Top 10 Lists Are Hard, So I Made a Top 20 List - It Was Still Hard
If you like a lot of music and a lot of musicians, making a Top 10 list is hard. But it can also be fun. But then hard. But then kind of fun again. But then you remember the things you left out and think "oh man, I should've put that in...but then what would I take off to make room for it?" As with many of life's tasks - fun or not - you must, at some point, cut yourself off and say, "ummmm...good enough (?)" and move on.
This sentiment deserves some context. For the last few years, The Current (89.3 FM), a Twin Cities-based public radio station (Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A., for any international readers), has done "The 893 Essential [something-something]" lists as defined by its listeners. Listeners go to the website and submit their own Top 10 list. After station personnel tally the votes, the list is broadcast in the order of votes received for each entry. They air the selected songs during their periodic fund drives. Participants are entered into a drawing for a prize. It's fun. But hard. But I still join in.
The current (heh) "Essentials" list is "songs since 2000." Like the others I've done, it proved a challenge. There are so many options, but you only get 10 slots. I made a list, wrung my hands, then submitted it. After clicking "submit," I had second thoughts. But it was too late. But then I remembered it's not actually a big deal. And then I remembered I have a blog where I write about this sort of thing.
So here's what we're gonna do; I'll put in my Top 10 list below, then expand it to be a Top 20 list. It will still be missing a lot, but it's more than nothing. And more than ten. I'll describe briefly why I chose each song. These songs are not in order of preference - if making the list was hard for me, ranking would be agonizing.
If you feel so inclined, please don't hesitate to give me your Top 10 (or 20) songs since 2000 in the comments (and/or submit them to The Current). It'll be fun. But hard. But fun. But hard.
Okay, okay, okay. Let's do it.
The First 10
Here's what I ended up submitting to The Current. Format is [Artist - Song].
1. The Great Lake Swimmers - Changing Colours
11. TV on the Radio - Seeds
This sentiment deserves some context. For the last few years, The Current (89.3 FM), a Twin Cities-based public radio station (Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A., for any international readers), has done "The 893 Essential [something-something]" lists as defined by its listeners. Listeners go to the website and submit their own Top 10 list. After station personnel tally the votes, the list is broadcast in the order of votes received for each entry. They air the selected songs during their periodic fund drives. Participants are entered into a drawing for a prize. It's fun. But hard. But I still join in.
The current (heh) "Essentials" list is "songs since 2000." Like the others I've done, it proved a challenge. There are so many options, but you only get 10 slots. I made a list, wrung my hands, then submitted it. After clicking "submit," I had second thoughts. But it was too late. But then I remembered it's not actually a big deal. And then I remembered I have a blog where I write about this sort of thing.
So here's what we're gonna do; I'll put in my Top 10 list below, then expand it to be a Top 20 list. It will still be missing a lot, but it's more than nothing. And more than ten. I'll describe briefly why I chose each song. These songs are not in order of preference - if making the list was hard for me, ranking would be agonizing.
If you feel so inclined, please don't hesitate to give me your Top 10 (or 20) songs since 2000 in the comments (and/or submit them to The Current). It'll be fun. But hard. But fun. But hard.
Okay, okay, okay. Let's do it.
The First 10
Here's what I ended up submitting to The Current. Format is [Artist - Song].
1. The Great Lake Swimmers - Changing Colours
- One of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. I originally thought it was a love song, but then I went to see the Great Lake Swimmers in concert and front man Tony Dekker introduced it as "a song about dying." Does that say something about me?
- An exquisite, ethereal song about caring for someone deeply, despite the costs.
- Soul meets guitar-driven rock in this modern song with 1960s/'70s sensibilities, which also serves as the theme song for HBO's Big Little Lies. I've linked to the 3-and-a-half minute radio edit, but the full 10-minute epic is worth it.
- From singer-songwriter José González's band Junip, "Line of Fire" features the exquisite use of nylon-string guitar and keyboards (organ and mellotron) to build to a dramatic climax.
- Beautifully blended, catchy pop-rock piece. Ivy is so good at this kind of song.
- If I'm not careful, there are some artists who could take over this list. Jenny Lewis is one of them. She writes some of the best songs about relationships and their dysfunctions.
- If Nick Drake has been reincarnated, I have reason to believe it is in the person of Alexi Murdoch. "All My Days" is a beautiful old-school folk-rock piece with tastefully modern production values.
- Nobody does good, sad-sack indie rock better than sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone; this song exemplifies it in all its melancholy glory.
- The Decembrists would also eat up multiple entries on this list if I let them. I was torn between this song and the epic "Mariner's Revenge." I ended up choosing "Make You Better" because the guitar-driven arrangement so perfectly matches the lyrics' emotional effects.
- St. Vincent - aka Annie Clarke - penned this unusual, electronic take on people putting their lives on full display in the digital age. It's weird and wonderful.
11. TV on the Radio - Seeds
- The title track for TV on the Radio's brilliant 2014 album smoothly blends electronic and organic sounds with well crafted lyrics about a growing-but-complicated love.
- Evocative song about being beholden to a love that you may or may not want, but that you can't get rid of.
- Beck is often an odd duck, musically speaking - and that's not necessarily a bad thing - but he really pulls off this lovely, straightforward folk-rock piece about loneliness.
- The moving opening track to Bon Iver's brilliant self-titled album was inspired by front man Justin Vernon comforting a film director who he was meeting about a music video. The director had just learned of the death of his friend Heath Ledger.
- Sad but gorgeous piece about the loss of a father to ill health. "Sad but gorgeous" applies to any number of Cowboy Junkies songs. Listen to this one with tissues nearby.
- With its slamming bass, acrobatic guitar work, and well-placed horn section, this chaotic and epic rocker is reminiscent of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" while still being its own thing.
- Robyn Hitchcock is a delightfully prolific absurdist songwriter. "Raymond and the Wires" is unusually conventional by Robyn's standards; it's a beautiful expression of his relationship with his father, through the story of a childhood trolley ride.
- This tender ode to imperfect heroes is one of many standout tracks from R.E.M.'s swan song album, Collapse Into Now. This song ranks among R.E.M.'s best work.
- The magnificent and sexy title track to Feist's 2017 album, Pleasure, is at times spare and haunting, and at others, a hard-driving rocker.
- This song was everywhere in 2011. It's a catchy and musically complex breakup song. What I really like about it is that it's not a one-sided affair; thanks to Kimbra's verse, you get both perspectives, which is a rarity in breakup songs.
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