2004: #7 - "Maps"

"Maps", for all its shimmery, simple beauty, could still hit you like a punch to the gut, if you let it. Yeah, it's got all the guitars and sound effects, nothing new for a Sonic Youth fan or anything, but pretty rad to hear on Top 40 radio. But what "Maps" really was perfectly and bluntly spill out the dumbfounded emotions of someone who had just lost. The quiet calm of the intro carries into the confused ramblings of the verse and into the epic refrain, "Wait... they don't love you like I love you!", complete with gorgeous Eno-esque guitar noises that hammer home the dreamy, nightmarish surreality of not knowing what to do or what to think.

Side Note: We recall being told by a friend at the time that there was this song on the radio that was just drums, vocals and a guitar playing one string. Our dear friend wanted us to be shocked and dismayed at the horror of such dumb simplicity, because apparently bands like Velvet Revolver, who were ruling rock radio at the time, were the quintessence of real, intelligent rock. I guess. Now, our lists are sure to feature some surprisingly technical metal songs that have received heavy airplay over the years, so I have nothing against all that, but the idea that simplicity had no place in real rock music was baffling to me.