Numbers 150 - 126, "Kill All Hippies"

The plural of medium is media.

And the noughties have offered a proliferation of previously unimaginable channels for the production and distribution of music that have been tantamount to a revolution in the entire way music is communicated. And if music is little else than a vehicle for communication, then this is a revolution in the very essence of the medium.

What does it mean that anyone with an internet connection can stream almost at will practically ANY song from the ENTIRE body of human recorded history? And this is neither much of an exaggeration nor any real extrapolation. The Alan Lomax recordings are all on Spotify now.

Alan Lomax (r) with Wade Ward, 1959-60

Does this mean that we are set to witness the death of recorded music as a physical object? A casual look at the sorts of prices collectible vinyl still goes for would suggest no. In fact the other real trend we saw in the noughties was the resurgence of vinyl as a fetishised object, wherein it has connotations of authenticity and of connoisseurship. Values that rock/pop ideology has always valorised in its heirarchies in contrasting the 'commercial' with the 'authentic'.

But as we'll see in the next installment, what the noughties have done is blur that boundary between commercial and authentic. Since the days when Biz Markie first 'yes y'all'-ed forth, hip hop music has had its aim squarely on destroying this dialectic. The accumulation of bling actually became your route to authenticity, not its opposite. And any casual look particularly at contemporary music video culture shows how quickly discourses from this arena have become pop culture stereotypes.

Five minutes on any given Video Hits channel trammels up a bewildering array of variously rehashed stereotypes that owe considerably more to cheerleading and other communal dance activities than they do to a popular music heritage that runs all the way back to the 1950s.

So here we are in the perpetual now, shorn of our history and all its context. Naked and unformed whiteboards waiting to be scribbled on and erased, where we have NO BASIS for attaching quaint, unitary, historicity to anything, where any value judgement is subjective - can never be definitive. By definition that can never be defined either.

It should really be no wonder that in this environment political music died a sorry death. And Neil Young, the already dead, is the only fellow in today's list who could conjure its true spirit. #146, below. Enjoy.

150.	Motorbike	Wooden Shjips	Dos (2009)
149.	Track Of The Cat	Pram	Dark Island (2003)
148.	This Is Hardcore	Pulp	Hits (2006)
147.	Monster	You Say Party! We Say Die!	Lose All Time (2007)
146.	Flags Of Freedom	Neil Young	Living With War (2006)
145.	Welcome to Jamrock	Damian Marley	Reggae Mix (2004)
144.	Dream On	Christian Falk Ft. Robyn	Dream On (2008)
143.	Playground Love	Air	Talkie Walkie (Russian Edition W/Bonus) (2003)
142.	Do You Want To-	Franz Ferdinand	(2005)
141.	Ha	HTRK	Marry Me Tonight (2009)
140.	Bonkers	Dizzee Rascal	Tongue N' Cheek (2009)
139.	Sing It Back	Moloko	Things To Make And Do (2000)
138.	Smile Like You Mean It	The Killers	Hot Fuss (2004)
137.	Bottle Baby	Augie March	Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006)
136.	Dare	Gorillaz	Dare (2005)
135.	1 Thing	Amerie	P (2008)
134.	Tear You Apart	She Wants Revenge	She Wants Revenge (2006)
133.	Hard To Explain	The Strokes	Is This It? (2000)
132.	Kill All Hippies	Primal Scream	Xtrmntr (2000)
131.	No One Does It Like You	Department Of Eagles	In Ear Park (2008)
130.	Take Me Out	Franz Ferdinand	Franz Ferdinand (2004)
129.	Come Pick Me Up	Ryan Adams	Heartbreaker (2000)
128.	Island In The Sun	Weezer	The Green Album (2001)
127.	Dominos	The Big Pink	A Brief History Of Love (2009)
126.	Spaceape	Burial Feat. The Space Ape	Burial (2006)

Numbers 275 - 250 - Beginnings

And here it all is.

The beginnings of it all. The dregs as some might have it, but reality is that of all the horns blown and all the things struck and strummed in undoubtedly billions of permutations down the decade, of all those countless notes and the nuances between them, THESE ONES I HAVE CHOSEN ARE THE VERY BEST OF ALL. I've whittled the universe to a pinhead for you.

I'd be really grateful to hear any and all feedback. What I'm really NOT interested in is "how can you possibly think x is a better song than y?" If you want to do that sort of binary nit-picking, go de-louse a zebra. You don't get it.

This IS a hierarchy, let's be clear, but if I gave myself another 24 hours it would all look different again. It's not authoritative in the sense of it being final. It's authoritative because it's the best it can be at this moment. Or any theoretical one.

• Song must have been released between Jan 1, 2000 and Dec 31, 2009 (by single OR by the date of the album on which the track debuted)
• A maximum of three tracks per artist in the LONGLIST of over 500 tracks
• Each song graded and LONGLIST reduced accordingly to Top 275
• All titles in Top 275 are then ranked individually

And at the end of the day, that only took me just on five years to complete!

FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT ....

#	Name	Artist	Album (Year)
275	Diamond Dancer	Bill Callahan	Woke On A Whaleheart (2007)
274	Golden Age	TV On The Radio	Dear Science (2008)
273	Smiley Faces	Gnarls Barkley	St. Elsewhere (2006)
272	19-20-20	The Grates	Gravity Won't Get You High (2006)
271	Two Silver Trees	Calexico	Carried To Dust (2008)
270	International Dateline	Ladytron	Witching Hour (2005)
269	That's Not My Name	The Ting Tings	We Started Nothing (2008)
268	Pageant Square	The Kingsbury Manx	The Kingsbury Manx (2000)
267	No Ghost	The Acorn	No Ghost (2010)
266	Last Dance	The Raveonettes	In And Out Of Control (2009)
265	La Rock 01	Vitalic	OK Cowboy (2005)
264	Plaster Casts Of Everything	Liars	Liars (2007)
263	Processed Beats	Kasabian	Pre-Release Singles Compilation [2641660] (2003)
262	Prayer to God	Shellac	1000 Hurts (2000)
261	Your Hand In Mine	Explosions In The Sky	The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place (2003)
260	Pirates	Burial	Burial (2006)
259	Galang	M.I.A.	Arular (2005)
258	I Have Forgiven Jesus	Morrissey	You Are The Quarry (2004)
257	Pendulum	Broadcast	Pendulum [EP] (2003)
256	Tom The Model	Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man	Out Of Season (2002)
255	Southern Hospitality	Ludacris Feat. Pharrell	Back For The First Time (2000)
254	I'll Send My Face To Your Funeral	His Name Is Alive	Detrola (2006)
253	Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)	Arcade Fire	Funeral (2004)
252	Song 4 Mutya	Groove Armada	Greatest Hits (2007)
251	Carve Your Name	The Grates	Teeth Lost, Hearts Won (2008)
250	Drop The Phone	Shy Child	Noise Won't Stop (2007)