100 Greatest Songs of the 00s

VH1 has just published a list of its 100 greatest songs of the last decade, and spoiler alert: This thing is insane! It leans heavily toward the radio-pop side of things, and it’s actually a bit refreshing to see someone trying to invent an alternate canon of this stuff instead of reminding us once again that Radiohead are the greatest thing ever. But this alternate canon? This alternate canon is weird!

I am absolutely and totally OK with the idea that Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” was the best pop single of the last decade, though from a strict populist-smash perspective, something like Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” might’ve fit even better. But once you get past #1, things get nuts. “Hey Ya!,” for instance, is at #2, and I’m not sure there’s a person alive who ever needs to hear that track again, especially when OutKast’s “B.O.B.,” absent from this list, is the better song in every conceivable way. Similarly, it’s truly perplexing to see Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” riding high in the top 10 when “Bad Romance” and “Cry Me A River,” respectively, are out there in the world.

Other red flags: Train’s “Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me)” at #42. Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open” at #91. Lil Jon’s “Get Low” way too low at #80. And if you’re going to acknowledge the existence of M.I.A., then “Paper Planes” has to be higher than #89; I’m sorry.

Still, as absurd as it is, there’s something fun about this list, and I’m happy to see great and underrated chart-pop smashes like Blink-182′s “All The Small Things” and Aaliyah’s “Try Again” get some form of recognition, even if it’s on a list put together by people who, I’m guessing, don’t actually listen to music. Also, it’s fun to see “Seven Nation Army” in the mid-20s, between Nelly and Usher. (Source: VH1)