Best Songs

1. Aretha Franklin – “Rock Steady”
‘Ree lays down one of her toughest grooves on this burner. You can hear her riding that hard R&B wave straight into funk and almost out the other side as disco.

2. Rolling Stones – “Brown Sugar”
Is this the sickest number one song ever? The boys from London deconstruct their own bad selves and decide that that they are the foppish plantation owners and their slave goes by the name of rock n roll. Truly twisted in the still warm aftermath of civil rights and race riots it’s at once political commentary, winkingly self-aware, and wickedly poor taste. And you can dance to it. Along with “Satisfaction”, their most perfect single.

3. Al Green – “Tired of Being Alone”
Shit, Al, you won’t be tired long with that voice, that band, Willie Mitchell’s snap-tight production and that killer, killer song.

4. Van Morrison – “Wild Night”
Van the man in full-on R&B mode – stand back! He still knew how to do uptempo at this point with the right amount of subtlety and an arrangement that’s all about tension and release.

5. The Faces – “You’re So Rude”
These guys were giving the Stones (who’d moved on to a whole ‘nother plane of existence musically speaking) a run for their down and dirty millions back in 1971. If only they could keep that lead singer’s attention.

6. Badfinger – “Day After Day”
The non-Beatles Beatles on the Fab Four’s own label, Badfinger was there to fill that poppy, melodic radio hole, especially as George Harrison (who this song most closely resembles) began to blow the great promise of his 1970 solo debut with a long gestating follow-up. In all fairness this is a terrific song and Badfinger had plenty to offer despite the shadow of their patrons.

7. The Kinks – “Oklahoma U.S.A.”
One of Ray Davies many brilliant songs, here imagine an America they had barely scratched the surface of in person. Instead they have films and movie magazines to guide them through a still-unfamiliar landscape.

8. Chairman of the Board – “Chairman of the Board”
One of the great songs named after the band songs, this just rips with an almost retro gutbucket feel. Nice and hard fellas.

9. Johnnie Taylor – “Hijackin’ Love”
Taylor was a flexible guy ranging from blues to R&B and eventually to disco. This was semi-topical in the hijacking reference but ass-shaking in it’s musical inference.

10. Led Zeppelin – “Going to California”
The Zep boys at their pastoral best. Lots of patchouli scented makeout sessions were started to this song.

11. Honey Cone – “Want Ads”
Ah, the days before Internet dating. The gals place an ad in the paper for the kind of man they want.

12. Rod Stewart – “Every Picture Tells a Story”
Rod gets his bandmates in the Faces to back him on a set of songs that simply destroys most of his bands output, including the huge hit “Maggie May.” This is the burner though – a great British folk-rocker that really pounds. makes his decline that much sadder.

13. The Temptations – “Just My Imagination”
One of the last great Motown songs in the classic mode, impossibly lush and yearning. Perfect in every way.

14. Curtis Mayfield – “Keep on Keeping On”
Curtis was a year away from “Superfly” and already staking out his new post-Impressions territory squarely in the funk sound pioneered by Sly Stone.

15. Carole King – “I Feel The Earth Move”
Former Brill Building songstress with ex- Gerry Goffin, King went out on her own with a blockbuster solo album that ushered in the singer-songwriter movement for better or for worse. Still she could write a dman good tune, as here.

16. Jean Knight – “Mr. Big Stuff”
Knight brings the sass with this throwdown classic, later sampled by the Beastie Boys on “Johnny Ryall”.

17. Black Sabbath – “Paranoid”
Ozzy invents metal and accidentally grunge and maybe even punk with this sludgerock touchstone.

18. T. Rex – “Monolith”
The guitar mimics a record-scratch in the intro and Flo and Eddie warble sweetly on this killer Marc Bolan song- one of several outstanding songs he released in 1971.

19. Brenda & The Tabulations – “Right on the Tip of My Tongue”
One of the best band names ever with a sweet sweet soul groove. Don’t forget to say “I love you!”

20. Dave & Ansel Collins – “Double Barrel”
“I am the magnificent!” Yes, yes you are. Like Booker T. in a funhouse.

21. Sly and The Family Stone – “Family Affair”
Whoa your speaker’s blown dude! Nope it’s just the sound of a bass groove redlining. Sly’s sunniness clouds over into some of the deepest darkest music ever while still hitting that pleasure center. Genius.

22. The Chi-Lites – “Have You Seen Her”
Oh man that glorious fuzz guitar just undercuts the sweetness of the vocals perfectly. The aptly named Eugene Record was one of the 70s most under-appreciated songwriters.

23. Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose – “Treat Her Like a Lady”
This is always sound advice.

24. Baby Huey – “Running”
Baby Huey somehow never became a superstar despite having an amazing voice and knack for great songs and arrangements.

25. Jerry Butler – “Ain’t Understanding Mellow?”
Only the 70s could handle a song as passively chest hair medallioned as this one. Just bliss out on the vibes, baby.

26. Harry Nilsson – “Jump Into The Fire”
Harry Nilsson was some kind of self-destructive genius, John Lennon’s lost weekend buddy and the guy who wrote “Without You” as an over-the-top lark only to have it covered by the likes of Mariah Carey sans irony. Then there’s this barnburner, a stomping workout that doesn’t let-up with a bass part that is gluteous cuppingly awesome.

27. Delroy Wilson – “Better Must Come”
Delroy’s signature tune has the resonance of the best soul songs – that touch of gospel deliverance and yearning coupled to an unstoppable rhythm.

28. Arthur Lee – “Everybody’s Gotta Live”
Love frontman Arthur Lee went solo with this typically incisive and catchy song – another in a canon that is just beginning to be accorded the respect he deserves.

29. Colin Blunstone – “I Hope I Didn’t Say Too Much Too Soon Last Night”
Zombies vocalist Blunstone deploys his distinctive voice on this wonderful B-Side which accompanied his very Nick Drake like foray into solo-dom.

30. John Kongos – “Step On”
Covered quite well by Happy Mondays in 1990, this is the real deal – a little touch of the contemporaneous glam sound T. Rex was inventing but with a stomping rhythm track that will have you stepping in time and maybe even doing The Roach.

31. Aretha Franklin – “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
Aretha puts the church into Simon and Garfunkel’s mega-hit from the year before and naturally, makes this her own. When Aretha wants your song she bloody well takes it man.

32. Deep Purple – “Anyone’s Daughter”
Probably not what people think of when they think Deep Purple – a jaunty countrified lament.

33. L.V. Johnson – “Doncha Mess With my Money, My Honey, or My Woman”
Some pretty clear instructions but the guy sure like’s his honey doesn’t he? I would have thought “honey” was synonymous with the first or last thing on his list but apparently not.

34. Todd Rundgren – “Who’s That Man”
Todd fills his first album with a range of stylistic references including this, a quick nick from The Velvet Underground’s sound which in turn would be pilfered by David Bowie in coming years.

35. Tony Orlando and Dawn – “Knock Three Times”
What the? Hear me out – this is a cheeseball classic for a reason. A pastiche of the kind of songs Lieber and Stoller were cranking out in the early 60s hides behind Tony’s mustache.

36. Can – “Mushroom”
A huge influence on everything from Talking Heads to Pavement to Radiohead to PIL.

37. Joe Simon – “Drowning in the Sea of Love”
“I’ve been down one time..” Joe Simon really sounds like he’s drowning in this dramatic, obsessive lament.

38. Tami Lynn – “Mojo Hannah”
Straight from New Orleans, Tai Lynn’s tale of a voodoo priestess brought gutbucket funk to the fore.

39. Johnny Cash – “Man in Black”
Johnny helpfully answers the question “Hey Johnny, what’s with the black outfits?”

40. James Brown – “Soul Power”
Brown and band still at their peak with a syncopated call and response. Who needs a chorus or a bridge when you’ve got a groove?

41. Joni Mitchell – “River”
A heartrending memory song that stays on the right side of cloying despite incorporating elements from “Jingle Bells.”

42. The Stylistics – “Betcha By Golly, Wow”
The title sounds like a Sarah Palin stump speech but this is a deadly serious love song. Never have those words been intoned with such gravity.

43. Marcell Strong – “Mumble in My Ear”
This is some sexy stuff, hence the ridiculous image that believe it or not accompanies the only YouTube posting of this song. Honestly, the song already sounds like erect ladynipples, not sure we need to see them too. Not that I mind.

44. John Lennon – “Jealous Guy”
“Imagine” gets all the attention and yes, it’s a great song about atheism but this one hits the emotions in a whole different way. Therapy obviously unleashed a lot of stuff for Lennon and when he sings about losing control you believe it.

45. Yes – “I’ve Seen All Good People”
This is easy to laugh at but the intricate arrangements that punkers sneered at were also catchy as hell. At least on thsi song.

46. Alice Cooper – “Eighteen”
“Half a boy and half a man” sings Vince Furnier who himself was becoming his own band’s name, Alice Cooper. This was 60s garage rock blown up with a touch of grandiosity and a dollop of tongue and cheek – signposts both for grunge, hair metal and indeed Marilyn Manson.

47. The Who – “Behind Blue Eyes”
In a weird way this song all made sense for me at the concert for 9/11 first responders in New York, where the Who played a version for a rapturous audience of worn out Ground Zero workers. It’s something unusual in rock, a requiem for the authority figure who wields power and is aware of the moral conundrum inherent in being, say, a country that values freedom but stands for oppression to some people. And it rocks.

48. Black Sabbath – “Sweet Leaf”
Ozzy’s ode to the ganja – heavy riffs redolent of bong smoke propel this woozy, wobbling wonder.

49. The Grass Roots – “Temptation Eyes”
Creed fro the Office and his bandmates rock out on this tribute to the eye-screw. Any of these lines probably went over well in the eras singles bars. The horn chart is pretty stellar too. Covered memorably with a gender switch by The Blake Babies.

50. Marvin Gaye – “What’s Going On”
Marvin Gaye breaks out of the Motown assembly line to write and produce this classic. While the social commentary is tame compared what Sly and The Family Stone and others were doing, it edged Motown towards a cultural relevance they were in danger of losing touch with.

51. Melanie – “Brand New Key”
Ah the old rollerskates as vagina metaphor.

52. Niney The Observer – “Blood and Fire”
Sampled brilliantly this year by PJ Harvey, this never gets old. “Let it burn” teases Niney and you can hear The Bronx burning a few years later to a disco beat, roofs on fire to hip-hop, and L.A. in flames over Rodney King.

53. Hollies – “Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)”
The Neil Young business was booming in the early 70s, so much so that the likes of The Hollies and America with the execrable “Horse With No Name” felt compelled to fill the market with knock-offs. The Hollies were no shlock merchants and thus this track is high quality indeed.

54. Ringo Starr – “It Don’t Come Easy”
Ringo’s greatest hit via George.

55. The Who – “Baba O’Reilly”
The Who had an album chock full of CSI themes in waiting but this might be the best of them, starting with that hypnotic synthesizer pattern in honor of Townshend’s titular guru.

56. Lee Sain – “Them Hot Pants”
Hot pants – pro or con? Apparently this was a big topic in the early part of the decade, at least udging by the multitude of soul songs on the subject. Sain comes down firmly on the “pro” side opining: “They all look good in hot pants…”

57.Joe Tex – “Give The Baby Anything That The Baby Wants”
The existential question is whether Joe is talking about his chick or his own insatiable inner self, the baby inside us all that wants wants wants.

58. The Beach Boys – “Til I Die”
Whoa heavy man … some of their most psychedelic thoughts beautifully sculpted into a soundscape for depressive rumination by Brian Wilson.

59. The Poppy Family – “Evil Grows”
Control freak alert! Note that this is the same dude who sang “Seasons in the Sun” which is even scarier.

60. The Staple Singers – “Heavy Makes You Happy”
Still not sure if this is about preferring fat broads, but I like to think it is.

61. The Rolling Stones – “Moonlight Mile”
Epically gorgeous, every Guns N Roses ballad aspired to this (and fell short). The strings were highly controversial at the time, no-one had added orchestration to rock as down and dirty as the Stones before. And it kills.

62. Tom Jones – “She’s a Lady”
Of course this is ridiculous but it’s also great.

63. The Dramatics – “Watcha See is Watcha Get”
It’s that Latin rhythm that puts this over, plus the great vocals and timeless message “Some people are made of plastic, some people are made of wood, some people are up to no good…” These guys know that with all the coke snorting and the heavy hand of “the man”, the gals are likely to be paranoid and need to be talked down.

64. Eugene McDaniels – “Jagger The Dagger”
This comes on like a really mellow acid trip that keeps threatening to get heavy but never quite does. Sampled heavily by the likes of Tribe Called Quest and why not? Brilliant.

65. King Floyd – “Groove Me”
More of a command than a request, befitting the appellation “King”.

66. The Staple Singers – “Respect Yourself”
While Madonna was about Expressing ones self, the Staples started with the basics, good old R-E-S=P-E-C-T. It helps when you have a killer bassline too.

67. Bobby Womack – “Communication”
Womack may have been reared on Sam Cooke but he’s all about JB on this and more’s the better.

68. Rasputin’s Stash – “Mr. Cool”
Beck lifted a big chunk of this but it’s all even better in context from the handsmack sound effect to the giant hit of reefer that opens the track.

69. David Bowie – “Life on Mars?”
While much of Bowie’s output was a bit too fey for me at this point, this remains a beautiful and moving song – so much so that it lent it’s emotional heft to the acclaimed BBC show of the same name and it’s American remake.

70. Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band – “Scorpio”
Hot Detroit instrumental funk. Also clearly the best Zodiac sign.

71. T. Rex – “(Bang a Gong) Get It On”
The song most people know by T.Rex and it’s a great calling card, reaching back to Chuck Berry and forward to Prince and kicking off the whole glam movement.

72. Freda Payne – “You Bought The Joy”
Named like a shrink in a Dick tracy comic, Payne had a set of killer 70s soul hits. This one starts to edge ever closer to what would become disco but still keeps bouncing back to classic soul.

73. Focus – “Hocus Pocus”
Gauranteed to put a smile on your face. Yodelling and guitar wanking? Nothing I can say more can top this YouTube comment: “This song makes me want to sniff cocaine out of a wooden clog…”

74. Lee Michaels – “Do You Know What I Mean”
Kind of a weird faux reggae by way of New Orleans, this is his one big hit and it’s pretty great.

75. Paul McCartney – “Too Many People”
McCartney took his early solo years as a chance to explore some of his favorite Beatles byways, one of which was the multi-section song aong the lines of side two of Abbey Road. When you write melodies as insidiously pretty as these the gambit can work. In theory it’s a companion piece to Lennon’s “How Do You Sleep?”, attacking his former bandmate. But where Lennon is caustic and petty, McCartney is judgementally wistful.

76. Eric Donaldson – “Cherry Oh Baby”
Classic reggae later covered by the Stones.

77. The Emotions -”Blind Alley”
The Emotions cut their man to the core: “You’re not penetrating..” Ouch.

78. Paul McCartney – “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”
McCartney’s other big multi-section song of the year was this charming hit that is guaranteed to chase all other earworms away.

79. Bill Withers – “Ain’t No Sunshine”
This is all about the timing and phrasing.

80. Tommy James – “Draggin’ The Line”
Tommy James says goodbye to the Shondells and bubblegum and hello to hippy-dippie rhymes with some boss horn charts.

81. Baby Huey – “Hard Times”
Great socially conscious funk – Curtis Mayfield slowed this down on his version and melted into the despair of the lyrics but Huey’s tougher attack is downright angry.

82. The Move – “Message From The Country”
The Move was about to morph into Electric Light Orchestra but before that happened they still had some graceful pop songs in the hopper. Jeff Lynne would take these Beatles-esque melodies and run with them in ELO during the same year.

83. Lee Dorsey – “Yes We Can Can”
The great Lee Dorsey with one of his signature tunes, oft-covered but rarely bettered.

84. The Buoys – “Timothy”
This may be one of the only hits ever recorded about 3 miners trapped in a mine and turning to cannibalism. If you don’t count “Blame it On The Rain” by Milli Vanilli.

85. The Doors – “L.A. Woman”
The Doors tribute to their hometown – after years of seeming irrelevance Jim Morrison and company made a strong comeback which would be painfully cut off by his death in Paris. A masterful song that shows off the band at it’s best.

86. Jerry Reed – “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot”
Long before he was Burt Reynolds’ sidekick in the Smokey and The Bandit films Reed was a country music star. The guitar playing good timer ably straddled genres with this ode to the hot streak.

87. Ike and Tina Turner – “Proud Mary”
They didn’t do anything nice, and easy. The Creedence cover that brought them mainstream success but proved hard to follow up commercially.

88. Yoko Ono – “Midsummer New York”
Yoko Ono was accorded little respect in music circles in 1971 and it’s only in the last few decades that her avant-rock has been seen as the influence it is on music as varied as The Slits, Sonic Youth, L7 and countless others. This molten blues is the equal of anything on her husband’s contemporary album.

89. B.T. Expess – “Express”

90. The Moody Blues – “The Story in our Eyes”

91. The 8th Day – “She’s Not Just Another Woman”

92. Carpenters – “Superstar”

93. Electric Light Orchestra – “10538 Overture”

94. Pink Floyd – “One of These Days”

95. The Flamin’ Groovies – “Teenage Head”

96.Eddie Floyd – “Oh, How It Rained”

97. Led Zeppelin – “When The Levee Breaks”

98. Grateful Dead – “Truckin’”

99. Isaac Hayes – “Theme From Shaft”

100. Osmonds – “One Bad Apple”

…and the 24 best albums of 1971.

24. Marvin Gaye – What’s Goin’ On?

23. Beach Boys – Surf’s Up

22. Badfinger – Straight Up

21. The Doors – L.A. Woman

20. Curtis Mayfield – Roots

19. Todd Rundgren – Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren

18. Paul McCartney – Ram

17. Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey

16. Faces – A Nod is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse

15. Al Green – Al Green Gets Next to You

14. Black Sabbath – Master of Reality

13. Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson

12. Joni Mitchell – Blue

11. Baby Huey – The Baby Huey Story: Living Legend

10. John Lennon – Imagine

9. Funkadelic – Maggot Brain

8. Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story

7. Can – Tago Mago

6. The Who – Who’s Next

5. Lee Moses – Time and Place

4. The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies

3. T. Rex – Electric Warrior

2. Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

1.  Sly and The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On

If the 80s and 90s saw music fragmenting into hundreds of tiny subcultures the 00s offered a way out – in part by destroying the very music industry machinery that encouraged such fragmentation. File sharing may have killed music but it also saved it by letting people hear thousands of songs they never would have been exposed to.It also freed musicians like M.I.A., Radiohead, and Girl Talk to make music that was as boundary-less as their audience.

Here they are, my pick for the 100 best albums of the last decade:

Best of the 00s 100-76

Best of the 00s 75-51

Best of the 00s 50-26

Best of the 00s 25-1