Trotter's Top 400 of the Noughties - Part 9 (11-20)

And so we're almost there, but before the Top Ten, here are the 'nearly men' of the Noughties, those fantastic tracks that just weren't quite good enough to sneak a place in the top echelons of the chart (apart from when at one point the Top Ten had thirteen tunes in it).  So after far too much dissecting the merits and failings of them all, for what is an art form and shouldn't be ranked in any order, here's the penultimate batch of goodies...

11 'Olympic Airways' by Foals - splendid track by the ultimate boys club everyone wants to join due to how perfectly they meld their sounds together, them against the world, topped off with a vid of them all playing in the woods with fires, balloons and mattresses (and an unfortunate squid)
12 'Hard to Explain' by The Strokes - speaking of boys clubs...the perfect indie band's best song, full of brash energy and urgency and demanding your attention
13 'Say My Name' by Destiny's Child - showcasing the overlooked genius of Rodney Jerkins production that lifted R&B to world-conquering status in the 90's and 00's and setting off a trend for contrasting your home décor with your outfit.  What did happen to those other members??
14 'Float On' by Modest Mouse - back when Mr Marr seemed to be playing guitar for just about anyone, but this was definitely where his talents were best realised in that work-for-hire period.  One of the best intros of the decade
15 'Pure Shores' by All Saints - hands down our best girl band, tragically taken from us too soon due to fashion squabbles and sorely missed; this track dating waaaay back to when Di Caprio was thin
16 'Comfortably Numb' by Scissor Sisters - perhaps its sacrilege to prefer this to the original, but I do and it's my countdown and I'll prefer electronic, glam covers if I want to... 
17 'Charmer' by Kings of Leon - showcasing the Followills at their visceral best, even if at times Caleb is sth-creaming like Bonnie Langford.  Finest moment being the drop-off at 1 minute 26 seconds - pure class.
18 'Paper Planes' by M.I.A. - perhaps M.I.A. has been more hit and miss lately, but then she can be forgiven after releasing this controversy-baiting number about being a gun-toting, drug dealing gangsta (whilst being married to a multi-millionaire obviously)
19 'Take Me Out' by Franz Ferdinand - we all have a solemn duty to think of this classic when someone says 'Take Me Out' rather than the Paddy McGuiness end-of-days slash light entertainment vehicle.  For that alone, its place is secured.  That and the best tempo change in a song EVER.
20 'More Than a Woman' by Aaliyah - it might be wistful to imagine that, but for a plane crash, Aaliyah might have had the global megastar status that went to others instead, but on the strength of this tune she was well on the way...sadly missed and well worth a posthumous retrospective. 

Now listen to a good old earful of all of these over on that there Spotify malarkey...and if you missed the previous 380 you can listen to them here, here, here, here, here, here, here and (phew!) here.