Top 50 Songs of the Decade

10. Bloc Party – “So Here We Are” [download]
If someone wanted to peg Bloc Party as just a better version of the standard brit-rock mid-decade invasion, all you’d have to do is throw on “So Here We Are,” and that person would immediately be embarrassed. Opening with slowly strummed and sweet guitar notes, the song doesn’t launch into warp speed like others of the band’s singles. Instead, a slow drum pattern gently ushers in Kele Okereke’s tender voice. The song picks up speed in the last minute and half, but only because it has to—it’s as if the natural progression of the track has led us here, to Kele’s urging howls, and to Bloc Party’s most moving melody.

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9. Bon Iver – “Skinny Love” [download]
In order to make the top 10 of this ever so exclusive list, a song has to be something more than just pleasant to listen to during its three and half minutes or so. It needs to leave me with a lasting impression, and have made me a better person for having listening to it. “Skinny Love” is the definition of that, a heartbreakingly intimate song performed by a man and his guitar, the rawest of emotions spewing outwards. Bon Iver stumbled upon an enchanting combination of chords, and backed by his grizzly singing, this is a song that will simultaneously jumpstart and crumble your heart.

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8. The Flaming Lips – “Do You Realize??” [download]
The Flaming Lips are a band meant for main-stage festival size venues—their music conveys a communal, tribal surge of happiness that can only be fully experienced when surrounded by thousands of others basking in the same glory as yourself. “Do You Realize” points out the obvious in the most understandable way possible—Wayne Coyne tells us, “Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?” But this is far from a song about contemplating death. Rather, it’s a song about celebrating everyone and everything around us, taking the time to smell the roses before it’s too late. He goes on, “But instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know you realize that life goes fast, it’s hard to make the good things last. You realize that the sun doesn’t go down, it’s just an illusion caused by the world spinnin’ round.” Maybe the only song suitable for births, weddings and funerals, there’s no time this shouldn’t be playing.

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7. Hot Chip – “And I Was a Boy From School” [download]
I dare you to find a smoother electro jam that you can sway to, dance to, and sleep to. It might not be Hot Chip’s rave-inducing sing-a-long, but it’s this cut from The Warning that overshadows the monkey-symbol slamming “Over and Over” by slowly crawling inside your mind and settling in for the long haul. Few bands incorporate live instruments so effortlessly into synth-heavy parties, but on “And I was a Boy From School” (which is also the title of my as-of-now unfinished coming of age screenplay…) Hot Chip perfect the art.

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6. TV on the Radio – “Wolf Like Me” [download]
A slow burner that reaches thunderous heights, TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” is a heart-pounding race to the finish line. Though “Staring at the Sun” might be the group’s breakout tune, it’s laughable in comparison to this mean-spirited anthem. Slowly, the song settles, you catch your breath and gear up for the second round of explosive energy. The drums rattle, and just like that, you’re back on your feet running.

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5. Broken Social Scene – “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” [download]

“Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” quietly seeps through the speakers. Emily Haines’ robotically filtered voice takes command of the room. It’s oh so quiet, but for a moment, it’s all any of your friends can hear. One friend will continue talking, but will suddenly stop as if interrupting the song. Some may give disapproving looks, eyebrows raised, looking around the room for fellow disapprovers. You can sit there and smile; in less than five minutes, the easily answerable question, “what kind of music do you listen to” will suddenly become much, much harder for these neophytes to answer. It has the power to silence the rowdiest crowds, to put to sleep the hippest hipsters, and to open someone up to an entirely new world of music; that is, the atmosphere that Broken Social Scene so perfectly perfects.

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4. M83 – “Teen Angst” [download]

Sometimes we really do need to stop and smell the roses. Life passes you by and before you know it, you’re 20, then 30, 40 and 50. It’s those formative years of youth that shape who you will become, but those years also seem to be the most problem-riddled times. Days get complicated, there’s so much to do. “Teen Angst” reminds us not to care. It’s wonders like the first time you fall in love that send you flying through the universe as this song does. It traps you in its limitless atmosphere and keeps you in a hypnotic trance until the shouting of “I’m so glad we’re crying” fades out into the night.

Bonus amazing remix: M83 – “Teen Angst (Montag remix)”

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3. LCD Soundsystem – “All My Friends” [download]

Simple, subtle, yet stimulating and inspiring. “All My Friends” is James Murphy’s self-reflection about aging. It’s a nostalgic trip through all of time. Opening with sparse and incomplete piano chords, Murphy appears with “and so it starts,” a line that can be as relevant yesterday, today or tomorrow– the drugs are wearing off and the reflection begins. I’ll let the song do most of the talking here; any further analyzing I try to do will only undermine the brilliance of LCD Soundsystem’s monumental novel of a song.

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2. The Arcade Fire – “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” [download]

The violens that introduced us to Funeral are as legendary as those crackling echoes at the start of Radiohead’s “Everything in its Right Place.” It marks the beginning of something special, something different, and something that will eat your heart out. Much as “All My Friends” began in the middle of a thought, so too does “Neighborhood #1″ pick up from some other, undisclosed time. “And if the snow buries my, my neighboorhood, and if my parents are crying, then I’ll dig a tunnel from my window to yours.” It’s a love song about overcoming any odds and obstacles, to be together no matter what. They climb out the chimney, meet in the town and run away together. A modern day Romeo and Juliet tale, The Arcade Fire have crafted a burning love story that’s equal parts romance and irony. It’s an emotional rollercoaster– just wait ’til you get to the shouting crescendo, and all your problems will cease to exist.

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1. The Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (Lies)” [download]

It may seem like a lazy attempt at creating at best-of list to have two songs from the same album be #1 and #2 on this list, but I assure you, there was no copping out here. In fact, from the first time I heard Funeral, these two songs were battling it out inside my head for the top spot on this list. And six years later, we finally have a winner. With “Rebellion (Lies)” The Arcade Fire have reached the pinnacle of their work thus far in their career. I’ve said it before, but if I had one wish, it would be to play those opening piano chords live with the band for one night. The power in those two chords! The full orchestra fills the gaps between Win Butler’s cries for rebellion: “Come on baby in our dreams, we can live our misbehaviour.” The musical rebellion is also echoed in the passionate and unforgettable chorus– “Everytime you close your eyes, lies! Lies!” which may just be the lyric of the decade as well. And as Win and co. continually belt out that call for change as the song nears finish, our finger is waiting on rewind, already ready for the next listen. It just doesn’t get any better than this.

Thanks for reading, this has been fun.

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