Q101: 2000

How did we get here?


2000 (Or, the year you still listened to Creed and weren’t ashamed to say so)

5. “Boyz-N-The-Hood” – Dynamite Hack

'Cause the boyz in the hood are always hard / Come talkin' that trash and we'll pull your card / Knowin' nothin' in life but to be legit / Don't quote me, boy, I ain't said shit

Despite being a strong year overall, 2000 offers up a fairly weak top 5 relatively speaking.  This list was weakened by the fact that my top 3 songs were ineligible for this year’s list.  So here we are with an acoustic cover of a hip-hop song.  I get a kick out of the way this song mocks the original, which is further punctuated by its video.  I always felt like this song was a win for alternative in the world of terrible cross-genre covers.   

4. “Stellar” – Incubus

How do you do it? / You make me feel like I do / How do you do it? / It's better than I ever knew

In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Incubus had a steady stream of radio hits.  Incidentally, it’s what I would call their prime.  I always liked their stuff but never loved it, so I was surprised to see one of their songs crack the top 5 upon revisiting.  I feel as though I never gave Incubus their full due back then but I’ve gained a stronger appreciation for their work over the years.

3. “Take A Picture” – Filter

Could you take my picture? / 'Cause I won't remember

Apparently this song was based on actual life events.  The lead singer got drunk on an airplane, took off all of his clothes, and fought with the flight attendants.  I suppose you would want visual evidence of those proceedings.  “Take A Picture” has a dreamlike aura and its chorus was catchy enough to hook me in.

2. “Californication” – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Space may be the final frontier / But it's made in a Hollywood basement / And Cobain can you hear the spheres / Singing songs off station to station / And Alderaan's not far away / It's Californication

Instantly recognizable by the opening guitar riff that repeats itself over and over.  It’s a fun music video as you get a third-person view of the band members in a video game.  There are a lot of references in this song and if you blink, you might miss some.  Just in the snippet provided, you’ve got a shout out to the moon landing conspiracy, a mention of Kurt Cobain and a David Bowie album, and a Star Wars reference.  I tend to go through phases where I grow weary of the Chili Peppers but this is one of their songs I can always find time for.

1. “Adam’s Song” – Blink-182

I never conquered, rarely came / 16 just held such better days / Days when I still felt alive /… I couldn't wait till I got home / To pass the time in my room alone

I professed my love for Enema of the State in the previous year’s installment.  This is about as serious as Blink will get.  I feel like my life is finally starting to turn around but I spent much of my 20s mired in depression.  I often wondered if high school was going to be the highlight of my life and everything was just going to be a slow decay.  Those sure seemed like better days.  I’m still a homebody and I enjoy my alone time but it doesn’t feel like I’m rushing home to enter my tomb any longer. 

Q101: 1999

How did we get here?

1999 (Or, the year Napster turned me into an insatiable song-acquiring beast)

5. “Learn To Fly” – Foo Fighters

Run and tell all of the angels / This could take all night / Think I need a devil to help me get things right

Foo Fighters were the only group to crack my top 5 in three consecutive years after looking back at this project.  Spoiler alert:  this may not be the last we hear from them.  This is a fun music video.  How many different characters can Dave Grohl play?  We even get cameos from the fellas from Tenacious D.

4. “What’s My Age Again?” – Blink-182

And that's about the time she walked away from me / Nobody likes you when you're 23 / And you still act like you're in freshman year / What the hell is wrong with me?

This is the song that introduced me to Blink-182. From that first listen in my old Bonneville, I knew I had found a group that would tag along for the ride in my life.  I’ve heard all the knocks against Blink and their limited musical talents.  Whatever.  I don’t care.  Enema of the State is still one of my favorite albums.  It doesn’t have to be sophisticated music.  I like to think I’m making grown-up decisions now but I’ve still got a lot of immaturities.  I don’t want to completely abandon all forms of my youth.  When the time calls for it, I can pop in some Blink and forget how old I am.  

3. “My Own Worst Enemy” – Lit

It's no surprise to me / I am my own worst enemy / 'Cause every now and then I kick the living shit out of me

I feel like if I could get out of my own way, or my own head, things would be so much better for me… Alright, enough serious talk.  This is another song that doesn’t require too much work for the old brain cells.  I’d nominate this song as one of my go-to’s when I’m looking to play something on the jukebox and turn back the clock.  Who doesn’t enjoy a little Lit?  I haven’t met that person.  My high school memory of this song revolves around giving a couple “popular” kids a ride home after practice one day.  The ride was pre-arranged so I tried to stack the deck of coolness in my favor.  “My Own Worst Enemy” was a really popular song and it wasn’t the Backstreet Boys.  I had the song on a mix cassette tape and I queued up the song so that it would just be starting when we got in the car.  The idea, of course, was that I would be seen as someone with good taste in music.  Word would spread and doors would open.  In theory, it seemed like a brilliant idea.

2. “Everything You Want” – Vertical Horizon

He says all the right things / At exactly the right time / But he means nothing to you / And you don't know why

I should have copied & pasted the entire song in here.  Truer words have never been echoed for the way I feel almost all the time.  I’ll talk to a single girl I have a crush on and she’ll seemingly enjoy the conversation as much I do.  I’ll wait for someone to push us together or push us apart.  The girl never does ask me to hang out.  WHY?  I’m everything she wants and everything she needs.  Maybe she just doesn’t realize it.  Or maybe she does but the feelings just aren’t there and she can’t explain why.  And that’s where this song fits in.  It’s the justification I use when I’m convinced I couldn’t have said things any better during our conversation.  On another note, Vertical Horizon may be the nicest group of famous musicians out there.  My friend Tom (who’s in the radio business) met a guy whose band was the opening act for Vertical Horizon on some tour.  Apparently, VH went out of their way to befriend the random guy’s band.  They even helped the random guy’s band set up on stage beforehand when I’m sure there were plenty of lackeys to do that sort of thing.  Therefore, I have been charged with holding Vertical Horizon as the gold standard for musicians when it comes to being friendly and accommodating.  You may have met some musicians that were really nice, but you’ve got to ask yourself, “Were they Vertical Horizon nice?”

1. “Slide” – The Goo Goo Dolls

And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete / Little pieces of the nothing that fall

I’m not really a big concertgoer, perhaps because I don’t have the necessary appreciation for live music.  My brother is probably even less likely to attend a concert than I am, but even he got to see the Goo Goo Dolls and even has one of their guitar picks.  I’m a little jealous.  “Slide” tops them all in what I consider to be a pretty strong top 5, all years considered.  The Goo Goo Dolls do happen to be one of my favorite groups and Dizzy Up The Girl happens to be my favorite album by them.  For whatever reason, I never drew the connection that this song was about a young couple deciding between abortion and marriage.  I guess I just got swept up by the song and never questioned why.

Q101: 1998

How did we get here?


1998 (Or, the year I looked forward to hearing Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” on the school bus radio just a little bit more than I’d really like to admit right now)

5. “Iris” – The Goo Goo Dolls

And I don't want the world to see me / 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand / When everything's meant to be broken / I just want you to know who I am

Alright, Dan, you win.  I DO like “Iris” despite my refusal to acknowledge that fact in your presence.  I have a tendency to inflate a song’s value if I also enjoy its corresponding music video.  However, there are rare exceptions when the video hurts the song.  I hate hate hate the video to “Iris.”  I don’t really have a strong reason why.  I guess the sight of Johnny Rzeznik rolling around in a chair inside a tower and peering out various telescopes like some creepy Peeping Tom stirs up some negative feelings inside me.  As such, I held this song down for a while.  I suppose the video makes a lot of sense when you consider the lyrics, and I can certainly sympathize with those lyrics.  I write this blog; I reveal things.  And yet, there’s still part of me that doesn’t want the world to see me.

4. “I Will Buy You A New Life” – Everclear

They might make you think you're happy / Yeah maybe for a minute or two / They can't make you laugh / No they can't make you feel the way that I do

That pretty much sums up my plea to women.  Forget those guys with the chiseled good looks or fat wallets; I will make you laugh (sometimes not even at me) and that’s what will make you the most happy.  So Much for the Afterglow was always near the front of my album rotation in high school, so this song’s inclusion is well earned.  The album accompanied me during many bus rides and pre-game warm-ups for soccer.  Despite the claims of my portable CD player, anti-skip protection didn’t seem to be something it was capable of providing. 

3. “Closing Time” – Semisonic

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

Now this is a cool music video.  I always had this dream of becoming a major league closer and using this as my intro music.  Sure, “Enter Sandman” or “Hell’s Bells” would do much a better job at providing the adrenaline rush these closers live by.  But I’m a mellow guy and the suggestion that ‘I’m coming into the game to shut it down so you best get ready to go home’ always appealed to me.  With all the changes happening in my life, this song is a good reminder that one beginning must end for another to begin.  And yet, I can’t help but be reminded how some beginnings never end.  Just last night, I was at an after-work gathering enjoying some frosty beverages.  One by one, the group dwindled down to me and another guy I barely know.  Everyone else had left with someone or to go to someone.  So, I’ve become the guy who represents the last man standing.  I guess somebody’s has to do it and I’m just the guy for the job.

2. “My Hero” – Foo Fighters

Too alarming now to talk about / Take your pictures down and shake it out / Truth or consequence, say it aloud / Use that evidence, race it around

Back to back top 5’s for Foo Fighters, which isn’t surprising given the strength of The Colour and the Shape.  Mandie and I almost had the same top song for 1998.  This song will forever be linked with the climatic final game in Varsity Blues.  Back in high school, my pal Josh (he of the hundreds of albums) did me a nice favor.  He took a stack of post-it notes and wrote a new song on each one.  He told me to think of it as a “Song of the Day” kind of thing.  Each day, I’d tear away the previous note and see what new exciting song awaited me.  My goal was to familiarize myself with the song and, ideally, add it to my music collection.  That story isn’t unique to this song but I’m sure “My Hero” was one of the presents I got to open.

1. “Shimmer” - Fuel

She calls me from the cold / Just when I was low, feeling short of stable / And all that she intends / And all she keeps inside isn't on the label

This song was an instant favorite from the moment I heard and it has remained that way ever since.  I remember getting it onto a custom mix CD and listening to it on bus trips to compete in Scholastic Bowl.  When you’re riding down to Clifton, you need something to get you through.  I just love everything about this song – the lyrics, the way it builds slowly and shifts its pace to something more up-tempo, even the cello that you can distinctly hear in parts of it.  I think we can all understand the struggle of letting someone back into your life even though you know it might cause you pain again.  What exactly are their intentions this time?  You vow to move on and you may even believe that you have.  Boom!  They reach out to you again and suck you back in.  It almost doesn’t seem fair.