Jumping to the End

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Interesting Tumblr convo about the song that best defines the 00's, which I guess we're stuck calling the "naughties."

dickmalone has a few good points in response to choices of "Hey Ya" and "Crazy" about importance on pop writ large, re: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as some sorta Song of the 90's (first half, he contends, and I agree, since obvs. we have to make room for "La Vida Loca" or the Macarena somewhere...):

"Nirvana changed the pop landscape. The 00s was a boom decade for pop, or at least the first half was, so it’s going to be something in the pop genre, most likely, though we can throw in a few rockish things for fun."

So sub-question #1: Should the decade be split in half, with maybe a "Oops! ...I Did It Again" through "Since U Been Gone" decade split?

Sub-question #2: Is it a song's importance on the landscape that makes it the Song of the Decade? Sure, you can say that these kinds of questions are either pointless or necessarily a retrospective thing, but I would counter that with....whatever. Let's talk about it anyway!

My 2 cents (pence?): A Song of This Decade should be very zeitgeisty. It should ideally encompass a few major factors:

- THE INTERNET!!!!
- The Rise and Fall of the Music Industry
- Related: The (Further?) Balancing of Indie/Mainstream
- Strippers

My nomination as dark horse candidate is OK Go's "Here It Goes Again," probably the closest thing to an Internet sensation that was "inside" the music industry in some fashion (e.g., "Chocolate Rain" by Tay Zonday is more important to the internet than it is to music). Music video that only seems impressive as a Youtube meme, band that no one's ever heard of and will never hear of again as they toil forever in indie semi-obscurity ("Garden State"-ing). Etc.

Beyonce - “Crazy in Love”
N*Sync - “Bye Bye Bye”
Destiny’s Child - “Survivor”
U2 - “Beautiful Day”
Nelly - “Hot in Herre”
Coldplay - “Clocks”
Black Eyed Peas - “My Humps”
Britney Spears - “Toxic”
Plain White Ts - “Hey There Delilah”
The Killers - “Mr. Brightside”
The Pussycat Dolls “Don’t Cha”
Kelly Clarkson - “Since U Been Gone”
Cascada - “Everytime We Touch”
Rihanna - “Umbrella”
Justin Timberlake - “Cry Me a River”
Hinder - “Lips of an Angel”
Avril Lavigne - “Girlfriend”
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em - “Crank That (Souja Boy)”
Kanye West - “Stronger”
Sara Barielles - “Love Song”
Alicia Keys - “Fallin”
Katy Perry - “I Kissed a Girl”

Comments

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

To disclaim up front, this is very much for the US, not the UK.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

I think the UK one is much easier: The Arctic Monkeys, "I bet you look good on the dancefloor"

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

You might as well say Sandi Thom if you're in the "9-day interweb wonders" zone :)

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Sandi Thom didn't win no Mercury.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Re: The Killers, surely "Somebody Told Me" was much more analogous to the "Smells Like..." phenomenon?

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

No, "Mr. Brightside" is really their enduring song over here. I'm pretty sure that every time I've been out to karaoke in the past three years I've heard someone sing that song. (Admittedly, that someone was me once or twice.)

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of the phenomenon in terms of breakthrough rather than anything else, but I agree that MB has endured to a surprising level. I'm just not sure if I'd think of it as having had quite the surprise factor, heavy play and zeitgeistiness of STM.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can't bring Mr Brightside to mind, but I can instantly recall Somebody Told Me.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Mind you, as dickmalone says above, I'm quite prepared to believe that this a transatlantic difference.

Two nations divided by a common musical heritage?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This has been a great decade - so many choices. Would the song that best defines the decade really be one which transcends it though, like 'Crazy In Love' or 'Since U Been Gone'? I'm pretty sure Beyoncé will still be a force in pop for a good few decades yet. Maybe it should be one which is very of its time, which makes people go "lol 00s" but in a happily reminiscing sort of way - like 'Livin' La Vida Loca' or 'Saturday Night' actually. So I'd probably nominate Sean Paul's 'Get Busy', because his ubiquity for those two years a) embodies a lot of the larger 00s qualities, b) seems such a peculiarly 00s thing to have happened.

Also, is everyone on Tumblr now? Do I have to go there? I can never work out who's saying what.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I find tumblr very easy I think because it reminds me of USENET!

[sbp.livejournal.com]

With OMG pictures!

[damnspynovels.livejournal.com]

Postal Service - "Such Great Heights" ?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued as to why! This seems a very left-field pick.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Who are Hinder?

SOUND-wise, I think the song of the 00s should probably be a Timbaland production (or at least Timbaland-inspired) seeing as that bibble-beat has been bloody omnipresent in pop for at least the last five years. Actually, 'Don't Cha' mixes the lollopy Timbabeat with the Rich Harrison/Mark Ronson trumpet side of things fairly well. Plus you've got the reality telly element in there as well.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think there's another sense of "defines" too - the Carmodic sense where a song somehow 'fits with the times' (i.e. "Buddy Can You Spare A Dime?" might be a good candidate for 'defines the 30s'). This is behind my pick of "Toxic", which isn't my favourite song of the 00s by any means but was massive, has very 00s production, kinda features strippers, and has a chorus which could be about the banking system as much as a slebrity love life.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

yes tom, but how does it relate to the catholic sale of indulgences ;)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I WILL WORK THAT OUT!

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I really don't see how "Take Me Out" isn't even on the consideration list, given that it defines the indie rock boom in America.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

GPWM! I agree with this.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

Gay Bar by the Electric Six!

And shurely something Girlsaloudy would fit the spirit of pop in 200X - manufactured reality show pop that is actually quite good.

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

Was "Danger! High Voltage" not more of a blanket/saturation/sudden excitement thing though? If I had to pick one of the 2.