Finally the Noughties: let's get noughty about music, cause DJ earworm's already mashed 2009 up for us pretty well

This is pretty surreal, the 2000's decade coming to a close. Last time around, it was a millennium ending, so I didn't really think of it as a decade, plus I was quite small so didn't think of properly reflecting back on what had happened. I have written about 2009 already so I thought I should let the music do the talking this time.

So here are my 100 songs of my decade. Notice the 'my'. I have roughly tried to chart these songs in the order that they entered my life and/or at the time that they became big in my life, not in the order of preference. There is some preeetttyyy bad music in here, so hold tight. Also, this post is quiiiite long. Well there are 100 songs in here…

2001-3
I can't really remember exactly when these songs came in (and not because I want to block out some of the really shit music in here!) Mostly pop here, and I discover Busted which is crucial to my signature emo music love. Because this is the chain reaction they started: Busted --> McFly --> The Beatles --> emo. Weird, I know. Anyway, otherwise I was obsessed with S Club 7, Justin Timberlake and pretty much every mainstream ting. This was back when life was all about best friends and primary school crushes, as well as getting into secondary school. Pretty good times.
1. Get The Party Started – P!nk
2. The Tide Is High – Atomic Kitten
3. Dirrty – Christina Aguilera
4. Complicated – Avril Lavigne
5. Cry Me A River – JT
6. Year 3000 – Busted
7. Have You Ever – S Club 7
8. What I Go To School For – Busted
I. Love. Busted. End of.
9. Move Your Feet – Junior Senior
10. Sound of The Underground – Girls Aloud
Yeah… don’t ask.
11. Yeah – Usher
12. Hey Ya – Outkast
SHAKE IT LAIIIIK A POLAROID PIKSHA
13. Where Is The Love – Black Eyed Peas

2004
This year I was really into mainstream music, discovering McFly which was to become one of my favourite bands (for a while.. I'm re-evaluating them at the moment), and staying in touch with the times through Capital FM. I have pretty much worked out who my friends are, after a year of experimenting with different groups, but the same cannot be said for my music tastes. I have fun though, which is why a lot of these songs are quite feel-good.
14. 5 Colours in Her Hair – McFly
When I first discovered McFly, I was like ewwwwwwwww they’re just Busted wannabes. Now look where I’m at (I’m at cringe-worthy McFly fandom level, if you were wondering)
15. Crashed the Wedding – Busted
16. Turn Me On – Raghav + 2play
17. F*** It (Don't Want You Back) – Eamon
And of course, the obligatory F U Right Back by the very mature Frankee
18. This Love – Maroon 5
19. Rich Girl – Gwen Stefani
Back when I was young and immature, I thought Gwen Stefani was a lesbian, cause she was singing about a girl, as opposed to about a boy. Yeah, I was weird.
20. Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz
21. Just Lose It – Eminem

2005
We commence this year with a variety of music, mainly because I follow the French music contest equivalent of Pop Idol and fall head over heels in love with Pierrick Lilliu, one of the contestants. I also get into The Beatles through this guy, and it would appear that my music taste 'improves', as my friend CMB points out when she finds out I like The Beatles. My discovery of Fall Out Boy is key to my present-day emo inclinations. Kinda fitting, since this is the year that friendship problems are the new fashion, and that everybody's starting to get hardcore, what with the first smokers and drinkers appearing in this year. This is a really low year for me.
22. Blame It On the Boogie – Jackson 5
23. All About You – McFly
I love the music video for this.
24. Yesterday – The Beatles
25. Mr. Lonely – Akon
Mainly cause my lil sis could sing this to me, at the age of one.
26. Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
27. Grand Theft Autumn – Fall Out Boy
28. Sugar We're Going Down – Fall Out Boy
29. Hide And Seek – Imogen Heap
From the one and only: ‘The O.C.’

2006
I discover Panic! At the Disco, back when they were awesome, and the emo phase is pretty much in full motion. Intermingled with the emo is the indie (or possibly the 'chindie' – chav/indie) towards summer time, and nu-rave (namely Klaxons, who I see, for the first time at the end of the year). My music tastes swerve in this direction mainly because I form a band with friends whose tastes influence me. I travel to Munich on the German exchange, and dare I say this is the year when I gave no shit what people thought about me, and just went as crazy as I thought fit.
30. I Write Sins Not Tragedies – Panic! at The Disco
Lovelovelovelovelove.
31. I Want It That Way – Backstreet Boys
Because of the epic Chinese boys lip-dub
32. Californication - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
33. Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day
34. Are You Gonna Be My Girl – Jet
35. Naive – The Kooks
36. We Belong Together - Mariah Carey
Don't kill me.
37. Welcome to the Black Parade – My Chemical Romance
Emo music phase just about begins here.
38. Umbrella – Rihanna
39. Sexyback – JT
40. Hey There Delilah – Plain White T's
41. How To Save a Life – The Fray
42. Song 2 – Blur
43. Atlantis To Interzone – Klaxons
Played this in my band. Don’t ask what our band name was. Ask what our band names were.
44. Standing In The Way Of Control – Gossip
Skins. Nuff said.

2007
With the experimenting of 2006, we enter 2007 where I wander back towards mainstream but want to retain an element of alternative (hence Dizzee Rascal, Calvin Harris, hellogoodbye). I.e., please, no pure pop. I discover Paramore – best discovery of my life. The indie element has not left, but I come back down to earth realising that nu-rave is perhaps a bit OTT. I'm back to caring what people think, clearly, because I think that I'm not 'cool' enough to be as crazy as I've been and to like all dat nu-rave shizz. It's also towards the end of this year that I strive for a change, to get rid of this stifling element of bitchiness that reigns over my school, and to get away from what's turning into a pit.
45. Dancing In The Moonlight – Toploader
46. Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus
47. Dirty Little Secret – All American Rejects
48. 'S.O.S. d'un Terrien En Détresse' - Grégory Lemarchal
Grégory died this year, and this was by far his best song.
49. Fix Up, Look Sharp – Dizzee Rascal
50. If Youve Got The Money – Jamie T
51. Love Me or Hate Me – Lady Sovereign
52. Acceptable In The 80's – Calvin Harris
I still luv this song, for ever.
53. The Prayer – Bloc Party
54. Here [In Your Arms] – hellogoodbye
55. Will You Go To Prom With Me – hellogoodbye
56. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
I featured this song in our GCSE drama piece.
57. LoveStoned – JT
Me and my friends sang this, non-stop, in the queue for the Harry Potter 7 release party.
58. Mariella – Kate Nash
Because at this time, I had a thing for adding -ella onto everything. Like, 'womanella'. Sort of around the time that 'Umbrella' by Rihanna was released.
59. Misery Business – Paramore
This is how I discovered Paramore. Amen for Fizz (the music channel on which I saw the video for this)
60. The Way I Are – Timbaland
61. Stronger – Kanye West
62. Mysterious Ticking Noise – Potter Puppet Pals
PPP for the winnnnnnn.
63. Smack That – Akon
64. Worried About Ray – The Hoosiers
65. Lets Dance To Joy Division – The Wombats
66. Hips Don't Lie – Shakira
Watch the best lip-sync EVER
67. Crank Dat – Soulja Boy
68. That's Not My Name – The Ting Tings
Also check out Dizzee Rascal’s cover of this.

2008
In 2008, I enjoy music. All the songs on here give me a fat smile, because they remind me of good times with friends, most of them. There is still a trace of indie, with alternative (what IS alternative? It's just a label for bands who dunno what they're on about..) elements. Is this the year that I go to most live music? Panic at the Disco, Foals, Angels and Airwaves, Underage Festival, BBC Switch, The Wombats... Probably. Reflects my attempts to like music that I genuinely like, as oppose to music that I want people to think I like.
69. Nine In The Afternoon – Panic at the Disco
Yeah, when they took the friggin ! out of their name.
70. I’m A Realist – The Cribs
71. Cassius – Foals
72. American Boy – Estelle
73. S.O.S. - Jonas Brothers
I love them, full stop.
74. Save It For the Bedroom – You Me At Six
75. Secret Crowds – Angels and Airwaves
I saw these guys live!
76. Two Doors Down – Mystery Jets
I think we played this a capella in my band… with me on an African drum, or something.
77. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
78. Mr. Brightside – The Killers
It’s-Y11-summer-let’s-get-crunk-in-the-park-cause-we’re-just-so-hardcore song.
79. Arrow Of Eros – Golden Silvers
Feel-good and good.
80. Dance Wiv Me [ft. Calvin Harris] – Dizzee Rascal
Makes me lul.
81. Fascination – Alphabeat
82. All The Small Things – blink-182
83. Just Dance – Lady GaGa
84. All I Ever Wanted – Basshunter
The legendary Jonas Altberg and his amazing plotline for his videos…
85. I Kissed A Girl – Katy Perry
86. Check Yes Juliet – We The Kings
87. Decode – Paramore
Twilight, fo sho.

2009
This is the year I start to accept my music tastes. I've got into classical, folk, and reggae... And have embraced pop, to some extent (sorry, I still can't deal with Girls Aloud). Snooooooze. I just wanna sleep, just want more time to enjoy music.. And my Sky TV box breaks, so I can't be the first to discover music videos. This is the year that I stop caring what I look like when I dance, which might explain the rising amount of r'n'b in here..
88. Shake It – MetroStation
89. Kiss Me Thru The Phone – Soulja Boy
90. Right Round – Flo Rida
Reminds of times in AY's shed.(...Bahaha I just realised how wrong this sounds)
91. Bulletproof – La Roux
92. Sex On Fire – Kings Of Leon
93. Nobody's Child - anonymous Irish (?) folk song
This was originally 'Firestarter' by The Prodigy (because P kept singing it at Reading '09), but Brown Girl has rightly suggested this folk song. And I actually can't believe I forgot it. 'I'm nooooobody's child, I'm noooobody's child, just like a flower, I'm growing wild.' ...CUPWANKER! Ah, Reading '09, good times.
94. Children of the Night – The Blackout
95. Single Ladies – Beyonce
because the Canons gyaldemz did it for Canons Follies. But also because it is a pretty strong piece of music.
96. I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
97. Guess What Batman – Lily Allen
From a lip-dub created by the LGBT community.
98. My Heart – Paramore
Chosen because of my late Paramore obsession.
99. The Middle – Jimmy Eat World
100. The Climb – Miley Cyrus
These last two songs significantly helped in getting me through the Oxford interview phase; without them I would probably have ended up in a pool of tears before each interview.

Notice how the number of songs per year gets longer then shorter. Either I’m getting a-musical, or my ability to obsess about songs has died down.

Undeniable: my journey with music this decade has been unforgettable. I'll always be embarrassed by large chunks of it, but it's mostly bittersweet, thinking back on those parts. Biggest thanks go to the friends who introduced Busted to me. Without them, I'd probably still be stuck in Big Bruvaz (do you remember them?) or something. Gah, music. You can't not have music – people hum, tap, whistle it subconsciously. So – thank the subconscious – music will never die. I'm pretty sure my music tastes haven't settled down. In twenty years, I'll probably be into opera, or something. Not that there's anything wrong with opera. Ahem.

No, really, in all seriousness, I'm open to most genres, but I'm very happy with the music I like atm. I'm quite happy my inner music snob has significantly subsided, because, come on, any music snob is deluded and in pretty heavy denial – mainstream and pop have their positives, the main one being that they're sick party tunes. Here's a mash-up demonstrating why:



This mash-up is pretty sick. Nothing has made me smile so much about mainstream music. In fact, nothing has made me smile at all about mainstream music, before this. This means something: he's bare talented. I could not stop playing this into my ears the night I discovered it.

It has to be said that this relies quite a bit on 'I Gotta Feeling''s beat and bass tune. But, this guy's crafted it so that the words actually make up lyrics (I only realised this two hours after I first heard it, or something), and it all comes together amazingly. It makes 2009 music seem fucking EPIC. I listened to the 2007 and 2008 mashups and it's nowhere as good, which realy says something about 2009 music. And I really like the message he's given in this song, the 'music will get you up if you're falling down' and 'blame it on the music for me having a good time' sort of thing, because it's so true. MUSIC, WILL YOU JUST MARRY ME?

xxxx

2k9

‘Life In Technicolor’ - Coldplay

I heard this song – it's not really a song is it – at the end of 'Night at the Museum 2' and it made me smile, a lot. Thanks Coldplay : D. They make me cringe a bit, but ultimately I still quite like them.


Just cause this song also makes me smile every time.

(Btw, for effect, leave the 'Life in Technicolor' song playing while you read this post. Viva La Vida would do too.)

Life has thrown me quite some things this year, and it's been hard working out what to make of them. Smiles, frowns, screams of jubilation, giggles, tears, drunken shouting – I've tasted them all this year. What should we start with, the bad times? This is the year that Panic at the Disco split up, that David Tennant left Doctor Who, that Michael Jackson (and Brittany Murphy, among many others) died, that I tasted hangover at its worst, that I lost my glasses while jumping to Madina Lake (lame times, I know) at Reading, that I got the worst school report of my entire educational career EVUR, that I said the most obscene things to those who are dearest to me, that I (or someone else, cough*my mum*cough) broke countless numbers of headphones, that I shed tears for a boy, that I drifted from close friends, that I had to accept things about family, that I had to greatly recalculate my life plans.

Not-so-good-bits - character building, kiddo. Some of those bad bits might seem quite trivial to you. And yeah, it's true, some of those elements are much more serious than others, so serious that they alone are enough to last me a year. Arguments, criticism, bitchiness, breakdowns, stress, internal conflict.. This is the year I started to stop (unintentional oxymoron) looking to others for help in dealing with this shit, this is the year I stopped taking everybody's shit and realised that it's not always my problem, this is the year I gave less of a shit, (apparently this is the year I've taken up saying the word 'shit' three times in one sentence, too!).

Is there anything I regret in 2009? Perhaps all those embarrassing moments, most of which occurred during my booze-intoxicated times. And maybe also caring too much about things which were not worth nearly as much I put in them. Y'know, unbalanced prioritisation? Having said that, I've also learnt to give some things up, like doing really, really shit in most of my schoolwork in order to prep for Oxford.

Ah, bad times. But, however much 2009 may have made me cry, it has also given me heaps to cry of joy about, so let's just put those bad times away for a while and give you my highlights. This is the year that I first got properly smashed (with my friend Malibu), that I went to my first proper (Underage Festival doesn't count) music festival, that I kick-started this blog, that I left my childhood behind, that I applied to university and thus got ready to leave behind the school bubble, that I (don't mock me) rediscovered the human being that is the boy and started to realise that he's not really all that, that I went to the Harry Potter 6 movie premiere, that I took my first step in the LGBT scene, that I published my first 'Nuntius' magazine as the Classics Magazine co-editor at my school, that I met David Tennant, that I discovered how amazing libraries actually are, that I made friends with some of the best people ever, that I finally saw Paramore and You Me At Six, that I stopped giving two fucks about what I look like on the dancefloor, that my friend EHC and I threw our banging 18th..

So not a big year, basically.

It's quite sad, leaving 2009 behind. I don't know how many New Year's Days have given me that feeling. I really learnt to enjoy life, learnt to turn that downward curve on my face into an upward one. And there's no way I could have done that without the people I call my friends. The new ones, the really old ones, the ones who turned from acquaintances to friends, the ones who had a good time with me, the ones who took some of my burdens and walked with me..

Anyway, kids, less talking about myself, more about you guys. Comment me your fave bits of 2009? You know, to leave 2009 with a smile. Quick, before 2010 crawls upon us. Leave it hereeeeee.

xxxx