Mixtapes for Hookers

So, it’s time to introduce a new feature here on Mixtapes For Hookers.  It’ll be running for all of 2009, assuming the world and/or my life doesn’t abruptly end before the year does.  It’s going to be a look back at the not-quite-over-yet-and-still-untitled decade, using my handy-dandy Song of the Year lists.

Here’s how it works:  Every December I spend a really inordinate amount of time making and remaking my lists of my favorite songs of the year.  It’s something I’ve been doing since I was a child and I doubt I’ll be stopping anytime soon.  Sometimes my favorite songs of the year are still my favorites many years later (ie. White Town’s Your Woman, my #1 song of 1997) and sometimes they’re not (ie. The Rockafella Skank, 1998.)  But I thought it’d be interesting to go through the lists for each year, re-evaluate each song, and then at the end of the year see how I think the songs all stack up against each other.  I’m going to run through the top 10 for each year, one song at a time, every few days between now and November.

So, 2000:

Clinton was just about to leave office; Gore was going to replace him but, you know, he didn’t.  Napster was all the rage and I left suburbia for my freshman year of college at a dreadfully preppy place called Hamilton College (”It’s outside of Utica,” I’d say, hundreds of times.  I’d also say things like “I haven’t seen the sun come out for nine days,” and “There’s like three non-white people at this school, isn’t it weird that they all work in the Welcome Center?” and “There aren’t many vegetarian options here so I’ve had spaghetti with butter for my last fifty-three lunches.”)

At the end of the year I counted down my favorite songs on the radio, at WHCL, but I had to alter my list to eliminate the pop hits because the station was run by indie fascists that got really upset when we played Kid A and didn’t play Things We Lost In The Fire.  I probably would have lost my show if I dared play something like Hoku (pictured above).

Here’s my songs of the year, #50-#11:

50. Bad Religion, Whisper In Time
49. Babybird, The F Word
48. Hoku, Another Dumb Blonde
47. Ying Yang Twins, Whistle While You Twurk
46. D’Angelo, Untitled (How Does It Feel?)
45. Elastica, Mad Dog
44. Leona Naess, Charm Attack
43. Clem Snide, I Love The Unknown
42. Hooverphonic (?), Renaissance Affair
41. The Dandy Warhols, Bohemian Like You

40. Stereolab, Barock Plastik
39. Vitamin C, Graduation (Friends Forever)
38. Madonna, American Pie
37. Nelly, Country Grammar
36. Richard Ashcroft, A Song For The Lovers
35. Spooks, Things I’ve Seen
34. Macy Gray, Why Didn’t You Call Me?
33. Pink, There You Go
32. Fountains of Wayne, Baby One More Time
31. Brak, I Like Hubcaps

30. Tahiti 80, Heartbeat
29. Sleater-Kinney, All Hands On The Bad One
28. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Otherside
27. The Bloodhound Gang, The Bad Touch
26. Britney Spears, Oops…I Did It Again
25. Saint Etienne, How We Used To Live
24. The Essex Green, Mrs. Bean
23. Hefner, The Hymn For The Things We Didn’t Do
22. Sinead O’Connor, No Man’s Woman
21. Paul van Dyk with Saint Etienne, Tell Me Why (The Riddle)

20. Destiny’s Child, Jumpin’ Jumpin’
19. Stone Temple Pilots, Sour Girl
18. Yo La Tengo, Madeline
17. Dubstar, I (Friday Night)
16. Nine Inch Nails, Into The Void
15. Catherine Wheel, Sparks Are Gonna Fly
14. Shelby Lynne, Where I’m From
13. Aimee Mann, The Fall of the World’s Own Optimist
12. Lightning Seeds, Sweetest Soul Sensation
11. Belle and Sebastian, Winter Wooskie

Now, of course, I’d have some songs higher (like Mad Dog and I Love The Unknown, which I already mentioned in an earlier post today), some lower (that Dubstar song hasn’t aged particularly well), and some not on the list at all (I think American Pie’s presence is basically residual love for 1999’s infinitely better Beautiful Stranger.)

I’ll kick things off with song #10 tomorrow.