Red's Top 200 Songs of the Decade (done)
Apr 7, 2020 11:14:41 GMT -5
Post by Red on Apr 7, 2020 11:14:41 GMT -5
Well, I'm probably not going to get this completed before January 1st...
The reason that it took way too long to complete this is two-fold.
a) Quite simply, I forgot to do so immediately, and it became lost in the shuffle.
b) I grew tired of doing graphics for every song, so I just stopped doing them, which led to this thread coming to a screeching halt.
So, here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to post the top thirty starting today. I might finish today, I haven't decided yet. I'm going to post both 30-21 and 20-11, before going with my original plan of posting the top ten one at a time.
Believe me, no one wants to make sure that this is done more than I do.
{30-21}
30) Slowdive - Star Roving
Year: 2017
YE: #4 (2017)
I've always had at least a passing appreciation for Slowdive, but, funnily enough, it wasn't a "slow" song that won me over, once and for all. Instead, it was the more lively "Star Roving", which starts promisingly and lives up to that promise almost immediately. After going back and listening to Slowdive's other material before their 2017 album, honestly, I think "Star Roving" still holds up among their best songs. It just sounds great, and I love the production of the song more than anything else.
29) Robyn - Dancing on My Own
Year: 2010
YE: N/A
It doesn't surprise me that "Dancing on My Own" is my favorite pop song of the decade, but, at the same time, it kind of does? I was expecting "Flesh without Blood" to be my highest pop song, but, the more I thought about it, "Dancing on My Own" has just stuck with me that much more. There's not all that much to the song outside of the beat and Robyn's vocal performance, but both are being performed at an exceptionally high level, especially Robyn, who gives the performance of her career here. I've loved Robyn songs before and Robyn songs since, but "Dancing on My Own" is lightning in a bottle. As hard as she will continue to try to match it, she never will. It's simply an impossible task.
28) Mount Eerie - Ravens
Year: 2017
YE: N/A
Originally, this spot was meant for "Letters from the Sky" by Civil Twilight...but I couldn't justify putting a song on a 2009 album on a 2010's songs of the decade list, even though it was a 2010 single. Instead, I want to shine a spotlight once again on the most gut-wrenching and powerful musical experience of the decade. "Ravens" is, technically, the song being included here, but consider this more of a spot for A Crow Looked at Me the album than anything else, because it's hard for me to separate any song from the album from the others. If I had to pick one, though, it would be the haunting "Ravens", a song that has seemingly only gotten more powerful with time. This is an album that everyone needs to listen to at least once...but just make sure to listen to it when you're in the right mood. Any other mood, and your day will be ruined.
27) CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share
Year: 2012
YE: #4 (2014), #40 (2013)
Sadly, as time has passed, CHVRCHES has been more and more inconsistent, and I hate to see it, because the way they started is simply wonderful. "The Mother We Share" built up a looooot of good will with me, with its wanting vocals, fantastic production, and soaring chorus. I am convinced that CHVRCHES will never reach this level again...and, honestly, that's okay. Just one "The Mother We Share" is good enough.
26) Gorillaz ft. Mos Def and Bobby Womack - Stylo
Year: 2010
YE: #2 (2010)
In lesser hands, "Stylo" would not have worked. Honestly, in lesser hands, "Stylo" would have been a contender for "Worst Song of the Decade". It's a relief, then, that everyone involved in the making of "Stylo" is a genius. When the weakest part of your song is Mos Def (and he's not bad at all), that is pretty indicative of the quality of the product that you're making. Really, two things keep bringing me back for more: The beat and The Preacher. The beat is fairly simple, but it is ultra-effective, and the beat is made even better by the sum of the song's parts. Nowhere is that more apparent than when the beat swells to its apex and Bobby Womack bursts into the song like god damn Kool-Aid Man. It is not hyperbole to say that the second time Bobby Womack shows up is one of the moments of any song this decade.
25) TV on the Radio - Killer Crane
Year: 2011
YE: N/A
"Killer Crane" is a song I like to lovingly refer to as "The Song That Has Almost Made Me Cry More Than Any Other". This song is just gorgeous. In fact, it's so beautiful that it's hard for me to put into words just how much this song overwhelms me with its beauty. TV on the Radio have made slower, heart-tugging songs like "Killer Crane" before, and usually to great results, but "Killer Crane" just resonates with me more than the others. It may be because I took bassist Gerard Smith's passing a little harder than most, because of how much I was into TV on the Radio at the time, and the fact that he was taken from us at such a young age, and this song feels like the send-off to one of their own. It would be a great song without that context, but that context makes it even more incredible.
24) Nothing But Thieves - Amsterdam
Year: 2017
YE: #2 (2017)
"Amsterdam" is the song that I knew Nothing But Thieves were capable of making. This should have been the world-conquering song that made them rock megastars, the song that established the band as THE band to watch in the foreseeable future. That did not happen. I don't know whose fault that is, but someone needs to be blamed for going with "Sorry" as the big single instead. I will never not be confused by that decision. But I digress. "Amsterdam" is Nothing But Thieves the band at their peak, the moment where Conor Mason and his bandmates are able to reach the same level of awesomeness and create a song for the ages. Rock music is still capable of songs like this. "Rock is dead"...only if you let it.
23) Jay-Z and Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean and The-Dream - No Church in the Wild
Year: 2011
YE: #15 (2012)
I've hesitated saying that a beat is the "beat of the decade" so far, but I'd argue that no song has a better case for that claim than "No Church in the Wild". Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, The-Dream, all of those performers put in work, all putting in great performances, and the performances are all arranged well on the song itself...but all of them fall in line with the backdrop. This is a good, perhaps even great song with another beat...though I simply don't want to imagine this song with another beat. Screw it, I'll say it: Beat of the decade. Let's go.
22) Agent Fresco - See Hell
Year: 2015
YE: #2 (2015)
Looking back, I'm now really glad that I chose this as my actual 2015 song of the year and not my #3 (which was "Dead Inside" by Muse). "See Hell" sounds like a combination of many different artists, and yet, it somehow still sounds like its own epic thing. Back in 2015, I described this song as being "both hauntingly melodic and earthshakingly heavy", and I think that still rings true today. When both of those factors come together after the second chorus, with Arnor Dan Amarson's pitch-perfect vocals helping to guide the way, it's a moment of pure bliss that I simply was not prepared for the first time I listened to it. This is raw power combined with a gorgeous melody, and it is simply stunning.
21) Nothing But Thieves - Graveyard Whistling
Year: 2014
YE: N/A
Oh, I am such a freaking moron for not getting into this sooner. And I have no excuses, either. When I got into Nothing But Thieves in 2016, I should have listened to their debut album much sooner than I actually did. Instead, I waffled on it until they released their followup, Broken Machine, in 2017. I finally sat down and listened to the album, and two songs immediately stood out. The first was already on this list earlier, "Itch". The second hit me on a far deeper level. To me, while "Amsterdam" was the moment that Nothing But Thieves realized their potential, it's "Graveyard Whistling" where Conor Mason came into his own. In a decade full of great vocal performances, Mason's performance here is still a cut above almost every other performance in the 2010's.
30) Slowdive - Star Roving
Year: 2017
YE: #4 (2017)
I've always had at least a passing appreciation for Slowdive, but, funnily enough, it wasn't a "slow" song that won me over, once and for all. Instead, it was the more lively "Star Roving", which starts promisingly and lives up to that promise almost immediately. After going back and listening to Slowdive's other material before their 2017 album, honestly, I think "Star Roving" still holds up among their best songs. It just sounds great, and I love the production of the song more than anything else.
29) Robyn - Dancing on My Own
Year: 2010
YE: N/A
It doesn't surprise me that "Dancing on My Own" is my favorite pop song of the decade, but, at the same time, it kind of does? I was expecting "Flesh without Blood" to be my highest pop song, but, the more I thought about it, "Dancing on My Own" has just stuck with me that much more. There's not all that much to the song outside of the beat and Robyn's vocal performance, but both are being performed at an exceptionally high level, especially Robyn, who gives the performance of her career here. I've loved Robyn songs before and Robyn songs since, but "Dancing on My Own" is lightning in a bottle. As hard as she will continue to try to match it, she never will. It's simply an impossible task.
28) Mount Eerie - Ravens
Year: 2017
YE: N/A
Originally, this spot was meant for "Letters from the Sky" by Civil Twilight...but I couldn't justify putting a song on a 2009 album on a 2010's songs of the decade list, even though it was a 2010 single. Instead, I want to shine a spotlight once again on the most gut-wrenching and powerful musical experience of the decade. "Ravens" is, technically, the song being included here, but consider this more of a spot for A Crow Looked at Me the album than anything else, because it's hard for me to separate any song from the album from the others. If I had to pick one, though, it would be the haunting "Ravens", a song that has seemingly only gotten more powerful with time. This is an album that everyone needs to listen to at least once...but just make sure to listen to it when you're in the right mood. Any other mood, and your day will be ruined.
27) CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share
Year: 2012
YE: #4 (2014), #40 (2013)
Sadly, as time has passed, CHVRCHES has been more and more inconsistent, and I hate to see it, because the way they started is simply wonderful. "The Mother We Share" built up a looooot of good will with me, with its wanting vocals, fantastic production, and soaring chorus. I am convinced that CHVRCHES will never reach this level again...and, honestly, that's okay. Just one "The Mother We Share" is good enough.
26) Gorillaz ft. Mos Def and Bobby Womack - Stylo
Year: 2010
YE: #2 (2010)
In lesser hands, "Stylo" would not have worked. Honestly, in lesser hands, "Stylo" would have been a contender for "Worst Song of the Decade". It's a relief, then, that everyone involved in the making of "Stylo" is a genius. When the weakest part of your song is Mos Def (and he's not bad at all), that is pretty indicative of the quality of the product that you're making. Really, two things keep bringing me back for more: The beat and The Preacher. The beat is fairly simple, but it is ultra-effective, and the beat is made even better by the sum of the song's parts. Nowhere is that more apparent than when the beat swells to its apex and Bobby Womack bursts into the song like god damn Kool-Aid Man. It is not hyperbole to say that the second time Bobby Womack shows up is one of the moments of any song this decade.
25) TV on the Radio - Killer Crane
Year: 2011
YE: N/A
"Killer Crane" is a song I like to lovingly refer to as "The Song That Has Almost Made Me Cry More Than Any Other". This song is just gorgeous. In fact, it's so beautiful that it's hard for me to put into words just how much this song overwhelms me with its beauty. TV on the Radio have made slower, heart-tugging songs like "Killer Crane" before, and usually to great results, but "Killer Crane" just resonates with me more than the others. It may be because I took bassist Gerard Smith's passing a little harder than most, because of how much I was into TV on the Radio at the time, and the fact that he was taken from us at such a young age, and this song feels like the send-off to one of their own. It would be a great song without that context, but that context makes it even more incredible.
24) Nothing But Thieves - Amsterdam
Year: 2017
YE: #2 (2017)
"Amsterdam" is the song that I knew Nothing But Thieves were capable of making. This should have been the world-conquering song that made them rock megastars, the song that established the band as THE band to watch in the foreseeable future. That did not happen. I don't know whose fault that is, but someone needs to be blamed for going with "Sorry" as the big single instead. I will never not be confused by that decision. But I digress. "Amsterdam" is Nothing But Thieves the band at their peak, the moment where Conor Mason and his bandmates are able to reach the same level of awesomeness and create a song for the ages. Rock music is still capable of songs like this. "Rock is dead"...only if you let it.
23) Jay-Z and Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean and The-Dream - No Church in the Wild
Year: 2011
YE: #15 (2012)
I've hesitated saying that a beat is the "beat of the decade" so far, but I'd argue that no song has a better case for that claim than "No Church in the Wild". Jay-Z, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, The-Dream, all of those performers put in work, all putting in great performances, and the performances are all arranged well on the song itself...but all of them fall in line with the backdrop. This is a good, perhaps even great song with another beat...though I simply don't want to imagine this song with another beat. Screw it, I'll say it: Beat of the decade. Let's go.
22) Agent Fresco - See Hell
Year: 2015
YE: #2 (2015)
Looking back, I'm now really glad that I chose this as my actual 2015 song of the year and not my #3 (which was "Dead Inside" by Muse). "See Hell" sounds like a combination of many different artists, and yet, it somehow still sounds like its own epic thing. Back in 2015, I described this song as being "both hauntingly melodic and earthshakingly heavy", and I think that still rings true today. When both of those factors come together after the second chorus, with Arnor Dan Amarson's pitch-perfect vocals helping to guide the way, it's a moment of pure bliss that I simply was not prepared for the first time I listened to it. This is raw power combined with a gorgeous melody, and it is simply stunning.
21) Nothing But Thieves - Graveyard Whistling
Year: 2014
YE: N/A
Oh, I am such a freaking moron for not getting into this sooner. And I have no excuses, either. When I got into Nothing But Thieves in 2016, I should have listened to their debut album much sooner than I actually did. Instead, I waffled on it until they released their followup, Broken Machine, in 2017. I finally sat down and listened to the album, and two songs immediately stood out. The first was already on this list earlier, "Itch". The second hit me on a far deeper level. To me, while "Amsterdam" was the moment that Nothing But Thieves realized their potential, it's "Graveyard Whistling" where Conor Mason came into his own. In a decade full of great vocal performances, Mason's performance here is still a cut above almost every other performance in the 2010's.
What can I say about "Midnight City" that I haven't already said many times in the past? It's supremely catchy, perhaps the catchiest song of the entire decade. It has the best sax solo of the decade, in a decade that had some pretty damn good sax solos. That main synth hook might as well BE the decade. It is the greatest song I have ever heard that still, somehow, doesn't sound like the finished product. That's the argument I've heard the most when it comes to deriding this song, and...I get it, I guess? But that's a great part of its charm, too. Also, there's a decent chance that the song would lose part of what makes it so special if it did feel more complete. "Midnight City" is never-ending, and why should it end?