Part Four: 40-21
40. ‘Teenage Dream’ by Katy Perry (2010)
Few pop stars have fallen out of favour quite as spectacularly as Katy Perry in recent years, but it’s a universal fact that this song slaps. It’s the perfect version of the Katy Perry experience: sexy, fun bubblegum pop with just enough heart.
39. ‘That Funny Feeling’ by Bo Burnham (2021)
“20,000 years of this, 7 more to go” Maybe it shouldn’t surprise that the best song capturing the futility of the COVID lockdown era was by a comedian, trapped in his apartment, crafting one of the most transcendent specials of the century. ‘That Funny Feeling’ is a canvassing of a world chaotically eating itself, distracted and unaware that the end is upon us.
38. ‘Bring Me To Life’ by Evanescence (2003)
Nu-metal had been assaulting our ears for a few years before Evanescence arrived on the scene, but no nu-metal band had ever boasted a weapon like the force of nature voice of Amy Lee – like an Old Testament angel, equal parts beautiful and beastly, with the vengeful horsemen of the apocalypse, forcefully revitalising the genre that had become the nadir of 2000s rock music.
37. ‘Royals’ by Lorde (2013)
It might be the single most unbelievable musical story of the century – a 15 year old New Zealander writes a minimalist, lo fi fantasy that sounds nothing like anything on the radio, and becomes a global star overnight. A uniquely teenage combination of disaffection and hope, the cynical dreamer. 12 years on, the song still sounds fresh, and the story still sounds crazy.
36. ‘Super Bass’ by Nicki Minaj (2010)
Nicki Minaj is an AK-47 draped in a pink fur coat. Here she showed she could carry a hit on her own and become a full-blown superstar. It’s the punchlines, the characters, the elastic voice, the machine gun flow. Few artists have ever combined pop and rap so flawlessly, without cringe or compromise.
35. ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash (2002)
His voice is cracked, ragged, broken. He’s weary, tired. Not hoping for death, but waiting. Johnny Cash’s star had long faded in the public eye by the turn of the century, and while an old country star covering Nine Inch Nails doesn’t sound like a recipe for success, Rick Rubin is a musical miracle worker. The result was a haunting, devastating ballad, the rare cover that surpasses the original.
34. ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ by Tame Impala (2012)
Psychedelia and pop, nostalgia and futurism, simplicity and complexity – as Tame Impala, Kevin Parker brought something entirely new to the Australian music landscape in the 2010s, then brought it to the world. Dreamy, swirling and forlorn, it feels like drifting through clouds, awestruck by the magic while aware you could drop at any moment.
33. ‘Paper Planes’ by M.I.A. (2007)
You’re already spellbound by the time the first gun shots jolt you out of the trance. A seamless mishmash of downtempo beats, African folk music, dissonant sound effects, M.I.A’s hypnotic vocal, and arresting lyrics about the West’s shameful approach to immigration, and you have an alternative hip hop masterpiece.
32. ‘bad guy’ by Billie Eilish (2019)
On the Mount Rushmore for Gen Z alt-pop, Billie Eilish was just 17 years old when she released her debut record, and it’s biggest single, ‘bad guy’. It’s sardonic and playful, dark and jagged, fun and cutting. It pulses with a needling energy, and Billie’s mocking whisper creates a feeling of sneaking through a haunted house, monsters around every corner.
31. ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears (2003)
Peak Britney. The whispered vocals, addictive hook, strange intoxicating string changes. Equal parts seductive and camp. A fantasy, a siren luring you in to a doom you’re sure to enjoy til the very end. Like Poison Ivy in Batman, ‘Toxic’ slinks towards you slowly, wrapping you in a tight hypnotising embrace.
30. ‘The Dripping Tap’ by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (2022)
Australia’s most prolific and perpetually experimental rock band presents their towering magnum opus: a mammoth, twisting, freakadelic 18-minute journey across the incomparable Gizzverse. It shifts wildly, impossible to follow and utterly engrossing, an expansive jam of frenzied guitars, and lyrics about a world melting under its own hubris and excess.
29. ‘Accordion’ by Madvillain (2004)
From the longest song on the list to the shortest. A two-minute flex by MF DOOM, one of rap’s greatest talents and utmost enigmas, operating behind a mask and largely in the shadows. The obscenely talented alt-rapper never cracked the mainstream, but his intricate wordplay and controlled flow never sounded better than when paired with producer Madlib.
Stat Attack – Sign O’ The Times
The highest charting decade was the 2000s, with 47 tracks. The 2010s scored 36 songs, and the 2020s have 17 fresh bangers.
2004 was the most prolific year on the list, with a whopping nine songs making the countdown! 2002 has eight, 2001 has seven, and 2016 scored six.
28. ‘Feel Good Inc’ by Gorillaz (2005)
From the moment you hear the laugh – that sinister, maniacal laughter – you know you’re in for a wild ride, and ‘Feel Good Inc’ is a rollercoaster. Who could have seen that the next big move by Damon Albarns after Britpop success with Blur, would be an outlandish combination of electronica and rap, performed by four cartoon monkeys??
27. ‘Oblivion’ by Grimes (2012)
Ethereal, complex and vulnerable, Grimes somehow transforms the experience of a violent assault into something stunningly beautiful and altogether transcendent. These days, it’s easy to forget how good Grimes was as an artist – overshadowed now by her bizarre relationship with Elon Musk, her controversial opines on AI, and her dramatic turn towards the far-right. But ‘Oblivion’ is incredible.
26. ‘Since U Been Gone’ by Kelly Clarkson (2004)
Kelly Clarkson could so easily have been a pop culture punchline. The first winner of reality show American Idol, and star of hilariously bad film From Justin to Kelly, she could easily have become a relic of the early-2000s, a trivia question. But then, ‘Since U Been Gone’. An anthem, a karaoke classic, one of the best scream-it-at-the-top-of-your-lungs, whip-your-hair-around break up bangers of the century.
25. ‘Chop Suey!’ by System Of A Down (2002)
“Wake up!” It’s urgent. Desperate. Angry. The song is a hyper-kinetic thrash of shouted pseudo raps and frantic drumming, jarringly punctuated by haunting, almost church-like interludes and despairing roars. It’s disorienting and fractured and perfect. It’s the greatest metal song of the 21st century.
24. ‘Get Ur Freak On’ by Missy Elliot (2001)
All hail our cosmic rap goddess. Fundamentally shifted what hip hop could be. Along with her ever-willing deputy Timbaland, they did some of the wildest, weirdest, coolest shit the rap game had ever seen. Interplanetary funk – uncompromising, provocative and futuristic. ‘Get Your Freak On’ is an unapologetic call to embrace the multidimensions of life and sex and music.
23. ‘Heartbeats’ by The Knife (2003)
It’s hard to articulate quite what makes ‘Heartbeats’ so captivating. It’s mesmerising. A bit jarring, absorbingly psychedelic, strangely transportive. It’s cliché to compare Scandinavian singers to Bjork, but (1) Bjork is incomparable, and (2) Karin Dreijer’s voice is something entirely of its own, otherworldly and unnerving and stunning. To me though, it reminds me most of Kate Miller-Heidke’s work as vocalist for Fatty Gets A Stylist – if you know, you know.
22. ‘Blackstar’ by David Bowie (2016)
David Bowie insisted his final album wasn’t an elegy, but following his death just days after its release, it’s impossible not to hear it as a fond farewell to the planet he inhabited for 69 glorious years, before his human body crumbled to space dust and he returned to the cosmos from whence he came. I still tear up on every listen.
21. ‘Can't Get You Out Of My Head’ by Kylie Minogue (2001)
The disco revolution we didn’t know we needed, with a sexier edge than the Bee Gees (even with their glorious manes) could never have imagined. Australia’s pop princess had a lean period in the 90s, with her much underrated indie work having it’s fair share of detractors. But her early-2000s comeback is modern disco incarnate – funky, sultry, sparkly, and irresistible.