The best 250 songs of the noughties: 20-11

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

20. Gogol Bordello - Start Wearing Purple
Wow. When Gogol Bordello burst onto the music scene it was hard to conceive a band like this doing as well as they have done. In the wake of The Darkness being a mock-up of power-rock bands, could Gogol Bordello have been a mock-up of eastern European folk music? Whether they are or not is all now secondary, as the power and pure incredible fun found within their music is just undeniable. This is their serenading song and the single that launched them into the public eye. Rightfully so, as it packs a punch and is just incredibly fun and silly too. However, it is one song of many impressive songs, and thankfully Gogol Bordello are much more than one-hit-wonders.

19. Down I Go - Saparmurat Niyazov
While the band have been featured in magazines like NME and Kerrang! it’s safe to say that Down I Go may be a well kept secret. With their debut album ‘This is Disastercore’ storming through historical events with a new passion and flame for the terrible, terrifying and downright odd times in the past, their second album ‘Tyrant’ moved focus over to the terrible men who created many more awful situations. While songs focusing on Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin and George W Bush Jnr showed us the terrible in the world, ‘Suparmurat Niyazov really takes the biscuit. It’s this spectacularly odd and horrid man, I think, that lends itself to being a much greater song, inspiring Down I Go to write their best music surrounding him. After all, a man that leads his country to ‘Chew on Bones,’ ‘Shave your beard’ and build a ‘twelve metre high spinning’ statue of himself ‘made of gold’ which turns ‘to face the sun all day long’, is surely a man that inspires brilliant songwriting. This is evident here, in Down I Go’s crowning achievement. Listen

18. Anathallo - Don't Kid Yourself You Need A Physician
Having only heard this song from Anathallo, this could be a fluke. However, I would like to think not, as every second of ‘Don't Kid Yourself You Need A Physician’ fills itself with pure sunshine of stunning brilliance fuelled by a love for the warm sound of instruments. Every element of the song is perfect; the vocals are light and yet full of emotion, the backing vocals are a perfect accompaniment, the guitars are airy without being transparent, the bass is perfectly situated within the song and the drums are striking yet sedate. I haven’t even touched on the brass yet. It’s so warming and so uplifting, and every note fills me with a sense of energy and love. Put this all together and you have one of the greatest songs of the noughties, without an inkling of a shadow of a doubt. Inspired. Listen

17. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
It’s hard not to be impressed with the Postal Service’s singular album. Every single moment is like driving home after a long trip, staring out of the window watching the world fly by. It’s one of those amazing times when your ears are highly receptive, and music like this is comes into its own. Each and every single blip and bloop of ‘Such Great Heights’ seems meticulously planned and caringly introduced to the song. The incredible electronic sound washes over you with intense warmth and blanketed soundscapes, when some people still argue that Electronic music is cold and unlovable. It can only mean one thing. They haven’t heard ‘Such Great Heights’. It’s a revelation.

16. 65daysofstatic - Retreat! Retreat!
Of course, not all electronic music is set to warm your heart with emotion. Some is meant to inspire explosions in your conscious and body. This is that very kind. Every single moment of this electronic fuelled post-rock experience is filled with superb love for the craft of the music which 65daysofstatic own as their own. ‘Retreat! Retreat!’ is from the band’s debut album and is as brilliantly crafted as it is chaotic, which sums up exactly what they were during that period. The fire in their bellies streamed out of their fingers and into their instruments. We, in turn, got to hear the various psychologically joy inducing sounds live and on CD and stood stunned as this incredible sound came from these boys. It’s an incredible song from an incredible album by an incredible band. What more is there to say?

15. Lostprophets - Last Train Home
I thought long and hard about which song from this album would make it high onto my list. When this album came out it was a revelation for a younger me, and while they further tarnish any hope I had in them with every succeeding album, I always return home to their first two superb works. Every single damn moment of ‘Start Something’ meant something to me and associates my memory with a good time. Before all that though, it was an album that I was dreading hearing, for the fear that it would never live up to it’s first single ‘Burn Burn’ or it’s predecessor ‘The Fake Sound of Progress’. I pressed play on my CD player and listened to every moment, and from that first listen, it was a favourite in my collection for years. Choosing one song to represent it though was an obvious choice when it came down to it, really, as ‘Last Train Home’ captured everything that the album meant to me. It was fun, reliable and still heavy. Most of all it conjured up feelings and memories inside me that far surpass any of the others.

14. Reuben - Return Of The Jedi
While I have waxed on about how important Lostprophets second album is to me, it still doesn’t match how important Reuben were to me throughout the decade. While their second album may have been slightly disappointing on first listen, it quickly grew on me. However, one song had always impressed me from first listen to last, without ever waning in my eyes. ‘Return Of The Jedi’ is an inspired, seven-and-a-half minute long behemoth of gigantean proportions. I don’t think I can say it any clearer than I did in my Top 25 Reuben article where the song reached number 1, so I won’t. “In truth (and the words of Dave Venom), it’s a song that “rages against the music industry with such venom”, while still keeping the Reuben upbeat pop sensibility, and utter lyrical grace. It’s Reuben at their most truthful, stating, “these here Helmet rip offs, they don't buy my lunch, so I will get a real job in the office, and I wont bother to make my music, and I wont bother to sing my songs”… Felix Carter explains, “the "Sure..." sung in the last seconds of the song, I always took to be a sarcastic retraction of the previous verse (“I wont bother to make my music”). As if he was so in love with music that it had become an indispensable part of him, and regardless of how poor he was, or unsuccessful, he could never give up music. It's an inspiring sentiment for any musician; now bathed in the twisted light of irony, given Reuben's decline.” What else is left to say?” Nothing, really, Carl of two years ago. Nothing at all… [Was only able to find a live video from their DVD 'What Happens In Aldershot Stays In Aldershot']

13. Battles – Atlas
If you have never experience Battles, you haven’t lived life. If you haven’t seen Battles live, I feel very sorry for you and your wonder-less existence. This band of aliens from another planet heard our music from a distant world and beamed down to show us what they did with it. Let me tell you, it’s inspiring. This seven-minute riot anthem is their crowning achievement and is full of wondrous riffs, vocals, bass, and most of all, drums. The drums in this song sound like a 4-armed man plays them; so thick and so beefy, yet so precisely executed. This is perfect for any party you attend; a club, a kids birthday, the inauguration of a president, a birth or a death. Put this on, everybody be lovin’ it. Try at it your next convenience. Listen [below is the Radio-edit length video]

12. Anthrax - Safe Home
A song title that has become synonymous with parting friends in my circle, ‘Safe Home’ is an excellent song. It’s pure metal energy and ferocious attitude perfectly offset the lovely notion of getting home safe. “You have always been my safe home” Keanu Reaves mimes in the video, and Anthrax sings on CD. Everything about this song is just right there, being brilliant; the vocals, the Drums, the bass and the guitars? Oh, the guitars. The solos here cry out to be heard and are perfectly situated within ‘Safe Home’ giving the song an oomph factor above any of the other Anthrax tunes. To call it anything less than essential music from the noughties would be to do it and yourself a disservice.

11. A Wilhelm Scream - The King Is Dead
Officially, this has the best intro to any song ever. That could be an over-exaggeration, why don’t you have a listen and tell me what you think? Oh, you agree. Exactly! It’s as epic as it gets and the dirty little secret is… it’s Hardcore! No-one does it, at least not in this generation of hardcore. It’s something so hard to find and it something that is unique to A Wilhelm Scream. The epic-etude continues for the whole 3 minutes of fast, potent music and absolute wonderful guitar mastery. Everything comes together here so damn well and there is no better way to open up your album than with something this damn good.


Top 10 very soon!
Carl