The best 250 songs of the noughties: 10-4

250-226 | 225-201 | 200-176 | 175-151
150-126 | 125-101 | 100-76 | 75-51
50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 | 20-11
10-4 | 3-1

10. Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
And now for something completely different. For most people, Bright Eyes almost seemed to appear out of nowhere when this single was released. Little did they know that Conor Oberst was a hard-working musician for more than a decade already. Who knows whether it was something specifically about this song or whether it was just his time to bloom from indie hit to big time star. For me, this song was just everything I needed to get interested in Bright Eyes. It was all here; brilliant sentiment, lovely guitar sound, incredible bass, and the rest were just left alone. That was enough. And within, they created one of the best love songs that has ever and will ever exist. It marks the beginning of my top ten here, because I listen to it and feel my heart swell. I just threw up a little in my mouth, but it’s true.

9. System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B.
Right from the first moment I heard ‘B.Y.O.B’ I got it. It had an entirely serious point, but because of its feel-good pop chorus it would reach a wide audience. But it wasn’t just a gimmick; it was perfect. It was easy to dance to, but it was also easily the most chaotic thing that System Of A Down had done in the noughties. In using this combination, it made sure not to alienate fans while also appealing to new fans while it spread it’s message. Even if you were to forget all that though, it’s simply a furiously fast and thumping song that uses it’s heavy sections to equally balance out it’s pop sections, and does it in such a way that felt fresh and new. It brought something to the System Of A Down table, which was already pretty diverse, involving eastern European styles and tones in metal. System Of A Down may have split up now, and formed two bands who try to capture that signature sound elsewhere, but this will remain their finest hour in the spotlight, and rightly so.


8. CSS - Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above
I was never a big fan of electronic music at the start of the decade. It just didn’t really appeal to me. It’s not like I didn’t ever hear it either, with my parents playing it in its droves. Now, I don’t know when that changed, but if it hadn’t, this song wouldn’t even be in the list at all. It’s exactly the kind of thing I would ignore. Thankfully, it did change and it is here and I honestly think my life would have been a little bit worse if I hadn’t of let it in. ‘Let's Make Love And Listen To Death From Above’ is easily CSS’s best song, and it’s probably thanks to the incredible effortlessness of it’s sound. It’s the little choppy guitar which barely plays two notes; it’s the simple drum beat, it’s the little scratches that pop in and out of each ear; it’s the superbly attuned bassline; it’s the lovely swaying vocals; it’s definitely the heavy rock breakdowns; it’s everything about it. If there’s one thing that truly defines this song though, it’s the theremin. It’s eerily haunting tone sits just in the background of the track, but it defines the whole thing. Say I’m wrong. I dare ya.

7. Million Dead - Living The Dream
Million Dead meant and mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I had barely just gotten into them when they announced their intentions to split up after forthcoming tour. However, seeing them on that one incredible night at the Glasgow Barfly was enough, because I was hooked. It’s then that I realized the importance of ‘Living The Dream’. Every lyric is about brilliant music and what it means to people, and it surely has become something of a comfort to mourning Million Dead fans. It’s an incredible song, and it’s definitely Million Dead’s best. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t let them tell you themselves? “And every line that made me lose my reasoning, every chord that made my conscience ache, every sound a memory that's all I ever need, I always have a song inside my head.” This song seemed to define how I felt about the band as they split up, and still does today. If anything makes it harder to know they will never play live again, it’s those lyrics. Brilliant. Just Brilliant.

6. Reuben - Freddy Krueger
“The anthemic chorus and sing-a-long lyrics are so potent and evident that you can understand it being the biggest acclaim the band ever got, getting a huge amount of play on music channels, and even circulating the radio stations at high velocity. Of course, it’s just a song that shows Reuben are just fun at heart, a message that came through with every interview and live show they ever did.” Two years ago I ran a poll on the Reuben official forum after their ‘indefinite hiatus’ was announced, to find out just what were the definitive songs by the band. While this came in seventh, take that as no small thing, as the top ten was incredibly close and well fought. Freddy Krueger is catchy and infectious and as soon at it has you it won’t let go. From it’s big thunderous drums at the beginning, through it’s incredibly high-spirited choruses, to it’s hugely anthemic ending, it’s a winner. No wonder it sparked huge interest in the band, and built up their fanbase as quickly as you can say ‘This band is fucking great.’ Yeah, I think so too. Ahhhhh.

5. New End Original – Lukewarm
Ever since I heard this amazing little song on a Rock Sound cover CD, I was hooked on New End Original. I sent away for the CD and when it came I was graced with something completely different from what I was expecting. Where this was light, it was dark. Where this is pop, that was heavy. Where this was happy, that was sad. It was a huge thing for me at the time and it’s shaped my musical taste hugely. However, even this, the unshakably pop-punk single for this dark album had hidden darkness within. “People always tell me how happy I could be, I'm never gonna find out.” Still, the pop sensibility wins out here, with its incredible hook taking charge and leading the song like a victory march. It’s a song that means a lot to me, and it was also my first introduction to the incredible music by Jonah Matranga (Onelinedrawing, Far, Gratitude).

4. Outkast - Bombs Over Baghdad
This song is huge to me. When I had heard rap or hip-hop music in the first half of the century it had always been Eminem or Dr Dre or something like that. So when I heard this for the first time, it was huge. It was so much more important than that ilk, and to be fair, a whole lot better too. No messing around at the beginning establishing who’s on the song, the beat or what year it is; just a simple ‘Yeah’ and we get thrown in the deep end, sink or swim. It dives right out of the speakers with every beat shaking your core, and simple backing music being entirely enough to get you moving. As for the incredible vocals? The lyrics themselves aren’t even fantastic, but it’s the rythym and pure speed that they are delivered at that is the most important thing. In truth, both Big Boi and Andre only have one verse each, but that’s all they need, they pack so much into that tiny amount of time that the last three minutes of a five-minute track are almost pure experimentation. Wailing guitars and turntables fly over the top of the beat for a bit before the whole thing descends to another level entirely and the whole song gets lifted up to somewhere completely new. It’s fantastic, so no wonder it made it to number one elsewhere on these fine internets of ours.


Only the top 3 now!
Carl