Here’s my list of my favorite songs released during the aughts. You’ll notice lots of Mae, Life In Your Way, Blindside, Project 86, Anberlin, and Dead Poetic. I would say those were my favorite bands of the decade. I tried to be honest, and therefore, not too worried about having too many songs from the same artists. I spent significantly more time getting the rankings of my top 50 correct. I didn’t fret much about whether song 159 should instead be 160, for example, though I did put thought into the placing of each song on the list. Thanks for reading and here they are!
INEVERGLOW’S FAVORITE SONGS OF THE 2000’S:
200. Osmosis Land – Earthsuit
199. In A Sweater Poorly Knit – mewithoutYou
198. Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste – Norma Jean
197. Clouds – As Cities Burn
196. Always Straight Ahead – This Day & Age
195. The Unwinding Cable Car – Anberlin
194. Thanks To You – Copeland
193. Boomerang – Mae
192. Still Burning – Sixpence None The Richer
191. Ready and Waiting To Fall – Mae
190. Lake Tahoe For My Father – Sherwood
189. Reason To Fall – The Tide
188. Caught A Glimpse – Blindside
187. Be Healed – Paper Route
186. Your Heart Is An Empty Room – Death Cab For Cutie
185. The Way To Your Heart – Luna Halo
184. Breakdown – Mae
183. Breathing – Lifehouse
182. PS – Project 86
181. A Hoax To Live For – Dead Poetic
180. Lost Kisses – The Accident Experiment
179. The Feel Good Drag – Anberlin
178. Wait For You – Luna Halo
177. Recovery – Still Remains
176. Stability – Life In Your Way
175. Summer Skin – Death Cab For Cutie
174. Put Back The Stars – Blindside
173. Dance, Dance, Christa Paffgen – Anberlin
172. Weather Island – Logh
171. Different – Acceptance
170. Revelation – Hands
169. Autumn – All The Day Holiday
168. Elegy – Becoming The Archetype
167. Complacent – Luna Halo
166. Kim & Jessie – M83
165. Simon – Lifehouse
164. The Haunting – Anberlin
163. American Clouds – Paper Route
162. More Than Efforts – Life In Your Way
161. Me Against Me – Project 86
160. Reflections – Mae
159. The Invitation – Logh
158. Picture – MuteMath
157. Pitiful – Blindside
156. Sick Cycle Carousel – Lifehouse
155. Reach The End – Life In Your Way
154. Dance On Our Graves – Paper Route
153. Beg – Evans Blue
152. Night/Day – Mae
151. I Love You Like The Little Bird – Starflyer 59
150. Jungle Trail – Steven Delopoulos
149. Song In The Air – Elliott
148. Believer – Jake
147. Don’t Push Love Away – The Juliana Theory
146. Cling and Clatter – Lifehouse
145. Bittersweet – Falling Up
144. The Messenjah – P.O.D.
143. The Fisherman’s Song (We All Need Love) – Mae
142. 8105 – Moving Mountains
141. Salty Grave – Life In Your Way
140. Suspension – Mae
139. Red Sky – Thrice
138. Mistakes We Knew We Were Making – Mae
137. Disconnecktie: The Faithful Vampire – Norma Jean
136. Sol Solis – Moving Mountains
135. Chorus of The Birds – Lucerin Blue
134. New Medicines – Dead Poetic
133. After You’re Gone – Blindside
132. One-Armed Man – Project 86
131. There Cannot Be A Close Second – Copeland
130. Therapy – Relient K
129. Heaven’s Heart – Michelle Tumes
128. The Lover and The Thief – My Epic
127. The Rescue – Search The City
126. A Token Masterpiece – Lucerin Blue
125. When Paula Sparks – Copeland
124. Satellite – Guster
123. Take My Breath Away – Copeland
122. This Place Is Painted Red – Deas Vail
121. Vices – Dead Poetic
120. The Symphony of Blasé – Anberlin
119. Kill – Jimmy Eat World
118. Flatline – Living Sacrifice
117. Autumn – Five O’Clock People
116. Little Green Men – Project 86
115. Glass In The Trees – Dead Poetic
114. Carry Me – Luna Halo
113. Sing – Travis
112. Deep Love – Michelle Tumes
111. Digital Bath – Deftones
110. Are We All Forgotten – Paper Route
109. Hand of The Dead – Living Sacrifice
108. All of Us – Blindside
107. Fall – Life In Your Way
106. All My Friends Who Play Guitar – Starflyer 59
105. Broken Heart – Falling Up
104. Learning To Forget – Spoken
103. Threads of Sincerity – Life In Your Way
102. Running Away – Luna Halo
101. Your Hand In Mine – Explosions In The Sky
THE TOP 100
100. Song In My Head – Sherwood
99. Sleep (Premix) – Copeland
98. A Million Parachutes – Sixpence None The Richer
97. Death To My Hometown – Logh
96. When You Thought You’d Never Stand Out – Copeland
95. Lovely – Michelle Tumes
94. Disintegration – Jimmy Eat World
93. The Pursuit – Evans Blue
92. Silence – Blindside
91. Skyline Drive – Mae
90. The Artist In The Ambulance – Thrice
89. The End Of An Era – Hopesfall
88. The Beauty Of Grace – Life In Your Way
87. Sometimes – Logh
86. Out Of The Woods – Nickel Creek
85. Exhibition – Falling Up
84. Falling Into You – Mae
83. Run – The Daysleepers
82. Audience of One – Rise Against
81. These Wings Are Useless – Mindy White
80. Sweetness – Jimmy Eat World
79. Greener – All The Day Holiday
78. Stein’s Theme – Project 86
77. Haunt Me To Sleep – Lucerin Blue
76. Tonight – The Accident Experiment
75. Glass To The Arson – Anberlin
74. She Cries – East West
73. Only One – Lifehouse
72. Shekina – Blindside
71. Someone Else’s Arms – Mae
70. I Can Revive Him With My Own Two Hands – Still Remains
69. When I Remember – Blindside
68. Hollow Again – Project 86
67. The Secret Place – The Daysleepers
66. Summertime – Mae
65. Forget It – Breaking Benjamin
64. Need – The Benjamin Gate
63. How They Made Cameras – Falling Up
62. Cadence – Anberlin
61. Forgiveness – Luna Halo
60. Stand Inside Your Love – The Smashing Pumpkins
59. Good Morning Planetarium – Falling Up
58. Midnight – Blindside
57. Killian’s Red – Nada Surf
56. You Kill Me – Paper Route
55. When You Come Back Down – Nickel Creek
54. Yellow Lights Mean Slow Down, Not Speed Up – Logh
53. Hostages – Dead Poetic
52. Breakneck Speed – Project 86
51. A Breath In The Fog – Spoken
THE TOP 50
50. Give Up The War – Starflyer 59
49. Thieves In The Palace – Logh
48. Failure On My Lips – Beloved
47. The Red – Chevelle
46. About A Burning Fire – Blindside
45. Lotus And The Langurous – Falling Up
44. So Cold – Breaking Benjamin
43. Just Let Go – Mae
42. The Dark Side of Indoor Track Meets – Falling Up
41. Paralytic – Dead Poetic (Featuring Chino Moreno)
40. Ode We Will Bury Ourselves – Moving Mountains
39. Shallow Like Your Breath – Elliott
38. Home – Nifty Tom FIfty
37. Feel It All Around – Washed Out
36. The Widow – As Cities Burn
35. Paperthin Hymn – Anberlin
34. Fruit Fly – Nada Surf
33. The Spy Hunter – Project 86
32. Molotov – Dead Poetic
31. The Day You Fell Apart – The New Frontiers
30. Shoreline – Deas Vail
29. Stare At The Sun – Thrice
28. Symbiotic – Living Sacrifice
27. Polaris – Jimmy Eat World
26. New Year’s Project – Further Seems Forever
25. Beneath It All – Life In Your Way
24. Anything – Mae
23. Too Little, Too Late – JoJo
22. Death To Traitors – Beloved
21. Paper Boats – Nada Surf
20. Blessed By Your Own Ghost – Elliott
19. The Sun And The Moon – Mae
18. Transatlanticism – Death Cab For Cutie
17. The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows – Brand New
16. Sleepwalking – Blindside
15. Light Up Ahead – Further Seems Forever
14. Aliens – Luna Halo
13. The Dream Club Murders – Dead Poetic
THE DANDY DOZEN
- These 12 songs are absolutely perfect in my opinion. I look at them with full adoration and I usually only listen to them with volume way up and no distractions.
12. “A Melody, The Memory – Mae” (2009)
A song about music bringing back the memories of a faded love, and hoping that these memories spark new love.
11. “Inevitable” – Anberlin (2007)
My wife and I have “Inevitable” engraved in our wedding rings. This is an important song to us. On it’s own, it’s an adorable love song with a very cool drum circle part.
10. “Streams Of Woe At Acheron” – Falling Up (2009)
Falling Up really hit their stride in the decade that followed, but they were no slouches during their first decade of existence. This track may even feature the best chorus the band ever produced.
9. “Lie In The Sound” – Trespassers William (2002)
A gorgeous song about being in love. It hits me like the “Fade Into You” (Mazzy Star) of the 2000’s. I like to turn it way up in my car stereo and get lost in its melancholy.
8. “The Everglow” – Mae (2005)
The Everglow is my favorite album of the decade, in case you couldn’t tell by the many songs that made the list from that album. The title track is the one that’s most important to me, as it’s mine and my wife’s “song”.
7. “Control” – MuteMath (2004)
The best live band I saw in the 2000’s also produced one of my favorite tracks of the decade. After their self-titled album, I fully expected them to become the next U2 or The Police. Unfortunately, that never happened, and I’ll always look back at “Control” as a reminder of how hot this band came out of the gate.
6. “If There Is A Chance” – The Cardigans (2003)
A bonus track on the best Cardigans album, I cannot fathom why the band didn’t think it fit as an actual track on Long Gone Before Daylight. It’s a stunningly heartbreaking song about love lost.
5. “This Letter” – Lucerin Blue (2003)
An epic song about a long distance relationship. The bridge slays me, when the orchestral instrumentation and spanish guitar take front and center, and then with a killer drum fill it breaks back into the hard rock/post-hardcore sound.
4. “23” – Jimmy Eat World (2004)
I was listening to this song when I decided to pursue a relationship with the woman who would become my wife, but that has little to do with the placement of this song, as it’s difficult to argue against it being one of the very best of the decade in its genre.
3. “Just An Interlude In Your Life” – Klimt 1918 (2008)
I don’t know enough about guitar pedals and whatnot to understand how they got their guitars to sound so immaculate, but my goodness, it’s gorgeous. And I’m pretty sure that drum beat could make walls falls to the ground.
2. “Flowers and Fireworks” – All The Day Holiday (2009)
This song came out a time when I was very confused about the Christianity I had grown up with and I was trying to figure out what I believed and why. “Deconstruction”, as it’s now known, wasn’t really a popular thing then, and I don’t know that I deconstructed to the extremes of many young people these days, but regardless, this song was the soundtrack of the hope I had in Christ and that it would all work out.
1. “(*Fin)” – Anberlin (2007)
At a time when the word “epic” was thrown around about every little thing, Anberlin was there to show us something truly worthy of the word. This song is a journey of ups and downs and quiet and loud. I got the biggest chills I’ve ever had when I heard this song for the first time. It’s just stunning.