Thursday, June 28, 2012

2000: #9 - "South Side"



There's not a whole lot to say about "South Side", the 2nd most awesome irritating song (or the 2nd most irritating awesome song?) of the decade (First prize!).

It's good. I bet you've heard it. I'm sure you've heard it. If you haven't, but like the idea of Gwen Stefani singing very loudly over a slightly annoying and bone-headed Brian Eno-ish song (think Zooropa, maybe?), then clicketh the embedded video forthwith.

If not, might I interest you in some post-punk? JK.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

(repost) 2000: #10 - "Shape Of My Heart"

** NOTE: Tomorrow, DOTY returns with new material ** Is it possible for something to sound so state of the art, yet extremely safe and almost instantly dated? Yes, Max Martin knocked another one out of the park with "Shape Of My Heart", the 'Boys workmanlike power ballad follow-up to "I Want It That Way?", because it does still get the job done melodically, sonically, and even emotionally. I won't begrudge the fact that the song is perfectly crafted and tugs the right strings. But how come, even days after it came out, it sounded like something that had been around for decades, and the 2-year-old "I Want It That Way" was the trendy, new torch-bearer of teen pop balladry? Was that a testament to "Shape Of My Heart"'s timelessness, or a foreshadowing that the juggernaut was running out of gas? We all know what happened to Martin and BSB around the time Black and Blue and this song, its first single, came out, but they still seemed to be firing on all cylinders here. You be the judge.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Glaring Admissions

While I generally loathe commercial radio rock of the late 90's and entire 00's - with few exceptions, you won't see much of it in the archives, or even in the next few weeks when we cover 1997 through 2000 - it wouldn't be true to the spirit of the blog ("our favorite [radio] songs from 1980-2009") to exclude stuff just because they don't fit a laughably narrow definition of hipster-approved electro-pop.

Take the five tunes below, which I re-encountered while reviewing all my old research. Maybe they were never good enough to make the cut, even in retrospect, but with the fetid stench of less-than-mediocre post-grunge, humorously awful nu-metal, and pimply emo sleaze completely lifted (in favor of vapid ex-crooners gone techno and new-and-improved faux-indie haircut bands - yay!), we can now assess these songs from a safe distance on their (dubious?) merits.

Song: "Sour Girl" (2000)
Artist: Stone Temple Pilots
Ranking: Somewhere around #16 to #20

Why We Liked It: Definitely an enormous improvement over the half-baked fake-Nirvana acoustic crap ("Something In The Way" isn't that good, compared to the rest of Nevermind; why every post-grunge songwhiner felt the need to rip it off is beyond me) they peddled on their first album, and the logical progression from some of the dull, yet completely overwrought, folk experiments that marred Purple, "Sour Girl" revealed a band that was confident enough to pen a subtly melodic, deceptively melancholy ballad that didn't wallow in self-pity or bludgeon you with histronics, but still lame enough to over-earnestly take a stab at the Beatles.

Why It Didn't Make The Cut: Still felt like a huge step back from the nearly-perfected soft-rock, sugar-grunge we heard on songs like "Lady Picture Show" and the bridge of "Big Bang Baby" from 1996's Tiny Music. Something about it was too calculated for crossover chart success, including the overrated, overplayed, and kind of irritating music video. Enjoy!



Song: "Movies" (2001)
Artist: Alien Ant Farm
Ranking: #11-ish

Why We Liked It: Declaring that this band sucks goes without saying - these guys were like the junior high version of Papa Roach, who were already the junior high version of Incubus, who were basically a limp hybrid of Bon Jovi and Limp Bizkit. Seriously, AAF were nu-metal but they didn't even actually rap. Why even exist?

Well, clearly, to make DOTY's blog with this song, a deliciously bad concoction of early STP, mid-period Faith No More, and late-Bad Brains melodicism that ended up sounding like nu-metal's "Photograph" - maybe not quite as hook-filled, but solid enough for what it is, with even a few surprises (but not enough to make it toointeresting or inaccessible).

Why "Movies" - with its obvious, over-emoted, yet memorable chorus and decent chord changes (they throw something slightly weird into the chorus) - wasn't a bigger hit in its day remains a mystery.

Why It Didn't Make The Cut: Basically this.



Song: "Toxicity" (2002)
Artist: System Of A Down
Ranking: #13 or so in a light year

Why We Liked It: I really don't know. It's annoying. The melodies are hummable but very simplistic. Ugh, and the vocals. The guy can clearly sing (love the verses - call me crazy, but here they somehow remind me of these guys), and it's hard to argue with his politics, but, even worse than other left-wing idealogues with microphones and something to sing about, it sounds waaaaaay too much like he's just yelling at you. I listen to and love some bands with horrid-sounding vocals but this steps over the line of unpleasant and into "Seriously, stop yelling, please".

Why It Didn't Make The Cut: See above. Also, it wouldn't have sounded good on the mix CD. Still doesn't (I checked).



Song: "Can't Stop" (2003)
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Ranking: no higher than #15

Why We Liked It: After putting out song after tired song of mid-tempo, middle-of-the-road, aging-journalist-baiting dreck for so many years, it was hugely refreshing to hear RHCP firing on all cylinders to do what they do best - rap limply over third-rate Gang of Four and Fugazi riffs!

Why It Didn't Make The Cut: The Chili Peppers have been so bad for so long (and, let's face it, were never really any good to begin with outside of their very first single, record nearly 30 years (!) ago, by Andy Gill no less) that it was easy to overlook this return to "form", whatever that means. Also, Anthony Kiedis sings on it.



Song: "Check My Brain" (2009)
Artist: Alice In Chains
Ranking: #20

Why We Liked It: In what seemed to be the final nail in the coffin of their limited relevance, Alice In Chains announced in 2009 that it was putting out a new album with a replacement singer for long gone original howler Layne Staley. Hadn't the world endured enough warmed-over fourth generation grunge with the first encarnation of Alice In Chains, not to mention their legions of even worse still imitators?

And without Staley's improbably depressing and awkwardly honest lyrics about slowly dying from heroine addiction, drawn uncomfortably from real life experiences, how could the band be fun anymore?

Basically, it's all about that low bendy thing in the uglier than ugly verses, and then how they seamlessly go from that mess into the super generic pop-grunge chorus that would make Nickelack blush. Anyway, it's a good song, for what it is, and relative to whatever else was coming out in 2009, it's fucking "Sweet Leaf" or something. Jerry Cantrell doesn't even play any hilariously out of place Hendrix-via-hairband solos!

Why It Didn't Make The Cut: It actually shouldn't exist at all. I think it's only decent because Alice In Chains' followers were so damn bad. Also, for a song that's presumably about the dumbing down of American culture it's really un-smart. Maybe that was the point, but look at these lyrics! The chords (in the chorus) are even dumber! They make a Creed song look intelligent and well-crafted.



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Monday, June 25, 2012

Re-Ignition

Defying the odds, logic, expectations, and everything else you can possibly think of, Decade Of The Year is back after a two-year hiatus.

Did the music of 1980-2009 go away? Was it forgotten by our dedicated staff of writers in favor of pop music post-2009?

Of course not - being over 30 precludes us from listening to and/or liking anything that was on the radio beyond our 30th years of existence! Our undying focus continues to be our love for Top 40 hits from the first 30 years of our lives.

We promise to get back into it by:
* first, reviewing some notable omissions from our published lists
* recapping #'s 20 through 10 of 2000, with a special rehash of #10 to refresh your memory
* counting down #'s 9 through 1 of 2000
* compiling our top 20 of the 00's

See you soon!

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Thursday, May 6, 2010

2000: #10 - "Shape Of My Heart"

Is it possible for something to sound so state of the art, yet extremely safe and almost instantly dated? Yes, Max Martin knocked another one out of the park with "Shape Of My Heart", the 'Boys workmanlike power ballad follow-up to "I Want It That Way?", because it does still get the job done melodically, sonically, and even emotionally. I won't begrudge the fact that the song is perfectly crafted and tugs the right strings. But how come, even days after it came out, it sounded like something that had been around for decades, and the 2-year-old "I Want It That Way" was the trendy, new torch-bearer of teen pop balladry? Was that a testament to "Shape Of My Heart"'s timelessness, or a foreshadowing that the juggernaut was running out of gas? We all know what happened to Martin and BSB around the time Black and Blue and this song, its first single, came out, but they still seemed to be firing on all cylinders here. You be the judge.

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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

2000: 19-11

19. "The Next Episode" - Dr. Dre
18. "Simple Kind of Life" - No Doubt
17. "It Wasn't Me" - Shaggy
16. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" - D'Angelo
15. "Oops!... I Did It Again" - Britney Spears
14. "Shake Ya Ass" - Mystikal
13. "Never Let You Go" - Third Eye Blind
12. "It's Gonna Be Me" - *NSYNC
11. "You Sang To Me" - Marc Anthony

Has a band this terrible ever produced a song this good? Has 25 seconds (check 3:25 or so) of such a great song ever been so heinously bad that it almost ruins the song? Would said song be in our top 10 (or 5??) if not for said heinous "spoken word" section?



Edit: Quick shout out to those hugely dumb drums in "Simple Kind of Life".

Edit II: Also, Y2K is the first year on our blog where the producer of the year is not Timbaland, Kanye West, or The Neptunes. You go, unnamed person!

Edit III: Anyone who names the dude wins a prize.

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