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).