Our No. 1 songs: 2005
00:00It's all songs considered, and we're celebrating our 25th anniversary.This is where you...I really thought I'd get a big round of applause or something from you there, Stephen.Was I supposed to... I didn't realize.You need to tell me when I'm supposed to stand and cheer.Yeah, hold a sign that says applause.Please enjoy the show now.Stephen Thompson here.
00:20Hosted New Music Friday.You may know him from Pop Culture Happy Hour.Welcome.Hello, Robin.So here's what we're doing.All this spring and summer, we closed out our regular Tuesday.day episodes by talking about our number one songs from the past 25 years. We did a differentyear at the end of each episode. We talked about every year from 2000 to 2024. That's 25 years.
00:41If you can do the math there, Stephen. Now we're expanding those segments a bit. We're offeringthem as standalone episodes a little easier for people to hear and we can talk about and play a bitmore stuff. We're up to 2005 now. We just had the first five years. Now we're doing 2005. What do youwant to start with. Well, I'm going to kick us off with a song that has gotten me through a lot ofdifferent years and lost nothing in the process. Well, it's the mountain goats. Very good.I can't believe this is 20 years old. I know, right? Referencing the name of the song in that linethis year by the mountain goats, yeah, I know this one well. Yeah, this is a song that has lost nothing.Yeah. This is a song that remains 100% relatable.
02:33no matter where you are in your life,even though the song is recounting this kind of,this big, tragic teenage drama,the emotions in this song remains completely timeless.And it's amazing how many seemingly unendurable life eventsare made better by the presence of this song.This song has helped a lot of people.If you've ever seen the Mountain Goats in concert
02:58and they get to this song,you'll get a sense of how much this song means to Mountain Goats fans.by how everyone in the room will shriek this songand shriek basically every word of this song.It's very cathartic.Well, we've talked about this before on the show,you know, whenever we do a call out to listenersto tell us about a song that, you know,
03:16like either lifts them up or gets them through,this song always comes up.Yeah.Such a great pick.But I'm going to play something completely different.I have to say,first thing I think of when I think of 2005 is maybe this.I turn my kids.
03:33camera on? Yeah. Spoon.Spoon. I'm like, I knew the words to the song before I knew the band.I turned my camera on. I cut my fingers on the way.This album from Spoon, Gimmie fiction that came out, oh my God, I listened to it so much in 2005.easily my favorite album of 2005, but it's not going to be my number one song pick for 2005.I know I'm kind of cheating here. I'm trying to get as much in as possible.This is going to be my pick for 2005, and I bet you'll know it right away.Okay.
04:19I'll show you the ropes kid.Show you the ropes.And the trailer at my house, my house.I'll show you the ropes.Show you the ropes.Oh my gosh.When we take a walk down memory lane and think about how music was changing and all the wild stuff we were hearing coming out in the early 2000s,when LCD sound system burst onto the scene with this song, Daft Punk is playing my house from their self-titled debut album in 2005.
05:20It was the ultimate party song.It was everywhere.It was incredible.It's so funny, like, you know, I talked about this year being like the perfect song at the perfect time for me.LCD sound system was a little too cool for where my headspace was.I said, you sound like maybe you were in a different space.I was very much in like, give me some strings to reflect my sadness.It wasn't this?
06:02This song is having a better time than I was in 2005.but a complete jam.So let's do this.Let's take a quick break,and when we come back,we can run through some of the other musicthat takes us back to 2005.All right, you're going to hear this a lot
06:52as we move through the years,and that's the fact that there's way more stuffthan we could ever play on a single show.But what's something else that takes you back to 2005, specifically?Well, I'm going to follow your fun party jamwith one of the best breakup songs ever written.Stars.Mm-hmm.
07:29Well, set yourself on fire, isn't it?The song is called Your Ex-Lover is Dead.Oh, right, right, right.We played this on All Songs Considered.I remember when it came out.Well, that's because you have ears.Well, it's not like this song was everywhere.Right, no, but it is one of the best songs of the 2000s.
07:48God, that was strange to see you,Spide and said, yes, I think.I think we've met before to startand capture the tax to despise.Oh, yeah, I'm so glad you brought this one up.This is one I had not thought of in a long, long time.This song aches in such a beautiful way.And it's like a character sketch of these two people.
08:40Because we played the first verse, which is Torquil Campbell,and then Amy Milan, the other singer-on-stars, kind of takes over.And they're kind of taking turns, and he's posturing.and he's such a jerk, and she just has so much more perspective than he does.And as that song kind of blooms, there's this point in the song where their voices come together.Have you ever been through anything?No, I know.Have you ever...
09:16Just everything works out for me.I don't know what it is.I've experienced no sorrow.Have you ever stared at a hurt?turtle. This song.Sure, but I don't think in 2005, you clearly were going through some sort of breakup or something.I don't know, but we were having very different years in 2005.2005, man, I was unemployed in 2005. I left my long-running job at the end of 2004.
09:46At the onion.At the onion.You know, and I also just was not making a bunch of great decisions in my life in general.and was not my best self.And several of these songs from this era really, really helped me.Well, like with all of these years that we're looking at,as we look back at 25 years of all songs considered,there's a billion other songs that we could play.
10:13We haven't even talked about the Sufion Stevens record.Well, I was going to say Illinois came out that year.Yeah.Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine came out that year.Talk about phenomenal albums.Oh, my gosh.I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes.I certainly haven't been spreading myself around.
11:14I still only travel by foot and by foot it's a slow climb, but I'm good at being uncomfortableso I can't stop changing all the time.I notice that my opponent is always on the go and won't go slow so's not to focusAnd I noticeHe'll it to rideWith any guideAs long as they go fastFrom whence he came
11:41But he's no good at beingUncomfortable so we can't stop stayingExactly the sameSuch a huge yearBut if you want to talk about songsThat made you feel better and feel greatI'm going to go with this oneYou got it yet?
12:11Clap your hands say yeahYeah clap your hands say yeahI was like, it's not David ByrneThis was the first record that Clap Your Hand Say Yeah,the self-titled record from Clap Your Hand Say Yeah,upon this tidal wave of Youngblood.It was the track that closed out that album.This was such a huge example of how music blogs
13:29reshaped the way people discover new music.Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, really blew up on blogs.You know, you'd like download an MP3,and, you know, like, all of a sudden,the whole nature of music gatekeepingwas really shifting in the early to mid-aughtsand clap your hands say yeah we're kind of abeneficiary of that where like this band that didn't
13:53necessarily have this huge label apparatus behind themwas still able to blow up and find an audienceso that was the self-titled album from clap your hands to yeahand the song that closed with upon this tidal wave of young bloodso much we could talk about but we'll go out on thisAnd until next time, thanks Stephen.Thank you, Robert.And for NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton.
14:14It's All Songs Considered.
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