Coping strategies, or; music from the noughties, ten and a half years on.
So, we’re all struggling to work out ways of coping with the Lockdown, the collapse thereof, of the economy and to a lesser extent, of society. To deal with this, I decided to look through Pitchfork’s Top 200 tracks of the 2000s (2000-2009), vaguely rate and comment on those I know (75 of them), and how I think the time since has affected views of them.
You know, the obvious reaction. (Okay, I got a bit distracted the other night, and things got a bit out of hand.)
191 - Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma It’s weird to remember a time when the phrase “to give a fuck about a Oxford Comma” wasn’t a natural one that passed through my head at least every couple of months. Vampire Weekend,’s output of the decade since has been very important to me - their 2019 album Father of the Bridge is probably the recent music I’ve listened to most, and they’ve been somewhat foundational as a soundtrack fo my late 20s and early 30s. Stupidly dense lyrics, laidback to precisely the right degree of melancholic is just my aesthetic, and this track’s video, by icon Richard Ayoade is certainly inventive. Probably would have been higher in retrospect. I struggle to give this less than 4.5/5 stars
190 - Punjabi MCs - Mundian to Bach Ke (Beware of the Boys) ft Jay-Z Excellent, something to break the format of this as the second entry - This is in as a technicality, really. I hadn’t heard it previously. (The 1997 original I’d heard, and would rate it, were it not for the fact it came out in 1997 and is therefore outwit the scope of this project. (Yes Jonny. “Project”. Sure.) n/a/5 stars
181 - Morrissey - First of the Gang to Die Ah I’ve never really been into the Smiths - a deep love developed over the last decade for “There is a Light That Never Goes Out”, a phrase which I can’t find unhaunting, aside - but liked this song largely due to a really great live version that circulated on blogs circa ’05, which I hard before the studio version and Is pretty clearly better, by virtue of just being a bit more up tempo, with swing. The riff intro’s great. But, well, Morrissey, in the last decade… he went from fiercely leftwing to saying he nearly voted UKIP in 2013, to complaining UKIP rigged their leadership election against someone who was too anti-Islam for UKIP to.his basically flat out NF position of saying “Everyone ultimately prefers their own race” last year. I mean “And he stole from the rich and the poor and the not very rich and the very poor” is an excellent lyric, but not “forget how alt-right he’s slipped” excellent. So it’s harder to say this get more than 2.5/5 stars
180 - Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl Putting the video of this with all the fetishisation of Japanese culture was probably not conducive to improving the score. The hook’s great, but listening to it in full, putting aside questions of problematisation, just a bit slower pace than I’d like. But “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” remains great. Not exactly my style anyway, let’s say 2/5 stars.
177 - Eminem - The Real Slim Shady This probably requires me to actually have a solidified opinion on Eminem, doesn’t it? Undoubtedly skilled. This song … makes me think that 2000 is a very long time ago - it namechecks Fred Durst, brings back a lot of memories of sitting on buses to school. Probably not his best. Too pop to be as dark as he works best, too dark to be as pop as it wants to be. 2.5/5 Stars
174 - Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing! Perfection? Disclaimer: I’ve been to see them live about a dozen times in the last decade. And, although it’s probably not my favourite of theirs, it’s what, with a recommendation from Kieron Gillen, made me fall in love with them.. They generally play this near the end and the moment when the bass drum comes in on the intro is almost invariably the best moment of the gig The riff’s perfect. As an expression of nerdy joy, and of freedom through music, it’s hard to beat. It was unlikely anything could’ve stopped me giving it 5/5 stars.
173 - M.O.P. - Ante Up As hip-hop songs that pump you up coming out in a formative-for-me 2000 go, it certainly is one. Exeuberent. 2/5 Stars.
165 - Jimmy Eat World - The Middle This is what sixteen teenage angst sounds like, and I’m pretty sure I’m not just saying it because it was out and pretty ever-present when I was at that age. I mean, I wasn’t a huge fan at the time, but I think a chunk of that was some contrarianism. (From me? Never!) But uplifting response to teen angst. Is the encouragement overoptimistic? Absolutely. But it knows that And it’s the sort of lies of optimism you often need to hear. 3.5/5 stars.
163 - Girl Talk - Smash Your Head I’ve been on a Girl Talk kick the last couple of weeks. (My writing this ultimately stems from reading up on a key part of another of his mash-ups, actually.) It emerges that a non-stop high octane mash-up of everything from a decade ago is helpful for current formless times. You should definitely spend a while listening to some Girl Talk, if you get a chance. But this isn’t his best work: not only is it not from his best album, it’s not even from his best album released at the time this list came out. This is in no way his best work. But the Biggie/Elton John section is great. 2.5/5 stars
158 - Art Brut - Formed A Band Yes, they really did. Look at them! Enthusiastic nerdy indie icons that they are. 3/5 stars
156 - Pipettes - Pull Shapes Hey, did anyone ever tell you that music is magic? But to avoid this whole list being as Kieron Gillen-centric as it could be, let’s note that this sixties throwback is beautifully constructed, unashamedly manufacturing to dance to with sublime strings. The breakdown and the handclaps bring this up to 3.5/5 Stars
150 -Junior Senior - Move Your Feet I don’t know if you know this, people, but pop music is great. This is an excellent piece of supporting evidence for that thesis. 3/5 Stars
149 - Dan Deacon - The Crystal Cat Electronic music equally perfect to dance or work to. It would be only be slightly unfair to say that this is what Fatboy Slim wishes he could be. Also: the album this is from is called Spiderman of the Rings, a title which could only be improved by correct punctuation. 3.5/5 stars
145 - Broken Social Scene - Cause = Time Generally I’ve only been including songs I know I know.:I had to play this to remind me of what it was. But I do know it, and I know I knowBroken Social Scene seems like a very odd concept from 2020. But 2003’s You Forgot It in People is an indy monolith of an album, impressive enough in its range and experimentalism to be hard to dislike. Cause =Time isn’t standout to me, if unquestionably enjoyable. 2/5 stars
144 - Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends You Will Never Be Alone Again! Euphoric electronic house. 3.5/5 stars
141 - Britney Spears - Toxic I really hate the bit in the first series of the revived Doctor Who when this is played thousands of years in earth’s future. Not her best, but probably her first real great work as an adult, with impeccable hook. If it annoyed me a bit less it would probably get more than 2.5/5 stars.
139 - Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster So good the Olympics used it as their motto. Accomplishes a lot with very repetitive lyrics, even by the standards of the genre. I’m sure I’ll return to, Daft Punk are .. important, in ways it’s hard to explain. Speaking of which … 3.5/5 stars.
135 - The Strokes - The Modern Age I’m not saying that this defined guitars for the next decade. If only because it’s unquestionably true. Maybe the “Sweet Jane” of the noughties? They had better songs, but few have had more influential. 3/5 Stars.
131 - Destiny’s Child - Say My Name Remember when Beyonce was one member of a group? This song’s obviously great, but I haven’t though about it for probably over a decade, and that’s something I feel reasonably comfortable with. 2.5/5 stars
129 - Andrew WK - Party Hard As unsubtle as it is energetic as it is clear. It does what it likes and it likes what it does. 2.5/5 stars.
128 - Mountain Goats - No Children. I first heard this a couple of weeks ago after Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer were compared to it, which means that in rating how things have aged for me, it gets n/a/5 stars
123 - Kanye West - Jesus Walks In which Kanye West, in his third single is generous enough to decide to use his fame to promote the little-known figure of Jesus. Great po-faced production which doesn’t fail to live up to his not unexcessive ambitions. 2.5/5 Stars
121 - Johnny Boy - You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve Someone I’m trying to avoid mentioning too much on this list’s calls this his song of the decade. It’s a piece which can hold up to that. This exists as something separate, different and distinct from its contemporaries, semi-ethereal, unlike others, almost like a Spector-esque Abba in its realisation of haunting female vocals accomplishing its vision. 4/5 Stars
118 - Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I’m Ready to be Heartbroken If Belle and Sebastian were better, were a bit more bombastic, and wanted to pay tribute to a motown legend, they wish they could sound this good. 3.5/5 stars.
116 - White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground Oh, it’s Jack White. And while it’s decent, this isn’t a standout song to me. 2/5 stars
114 - !!! - Me and Giuli ani Down by the Schoolyard (A True Story) I don’t think I’ve heard this. *checks* no, I don’t think I have. But it’s worth including as a mention, if only because otherwise I don’t get to mention that !!! are just great. And point out that “!!! - Me and Giuli ani Down by the Schoolyard (A True Story)” is peak … something of title and artist. N/a/5 stars
113 - Kelis - Milkshake La La lala Laa. This song is Important, in ways that maybe aren’t immediately obvious. Like, it’s just singing about a milkshake? So why is it still next to possible for me to get out of my head, all of these years later? It really does bring all the boys to … well, you know the rest. 4.5/5 stars.
110 - Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up Look Sharp He was just eighteen years old. Entering my mid-thirties, his deservedly self-assured confidence is even more remarkable. Bay in da Corner’s Mercury Prize was entirely deserved, and though not its best song, this still gets an easy 3/5 stars.
105 -Grinderman - No Pussy Blues Oh,Nick Cave. More funny and heartfelt than a song about not being able to get laid has any right to be. Even if it really is about youth and aging. Ultimately, this portrait of the artist as a dirty old man gets 3.5/5 stars
104 - Eminem - Lose Yourself See, when he puts aside self-promotion, focuses more internally and gets to his core, he’s so much better. Eminem’s strength in expressing vulnerability (aside from being the start to a sentence I’m surprised to type) captures a hungry feeling of ending to perform, of only being able to do so because you need to in a way that probably only one other song of his gets close to. 3/5 stars
99 - MGMT - Time to Pretend Sometimes I remember that I struggle to accept 2008 is in the past. The semi-despairing hope and acceptance underpinning this mediation of fame, just … works. Half the time I try to recall this, I think of Kids, which has a better opener. But listening to it it’s unquestionably their stronger work. 4/5 stars
91 - Justice - D.A.N.C.E. One of the few acts to clearly attempt to be successor to/follower of Daft Punk. Not their best (DVNO) but still a clear 2.5/5 stars
89 - The Postal Service - Such Great Heights A song so good an act (Owl City) has made a career of trying to copy it. Even if the concept of a song about leaving a message on an answering machine seems old, the synth pop it ushered in really isn’t. But, honestly, beyond legacy, it’s just such a killer beat. The sort of track that all this time later, I just can’t conceive of ever wanting to skip. 5/5 stars
83 - Bassment Jaxx - Where’s Ur Head At You wouldn’t think repetitton of “Where’s Ur Head At” could be so effortlessly relaxing and freeing. But it is. And the sense of freedom of these goals kicking off as I flew to Bilbao in 2011 is one of the more transcendental memories I have. 4/5 stars
78 - Freelance Hellraiser - A Stroke of Genius Or, if you prefer, “Genie in a Bottle” vs the Strokes “Hard to Explain”. Uequivocably greater than the sum of its (excellent) parts. I was harsh on Britney - who’s unfortunate in this list due to best working coming out in ’98-9 and ’12-3 - and, great though she is, she never produced something as perfect or witty as Genie in a Bottle, which I was admittedly just the right age for, which is elevated here by the Stroke’s relentless pace which launched so many indie bands. (I mean, Alex Turner opening a song with “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes”, while witty, wasn’t unexaggerated.) 3.5/5 stars
75 - Aaliyah - Try Again Going through the list, I almost skipped this. It’s something I’ve heard a lot of time, if barely listened to. But the hook’s certainly excellent. One of Timbaland’s first massive worldwide hits, (I think?) if not as good as his production on some of the decade’s very very finest. 2.5/5 stars
72 - The Killers - Mr Brightside I mean. Technically there was a time before I’d heard this song. Intelletually, I know it to be true. (In my first year uni, everybody had this album and Franz Ferdinand’s debut.) It’s stood the test of time. It’s managed to seemingly be ageless, utterly transcending notions of being of its time to be ageless - I’m not normally one to claim chart positions that important, but spending 226 weeks, more than any other song, on the Uk top 100 means something. In 2005, it seems about as good as Somebody Told Me. That seems laughable now. In 2017, the line on twitter “Now he’s making a list and he’s checking it twice/ and he’s gonna find out if you’re naughty or nice now they’re going to bed and my stomach is sick and it’s all in my head”, a joke that wouldn’t work with other songs. Not bad for something that was “only” a kiss. 3.5/5 stars
69 - The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies) I don’t think any song on this list since You! Me! Dancing!’s been as personally important to me. The old line about Orson Welles is his career went backwards: it began by making the greatest film ever, and ended making terrible ads. The Arcade Fire’s first album’s great, nothing they’ve done’ been quite close, and this, the first song I heard of theirs, remains the best. This anthem to breaking free is a favourite song of a me who isn’t really around any more. But it’s still very important, and it’s still an absolute banger. 4.5/5 Stars
68 -Dr Dre - Forgot about Dre (ft Eminem) Hmm. I resent this being one place above Rebellion (Lies). I might have done anything, but this, while Iv’e got plenty of time for the isn’t something I find as particularly unexceptional. 1.5/5 Stars
65 - Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River Timbaland’s production, while excellent, doesn’t seem as effective as when working with female vocalists. Of its time, certainly a good performance, but for some reason, despite’s formal experimentation, never really interested me. 1.5/5 stars
64 - Interpol - Obstacle 1 Wow, I’m really upset about Rebellion? Maybe it’s just that I’m an indie kid. So something with a guitar sound this great should appeal to me, right? And, yeah, this is certainly excellently put together, but, ultimately, like the above, really isn’t something that feels exceptional to me. 1.5/5 stars
62 - The Shins - New Slang I suppose, technically this song has an existence separate from Garden State, and from Zach Braff. 2/5 stars
58 - The White Strips - Fell in Love with a Girl This is the Jack White I’m looking for. A perfect little song at just the right level of manic that does everything it wants to, and everything you could want it to, in less than two minutes. 4.5/5 stars
57 - TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me These guitars are certainly howling. Thumping baseline, which is, how best to put it, a much more potent counterpart to the grinder man song above. 4/5 Stars
56 - Dizzee Rascal - I Luv U I spoke earlier about how absurd it is that Dizzee’s first album was the work of an eighteen year old. That he did this perfect little hard-hitting stark electronica, snares and snarls aged sixteen is mind-blowing. I can’t imagine he’ll ever best this angry, wounded examination. But then again few could. Sickeningly good. 5/5 stars.
55 - Outkast - Ms Jackson Another song I’ve never quite settled on an opinion of. I mean Outkast are great, the pain of this song, convoluted relationships, probably isn’t why I associated this with being on the radio backed with teenage loneliness. 3/5 stars
54 - Missy Elliot - Work It Missy’s so good. Not her finest, and honestly, maybe a little slow for my tastes. But still an unmitigated classic. I mean, how many songs on this list have inspired both an xkcd strip and a terrible cryptographic method? 2.5/5 stars
53 - The Strokes - Someday Third appearance on this list was one I was going to write off as less than the others. But then you come to the parts where Casablancas just delivers kilier lines with such laid back venom and charm that and it’s pretty clear this is their second best ever - honestly shocked that their preceding, better single doesn’t make an appearance on the list 4/5 stars
50 - Bassment Jaxx - Romeo Another perfect dance track. I would question its placing above Wheres Ur Head At were it not for the sublime “I miss the warmth in the morning/ And the laughter when I can't stop yawning/But the tears on the pillow have dried my dear/ Gona let it all go 'cuz I have no fear” 4/5 Stars
49 - Sufjan Stevens - Chicago The sort of indie song which just throws so much at it ,piling on horns, strings, choral sections it could come across as too. But instead it achieves what it’s going for, getting a great melody across and doing all it sets out to do. 3/5 stars
46 - Robyn - With Every Heartbeat [ft Kleerup] During the general election campaign last year, one of the questions which kept going around and around my head was “What is the single best song of the 2010s?” (Coping strategies are great.) Her “Dancing On My Own” was one of the top contenders. The similarities are strong, but the key refrain here’s maybe that touch more heartbreaking, which is what you’re needing for something great to dance to. [Is this right? - Ed] 4/5 Stars
44 - Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out Scotland’s really got some great musicians, doesn’t it? The perfection of the fake-out as this strong’s structure totally changes around the minute mark is perfectly done, in a way I’ve never seen questioned, yet alone attempted to approach an emulation. 4/5 Stars.
43 - UGK - Int’l Player’s Anthem (I Choose You) [ft Outkast] Oh, hey, I mentioned I’m writing this because I was looking up a key part of a Girl Talk Mash-up; the centre of this is split into bookends for his Feed The Animals. Which led to me hearing this original for the first time this week, which led to, well, we should come to that, but in the mean time to be consistent I should give this n/a stars.
42 - Battles - Atlas At their ATP in 2011, a friend described this as “you know, the song that’s basically called ‘Battles’”. It’s a little perfect piece of math-rock that contains so much of what that incarnation of the band was about. I prefer “Ice Cream” for sheer exuberance. But this isn’t about exuberance. It’s about perfection. 3.5/5 stars
37 - Kylie - Can’t Get You Out of My Head Ah, good. I was worried earlier that the US-centricness of the publication might have missed this. It’s perfect. It’s a song I could not fault anyone for labelling the single best of the 2000s. 4.5/5 stars
30 - The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army And another song that seems an inseparable part of the furniture. Potentially slightly tainted by its association with a cult of personality, (even if the line they used over the refrains lot of fun to say in very different tones, a la the varying degrees and types of irony used with the phrase “thanks Obama” over his presidency). But it’s such a great refrain. Genuinely, possible has become more a standard than any other piece from the decade. Which means that it’s only the fact that my personal relationship to it is little above ambivalence that it gets no more than 3.5/5 stars
28 - Antony and the Johnsons - Hope There’s Someone Oddly, this song from early 2005 could easily be the most 2010s thing on the list, in terms of “melancholic voice and piano” which … I don’t remember there being that much of in the 2000s, compared to the next decade’s Adeles’, Capaldis, etc. And then there’s that breakdown. The delicacy and vulnerability in her voice is great 3/5 stars
25 - Rihanna - Umbrella [ft Jay-Z] Pop hit. Very good. Yes, yes. For some reason doesn’t hugely click with me. 2/5 stars
24 - Radiohead - Everything in Its Right Place The most Radiohead song? Abandoning guitars, dreamy ,back and forth confusion and ominous glitchy electronica. Maybe technically excellent, if possibly less successful at communicating an unconfused emotion, which is not really its point. 2/5 stars
23 - Daft Punk - Digital Love Huh. This one I think’s not one that’s stood the test of time to me. Or maybe it just was always one of theirs that I never took to as much as everyone else. Listening to it back, the riff is just great. 2.5/5 stars
22 - LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great Beneath the clicks and whirs, a carefully constructed song about loss and going on, that’s perfect to dance to. Euphorically elegiac. 4/5 stars
21 - Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone She sings about freedom good. 2/5 stars
19 - R. Kelly - Ignition (Remix) Oh. Before MeToo. Yeah. A classic which has become entirely tarnished by the fact that it’s become impossible to ignore the terrible stuff behind the creator. (Which we all knew about at the time but …. That sentence doesn’t finish.) I spent the last couple of all-nighters before submitting my PhD thesis watching videos of Joseph Gordon Lovett performing covers. I really like his version of this. Tainted stars
14 - 99 Problems - Jay-Z Ah, yes. Classic song, killer beats, has been used by law teachers to discuss how accurately it describes rights. 2.5/5 Stars
13 - LCD Soundsystem - Losing My Edge This hipper than-thou-anthem heralded James Murphy’s major arrival. While it’s ranked higher here, their early breakthrough doesn’t, with the benefit of hindsight, match their later works. Lyrics like “I’m losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent/ and they're actually really, really nice.” really do stand up. 3/5 stars
12 - OutKast - Hey Ya I started looking at these because I thought “There’s a really good case to be made that “Hey Ya” is easily the best song of 2000s”. Talking of songs that seem now immortal, ageless, and perfect … well, there are only four entries ranked higher on this list which I can consider arguments of being on a par with this song as being vaguely plausible. (2, 5, 7 and 8.) 5/5 stars.
11 - Gnarls Barkley - Crazy Speaking of benefits of hindsight… this is certainly a very good song. But with the benefit of time, I don’t think it’s anywhere near as good as, for instance, Hey Ya, 99 Problems, or Can’t Get You Out of My Head. 2.5/5 Stars
10 - Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) Yearning of memories of our parents’ bedrooms and our friends bedrooms as we forget all the names we used to know, building orchestrally … which is obviously perfect given I’m reminiscing about the decade of my youth. 3/5 Stars
8 - Radiohead - Idioteque Semi-harmonised melodic, existentialist chaos, still one of my go to songs for times when more’s happening that it’s easy to process. And that’s before getting into the majesty of the drums. I said that Seven Nation Army’s the song on this list that’s most become a standard, inescapable, ever present? I wish we lived in a world where there were ever-present chants to this… 4.5/5 stars
7 - Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On The bhangra beats sound with Missy’s polyphonic voice sound like nothing else. It was special from the moment it came out and has aged well. Words can’t do it justice 4/5
5 - Daft Punk - One More Time Perhaps the best way to talk about how great a song is is that I genuinely spent 57 minutes on a twitter poll question of this song vs Common People. Lockdown’s done strange things to us. This is the song my head plays when I need a bit more endurance. 4/5 stars
4 - Beyonce - Crazy in Love [Ft Jay-Z] The opening of this is just great. Not something I particularly choose to listen to, but listening to it now I’m impressed at just how solid it is. 3/5 Stars
3 - MIA - Paper Planes (Diplo Remix) I mean, obviously this is great, if not seeming as incredible as it might have at t the time. Also, how much of it just comes from he Clash beat? Something, but it definitely adds to it. Very much of its time - which isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. 2.5/5 stars
2 - LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends Building discordance around a piano riff explore the cage that success, or some approximation thereof, can make for you, this manages to be a perfectly melancholic danceable song about ageing and careers. “You spend the first five years trying to get with the plan and the next five years trying to be with your friends again,” indeed. And as someone who’s spent lots of days in the middle of France wondering where my friends are, and forgot what I meant when I read what I said, I love it. 4.5/5 stars
1 - OutKast - BoB For a song released a few months into 2000, with chorus “bombs over Baghdad” months before Bush lost the 2000 election, it’s remarkable how much this, in all its polyrhythmic maximalism, still sounds like the future. 3.5/5 stars