Continuing into the 2000’s! The songs of the year. What was on my mind? What was on my heart? What was on ‘repeat’? What song was really, really, persistent (or annoying!)?
Find out!
(Click song title for YouTube video).
2000:
“Graduation (Friends Forever)” – Vitamin C
Boy did this song get old fast. And boy did we love it.
“Anthem For The Year 2000” – Silverchair
Post-Grunge Alternate Rock-Voice Number 3 at its best. Plus, they’re Australian. Who knew?
2001:
“Yellow” – Cold Play
The explanation of the song that Chris Martin has since offered has been underwhelming (“why yellow?”), but at the time this was just a magical song for me.
“Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)” – Train
Yes, I seriously did love this song. I was the master of the 5 hour phone conversation, believe it or not. (At least I thought so).
2002:
“The Scientist” – Coldplay
It’s a song about a guy who fantasizes about building a time machine so he can get his girl back. Genius. Unfortunately, in life, there’s no do-overs.
“The Middle” – Jimmy Eat World
This was just a fantastic song. This song helped me get through college. Well…not really. But I really liked it!
2003:
“California” – Phantom Planet
This is a pretty loaded one. So this came out just about the time I was getting away to California to get my head straight after a girlfriend decided we “needed to go on break” (dumped), and just as I’m about to leave, she calls that off. So then I go. And then I come back. And then a few months later The Guitar Guy At The Party plays this song at this party we’re at. She later marries that guy. (Good for them, by the way! This re-telling might be unfair, but this is my blog). But this is a pretty good song, anyway.
“Such Great Heights” – The Postal Service
This song was the 2000’s. At the very least, the early 2000’s. Thanks, Clayton, for the introduction. “This is the next big thing”, and he was right. Everyone wanted that sound afterward. I absolutely, positively, love this song just as much as I did when I heard it in a dorm room in 2003. It’s a fantastic road trip song.
2004:
“Why Can’t I” – Liz Phair
Boy did this song get played a bunch.
The Reason – Hoobastank
First of all, what a dumb band name. Second of all – who among us – WHO, I ask, didn’t have 10 friends who put the lyrics to this song on their AIM away message or profile? That said, not a bad song. You couldn’t go through 2004 without hearing this a bunch of times.
2005:
“IRS” – Guns N’ Roses
The song wouldn’t actually be released officially for 3 more years, but a low-quality demo tape (from the 1999 version of the song) leaked to the Internet and I listened to it day and night for weeks. This might be the only new song I remember from that year, actually. There’s several from 2003 I got introduced to (Dashboard, etc), though.
2006:
“Better” – Guns N’ Roses
Another Internet leak from an album that wouldn’t be released until 2008! When this song leaked it was the first evidence any of us had that Axl could still actually sing. This song would be on repeat for another year. I’m not kidding. I stayed up 36 hours to make it to a concert and get back to work the next day partially because of this song.
“Snails” – The Format
I loved this cute little song.
2007:
I’m going to break format here, and reverse…because I caught up on a very important album from 2003:
“Your Front Porch” – The Format
Found it by accident. Fell in love with the song. Shout out to Veronica Mars.
“Give It Up” – The Format
This is just amazing. Captures an intense and specific moment in time. This is the sound of my mid-20’s.
2008:
“Love Story” – Taylor Swift
Even I was not immune to her songwriting wiles.
“Scraped (Lies They Tell)” – Guns N’ Roses
So after 8 years of waiting, Chinese Democracy is finally released. But I’d heard most of the songs before – either in leaks or in concert (or both). This song was totally new and I loved it. This is what all the fuss was about, for better or worse.
2009:
“Party in the U.S.A.”- Miley Cyrus
This was totally my jam. Gotta turn it up.
“At Least I’m Not As Sad As I Used To Be” – fun.
The best thing was – I *wasn’t* as sad as I used to be when this song came out! It was life imitating therapeutic art! “Well, at least I’m not as sad as I *used* to be…”
It’s comforting.
2010:
“Fireflies” – Owl City
Yeash. Everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. It just made me want to listen to The Postal Service.
“Weary Kind” – Ryan Bingham
Theme to Crazy Heart, a fantastic movie. Well, actually, it was the same movie as “The Wrestler”, except with country music. But that’s okay because I loved both movies.
2011:
Devil Knows You’re Dead – Delta Spirit
The series finale song of Friday Night Lights. Oh my god. “FEELS”.
“Lucky Now” – Ryan Adams
Song used in “This Is 40”. “FEELS”.
“Rivers And Roads” – The Head and the Heart
What’s with it an TV shows and movies and good songs? “FEELS”.
2012:
“Miss Atomic Bomb” – The Killers
The best 80’s song I’ve ever heard.
“Carry On” – fun.
Someone said to me, out of the blue, that the “guitar solo reminded them of me”, and I thought that was pretty awesome.
2013:
“Cups” – Anna Kendrick
“Wait, what, she was in Twilight? Oh…not her? Ok!” Really digging this song. I’m not sure I get it, though. But I dig it.
What other songs from 2013 should I get to know? Let me know! Open to any music recommendations! I love new music.
Well, that’s it! 30 years of songs that came, went, stayed… even though we wanted them to leave ! What you didn’t find on here are the, uh, “classics” I discovered in my teenage years – not the albums I dug up from the 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s, and not songs I later came back to and loved. This was all about the music of the times as I lived them. Those other bands, albums, and songs that became the theme of my brooding adolescence and melancholy? The time I listened to Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” over and over again? The time I listened to “Dark Side Of The Moon” while reading Ecclesiastes? My favorite songs to put on during a 2 week cross-country roadtrip? The songs that make you drive 15-mph over the speed-limit automatically? The best album to listen to in the fall? The first 10 MP3s I ever downloaded?
That’s a whole other bag of worms. And tricks.
