Trotter's Top 400 of the Noughties - Part 6 (61-80)

So in this here edition we highlight several of New York's Finest who spearheaded rock's 21st Century revival and a couple of the homegrown variety, repent for past sins of not liking The Arcade Fire (I had my reasons!), partner dance moves with Britain's glummest electroniclasts and admonish someone for their spitting Misdemeanors.  All this and a Two Ronnies reference!

61 'My Delirium' by Ladyhawke - with one of the best guitar lines, fringes and use of watercolours of the decade
62 'Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above' by CSS - for precisely three months, two days and 57 minutes, the coolest band on the planet.  Bonus points for obscure band reference (see Number 376)
63 'House of Jealous Lovers' by The Rapture - riding the New York Cool wave of the Noughties and with one of the best intros in this countdown - coming on all '50's b-movie space invasion disaster flick - then getting even better (Misfits wouldn't be the same without it)
64 'Back to Black' by Amy Winehouse - a perfect example of why Amy was such an incredible vocalist, sincerity dripping from every word and a delivery that was both vintage and modern at once. 
65 'Only One Word Comes to Mind' by Biffy Clyro - inventive, discordant, disjointed, brash and frankly incomprehensible - and easily their best effort.
66 'All You Do Is Talk' by BRMC - known more for their dark, dirty brand of balls-to-the-wall rock, when they 'go slow' its that much more effective, none more so here.  Those strings will break your heart.
67 'Amsterdam' by Coldplay - the closing track from their best album, never released as a single but played over and over by yours truly, particularly on those 'just one more play' listens post-pub.  Their trademark melancholy-turned-uplifting shtick perfected.  
68 'Ice Cream' by New Young Pony Club - cool electronics, breathy, seductive female vocals, more double-entendres than at Two Ronnies' Finishing School' (oo-er) and a video shamelessly targeted at spotty, teenage indie-boys - what's not to like?
69 '1901' by Phoenix - if your foot isn't tapping in the first three seconds I'm afraid you're dead.
70 'Someday' by The Strokes - not only did The Strokes look and sound perfect, but their timing was equally impeccable.  Exploding on the music scene at the start of the decade and influencing dozens of bands that came after them.  This countdown would be very different without them. 
71 'Zero' by Yeah Yeah Yeahs - I'm sure if we met, Karen O and I would be inseparable best friends, if it wasn't for that restraining order.
72 'Get Ur Freak On' by Missy Elliott - I promise I'll stop with the 'R&B used to be creative' spiel, but just listen to this and tell me it still doesn't wipe the floor with what's cynically put together today.  Minus points for advocating spittin' in yo face. 
73 'Chop Suey' by System of a Down - speaking of inventive, this is a classic of its time.  These folk were unfairly lumped into the nu-metal movement - even recently when the children with crayons at the NME labelled them misogynistic - this, in comparison to Fred 'in his 30's and stomping off to his room to write a song about boobies Durst.
74 'Time to Pretend' by MGMT - beautifully bonkers and, to put it kindly, ploughing their own furrow - but more power to them for sidestepping the stadium-level career that awaited them after taking over with this track.
75 'Helicopter' by Bloc Party - if the UK had any equivalent to The Strokes at all it was this band and this, their best effort.   Refreshing too to see a black, gay frontman to an indie-band, even if Kele would eventually resort to taking his top off and bust some moves to dance music.
76 'Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)' by The Arcade Fire - fun fact! I hated this band for blatantly ripping off the intro here to New Order's 'Touched by the Hand of God'.  I've mellowed somewhat since.
77 'Monster Hospital' by Metric - if I was Prime Minister every song would start 'Bam-chicka-bam-chika-boom-boom-boom-shalang-shalang-boom' and usher in a zombie apocalypse.  Including school assemblies.
78 'Rest My Chemistry' by Interpol - the most-Interpolist of Interpol songs, with tales of making 'hallways scenes to regret' and 'bathed in nothing but sweat'.  if that's not true I'll be very disappointed.
79 'Who Can Say' by The Horrors - the precise moment when Faris Badwan becomes a stellar frontman and dons a white dinner jacket to deliver the coldest, 'being cruel to be kind to be cruel' spoken word section of a song this side of Motown.  Genius.
80 'Islands' by The XX - choreography wasn't on the list of 'first thousand words you think of when describing The XX' until this rather marvellous video that matches the song perfectly in a captivating style (while the band sit around looking moody obvs).

Now listen to a good old earful of all of these over on that there Spotify malarkey...and if you missed the previous 320 (!) you can listen to them here, here, here, here and here.

Trotter's Top 400 of the Noughties - Part 5 (81-100)

As Celine once sang (although probably not about my Top Tens), now that things are getting serious, I reckon each track deserves at least a sentence don't you?  Slabs of twenty from now on chaps. 

The first batch of the Top 100 includes a couple of Tracks of the Year - would be rude to say which are the ones that appear here and haven't matched their potential with the cruel passage of time though...but they do both rhyme with each other...

81 'The Bucket' by Kings of Leon - back when they were long-haired and relevant, nice vid too. Why pay for cameramen when you have shelves?

82 'Paris' by Friendly Fires - speaking of nice vids, think Busby Berkeley's Babes trapped inside a kaleidoscope...or not.

83 'Dog Days are Over' by Florence and the Machine - where Flo hit her Earth Goddess stride and announced her plan for world domination - or at least to flap about in a floaty frock with face paint.

84 'Foundations' by Kate Nash - some acerbically bitter lyrics wrapped in a sugar-coated tune, really showing up today's pop standards...shame the music press decided she was no longer cool though.

85 'Ms Jackson' by Outkast - the best song ever written about Erykah Badu's mum!

86 'We are Your Friends' by Justice vs Simian - Simian should be extremely grateful for that Justice do-over, and so should we, if only for one of the best videos of the decade.

87 'This is Love' by PJ Harvey - team up Polly at her rock-chick finest with Sophie Muller, one of England's finest video directors, and you've just worked absolute magic in sound and vision.

88 'Where's Your Head At' by Basement Jaxx - definitely finished monkey business.

89 'Sound of the Underground' by Girls Aloud- ironically shortly after Cheryl sang about 'banging on the bathroom wall' she would find herself doing something similar to a toilet attendant...and to make matters worse Nadine sings the best bit.

90 'Love is an Unfamiliar Name' by The Duke Spirit - I said this lot were criminally under-rated didn't I?  'Best use of a recurring mantra to close out a song' award is in the bag.

91 'Blinded by the Lights' by The Streets - no, this is the best Streets track actually.

92 'The Prayer' by Bloc Party - looking back its easy to overlook transitional tunes from bands that announced a significant change in direction that would then become their standard sound.  With the sound of crushing drums the boys from Bloc Party stepped onto the dancefloor.

93 'Hope There's Someone' by Antony and The Johnsons - a song of genuinely heartfelt emotion seeping from every piano chord and trembling lyric...and a deserving winner of the Mercury.

94 'Daft Punk is Playing at My House' by LCD Soundsystem - James Murphy definitely challenged for the Funkiest White Boy of the decade.  Wouldn't be surprised if he played at Daft Punk's house too.

95 'Well Thought Out Twinkles' by Silversun Pickups - so while Billy Corgan was pretending to still be in the Smashing Pumpkins it seemed that an LA band had surreptitiously snuck in and stolen all their tunes.

96 'Somebody Told Me' by The Killers - neon, lounge suits, video screens in the desert and singing Mormons - what's not to like?
97 'Mind Over Money' by Turin Brakes - another tragically overlooked band of the age and probably my biggest case of hair envy, giving wind-machine-Mariah a run for her money in a wind-swept Center Parcs by the look of things.

98 'Creator' by Santigold - inventive and playful R&B seemed to both be born and die in this decade.  Santigold was one of the last to do something truly creative in the genre.  It later went on to flog hair wax.

99 'Dare' by Gorillaz - perhaps the most amazing thing about this song was that Shaun Ryder was still around to sing it - even if Damon had actually written 'It's There' as the lyric.

100 'Tendency' by Battle - a bit of a none-hit wonder this lot, but memorable at least for mixing Animal-from-the-Muppets-style drumming with Shadows guitars.

Now listen to a good old earful of all of these over on that there Spotify malarkey...and if you missed the previous 300 Spartans you can listen to them here, here, here and here.

Trotter's Top 400 of the Noughties - Part 4 (101-150)

So in this instalment, right before we get into your final 100, we've got the biggest quiff of the decade and its most famous hat, a Britney-baiting video from her ex, five girls no good at languages, Ian Brown conducting his own four letter spelling bee, the best choreography at a funeral, milkshakes and maneaters, Thom Yorke getting romantic with PJ Harvey (gulp!), the finest lyrics about fandom and fame from Jack White via Rita Hayworth, the only appearance from Pete Docherty, the unlikeliest X Factor winner's single and an opportunity to watch The Strokes drown.  Who could ask for more?

  

101 'You Only Live Once' by The Strokes
102 'Always: Your Way' by My Vitriol
103 'Once Around the Block' by Badly Drawn Boy
104 'Shiver' by Coldplay
105 'Cornerstone' by Arctic Monkeys
106 'Banquet' by Bloc Party
107 'No Kind Words' by The Maccabees'
108 'Plug In Baby' by Muse
109 'In for the Kill' by La Roux
110 'Comforting Sounds' by Mew
111 'For Lovers' by Wolfman feat. Pete Docherty
112 'Everything in its Right Place' by Radiohead
113 'Many of Horror' by Biffy Clyro
114 'Cry Me a River' by Justin Timberlake
115 'On Board' by Friendly Fires
116 'This Mess We're In' by PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke
117 'Fell in Love with a Girl' by The White Stripes
118 'A-Punk' by Vampire Weekend
119 'On Call' by Kings of Leon
120 'A Quiet Life' by The Longcut
121 'In the Backseat' by Arcade Fire
122 'Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll' by BRMC
123 'Run for Cover' by Sugababes
124 'Good Fortune' by PJ Harvey
125 'Go to Sleep' by Radiohead
126 'Black Coffee' by All Saints
127 'Am I Wry? No' by Mew
128 'Lights Out' by Santigold
129 'Love Affair' by Kylie Minogue
130 'Maneater' by Nelly Furtado
131 'Can't Speak French' by Girls Aloud
132 'Over and Over' by Hot Chip
133 'The Heinrich Maneuver' by Interpol
134 'Evil' by Interpol
135 'Accident and Emergency' by Patrick Wolf
136 'Get Your Hands Off My Woman' by The Darkness
137 'Slow Hands' by Interpol
138 'Clocks' by Coldplay
139 'Moving to New York' by The Wombats
140 'Hexagram' by Deftones
141 'Take, Take, Take' by The White Stripes
142 'Treat Me Like Your Mother' by The Dead Weather
143 'The View from the Afternoon' by Arctic Monkeys
144 'I Ain't Saying My Goodbyes' by Tom Vek
145 'You Got the Love' by Florence and the Machine
146 'Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)' by Arcade Fire
147 'Helena' by My Chemical Romance
148 'F.E.A.R.' by Ian Brown
149 'With Every Heartbeat' by Robyn
150 'Milkshake' by Kelis

Now listen to a good old earful of all of these over on that there Spotify malarkey...and if you missed the previous bucketloads you can listen to them here, here and here.