Songs of the Decade. Wait, you say, aren't you a year late? Shouldn't this list have been published last year? Well, no, because technically the decade only ends on December 31, 2010. So everybody else who published similar lists last year did so a year early. I win again.
(Either way, you will notice that no songs from 2010 made the cut.)
As always, this site does not pretend to be objective, and my personal experience of the last ten years has certainly affected this list. In the past decade, I graduated from high school, CÉGEP, and then university. I chose a career. I worked. I had fun. I moved out. I travelled. I learned about myself. I grew up. My relationship with my family changed, and in most ways, for the better. I found friends I could trust. I loved. I lost. And I discovered great music.
So how do you take a decade's worth of music and memories and make a single CD? You make a difficult compromise between those mammoth steamroller songs that you just couldn't resist and those rare beautiful gems that you found hidden in the dirt; between those towering titans of the music industry that shimmered in the limelight and those that toiled away quietly in the dark corners. In the end, the deciding criterion was "importance." And lot of songs I love didn't make it onto this list simply because they didn't seem important enough.
Here, in suggested playlist order, are what I consider to be the most important sounds of the last ten years, a broad cross-section representative of the decade's best music. Disagree? Feel free to comment below.
1. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet (3:34)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
2. "Woman" by Wolfmother (2:56)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
3. "I Gotta Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas (4:54)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
4. "Hey Ya" by OutKast (3:55)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
5. "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. (3:24)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
6. "Gold Digger" by Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx (3:27)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
7. "Bin Laden" by Immortal Technique feat. Mos Def & Eminem (3:20)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
8. "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes (3:51)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
9. "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers (3:42)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
10. "Cocaine Cowgirl" by Matt Mays & El Torpedo (4:27)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
11. "Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups (5:54)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
12. "Minerva" by Deftones (4:17)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
13. "Maps" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (3:39)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
14. "Not Going Anywhere" by Keren Ann (3:38)
YouTube - Amazon
15. "Nowhere With You" by Joel Plaskett Emergency (3:01)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
16. "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire (5:35)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
17. "Move!" by Damian Marley (3:44)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
18. "I Can" by Nas (4:13)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
19. "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys (4:37)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
20. "Dégénérations" by Mes Aïeux (3:12)
YouTube - iTunes - Amazon
Honorable mention: Beck, Black Keys, Bloc Party, Christina Aguilera, Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, Kings of Leon, K-os, Linkin Park, The Lonely Island, Metric, Missy Elliot, The Narcicyst, Rihanna, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Sleigh Bells, Snow Patrol, T-Pain, TV on the Radio
I can say that Minerva was from NHL 04 and the choice of Bin Laden was one of the important ones on the list as well as "I Can". If I suggest some others, maybe albums in the 2010's which were of high importance would be Lupe Fiasco's album "Food & Liquor" and even Little Brother "The MInstrel Show" made in 2005 was good. Jet too is awesome.
ReplyDeleteOther than a the fact that this list is heavy with songs made popular on guitar hero, this is some pretty solid work. i am nominating Hey Ya! as the song of the century so far.
ReplyDeleteI've played Guitar Hero a total of 2 times.
ReplyDelete