"Best of the Decade"

[Taco-Calamitous]

So at the beginning of the year, I was reflecting on the fact that 9 years had passed since the 90's, and how I really loved my music from then, and how all of it seemed so much better than the music of today. I could distinctly think of favorites from each genre. But the 2000's really couldn't have been all that bad, could they? I could make a CD of my favorites of the decade without stretching it, couldn't I? I put the challenge forth to a bunch of my friends, as well. The rules were that each song had to be originally released in the 2000's; no remixes or covers of older songs.

Here is my list of my favorites of the decade... kind of. I kind of took liberties in deciding which were my "favorites," for the sake of flow. Although each of these songs hold fond memories for me.

1. Relient K - Pressing On This is a given. Reminds me of High School-the whole album does-and also of simpler times. I remember after a program on 9-11, they played this song, and it seemed very hopeful.
2. Beat Crusaders - Tonight, Tonight, Tonight Heh. Such a happy song. Reminds me of Bleach, and Christmas of 2006. I love the engrish in this song.
3. Five Iron Frenzy - Solidarity I was really tempted to put "On Distant Shores" as my last song, but it turns into "Every New Day" at the end. Also, this song really holds more memories for me; driving to California, the W's still touring (for a year) etc.
4. Strong Bad - The System Is Down A fun song that reminds me of my group of friends, and of Homestar Runner, of course. Right after High school, I discovered this at some all night event.
5. The Epoxies - This Day First song I ever heard by them. Reminds me of the Christmas of '05. It was this or "God Loves a Liar" by A Wilhelm Scream.
6. The Get Up Kids - Ten Minutes My favorite Get Up Kids song. Not sure what it reminds me of, but I like it a lot.
7. All - Better Than That Reminds me of walking around at LBCC or riding the city bus. I feel it has a really good message to it.
8. London Oratory School Scholars - The White Tree From Return of the King; the part where the beacons are being lit, and the camera is zooming through the mountains. Love that scene, love this song.
9. Erasure - Sucker for Love Erasure has never disappointed me. Every album I've ever bought by them, I've at least liked. This song-and album-proves they haven't lost it, and they've been around since the mid 80's.
10. LCD Soundsystem - Watch the Tapes My brother introduced me to them last year; put them on my mp3 player. I came across them randomly, and thought "Who is this? They're weird, and a lot of fun!" It was either this or "North American Scum."
11. The Ataris - Song for a Mixed Tape This song is why I gained an interest in The Descendents (the excerpt from "Silly Girl" at the beginning.) A fun song of its own accord, too.
12. Less Than Jake - Gainesville Rock City Probably the definitive Less Than Jake song of the 2000's for me, although I wanted to put something from their last album on. Someone else already took "Look What Happened," too-which I thought they would.
13. They Might Be Giants - Man, It's So Loud In Here This is the last They Might Be Giants album I've heard that I really loved the album from start to finish. It was this or Cyclops Rock. Reminds me of an annoying time during High school though, actually.
14. Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer - Moon and Mars A more recent discovery, although they somehow feel nostalgic to me. Remind me of this year's Wafflepalouza (a yearly camping trip with my friends.)
15. Something Corporate - Hurricane Another song that reminds me of college.
16. The Vandals - My Neck, My Back Almost put "Be A Good Robot," although this song gets stuck in my head more. Represents my sudden interest in more straight up punk (although they're more pop punk than punk, now...)
17. Reggie and the Full Effect - Apocalypse WOW! "LET'S GET IT ON!!!" Love that opening. Reminds me of last Summer, walking way out to the house I was house-sitting in North Albany (and asking my mom to come pick me up afterwards, ha.)
18. Coheed and Cambria - A Favor House Atlantic My favorite Coheed song, and the first I heard by them. I thought it was a girl singing at first... my brother put this song on his best of '04 CD.
19. Brave Saint Saturn - Recall I remember listening to this late at night back in '03, and this song touching me in a really moving-and at once haunting-fashion. It was when I was towards the end of Chrono Cross.
20. Nakagawa Shouko - Happily Ever After From Gurren Lagann. Love that show! This song kicks ass. I don't know what they're saying, though...
21. Sifl and Olly - United States of Whatever Yes. This is on my best of. It's astoundingly nostalgic to me-reminds me of driving around down in the Bay Area with my bro. It was also hilarious when I first heard it. I found it again a couple years later, when I was using KaZaA, and I virus'd up my parents' computer, so it reminds me of that, too (heh...)
22. Jimmy Eat World - Authority Song There was actually an acoustic version of this song that I liked better, and reminds me of my first time to Yellowstone. But this version is really good, too.
23. The Thermals - No Culture Icons Hardly Art, Hardly Starving. Reminds me of a drawing I did in Yellowstone; my fox character holding up a sign that reads "This is art," because I would put pictures on my door, and people kept on asking me to put "more art" up on it. My bro put it on a CD for me, proving that he could, indeed, still "rock out."
24. Foo Fighters - All My Life This song was absolutely awesome. The rest of the album.... well... the first four songs were good. The rest were forgetable. This song, however, reminds me of Spiderman and the release of the Dreamcast.

And there you go. I extend the challenge to all of you to make a Best of the Decade list as well. (And don't give me that crap about "The decade isn't over yet," or "the decade actually started in the year 2001, because there was no year 0." I've already heard it, and I don't want to hear it again ) Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[Dodie16]

Okay, so my picks are definately more mainstream than the ones that are listed in the OP, but I figured that I would go ahead and take a shot at this. So without further ado, here we go (in no specific order, except the order in which I remembered them. ):

One More Time (Daft Punk- Released 2000)- I looked this one up, and it did indeed get released this decade! It really doesn't seem like it's been ten years since I was first introduced to Daft Punk, but this song was the first I listened to of them. I like thier album "Discovery" a lot.

Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's- Released 2006)- Heh... Such a sappy and sweet lovey-dovey song! It's one of those songs I tend to play when I'm in a more acoustic music mood, and it's relaxing.

Unwell (Matchbox Twenty- Released 2002)- I loved the video to this song (the link doesn't show the actual video though... ), and I love the song in general. I'm a pretty big fan of Matchbox Twenty, and I was sad when they decided to go on hiatus. Not trying to be deep or anything, but I sort of see this song as pretty relatable in terms of the way I am sometimes.

Yellow (Coldplay- Released 2000/2001)- It's the song that began my love for Coldplay. Okay, I know that Coldplay is one of those bands that you either really like or really loathe, but I happen to be one of the people who like them a lot. I was tempted to put Viva La Vida on here, but I figured Yellow would be better, because it's the first for me. When I listen to it, I imagine myself just looking up at a clear night sky with someone I love (or could be in love with). Sappy? Yes. But it's what goes on in my head.

Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own (U2- Released 2005) Because sometimes you really can't... Anyway, I love this song, and when I first heard it, it really touched me emotionally. I love U2 (again, you either do or you don't...), and I'm glad that they're still making great music. This track is my favorite from thier "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" album. It's a really powerful song, and I just love it a lot.

Somewhere Only We Know (Keane- Released 2004) Powerful piano rock at it's finest, imo. Again, it's a love song (heh...I'm sappy like that...), but it's a really nice one. It sort of reminds me of a "nostalgic love", one that you wish would have went further than it did or something, but for some reason or another it didn't, but it's still lovely to think about.

Mr. Brightside (The Killers- Released 2004) Okay, usually when I pick a song from a band, I go for the first one I heard from them. In this case, it would have been "Somebody Told Me". HOWEVER! This song is ten times better than that one, because it really speaks to a side of me that I try to never show. That would be my jealous side... The lyrics say everything that I feel when those feelings pop up, which is really almost theraputic, because it reminds me that people do indeed have this side to them, and I'm not alone. Oh, and Eric Roberts is in the video.

Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol- Released 2006) The musical buildup in this song is really fantastic, imo. AGAIN! Another sappy love song. I must be a sucker for those... It's just a really sweet-sounding song, imo.

Sympathy (Goo Goo Dolls- Released 2002) Acoustic guitar and Johnny Rzeznik's smexy singing (and general smexiness). What a combination!

White Flag (Dido- Released 2003) I love Dido's voice, and I think that this is a good song that really shows off what she can do. Also, the lyrics are lovely.

You're Beautiful (James Blunt- Released 2005) *GROAN* Okay, I admit it. When this song first came out, I really liked it. But then it got played into the ground by my local radio stations, who I swear played it like every third song. However, I still think it's nice and I am putting it on my list.

Shattered (Turn the Car Around) (O.A.R.- Released 2008) What's up with all the sappy songs in my list? It's because I like them, that's why! This song to me is telling a story like being attached to something that you know is wrong or hurting you, but for some reason you keep coming back to it. My favorite verse in the song? "All that I feel is the realness I'm faking/Taking my time, but it's time that I'm wasting". Don't really know why, but that verse just really speaks to me.

Best Of You (Foo Fighters- Released 2005) I think this is a really rockin' song, but the message is sort of on the sad side as well... I feel it's about someone taking advantage of either you or the things that you do for them, and finally another person comes along is all like "Hey! I think you're being taken advantage of by that person." Sometimes, it really does take another person's point of view to open your eyes to what is really going on.

Honorable Mention:

Everything You Want (Vertical Horizon- Released 1999) Okay, it was released in 1999, but it was huge back in 2000, which should count, imo. I love, love, love, love, love, love, LOVE Vertical Horizon, and this is one of thier best.

Well, there you have it. My picks for top songs of the decade. Funny. I thought I had more, but reviewing the list, there really isn't that many.... I may edit this with more, if I think of any...

[Josh_R]

This took quiet a bit of thinking, had to think back a couple years to some very rememable song's...


Avenged Sevenfold~Bat Country: Avenged Sevenfold is one of the bands that really hit it big in the 2000's. Seeing as how this is one of their more rememerable song's, and it was the first video released, this definitely is on my list.

Foo Fighter's~Best of You: This was a huge song for the Foo Fighter's, before this song hit the radio's and MTV only die hard Grohl fans loved this music. This is an incredible song.

Paramore~Misery Business: One of the great bands of the late 2000's, this was their first big song, and it happened to be pretty good.

H.I.M.~Wings of a Butterfly: This song was on their Dark Light album, it pretty much made H.I.M. in the 2000's. Great song on an incredible album. Also this song sticks out to me because where I live it is still played often on the radio stations.

Plain White Tee's~Hey There Delilah: Gotta say I wasn't a huge fan of this song, but everyone I know loved it. I mean I enjoyed it when it was first released, but it was overplayed very quickly.

Lil Wayne~Lollipop: Not a big Lil Wayne fan but this was his decade, he just kept coming non-stop with hit songs. Therefore I will give this one to him.

I will edit this later by adding more songs, and putting release date's. Have to get offline now...

[Pete]

I can't even remember everything from the past decade. I'm just doing a quick rundown of my itunes, and I'll flesh the post out later. I've gotta leave for work in 20.

EDIT: Okay, as promised, I'll deliver an explanation, and where possible, links!

Foo Fighters- Best of You I love this song because it really hits home. It's about all of those situations in life where you're smart enough to know that whatever you're dealing with is bad for you, but you want things to work out for whatever reason.

The Bravery- An Honest Mistake The music in this song is very catchy and the story, as I interpret it, is about a guy who is friends with a girl, maybe misinterprets her and tries to make something more of it. I've gotta say it's happened in the past.

Clutch- The Mob Goes Wild This song is one of my all-time favorites. It's in your face rock and it's all about the war in Iraq, mass panic and how we're kind of dumb about things in general. It's very sarcastic about American culture. I love it.

Coldplay- Warning Sign I love the kind of lackadaisical and reminiscent sounds that the guitars bring about. It's an unfortunate song though, about someone who ultimately blows their chance with someone great, and then totally regrets it. Very poetic and not emo.

Drive-by Truckers- Angels and Fuselage This song blows my mind everytime I listen to it. Southern rock at it's finest; it's about the emotions and imagery of Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane going down. The studio version almost makes you feel like you're there. It's also an amazing song to listen to when things are looking bleak. Depressing, but it's something that just fits.

Gorillaz- 19-2000 (Soulchild remix) This song is so freakin upbeat and happy. I really can't not put it on here, since it makes me smile everytime I listen to it.

Jimmy Eat World- The Middle I really enjoy everything about this song. It's got that instantly memorable intro, and the lyrics are very upbeat and catchy. Cause I mean, everything will be alright eventually, and we should all just be ourselves. Plus, this song kicked off the whole "be happy with who you are" thing before Weezer essentially wrote two albums about it.


Johnny Cash- Hurt- This song is incredibly powerful. Yes I know it's a cover, but it's so much more poignant than the original. You can hear the pain in Cash's voice, and it just strikes a chord with me.

MGMT- Kids This is a pretty poppy and trippy song, which is what I really dig about it. On top of that, the lyrics are very symbolic and kind of warn that we really don't think things through. What might seem like a good idea right now, might have some serious repercussions later on.

Modest Mouse- Ocean Breaths Salty This is another amazing song. It has that kind of happy melody, and is chock full of amazing lyrics and poetry ("You tell me what you saw, and I'll tell you what you missed.")

Pearl Jam- Inside Job This song is all about coming to terms with yourself, and breaking free from whatever is wrong. It's all about just being yourself regardless of whatever is happening, good or bad. The music is incredibly powerful, but the lyrics make it really stand out.

A Perfect Circle- The Noose This is a darker, more brooding song, with a pretty slow but intense buildup. I think it's about someone who has done terrible things in the past, has recovered/ paid some kind of penance, and is now facing the victims.

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Can't Stop This song completely reminds me of that carefree summer type of feeling. It's all about just getting caught up in the moment and doing whatever you feel like, on a whim.

Silversun Pickups- Lazy Eye Another song with an incredible melody and something about it makes me feel like I'm kind of being taken on a trip. The lyrics say otherwise, but they're also so damn true. It's about that feeling of extreme anticipation when you know that person you like is gonna show up to something, and you're just kind of going nuts internally waiting to see them so you can say hey.

Snow Patrol- Open Your Eyes The buildup of the music is what really makes this song for me. It really brings to mind a guy trying desperately to take a girl away, like out of a shitty situation or a bad relationship, and he's trying so damn hard to get her to see that things can be better that it's taking a toll out on him. The explosion of sound at the end is so highly anticipated and built up, and it's awesome to hear each time.

U2- Beautiful Day This song is all about the beauty in the world, and finding beauty within the smallest things. It's something we should all really do more often, especially today. Hell, it's free, and it can make your day!

Velvet Revolver- Fall to Pieces My last song about struggling with things! It's about Scott Weiland's struggles with heroin, but it can really be interpreted for any tough time someone's having.

Von Bondies- C'mon C'mon This song is so damn catchy. It's such a beautiful facade though of how happy and upbeat everything can be, when it's really about a super abusive relationship.

And no, I'm not emo or depressed!