I'm going to do the same for the 2000s (meaning 2000-2009) as I did for the 1990s. I enjoyed doing it and I think it's quite interesting. Basically, it's a playlist of 100 UK singles, 10 from each year of the decade.
It's not the same as the best songs or, by any means, my favourite songs. The ideas is that it's 10 great singles from each year which combine to tell the story of the pop charts in this decade.
I don't think I could do this as well for any decade apart from the 90s and the 2000s (though I could manage just about for the 80s and probably will at some point). Those are the decades when I had my nose to the ground, my ear to the wall, my finger on the nose. I may even know the 2000s better than the 90s. I certainly bought more music, including singles. I admit that by the end of the decade I was not paying as much attention to the singles chart as I once had, but I still had a pretty good idea where it was at.
There are quite a few things which make the 2000s very different from the 90s, probably the main one being the inclusion of download numbers in chart data from 2007 onwards. Arguably - for reasons that I can't explain perfectly, though I think I basically understand - that killed "indie" as a factor in the pop charts for good.
Funnily enough, "indie", or, let's say "guitar music" is a strikingly large chart factor in the years immediately preceding that change. Far more so, in fact, in terms of proportion of Top 10 hits. than in the Britpop era. By this point, that doesn't really mean the music I like. It means Kasabian, Fall Out Boy, and things like that.
Unlike in the 90s, my central taste was not really for the chart music in this decade. I am a grown-up music fan who buys lots of music and goes to lots of gigs. I'm still into popular indie somewhat but more into album-focused Americana. I'm. conversely, much less anti-poppy pop music than in the second half of the previous decade. This is especially true in retrospect. I really love a lot of the massive pop hits of this decade, from both sides of the Atlantic. But, still, not as much, deep down, as I love, you know, Wilco, Josh Rouse, Rilo Kiley, The Pernice Brothers, Bonnie Prince Billy, that kind of stuff ...
So, there's a certain trap I could fall into (and will, to some extent) with this decade. Songs like All My Friends. My Girls, Such Great Heights, seem massive if you're a vaguely music press-following 2000s music fan. And they are dance music, they are pop music. But, no, they weren't UK hit singles. I don't think that kind of "massive pop song that wasn't a hit single" existed in quite the same force in the 1990s ...It's something slightly different ... I won't ignore that stuff, but I'll be a bit cautious of it.
It's noticeable, going through the list of Top 10 hits in the first half of the decade, that the pop/hiphop/rnb bangers are unrelenting. Like it or love it, it was an incredible time for for pop music. Hot streaks for stars and behind-the-scenes figures who are seen as the tastemakers of the century - Max Martin, Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Richard X, Kanye West, Xenomania etc The biggest pop stars of the century emerging or coming into their own - Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Adele, Rihanna. Katy Perry.
No wonder it's the indie that people look at askance. The landfill indie, they say - a term which now covers a wide range of styles and qualities.
Coldplay, The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys were all phenomena (people forget how widely Franz Ferdinand were talked about for a while). There was Keane, Kaiser Chiefs, Killers, Kasabian and Kooks. All huge, as were Snow Patrol, Travis and Elbow - smarter, initially edgier, bands than Coldplay who sold out and smoothed their edges a little. Oasis were still banging out mediocre Number 1s. There were multiple Top 10 hits for Morrissey and Paul Weller. There were Wombats and Pigeon Detectives and Zutons, not to mention Babyshambles (who had a remarkable number of hits) and Dirty Pretty Things. There were also really good bands like Maximo Park. At one point I was convinced an Irish band called Hal would take over the world.
The point is, all of them had Top 10, 20 or 40 hits, and none of them, or their equivalent, would these days, and that's a shame.
What else? One track per artist, as with the 90s list, though that is a bit harder here because of all the guest slots so I'll be a bit flexible. Also, I said with the 90s list that I loved every song I included, either at the time or now, but I don't think that can be true with this list. Still, I have taken Mr Brightside out at the last moment. And I choose The Last of the Melting Snow by The Leisure Society rather than Empire State of Mind, because, well, who cares ...
OK, so I might, unlike with the 90s, add some more notes for some specific songs ...
- Try Again - Aaliyah
- Pure Shores - All Saints
- Yellow - Coldplay
- Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) - Spiller ft Sophie Ellis Bextor
- Gravel Pit - Wu-Tang Clan
- Barcode Bypass - Mull Historical Society ... aah, good times. This wasn't a hit, though it is their greatest song, but MHS were one of those indie bands that managed some incongruous Top 40 hits.
- It Feels So Good - Sonique
- Actually It's Darkness - Idlewild
- Chase the Sun - Planet Funk
- Winterlight - Clearlake
- Family Affair - Mary J Blige ... one of the best singles ever, by anyone.
- Witness (One Hope) - Roots Manuva
- Shining Light - Ash
- She Fell into My Arms - Ed Harcourt ... I loved and listened to this song more than pretty much any other this decade. It was not successful. No. In fact, I remember reading something to the effect that it had been sent back to the record company by shops more than any other single in 2001. Ed Harcourt did, once of twice, creep in and around the Top 40, but this is a perfect idea of my really losing my ear for a hit. Could have sworn this sounded like a smash hit. No one bought it except me.
- Since I Left You - The Avalanches
- In the End - Linkin Park
- Get Ur Freak On - Missy Elliott
- Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue
- Good Fortune - PJ Harvey
- Hard to Explain - The Strokes
- Do You Realize - Flaming Lips
- Dy Na Mi Tee - Ms Dynamite
- Time for Heroes - The Libertines. This is their best song, right? A great song.
- Lose Yourself - Eminem
- Complicated - Avril Lavigne
- Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
- Dilemma - Nelly and Kelly Rowland
- Dreaming of You - The Coral
- If You're Not the One - Daniel Bedingfield
- Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives
- Crazy in Love - Beyonce ft Jay-Z
- All the Things She Said - Tatu
- Mundian Te Bach Ke - Panjabi MC
- Leave Right Now - Will Young
- I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
- Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
- Hey Ya - OutKast
- The Rat - The Walkmen
- Move Your Feet - Junior Senior
- Danger High Voltage - Electric Six
- Chewing Gum - Annie
- Milkshake - Kelis
- Laura - Scissor Sisters. Not sure if this is the right song for them, but it's probably my favourite, and they were huge, weren't they ...
- Long Time Coming - Delays
- Some Girls - Rachel Stevens
- If There's Any Justice - Lemar. I really love this. This is in my Top 10 of all of these. Lemar should be a superstar.
- You are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve - Johnny Boy
- Irish Blood, English Heart - Morrissey
- I'm a Cuckoo - Belle and Sebastian
- Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
- 1 Thing - Amerie
- I Bet You Lok Good on the Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
- So Here We Are - Bloc Party
- Toxic - Britney Spears
- Hung Up - Madonna
- Hounds of Love - Futureheads
- Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz
- I Predict a Riot - Kaiser Chiefs
- Push the Button - Sugababes
- All Night Disco Party - Brakes
- We Are Your Friends - Justice vs Simian
- Patience - Take That
- Rehab - Amy Winehouse
- Trains to Brazil - The Guillemots
- Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above - CSS
- Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
- All My Friends - LCD Soundssytem
- Once and Never Again - The Long Blondes
- Running the World - Jarvis Cocker
- Pull Shapes - The Pipettes
- With Every Heartbeat - Robyn
- Your Love Alone is Not Enough - Manic Street Preachers
- Umbrella - Rihanna ft Jay-Z
- She's Got You High - Mumm-Ra
- No Pussy Blues - Grinderman
- 1234 - Feist
- Stronger - Kanye West.
- Standing in the Way of Control - Gossip
- Grace Kelly - Mika
- Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
- Les Artistes - Santigold
- Hometown Glory - Adele
- So What - Pink
- Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
- The Promise - Girls Aloud. Biology is better, but I think was a little harder to fit in.
- One Day Like This - Elbow
- Paper Planes - MIA
- American Boy - Estelle ft Kanye West
- Time to Pretend - MGMT
- Waving Flags - Sea Power
- Zorbing - Stornoway
- Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
- Dog Days are Over - Florence and the Machine
- My Girls - Animal Collective
- Love Story - Taylor Swift
- Love You Better - The Maccabees
- In for the Kill - La Roux
- Red - Daniel Merriweather. I have a weird affection for this song and certain others like it.
- Evacuate the Dancefloor - Cascada
- The Last of the Melting Snow - The Leisure Society
