Mitch Michaels

Honorable Mentions:

Coldplay - "Clocks", Foo Fighters - "All My Life", No Doubt - "Hey Baby", Rolling Stones - "Don't Stop", Flaming Lips - "Do You Realize??"

5. The White Stripes - "Fell In Love With A Girl".

The song that took the White Stripes to the world. And how can you not love it? As garage rock swelled up and out of your radio with bands like The Strokes and The Hives, the White Stripes surprised everybody with the fuzzy fervency of this track which was 10 seconds shy of the two minute mark - perfect for repeat listens. And don't forget that crazy Lego video. It's hard to believe the band that brought us this track would go on to become so pivotal in critical rock circles, but it's not by any means surprising - there's just something about "Fell In Love" that makes you wanna hear more. This track kicked alt rock in the ass and it's still running on that momentum today.

4. Tim McGraw - "Red Ragtop".

A country song that ends with an abortion? Only Tim McGraw could have the balls to do that one. And he did in 2002 on his Tim McGraw & The Dancehall Doctors album. This was the first look at McGraw the outlaw - the guy had been playing the Nashville game since "Indian Outlaw" broke in the mid-90's, but by the 2000's his confidence was high enough to take some artistic risks. First - he recorded the album outside of Nashville with his road band (a real no-no in country music, which prefers you to use session musicians). Second, he started doing more than party tunes and sentimental drivel. "Red Ragtop" is all about growing up without being pure nostalgia and it still stands as a bright spot for country radio in this decade, and I fucking love that banjo.

3. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "By The Way".

RHCP reinvinted themselves with Californication, so it was interesting to see where they would go with their follow-up. By The Way made good on that new funky but mature sound, producing another truckload of hits for the band. The best was the title track, a loose second part of a trilogy that started with "Californication". I love "By The Way" because its different parts are so, well, different. That crazy verse structure with unrelated phrases, the lovely melodic chorus and, best of all, the bow-wow-wow-wow. You know what I mean.

2. Eminem - "Lose Yourself".

I was never a fan of Eminem until the one-two punch of "The Way I Am" and this track. It still blows the roof off of my truck every time it comes on. A lot of rappers have tried the movie thing and it was lame, lame, lame. 8 Mile wasn't THAT much better, really, but it at least wasn't embarrassing. This song saved the whole thing - a true glimpse into Eminem's life, at first through the fictional story of B. Rabbit and then through the eyes of the actual man. "I was playing in the beginning, the mood's all changed". A true turning point in Eminem's career and for hip-hop in the mainstream - "Lose Yourself" took home an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

1. Nirvana - "You Know You're Right".

With Kurt Cobain and thus Nirvana dead for eight years, hearing those tortured vocals on the radio again was really great. Anyone who wondered if Nirvana would have been able to follow-up In Utero can be silenced with this one track - so fucking good that it easily belongs on Nirvana's best of comp. A look into the mind of a suicidal genius? Maybe. I'm not buying that "no thought was put into this".

Paul Hollingsworth

Honorable Mentions:

Justin Timberlake – "Cry Me A River", Beck – "Lost Cause", Snoop Dogg – "Beautiful", George Harrison – "Any Road", The Coral – "Dreaming of You", Nirvana – "You Know You're Right", Alanis Morisette – "Hands Clean", Tori Amos – "I Can't See New York"

5. Coldplay – "The Scientist".

Coldplay's unabashed love affair with U2 wore thin as the decade rolled on, but "The Scientist" is easily the best U2-like song in (at least) the last ten years or so. This song also made it into my wedding mix CD, and despite how that ended up, I have mostly fond memories of this song.

4. The White Stripes – "Fell In Love With A Girl".

Jack White is a magician, a wizard and a necromancer. On this song he managed to transform the mostly dead genre of garage rock and turn it into something that is quiescently of the 2000's. Of all White's great songs, and they are legion, this may be the best of the bunch.

3. Johnny Cash – "Hurt".

A Nine Inch Nails cover? From a country singer who was older than God? The idea, on the surface seemed absurd, right up until the moment you first heard it. Cash, looking and sounding like a man who knew he was running out of time, saved one of his best recordings for the very end and introduced a new generation to his music, which can only be considered a good thing. This is one of those rare songs which don't come around all that much.

2. Flaming Lips – "Do You Realize?".

To attempt to describe how awesome this song is in a line or two is impossible. There's not a band on the planet that is better at making pure pop songs sound so good. Like most Lips songs, it's not just the music, though. The lyrics carry as much weight, if not more, and the line "You realize the sun doesn't go down/It's just an illusion caused by the world spinnin' round," is worth more than anything ever recorded by bands like Nickelback or Fall Out Boy.

1. Tom Waits – "God's Away On Business".

Waits has been around forever, although he's never strayed too far into the mainstream. Lots of people can't get past his voice, which sounds like a zombie who has gargled with razorblades. Still, Waits writes some great songs, and his voice, the lyrics, the video and the general mood of most people at the time is captured perfectly in this song.

Michael James

5. 3 Doors Down - "Here Without You".

3 Doors Down may not be the hippest or most credible band around, but their first two albums featured a ton of standout mainstream rock. This is a tender ballad about yearning for a far off lover. I was in the throes of a long distance relationship when this came out, so it really hit home.

4. Bright Eyes- "Bowl of Oranges".

I remember seeing this video for the first time on MTV's indie rock show Subterranean. It was my first exposure to Bright Eyes, which has since become one of my Top 5 all time acts. Conor Oberst's hyper-literary and quirky lyrics have earned him comparisons to Dylan. He is undoubtedly one of the best lyricists of our generation: he writes in paragraphs where other artists write in sentences, yet doesn't waste a word. "Bowl of Oranges" is a perfect example, with lyrics like "I came upon a doctor/who appeared in quite poor health/ I said "there is nothing that I could do for you that you can't do for yourself/ He said "Oh yes you can./ Just hold my hand./ I think that would help."/So I sat with him a while and then asked him how he felt/He said "I think I'm cured./ In fact, I'm sure./Thank you stranger, for your therapeutic smile."

3. Eminem- "Soldier".

Eminem had a hell of a 2002, with the release of The Eminem Show and his biopic 8 Mile. While this spot could have went to "Lose Yourself", "Sing for the Moment" or "Till I Collapse", "Soldier" is my top Eminem track of '02. In some circles this song is cited as Exhibit 1 evidencing Em's turn towards more of a gangsta style which didn't really suit him. Even so, Eminem's flow on this track is amazing and he spits pure venom over his own military-style beat.

2. Maroon 5- "She Will be Loved".

While Maroon 5's debut album Songs for Jane didn't really grab the attention of the public at large until 2004, it was actually released in June 2002. "She Will be Loved" features a beautiful soaring vocal courtesy of Adam Levine. I also love the imagery of the lyric "Look for the girl with the broken smile."

1. The Clipse- "Grindin'".

This is one of The Neptunes' finest production moments, as the minimalist percussion was the standout beat of 2002. Pretty much every rapper took a crack at the beat on the mixtape scene. It also introduced two of the most underrated lyricists in the game, Malice and Pusha T. As products of the "trap music" movement, they have distinguished themselves by always putting a creative spin on their crack tales.

Lucas Wesley

2002 wasn't that great a year for singles. I don't know why.

Honorable mentions:

Beck - "Lost Cause," Calvin Johnson - "The Past Comes Back To Haunt Me," Common - "Jimi Was A Rock Star," Sonic Youth - "Karen Revisited," Guided By Voices - "The Ids Are Alright," Interpol - "Stella Was A Diver and She Was Always Down," Moby - "In My Heart," Justin Timberlake - "Rock Your Body," The Libertines - "What A Waster"

5. Daniel Johnston – "Sinning Is Easy".

I almost feel like this one shouldn't be on the list, if only due to lack of information. The reality is, this track is kind of a mystery for me. All I know is that I found it on Daniel's web site not long ago, and various bits of minor research brought me to discover that 2002 was the year of release. Regardless of the mystery surrounding it, the track is pretty spectacular. It's perhaps Daniel's most atmospheric, at the expense of being one of his least melodic. The lyrics are particularly awesome, the main riff being the title, and how you don't have to try. It's kind of out of the ordinary for Daniel, although his ordinary changed drastically starting with the 90s, but it's a great song regardless.

4. Beth Gibbons & Rustin Mann – "Tom The Model".

Beth Gibbons, famous of Portishead, and Rustin Mann, famous of Talk Talk, randomly collaborated for one album. It is mostly a quieter, folkier affair. However, this track, with its use of powerful horns, is quite unquestionably the best on the album. This combines the usual folk style of the album with a more bombastic feeling the horns provide. Of course, Beth is one of the greatest singers of her time, so anything she sings is going to sound great, but it really works here. The rest of the album is recommended, but the song is necessary.

3. Oasis – "She Is Love".

Occasionally the Oasis fans get mad at me for this one, but I don't care. You can have "Stop Crying Your Heart Out," to me this is the best on Heathen Chemistry. Depending on how argumentative I'm feeling, sometimes I argue this is the best Oasis song, period. Noel's voice is far better to listen to than Liam's, that part isn't hard to justify. However, for some reason, whenever a "rock" band makes a straight out pop song, the fans get antsy. I don't. I embrace the pop song. Every song Oasis made is essentially a pop song anyway, so why wouldn't the one where they accept that be the most fun?

2. David Bowie – "I Took A Trip On A Gemini Spaceship".

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Believe it or not, no initial relation to Bowie, but it is where he found the Ziggy Stardust name. This song was covered on the Bowie "comeback" Heathen, an all around strong affair. But this is definitely the standout, with the atmosphere built by the airy backing synth overpowering the rest of the album. Then there comes on of Bowie's best one-word vocal performances, with his mid song ultra-sexy "Well..." I've never heard the music of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, but if this is any indication, I'm sure his legend is well earned.

1. Anthony Stewart Head & George Sarah – "All The Fun Of The Fair".

I mentioned this song way back when we did the best songs by non-musicians. Anthony Stewart Head, or as he's better known, Giles, is just a fantastic singer. His entire album with producer George Sarah is good alternative style electronic pop, and this song is the apex of that. I don't know why he chose acting over singing (though he is a great actor, too), but I feel he picked the wrong profession. All you need to do is listen to this song and you'll be able to hear that. Also noteworthy: Amber Benson provides the backup singing on this song. And while clearly I'm a big Buffy fan, at least I managed to go through last week without Walk Through The Fire.

Paul Schofield

5. The Music – "The People".

One of the best live bands I've ever seen, and I've seen… some. These guys played Isle of Wight a few years ago, and the only thing holding me back from being in utopia was a lack of chemicals in the bloodstream. This is my favorite song by them, and it's ultrasonic. Rob Harvey is one of the most underrated frontmen in music, and fortunately he's shaved his head since this video.

4. Audioslave – "Cochise".

The ultimate bullhorn song. Cornell at his best, Morello is a fucking legend, this band was a wet dream come true. Shame it didn't last. Throw them in front of a shitload of fireworks that makes Chinese New Year look like a despised cousin's birthday party, without the pedophilic clown, jelly, and ice cream. Because every party needs jelly and ice cream.

3. Coldplay – "The Scientist".

At the time of Rush Of Blood To The Head, they were up there with the best bands in the world. They're like the German football (I will never call it soccer) team, you can never write them off, as much as some people want to. It's a beautiful song, one that just seems to make the world stand still upon hearing it. If you don't like it, there's a little bit inside of you that is dead. Hopefully it's your heart.

2. Nirvana – "You Know You're Right".

If this is what the next Nirvana album would have sounded like, it would have been un-fucking-believable. I also think that men would have been able to wear dressed without fear thanks to Kurt, the original metrosexual. As much as I liked In Utero, it wasn't quite evil sounding enough for me. It's like all Kurt's troubles personified (see what I did there?). This song is easily among their best, and I love it like a geek loves Chewbacca. Can't embed it for some reason, but here's a link to the video.

1. The Libertines – "Time for Heroes".

Seeing as this is a predominantly American website, I'll explain this in terms we all can understand. Remember how The Strokes revitalized rock in the US? The Libertines did the same here in the UK, even though rock never really needs revitalizing; just a coat of paint from time to time. Yes, Pete Doherty has pretty much killed his own career thanks to heroin and Kate Moss, but that's some way to do it. The Libs' first album Up The Bracket is an absolute corker, and this song is a belter. I only wish I was Bill Bones, so I could know what he means.

The Final Word

As always, the last thoughts come from you, the reader. We're merely unpaid monkeys with typewriters and Wikipedia. Here's what you need to do: List your Top Five for this week's topic on the comment section using the following format:

5. Artist - "Song from 2002": Why you picked it.
4. Artist - "Song from 2002": Why you picked it.
3. Artist - "Song from 2002": Why you picked it.
2. Artist - "Song from 2002": Why you picked it.
1. Artist - "Song from 2002": Why you picked it.

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