NPR Music - Our No. 1 songs: 2007

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

The songs that take us back to 2007, the golden age of indie pop and rock.Note: This is a recurring feature in celebration of the show's 25th anniversary. A shorter version of this episode ran earlier in the year.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's All Songs Considered from In Pure Music. I'm Robin Hilton. Stephen Thompson here. Welcome back, Stephen. Thanks for having me, Robin. So we're talking about our number one songs from the past quarter century of the show. All Songs Considered turned 25 years old this year. This week, we're doing the songs that take us back to 2007.

So much indie pop and rock from that year. It was kind of in its heyday in the first part of the 2000s or so. But Stephen, how do you want to start? Well, I'm just going to kick it off with a song that to me embodies the year 2007, just the sound of so much of what was around, and also just one of the straight up best songs of the year. Fais, I feel it all. I feel it all. Wings are white. The wings are white inside.

One who break my heart. I'll be the one to hope. I'm not no more than I knew before. I'm actually getting a little choked up. Listen, this just gets, it takes me back, and it is just so perfect. Oh, this is from the reminder. I mean, there are some artists. You wish they'd put out records a little more often,

but they'll put out an album every five to eight years. Feist springs immediately to mind. Fiona Apples springs immediately to mind. Where I sit there and I think, like, oh, man, they only have five or six albums over the course of the 25 years. And I can't think of a bad song on one of those albums. So this was 2007. Then she had medals like four years later in 2011.

Then it was another six years. We got pleasure. But she just had multitudes a couple years ago in 20 years. And it's flawless. Absolutely flawless. You're like, okay, well, she's been doing this for, you know, 25 years or so now. I mean, I wonder how much more gas is left in the day. When is she going to start phoning it in?

It does not start phoning it in. in on multitudes. Well, I've mentioned this several times as we've been going through these decades that we did a version of this show for our 16th anniversary. And on that 2016 show, the number one song we picked

was Radiohead's body snatchers. But I'm going to go with this one, and I bet you're going to know it pretty quickly. At least when the synth line kicks in. Totally. Is this MGMT? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk about getting choked up.

This is one of those songs. You know, got such a hokey little synth line, the beats killer. But this song is so heartbreaking to me. It's such a sad story song of chasing fame and your life falling apart in the process. But, you know, there's this moment where he talks about how he's going to miss his sister and his father

and his dog and his home and missing boredom. You know, all these sweet, innocent things of his youth, Oh, and it just crushes me. I love a deceptively sad song. Yeah. And boy, if you were making a movie, if you were making a period piece set in the year 2007, this is your opening credits. Right. You know, you want to set the scene for exactly what 2007 in music felt like.

I mean, the Feist song falls into that too. But this is kind of also picking up like that era of songs where you've got like Matt and Kim and Peter Bure. John, where there's just like a certain busy pop where it's just like songs that are extremely fussed over and engineered in such a way that they are maximally enjoyable. Do you think that song sounds like they fussed over it? Maybe they did. I don't know. I think it's like they're like studio rats, you know, who like layered all these sounds to create something that would feel effortless. Let's take a break here and we'll talk about some of the other stuff. We remember

most from 2007 when we come back. Well, we have our number one songs from each of these years, but we're always slipping in some others because there's just so many. And you mentioned Peter Bjoren. Are they 2007? Well, no, I mean, technically 2006, but we didn't do it when we did 2006. And I feel like I listened to this album nonstop all through 2007. So I'm doing kind of a cheat here. The album, Riders Block from Peter Bjorn and John, and in particular, this song. Oh, man. young folks from Peter Bjorn and John

from the album Riders Block talk about getting its hooks into you just that little whistled line What else was 2007? Do you remember Lonely Deer? Oh totally and that song What was it? Sinister in a State of Hope

Sinister There was so much incredible music coming out of Sweden Peter Bjorn and John were from Sweden Lonnie Deer was from Sweden The Concretes do you remember them They were from Sweden so many, the knife.

Oh, sure. So many incredible bands. That was like a gold. There were so many great bands coming from Canada and from Sweden, like all around that same time. I just imagine every single one of those bands playing our NPR showcase at South by Southwest. Yeah, because a lot of them did. Yeah. Ended up doing that.

That was also what was happening around this time. There's another really big one from 2007. You should play something else because I want to see if you end up picking this. Oh, I don't know. I'm just going to go with the pick that's like, hey, you know what's a size? song I love. From 2000, when you think of 2007, you think of this song. Because you mentioned Canada, I'm going to pick one of the most Canadian songs outside

of Bob and Doug McKenzie. Now the lounge is full of farmers for the seven. I know, I'm having a senior moment. I can't, I can't get it. So it's the weaker then. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, the weaker thens. I love that band so much at the time.

Oh, my God. Play for me for me. a cat named vertute. Oh my god that song just destroyed me when that came out. John K. Sampson is one of the great unheralded songwriters of the 21st century.

I want more music from that guy. I feel like it's been a while. But the weaker thens were such a terrific band. And again, like you mentioned the experience of like suddenly you're immersed in the culture of Sweden. You know, just

just being able to steep yourself in the of a place that you're not from. This song to me just transports me to a bar in Canada. And I don't know if you said the name of the song in what it's from. This song, Tournament of Hearts. And, you know, I grew up in rural Wisconsin. It's, in a strange way, it feels like home. Well, we'll do one more from 2007.

And this is the one that I thought you might pick because it was also just such a big song for 2007. Honestly, how did you get this job? I know this song. I know this song really, really well. It's not Animal Collegra. Well, Panda Bear from Animal. It's Panthers.

Okay, okay. Panda Bear, comfy and Nautica. Oh, there it is. So this was not his first solo album as Panda Bear by far, but it was the one that really sort of blew up for him. This song, absolutely incredible. Now Panda Bear's back this year. Another really good record.

But this particular song is just weapons grade all songs considered. This is just all songs considered distilled to its, essence in 2007. It really is. Well, like I said, I kind of figured this episode would go pretty heavy on indie pop and rock. It was such a big time for indie pop and rock on the show and and in general, I think. But we'll go out on this and Stephen, I'll see you again next week when we do the year 2008. Thank you, Robin. For NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered.