Part Six: The Top 10
10. ‘Since I Left You’ by The Avalanches (2001)
A sparkling celebration of music itself – a sonic saturnalia dedicated to music’s endless delights. Melbourne electronica savants The Avalanches began as obsessive music fans, spending countless hours raiding op-shop record bins and chopping up sounds, storing them on a clutter of floppy disks. They stitched together countless samples to create a masterwork of manic surrealism. Impossibly layered but accessible, complex but freewheeling and a little unhinged.
9. ‘99 Problems’ by Jay Z (2004)
As the curtain closed on the 90s – the decade of triumphs and tragedies that launched hip hop into the mainstream consciousness – rap had one undisputed king. Jay Z found unprecedented success with tracks like ‘Big Pimpin’, backed by excess and luxury of Diddy (oof). But his best song came later, under the guidance of spartan production guru Rick Rubin. The stripped back approach allowed Hov’s bars to really shine – particularly the second verse, about an altercation with police during a routine traffic stop, taking aim at racial injustice and Black experience.
8. ‘Rolling In The Deep’ by Adele (2011)
One name. One massive voice. Countless hits, but one that towers above the rest. The best, most significant vocal performance of the century, up there with the greatest of all time – the power of Tina Turner on ‘River Deep, Mountain High’, the range of Whitney Houston on ‘I Will Always Love You’, and the sheer ferocity of Aretha Franklin of ‘R.E.S.P.E.C.T.’. Adele goes fully scorched earth, a staggering break up song for the ages.
7. ‘Venom’ by Little Simz (2019)
Disgracefully underrated. In a just world, Little Simz would be comfortably established as the greatest British rapper of all time, the second-best rapper in the world over the past 15 years, and among the most important voices in hip hop this century. On ‘Venom’, she absolutely shreds. Lyrics fly at you at breakneck speed, vicious and astounding, as she dissects the struggles of making it as a female MC and her triumphs over self-doubt and industry scepticism. A masterclass in rhyme and skill.
“Fuck those who don’t believe, They will never wanna admit I’m the best here, From the mere fact that I’ve got ovaries...”
6. ‘Thinkin Bout You’ by Frank Ocean (2012)
There are more complex songs (‘Pyramids’), more hard-hitting songs (‘Crack Rock’), craftier songs (‘Super Rich Kids’) – Frank Ocean’s astonishing first studio album Channel Orange contains multitudes. But on an album that, at its core, is about the pain and beauty of love in all its forms, ‘Thinkin Bout You’ is perfection. It’s neo soul at its most fraught and heartbreaking. The stilling falsetto, the wrenchingly wistful lyrics, the anxiety and hope coloured by the song’s queer undertones. Pure magic.
5. ‘All Too Well’ by Taylor Swift (2012)
Lost somewhere in the global tours, towering success, game-changing re-recordings, her coronation as the world’s biggest popstar, and of course, the ridiculous and constant discourses around her personal life, is the fact that Taylor Swift is a really good singer. ‘All Too Well’ is a brilliant exercise in deeply personal, three-dimensional storytelling, but it’s also underratedly her most impressive and affecting vocal performance. The pinnacle of the Taylor Swift musical experience – it’s gorgeous, defiant, intimate, and perfectly bridges the gap between her country roots and her pop superstardom.
“Well, maybe we got lost in translation, Maybe I asked for too much. But maybe this thing was a masterpiece, ‘Til you tore it all up...”
4. ‘m.A.A.d city’ by Kendrick Lamar feat. MC Eiht (2012)
The greatest rapper alive. Maybe ever. As good a storyteller as Biggie, as verbally dextrous as Eminem, as ferocious as Busta Rhymes, as complex as Rakim, as utterly dominant as prime Jay Z. The cinematic climax of Kendrick’s first studio record, ‘m.A.A.d city’ is a harrowing story of drugs, crime and murder, all the while reminding you that this story is told through the eyes of kids: “AK's, AR's, "Ayy y'all, duck", That's what momma said when we was eating the free lunch”. Ominous, frantic, unrelenting, and visceral – Kendrick Lamar’s masterpiece.
3. ‘Someday’ by The Strokes (2001)
Is This It is generally accepted as the record that saved and re-shaped rock music in the early 2000s, the most influential rock album of the century. And ‘Someday’ is its best song. “I’m working so I don’t have to try so hard…” Julien Casablancas croons. There’s an authenticity to the apathy, an effortlessness to the swagger, but nowhere do The Strokes try to hide their grand ambitions. They’d do it their way, but they were always going to be rock stars.
2. ‘Back to Black’ by Amy Winehouse (2006)
Perhaps the most uniquely magnetic artist to emerge in the 2000s. So much of the discourse in recent years has surrounded the turmoil of her life and the tragedy of her death, threatening to overshadow her remarkable legacy as a generational musical talent. ‘Back To Black’ is Winehouse at her most powerful, expressing her pain with a depth of feeling that can’t be manufactured. It’s soulful and tortured, a slow wave of smoke and anguish.
“He left no time to regret, Kept his dick wet, With his same old safe bet...”
1. ‘One More Time’ by Daft Punk (2001)
From the very first moment, Daft Punk’s magnum opus of electronic excess erupts into party – a sprawling, sweaty, barely-contained rave, soundtracked by the smooth, magnetic vocals of the legendary Romanthony. Five minutes of sheer euphoria, perhaps the single greatest veneration of the transcendent power of music that has ever been recorded. ‘One More Time’ is a celebration of music, of community, of people unified by the innate human desire to dance until the sun comes up.
Transforming EDM into carpe diem (that pun almost works!), it’s a testament to the finiteness of life – a call to find your joy, and dance as if it’s your last day on Earth. Kiss your loved ones, hug your friends, dance with strangers, watch the sunrise, love hard and deep, enjoy the magic of life. Even if just one last time.