The Pitchfork Top 20: 9-1

20-15 here

14-10 here

Is this becoming a slog? I just want it to be finished now.

9. Animal Collective, "My Girls"

Like a weirdo post-modern Beach Boys, matching soaring harmonies with bleepy-bloopy synth music. (I would say "Beach Boys on acid" but I think that's redundant.) It's OK, I guess.

8. Radiohead, "Idioteque"

OK, now I think Pitchfork is just picking this song to be difficult. Sure, it's a nice song and everything, but it's clearly not one of the Top 10 songs of the 21st century. It's not even the best Radiohead song. It's not even the best song on Kid A, for Chrissakes.

7. Missy Elliott, "Get Ur Freak On"

Yeah, I guess so.

6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Maps"

No question, it's a great song. I must also draw your attention to Ted Leo's amazing cover of Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" (speaking of, unquestionably one of the Top 20 songs of the aughts), in which he also goes into "Maps" and then back into the original song. Pretty fucking cool.

5. Daft Punk, "One More Time"

Again, I'm probably not the best person to evaluate this or write about it, since my knowledge of electronic music in general is pretty slim and I know almost nothing about Daft Punk. In fact, this might be the first Daft Punk song I've ever listened to all the way through. So if you guys think it's a totally important song and the best Daft Punk song and one of the best songs of the 2000's, I'm in no position to argue.

4. Beyonce f/ Jay-Z, "Crazy in Love"

OK, this is going to sound totally cynical, but do you think it's possible that Pitchfork slotted this song at #4 just to show that they're down with the regular peeps and not ivory tower elitists who only listen to Grizzly Bear and American Folkways recordings of Delta bluesmen from 1937? That's not totally out of the realm, right? Great hook on this song, BTW.

3. M.I.A., "Paper Planes"

What a great fucking song. Totally agree with the placement on this list (and, if anything, it could even be higher up). It's like a team of scientists worked on a song that would include everything hipsters love, from The Clash (the song is basically laid over "Straight to Hell") to female rappers to lyrics about Third World poverty. I don't mean that in a bad way.

2. LCD Soundsystem, "All My Friends"

I don't know. It's a perfectly good LCD Soundsystem song, as far as I know, and I like it just fine. But the second best song of the decade? Probably not. Side note: James Murphy sings a lot about getting older, doesn't he?

1. Outkast, "B.O.B."


Look, I like Outkast just as much as the next guy, and Stankonia was a fine album, and this is a decent song, but I just can't say that it's the best song of the 00's.


So what is? What do I think is the best song of the 2000's? It's hard, because there's been a shitload of good music in this decade. I'm tempted to go with "Since U Been Gone" (Number 21 on P'fork's list, incidentally), since it's emblematic of the American Idol phenomenon that took over popular music in the 2000's and it just happens to be an outstanding pop song, but it probably has to be a Radiohead song, just because they're probably the most important and most interesting band in the 2000's. "Airbag"? "Paranoid Android"? Both of those would be solid picks. I don't know.

Back to SF tomorrow. Hope everyone's having a nice weekend!