(Click here for the whole list.)
30. Ra Ra Riot — "Ghost Under Rocks"
This song has a great propulsive energy. There's some debate on the internet about the correct lyrics of the chorus, but I hear:
Here you are, you are breathing
Life into ghost under rocks
Like notes found in pocket
Coats of your fathers
Lost and forgotten
29. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — "Maps"
The kind of song that inspires graffiti.
(Unplugged.)
28. The Dodos — "Red and Purple"
This song has a personal resonance to me. I started listening to this song around the time, I was one of many people who had to say an emotional goodbye to someone important to us, and I kept finding parallels between that situation and this song. On one day when we said goodbye, many people showed up wearing this person's favorite colors: red and purple.
27. Rihanna — "Umbrella"
Possibly the youngest singer on the list: she was 19 when she recorded this song.
26. Arcade Fire — "Rebellion (Lies)"
25. MGMT — "Kids"
This song feels to me like a living, breathing creature on the prowl.
The instrumental interlude (starting about 3 minutes in) is outstanding. First, there's an adventurous and floridly Baroque keyboard solo — which is abruptly cut off and followed by a simple but effective drum passage, backed by just one relentlessly repeated chord. Then the bottom drops out for a moment, and we're back to the catchy chorus.
24. The Strokes - Last Nite
The Strokes and Tom Petty have admitted that this is derivative of Petty's "American Girl."
23. Esperanza Spalding — "Fall In"
22. OutKast — "Ms. Jackson"
21. Rufus Wainwright - I Don't Know What It Is
This is a masterful fitting of melody to chord progressions. He must have taken exquisite care to make this sound so effortless.
