.

JohnErle, Steve Earle - It may well be a punk song in narrative, but musically it was so dull and uninspired I drifted after the first minute.

Leestu, Violent Soho - There is something I like about these guys having listened to them a few times recently, must be how they remind me of bands I loved a couple of decades ago, and so while I probably won't delve any deeper, it was cool to rock out to while it was on.

Nspan, Eisley - Another one that just kind of drifted past me, unfortunately. Wasn't a fan of the vocals, either.

Ron, TBA

SCREEN, Route 94 - A song a million miles away from my own tastes. A club song I know well but it's not for me.

Shryke, Erasure - While Erasure are hardly a band I would ever called myself a fan of, the songs I am familiar with are generally at least a little fun. Thus kind of wasn't, unfortunately, so it just kind of drifted past me.

Six, The Rapture - A great song you introduced to me a number of years ago. Definitely lays the foundations for where the band head on Echoes. And I love when you discover a band at a festival tent, I have done that a few times.

Tranny, Mastodon - Definitely got a few hints of Sabbath, a little Metallica, and it was definitely more listenable than most of your other picks.

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Leestu »

#9 playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1x0ho ... Vq6LFSJhbw

Missing: The Tragically Hip & XTC

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Geezer »

I needed to share this in hopes that it makes you all laugh as hard as it did me.

https://thehardtimes.net/news/arcade-fi ... MLDNLoQvF4
Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. - The Dude

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Shrykespeare »

#10


Geezer - Sometime Around Midnight - Unlike SNA, I have NOT heard this song too many times. It's a wonderful song, and I totally support its frequency on people's lists. 8/10

Surfer - Nude - Really liked this, more than most of the other Radiohead I've heard displayed on these lists. It reminds me of MY favorite RH song, Fake Plastic Trees, in several ways. I hear some Paranoid Android in there too. 7.5/10

Tranny - The Czar - This was quite good. Reminded me of several sweeping epics by any number of heavy metal acts in the last 30 years. Good choice. 7/10

Screen - My Love - Perfectly serviceable pop song. Good beat, good synths. Beyond that, didn't really stand out. 6.5/10

Leestu - Viceroy - Nirvana is right. Heard a lot of Lithium in this song. 6.5/10

NSpan - Marvelous Things - Very nice. Quite liked it. 6.5/10

Chien - Seven Nation Army - I see the appeal, but after so meny listenings, the bloom is off the rose. I'll leave it at that. 6/10

Six - Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks - Liked the energy, but I didn't care for the vocals. 6/10

JohnErle - Burnin' It Down - Nothing wrong with the song, music-wise, but it's not for me. 5.5/10
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Shrykespeare »

Geezer wrote:
May 20th, 2020, 7:23 pm
I needed to share this in hopes that it makes you all laugh as hard as it did me.

https://thehardtimes.net/news/arcade-fi ... MLDNLoQvF4
Okay, that shit was FUNNY.
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Shrykespeare »

FYI - I have added in Ron B's #9. He will send me #10 and #11 as soon as he can.
Happy 60th birthday Jet Li! (4/26/23)

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by numbersix »

#9

Chien: Sorry, dude, but I actually feel like I've heard this spleen-y song before a million times, the way the solemn piano is accompanied by shy strings. Could be the closing song of any French melodrama.
Geez: The best I can say about this is that it's the least annoying Jimmy Eat World song I've heard so far.
John: Music was okay. I kinda dig his unconventional voice.
Leetsu: John's hilarious imaginary conversation about these guys has just ruined it for me :D
NSpan: Was this featured before? It's okay. If latter day XTC makes your Top 10 then surely their initial era must now dominate your all time Top 10.
Ron B: When you've got a headache this song is offensively repetitive. On a normal day it's catchy.
Screen: Adele seems like a nice person. She's got a good voice but she just uses it for bland songs. Here, she seems to want to be Amy Winehouse, and it's certainly not awful, but just not particularly memorable either.
Shryke: Maybe there's something to be said about the heaviness of the bass, but I just can't stand the rest of the song.
Surf: Really really need to get this record. I've never heard this song before and it doesn't seem as instantly catchy as the other singles, but I still love its rough sound.
Tranny: Love Danny Brown. He really embraces the insanity of his life, and often makes it funny too. I couldn't decide on a track from Atrocity Exhibition to include in my list, but the album itself is brilliantly deranged. He takes all the cliches of rap and twists them into something disgusting, revealing the nasty underbelly of that lifestyle

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by JohnErle »

#9

Benjamin Biolay – Even more French than the previous Most French Thing Ever. Not for me.

Jimmy Eat World – A little too polished and commercial for me.

Smäshing Pümpkinz– I'm not going to top my last comment, so I won't even try. I'm just glad I could ruin this perfectly enjoyable song for someone. :twisted:

XTC – Oooh! Now here's a pleasant surprise. I had it on my list, so I obviously love it, but didn't expect to see it on anyone else's list, and certainly not in someone's top 10. If I hadn't factored in a band's entire output during the millennium I would have had it much higher.

Adele – Every time I hear Adele now I flashback to that otherwise cool Havana restaurant that was ruined by the non-stop Adele on the playlist. It used to be a decent mainstream hit, but you know it's overplayed when you can't even escape it in Cuba.

Korn – There are many people in this world who are overly concerned with whether the music they listen to is considered cool or hip by tastemakers. Then there's Shryke who clearly couldn't care less, which I respect, even when I don't like his picks. I can't imagine a band less hip in 2020 than Korn. I did try to listen to it, on headphones because there is a part of me that didn't want my neighbours to know I was listening to Korn, but it didn't do anything for adult me. 15 year old me couldn't be reached for comment, but I suspect he would have been more open to this.

Maps – A classic among classics. Come on, Maps! You can de-throne Float On! Give it that ol' college try!

QOTSA – More interesting than a lot of their stuff, but their whole sound is so artificial and over-produced to me it almost never appeals.

Danny Brown – I never thought I'd long for shouty demons.

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Re: Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2

Post by Chienfantome »

#10

Geezer, The Airborne Toxic Event, Sometime Around Midnight
Didn't know that song before the countdown, but I've really grown to love it now, great choice.

John, Steve Earle, Burnin' It Down
I don't understand all the lyrics so it doesn't really work for me beyond the simple guitar ballad. It's nice, but nothing much for me.

Leestu, Violent Soho, Viceroy
A bit too unk and grungy for me, but not bad after all.

NSpan, Eisley, Marvelous Things
Never heard of them. It's cute. Nothing I'd revisit I think, but okay.

Screen, Route 94 feat. Jess Glynne, My Love
The intro really scared me. It wasn't that bad after it, but I can't see myself listening to this on my own.

Shryke, Erasure, Don’t Say You Love Me
Nothing really againts it, nothing really for it either. Neither good nor bad for me.

Six, The Rapture, Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks
I don't know what to make of al the Rapture love that has spread here. All their songs kinda sound the same to me, some a bit more fun to listen to. I can say after all I've heard that if sometimes it's listenable, it's a bit been there done that to my ears.

Surfer, Radiohead, Nude
A very nice song. I understand the love for it. It is simple but beautiful.

Tranny, Mastodon, The Czar
this is much more listenable to most of your metal picks. I wouldn't say as far as say I like it, but I understand much more the love for such a song. Still not my type music, but okay?
Fluctuat nec mergitur

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