Often unfairly labelled as emo (and thus bundled in with the likes of Panic At The Disco, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance et al), Arizona's Jimmy Eat World have been one of the most consistent US pop-punk bands of the Noughties, and are as much of this decade as anyone on this list. True, they had been around for nearly all of the 90s, but it was fourth album, 'Bleed American', released in July 2001, which saw the band hitting the big time.
'The Middle', the band's highest charting single (#26 in the UK, but an impressive #5 in the Billboard Hot 100 across the pond) was the song that the band wrote after being dropped by Capitol Records in 1999, following the commercial failure of their third album 'Clarity'. Once demos of 'Bleed American' started doing the rounds, Capitol even attempted to re-sign the band, but they preferred to sign with Dreamworks.
The hook is catchy, the lyrics are about as emo as Jimmy Eat World have ever been, and the video is surprisingly good. In it, a fully clothed teenager arrives at a house party, where Jimmy Eat World are performing, to discover that everyone else at the party is naked. Feeling excluded, he climbs into a cupboard to strip off and feel more a part of the crowd, only to discover a girl who is doing the same. They leave the party together, still fully clothed. The message is not very original - that individuality is valuable - but the method of delivery is clever, and peaked my interest when I first saw it.
Jimmy Eat World fact: The album 'Bleed American', and its eponymous opening track were both renamed as 'Salt Sweat Sugar' (under pressure from record label bosses who were concerned that it could be misinterpreted) after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Copies of the album with the original cover were considered highly valuable until 2008, when the band released a deluxe version of the album reverting to the original title.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
60: Muse - Knights Of Cydonia
When Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard emerged on a platform in the middle of Wembley Stadium in June 2007, walked along a gantry to the stage, and burst into the opening chords of 'Knights of Cydonia', that song's importance in the canon of Muse's discography became immediately apparent. It's their call to arms, uniting the brotherhood of Muse fans in a whirlwind of screaming vocals, feedback-heavy slide guitars, and military drum rolls.
The final track off of 'Black Holes And Revelations' reached #10 in the singles charts in December 2006. Matt Bellamy has explained that the song's meaning is to teach people to stand up for themselves and make their own destiny. This is most apparent as the song reaches its peak, with Bellamy singing "no one's gonna take me alive, the time has come to make things right, you and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive". It's fairly inspirational stuff.
The splendid album cover also links to the track. The four men pictured are the Knights, four guys who each represent a part of the apocalypse, each wearing a suit which represents an ailment of humanity. Cydonia is a region of Mars where some believe life has existed. These themes of apocalypse, the human condition and the possibility of alien life are central to the Muse ethos, and nowhere are they more strongly verbalised than in 'Knights of Cydonia', arguably their finest hour.
Friday, 25 September 2009
61: Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage
In stark contrast to the previous entry (#62 - Cypress Hill's 'Rock Superstar'), here's a song that everyone has heard before. FIRE IN THE DISCO! FIRE IN THE TACO BELL! Electric Six are a criminally underrated band - they're the band that The Darkness should have been. Everyone knows this song, and 'Gay Bar', but five albums in, and with a sixth due imminently, they now have a back catalogue worthy of a Greatest Hits compilation, surely?
62: Cypress Hill - (Rock) Superstar
Cypress Hill's only Top 20 UK single of the decade came just four months after the turn of the Millennium, so it would be no surprise if it had passed you by. If it had, that's a shame - it's their highest charting UK single of all time, and it's a cracking tune.
Musing on that old rapper's favourite subject - the trappings of the celebrity lifestyle - '(Rock) Superstar' sees B-Real, DJ Muggs and Sen Dog issuing a warning to kids that fame may not be all it's cracked up to be, despite the fast cars, women and vast amounts of cash. Indeed, hard work seems to be the theme of the song. "It's a fun job, but it's still a job" says Sen Dog, "the price of fame is high and some can't pay the way" says B-Real.
So, by Cypress Hill's standards, it clearly doesn't cover new territory lyrically, but the music marks a definite step change. In something of a gamble, Cypress Hill released a two-disc album in 2000, 'Skull & Bones'. The first disc, 'Skull' was traditional Cypress Hill rap, whilst 'Bones' was their first real foray into rock. The rock CD was short, at just 6 tracks, and '(Rock) Superstar' was actually just a re-working of '(Rap) Superstar' from the 'Skull' disc.
I found the rock version of the song to be much the stronger version, with that memorable piano intro giving way to Rage Against The Machine-style guitars. But here are both videos, you can decide for yourself.
(Embedding helpfully disabled by those nice folks at SonyBMG)
(Rock) Superstar video
(Rap) Superstar video
Musing on that old rapper's favourite subject - the trappings of the celebrity lifestyle - '(Rock) Superstar' sees B-Real, DJ Muggs and Sen Dog issuing a warning to kids that fame may not be all it's cracked up to be, despite the fast cars, women and vast amounts of cash. Indeed, hard work seems to be the theme of the song. "It's a fun job, but it's still a job" says Sen Dog, "the price of fame is high and some can't pay the way" says B-Real.
So, by Cypress Hill's standards, it clearly doesn't cover new territory lyrically, but the music marks a definite step change. In something of a gamble, Cypress Hill released a two-disc album in 2000, 'Skull & Bones'. The first disc, 'Skull' was traditional Cypress Hill rap, whilst 'Bones' was their first real foray into rock. The rock CD was short, at just 6 tracks, and '(Rock) Superstar' was actually just a re-working of '(Rap) Superstar' from the 'Skull' disc.
I found the rock version of the song to be much the stronger version, with that memorable piano intro giving way to Rage Against The Machine-style guitars. But here are both videos, you can decide for yourself.
(Embedding helpfully disabled by those nice folks at SonyBMG)
(Rock) Superstar video
(Rap) Superstar video
Thursday, 24 September 2009
63: Ash - Burn Baby Burn
If I'm listing my favourite songs of this decade, it would be totally remiss of me not to include at least one song by a band that I saw play live on at least seven occasions during said decade. 'Burn Baby Burn's as good a choice as any.... both NME and Q magazine's single of the year for 2002, and the first song ever played on that most "Noughties" of radio stations, BBC 6 Music.
If I could have been any modern rock star, I'd have chosen to be Tim Wheeler. He's always made it seem so effortless, with that "don't give a f**k" attitude, like a credible man's Liam Gallagher. Just hearing a short blast of the soaring guitar intro to 'Burn Baby Burn' conjures up images in my head of Wheeler, standing in perfect rock stance (see Jack Black teaching the kids in 'School of Rock' if you don't know what I mean), flying-V draped across his torso.
'Burn Baby Burn' was the second single off what I consider to be Ash's best album, 'Free All Angels' (controversial, moi?) It was released in 2001. I was just finishing my first year of Uni, and Ash, whose members are the same age as me, were already bona fide stars, on their third major label release. Nevertheless, I felt like I could identify with them. I saw them play at Oxford Brookes Student Union a week after the release of the album, and it was one of the most memorable gigs of my life - I came close to being ejected by security for "crowd surfing too much". For me, Ash summed up everything that was right about British indie-rock this decade, and 'Burn Baby Burn' is still one of their finest moments.
If I could have been any modern rock star, I'd have chosen to be Tim Wheeler. He's always made it seem so effortless, with that "don't give a f**k" attitude, like a credible man's Liam Gallagher. Just hearing a short blast of the soaring guitar intro to 'Burn Baby Burn' conjures up images in my head of Wheeler, standing in perfect rock stance (see Jack Black teaching the kids in 'School of Rock' if you don't know what I mean), flying-V draped across his torso.
'Burn Baby Burn' was the second single off what I consider to be Ash's best album, 'Free All Angels' (controversial, moi?) It was released in 2001. I was just finishing my first year of Uni, and Ash, whose members are the same age as me, were already bona fide stars, on their third major label release. Nevertheless, I felt like I could identify with them. I saw them play at Oxford Brookes Student Union a week after the release of the album, and it was one of the most memorable gigs of my life - I came close to being ejected by security for "crowd surfing too much". For me, Ash summed up everything that was right about British indie-rock this decade, and 'Burn Baby Burn' is still one of their finest moments.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
64: Pussycat Dolls feat. Snoop Dogg - Buttons
I've not really touched upon the subject of image yet in this countdown. But image has always been critical to the success of recording artists. A band can have fantastic songs bursting out of every bone in their bodies, but without an image that can be marketed, few record labels will be prepared to risk stumping up vast amounts of cash to sell those songs. It's as true today as it ever was.... The Beatles were all image, Kiss were turned down by Epic Records because head of A&R, Don Ellis didn't like their image, and Susan Boyle has become an overnight worldwide sensation on the basis of an image that is so unconventional that the world was automatically drawn to her story.
Some "manufactured" girl groups have had their image created for them, the Spice Girls being the prime example that springs to mind. What is so unusual about the Pussycat Dolls, therefore, is that the image pre-dates the pop career by a number of years. PCD were a burlesque troupe, with a regular Thursday night residency at LA's famous Viper Room from 1995-2001. The image was already there, but the vocal talents were clearly not, which explains why Nicole Scherzinger and Melody Thornton were cast in 2003 to lead PCD to global domination.
That image is perpetuated by their flirtatious lyrics (and by their music videos), never more so than on 'Buttons'. The lead character teases her male counterpart by encouraging him to take her clothes off. Snoop Dogg pops up as the confident male who is unable to back up his words with actions.
Scherzinger's vocals waver between sultry sexpot and power diva, whilst the other Dolls sit in the background, murmuring their approval. Which is probably for the best. If you decide to form a group comprising one or two singers and a gaggle of burlesque dancers, it makes sense to keep the dancers dancing, and leave the singing to the vocalists.
And that, my friends, is how image sells records.
Some "manufactured" girl groups have had their image created for them, the Spice Girls being the prime example that springs to mind. What is so unusual about the Pussycat Dolls, therefore, is that the image pre-dates the pop career by a number of years. PCD were a burlesque troupe, with a regular Thursday night residency at LA's famous Viper Room from 1995-2001. The image was already there, but the vocal talents were clearly not, which explains why Nicole Scherzinger and Melody Thornton were cast in 2003 to lead PCD to global domination.
That image is perpetuated by their flirtatious lyrics (and by their music videos), never more so than on 'Buttons'. The lead character teases her male counterpart by encouraging him to take her clothes off. Snoop Dogg pops up as the confident male who is unable to back up his words with actions.
Scherzinger's vocals waver between sultry sexpot and power diva, whilst the other Dolls sit in the background, murmuring their approval. Which is probably for the best. If you decide to form a group comprising one or two singers and a gaggle of burlesque dancers, it makes sense to keep the dancers dancing, and leave the singing to the vocalists.
And that, my friends, is how image sells records.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
65: Radiohead - Idioteque
"We are not scaremongering, this is really happening"
Released just 10 months after the turn of the Millennium, 'Kid A' was probably the most divisive album of the decade, and 'Idioteque' was its signature motif. Off the back of the the 8 million selling 'OK Computer', Radiohead followed up with a record which was lauded by many as groundbreaking, yet hated by those who had grown to love Radiohead for their songs.
'Idioteque' couldn't have been much further away from the likes of 'Creep' and 'Karma Police' if it had been written as a duet for tuba and mandolin. Sampling an obscure piece of computer-generated electronica from 1973, with layered drum patterns and Thom Yorke's increasingly frantic lyrics about the impending apocalypse, 'Idioteque' sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before. I'd probably pinpoint the first time I heard that song as the moment at which my music tastes finally veered away from indie/Britpop and started to move in divergent directions, towards electronic dance, rap, pop and folk.
'Idioteque' was recently named as the 8th best song of the decade by Pitchfork, who noted that it became an instant fans' favourite, "inevitably eliciting greater screams when introduced in concert than any other song". It also drew much of the ire of those fans who felt betrayed by their beloved band. But for me, its bleepy electronic core is as stunning and visionary as anything Radiohead released before or since. Make your own mind up.
Released just 10 months after the turn of the Millennium, 'Kid A' was probably the most divisive album of the decade, and 'Idioteque' was its signature motif. Off the back of the the 8 million selling 'OK Computer', Radiohead followed up with a record which was lauded by many as groundbreaking, yet hated by those who had grown to love Radiohead for their songs.
'Idioteque' couldn't have been much further away from the likes of 'Creep' and 'Karma Police' if it had been written as a duet for tuba and mandolin. Sampling an obscure piece of computer-generated electronica from 1973, with layered drum patterns and Thom Yorke's increasingly frantic lyrics about the impending apocalypse, 'Idioteque' sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before. I'd probably pinpoint the first time I heard that song as the moment at which my music tastes finally veered away from indie/Britpop and started to move in divergent directions, towards electronic dance, rap, pop and folk.
'Idioteque' was recently named as the 8th best song of the decade by Pitchfork, who noted that it became an instant fans' favourite, "inevitably eliciting greater screams when introduced in concert than any other song". It also drew much of the ire of those fans who felt betrayed by their beloved band. But for me, its bleepy electronic core is as stunning and visionary as anything Radiohead released before or since. Make your own mind up.
Monday, 21 September 2009
66: Destiny's Child - Bootylicious
Girl band lyrics can often be mystifyingly stupid - famously, All Saints indicated on 'Never Ever' that they didn't understand that "either way" suggests only two alternative options. In the case of 'Bootylicious', I've always been confused by what exactly "this" thing is that Kelly, Michelle and Beyonce were struggling to handle. I would have thought that it's the Destiny's Child threesome that us gents can't handle, but the song is unclear about who and what exactly can't be handled. And god knows what "I don't think you're ready for this jelly" means.
Moronic lyrics aside, 'Bootylicious' was a wonderful, early Noughties-sounding piece of fresh pop. That it was kept off the top of the charts by Atomic Kitten's awful cover of The Bangles was a travesty, but following on from two consecutive #1s ('Independent Woman Part 1' and 'Survivor'), it saw the group at the peak of their powers. Subsequent releases never matched up to the glitz of 'Bootylicious' and as we all know, Beyonce experienced more success after going solo than she was ever likely to achieve had DC continued down the same well-worn path. 'Survivor', the album from which this was taken, still stands up to repeat listens almost a decade on, but the signs were already there that Kelly and Michelle would need to be jettisoned - 'Bootylicious' is all about Beyonce's vocal lead. The delivery of lines such as "read my lips carefully if you like what you see, move, groove, prove you can hang with me" were delivered with an assured self-confidence of a pop star about to go stratospheric.
Still, I'm left wondering what flavour of jelly they were talking about.
Moronic lyrics aside, 'Bootylicious' was a wonderful, early Noughties-sounding piece of fresh pop. That it was kept off the top of the charts by Atomic Kitten's awful cover of The Bangles was a travesty, but following on from two consecutive #1s ('Independent Woman Part 1' and 'Survivor'), it saw the group at the peak of their powers. Subsequent releases never matched up to the glitz of 'Bootylicious' and as we all know, Beyonce experienced more success after going solo than she was ever likely to achieve had DC continued down the same well-worn path. 'Survivor', the album from which this was taken, still stands up to repeat listens almost a decade on, but the signs were already there that Kelly and Michelle would need to be jettisoned - 'Bootylicious' is all about Beyonce's vocal lead. The delivery of lines such as "read my lips carefully if you like what you see, move, groove, prove you can hang with me" were delivered with an assured self-confidence of a pop star about to go stratospheric.
Still, I'm left wondering what flavour of jelly they were talking about.
Friday, 18 September 2009
68: Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
The only song performed by cartoon characters to appear in this list, 'Feel Good Inc.' lived up to its name as one of the most feel good songs of the decade. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's virtual creations outlasted many human contemporaries with their eclectic mix of trip-hop and rock. 2D, Noodle, Murdoc and Russel can now count 15 million album sales, 8 charting singles and a Grammy, for this song ("best collaboration with pop vocals").
The collaborators in question are De La Soul, whose rapping turned 'Feel Good Inc.' from a pleasant pop song with a catchy chorus into a massive international hit that wormed its way into our brains. There's a really impressive flow to the rap, and when De La Soul order "don't stop, get it, get it" you actually pay attention.
The "ah ha ha haaaaaa" is genuinely menacing, in a kind of Count from Sesame Street style - I'm not sure if Gorillaz were hoping to scare small children, but aside from those moments, this is an upbeat song of the highest quality. It peaked at #2 in the UK charts, embarassingly kept from the top spot by Tony Christie and Peter Kay's dreadful 'Amarillo'. But Gorillaz did hit the top of the charts with the follow-up to this, 'DARE', and deservedly so.
Gorillaz are working on a third album at present... the kind of longevity that the Simon Cowell reality popstars can only dream of. Long may the animated success continue.
The collaborators in question are De La Soul, whose rapping turned 'Feel Good Inc.' from a pleasant pop song with a catchy chorus into a massive international hit that wormed its way into our brains. There's a really impressive flow to the rap, and when De La Soul order "don't stop, get it, get it" you actually pay attention.
The "ah ha ha haaaaaa" is genuinely menacing, in a kind of Count from Sesame Street style - I'm not sure if Gorillaz were hoping to scare small children, but aside from those moments, this is an upbeat song of the highest quality. It peaked at #2 in the UK charts, embarassingly kept from the top spot by Tony Christie and Peter Kay's dreadful 'Amarillo'. But Gorillaz did hit the top of the charts with the follow-up to this, 'DARE', and deservedly so.
Gorillaz are working on a third album at present... the kind of longevity that the Simon Cowell reality popstars can only dream of. Long may the animated success continue.
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