I don't think Mitch or anyone else was suggesting this by (quite sensibly) limiting the scope of this particular thread to one format.

Well obv most of those were tongue in cheek.

i came in here to post "steal my sunshine" but montana beat me to it

I thought you were only posting in one thread today.

i mean how irrelevant did that song make stuff like LFO "summer girls" and jumpin jumpin/there u go look?

also i want whoever was pimping "astrolounge" last week (i think it was derek) to come in here and defend "THEN THE MORNING COMES"

"Paper Planes"

"Steal My Sunshine" was decidedly 90s, and I can't believe Montana's even heard of it

"Crazy" is sort of like "Hey Ya!" in that its success wasn't that influential on other songs per se, but its success was important in itself because it represented a breaking down in genre barriers and radio formats, which is definitely a sort of larger trend of the iPod generation or whatever.

Great song though it is, I don't see much of a defense for "It Wasn't Me" being important--aside from the fact that Shaggy talks weird there's really not much to connect it to Sean Paul or the rest of the dancehall breakout (has more in common with those Nelly / Ja Rule hits with a sweet R&B chorus hook to complement the abrasive verses, if anything), and Shaggy had hits just as big during the 90s anyways.

It's not really as obvious when you think when some people are submitting really ridiculous answers with a straight face.


why

I think its success is a solid argument for the legal mp3, when albums are charting in the top 10 with measly amounts of shipped copies nowadays.

EDIT: Wait, no.. this doesn't make sense...

From Wikipedia:


Also From Wikipedia:

By forcing the options in the thread to just singles, he is effectively limiting Ent's argument.

There's no such thing as an "important" single in modern pop/rock. Albums are important. The list is just some of my favorites.

Fair enough, although it seems more like an "interesting regionally important single released this decade" rather than one of the "most important singles released this decade."


There are other existing threads (or new threads could be created) that would allow Ent to discuss influential albums/videos/live performances etc. Mitchell is in no way "limiting" anyone by dedicating this thread to singles.

I definitely feel like "Bohemian Like You" was ahead of some sort of curve, I'm just not sure which one

Its impact to music as a whole is pretty apparent as it was platinum worldwide and that they were actually much more popular in Europe than in the states.

In honor of the late Beetlebum, I nominate The Shock of the Lightning for your consideration.

So it's this decades 'Blue' by Eiffel 65?

Justice Vs. Simian "We Are Your Friends" - birth of blog-house?

lol

This is true of a lot of singles every year, so I don't really see how it strengthens your argument at all.

A few off the top of my head because I can come up with a TON. Multi-tasking around the house right now:

Freelance Hellraiser-A Stroke of Genie-us

Busted down the door for mash-ups and paved the way for Go Home Productions' comissioned full length album, The Grey Album, Girl Talk's career and a million other DJ's.


Sean Paul-Get Busy

Did this go to #1? Can't be bothered to double check, but I'm pretty sure it did or it peaked at #2. Made the Diwali riddim the hot beat for the year and helped to pave the way for the ubiquity of the Coolie the following year. Reggae/dancehall music always seems to get a revival at least once a decade. This was the first major firing shot.

Franz Ferdinand-Take Me Out

The White Stripes and The Strokes helped indie to crossover, but this song made it official with its frequent appearances in ads and stadiums. High school kids all across the land now had a new soundtrack.




I think I might have said something about Astro Lounge not too long ago. While I will defend that song and the album as a whole to death, I will no do it in this thread.

"All The Things She Said" by t.A.t.U - Got America talking about teenage lesbians.

T-Pain "I'm Sprung" - beginning of autotune madness in hip hop.

I'm kind of skeptical of a few comments in this thread that say things like this or consolidated, proved, established, whatever. I think that's a lot harder to justify as important than something like a White Stripes song that was the initial stimulus instead.


How much of America was really aware of this song though?


I can see the argument for this one, my only hesitation is that we're at the peak of that trend right now so I'm Sprung's importance may be mangified in a way that it will not be in a few years (I guess that's hard to avoid though).

It was a pretty big hit, and a centerpiece of the MTV Music Awards performances that year. Plus, it was #1 in countries all over the world. Obviously the US market is the most important to most bands/musicians, but if we're talking about overall influence, I'd probably put more emphasis on worldwide influence than you are.

2001

The Strokes - "Hard To Explain" and The White Stripes - "Hotel Yorba"



Now this is where it gets interesting. I can't think of any two bands that made an impact as large as these two based on the NME. One could argue that The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and even Arctic Monkeys got a leg up from the paper but the compared to this it was nothing, for starters these two bands weren't British. I remember getting the two front cover issues (and that Elbow were bumped from The Strokes one, setting them back from following Coldplay and Doves into the big leagues they have only joined with their most recent album.) Although The White Stripes got play from John Peel in the run up to the 'blunk music' articles that ran in the tabloids following their performances in London it was the June and August covers that really caused the buzz. Although both bands don't really sound that similar it was the coolness, the stripped down nature of the music and even the word 'The' at the start of the bands names that got noticed. Yes, it wasn't until 2003 that both bands began to make the inroads back home and start scoring top tens in the UK with singles but this was really the firing of the gun that would lead to Rough Trade signing The Libertines, the likes of The Vines, BRMC and The Hives joining the 'New-Rock Revolution' and would lead, eventually to the myriad of guitar bands that can now get airplay on this side of the Atlantic, make the top of the charts with debut releases, headline festivals and have propelled the frenetic live scene that exists.

Two of the most important singles of the decade for sure, there is one more batch of two I'd put above them for the Indie / Rock sphere and they join us next year.

Daniel Bedingfield - "Gotta Get Thru This



'What?' I guess you are thinking right now. Let me endeavour to explain, there is an argument for choosing Craig David's "Fill Me In", So Solid Crew, early The Streets etc as the representative for garage / 2-step from this part of the decade (I'd go for "Re-Rewind" if it wasn't 1999). The difference with this one is not only catchier and funkier than many, it was produced by someone with no real sway in the club scene, with their own PC and microphone (with the Reason software). Not since White Town had a bedroom DJ made such an impact. It's success in the UK and even the US and the story behind it's creation make it an important one. Unlike the So Solid Crew and Streets singles it managed to get commercial radio play (the former still did of course make number one) without setting itself up for ridicule in the same way that Craig David did. From here it wasn't that long a step for the record buying public to put The Streets to #1


Jay-Z - "Izzo [H.O.V.A]



Taken from Jay-Z's most acclaimed album, this is single is not just worth inclusion for it's display of Shawn Carter at the top his game lyrically (and doesn't he know it) displaying an artist at the absolute peak of his career, all the singles from the album are pretty much belters, but for the 'sped up chipmunk' signature production by Kanye West of the Michael Jackson sample which would of course allow Kanye to breakout as one of the biggest solo artists in the world right now.


*Nsnc - "Pop", Britney Spears - "I'm A Slave 4 U" and N*E*R*D* - "Lapdance"



The Mousekeeters had grow up eventually, while Bill mentioned Spear's "Oops..." earlier as being the moment she grew up , this is the moment which she solidify herself as a women and de facto sex object in both the song and the video. Not a massive hit but certainly one that generated as much talk as bigger hits. Likewise The Neptunes aquatic and fluid production on it is replicated on their "Lapdance" single and previous work with Jay-Z, Mystikal etc. It was working with the American pop-princess that saw the hip hop production sensibilities stretch across musical boundaries and give them thier own platform and not to forget that they helped Snoop Dogg to the biggest hits of his career. Likewise the Boy Band concept was becoming stale on both sides of the Atlantic while in the it trundled on in much the same format that served Boyzone and Take That until the arrival of Busted in the UK. In the US though the next stage was kicked off with the production work of BT on "Pop" that gave the band, and it's audience an edge as they all became old enough to drink and enter clubs. Not long after this Britney and Justin had split up and she slowly went off the rails, plummeting into tabloid fodder and with only the memory of "Toxic" to fall back on. While Justin would team up with Timberland to become one the biggest pop stars of his generation.

Hear'Say - "Pure And Simple"



Not so much musically or at all musically. But concept wise, as winners of the original Pop Stars which would go on to begat Pop Idol, American Idol and all the other variations across the world which have made the process of producing and manufacturing these acts more and more transparent and arguably a more popular form of entertainment than the end product.

Others from this year that I feel are important but not worth blurbing

Gorrilaz - "Clint Eastwood" (Re-inventing the supergroup by trying remain anonymous and behind cartoons. As well as mixing hip hop, pop and ska. Also the Ed Banger remix fits in with the 2step sound)

Enrique Iglesias -"Hero"
Shakira - "Whenever, Whereever"
A new appreciation for Latin American pop stars.

Daft Punk - "Digital Love"
Missy Elliot - "Get Ur Freak On"
Mary J. Blige - "Family Affair"
Shins - "New Slang"
Girls On Top – "We Don’t Give A Damn About Our Friends "

Never saw the Chips Ahoy video before now. The video makes me like the song even better.

Of course not but this board has about 143 threads on said subject.

Also I'd like to point out that some of the most influential pieces of music ever are singles like "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane", "Anarchy In The UK", "I Feel Love", "The Message" etc etc. None of those where designed with commercial success in mind nor to promote an album.

No-one's forcing anything, I wanted to talk about singles. Like I said above we have a thread about most influential albums every four months.

Here's some more that should be mentioned (coming from a mainstream perspective)

Jay-Z - 99 Problems
Coldplay - Yellow
50 Cent - In Da Club
Beyonce - Crazy In Love
Kanye West - Jesus Walks
Johnny Cash - Hurt
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
Missy Elliott - Work It
Eminem - Lose Yourself
Green Day - American Idiot
R. Kelly - Ignition

i agree w/ in da club. not only was it huge and inescapable as well as being responsible for jump starting 50 cent's career, but it also represented a passing of the torch. dre switched his focus and 50 cent claimed the spot once held by eminem as the king of the pop/rap world. 50 would later pass the torch in a similar way w/ 'love me or hate me', but for a year or two 50 cent was everywhere.

Excellent call on IZZO.



All interesting, but none of it says this song was important. Everyone you mention came up through the indie's on their own without the Dandy Warhols' help.

I mean, good song and all.

surprised you went with "Hotel Yorba" and "Hard to Explain" over "Last Nite" and "Fell in Love With a Girl," Mitch--over here, at least, "Yorba" was inconsequential at best and "Explain" didn't get too much airplay until after "Last Nite," don't think.

Basement Jaxx - "Romeo" / Daft Punk - "Digital Love" (Those European dudes that dance people loved so much in the 90s start writing pop sons so effervescent that rock fans can't help broadening their horizons a little--maybe throw Kylie's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" into this category too)
Ja Rule & Jennifer Lopez - "I'm Real" (Alluded to this a little earlier in the "It Wasn't Me" discussion, but the puppy-love rap/R&B male/female duet that would dominate American pop music for the next two or three years gets its start here)
Linkin Park - "In the End" (Nu-metal goes melodic and crossover, Evanescense not far off)
dNTEL & Ben Gibbard - "(This Is) The Dream of Evan & Chan" (Laptop pop standard setter, Postal Service and Garden State soundtrack shortly to follow)
Darude - "Sandstorm" (Trance makes the transition from being the musical backbone of US rave culture to being mostly relegated to ringtones and video game soundtracks)

Last two probably something of a stretch. JEW's "The Middle" not a bad call. Was Peaches' "Fuck the Pain Away" '01? That should probably be included somewhere. And Eve's "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," maybe.

I was toying with the theory that David Gray's "Babylon" ushered in the James Blunts, Daniel Powters, John Mayers and Five for Fightings of the decade. But then I realized that there will always be wussy white man ballads, and they will always play them on VH1.


but I did come across this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7518881.stm
which labels these songs as "wallpaper" songs

True, FiLWaG was a 2002 song that doesn't really help us out much. Those two were both just shy of the top 20 and although "12:51" and "Seven Nation Army" made #7 in 2003 the die had been cast.

I should have known it wasn't going to be 'Oi!'. Totally agree that this was the pop side of garage in a way that e.g. Wookie and MJ Cole kinda failed to achieve. It's also, once you get past the uncoolness, a fantastic song. Love as ordeal in a way that massive chart hits have largely failed to express since 'Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart'. Great pick.


Ed Case

this song is probably single handedly the most important rap single of the decade

it brought rap music to the hands of a whole new generation of white suburbanites and fueled the genre's rise to chart supremacy and total commercial dominance

i can't even tell you how important it was to every girl i went to middle school with

"It Wasn't Me" was just another song that helped a theory I've been working on that about every 3 years America somehow really feels the need to have a reggae-flavored novelty hit. It'll all be laid out in my book: The Shabbarankification of America.

if you read Mitchell's entire post, he was explaining the "jumping-off" points for the rise and the influence of the Strokes & Stripes and how the NME kickstarted that wave. The NME were praising the Modern Age EP and the "Hotel Yorba" single before America had even seen the release of the album and before "Last Nite" and FILWAG were even singles. "Last Nite" and FILWAG were most Americans' introductions to those bands, but if you were in England or just a music geek keeping up with the English music rags, websites, etc, the wave had already started months ago. It's funny that a lot of people still believe that those two bands never quite caught on in America and never became "the next Nirvana" as the original hype-job promised. Their influence has been all over the place (for better, and as with all "scenes" and movements, worse) from the bands that get played on radio in the last 7 years to kids dressing like them to kids starting bands because of them to the types of bands being signed since them and so on.

See, this is interesting. I've made the following argument before. From what I understand Mitch is accurately describing what happened in the UK, and a lot of the rest of the rock-listening world. But in my mind these bands in America blew over in a few years and there influence was really limited to niche audiences. Instead (against the expectations of most prognosticators circa 2001) it was pop-emo that became the biggest modern rock trend, with the Daughtry/Nickelback set picking up the scraps. If I'm missing something though someone let me know.

2002

LCD Soundsytem - "Losing My Edge"/"Beat Connection" and The Rapture - "House of Jealous Lovers"



I mentioned in 2001 section there was a set of singles that were more important than Stripes / Strokes in the rock pantheon and it's these. Following on from the bounce that came along from them bursting onto the scene these two singles, both released on DFA, explored the dancier and funkier end of late 70's / early 80's new wave. It's often said that someone must have left a copy of Gang of Four's Entertainment on a bus in New York in 2001. Why so important? But simply it meant that for bands on both sides of the Atlantic could come out with heavily electronic singles and, along with the success of Kid A it allowed bands to not get looked at strange for coming out with music that girls could dance to. The first albums by Franz, Maximo Park, Bloc Party and countless others stem from here. Now it's legitimate and no way ironic or a problem for a British band to release singles like this

Sugababes - "Freak Like Me"



I mentioned Girls On Top last time but this along with Freelance Hellraiser's "A Stroke of Genie-us", which wasn't a single but did get XFM a cease-and-desist order from being played the previous year and of course 2 Many DJs were the high-point for the mash-up genre. This was the highest commercial element, reaching the top of the UK singles chart and finally giving the ever changing Sugababes line-up a hit as well as launching Richard X as a producer. Heavy influence on the work that was to come from Xenomania and especially Girls Aloud over the next few years.


The Streets - "Let's Push Things Forward"



It's worth considering aside from the likes of Massive Attack there was never really a direct and viable alternative to Hip-hop in the UK. Until 2-step that is, this was the point that the Oasis fans and future Zoo readers would see an entry to a world that might not have taken note of before, it's one thing for "21 Seconds" and "Do You Really Like It?" to get to number one on almost novelty status but to see the transgression that would see Mike Skinner have a number one and rise above the short term impact of Oxide & Neutrinio to the point that last year saw debuts from Jamie T and Just Jack that were respectively a singer-soongwriter that sounded like The Streets and a dancey based prospect that also did. It began with this Specials influenced single were we saw that there would be little in the way of Americanisms. I do wish I was nominating a Roots Manuva single here though!

Justin Timberlake - "Cry Me A River"



Ladies and gents, this decade has a superstar. Including this as it's damn good, saw Timberland produce, won a Grammy and a whole host of obvious reasons. Another is that it's rumoured subject matter was JT's split with Britney and he did nothing to pour cold water on this (and the video only added fuel to the fire) and saw a runaway train of gossip in the low rent newspapers and magazines which would arguably push Spears to the sad mess she is now.

Interpol - Interpol EP



Before this came out referencing Joy Division wasn't often done by bands in Manchester after 1985, let alone in the US. After this brooding, near-perfect opening gambit from another set of New Yorkers (to be joined by The Yeah Yeah Yeah's not much longer) we would see the doomy influence of Joy Division come back to the UK (Editors), vocal impressions of Curtis by many a band starting out and the New Orderisms of The Killers.



Others from this year that I feel are important but not worth blurbing

R. Kelly - "Ignition (Remix)" Questions over personal life not holding back commercial appeal

Elvis Vs. JXL - "A Little Less Conversation" An enslaught of Elvis then Michael Jackson related crap would pollute the charts for five years.

"Ain't It Funny" and "Foolish" The summer Ja Ruled.

Jimmy Eat World (2001 US) and Sean Paul have been well covered.

Nelly - "Hot In Herre"

Holla Back Chica!

I'm shocked by some replies. Justin Timberlake? Interpole? Coldplay? Jet? Kylie? 3 Doors Down? I got on this board because Jambase was a bit boring. I know I am new here, but are people BS'ing?

Here is my take:

Wilco - I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
Quite possibly the most perfect R+R song...EVER

Sufjan - Casamir Pulaski Day
Truly heart breaking

Flaming Lips - Do You Realize
Truly inspirational

Girl Talk - Feed The Animals
I see the whole album as a single song. Yikes! You can do that?

Postal Service - Shilouettes
The Shins version is cool too. I just love this album and the lyrics to this song are just jaw dropping.

And for grins, Steve Malkmus Real Emotional Trash. That song takes all that's cool, puts it in a blender and makes one hell of a slushie!

Holy fucking shit.

why the fuck did it take 5 pages to mention 50 cent- in da club

this has gotta be the most important single of the decade.

as soon as this was in a movie trailer for a harrison ford movie. i knew the world would never be the same.

if only i had a nickel for everytime a douchebag frat boy sang " its ya birthday...its ya birthday.. we gon party like its ya birthday" at a gathering...

I will do some work on 2003 and 4 this week.

If I had to whittle it down to the top 5 of this decade it'd be:

N'Sync - Pop
Britney Spears - Toxic
The Strokes - Last Night
Outcast - Hey Ya!
Eminem - The Real Slim Shady (has this been mentioned yet?)


My personal favorite might be TI - What You Know, but I really can't say that it has been too influential, just awesome.

this is as good a list as any, but I would say the most important single of the year begins and ends with two words: "Soldier's Grin"

and that kirkbrew post should be archived. "And for grins, Steve Malkmus Real Emotional Trash. That song takes all that's cool, puts it in a blender and makes one hell of a slushie!"

I had this track on repeat for nearly an hour yesterday in my office: no brain...or braaaaawn...no shoes...just thooooongs!