2000's Jams (+5): The Lox “Ryde Or Die Bitch” (2000)

We never realized until this moment that "Ryde Or Die Chick" (the edited single version) was actually first released as early as August 1999, which allows this to be placed due to the "exceptions" (alongside "Big Pimpin'" and "Say My Name"... "The Everlasting Gaze" would also be one of these...), songs that appeared on releases in both late 1999 and early 2000, making their eligibility more questionable.

Also we never realized until just now that Eve possibly raps on this. It doesn't really sound like her... We just figured it was some no-name from the Ryde Or Die camp. (It's possible that they might have just gotten Eve for the video, similar to C+C Music Factory getting others to lipsynch in their videos instead of asking the song's actual vocalists.)

The uncensored version released on The Lox's LP in January 2000 remains definitive. The ukulele sample and airport noises hooked us immediately ever since the first listen.

2000's Jams (+5): My Chemical Romance "Teenagers" (2006)

2007 was one of the few years since this website's inception when we couldn't find the energy to post any type of "worst singles of the year" list. If we recall correctly, "Teenagers" was heavily considered, a shining example of everything we hated about dramaclub-core.

Since then, a few things have happened...

In 2009, Chuck Klosterman's Eating The Dinosaur included a 3-page examination of "Teenagers." His initial reaction accurately notes a combination of T.Rex and Alice Cooper, while his reaction with two years of hindsight goes far deeper, noting Gerald Way's lyrical contradictions as he tries to make amends with his uncomfortable placement within pop culture, a guy whose job is to both represent and intimidate an audience who is mostly half his age.

With this in mind, it doesn't seem all that bizarre that MCR took The Who's advice and pulled the plug on themselves before getting old, bowing out gracefully with a solidified placement among the decade's defining pop culture elements and a discography with roughly 5 albums worth of music now receiving lauded accolades from the likes of SPIN magazine. Hindsight's 20/20.

2000's Jams (+5): The Shins “Pressed in a Book” (2001)

The Shins do this thing where they trick the listener into not realizing how many words are packed into each of their songs. They even tricked themselves on occasion, such as in this video right here:

Daft Punk "Get Lucky"

No one's sure what this new Daft Punk song is supposed to be called, but it sounds like they're singing "Get Lucky" over and over, so this is possibly the title.

We're still huge suckers for new exciting types of marketing campaigns that successfully build huge levels of anticipation for a forthcoming release. The mini-documentaries on Vice and the commercials shown during SNL have our balls wound up pretty tight. One of the many gifts the internet age has provided is immediacy, and music fans generally don't have to wait very long to hear a hugely anticipated release. So far, the only available music from Daft Punk's forthcoming collection are two 30 second clips of the same song, presumably the first single.

While Homework, Discovery and Human After All were all huge records, Daft Punk's tour in 2007 (two years after their last official full-length) somewhat marked what we consider their first official moment of household-name type superstardom. And thanks to the advent of dubstep, 2013 is officially the pinnacle of EDM's popularity. Random Access Memories is their first release since these events, creating a carefully honed moment of attack which has unquestionably resulted in their most anticipated record to date, and probably the most anticipated record of the year, period (with regards to My Bloody Valentine ... A lot of people waited a very long time to hear M B V, but ultimately more people will hear Random Access Memories).

2000's Jams (+5): Squarepusher "My Red Hot Car" (2001)

MATH MAT HMA THM ATH MA TH. Chopped some samples into pieces and placed them out of order, but not in the theme-and-variations type of arrangement one might expect from Photek or Richard D James, but rather in a similar structure to something on Instrumental Gems from the 60's. And yes, we're suggesting that if technology had enabled IDM to exist in the 60's, "My Red Hot Car" is more-or-less (structurally) what it might have sounded like. (And it might have even charted. This shit is catchy!)

Kinda bummed that the Go Plastic version never received a video... Honestly, we didn't realize there was more than one version of this song. (The version we like has a trippy super-quiet bleeps and bloops section at the end that one might only be able to hear after turning up the car stereo volume to its maximum.) Below we've posted two versions... The LP version that we love, and an alternate single version called "Girl" with a trippy fan-made video...

2000's Jams (+5): Madvillain "America's Most Blunted" (2004)

It's simply too difficult to choose just one song from Madvillainy, an album full of "10 out of 10's" that ultimately all sound very similar, and work best within the context of the LP. Where to turn? There's "Figaro" (with MF Doom's strongest and most memorable lyrics to date) and "All Caps" (with a classic once-sung refrain). We strongly considered the unheralded tripped-out jazz-funk surge "Shadows of Tomorrow," with Quasimoto interpreting Sun Ra.

We ultimately decided to run with P4k's choice. ("America's Most Blunted" has an entry in the book The Pitchfork 500 and also placed on their 500 best 2000's jams). It doesn't necessarily tower over everything else on Madvillainy, but its warpy disjointed production (filled with 10 or 12 samples not unlike the sprawl throughout Paul's Boutique) best encapsulates the essence of Madvillain, who wisely chose not to release any other LP's. Their legend is best left untainted by a follow-up.

2000's Jams (+5): Built To Spill "Goin' Against Your Mind" (2006)

It's happening! 2000's hurrah.

Between 2004 and 2006, Wilco's "Spiders" kicked off a mini-wave of kraut influenced indie rock. Doug "Dougie" Martsch unintentionally indulged in this area, resulting in Built To Spill's best song since Keep It Like A Secret. To some it may resemble just another extended psychedelic jam session, but the inflation of energy goes far beyond basement frat-jamming, especially the quiet section in the middle. "When I was a kid I saw a light / Floating high above the trees one night / What was an alien / Turned out to be just god"

2000 Jams from the 2000's

This might be a good day to start this. Motivation is dwindling again. Hopefully something like this will rejuvenate our interest and spark some inspiration.

We've been getting the urge to post about certain topics, but then finding that other web sources have already done a better job than we could ever do. Not much purpose to treading those waters. However, this very moment - as the current decade is now 33% complete - is probably a decent enough time to post our 2000's Jams. It's been a long time coming... We expected it to happen about two years ago, after completing "90 Jams from the 90's" in spring of 2011. "2000's guilt" happened very quickly in August 2011, followed by November/December 2011's "80's guilt," and a Hunter S. Thompson inspired (drunken/drugged-up) 1996 countdown last fall.

So here's the rules:

#1 This will probably not actually be a list of 2000 songs. We just like the title.
#2 50 words or less per entry, in an effort to keep things moving as quickly as possible.
#3 Within this list, "2000's" specifically refers to the decade starting on Jan 1st 2000 and ending on Dec 31st 2009. All music released on an album or single within that 10-year span is eligible for inclusion. So like, "Big Pimpin'" and "Say My Name" and "Still DRE" could have made it here if we felt as strongly about those songs as some people do, even though all three were first released during the fall of 1999. (P.S. None of these made the cut.) "Shine Blockas" and "Lemonade," however, were released late-2009, only to have their infamy cemented during 2010. (Either of these might have had a shot.)

Good luck!

"get weird"

about 4 lowt ide songs got ripped off within "get weird," and we're sure none of this was intentional because literally like 12 people throughout the history of time have even heard lowt ide... let alone the notion that anyone was able to actually sit through a lowt ide album, but also pinpoint specific moments in songs that are worth "stealing." it's obviously a coincidence. but noteworthy nonetheless.

to be honest we couldn't even tell you which lowt ide songs were noticed... the verses resemble that one that goes "i'm gonna go to the bar, i'm gonna go to the bar..." and the "la la la la la la la" chorus resembles "Would You Guys Mind Not Playing Anymore Songs." whatever.

"Rusty"

dying