Flaming Pablum: Favorite Songs of the `00's

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Favorite Songs of the `00's

I'm sure I said something to the same effect at the close of the previous decade, but I simply can't believe it's been ten years. The 90's still seem so fresh to me. Wasn't it only yesterday that we were all worrying about the approaching technopocalypse that the advent of the dread Y2K was going to bring? I pondered this question the other morning as I reached into the cupboard to grasp a coffee mug. The mug I absent-mindedly pulled out couldn't have been more apropos: an official Portishead coffee mug procured at a mid-90's show at the Supper Club in midtown. Much like the lustrous sheen of newness that once accompanied the signature sound of those somber trip-hop pioneers, the design on the mug had almost entirely faded. Yes, the 90s were that long ago. And now the 00's (or however you'd care to call them) are about to join them.

Of course, it wasn't the giddy anticlimax of Y2K that defined this decade, but rather the events of September 11th, 2001. Without succumbing to maudlin cliché, it was that date that truly drew a stark, black line between what came before and what came after, and we're still reeling from the ensuing hangover, hoping for some fanciful fruition that almost nine years later simply doesn't seem likely to ever arrive. But that's a post for another day.

Anyway, while some may decry this weblog as being slavishly steeped in nostalgia, I'm not about to write a fond look back at the 00's. For me, this decade was defined my experiences as a struggling professional, a husband and -- most importantly -- a father. It was in these past ten years that I – by choice or not – moved away slightly from many of the trivial preoccupations that ruled the previous decades for me. Sure, I still voraciously pursued music (and even flew to the U.K. a couple of times early in the 00's for the purposes of seeing bands), but I simply didn't have as much time, energy, funds and, frankly, interest to keep up in the same capacity that I did in the 80's and 90's. As I've lamented here before, I've long since crossed the Rubicon into the realm where I find more of interest in the re-releases than in the new releases. That all said, I haven't been totally clued out. Thus, when my colleague Dave sent me one of those Facebook challenges that asked me to cite my favorite songs of the decade, I dutifully filled it out. Here are those answers -- and a few more I added. It is invariably rife with omission and bound to flummox a few of my friends, but so be it. Without further ado, here are (most) of the tracks I'll remember from this closing decade in no particular order. Oh, I also tried to limit my list to only one song per artist. Crank'em up.

"Blood On Your Hands" by Killing Joke

"6:45" by Firewater

"King of the Mountain" by Kate Bush

"Die Alright" by The Hives

"Go With The Flow" by Queens of the Stone Age

"Monkey" by Low

"Ball & Biscuit" by The White Stripes