Thursday, November 15, 2018

Terrible Top 10s #1: 2000

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Hey guys, and I'm back again for another post! This is the start of a series I'll be doing on this blog called Terrible Top 10s, which is basically a top 10 list of anything based on my opinion. It can be of a year, an artist, an album, an era, or anything like that. I'll be doing a lot of these, so if you like this one then you're in good hands. Anyways, let's get into the first one!


INTRODUCTION

2000 was an amazing year for music. We saw the dominating comeback of Santana, the first time in a while where the #1 song of the year didn't actually hit #1, and the release of lots of great music by many great artists. And this post is going to acknowledge those songs by making a top 10 list out of them. However, there is one issue with this year I have that will affect this post: A lot of the time, if I'm doing a top 10 list for a year, like this, I will only use songs that were on the year-end list for that year for certain reasons. But I will not be doing that for this list, because a lot of the songs that make 2000 such a great year weren't huge hits and didn't make that list. So while most of the songs from this list did appear on the year-end list, there are a couple on here that weren't on there, and that's okay because they're great either way. Just putting that out there if you're confused by a couple of songs on the list. Enough said, let's get to it!












10. Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
I was pretty close to not including this song considering all of the goodies that we got throughout the year 2000. But I remembered how much I enjoyed it and how much of a good job I thought these guys did on it, and that made me change my mind. If you listen to this song, 9 times out of 10 the first thing that catches your ears is that catchy guitar riff that starts at the very beginning and continues throughout the whole song. That is what hooked me in from the first listen and still plays a huge part in making the song what it is. I also liked the acoustic guitar that comes in after a couple bars of the main riff in the intro. It adds to the song some as well. It stays at a low energy level throughout the verses, when those great vocals come in. But when the chorus hits, that's when it gets truly amazing. I can't really explain why, it just feels like that to me. When that hits by the first chorus, that amazing vibe stays with me for the rest of the song, which is what makes it what it is for me. It also makes me miss how good music used to be, mainly because the guitars (which are very rarely used in music nowadays) are so good here. It's not quite in my top 100 songs ever, but it is good enough that I can say it's one of my favorite songs of this amazing year.








9. Everclear - Wonderful
I might get some hate for this choice, just because not everyone loves this band. But I do, and I thought this song was good enough to include here. It might not click with you from the first listen, as that was certainly the case with me. But when I did finally get into it, it wasn't just any other song to me. First of all, I think this might be Art Alexakis's best vocal performance, even with the existence of songs like "I Will Buy You A New Life" and "Everything To Everyone". The other thing is the story behind it. Wikipedia says that the song is about, "a divorce as perceived by a child. Each verse of the song corresponds to a different stage of the divorce. The first verse describes the child hearing their parents fight as they try to block it out, remembering what it was like before their parents began to fight. The second verse describes the child going to school and pretending to their friends that everything is all right at home, despite what is heard in the first verse. The bridge describes the child lashing out at their parents, not wanting to comprehend that their parents have begun to grow apart and date other people." It's not necessarily something that does anything for me, but I'm really impressed at how well it was put into song form here, especially with each verse being about a different stage of the situation. And like I'd say with a lot of songs, when everything here is fit together, the song sounds just like its title: Wonderful! Overall great song, I wish I could put it higher, but that shows how great of a year 2000 was I guess.








8. Eminem - The Real Slim Shady
It might be a little surprising that this is only #8 on this list, because it sees like I would love it way more. But to be honest, I was on the fence about whether or not to include this in the first place, and I did. So here we are. Anyway, I think just one word can describe this song: Iconic. It sounds that way when listened to, and it is that way. The verses aren't supposed to mean too much, as the song's Wikipedia page says that its genre is "comedy hip hop". So if you think that what he said about all of the celebrities he mentioned was bothering, it's just a joke, so it's fine. The chorus is what's iconic. It's very catchy and very easy to get stuck in your head. In fact, it's so iconic that it was parodied and covered so many times by many different TV shows, music artists, and even by political figures and sports teams. Very cool. I think the beat is fun as well, considering that it's been used for many different things, too. The song wouldn't really be the same without it. Other than that, there's the video, which won two VMAs because of how well it imitated the song. I like it and think it represents the song's lyrics very well. So in short, this song is iconic and sounds very good with everything put together, and while this isn't Em's best song, it's one worth listening to.








7. Santana/Rob Thomas - Smooth
It shouldn't be a surprise to see this, considering it spent a lot of weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and is ranked as the 2nd-best performing song of all-time by them. And just one listen can present all of the icony that lives in this song. There's that guitar riff that makes the song sound really catchy, and the fact that it's a pretty simple love song. But what I enjoy about it is rather than someone like George Michael that was hugely popular in the 80s, Santana chose a much better 90s rock vocalist to be in this song, and in my opinion Rob Thomas handled this song better than anyone else who could've been picked. And I'm not just saying that because it made his band more popular, he actually made this song a lot better than it would've been otherwise. And that says a lot. Aside from all this I'm unsure of what else to say. It's a very cool song that deserved every bit of its success it got. I would've put it higher, but 2000 was a stacked year.








6. Incubus - Drive
Yes, I know, this song technically shouldn't be on this list, because it peaked in 2001 and was pretty high on that year-end list. But it was released closer to 2000 than 2001, and I don't see myself doing a top 10 list of 2001 anytime soon, so I'll go ahead and put it on here. As for the actual song, I think the vocals provided by Brandon Boyd do a lot here. He is very talented and definitely puts that talent to good use in his band's songs. I think those vocals added with the cool acoustics play a huge part in making this song so good. And like a lot of songs, the chorus is the best part here. Really good song to sum up. It's between this and "Megalomaniac" for my favorite Incubus song, and I don't know which to pick because they're both so good, so let's leave it at that.








5. Kid Rock - Only God Knows Why
Kid Rock shows up on a top list of mine yet again. I could get some hate here because not too many people outside of myself are fans of him. But I don't care. I love this song. The first 2-3 minutes don't really do much for me, which is why it took me a while to get into this one. But when Kid Rock's tone of voice changes, it makes the song a LOT more exciting, so much that it made me love it a lot. I don't even know why, that's just the way it is. The best part is the "ONLY GOD KNOWS WHY" part for sure. I can sort of see why some people would hate it. Not just because it's Kid Rock, but he sings about some questionable stuff in it too. But the song sounds great to me and that's all that matters! I'm glad it was somewhat of a hit because there weren't too many Kid Rock songs that crossed over to the mainstream. But this song is great so I'm glad it's one of the ones that did.








4. Creed - Higher
Here's another song by an artist that is not too well-liked among music fans. But unlike with Kid Rock, I never really understood the hate for Creed. They sound just like any other awesome hard rock band to me. And while I do like their biggest hit "With Arms Wide Open" to some extent, I'm very glad that this song appeared higher on the 2000 year end list because it's much better in my opinion. Just like a lot of songs I like, it doesn't really do anything personal for me. It's just a fun little listen that's hard to get tired of. It's very upbeat and contains a lot of energy throughout, which makes a great song for me 99% of the time. Scott Stapp also sounds pretty good in here. So yeah, love this song, love the energy in it, and love the fact that it was a pretty big hit. It's probably my favorite Creed song because it's the one I'm most familiar with. But I'm not sure. Maybe I could do a top 10 for them someday and see.








3. 3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
If I'm being totally honest, there's really only one reason why I put this song this high on the list. But we'll get to that in a minute. The song itself sounds really amazing. The riff that goes on throughout sounds really nice (and it's easy to play on a guitar, too). I enjoy Brad Arnold's voice throughout the song as well. Additionally, the whole "superman" thing sounds nice in the chorus. But yeah, all that sounds cool, but that's not too much of why I put it this high. Let's flash back to summer 2017 and see. I was a dumb teenager, like a lot of people are at that age, so I was right in the peak of my trap-rap phase then. By that I mean I literally only listened to trap music and didn't really have anything from other genres I could call a favorite. My favorite artists were Migos, Kodak Black, Lil Uzi Vert, Drake, you know, those kind of people. Despite these obsessions, however, I decided to do the rankdown for the 2000s decade-end chart which was hosted on Pulse Music Boards. Sometime in July of that year, the day came for me to start listening to the songs on it, and when I shuffled the playlist, I'm pretty sure this was the first song that came up on it. I didn't think I'd enjoy very many of the alternative rock songs on the list, but while listening to this song, all I was thinking was stuff like, "Holy hell, this is so good!" But little did I know that this discovery would be the earliest signs of my shift from loving only trap music to loving and listening to pretty much all kinds of music. Anyways, let's not get too much more into that, because there could be another time where that discussion would be useful. Let's talk about this song. But yeah, the song sort of means something to me because of what happened there, so much that I still try to listen to it often today. And that's why I have it in the top 3 of my list. In a normal year, this could've been #1, but 2000 was not a normal year, so there are two songs released around then that are slightly better. So let's talk about those two songs.








2. Savage Garden - Crash and Burn
I was so unbelievably close to putting this at #1 on here, just because it sounds so cool. But even though I didn't, it's still a pretty good song. And I don't really know what brought me to love it in the first place, if I'm honest. I just remember that I started to love it and a few other songs from them one day. Now onto the song. I think the production is really cool here, which is one thing I like about Savage Garden. They have some pretty catchy songs out there, some of which have what's in the background as the highlight in my opinion. This song is no exception. The actual music in this stands out a whole lot, just as much as extremely catchy songs such as "I Want You". Also, like I said in my introductory post, I think Darren Hayes is a very talented vocalist that brings light to songs that wouldn't be as good without him singing in it. That's why I love songs like "Truly Madly Deeply", and it's part of why I love songs like this. To add, the meaning behind this track isn't something that captivated me from the start, but it is worth taking a look at. This song's Wikipedia page has a whole section on the meaning of this song, which says that the song is about, "the difficult search for solace and meaningful relationships in a cold world, peaking in a chorus that argues it is fine to 'crash and burn' during tough times in order to get over heartache and pain." Now that's just cool. And remember in my introductory post when I said I love songs that were written by someone who seems to have a pretty high intelligence level? Well, this is an example of that. Another thing is that according to Wikipedia, Darren said once that the lyrics of the song are, "all the words I wished someone would have said to me during the period after the first Savage Garden album." Basically, he's writing a song with words he really wanted someone to tell him during that time period. Not everyone out there is capable of that, so that's pretty cool. So yeah, I think I've said enough. This is a pretty genius song for sure, and it is performed with great vocals over a very catchy and well-produced instrumental, which always makes for a great song for me. I know that "I Knew I Loved You" was the biggest hit off of Affirmation, but this song is much, much better than that in my opinion, so I'm glad it got some recognition.






...so nine songs and explanations later, we are moments away from the #1 spot on this list, which is what I would call the best song released in or just before the year 2000. As much as I love all of these nine songs I just talked about, this masterpiece of a song just barely overtakes all of them to gain the title of my favorite song of 2000. But what could it be? Could it be a random one-hit wonder song that blew up the charts when not many people expected it to? Could it be what Billboard called the number one song of 2000? Could it make an artist double up on this list, or even better, form an all-Savage Garden top 2? Well maybe...



Image result for thinking emoji

Image result for thinking emoji





...you're wrong.








1. Method Man & Redman - Da Rockwilder
Yep, you read that right. This seemingly random underground rap song is one that I would call my favorite song of an awesome year for music. But I don't care. THIS SONG IS SO GOOD! It might not sound good to you because rap isn't the most loved genre out there, but it is definitely a score for me. And the thing is, unlike the other two songs in the top 3, it doesn't have any special meaning or personal connection that I care about. It's just...fun! The beat is fun, the flow is fun, and the high energy level makes it even more fun! And I love fun songs, so this is a perfect fit for my playlists. In fact, the only slight problem I have with it is that it's really short, at only around 2 minutes and 15 seconds long. But I just turn that into a positive thing, as that makes it easier to listen to the song multiple times in a row. I always feel so good when listening to it because it's so upbeat and fun. The beat, which was produced by Rockwilder (hence the song's title) helps with that a lot. When it goes past that intro and breaks into the song, that's cool. It flows nicely throughout Method Man's verse, which I'd like to take a look at because I love his lyricism.

"Microphone checka, swingin' sword lecture
Closin' down the sector, supreme neck protector
Better warn 'em kid, Mr. Meth's a boiling pot
About to blow his lid from the pressure, too hot for TV
For sheesy, too many wanna be hard be easy
It's all N'together, going all out together
It don't take much to please me
Still homes I'm never satisfied like the Stones
We don't condone bitin' see them skull and crossbones"

This is just so cool. He uses all the right rhymes and puts them together perfectly in what is a perfect example of a rap verse. And oh yeah, this is just a sample of what he has to offer. The verse continues on with just as good of rhymes and just as good of a flow. But things really get lit when Redman comes in and starts delivering his verse. Here's a sample of that:

"Yo, I was going 2 buck we roam, cellular phones
Doc-Meth back in the flesh, blood and bones
Don't condone, spend bank loans on homegrown
Suckers break like Turbo and Ozone
When I, grab the broom
Moon-walk platoon hawk my goons bark
Leave you in a blue lagoon lost (true)
Three nines in the glove with Masu, D-Don and The Gov'
Right behind on a bus"

Pretty cool, huh? Well, the song is even better than these verses sound like, because it also has that fire beat and that amazing buildup throughout. Redman's vocals are also amazing in his verse. These things all flow with each other extremely well, and like I've said many times before, this all makes for a pretty awesome song. It's just the type of song that I can listen to on repeat for extended periods of time, and get hype to pretty much whenever. You might not love it, but I definitely do. Thank you, Red and Meth, for making this good of a song for me to listen to whenever. I really appreciate that.






And with that, we are now through with this post! If you made it this far, then thank you for reading it, because I love every fan I get here. If you are curious as to what I'm talking about when I discuss the good qualities of these songs, you can easily listen to them via the YouTube embeds I provided when introducing each song. You don't have to do that, but if you're searching for some awesome songs to listen to, then you've come to the right place. I'm not sure when I'll get another post out, so until then, thanks for reading and have a great rest of your day! :)

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