Diatribes by Joah

Take That NME! Top Tracks (#125-#101) of the Last 15 Years

In case you missed our introduction and the first 25 songs, check here and here.

#125 - The Avalanches "Since I Left You" - The title track of one of the most critically-acclaimed albums of the last 10 years.

#124 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Heads Will Roll" - Three members, three Yeahs, but there's only one Karen O.

#123 - New Radicals "You Get What You Give" - The feel good song of that year. Something about the mid-to-late '90s and alternative rock music that just felt so good.

#122 Vampire Weekend "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" - The feel good song of the year, 10 years later.

#121 Alicia Keys "No One" - Alicia Keys wins Grammys and she belts out hits. This was the best one not featuring Jay-Z.

#120 The Streets "It Was Supposed to Be Easy" - Multiple songs from The Streets were debated, but It Was Supposed to be Easy just made the most sense. This song made Brit Rap seem ever-so-smooth, and easy.

#119 The Knife "Heartbeats" - Like The Avalanche, this international duo is not widely regarded outside of music aficionado circles, but is well respected with critics and record store snobs alike.

#118 Elliot Smith "Alameda" - Even more important than this one song, was Smith's life and death that ended far too soon in 2003.

#117 The Rapture "House of Jealous Lovers" - Other songs on this list are jealous of how good this song is.

#116 The Postal Service "Such Great Heights" - How many times have you heard this song? Ask the ad guys how many viewers they've had.

#115 System of a Down "Toxicity" - Probably the hardest song on the entire list and that's about all we had room for. Sevendust would've made the list if it was Top 200.

#114 The Roots feat. Erykah Badu & Eve "You Got Me" - Erykah Badu didn't make the list solo, but she gets a guest appearance thanks to this track.

#113 The Dears "Lost in the Plot" - Ahhh, The Dears. One of those bands that puts out super quality material, but doesn't get the fan recognition of bands like Wilco and TV on the Radio.

#112 The xx "Crystalized" - The most stylish band of the last decade just so happen to put out one of the most important debut albums of the decade as well.

#111 Natalie Imbruglia "Torn" - (No Pun Intended, but) I'm torn as to whether or not this song is where my love of Natalie Portman - you know, tiny brunette girls with interesting demeanors - got started. Probably.

#110 Federico Aubele "Postales" - Maria Jose is a great track too, but Postales has just a little more flavor to it.

#109 The Wallflowers "One Headlight" - Probably the most radio friendly song on the entire list and I can't say I mind.

#108 Fatboy Slim "The Rockafeller Skank" - One of the pioneers of MTV's electro-dance phase.

#107 Elbow "The Birds" - "Who are these guys?" Just listen.

#106 Kid Cudi "Day'n'Nite" - One of the biggest songs of 2008 and the song that pushed him ahead of more talented rappers that would follow in 2009-2011 a la Drake, Curren$y, J-Cole.

#105 Live "Turn My Head" - Great great song, but they never did live up to early descriptions as "the next R.E.M."

#104 Linked Park "In The End" - Hate all you want, but Linkin Park was a hit machine. Part of the reason Jay-Z blessed them with an album.

#103 Sigur Ros "Saeglopur" - The best song here during a live show you won't forget.

#102 Black Star "Definition" - One of the seminal hip-hop songs after the Tribe Called Quest era.

#101 U2 "Beautiful Day" - Not a big U2 fan, admittedly. But damnit if this song isn't well put together.

Let's Hope it's For Real This Time

You know I'm a supporter!

The Single Most Offensive Political Ad I've Ever Seen

I once helped his re-election campaign. No joke. It wasn't my choice, but my then-boss's. I quit that job.

Those who know me well know that I'm not easily offended. But as someone who believes in God, I don't at all agree with this pandering-conservative Rick Perry. Barack Obama has waged no war on religion. But more importantly, I don't agree with Rick Perry that his faith is a reason to justify his election.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."

You know...the First Amendment...so why the heck is Rick Perry trying to make this a religious election rather than a political one? Is it because he doesn't like facts?

Take That NME! Top Tracks (#126-#150) of the Last 15 Years

And so it begins...our list of the Top 150 Tracks of the last 15 years.

#150 Jay Electronica "Exhibit C" - An unusually epic track from one of the most buzzed about newcomers in recent rap history.  Hasn't been followed by an album.

#149 Animal Collective "My Girls" - Best song on one of the better albums in the last couple years.  Simple, yet large in scale.  One of the most poignant tracks on the list.

#148 Janelle Monae "Cold War" - As an artist without a box, it speaks about individuality and fighting for it - explains Janelle, as much as a song can.

 

 

#147 Pavement "Stereo" - It's the bassline that does it for me, plus the breakdown in the middle of the song.  Also great lyrics - a strength for Pavement throughout their releases.

#146 T.I. "Why You Wanna" - Rappers making sex/romance tracks was a very common theme.  It's not something rappers did a lot of previously, and NOT be questioned.

#145 Puff Daddy "All About the Benjamins" - HAD to be in this list.  The track for the (luckily) short lived jiggy (or jigaboo…) era.

#144 Sleigh Bells "Infinity Guitars" - One of the best indie pop songs to come out in the last 15 years, and more.  The last :38 KILLS, after the set-up.  Also introduced trunk bass into indie-stream.

 

 

#143 Klaxons "Golden Skans" - Seemed to indicate a future of Brit dominance, but that didn't quite happen.  Either way, an amazingly fun record.

#142 Ghostface Killah "Daytona 500" - In the top ten beats RZA ever made.  All three MCs kill it.  Even the anime video destroys.

#141 Jeff Buckley "Everybody Here Wants You" - I can't tell if he's describing someone he has, or someone he wants.  I like not really knowing.

#140 Curren$y feat. Stalley "Address" - "…..yeeeeaaahhh, SKI BEATS!"

 

#139 Drake "Successful" - The proper introduction to the new vanguard of mainstream hip hop - it's become a mission statement.

#138 D'Angelo "How Does It Feel (Untitled)" - Just a notch below the choice cuts on Marvin Gaye's I Want You album…..like a fingernail's length.

#137 Washed Out "Feel It All Around" - Chillwave done at it's best.  Smoothed out samples, lazy lyrics - lazy in a positive sense.  Where's my beach chair and Corona with the lime?

#136 Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland "Promiscous" - Yet another reinvented career path/change, courtesy of Timbaland's golden touch.

#135 Shawn Colvin "Sunny Came Home" -It's funny that most people remember this song because of Ol' Dirty Bastard.

#134 Feist "My Moon My Man" - One of the songs on the list you knew would be good in the first 15 seconds. Immediately awesome.

 

#133 Common feat. The Last Poets "The Corner" - A dirty Kanye beat + Last Poets + Common. You don't need a lot.

#132 TV On The Radio "Ambulance" - A sparse, incredibly (desperately) romantic, doo wop song.  Probably their most played song.

#131 Editors "Munich" - Editors aren't going to write the best lyrics ever.  But I think it's the straightfowardness of what they are trying to accomplish is the accomplishment.

#130 Jay-Z feat. Pharrell Williams "Excuse Me Miss" -Probably the beginning of the "grown and sexy" movement in rap circles.

#129 RJD2 "A Beautiful Mine" - Mad Men.  I think that's all that needs to be noted.

#128 Sean Paul "Gimme the Light" - Brought dancehall (lite) sounds back into the mainstream.

#127 Cannibal Ox "The F Word" - Definitely one of the more unusual picks for a list like this.  Criminally overlooked album and song, that got critical play…but not enough ears.

#126 M.O.P. "Ante Up" - THE jack-move song of the last 15 years.  Still a banger.  "Get up off them g*ddamn diamonds!!!"

 

Stay tuned for tracks #125-#101 this Friday, then we'll dive into the Top 100 beginning next Monday!

Take That NME! Our Top 150 Songs of the Last 15 Years (1997-2011)

Making a list is hard. If you make it hard. The reason why most people make it hard is because they get caught trying to apologize for their taste. They get caught trying to make everyone happy. So when NME published their list of the Top 150 tracks, it was with great disappointment that I read the list. Not so much because I disagreed with the selections, although it’s nothing short of heresy to have Kanye excluded from the Top 50 (Monster was #53), as much as I disagreed with their lack of an opening.

“To mark NME.COM's fifteenth birthday, we've selected the 150 tracks that have meant the most to us over the site's lifetime.” Well that doesn’t help the reader one bit because a) “us” today is certainly not the same as NME’s “us” in 1996 and b) could you tell us exactly what means the most to you?

 

Regardless, I’m not here to correct their list. Instead, I teamed with my oldest and music-encyclopedia-minded brother (check out his blog, Corrosive Material) to create our own list of the Top 150 Tracks in the last 15 years.

 

No Country music. Get over it.

 

Some of our personal favorites like Wilco, Jill Scott, Flying Lotus, Cut Copy and Hot Chip didn’t even make the list.

 

Phenomenal songs like Mos Def's "Umi Says" and Nas’ “Made You Look” and Bush’s “Warm Machine” did not make it.

 

Nor did pop sensations like Coldplay’s “Clocks”, Destiny Child’s “Say My Name” or Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me A River”.

 

We gave a lot of value to popularity, yes. But also to strength in lyrics and beats. But not more than the value of the song in the artists’ career or the album’s significance. Overall, we just tried to stay true to who we are as music fans: we love music for music’s sake…not for pop sensibilities anymore than indie buzz.

 

Our list may not work for you 100%, which we didn't care to do anyway, but we think it kicks the NME’s list’s ass. Comment if you agree or disagree, think we missed a song or had a song too high or low. Or if you just want to thank us for reminding you of all the great music we’ve had over the last 15 years.

Over the rest of December, we're going to give you a time to digest our list by posting only part of the list at a time. I know you're all terribly impatient and would love to see the full 150 from the start, but I'm a big fan of suspense. So before I go into our Top 150, I wanted to share a few songs that barely missed the list along with the ones mentioned above.

Aaliyah's "Try Again"

El-P's "The Overly Dramatic Truth"

The Streets' "Weak Become Heroes"

The Knife's "Silent Shout"

Flying Lotus' "Golden Diva"

The Game feat. 50 Cent's "Hate It Or Love It"

Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away"

Stay tuned over the coming days/weeks for the full list. We'll start with songs 150-126 on Monday and go all the way through New Years Eve with our top 10! Trust me, you won't want to miss out. Get your iTunes account ready for some music purchasing.