The 100 Best Songs of the 2010s (51-60)

Now halfway through the 100 best songs of the decade…

(Click here for the whole list so far, with a Spotify playlist.)


60. Red Hot Chili Peppers — "Dark Necessities"




59. Radiohead — "Burn the Witch"




58. Muse — "Madness"

(Cover by the Pretty Reckless.)




57. Dream Theater — "Barstool Warrior"

Dream Theater might be the most technically complex rock band in the world, but this is one of their more accessible songs. "Barstool Warrior" also makes up for the songs on this list that glorify excessive drinking…




56. OK Go — "I Won't Let You Down"

This amazing video must be watched from beginning to end! (I recommend "full screen" mode.)




55. Green Day — "Brutal Love"




54. Fitz and The Tantrums — "Don't Gotta Work It Out"




53. Esperanza Spalding — "Elevate or Operate"




52. Gotye (feat. Kimbra) — "Somebody That I Used to Know"




51. nine inch nails — "copy of a"

(Album version.)

(Here are my blog posts about NIИ's first and second albums.)




<— 61 - 70

41 - 50 —>

Green Day's Kerplunk turns 25

25 years ago today, on January 17, 1992, an obscure band called Green Day released their second album, Kerplunk (or at least the version we're familiar with — a shorter version was released a month earlier).

The production of Kerplunk, which was released by the indie label Lookout! Records, was weak. But the songwriting had already reached the level of excellence that would be exposed to the world two years later on their commercial breakthrough, Dookie.

This becomes especially clear if you listen to the versions of "Welcome to Paradise" on both albums. Unsurprisingly, the Kerplunk version lacks the polish of the Dookie version. But the fact that one of the best songs from Dookie had already appeared on Kerplunk shows that this band was pretty great from early on.




"Christie Road" is a nice break from the band's usual fare: introspective and mid-tempo — at least for a little while . . .




"2,000 Light Years Away" is an energetic but poignant pop-punk love song:

Feckless rebels

There's something cringe-inducingly lovable about them:

1. This is from the new Green Day musical, "American Idiot," quoted in the New York Times' glowing review:

“I held up my local convenience store to get a bus ticket,” Johnny says with a smirk as he and a pal head out of town.

“Actually I stole the money from my mom’s dresser.“

Beat.

“Actually she lent me the cash.“

2. Doug was probably the most enduring character on MTV's sketch comedy The State:



"I don't have a problem, that's my problem!"


(The State is available on DVD -- highly recommended.)

The 100 best songs of the first decade of the 2000s (60-51)

(Click here for the whole list.)

60. Beck — "Lost Cause"




59. Spoon — "Everything Hits at Once"




58. Feist — "Mushaboom"




57. Radiohead — "Nude"




56. of Montreal — "Disconnect the Dots"




55. Rufus Wainwright — "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk"




54. Norah Jones — "Don't Know Why"




53. Green Day — "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"




52. Alicia Keys — "You Don't Know My Name"

The "Just My Imagination" of the '00s.




51. Adele — "Cold Shoulder"

(Acoustic version.)

Where are the rock stars of the 2000s?

There don't seem to be any, as Jon Fine explains in the video clip below:

If you think about rock music -- which was this incredible industry for, I don't know, 30 years -- rock 'n' roll hasn't really minted any kind of massive ... multi-platinum-selling pop-culture superstar since the '90s, I think. The last really big ones have all been hip-hop. The rock bands now that consistently sell platinum generally came from an earlier era -- they're like Green Day or U2. That top level is completely gone.

Now, what you have in its place is you have a much healthier ecosystem in terms of discovering music and finding music, and for that matter nurturing bands on a local level. You know, the indie circuit that I adored in the '80s ... it's a much more accepted thing, as opposed to back then, it was a little more of a secret-handshake thing. ...

There's kind of a cultural impoverishment at the top of the spectrum, but at the bottom, it's just ridiculously healthy.

I agree, especially if we're talking about not just album sales but "rock stars," with the emphasis not on rock but on star. In the '80s, for instance, you had Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and others, who didn't just sell tons of records but made a genuine cultural impact in their time.

Does anyone who made it big in this decade (and actually makes good music) even come close? Rufus Wainwright, Regina Spektor, Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service)? Arcade Fire, the White Stripes, the Strokes? Those may be some of my own personal celebrities of the moment, but I don't know how broadly they resonate out in the world.

As Fine suggests, this is a very different question from how good the music scene is overall. In my opinion, rock/pop/etc. music in the 2000s is probably better overall than in the '90s -- or, for that matter, the '80s or '70s. There's more great music available to me and you, but it's less likely to be made by household names.

Of course, the '60s is better than all those other decades, but we'll never get the opportunity to see so much rock innovation, right? The bands/artists around now are severely disadvantaged by not being able to invent any of the genres that have already been invented. At a certain point, doesn't rock have to run its course?




(Arcade Fire - "Wake Up.")


IN THE COMMENTS: Theories.