10. Rammstein - Sonne
Lazily described as "music to invade Poland to", Rammstein are...just Rammstein. Industrial dance metal in German. Incredibly over the top. This song/video was the first to get me into them. It famously made it into Kerrang's top 100 singles of all time despite never being released over here.
9. Ash - Burn Baby Burn
Sometimes you want songs that are intricate in their beauty, swooping and diving and incorporating half a dozen different genres in 7 minutes. Other times you just want something fun to jump around to. Ash fill the latter rather well.
8. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
Oh piss off, I'm not a heartless beast. I like this song.
You don't have to listen to it if you don't want to, no embedding.
7. The Streets - Dry Your Eyes
That one threw you, didn't it? This song struck a chord with me over the summer of 2004 and probably helped me man the fuck up. That, and it managed to be single of the week on BBC Radio 2.
6. The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now
Whatever you may think of Pete Doherty as a person, he co-wrote the odd great song. I think it may have been Phonogram who described this song as "you & me vs the world and each other" - it's a post pub pissed up celebration of all things fun.
5. William Shatner - Common People
Let's get one thing straight - the 15 year old original is a classic. However, sometimes a cover comes along that lends a new voice to it, and improves on it. The extra guitars on this make it the second best cover of the decade.
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
The most heartbreakingly beautiful love song I've ever heard, and then I heard the acoustic version.
3. Johnny Foreigner - Salt, Pepper and Spinderella
If you're thinking "why is a so-so indie band in the top three of the decade?" listen to this song and wait until 1:43 when the tempo really starts.
2. Johnny Cash - Hurt
If this video and song don't make you cry, you're not human.
1. Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
If I had to pick a song that would be the only one I'd listen to for the rest of my life, it would be this one.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Songs of the Decade: 20 - 11
20. Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
If this music video were a Friends episode, it would be "the one with the underwear party". The partial nudity of the video hides a surprisingly upbeat message for a band considered to be emo, and a cracking guitar solo at 1:38. Trivia: the album that this is from was originally titled Bleed American upon its release in July 2001. Any guesses why it was renamed Jimmy Eat World two months later?
19. Nathan Fillion - Everyone's a Hero
Gosh, two upbeat songs in a row! This is the show stopping, crowd rousing number from last summer's Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Made for about fourpence ha'penny, and featuring singing, Joss Whedon's writing, Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion, it was obviously going to be popular with me.
18. Jenny Lewis - See Fernando
Jenny Lewis is one of only two women I've ever been rendered completely speechless by their beauty. (Summer Glau doesn't count - she scares me into silence.) Here's the stunningly gorgeous redhead singing undoubtedly the highlight of her (hit and miss) second solo album - if you don't dance, you're inhuman.
17. Blood Red Shoes - This Is Not For You
Hah! I bet you thought they'd be higher, didn't you? Well, don't try and second guess me again. An absolutely blinding, powerful song, with a great video in which you're never too sure whether Steve and Laura-Mary are going to kill each other or fuck each other. The second best single from the album, and if the original video for Say Something Say Anything had been released, that would probably have taken top spot. As it happens, click the link below, and enjoy this.
Embedding disabled by request.
16. Amanda Palmer - Oasis
A jaunty, Beach Boys style poppy number about date rape, abortion and Britpop bands. Sure to be in the Daily Mail's top ten of the decade.
15. Garbage - Tell Me Where It Hurts
Hah! Fool you again! The lead-off single from their long awaited Greatest Hits album, it's not as good as their mid 90s heights but it's still a beautiful song. Now slightly tarnished by the fact that every time I watch this video my mind is thinking "OMG she's a Terminator save John Connor run stop Skynet!"
14. Rosie And The Goldbug - Lover
Every so often you'll hear a song by a band you've never heard of before that, as soon as it ends, makes you think "I need to hear that again". You'll end up spending an entire evening listening to it on repeat and forcing people to hear it so that they enjoy its awesomey goodness. Last December, this was that song.
13. Embrace - Ashes
I didn't put this song in here because of the cricket in 2005. While it does lead to good memories, uplifting feelings and a general happy emotion, that's not what I associate with this song. If, the moment you hear the opening bars, you think of Kristen Bell on the back of a custom bike riding along a clifftop highway towards a limo pulled in by a broken crash barrier, and a hoard of moneyed teens gaping at a floating school bus, then I'm right there with you. It's played at the end of the season two opener of Veronica Mars, probably one of the best episodes of television this decade. (Oooh, idea!)
12. Duke Spirit - Lion Rip
This is a song I usually close mix CDs with. It's an absolutely freight train of a song, thundering towards the end, building and building to an apocalyptic climax aided and abetted by some fantastic machine gun guitar work.
11. Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound
The first boy/girl duo I ever fell for. Both impossibly pretty, this video plays on the mythical sexual tension that lazy journalists invent whenever there's a girl in the band.
So with Garbage, Blood Red Shoes, Los Campesinos, Rose Elinor Dougall, Dr Horrible, Buffy all out of the way, who on earth will make up the top ten? Expect a few that'll make you go "seriously? wtf?" and a pair that'll make you go "oh, of course!" in the top ten.
If this music video were a Friends episode, it would be "the one with the underwear party". The partial nudity of the video hides a surprisingly upbeat message for a band considered to be emo, and a cracking guitar solo at 1:38. Trivia: the album that this is from was originally titled Bleed American upon its release in July 2001. Any guesses why it was renamed Jimmy Eat World two months later?
19. Nathan Fillion - Everyone's a Hero
Gosh, two upbeat songs in a row! This is the show stopping, crowd rousing number from last summer's Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Made for about fourpence ha'penny, and featuring singing, Joss Whedon's writing, Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion, it was obviously going to be popular with me.
18. Jenny Lewis - See Fernando
Jenny Lewis is one of only two women I've ever been rendered completely speechless by their beauty. (Summer Glau doesn't count - she scares me into silence.) Here's the stunningly gorgeous redhead singing undoubtedly the highlight of her (hit and miss) second solo album - if you don't dance, you're inhuman.
17. Blood Red Shoes - This Is Not For You
Hah! I bet you thought they'd be higher, didn't you? Well, don't try and second guess me again. An absolutely blinding, powerful song, with a great video in which you're never too sure whether Steve and Laura-Mary are going to kill each other or fuck each other. The second best single from the album, and if the original video for Say Something Say Anything had been released, that would probably have taken top spot. As it happens, click the link below, and enjoy this.
Embedding disabled by request.
16. Amanda Palmer - Oasis
A jaunty, Beach Boys style poppy number about date rape, abortion and Britpop bands. Sure to be in the Daily Mail's top ten of the decade.
15. Garbage - Tell Me Where It Hurts
Hah! Fool you again! The lead-off single from their long awaited Greatest Hits album, it's not as good as their mid 90s heights but it's still a beautiful song. Now slightly tarnished by the fact that every time I watch this video my mind is thinking "OMG she's a Terminator save John Connor run stop Skynet!"
14. Rosie And The Goldbug - Lover
Every so often you'll hear a song by a band you've never heard of before that, as soon as it ends, makes you think "I need to hear that again". You'll end up spending an entire evening listening to it on repeat and forcing people to hear it so that they enjoy its awesomey goodness. Last December, this was that song.
13. Embrace - Ashes
I didn't put this song in here because of the cricket in 2005. While it does lead to good memories, uplifting feelings and a general happy emotion, that's not what I associate with this song. If, the moment you hear the opening bars, you think of Kristen Bell on the back of a custom bike riding along a clifftop highway towards a limo pulled in by a broken crash barrier, and a hoard of moneyed teens gaping at a floating school bus, then I'm right there with you. It's played at the end of the season two opener of Veronica Mars, probably one of the best episodes of television this decade. (Oooh, idea!)
12. Duke Spirit - Lion Rip
This is a song I usually close mix CDs with. It's an absolutely freight train of a song, thundering towards the end, building and building to an apocalyptic climax aided and abetted by some fantastic machine gun guitar work.
11. Raveonettes - That Great Love Sound
The first boy/girl duo I ever fell for. Both impossibly pretty, this video plays on the mythical sexual tension that lazy journalists invent whenever there's a girl in the band.
So with Garbage, Blood Red Shoes, Los Campesinos, Rose Elinor Dougall, Dr Horrible, Buffy all out of the way, who on earth will make up the top ten? Expect a few that'll make you go "seriously? wtf?" and a pair that'll make you go "oh, of course!" in the top ten.
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