Top 100 Songs of the Millennium (2000-2019) - #10-2
Posted: May 19th, 2020, 5:31 pm
#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.
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.