My 100 Favorite Songs from the 2000s

This song is everything I want music to be: spacious, tender, beautiful. I firmly believe that if this song had been released as a single, it would have done quite well, but alas, it never happened.

A simple but haunting reflection about when Dave Grohl first met Kurt Cobain. It may not be anything fancy, but it's a song I find myself playing over and over.

Rage Against the Machine covers Bob Dylan? You bet. It's not really a cover as much as a complete reworking a la Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower."

Coldplay was at their best early on in their career before they started overproducing everything, and "Spies," a non-single from their first album, is a spare and spacey gem.

I've always had an odd obsession with this song. There's something weirdly compelling about Maynard James Keenan yelling at a dead guy.

A lot like Coldplay's "Clocks," only with a million times more heart and soul. The way it swells with energy and emotion towards the end is unreal.

For the longest time, I never actually listened to Kid A all the way through to the end, because as soon as "Everything in Its Right Place" (the first song on the album) would end, I would restart it and listen to it again. And again. And again.

Coldplay was anointed the best mainstream band of the decade by the mainstream media, but most of the praise heaped upon Coldplay came well after the release of "Yellow," which came to define the sound of rock music over the past decade.

If I had to pick a greatest song from the decade, this would be it. There's a genuine sense of joy that hasn't been present in contemporary music in a long time, at least not to this degree.

A Crow Left of the Murder... is one of my favorite albums ever in terms of pure sound, and I love the way "Talk Shows on Mute" sounds in particular. The brief guitar solo is the sound of pure bliss, which is fitting for a song about an Orwellian nightmare where televisions watch you instead of the other way around.

Johnny Cash did a lot of covers late in his career, but his version of Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" is my favorite.

I was never a big fan of Springsteen's version, but Rage's update is a force to be reckoned with. Springsteen's incredible lyrics have a much bigger impact here than on his subdued original.

Maybe everyone else has moved on from "Lose Yourself," which has succumbed to cliché surprisingly quickly over the past eight years (and that's intended as a compliment), but I haven't, and probably never will. The impact this song had on me and everyone else around me was unforgettable.

I didn't really discover this one until more than a couple of years after I bought Stadium Arcadium. I was on an airplane a while back and I realized I had never really given this album a proper listen (mostly due to its excessive double album length). When I came across "Hey," the final song on the first disc, I was in love.

I loved the music from Into the Wild. I thought it really showed a side of Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam's lead singer) that we hadn't really seen, showcasing a folk sound from a guy with a grunge background. "Hard Sun," originally recorded by Indio in 1989, is my favorite song from the movie.

Remember when I said Johnny Cash did a lot of covers? I never would have pictured him covering a Nine Inch Nails song, but I'm quite thankful he did. Give it a listen. (Other oddball Cash covers: Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," U2's "One," and Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage," to name a few.)

My favorite scene in the movie Once is when they record a demo of "When Your Mind's Made Up" live in a recording studio. What a lasting first impression.

I appreciated some of the new sounds the White Stripes used on Get Behind Me Satan, but not all of the experiments really worked, and the end result was a bit scattered. "The Denial Twist" was the real highlight of the album, and is my favorite song by the band.

One of the most beautiful and haunting songs I have ever heard. Pretty melancholy stuff.

I love this song: its heavier-than-heavy guitar riff, the "counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drums" refrain. It's not for everybody, but it's among my favorites.

I had largely forgotten about this one until it was used in the trailer for that video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I was blown away by Eminem's ability to string together long stretches of rhymes with such an incredible sense of rhythm. I don't think I've ever really heard anybody do it so effectively before or since.

I had always liked "The Rising," but my appreciation for it grew when I attended an Obama rally and they literally played the same three songs over and over while we waited for him to appear ("Beautiful Day" by U2 and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" by Stevie Wonder were the other two). It seemed as if Springsteen had written it for just such an occasion.

I've always loved "I Am Mine." I think it might be their best song since their Vitalogy album, which was the last of their grunge sound. There's something very relaxing and comforting about it.

"Pantomime" has been a staple of Incubus' live shows for a number of years now (a la Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter"), but was not widely available as a studio recording until it was included on the rarities disc of their recent greatest hits and rarities collection, Monuments and Melodies. It's quite good, really. I don't know why it wasn't recorded earlier and released as a single or something.

I wish there were more songs like this one in the contemporary mainstream. Rarely do you hear contemporary guitarists go nuts like on "Ball and Biscuit," a seven-minute blues stomp that could pass for a cut from Led Zeppelin's second album.

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace is one of my all-time favorite albums. During my sophomore year of college my roommate and I would drive around Miami in his convertible with this album blasting every time we got in the car for like six months. I love that sense of nostalgia. "Come Alive" is my favorite track from the album.

I had always thought of John Mayer as a bit of a joke until a friend of mine recommended his album Continuum to me. I thought it was a good album, but I couldn't help but notice that something seemed missing. I soon found out that what was missing was the energy he brought to his live shows, where Mayer is jaw-droppingly good. "Vultures," however, is the song that made me take him seriously, and is my favorite studio recording of his.

Normally I don't approve of sampling, but I've always loved how Eminem of all people sampled Aerosmith's "Dream On." Not only did the band allow him to sample the song, but guitarist Joe Perry recorded a new solo for Eminem to use.

It's quite startling to me that most great guitar riffs were written many years ago, and yet somehow the riff for "Seven Nation Army" didn't surface until 2003.

This one was tailor made for Rage to cover, and like their covers of "Maggie's Farm" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad," it's a complete reworking and surpasses the greatness of the original by the Rolling Stones.

Another pick from the Monuments and Melodies rarities disc. As with "Pantomime," I feel like this could have been a big rock radio hit.

The Rising, written and recorded in response to the 9/11 attacks, is probably the greatest album of the decade. It may not quite live up to Born in the U.S.A. or Born to Run, but it's not like music in general this past decade measured up to the music of previous decades, either. "Lonesome Day," the first song on the album, leaves an indelible mark.

The Foos are known mostly for their louder material, but I have always preferred their more quiet and intimate songs. "Stranger Things Have Happened" is a good example of their acoustic sound, with a tremendous solo to boot.

I was a fan of the White Stripes, so when I heard Jack White's new band, the Raconteurs, had an album out I picked it up without hesitation. I wasn't very impressed with it, and I barely listened to it over the next three years. However, "Steady, As She Goes" has received a lot more attention recently, and I was surprised by how much I liked it. I feel like I hear this song everywhere now, and I never complain when I do.

I have always preferred A Perfect Circle to Tool, singer Maynard James Keenan's other band. APC's songs are more melodic and feature lusher soundscapes, and their songs are more single-friendly. It's the well-layered vocals during the chorus, however, that make "Weak and Powerless" stand out as one of their best.

I've always loved "Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine." What an awesome blast of energy.

My favorite guitar solo of the decade, hands down.

One of the more thoughtful lyrical compositions in recent years. It certainly fits the tone for the film Into the Wild: "Society, you're a crazy breed / I hope you're not lonely, without me / Society, have mercy on me / I hope you're not angry, if I disagree."

I was never that into Radiohead until I took advantage of their offer to download In Rainbows from the website for free (well, for whatever price you wanted). I was very impressed, to say the least. "All I Need" has always been my favorite track from the album.

"Stan" was the first single that really showcased Eminem's creative genius. His first several singles demonstrated his ability for humorous satire, and they were quite clever (and were misunderstood by people who weren't interested in taking him seriously), but with "Stan," the controversy surrounding Eminem increased even more so. A truly creative song about a deranged fan who, like his critics, doesn't understand that Eminem's lyrics are greatly exaggerated and are intended to be taken satirically rather than literally.

I still remember first hearing this on the radio. At a time when the alternative rock scene was dominated by untalented and uninteresting acts like Linkin Park and Nickelback, along came the White Stripes and "Fell in Love with a Girl." What a breath of fresh air. Years from now we'll look back on bands like the White Stripes and other garage rock bands like we look upon the punk bands of the 1970s: they stripped down the sound of the current music and got back to basics.

Another one of my favorites from Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. This one's about how Courtney Love, who Dave Grohl apparently blames for Kurt Cobain's suicide, dragged Cobain away from Grohl and introduced him to drugs, setting about the demise of both Cobain and Nirvana.

If you're a big Pearl Jam fan like I am, you would be pretty excited about the prospect of Eddie Vedder covering any Bob Dylan song, let alone "All Along the Watchtower." It's not as good as Hendrix's version (which admittedly is an all-time classic), but it's damn good.

I don't know if I'll be able to shake the fact that a guy with a similar voice (Eddie Vedder) once sang an altogether different song with the same title, but Springsteen's version certainly carries a lot of weight, considering what it's about. (An NYC firefighter contemplating suicide due to post-9/11 emptiness.)

I wasn't completely happy with the direction Incubus went with Light Grenades, but I immediately loved "Dig," which is easily the catchiest and most pop-conscious song they have ever done.

Back when everyone had the original Napster ten years ago, I didn't download a whole lot of songs (that was back in the days of really slow dial-up internet), and most of them were pretty bad, but "Judith" was one of them, and I loved it. Still do, in fact.

Hansard tends to overshadow Irglová in most of the Once duo's songs, but Irglová takes the lead in "If You Want Me." After becoming accustomed to Hansard's confident, assuring voice, it's a bit of a shock how fragile Irglová's voice seems at first. It's a nice counterpoint, really, and adds considerably to their range.

"Ballad of a Thin Man" has always been one of my favorite songs on Dylan's seminal album Highway 61 Revisited. I like this cover even better.

I first heard this one when it was featured in the video game Guitar Hero II. I may not be very impressed with the Guitar Hero games anymore (they got old pretty fast), but I still like to listen to "Life Wasted" and pretend I can play the wah-drenched solo.

An awesome, folk-tinged song. Give it a spin.

Wolfmother got old pretty fast, mostly because they aren't much more than a pretty good knockoff of a lot of classic rock bands, most notably Black Sabbath in terms of their overall presentation. (Don't believe me? Listen to "Woman" and tell me that doesn't sound just like "Roadhouse Blues" by the Doors, with a little "Walk this Way" thrown in.) They may not be very original, and the production is kind of terrible, but "White Unicorn" is still a fun one to rock out to.

I love U2, but I feel like their best work is well behind them now. And while I thought their last three albums were good, I didn't like them as much as everyone else did. I couldn't help but think, "Well, this stuff is good for a band that's this old, but..." The only song that really got my attention was "Crumbs from Your Table," from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

I really do owe my dad an apology for making him suffer through alternative rock radio in the early 2000s every time we were in the car. They played a lot of songs from the '90s, and while most of that was awesome, they played what was new at the time even more (naturally), and almost all of the new stuff was terrible. I still remember one day when they played "Universally Speaking," my dad said, "That almost sounds like real music there." And he never, ever complimented the music I was listening to back in those days. I wasn't a fan of the Chili Peppers back then like I am now, so I didn't end up taking "Universally Speaking" seriously for several more years, but I now see that my dad was on to something.

Probably the Foo Fighters' most gentle song since "Big Me."

The video for "Megalomaniac" may be the most absurd thing I've ever seen in my life. It's no wonder it got banned from MTV for being anti-Bush. Check it out on YouTube or something. It's a trip.

Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello's acoustic solo career has been a bit uneven so far, but I really loved "The Lights Are On in Spidertown." I don't quite know how to describe it.

A Perfect Circle's Emotive album consists almost entirely of covers, and by far my favorite is their cover of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks." I've always had a somewhat personal connection to it: when I was a senior in high school I went to New Orleans nine months after Hurricane Katrina to do some house-gutting work, so I prefer APC's haunting version to Zeppelin's kick-ass original.

"Punch Drunk" was originally recorded for their last album, Light Grenades, but didn't make the cut, which is somewhat surprising to me, since it would have added a lot more weight to the album as a whole. Thankfully, it surfaced on the rarities disc of their Monuments and Melodies compilation and finally saw the light of day.

I've actually seen Kings of Leon in concert. "Use Somebody" was one of the highlights, for sure.

You might be a bit perplexed with my inclusion of this one, but with "Kim," Eminem completely shattered the boundaries he had set with his single "Stan." "Kim" is so aggressively violent and profound it takes your breath away, but It also set a new benchmark for what music can be. While his hatred for his wife seems quite real, it's juxtaposed with Eminem himself performing laughable vocals of Kim screaming back at him. I don't think I've ever heard anything so disturbing and darkly comical at the same time.

It's hard not to like "Mary's Place." I love it's celebratory nature.

"Videotape" is one of my favorite album closers. That piano is so shrill, so haunting.

Yet another Cash cover. The original is by Jimmie Rodgers, recorded in 1927 and released in 1928 as the first part of his "Blue Yodel" series.

When Incubus pursued the release of a greatest hits album, their record label approved it on the condition that they record two new songs for it. "Black Heart Inertia," which leads off the album, is one of those two new songs ("Midnight Swim" is the other). Not only is it very good, but it also manages to suggest that Incubus' best work may still be ahead of them.

I wasn't that into Nine Inch Nails until I downloaded their album The Slip from their website for free, a la Radiohead's In Rainbows. I didn't really give it a serious listen for quite a while, but once I did, I was seriously hooked on "Discipline," a less devastating version of their earlier song "Closer." It taps into that same feeling of powerlessness.

Thirteenth Step just might be my favorite-sounding album of all time. I love the sense of space and atmosphere (something really lacking in today's music) A Perfect Circle focuses on, and "A Stranger" is a great example of it. I don't know if I've ever heard an acoustic guitar pierce through the abyss like on this song.

There's not a whole lot from the indie scene on my list, mostly because I'm just not that into it. I'm slowly becoming more and more familiar with it, however, and one song that stood out immediately to me was Arcade Fire's "No Cars Go."

I don't know where Glen Hansard keeps getting all of these really powerful songs from, but I hope he doesn't run out of them any time soon.

I tried to listen to Robert Johnson some years ago, but the quality was terrible and the music itself was pretty antiquated. A couple years ago I gave a proper listen to Clapton's Me and Mr. Johnson, an album consisting entirely of Robert Johnson covers, and I loved it. It made an entire genre of music (the blues) accessible to me for the first time. I had been listening to blues-based classic rock and rock and roll for some time, but not the real stuff, not the hardcore. Blues is like jazz: it plays by its own rules and is entirely different from popular music. If you play guitar, are interested in playing guitar, or are interested in understanding the roots of American popular music, I would recommend listening to Me and Mr. Johnson, as it is a great entry point into the blues. "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day" is my favorite track.

NOTE: The clip provided is actually from a different song on the album, "When You've Got a Good Friend." Sorry about that.

Another one from Rage's covers album Renegades. "Microphone Fiend," originally by the legendary hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, leads off the album.

"Aqueous Transmission" is probably my favorite album closer of all time. The main riff is done on a Chinese instrument called a pipa. It's a pretty nice effect. This is probably the most peaceful song I've ever heard.

I will readily admit that I can't understand a single word of this song (Thom Yorke is a bit of a mumbler), but I love the way it climaxes in a swirling, somewhat baffling ending, leaving you wondering what the hell you just listened to.

You won't hear many songs like this one. The second verse is probably my all-time favorite Eminem verse.

The best-known version of "Peace, Love and Understanding" is probably Elvis Costello's, but A Perfect Circle's cover of Brinsley Schwarz's original is staggeringly haunting and beautiful. Highly recommended.

If it seemed like "The Pretender" was everywhere a few years ago, that's because it was. "The Pretender" broke a record by staying at #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart for a whopping 18 weeks. For some reason, people just didn't get tired of it. I know I can relate to that. The interesting thing, though, is that while on paper "The Pretender" seems like it would be the biggest alternative rock radio hit in history, the audience for alternative rock had shrunken so considerably that the song's lasting impact on the genre will probably be pretty minor.

There's a real sense on sadness at the beginning of "Two Tongues," almost certainly indicative of the real-life breakup between Hansard and Irglová, but by the end of the song it feels like the wound has somehow healed. Not since Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album have I heard such awesome breakup material. Truly a beautiful song.

I'm still not sure why Springsteen rushed to record and release Working On a Dream so quickly after Magic. I didn't much care for the album, though I liked the title track immediately, if only for its catchiness and simplicity. It's really the only song from the album that sticks out in my memory.

"Slow Cheetah" used to be my favorite song on Stadium Arcadium before I discovered "Hey." There are a lot of good songs on the album (there should be, considering there are 28 to choose from), but few are great. I think "Slow Cheetah" is pretty close to great.

I remember I heard this on the radio one time and the DJ commented, "I hate how that song just ends." I agree. "Are You In?" is one of those songs I wish would keep going and going.

I'm not sure when this was featured during the movie (it might have been towards the end or during the credits), but even though it doesn't stick out as much as "Falling Slowly" and "When Your Mind's Made Up," "Once" is still one of the film's most memorable songs.

This song is pretty much a bunch of nonsense, but it sure is fun to listen to.

It's interesting to me that after nearly 20 years of having a hugely successful career, Pearl Jam released "The Fixer," which has more pop appeal than anything else I've ever heard from them.

"Dark Eyes" was originally recorded by Bob Dylan for his 1985 album Empire Burlesque. I had never even heard of it until I heard this cover of it.

When I noticed that Jack White had recorded some songs for the Cold Mountain soundtrack, I couldn't help but get a little curious, as I had seen the movie, and I was pretty sure its music didn't even closely resemble the music of the White Stripes. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by White's top notch rendition of the traditional Appalachian folk song "Wayfaring Stranger." It was the first time I had ever liked music with a banjo.

Another pick from Me and Mr. Johnson. It's probably the most fun song on the album.

I remember there was a great deal of press for X & Y, Coldplay's third album, and a lot of the mainstream media were hailing Coldplay as "the next U2." Well, actually, many in the mainstream media were reporting that other people in the mainstream media were reporting that. Seems a bit empty now that I think about it, but you know how it goes. I don't think Coldplay ever reached the heights many were expecting, and I think their past two albums have been overproduced and overblown. Still, "Square One," the first track on X & Y, is quite marvelous. It's a bit slick for my taste, but so be it.

Yet another pick from the sprawling I'm Not There soundtrack, which consists of a whopping 33 Bob Dylan covers and a previously unreleased recording of "I'm Not There" by Bob Dylan and The Band. Hansard and Irglová's contribution is definitely one of the highlights.

My favorite album of all time is Make Yourself, Incubus' 1999 breakthrough. I was incredibly excited for new material, and "Wish You Were Here" was the lead single from Morning View, their 2001 follow-up. It was one of the bigger alternative hits of the decade, and it still manages to give me the excitement it once gave me about the promise of this young band from Southern California.

I've always liked how fresh this song sounds. I'm not quite sure what makes it sound that way.

Another gorgeous one from Strict Joy. Give it a go.

I got this album pretty recently and I liked it a lot. Some more favorites will emerge over time, but for now the first track will have to do as the sole representative on the list.

Audioslave turned out to be short-lived and mostly disappointing, but "Like a Stone" was one the biggest alternative hits of the decade, and is their best song. Tom Morello's guitar solo is one of the most memorable of the decade, in my opinion.

If you are a fan of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's versions of "Falling Slowly" and "When Your Mind's Made Up," you might want to consider looking into Hansard's band, The Frames, who recorded their own versions of those songs for their album The Cost. "Sad Songs" is my favorite song on the album after the two previously mentioned songs.

I bought Pete Yorn's Musicforthemorningafter CD when I was maybe thirteen or fourteen, and I still to this day have honestly not really given it its proper due. I bought it for his hits "Lose You" and "For Nancy," but the song that has stayed with me the longest is "Strange Condition."

This song reminds me a lot of Led Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dying" from their Physical Graffiti album. It has a similar riff and uses the slide piece heavily. And that's a good thing.

By the Way is my favorite Chili Peppers album. It's their most peaceful record, and unlike Stadium Arcadium and Californication, doesn't suffer from being too loud and compressed. (Not sure why.) "Venice Queen" is a great album closer, and is a good song to end the list on.